I want to build some custom, non-supported format decks with the following considerations:
-Rock solid lore/faction basis. I want most of the cards in the deck to be clearly associated with a specific faction from a specific plane.
-There is some flexibility with lands, or generic spells, but I don't want to cross over planes, even with shared creature types... so no theros tritons interacting with other merfolk. Example, "negate" "duress" etc ok.
-Not exactly block constructed. Revisits to a plane, or generic cards from other sets are allowed. Magic origins also added many thematically appropriate cards. Cards from the same block in different factions would not be ok.
-No modern moneycards. 10 max value on an individual card, but even that is discouraged unless it makes or breaks a deck concept.
-Must be a well thought out constructed deck with a specific game plan, in line with the "new order" of deck archetypes and associated subtypes.
-Possible extension to allow a legendary in the decks colors that plays similarly to a commander in EDH. I like this because it could mitigate some of the mana frustration in MTG by guaranteeing a play on certain turns.
-Major bonus points if it ties into having a planeswalker with lore connections.
The goal for these decks is to have a couple casual decks lying around, tuned to their own closed meta, to be used for casual play by intermediate players who know the rules of the game, but don't have in depth knowledge of the card pool. By restricting the card pools for each deck, the pilot is only exposed to a few mechanics. The lore concept should be strong enough that you actually feel that you are commanding this faction, not some hodgepodge of random cards.
I want them to be powerful enough so as to have a game plan and do exciting things with a payoff, but not so powerful that you can lose the game before it begins. Power level should be significantly higher than limited, higher than dual decks, slightly higher than block constructed, less powerful than standard, and significantly less powerful than modern/legacy. I want both players to be able to PLAY.
I'm not asking for decklists here, though if anyone is interested in contributing that I'm interested. I am just looking for ideas for which factions might be well supported enough to make a decent deck under these restrictions. I only started back in RTR so I don't know the cardpools very well of earlier sets or sets after Tarkir. These are some of what I have so far:
UW Azorius Control - To me this is the standard by which a viability of the other decks has to be judged as this package seems very powerful. Rev, Verdict, D Sphere, Charm, with something like Windreaver as the win condition. Jace can be represented here.
RW Akros Aggro - (Hoplites, Phalanxes, and other soldiers making up the Akros army commanded by Anax and Cymede. Heroic or Enchantment synergies. Compatible flavor options are Iroas and especially Kytheon/Gideon.
Other ideas? The biggest hole is some kind of midrange strategy. Some other loose ideas I've had...
RG Werewolves Aggro/Midrange (Huntmaster price is a barrier). The lore of having a team of innocuous creatures that suddenly becomes twice as threatening is fascinating, but is there enough support for this synergy? How will it have game against Supreme Verdict? Will it be obnoxious to play this many flip cards in paper?
Black - Innastrad Zombies? Innastrad or Orzhov Vampires? Tie to Lilianna?
Ramp - Zendikar Kiora Kraken or Nissa Animist (Awaken) theme?
Elf theme with Nissa, but which plane's elves are deep enough? There could be some generic elves to work with (Elvish Mystic comes to mind). But what is this deck's game plan?
Shards - interested in tri color, but I don't know this well enough to know if any of the shards are powerful enough by themselves.
Burn - Don't know enough of her lore, but Chandra associated cards (ex. Chandra's Phoenix) and fiery burn spells, especially where she is represented (exquisite firecraft).
Thanks for any tips.
Did you ever make any progress on this? I really like this idea. I think you got I most of the best ideas this post, aside from doing things like guild decks for each ravnica guild.
I am doing a similar battle box. I have 10 decks that represent each Ravnica guilds. But it's not just a representation of the guilds but also different MTG competitive strategies. It is also in the budget side, so mostly commons/uncommons. Each deck does run a "marquee" (rare/mythic) spell and an appropriate legendary creature.
I have the following guild/archetypes:
U/W: [[Isochron scepter]] control with the marquee spell as [[Terminus]]. Your basic control deck.
U/B: [[Standstill]] based Draw/Go control that messes with your opponent's head rather than straight up controlling the board. Runs spells like [[Fact or Fiction]] and tons of permission. The ultimate bluff deck.
B/R: [[Reanimator]] "combo" deck. The classic
R/G: "Zoo" aggro/burn deck. Undercosted beaters like [[Kird Ape]] and burn as finishers.
G/W: basic Ramp midrange deck that runs [[Enlisted Wurm]] and [[Llanowar Sentinel]]s to gain board advantage.
W/B: monarch midrange deck. I based this deck from Junk decks that run discard, removal and creatures that gain incremental advantage.
U/R: [[Peregrine Drake]]+[[Archaeomancer]]+[[Ghostly Flicker]] combo deck. I wanted to create a combo deck that is akin to a solitaire game play. It is mostly in the battle box as means to teach new players about combo decks.
B/G: [[Tortured Existence]] midrange dredge deck. I wanted to have a deck that runs a dedicated engine card.
R/W: Soldier matters "tribal" aggro deck.
G/W: Tempo deck. This is actually the deck that I am not set on how to build. It will be a Tempo deck but I still can't decide whether I should build it around [[Delver of Secrets]], [[Lorescale Coatl]] or evolve creatures. In my deck box, this is still under construction. It used to be an Infect Tempo deck but it doesn't play well in multiplayer which what the battle box is played half of the time.
I hope my ideas help you with your own battle/duel deck ideas. Good luck.
-Rock solid lore/faction basis. I want most of the cards in the deck to be clearly associated with a specific faction from a specific plane.
-There is some flexibility with lands, or generic spells, but I don't want to cross over planes, even with shared creature types... so no theros tritons interacting with other merfolk. Example, "negate" "duress" etc ok.
-Not exactly block constructed. Revisits to a plane, or generic cards from other sets are allowed. Magic origins also added many thematically appropriate cards. Cards from the same block in different factions would not be ok.
-No modern moneycards. 10 max value on an individual card, but even that is discouraged unless it makes or breaks a deck concept.
-Must be a well thought out constructed deck with a specific game plan, in line with the "new order" of deck archetypes and associated subtypes.
-Possible extension to allow a legendary in the decks colors that plays similarly to a commander in EDH. I like this because it could mitigate some of the mana frustration in MTG by guaranteeing a play on certain turns.
-Major bonus points if it ties into having a planeswalker with lore connections.
The goal for these decks is to have a couple casual decks lying around, tuned to their own closed meta, to be used for casual play by intermediate players who know the rules of the game, but don't have in depth knowledge of the card pool. By restricting the card pools for each deck, the pilot is only exposed to a few mechanics. The lore concept should be strong enough that you actually feel that you are commanding this faction, not some hodgepodge of random cards.
I want them to be powerful enough so as to have a game plan and do exciting things with a payoff, but not so powerful that you can lose the game before it begins. Power level should be significantly higher than limited, higher than dual decks, slightly higher than block constructed, less powerful than standard, and significantly less powerful than modern/legacy. I want both players to be able to PLAY.
I'm not asking for decklists here, though if anyone is interested in contributing that I'm interested. I am just looking for ideas for which factions might be well supported enough to make a decent deck under these restrictions. I only started back in RTR so I don't know the cardpools very well of earlier sets or sets after Tarkir. These are some of what I have so far:
UW Azorius Control - To me this is the standard by which a viability of the other decks has to be judged as this package seems very powerful. Rev, Verdict, D Sphere, Charm, with something like Windreaver as the win condition. Jace can be represented here.
RW Akros Aggro - (Hoplites, Phalanxes, and other soldiers making up the Akros army commanded by Anax and Cymede. Heroic or Enchantment synergies. Compatible flavor options are Iroas and especially Kytheon/Gideon.
Other ideas? The biggest hole is some kind of midrange strategy. Some other loose ideas I've had...
RG Werewolves Aggro/Midrange (Huntmaster price is a barrier). The lore of having a team of innocuous creatures that suddenly becomes twice as threatening is fascinating, but is there enough support for this synergy? How will it have game against Supreme Verdict? Will it be obnoxious to play this many flip cards in paper?
Black - Innastrad Zombies? Innastrad or Orzhov Vampires? Tie to Lilianna?
Ramp - Zendikar Kiora Kraken or Nissa Animist (Awaken) theme?
Elf theme with Nissa, but which plane's elves are deep enough? There could be some generic elves to work with (Elvish Mystic comes to mind). But what is this deck's game plan?
Shards - interested in tri color, but I don't know this well enough to know if any of the shards are powerful enough by themselves.
Burn - Don't know enough of her lore, but Chandra associated cards (ex. Chandra's Phoenix) and fiery burn spells, especially where she is represented (exquisite firecraft).
Thanks for any tips.
I have the following guild/archetypes:
U/W: [[Isochron scepter]] control with the marquee spell as [[Terminus]]. Your basic control deck.
U/B: [[Standstill]] based Draw/Go control that messes with your opponent's head rather than straight up controlling the board. Runs spells like [[Fact or Fiction]] and tons of permission. The ultimate bluff deck.
B/R: [[Reanimator]] "combo" deck. The classic
R/G: "Zoo" aggro/burn deck. Undercosted beaters like [[Kird Ape]] and burn as finishers.
G/W: basic Ramp midrange deck that runs [[Enlisted Wurm]] and [[Llanowar Sentinel]]s to gain board advantage.
W/B: monarch midrange deck. I based this deck from Junk decks that run discard, removal and creatures that gain incremental advantage.
U/R: [[Peregrine Drake]]+[[Archaeomancer]]+[[Ghostly Flicker]] combo deck. I wanted to create a combo deck that is akin to a solitaire game play. It is mostly in the battle box as means to teach new players about combo decks.
B/G: [[Tortured Existence]] midrange dredge deck. I wanted to have a deck that runs a dedicated engine card.
R/W: Soldier matters "tribal" aggro deck.
G/W: Tempo deck. This is actually the deck that I am not set on how to build. It will be a Tempo deck but I still can't decide whether I should build it around [[Delver of Secrets]], [[Lorescale Coatl]] or evolve creatures. In my deck box, this is still under construction. It used to be an Infect Tempo deck but it doesn't play well in multiplayer which what the battle box is played half of the time.
I hope my ideas help you with your own battle/duel deck ideas. Good luck.
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