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If you read the article for
the winner of the October Contest, you will now know that I have an
established rating system. You can get a total of 25 points or 5 five
points in each of the following five categories.
BALANCE:
If you have a mono color deck, you don't have to worry about this
score. If you don't, then worry. Do you have an equally balance
card selection. Is it 50% - 50% in terms of say blue - white? If
not, try to balance it out so that you have equal chances to cast any of the
spells in your hand with the lands you have. You get the idea.
COHESIVENESS: Do all
of your combos and cards work together? Do certain cards contradict
the benefits of another? Well, if your cards don't work together well
you are likely to score poor in this category. Cohesivify your deck
and be sure all cards work efficiently together with your ultimate goal:
winning.
FOCUS: A
perfectly focused deck has 20 lands and 40 spells and 10 different spells to
choose from. That is as focused as you get. The closer you are
to this the higher you rate in this category. If you card variety
exceed 20 different cards, then, well.. you will probably score low.
Lands don't really count towards this one.
CREATIVITY: Are you
making a copy of some already well established combo deck? If so, then you
are not being creative. Creative isn't copying your deck out of SIDEBOARD
magazine and tweaking one land to a Grand Coliseum... its being original and
making a new combo, even if it isn't the best. Show me you are
thinking about your cards interactions. If you do, you are likely to
score high. Be heedless in your creativity (thus the picture to the
left).
OVERALL PLAYABILITY: With
all of the above in mind, after the deck is finished.. will it play
well? Or will it bomb even against a low-budget real deck. You
don't have to have the cards to make a deck for this contest. Know
that and go all out. Black Lotus and Mox... go for it (if it
fits). Don't go crazy though. I don't score more just because
you have the power nine cards. Those, honestly, mean nothing to
me. Make sure you deck has win conditions and win potential and you
will score well in the overall playability category.
I would encourage you to try this out.. and how bad could
it hurt. It won't. You can submit up to three decks to the
contest, so try a few different angles. When submitting the decks,
please give me a brief description and use of combos. Thanks!
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December's
deck building contest revolves around one card, Temper (from
Stronghold). You can go at this card from any angle, just as long as
you follow the guidelines below.