I really don't enjoy games where I get to sit and watch my opponents play without me because I don't have enough mana or am lacking all my required colors. regardless of the powerlevel I'm playing at, consistency really is key. My process of deck building helps create a more consistent deck, it may not be the perfect method but it works for me and I've seen success with my methods. I'll try to justify the numbers I use with some math but don't treat this as a strict template rather a guideline that you can adjust for your specific needs or liking
If you've you read through the other tabs you might've noticed that the majority of cards I suggested are green or blue. This might come down to being my play style or meta and not being as exposed to great options outside of these colors. However, despite me being skewed to those colors they are incredibly strong portions of the color pie, and if you are looking to build a consistent deck that has great affordable options I would highly recommend including at least one of those colors
Lands
I run 34-37 regular lands based of my average CMC of my spells. The closer my average CMC is to 3 the closer to 34 lands I'll run, for every 0.1 added to my average CMC I add an additional land until I hit my cap of 37. At 34 I have a 74% chance of hitting my 3rd land drop without any additions ramp or cards drawn, at 37 lands this increases to a nice and round 80%. Each additional land doesn't make a large difference in consistency and I typically try to add more only when my deck's strategy requires lands.
When choosing lands I typically avoid lands that always enter tapped if my budget allows it. Sunpetal Grove is more likely to enter untapped than a land like Canopy Vista but either are typically better than Temple of Plenty or Blossoming Sands.
Fetchable lands are a big priority to me even when I don't have have actual fetch lands, but only if my deck contains green mana. The reason for this is my land ramp spells such as Three Visits find forests which doesn't mean a basic Forest. By fetchable I mean a land such as Temple Garden or Scattered Groves, these lands have the typing of Land - Forest Plains, meaning our simple land ramp spells also color fix to a greater extent than a typical mana rock.
Modal Double Faced Cards or MDFCs are our best friends, I don't count them as lands I look at them as normal spells, however adding one or two to any deck is a great way to supplement our land base in a pinch especially if you're on the lighter side for lands. Many of them aren't the strongest but some of my favorites Bala Ged Recovery
Valakut Awakening
Malakir Rebirth
Silundi Vision
Ondu Inversion
all of these spells can also be played as a land that enters tapped and taps for the respective colors
Ramp
This is simple for me, no less than 10 ramp spells ever.
I typically run 10-12 ramp spells that cost 2 mana or less. With 10 in the deck, assuming we started with 7 cards and draw 1 card for turn, on turn 2 when I'd ideally like to be ramping its only a 63% that I have at least 1 ramp spell. Adding 2 more ramp spells for a total of 12 will increase our odds of having a ramp spell to play on 2 to 70% which is reasonable odds
Rituals don't count as ramp, one time effects can be very strong but the whole point of this is to increase consistency and one time effects are not the solution
Mana rocks and ramp spells that cost 3 mana don't count either, they are good cards, they are useful and they are still doing the same thing, gaining us more mana. However, nearly all commander decks have more 3 CMC cards than any other mana value, we should be spending turn 3 playing our 3 and 4 CMC cards that help progress our gameplan. This mana value is so impactful and there's a reasons we have so many 3 drops in our decks. Delaying our gameplan by a turn because we are playing mana rocks on turn 3 instead of impactful spells is a recipe for falling behind in your games. 3 CMC rocks have their place, especially when they add extra effects such as The Celestus but I personally wont count them when totaling up my ramp cards
Draw
This is less simple than ramp but still is relatively straight forward. 10ish card draw sources. I only count 3 types of card draw sources when making my decks, engines, bursts and wheels.
Engines are cards that will repeatedly draw more cards. Rhystic Study or Beast Whisperer are great examples
Bursts are drawing large amounts of cards, usually they aren't a fixed amount like Harmonize but rather Pull from Tomorrow or Life's Legacy
Wheels are the most straight forwards, they get there name from Wheel of Fortune. These effects are strong but they also fuel your opponents so I prefer to use this sparingly. Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion is a great wheel option since it only effects you and not your opponents
my notable exclusion is cantrips, drawing one card and possibly scrying too is great, but these one off effects barely make a difference in consistency unless you are running a bunch of them. Brainstorm is good, but Mystic Remora is better. If you can run a spell that cantrips its great, Elvish Visionary is a great include in elf tribal decks, but I would not count it as a card draw source
Interaction / Board Wipes
Interaction wins games!
I don't have a set number of removal/counter spells in my deck and it varies drastically depending on the powerlevel you're playing at. 7 seems like a good base line, in over half your games you will have at least one piece of interaction by turn 3
When choosing interaction some things to consider is being efficiently costed, being versatile, and what synergies its has with your deck. Nature's Claim is only 1 mana, Counterspell stops anything, Banishing Light synergizes great with enchantress style decks
I think every deck should have at least 1 board wipe in addition to their other interaction, ideally 2 or 3. You can often find asymmetric ones that hurt you less than your opponents, Crux of Fate, Blasphemous Act, Cyclonic Rift, Winds of Rath and Creeping Corrosion can all be built around so they dont hurt you as much as your opponents
Synergies
Building the deck from the bottom up starting with a proper mana base and ramp package will ensure we have all the mana we could ever need to play the cards we have, a proper card draw package insures we have cards to spend that mana on. This means whatever our game plan is, we should be able to consistently execute it.
If you've followed my general frame you should have 60-70 cards, the remaining slots are for the cards which actively carry out your gameplan. These cards are unique to your deck and its strategy, but when choosing cards its important to see if there are cards that do double duty. In a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck, a card like Sakura-Tribe Elder is a ramp spell, a reanimate target, and a creature that self sacrifices.
The more synergistic your deck is the better it will likely preform.
Summary
- A good land base is the foundation of our deck
- Ramp accelerates everything we do and sets the pace of the game
- You need cards to play cards, consistent card draw is key
- Interaction wins games! protect your game plan and stop others
- Board wipes are a safety net and shouldn't be skipped
- Cards that fit into multiple of the above categories are best
