MTG Salvation

Hi everyone, my LGS has recently launched their sealed league and I am thinking of seeking some guidance with regards to deck building.

My card pool are as follows:


Here's a draft of the deck I thought of using:


I'm highly considering Abzan Guide as well as Empty the Pits. What do you guys think of the deck in all? Thank you!
On a side-note, anyone can guide me on how to break the cards in deck list into different columns?

Both Azban and Mardu have strong cards here, so I think it's a no brainer to build a BW deck splashing both red and green. Is this a 13 or 14 land format? Let's shoot for 14 to start with. Here's the deck:



Compared to your list, I have reduced the red to a splash just for the fireball. Here's the differences between our lists:



So basically you have red as a heavy colour, while I have a whole bunch of high quality morphs and premium removal. I also don't rate the Banner as mana fixing, I think it's a little weak/slow, since it doesn't help you play a morph on turn 3 OR unmorph a 'big' morph on turn 5, which are the two things you are trying to do in this format. I think the cards markes with a (!) are flat out mistakes not to include, since they fill your early creature curve while also not having restrictive coloured mana requirements. The others are more of a judgement thing, and I can easily see wanting to play Mardu Roughrider over something like Rite of the Serpent.

Here's how many sources you have in each colour (not counting the banner)
R 5 sources for 8 red cards
W 5 sources for 8 white cards
B 4 sources for 5 black cards
G 2 sources for 1 green card

Now contrast that with my manabase (counting morphs as colourless cards)
R 2 sources for 1 red card
W 6 sources for 6 white cards
B 7 sources for 7 black cards
G 3 sources for 2 green cards

Can you see how I have FAR more coverage of coloured mana sources for far fewer coloured cards with my base BW deck, splashing both R and G?

To break the cards into different columns just put a carriage return (enter) between the different sections. It's typical to have creatures, spells and lands as the three clusters. p.s. Don't play Empty the Pits.

Thanks for the reply!

Indeed, I neglected the potential bomb in Pine Walker played as a Morph and Pseudo-Vigilance enabler for other Morphs such as Woolly Loxodon and Abzan Guide. My filter process saw me prioritizing my playable (if my judgment is sound, lol) Rare(s) over other cards initially.

I like how you approach the same pool in the manner you saw the potential in the less obvious (to me at least) Green based spells.
Just some personal preference over playing style and (my limited, no pun intended) playing experience - Bitter Revelation seems like a risky card to play from the deck you present due to the few factors. Having 8 creatures in the deck with no access to any cheaper CMC Delve cards in my pool makes it risky, as the dilemma of not drawing any plays on turn 4, but at the same time revealing 3 or 4 creatures acts as a contradiction (albeit minor one) in the deck. I was thinking to sub it with Mardu Banner and cutting a green mana source (such as Jungle Hollow)to create a slot for Timely Hordemate. I seem to have the preference to cut a mana when on the draw, so the banner would just act as a late game Cantrip or early game color fixing when necessary. In addition, as per your statement, I would indeed prefer Mardu Roughrider over Rite of the Serpent.



As per your analysis style:
R 2 sources for 2 red card
W 5 sources for 6 white cards
B 6 sources for 4 black cards
G 4 sources for 2 green cards
(I might be wrong for this, am not familiar with this style of analysis)

I refer to the Probability Table attached closely when I build my decks. In a nutshell, it highlights the cells based on the standard deviation it falls under, assuming a Normal Distribution.

Since our 1-2 drops are creatures which requires B and W to function, ideally we should have B and W sources to be accessible for turn 1 and 2. As such, the minimum number we need would be 3 source of B or W in the deck. From the new list, the next mana demanding card - Pine Walker of 3GG (if hard cast) would have to be taken into account. We would require minimally 5 G source to hit >50% success by turn 5 (assuming 11 cards shown). However, since we have the option of Morph, we can cut some leeway for it.

I also updated my original deck from the initial thread, I noticed I had errant mana base and some cards like Hordeling Outburst weren't performing as expected.



What does everyone think?

Quote from MintStar »

In addition, as per your statement, I would indeed prefer Mardu Roughrider over Rite of the Serpent.

Cool!

I like your list, although I guess it's an oversight to include hordemate over roughrider?

I refer to the Probability Table attached closely when I build my decks. In a nutshell, it highlights the cells based on the standard deviation it falls under, assuming a Normal Distribution.

Sweet! I use something similar myself.

I would put your minimum B and W at 5 sources as main colours,

From the new list, the next mana demanding card - Pine Walker of 3GG (if hard cast) would have to be taken into account. We would require minimally 5 G source to hit >50% success by turn 5 (assuming 11 cards shown). However, since we have the option of Morph, we can cut some leeway for it.

Yeah, I would 'cheat' and rule that all morphs are colourless cards simply because if you never draw your mana they aren't completely dead.