Search options

I know this takes an extra step, but can't one simply copy the card lists from the WotC site and paste them into the box to add cards by list?

That is a lot of cards. I have a couple of general pointers.

Learn discipline. Almost all of us build early decks with more than 60 cards. I have been hard pressed to justify that mathematically in a really long time, myself. Any modern spreadsheet program will contain a hypergeometric distribution function. Learn how it works and watch what happens to probabilities when the total population increases beyond 60, and you are limited to just four copies of anything but basic lands (and a couple of rare exceptions).

Evaluate. Not all cards are equal, even in the same spot on your mana curve. Are Hagra Diabolists truly worth twice as many spots in this deck as Hero of Goma Fada? What role does Tithe Drinker, a non-ally, play in this ally deck, especially at a 2-spot crowded with creatures?

Respect the mana curve. Consider that you are going to be drawing a card every turn, with some variation (not always under your control). Can you get to what you need when you need it? If your curve is fairly flat, as this one is, you that will have a linear ramp through five turns. If you have to spend a turn or lose life, that can be a lost tempo, so you might need around 24 land for this deck once you pare it to 60. Deckbox displays the curve above the card list, though it does not differentiate between various card types within the curve (stacked bar graph could be cool, no?).

Focus. You look to have taken a lot of allies to have a lot of allies. That's fine. We all start there, which is how we start out making decks of more than 60 cards (see above). But ask yourself this: of all of these allies' abilities, which are most important to you, and when do you need them? If something is there to be an ally, but not really much more, why take it? If 80% of your other creatures are better than one you have in mind for this deck, and you need to cut creatures (without blowing your curve badly), cut away.

The only time I even designed a B/W ally deck was mid-2010. I have the link to it below, but it only played four games, and lost three (including two where it just plain stalled against others that looked aggro by comparison). You can see what I did, and maybe think where I might have come up short. It is located in my folders under Played->2-star->F. The last folder is the grade it's winning percentage would be in a traditional American classroom. Not good.

https://deckbox.org/sets/310528

This has to be one of the more promising features I have seen you propose, which is no dig on others. I often spend little time browsing other people's profiles for inspirations because so many things are simply lists of cards, not intended for play. I would ask this, though: will this only work for decks that are listed as completed decks (premium feature), or for anything? Also, will it be possible to filter results based upon format, deck size, etc.?

Depending on your comfort level with this, you could use Excel to solve the issue in under 10 minutes. You need two worksheets, with on holding your csv data as currently constituted. Go to a source that has the card name and card number data for the set and import that into a second worksheet. From there, create a new column in the first worksheet and populate it with vlookup() calculations that use the card name as a key to pull the corresponding card number over. If you then want to stabilize the data, copy the looked up values and paste values over them, replacing the formula with the actual values they pulled in.

Export to csv again, and you're all set.

The simplest way to print anything tabular such as this is to copy all rows and columns, then paste the result into a spreadsheet. Images do not get picked up, but you will have sequence numbers and names.

You are quite correct about its being a comma splice (yes, "its" is correct, for anyone wondering, as it is a possessive before a gerund). Comma splices happen, however, and when they do the initial confusion you had can be widespread. I have my BA and MA in English, and I had to read the sentence twice for the same reason.

Pedantic? Yes, but as a fellow pedant and one who appreciates your having commented on it before I got around to it, I've got your back on this one. You were quite kind in how you mentioned it, too. I expect Sebi will take it in the light it was intended.

My biggest concern here is creatures. You have no mana acceleration of any kind, yet only 11 creatures below the 4-spot, and of those, only the Reflector Mage really gives a benefit beyond being a base creature (until you have more mana or can equip creatures and have them die). I would look for more creature value early, whether beefier things or those with more immediate or less expensive abilities. You need to be able to last until you can make use of your creatures, since there is no other way to defeat an opponent with the deck.

The second link is not working only because the link itself is missing the apostrophe, though it appears correctly in the linked text.