How to Build

I've posted a lot of decks without describing the exact process by which I come to those decks.  It's something that I feel I should share.  Here's (my) set of steps to deckbuilding:

1)  Find an angle to build around.  Sometimes a decklist can start with a single card.  In my case, I wanted to build a control deck based around Whispering Specter.  The list feel into place from there.

2)  Figure out how to support that angle.  In the above case, I started by trying to splash blue to give me Corrupted Resolve and Blighted Agent.  I naturally looked at other options at this step too, and I found Fallen Ferromancer.  Coupled with Flame Slash, I would have great removal in UR.  I was now stuck; UBR, UR, or UB?

3)  Look at your options.  Maybe you like the deck, but the mana is impossible.  Maybe there's a way to substitute another color to improve mana and give you more options.  In the case of my Infect Control deck, I rejected UBR and UR for the manabase.  I was stuck in UB, though I wanted to play Fallen Ferromancer.

4)  Step back, take a break, and look again a while later.  I looked at it again and realized I was hyping the blue too much; I wanted to build around Whispering Specter, not anything blue.  I decided to try BR.

5)  Fill in the gaps.  Firstly, decide what style the deck is; control, aggro, tribal, ramp, or combo.  Different land counts fit different styles.  Keep this in mind and add cards until you hit the amount of blank spots you need for mana.  Then add the manabase, keeping the deck's colors in mind.

6)  Look at the final list, then re-adjust the balance of cards.  Maybe you added a ton of high-cost creatures and want to add more land?  Maybe the reverse?  Do you want a 4-3 split of Llanowar Elves to Joraga Treespeaker or 3-4?

7)  Shuffle it up and look at what hands you get from random shuffling.  Evaluate your land count, what cards were the most useful, which were least.  Re-adjust your deck until you're happy.

8)  Play it out against a variety of decks.  Re-adjust your deck based on what you see and how cards function in reality rather than a vacuum (for example, removal and discard are useless in vacuum but incredibly powerful in real games).  Find your bad match-ups.

9)  Build a sideboard for these bad matchups.  For example, my red deck has problems with swarm decks than can put tons of blockers out in front of Slith Firewalker or Goblin Guide.  To account for this, my sideboard includes a set or Arc Trails, an Earthquake, and a Slagstorm.

10)  Innovate and adjust as each new set comes out.

That's all I have for you today.  This is how I build decks; other styles have their merits, this one has just proven more consistent for me.

Until next time, play on.