Need serious help trimming a deck

ap0c0lypt1c · Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 2

I recently acquired about 100 older (Champions of Kamigawa or older) black/white cards, but I can't really see how to effectively put these together. There are lots of good cards in here, but having 100+ cards as a deck is way too much, so I am looking for some suggestions as to how to trim some of these cards out to make it an efficient deck.

Any suggestions?

Land
1 God's Eye, Gate to the Reikai
20 Swamps
13 Plains

Creatures
Black
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Abyssal Specter
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
1 Gluttonous Zombie
1 Fog of Gnats
2 Woebearer
1 Carrion Beetles
2 Drudge Skeletons
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
2 Flayed Nim
1 Dauthi Jackal
White
1 Yomiji, Who Bars the Way
1 Windborn Muse
1 True Believer
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Ancestor's Chosen
1 Diving Griffin
3 Soltari Visionary
1 Soltari Trooper
2 Devout Witness

Artifacts
1 Slagwurm Armor
1 Dragon Blood
1 Duskworker
1 Tanglebloom
1 Lich's Tomb

Enchantments, Sorceries, Instants etc
Black
1 Treacherous Link
1 Relic Bane
1 Cabal Conditioning
1 Horobi's Whisper
1 Endless Scream
1 Syphon Mind
1 Contaminated Bond
1 Stir the Grave
1 Betrayal of Flesh
1 Intimidation
White
2 Wing Shards
2 Unquestioned Authority
1 Invulnerability
1 Moment of Silence
1 Fight or Flight
1 Hallow
1 Heart of Light
1 Worship
3 Pacifism
1 Arrest
1 Day of Destiny
1 Tempest of Light
1 Mask of Law and Grace
1 Chastise
1 Cleansing Meditation
1 Sigil of the New Dawn
1 Presence of the Master
1 Shield of Duty and Reason
1 Terashi's Grasp
1 Radiant's Judgement
1 Prismatic Circle
1 Retaliate
1 Roar of the Kha

Sorry its so long! I would appreciate any ideas that you may have.

jdf121 · Joined: 21 May 2005 Posts: 193

I go with white, that seems like what you have the most of. Other than that, try to get playsets. one of's just wont cut it.

bedlam · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 39

This really just looks like a draft pool that you need to thin down. Easy Peasy.

1) Seperate by color and type. this youve already done
2) Remove Filler. In draft there are only 2 kinds of cards. Creatures and removal. If its neither, then it dosen't belong. (I'm looking at you Liches Tomb!)
3) Isolate Bombs. These will be the work horses of your deck and you will fill the rest of the deck in around these.
4) Work the curve. At this point you should have dramaticly thinning your pool (30-50 cards). Lay them out in order of converted mana cost 1,2,3,4,5,etc. The desired effect is a bell curve with the most cards in the 2,3, and 4 cc slots. with a few 1cc's and a smattering of 5+ cc's

If you are under 36 cards, go back to your filler pile and round out your curve so that you alway have options in the 1-3cc slots so that your opponent dosen't just run you over. If you are over 36 cards, here is where you will have to start making hard cuts. Even though this is casual, the game isnt going to be any fun if you don't interact with your opponent. This is a game of two+ people, you should be playing cards too. Stacking up 15x 6CC spells will only result in you losing (alot) with "really good" cards in your hand. Don't be afraid to make hard cuts here. If you make a mistake, you can alway put something back in later.

5) Mana base. More games will be won/lost in this part of construction than with any one single card selection. Make sure you spend the time and do the math at this point.

Look at the curve you have laid out and take into account
- Early drop color requirement
- Multiple color requirements (1WW is much harder to find consistanly than 2W, be sure to weight these cc's higher)
- Mana Requirments of Card Activations
- Mana Fixers

Typically a card pool this size is going to right around 23-24 lands. Only playing the deck will show the "right" number. Very seldom will less lands be needed in a 60 cards deck, don't skimp!

bedlam · Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 39

I just couldn't resist running this through the meat grinder.

Land - 24
12 Swamps
12 Plains

Creatures - 22
Black - 12
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Abyssal Specter
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
1 Gluttonous Zombie
1 Fog of Gnats
2 Woebearer
2 Drudge Skeletons
2 Flayed Nim
1 Dauthi Jackal

White - 10
1 Windborn Muse
1 True Believer
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Ancestor's Chosen
1 Diving Griffin
3 Soltari Visionary
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Devout Witness

Artifacts - 1
1 Dragon Blood

Enchantments, Sorceries, Instants etc - 13
Black - 3
1 Horobi's Whisper
1 Endless Scream - excellent synergy with your 5x shaddow
1 Betrayal of Flesh

White - 10
1 Wing Shards
1 Worship
3 Pacifism
1 Arrest
1 Chastise
1 Sigil of the new Dawn
1 Radiant's Judgement
1 Retaliate

I did end up cutting on wing shards for the Sigil fo the new Dawn because it has some rather annoying interactions with Both Braids and Worship. (recursive Maga *shudder*)

All in all this deck would be quite annoying to play against. Regen, Shadow, Tons of removal. See what you think.

ap0c0lypt1c · Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 2

Thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it, I am working on my deck now, I have cut out ~40 cards. Thanks again!