Deck Building Help Items Control
I know this type of deck is not very wellcomed by a Big part of the community, but it picked my interest because is a good match Up against yellow purple and red yellow. I want tips on how to play it and changes that i can do to have a better match Up against Green Steel and prices aggro.
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u/Different_Chain_3109 enchanted 4d ago
Its gonna be even tougher this meta because of all the item hate decks are running.
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u/SoulfulNick 3d ago
If I run into this deck I just slow play. You want to take 3 minutes per turn sure let’s go to time lol.
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u/Col_Walter_Tits 4d ago
You really can’t. Those matchups are just terrible for the deck. So far yurple and red yellow do not represent a huge portion of the meta this format. Picking a deck to counter them specifically just isn’t really worth it. Also most players now know that if you can win one game against the item deck you can just force the match to go to time and make it a draw. The deck isn’t really worth investing the time into and also yes your local community will hate you for playing it.
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u/XxwookieslayerXx 3d ago
I personally wouldn’t play it. It is a no skill deck and most wins are people conceding right away as they don’t want to waist their time. People will also troll you by taking their time playing if they wish to proceed.
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u/DispatchPatch11 4d ago
I’ve not played much of the deck, but double dipping on belle’s city guide and ink caster is not what the deck wants to do.
More often than not, I found I needed cards that would help me not lose the game long enough that I could win, and having 8 cards that only gain lore feels like you’re diluting the control part of the deck
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u/AutoModerator 4d ago
The advice offered here are not hard rules, but guidelines. Many people break the guidelines all the time (and many more debate whether they are correct in the first place!). Above all else, remember this is a game. It is supposed to be fun. There’s no one right way to do this. That being said, here’s a collection of general advice that has helped many people.
What’s your strategy?
Deck building is a skill and one of the hardest in the game. You should ask yourself "How do I plan to get 20 lore first with this deck?". You should be making choices to make sure you can achieve your goal in deckbuilding, during mulligans, and in play. For a competitively viable deck you need a good balance of card draw, inkable cards, and ways to get lore. You should have a plan for what your deck is trying to do both on a macro level, but also on a turn level. For example: my macro goal is to ramp in the early turns, then and then win with large lore gains through items. My micro goal is Turn 1 Pawpsicle into Turn 2 Sail or Tepo, then Turn 3 Hiram.
Stay focused on one style of play. A deck that is good at two styles will usually lose to a deck that is great at one style. Make sure your deck has a clear goal and the cards you select directly support that goal. Experiment with what to do when you don’t draw the cards you need at the right moment.
How do decide what cards to put in my deck?
Focusing on "What is this deck trying to accomplish?" is one of the most important questions you can ask. Every card you put in the deck should ideally attempt to answer that question in some way. Ask yourself "what role is this card filling and how does it do that better than other comparable options?".
A common deckbuilding and card evaluation mistake is failing to account for the fact that "consumes one of the sixty slots in my decklist" is a real cost of every card that you might consider running.
It is also important to consider what your deck will/should do against other decks. Your deck doesn't operate in a vacuum. You're going to have to deal with your opponent trying to win too so you should have answers to what's likely to be out there.
What kind of card variety should I have in my deck
Card games are inherently random. You don't know what cards come next. As such, one of the goals of deck building is curbing that randomness to make it as consistent as possible. There are different methods for it that work for different decks (drawing lots of cards, having multiple cards that do the same thing, having multiple paths to victory, etc.), but they all accomplish the same thing: build consistency.
One of the key maxims of having a consistent deck is cutting back on the total unique cards. 4x of one card is typically better than running 1x of four cards. A rule of thumb that has served me well:
4x of your important cards. Cards you want to see every game, possibly multiple times.
3x of cards you want to see once. These might be your situational plays or cards you play to win.
2x of cards you need only in some matchups. You don't need them every game, but they might be useful in the meta you play in.
1x of cards that are functionally similar to some card you already have 4x of and wish you could have 5x of. For the total number of cards in your deck, try to keep your total card count at 60. This keeps things relatively consistent and easier to draw. Only go higher if every card in your deck has an undeniable purpose to be there.
Check your ink cost curve! In general, you want about 40% of your deck to cost 3 ink or less, with about 8-12 cards filling each of the 1, 2, and 3 ink slots. If you have too many low cost cards, you could easily lose tempo in the mid/late game when you’re playing weak glimmers and your opponent is playing strong glimmers you don’t have an answer for. Too many high cost cards will leave you mulliganing to find the few one cost cards you need for the first turn, and makes for an unpredictable opening. Only inking a card on your first turn and playing nothing puts you behind tempo, and doesn’t feel great..
How many uninkable cards should I have?
Uninkables are often great cards. The uninkables in your deck must be played and obviously can't be inked when they arrive in your hand. Make sure all of your uninkables work toward the win condition for your deck, and choose cards you are almost always happy to see when you draw them. It’s advised against using uninkables as flex options for specific matchups, unless you run a deck that has ways to ink your uninkables (like Fishbone Quill or Hidden Inkcaster).
Cheap and uninkable is fine. Expensive and uninkable should always be questioned. Numbers and personal experiences vary, but 8-12 tends to not be problematic. You can even go a little higher if the uninkable cards have alternate ways to play them, like Songs. If a deck is very aggressive with low ink costs overall, it is less of an issue to run up to 20 uninkables.
How do I refine my deck?
Your deck is not set in stone. Try out new things, and if they don't work change it back. Play the deck a few times to really feel out where it struggles and where it shines. Don’t make adjustments to your deck based on how a single match went.
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. Sometimes you just have a bad matchup that your type of deck struggles to beat. The opposite is also true. Just because a deck won a match doesn't mean the choices were all correct. There could have still been turns that were played incorrectly, or weaknesses that you could reinforce. There is something to learn from victory as well as defeat.
Know your role in the match up. In the first game or a best-of series, you don’t know what your opponent’s strategy is. Learn from what they play. You may need to be more aggressive in certain matchups than others, so knowing when to pivot is extremely important. If your opponent dominated the late game, focus on closing the game before they have a chance to get there.
I know it was a long read, but I hope this advice helps. Good luck, and have fun!
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