I am building a crucible of decks to complement my Duel Deck collection and after testing and averaging I seem to have come up with a formula that helps design decks that are on par, if a bit stronger by virtue of not being designed around a single opponent, with Duel Decks.
Rules:
Legacy Banlist
The deck must contain one copy of one Mythic.
The deck must contain one copy of seven different Rares.
The deck must contain two copies each of two different Uncommons.
The deck must contain two copies each of six different Commons.
The deck must contain one copy of eight different Uncommons.
The deck may contain up to four common non-basic lands.
The rest must be basic lands and single copies of different commons.
The deck should have at least the pretense of a theme.
So far I've created some decks that play very well against the duel decks and each other but I was wondering if I'm being blind to some broken deck that could be built with this limitations and since I feel like I've stared at this problem long enough to be blind to possibly glaring flaws I'd like to invite you to try and break my ruleset.
Merfolk seems like one of the better tribes for this. Not having played with these restrictions I couldn't make choices based on the meta, but I'd probably start with something like the the core below. I didn't have time to finish.
Rules:
Legacy Banlist
The deck must contain one copy of one Mythic.
The deck must contain one copy of seven different Rares.
The deck must contain two copies each of two different Uncommons.
The deck must contain two copies each of six different Commons.
The deck must contain one copy of eight different Uncommons.
The deck may contain up to four common non-basic lands.
The rest must be basic lands and single copies of different commons.
The deck should have at least the pretense of a theme.
So far I've created some decks that play very well against the duel decks and each other but I was wondering if I'm being blind to some broken deck that could be built with this limitations and since I feel like I've stared at this problem long enough to be blind to possibly glaring flaws I'd like to invite you to try and break my ruleset.
These are my decks so far:
1x Arashin Foremost
1x Battle Brawler
1x Blood-Chin Fanatic
1x Blood-Chin Rager
1x Brutal Hordechief
1x Cartouche of Ambition
1x Cartouche of Solidarity
2x Chief of the Edge
2x Chief of the Scale
1x Costly Plunder
2x Dauntless Aven
1x Dragonscale General
1x Fleshbag Marauder
1x Foul-Tongue Shriek
1x Glory-Bound Initiate
1x Graveblade Marauder
1x Harsh Sustenance
2x Mardu Hordechief
2x Mardu Skullhunter
1x Mardu Strike Leader
1x Merciless Executioner
1x Paragon of Open Graves
8x Plains
2x Rebuke
4x Scoured Barrens
1x Solemn Recruit
1x Steward of Solidarity
2x Sultai Emissary
8x Swamp
1x Tah-Crop Elite
1x Timely Hordemate
1x Unyielding Krumar
1x Vengeful Rebel
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Blood Reckoning
1x Chain Reaction
1x Circle of Flame
1x Curse of Bloodletting
2x Curse of Chaos
1x Curse of Death's Hold
1x Curse of Misfortunes
2x Curse of Oblivion
2x Curse of Shallow Graves
2x Curse of the Pierced Heart
1x Curse of Thirst
1x Curse of Wizardry
1x Devour Flesh
1x Dragon Fodder
1x Furnace of Rath
1x Geth's Verdict
1x Hissing Miasma
1x Into the Maw of Hell
1x Krenko's Command
1x Malfegor
10x Mountain
1x Pain Magnification
4x Rakdos Carnarium
2x Read the Bones
2x Sign in Blood
1x Spiteful Blow
10x Swamp
2x Wild Guess
2x Banisher Priest
1x Benalish Commander
1x Bladed Pinions
1x Blessing
1x Captain of the Watch
2x Captain's Call
2x Celestial Flare
1x Crusade
1x Crusader of Odric
1x Evangelize
2x Fiend Hunter
1x Fleetfeather Sandals
1x Hero of Bladehold
1x Honor Guard
1x Honor of the Pure
1x Kjeldoran Outrider
1x Launch the Fleet
2x Pacifism
2x Palace Guard
1x Pennon Blade
20x Plains
1x Precinct Captain
1x Quest for the Holy Relic
2x Raise the Alarm
1x Seasoned Marshal
2x Sejiri Steppe
1x Sinstriker's Will
1x Veteran Armorsmith
1x Veteran Swordsmith
1x Veteran's Armaments
2x Anointed Deacon
1x Asylum Visitor
1x Bishop of the Bloodstained
1x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1x Call the Bloodline
2x Call to the Feast
1x Campaign of Vengeance
1x Child of Night
1x Cliffhaven Vampire
1x Consuming Vapors
1x Drana's Emissary
1x Duskborne Skymarcher
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Humble
1x Indulgent Aristocrat
1x Malakir Bloodwitch
1x Malakir Cullblade
1x Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
2x Paladin of the Bloodstained
10x Plains
2x Queen's Commission
1x Rebuke
1x Ruinous Path
1x Sanctum Seeker
1x Sangromancer
1x Skymarch Bloodletter
2x Supernatural Stamina
10x Swamp
2x Vampire Envoy
1x Lord of Atlantis
1x Merfolk Soverign
1x Coralhelm Commander
1x Aether Vial
1x Kopala, Warden of Waves
1x Mater of the Pearl Trident
1x True-name Nemesis
2x Silvergill Adept
1x Cursecatcher
1x Dakra Mystic
1x Merrow Harbinger
1x Seahunter
1x Merrow Reejery
1x Seasinger
1x Wistful Selkie
1x Remand
2x Waterfront Bouncer
2x Aquitect's Will
2x Counterspell
2x Spiketail Hatchling
2x Memory Lapse