There has been a lot of talk lately in my circle of players
in the comparison to a rogue deck player and a net deck player. There is the
third group that never gets much mention in that conversation. That group
contains the creators of the decks that become the net decks.
Yes, we all have the want to build the next best deck that
dominates the Grand Prix or Pro Tour Qualifier. The sad truth is, unless Magic
the Gathering is your life (as in, it pays all of your bills) then you are
really stuck with making a lucky sandwich with a side of knowledge.
“Information is not knowledge”
-Albert Einstein
That statement is so true and can
be applied to the above-mentioned issue. You can know every card in the current
field and even know the best cards to use for each color, but that does not
translate to knowledge of how Magic the Gathering as a whole is played. Even
history can be a hindrance in assembling a competitive deck. For those that did
not play through Black
Summer, the importance of card advantage is still evident, but the severity
of that offset early OR late, can rarely be realized until it is too late.
So good deck designers get to the
top 8. True. Sometimes. Good net-deck selectors get to the top 8. True. Much
less of the time. It isn’t any wonder that there are players that are in the
Hall of Fame. Those players are there because they consistently spend their
time not only researching and building the next big deck, but they spend time
play testing that deck against other decks. Not just other decks, but the decks
in the field. Not just decks in the field, but the top tier decks in the field.
I would like to think that because I go into the Tournament Prep room on MTGO that
I am playing the top tier decks, but sometimes that isn’t always the case.
Assistance is the key to any good
article or conversation. I am a firm believer that if you are going to pose a
problem or issue, that you in turn have to pose a number of solutions to that
problem. The solutions have to be neutral and not emotionally charged. I will
pose a good solution to this issue, but my solution is not the be all and end
all of solutions.
Go ahead. Build your rogue deck.
But, also build at least 3 of the top tier decks from the last top 8 GP or PTQ.
No, you don’t need to spend monstrous amounts of money to ACTUALLY build the
decks, but build what you can and proxy the rest. You can even print out the
cards cheaply in black and white and slide them in a sleeve in front of a land.
Once you have these at your disposal, play against yourself. What? You cannot
gain anything from this if you know what your opponent has? Yes you can. You
can gain insight to what your opponent is going to do to your deck…quickly. Don’t
dwell on this stage too much, but run a few trials with each of the top tier
decks. You will be surprised how quickly you don’t even have to move past this
phase without making major modifications or circular filing the idea all
together.
Next, get your regular play test
group together and let them play the top tier decks. This is where you get the
fine tuning down on your used-to-be rogue deck that is no becoming a contender.
This is not the short process. You should go through about 15 to 20 games against
each deck, rotating between all the top tier decks before making any changes.
Changes against one deck may falter against the other two or three decks. Make
sure the change works for the field, not the plot of land you are standing on.
The final step is the obvious
step: Field Test. There is nothing like going to a local or regional FNM or
weekend specialty tournament and trying against the rest of the field. Top tier
and rogues alike will appear and you can get a better dial on the nuances and
sideboard changes that need to happen.
Again, this is not a proven method
and may be stating the obvious for some of you, but it is a quick solution to
move you from the rogue player to the “I just won the GP (insert big city)!”
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