Knowing how to properly evaluate a card is the lynch pin in deck design. Cutting out the fat, removing dead cards, and optimizing deck synergy are all skills involved in creating a deck that can stand up and fight against anything that you might run into.
Without further adou, lets get into some direct examples of studs vs duds, and explain why they are good or bad cards to put in a deck.
I will be using the following rating system on the following randomly chosen cards, to give you an example of how the card holds up in a typical game from my experiences.
A - All-star card that essentially fits into any deck using its color.
B - Powerful card that will pretty much always make the cut in a deck, only cuttable in certain situations.
C - Good card, but isnt always viable. Shows up in a variety of decks but isnt staple by any means.
D - Niche card. Usually a sideboard card or in a specific deck style.
E - Almost never performs as expected and is pretty much terrible compared to other options, but might show up in a rogue deck idea to some effect.
F - Unplayably bad. There are either far better options with the same effects, or its just simply a bad card that is outclassed by anything under the sun.
1.
Giant growth is a staple green spell. Cheap, efficient, should be awesome right? Well looks can be deceiving. Lets explain this in a little more detail. Giving a creature +3/+3 sounds like a great deal for 1 mana, but there's a problem with this:
1. You need a creature to put it on. What if you have no creatures on the table and you draw a giant growth? It immediately becomes a dead card.
2. You can set yourself up to be 2-for-1'd. On my last post i explained how getting a 2 for 1 is a great way to get an advantage over your opponent. What if you play this on a creature, and your opponent responds with a kill spell on your creature? You lose the creature and the giant growth, which means you are down 2 cards to your opponents one.
3. There are way better options with a similar effect. For example one of the best green pump spells is multi-purpose:
As you can see, this card has 2 different functions on a single card, making it far more useful than a basic giant growth. It still suffers from the same flaws as giant growth, but having the extra function makes it significantly better.
So whats the verdict? Does it just suck? Pretty much. There are tons of better options to put in a deck than this card.
Giant Growth's Rating: F
2.
Cunning Sparkmage has haste, and tap to deal 1 damage to a target of your choice. How can 1 damage be a big deal? Lightning bolt does 3! Again, looks can be decieving. Cunning Sparkmage is an excellent creature that can fit like a glove in alot of different style of decks for many reasons. for example:
1. Having haste means it is never a wasted card. At worst you are going to do 1 damage to a creature or player of your choice when you play a Sparkmage.
2. It extends your reach of your spells and creatures. It basically means your lightning bolt can now hit for 4 damage, or your 1 power creature can block and kill a 2 toughness creature, etc...
3. It combos with Basilisk Collar to kill anything it points at.
4. It keeps planeswalkers in check by stopping them from gaining loyalty.
Pretty amazing what a reusable source of 1 damage can do. The only problem comes when it doesnt have anything to point at, which means its not very good against some deck styles, such as control.
Cunning Sparkmages Rating: C
3.
Holy crap, 8 life for 2 mana! How can you go wrong?! 8 life is a huge percent of your starting life value! Well it turns out you can go very wrong. Life gain is the most deceiving mechanic in all of magic. On one hand you would assume having tons of life would be a good thing, and while that means yes, you wont be dying as quickly, it has the major problem of not actually HELPING you in any way. After all, if you win the game with 1 life left, you have still won the game. its no different from winning with 9023 life left.
1. If you are losing, life gain wont help you win.
2. Life gain does not directly effect the board or your position
3. Life gain gives you no inherent benefit.
4. Life gain does not effect your opponent.
Cards like this are truly deceiving. The only reason i wont give this card an F is because it is a useful to have life gain against mono-red decks who try to snuff you out right out the bat, it can heavily slow them down.
Rest For the Weary's Rating: E
4.
Well this card certainly looks amazing. You get a 6/6 flying trample creature for only 4 mana! Thats insane right! Yes, yes it is in fact! However its easy to forget the little claus on the card that says "you can't win the game and your opponents can't lose the game."
That means as long as this guy is in play, you cannot win. Does that make this card bad? Hell no, this guy is incredible. With alot of decks its very easy to get this guy into play on turn 3, which is an incredible clock on your opponent on a huge hard to remove body. Just remember that you need to be able to remove it from play, which means he doesnt just automatically fit a black deck.
Abyssal Persecutors Rating: B
5.
Mana leak is currently in almost every blue deck on the planet, and for good reason. Mana leak is incredibly easy to cast at 1U, and it can counter any type of spell, not just specific ones. Granted this card can eventually become obsolete when enough mana is on the table, it is still incredibly powerful for the majority of games, and is almost uncuttable from a deck. A basic counterspell might not seem like a big deal, but given how efficient and easy it is to use, its a fantastic card that should be in every blue deck, with little exception.
Mana Leaks Rating: B+
6.
Wow talk about destruction, this spell effectively wipes the board of everything but lands and artifacts. This is one of those cards that treads a fine line between great and not great.
1. costs colorless mana, which means any deck can run it. awesome!
2. wipes out everything, so its only used in absolute emergencies
3. Is unfortunately very expensive, it might be too late once you finally get to cast it.
4. if your playing alot of colorless cards, this can be one-sided in your favor.
Its hard to evaluate a card like this, and heres an easy rule of thumb: if its hard to evaluate, its probably a niche or sideboard card.
All Is Dust's Rating: D
Hopefully things will be at little clearer now when you see a card, and hopefully you will think about its usage and practicality on a broader spectrum than you previously did.
In my next section i will create a budget deck, and explain why im using the cards im using, so stay tuned for that!
In the mean time, i have homework for you new players, here are 6 cards, Evaluate them and post what you think about the cards and ill let you know what i think in response! Feel free to use my rating system to make it easier
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