Black deckbuilding preferences - Part One...

Since I'm working on an all-Black, all-Skeleton deck I thought I'd..share my method of deckbuilding.

To begin with, I play a 40-card deck. 

Now, I started playing waaay back in the day, as in 1994 - when a deck of 60 cards (with rulebook) cost all of 8 bucks. And while 60 card decks are popular, I've always found them to be too big. Let's face it - the odds of getting through even half a deck in a single game are pretty low no matter how big the deck is...60-card decks even more so because we're talking about 30 cards unused unless you've got spells that allow you to search through your library. Which is fine...unless those cards are among the "lower thirty".

Secondly, I go with what I call the Golden Ratio.

This pertains to Land, Creature and Spell cards. For a 40-card deck this equates to 17, 14 and 9 respectively. For a 60-card deck, the Ratio is 24, 21 and 15. Whenever Mrs. Adorkification builds a deck (40 or 60), she sticks to this in order to be fair amongst the three of us. I define these card types as follows: 

Land cards, obviously, are any cards that give you Mana. This includes cards like Dwarven Ruins, which aren't Basic Land cards, but still provide Mana.

Creature cards are just that - things that have a Power and a Toughness and come into play to either attack or defend. This includes Walls, which may have a Power of zero, but can still block.

Spell cards are every other type of card. Instants. Sorceries, Artifacts (but not Artifact Creatures) Enchantments, Curses, etc... 

I've played my 40-card Goblin deck against their 60's and have won some and lost some, but I've never felt a disadvantage using a smaller deck because in the end is comes down to the shuffle and the deal.

So - using these guidelines for creating my new deck, I then look to specific cards I know I want and firmly believe every deck of every size and color should have: Walls and Life Generators.

Wall of Bone fits right in with my deck scheme and theme. It's only 1/4, but has Regenerate. Yeah, it costs three Mana (I'll get to casting costs another time), but while every deck should have some type of wall in it, any wall that can give damage is a plus. While I don't have this card yet, it will cost me all of .25 cents.

Throne of Bone will do for this deck what Iron Star does for my Red Goblin deck - give me life and save me from Mana Burn. The extra beauty of both? They work for every spell cast of that color by any player...not just me. Adorkette, who's favoring an all-White deck at the moment, loves Lifelink. While that's good for gaining life, I prefer avoiding Mana Burn as well. This one will cost me upwards of .35 cents.

Have I mentioned how cool it is to have a hobby that doesn't break the bank?