| Deck Construction Technique Progression | |
| Newbie Method: | Wow, this is a NEAT card...repeat until you have lots of cards and throw some land in...the "Deck of Many Things and...Land" (added when it won't work as an after thought) |
| Beginner Method I: | Asking another player (usually the one that just tromped all over his gargantuan 200 card "Deck of Many Things and...Land" deck with the evil Power 9 deck of Doom) |
| Beginner Method II: | Asked for advice, and now is using a standard beginner deck type. Thinks he's got a killer deck, but still using 1 of each 2 when he has it. At least he's putting some thought into it. |
| Intermediate Method: | Believes he has mastered building decks, and trots out his latest deck with four of each card etc, but can't win the tourney, and doesn't understand why he doesn't get land when he NEEDS it. (or keeps running into the LD decks) |
| Expert Method I: | Still spends ungodly amounts of money on cards, but doesn't put more than 3 of a card in the deck, unless necessary, and even puts 1 or 2 of a card in. At this point he has a HUGE mass of cards(mostly commons and LAND-good for wallpaper-). He can now build the evil power 9 and tromp the newbie's "Deck of Many Things and...Land" |
| Expert Method II: | Spends ungodly amounts of money building the latest decks he's downloaded off the 'Net. His decks tho are usually proxies until the tournament rolls around, and he ends up playing some variation that loses to the real deal (usually the guy who built the original, or someone who improved on it). |
| Expert Method III: | Builds his own concept decks, usually with mixed results. |
| Disillusioned Expert Method I: | Toss cards together with irreverence to everything, except for the land-uses Dual Lands or Double Lands or Pain Lands-or basic if he feels like it. Will resort to annoying his land destruction loving opponent by playing the expensive no-land deck(remember he has an even BIGGER collection than the Expert player-if he hasn't sold it off to pay his rent or buy more cards) In either case, he will still win-most of the time. He will always claim mana-screw when he loses (he loves multi-color decks). |
| Disillusioned Expert Method II: | Buy 2 starters and a couple boosters and build decks on the spot. He can still win-some of the time (look at what he's using). |
| Disillusioned Expert Method III: | He no longer plays, probably sells the cards he hasn't torched, torn up or lost inexplicably, AND he remembers back when Black Lotuses were a dime a dozen, there was no Type II, you could play with 40 Plague Rats, and fondly remembers when he used to walk all over you with his evil Power 9 deck and smile! |
| Disillusioned Expert Method IV: | Thinks he still has it, and builds web pages like this to sport his wacky deck ideas... :) |