Hi there! First post in this forum. First of all, sorry for any writing mistakes. English is not my mother tongue.
BTW, I've already posted this in other sites, but I see this is a very active community, so I guess I can get the help I need:
I own every Ravnica Guild Kit and I find them the perfect product for casual Magic: Decks that are fun, balanced and, above all, highly thematic.
But I love Alara and Tarkir too, and I've been looking for Shard and Clan kits balanced against the Guild Kits for months now. I just want them to have the same structure: Mostly singleton, with some duplicate cards, and playsets of thematic non-basic lands. All the cards have to be mostly for the same block (Alara and Tarkir, of course), but there can be some cards from other blocks if they are thematically appropriate (from the same plane or shard). The most important rule is that the decks have to be balanced against each other and against the Ravnica Guild Kits.
-The Temur deck only has 59 cards. I thought maybe 1 more Heir of the Wilds would be appropriate, but someone suggested Stubborn Denial in Reddit, which seems perfect.
-I don't know what's the point of Memory Erosion in the Grixis Deck. No other card supports Mill, and it's clearly an Esper card.
-The Alara Shard decks have some cards that are obviously part of another Shard.
-I don't know what to think about Planeswalkers in two of the Tarkir decks.
-Last but not least, I don't know if these decks are really balanced.
So, with those decks in mind... any tweaks for making them "perfect"? Again, I don't want them to be competitive, just balanced, thematic and fun.
-The Temur deck only has 59 cards. I thought maybe 1 more Heir of the Wilds would be appropriate, but someone suggested Stubborn Denial in Reddit, which seems perfect.
If you like the idea, go ahead and put it in. Those kinds of decks are for fun first and foremost.
-I don't know what's the point of Memory Erosion in the Grixis Deck. No other card supports Mill, and it's clearly an Esper card.
Maybe the card was read wrong and was included with the assumption that you could mill yourself for more access to unearth. But as it is, you are right, the card makes no sense in regards to the rest of the deck. Some people like to include random 1-ofs just for the lulz of it, though, and to steal games. A friend of mine used to be known as Mr. Chaos in our group mostly because of this kind of attitude. He'd put powerful 1-ofs, he just so happended to have available, into his decks because the deck could play them. And yes, sometimes he just downright caught the rest of us totally off guard and won this way.
-The Alara Shard decks have some cards that are obviously part of another Shard.
The Shards and Clans are really just 3-color combinations. And their sets were designed with Limited in mind, where the lines between those Shards and Clans would naturally blur. There's nothing wrong with playing a black unearth card associated with Grixis in a Jund deck, for example. Especially the Shards as they also blur Lore-wise as the Alara story unfolds. But if getting off theme troubles you, you are free to remove those cards and replace them with something more fitting.
-I don't know what to think about Planeswalkers in two of the Tarkir decks.
Planeswalkers are just another type of card, really. Designed mostly as powerful tools, though, with repeatable effects, which practically equals card advantage. Again, if you are not comfortable with those cards, just replace them. But planeswalkers are part of the game and have been for many years, so having some decks as introductory tools for them is a good thing if introduction to the game is part of your goals.
-Last but not least, I don't know if these decks are really balanced.
Only by playing them can you truly tell. And player skill is an important influence, too. A good player with a mediocre (or even bad) deck can still beat a bad player with a good deck. A player who understands his deck well has quite the advantage against a player who doesn't know what he's supposed to do with the cards. I used to playtest my new decks against my other decks, playing against myself (I did have a lot of free time back then apparently), to get a better grasp of their relative power as well as finding cruder flaws (in both decks). A complete balance of power level is unachievable, in the end. The best you can hope for is for those decks to be of comparable power.
So, with those decks in mind... any tweaks for making them "perfect"? Again, I don't want them to be competitive, just balanced, thematic and fun.
That depends entirely on you definition of perfect. So it's up to you. As long as they make for a fun pastime, you've done well. You are the ultimate arbiter here. The only one, really.
Edit:
If you want suggestions about how to tweak the various decks, it would be better if you posted those decks here (in the Casual forums). Maybe not all in one thread, though, as that will get clunky quickly. Usually it's best to talk about only one deck in a thread. Multiple decks in one thread are entirely feasible, though, but even "only" 5 decks is already pushing the limits hard.
BTW, I've already posted this in other sites, but I see this is a very active community, so I guess I can get the help I need:
I own every Ravnica Guild Kit and I find them the perfect product for casual Magic: Decks that are fun, balanced and, above all, highly thematic.
But I love Alara and Tarkir too, and I've been looking for Shard and Clan kits balanced against the Guild Kits for months now. I just want them to have the same structure: Mostly singleton, with some duplicate cards, and playsets of thematic non-basic lands. All the cards have to be mostly for the same block (Alara and Tarkir, of course), but there can be some cards from other blocks if they are thematically appropriate (from the same plane or shard). The most important rule is that the decks have to be balanced against each other and against the Ravnica Guild Kits.
I think I found what I wanted, almost perfectly:
https://tappedout.net/users/mo123813/deck-folders/
But, I have some minor issues:
-The Temur deck only has 59 cards. I thought maybe 1 more Heir of the Wilds would be appropriate, but someone suggested Stubborn Denial in Reddit, which seems perfect.
-I don't know what's the point of Memory Erosion in the Grixis Deck. No other card supports Mill, and it's clearly an Esper card.
-The Alara Shard decks have some cards that are obviously part of another Shard.
-I don't know what to think about Planeswalkers in two of the Tarkir decks.
-Last but not least, I don't know if these decks are really balanced.
So, with those decks in mind... any tweaks for making them "perfect"? Again, I don't want them to be competitive, just balanced, thematic and fun.
Cheers!
If you like the idea, go ahead and put it in. Those kinds of decks are for fun first and foremost.
Maybe the card was read wrong and was included with the assumption that you could mill yourself for more access to unearth. But as it is, you are right, the card makes no sense in regards to the rest of the deck. Some people like to include random 1-ofs just for the lulz of it, though, and to steal games. A friend of mine used to be known as Mr. Chaos in our group mostly because of this kind of attitude. He'd put powerful 1-ofs, he just so happended to have available, into his decks because the deck could play them. And yes, sometimes he just downright caught the rest of us totally off guard and won this way.
The Shards and Clans are really just 3-color combinations. And their sets were designed with Limited in mind, where the lines between those Shards and Clans would naturally blur. There's nothing wrong with playing a black unearth card associated with Grixis in a Jund deck, for example. Especially the Shards as they also blur Lore-wise as the Alara story unfolds. But if getting off theme troubles you, you are free to remove those cards and replace them with something more fitting.
Planeswalkers are just another type of card, really. Designed mostly as powerful tools, though, with repeatable effects, which practically equals card advantage. Again, if you are not comfortable with those cards, just replace them. But planeswalkers are part of the game and have been for many years, so having some decks as introductory tools for them is a good thing if introduction to the game is part of your goals.
Only by playing them can you truly tell. And player skill is an important influence, too. A good player with a mediocre (or even bad) deck can still beat a bad player with a good deck. A player who understands his deck well has quite the advantage against a player who doesn't know what he's supposed to do with the cards. I used to playtest my new decks against my other decks, playing against myself (I did have a lot of free time back then apparently), to get a better grasp of their relative power as well as finding cruder flaws (in both decks). A complete balance of power level is unachievable, in the end. The best you can hope for is for those decks to be of comparable power.
That depends entirely on you definition of perfect. So it's up to you. As long as they make for a fun pastime, you've done well. You are the ultimate arbiter here. The only one, really.
Edit:
If you want suggestions about how to tweak the various decks, it would be better if you posted those decks here (in the Casual forums). Maybe not all in one thread, though, as that will get clunky quickly. Usually it's best to talk about only one deck in a thread. Multiple decks in one thread are entirely feasible, though, but even "only" 5 decks is already pushing the limits hard.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)