How to build a deck

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our How to build a deck article.

[Gi0w 1]

So when tweaking, how many games do you recommend?

 

I personally do the initial tweaking after c. 5 games, but when my deck grows more mature I increase this to 10 or maybe even 15 games.

[SparkSovereign 61]

This is a pretty good guide, and it looks very helpful for people new to the genre.  My only nitpick is that I can actually see Sinister Strike being used in a super-aggressive rush deck; not that that's necessarily a good deck, but if you were to build it you would have a use for the card.  The Kidnapper is its own entire tier of worthlessness (even Pit Lords are more useful), and any card should be offended to be compared to it.

 

Re: tweaking, I generally modify things whenever I identify a problem.  Something like the week of the living murloc rush decks, where I threw Abominations and aoe into every deck I ran even if they hadn't lost yet, and was glad to have done so.  Most of the time it isn't that obvious, though.

[Vlad 411]

So when tweaking, how many games do you recommend?

 

I personally do the initial tweaking after c. 5 games, but when my deck grows more mature I increase this to 10 or maybe even 15 games.

 

That really depends on the quality of the games played. So, if I get crushed by some stupid deck that directly counters mine 4 times in a row, I'll probably play a few additional games. On the other hand, if I have 4 games against different decks, and in all games my deck exhibits the same issue, I'd make some changes right away.

 

 

This is a pretty good guide, and it looks very helpful for people new to the genre.  My only nitpick is that I can actually see Sinister Strike being used in a super-aggressive rush deck; not that that's necessarily a good deck, but if you were to build it you would have a use for the card.  The Kidnapper is its own entire tier of worthlessness (even Pit Lords are more useful), and any card should be offended to be compared to it.

 

Re: tweaking, I generally modify things whenever I identify a problem.  Something like the week of the living murloc rush decks, where I threw Abominations and aoe into every deck I ran even if they hadn't lost yet, and was glad to have done so.  Most of the time it isn't that obvious, though.

 

You're right, you could create some hyper-aggressive deck in which Sinister Strike would have a place. But that's really a fringe case (and if you're doing that, you're probably feeling frisky enough to overrule that sentence in the article), and in general Sinister Strike is just bad. That's actually part of what the article was trying to convey - that you need to keep refining your card choices until you place the *best* 30 in your deck. This means that you'll be removing a lot of cards, some of which aren't terrible (or which might even be good), just because there are other better ones.

 

Thank you!

[Guest timmune]

Very helpful, as always. Thanks much

[Vlad 411]

Very helpful, as always. Thanks much

Thank you!

[Regal 21]

Hey!

This is my first post on Icy-Veins. I've used the site a bunch before, but today I actually created an account :)
I love love love your guide and found it extremely helpful.

However, I was wondering if I could make a request for more depth?
You have how to build a pretty good deck, but what if I want more specific advice based on what type of deck I want?
For example, I would like to see a guide, or guides, that help to lay framework for deck styles.

I like to run control decks (I think) but sometimes I put minions that are more for aggro decks. But to be honest, I'm not even sure if I'm putting good aggro or control cards in!
I've read most of the hearthstone guides on here and tried using the constructed deck lists posted to create my own deck, but I would really appreciate a guide that goes over:

*What each deck style is

*What types of cards or card effects should be in those decks

*A short list of cards that are really good value for those deck styles. For example how Azure Drake and Gadgetzan Auctioneer are really good for control decks

*How the play styles may vary between classes because of class specific cards

*What styles counter what styles and maybe some short analyses of why or at least some viable options for dealing with counters.

I know this is asking a lot, and I don't expect anything like this to be done quickly, but I think it's something that would benefit both new players and advanced players :)

 

Again, Thank you so much for all that you've already done. You're amazing!

[Vlad 411]

Hey!

This is my first post on Icy-Veins. I've used the site a bunch before, but today I actually created an account

I love love love your guide and found it extremely helpful.

However, I was wondering if I could make a request for more depth?

You have how to build a pretty good deck, but what if I want more specific advice based on what type of deck I want?

For example, I would like to see a guide, or guides, that help to lay framework for deck styles.

I like to run control decks (I think) but sometimes I put minions that are more for aggro decks. But to be honest, I'm not even sure if I'm putting good aggro or control cards in!

I've read most of the hearthstone guides on here and tried using the constructed deck lists posted to create my own deck, but I would really appreciate a guide that goes over:

*What each deck style is

*What types of cards or card effects should be in those decks

*A short list of cards that are really good value for those deck styles. For example how Azure Drake and Gadgetzan Auctioneer are really good for control decks

*How the play styles may vary between classes because of class specific cards

*What styles counter what styles and maybe some short analyses of why or at least some viable options for dealing with counters.

I know this is asking a lot, and I don't expect anything like this to be done quickly, but I think it's something that would benefit both new players and advanced players

 

Again, Thank you so much for all that you've already done. You're amazing!

Hey!

 

Thank you for your very nice words. I'm very glad that you find the guide useful. The kind of suggestions you've made are certainly something I'd like to implement in one way or another on the site, but as you guessed, it's quite a lot of work and something that will require a bit of time.

 

For now, I am happy with this guide providing a solid starting point to people who are interested in creating their own decks. I don't want to clutter it with a lot of situational information, since that will just make it less appealing to a general audience. Hopefully we will be able to accommodate your suggestions in some specialised guides in the future.

 

Until then, feel free to use the forum to ask your questions!

[Guest Ty]

How would you go about making a deck viable that relies on cards that just aren't so good? For example, I played Magic for a long time and just love the board-centric growth of creatures associated with green. So I would love to make a deck that gives permanent buffs to Shaman totems. In theory the win condition is "make very cheap totems into something they have to use cards to destroy, thus wrecking their mana efficiency and using the gains to win through board control." But then, the cards that really play into this vibe for me (swordsmith and priestess) aren't so hot. How do you go about taking an idea that is marginally viable, and make it into something more?

[Guest Rendar]

I just read this guide and built a pretty good custom deck for the first time.  Thanks for the guide.. very well written, very helpful. 

[Guest valkyr]

I absolutely love this guide. It helped me to understand a lot of about deck building when I first started, introducing me to core concepts like win conditions and how to distribute my 30 card limit. I had no idea about which cards are good for aggro and which for control and the guide gave me a starting point to do further research. I do feel that there should be an advanced or in depth version of the guide that gives a little list on which cards generally are good in what decks (control, tempo, aggro, anti aggro fun, joke) And list cards for card draw potential.

Perhaps the current guide can give a general guideline on spell to minion ratio. I know i used to include too many spells in my deck without realizing that I'm losing tempo because of it. 

 

One specific question I had about where you mentioned Nat Pagle as one of the viable minions for card draw. I was wondering if that still holds true after the nerf. Theoretically he should draw you at least as much as a loot hoarder, unless you are very unlucky, (more if you're lucky) but nat pagle doesn't trade with anything. It does act as a soft taunt though, so I don't know whether I should be using him in areas where i need the draw instead of a loot hoarder. I recently opened him in a pack but have heard people say pagle is dust fodder after nerf.

[positiv2 952]

I absolutely love this guide. It helped me to understand a lot of about deck building when I first started, introducing me to core concepts like win conditions and how to distribute my 30 card limit. I had no idea about which cards are good for aggro and which for control and the guide gave me a starting point to do further research. I do feel that there should be an advanced or in depth version of the guide that gives a little list on which cards generally are good in what decks (control, tempo, aggro, anti aggro fun, joke) And list cards for card draw potential.

Perhaps the current guide can give a general guideline on spell to minion ratio. I know i used to include too many spells in my deck without realizing that I'm losing tempo because of it. 

 

One specific question I had about where you mentioned Nat Pagle as one of the viable minions for card draw. I was wondering if that still holds true after the nerf. Theoretically he should draw you at least as much as a loot hoarder, unless you are very unlucky, (more if you're lucky) but nat pagle doesn't trade with anything. It does act as a soft taunt though, so I don't know whether I should be using him in areas where i need the draw instead of a loot hoarder. I recently opened him in a pack but have heard people say pagle is dust fodder after nerf.

Nat Pagle is completely useless. Disenchant him.

Don't really know where Nat Pagle would be used in place of Loot Hoarders. It is quite possible that Nat Pagle won't draw even one card.

[allahboy 0]

But where do i build my deck in here.?

[Guest HunterMainXD]

I have been thinking for a long time that my deck lacked power and I see now I may need to rebuild it. Your guide is very good, and helped me understand better how to build decks!

[cooolconnor 0]

how do i submit a deck onto icy veins?

[positiv2 952]

3 hours ago, cooolconnor said:

how do i submit a deck onto icy veins?

You can't. Decks can be only uploaded by our writers, which are currently Pesty and Sottle with one more joining very soon. This way we maintain a very high quality of our guides and decks. You can, however, upload your decks onto our forums to share it with others.