A slightly different approach to deck-building.

[Captain Scibra]

This is just a different theory that I am currently using to tweak my deck, and having realized its potential in building a deck with a certain idea in mind.  This attempts to make a deck based on a theoretical starting hand.

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Deck import code : [Select]

6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 744 745 745 745 745 745 74b 74b 74b 74b 74b 75m 75m 75m 75m 75m 77d 77d 77d 77f 77f 77f 77f 7n2 7n2 7n2

The formula used to balance this:

Number desired by certain turn * Total cards in deck = Number of specific card in your deck
                         Cards drawn by that turn

Example:
To play an Elite Otyugh I need 5 quanta, which I can get in by the 2nd turn with 3 Towers or Pendulums.  This will give me 5 or 6 quanta depending whether or not I played the 3rd Tower or Pendulum with the others (as in whether or not I had to draw the 3rd one).  Now in 2 turns I can draw either 8 or 9 cards, so we'll use 8.5 as the average cards drawn by that turn.  So then we plug in the numbers into the formula: 3*40/8.5 = 14.117, or 14.  As for the card itself: 1*40/8.5 = 4.706, or 5.  There are two ways we can figure out how to efficiently get the Pulverizer out fast, the formula or just a simple ratio using the the above calculation.  Without messing with the primary gain of Gravity, ideally we can get it into play by the 4th turn, a whole turn saved from just using the mark.  That means that the ideal hand will consist of 2 Towers and a Pendulum from the earlier calculation.  From here we could simply make the ratio of Towers to Pendulums 2:1, in this case a good estimate would be 9:5.  Now for the Pulverizers themselves, 4th turn you get 12.5 cards, so 1*40/12.5 = 3.2, which I opted for 4, instead of rounding to 3.  The final stage is general cleanup, fixing QI, adding extra copies of key cards to reduce the "give or take' of random drawing, support cards, and some damage if that is not the main function of the key cards.

Another example would be neurotoxin rush, but slighty more complicated since this is a 3+ card combo.

This is just something I figured out earlier today as something that could be used in the making of the deck, not just supporting its ideas.

P.S.: Feel free to check out the deck link, I'm always looking for replies to get it into the archive.

What does everyone think?

[Essence]

This sounds like a very well-reasoned theory, and I'm eager to give it a few test runs and see how it works out for me.


+Karma.

[killybob]

i have to say im pretty impressed. if you keep going with your ideas you may revolutionize the whole game! 

how long did it take you to figure that out?

[Ekki]

Well, sounds logical. IDK if this is actually better than SG's theory, but it's different, and it will hopefully lead to the creation of some new decks.

[Captain Scibra]

i have to say im pretty impressed. if you keep going with your ideas you may revolutionize the whole game! 

how long did it take you to figure that out?

Thanks.  Well I really knew it all along as a general idea ever since the idea of my deck was mainly getting an Elite Otyugh and Pulverizer out fast, but a few hours ago tweaking my deck, which I seem to have become rather obsessed with, I noticed that this could actually be a good theory to build a whole deck upon, not just one card of the deck. 

Well, sounds logical. IDK if this is actually better than SG's theory, but it's different, and it will hopefully lead to the creation of some new decks.

Oh and I never said that this was better than SG's theory.  This deck has had many moments when discarding was a reasonable option, being that it doesn't follow SG's theory.  This is an effective and efficient way of getting a key card out fast, but it has a slight disregard for the actual balance of the deck's QI. 

[Ekki]

Oh and I never said that this was better than SG's theory. 

I know, I was emphazising that it is different

[jmizzle7]

This is pretty sweet. I use a similar type of deck building style, where I include a number of cards based on what I want to draw early. It's more of a feel-based method than a mathematical one, though.

Props.

[Wonder]

Makes sense to me. I think it's a pretty logical way to build a deck.
Good Job [: I'll follow this from now on.

[Bloodshadow]

Hmm, interesting. So with this theory, should we actually build non-stall decks with more than 30 cards but without Hourglass, Precog, etc? An old theory of SG's is that if you have more than 30 cards but no card draw acceleration, then some of these cards are going to be wasted. Is that the case with this theory?

[Captain Scibra]

Hmm, interesting. So with this theory, should we actually build non-stall decks with more than 30 cards but without Hourglass, Precog, etc? An old theory of SG's is that if you have more than 30 cards but no card draw acceleration, then some of these cards are going to be wasted. Is that the case with this theory?

This is being able to build a deck that cannot use Precognitions or Hourglasses effectively, in other words, it's a theoretical replacement for the need to rapidly draw cards, so to an extent yes.  However, the use of Houglasses and Precogs can affect the theory.  For example, use of Precognitions can be a way of making the total cards in deck theoretically less than 30.  As for the drawing effect of both cards, it affects the theoretical average cards drawn by a certain turn.

@Bloodshadow. I think the main theory here is to get what you want, as soon as you need it. It almost completely disregards having too many spare copies (ie. Making sure you get card A in the opening hand everytime, at the risk of often having 3, while only ever needing 1), because spares can just be discarded. Simply, waste is acceptable assuming the deck still wins, which is something SG's theory discourages.

Yes, its's really that the key card can be effective when only one is used, particularly skilled creatures or permanents.  It's putting effectiveness before the overall efficiency of the deck, not that both cannot exist at maximum.  When you have properly balanced the deck so that theoretically you should get key cards as soon as you need them, and capable of playing them, there is likely a good space left in your deck.  This is the stage in which you balance the QI by either adding more Pillars, Towers, or Pendulums; and/or adding more cost cards, some of which can be more copies of key cards to help with the fact that bad draws exist (or for possibly necessary spares to also be drawn early), and others as support cards, and then lastly add some damage if any needs to be added.

[WakSkylicker]

I actually use this theory for making my decks sometimes 

[coinich]

I shall be examining this soon; sounds like the get it when you need it approach will be good for fast Eclipses.