02/17/2017 - Deckbuilding challenge

Hi folks!

We’re kicking off a brand new challenge today - the Deck Building challenge!

Do you think you can build better decks than we can? If you had all the cards, what kind of deck would you build? Now’s the time to prove you’re the best deckbuilder the game has ever seen!

We will be selecting the top decks for each Planeswalker in each category. They then will be added in-game as pre-made decks for players to build! They will also be required to enter certain future events, so make sure they’re the best they can be!

Each deck winner will have their in-game name proudly displayed in the deck’s description. This is your chance to be immortalized in-game and be MTGPQ-famous!

Here’s the basic rules:

Build a deck for each Planeswalker in the game. The deck must fit in one of these three categories:

Early Game (Planeswalker levels 1 to 40, build using level 1 restrictions)

  • Only commons and uncommons.

Mid Game (Planeswalker levels 40 to 60, build using level 40 restrictions)

  • Mostly uncommons, rares, and 1 Mythic maximum.

End Game (Planeswalker level 60, build using level 60 restrictions)

  • Go nuts! No restrictions, but must be a top-tier deck.

The deck for each Planeswalker must also contain only cards of the expansion it came in.

Here is the list of Planeswalkers and their associated expansions:

Origins:

Battle for Zendikar/Oath of the Gatewatch:

Shadows over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon:

Kaladesh/Aether Revolt

Post your deck creation in the MtGPQ Deck Strategy & Planeswalker Discussion section in the forums, in the appropriate Planeswalker thread for review. You can also post a quick blurb about how the deck works, what combos are effective, a deck name, etc. The deadline for submission is Sunday, February 26th at 11:59pm PST.

Good luck!

PS: A very effective way to build your deck and post it on the forums is through octal9’s great site, mtgpq.info.

For avoidance of doubt, there will be no compensation of any kind for your submissions and you will have no rights to the deck or its design. By submitting a design, you give acknowledge that all rights remain those of D3Publisher of America, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast. We will display your Screen Name (or appropriate identifying name) on the deck, so no copyrighted terms or foul language. Submissions containing either of these will be dismissed. We also have the right to remove any selected decks from the game at our discretion.

I’m assuming Level 60? Maybe that should be made explicit?

I amended the post to make this clearer.

Thanks!

Should we be building the decks for AI or for players to control? I’m assuming for players.

edit

They then will be added in-game as pre-made decks for players to build!Did you mean for players to play?

Seems pretty challenging with the restrictions. I like it.

I’ll give it a whirl later. Thanks!

Does this mean we’ll have to actually own all the cards needed to build these decks in our collection to enter these events? Or will they be provided to us like the Saheeli deck was in the Saheeli Rai event?

JC - any reason why Koth is missing?

Should the decks be made using the minimum level deck restrictions? I.E. beginner decks need to meet the creature/spell/support limits for it at level 1 or level 40?

Also looking for Koth

I third Koth. I sent a pm to both JC and Brigby about it, as you can’t tag or @mention someone yet in a thread

I think it’s safe to assume Koth would be in the BFZ block, but I could be mistaken.

I choose to believe/hope that Koth’s absence means that he is being removed from the game.

No! Shush you!

Thanks for the PM. I’ll get in touch with JC right now. Once I hear back from him, I’ll update this post with the answer. Thanks for your patience everyone!

Update: JC has added Koth to the original post, and I’ve created a Deckbuilding challenge thread in the respective section. I’ll also take some time today to link the challenge threads in this post for everyone’s convenience.

Sorry, that was a mistake on our part! I just added Koth and will add his sub-forum.

This is for an upcoming feature. Basically it’s pre-made decks for players to build towards, so they can play with them.

They should be made with the minimum level restrictions for the bracket.

To use one of these decks, you’ll need to have the cards in your collection. They won’t be provided to you.

So they are like suggested decks? To help people get a sense of the meta? Or will you be able to earn the cards in these specific decks outside of the normal RNG?

I guess I’ll probably have to wait until you reveal the upcoming feature, but the current explanation leaves me wondering what point there is to this.

When I first started playing World of Warcraft one of the things I did was sit around in Ironforge inspecting players of my chosen class from the top raiding guild on our server. I drooled over many a Rhok’delar in those days.

This feels like something similar to that.

edit: Hey, JC - when you say “only the expansion it came in”, do you mean just those, or also the ones before it? Can Arlinn use cards from Origins?

edit2: thanks for the shout-out icon_e_smile.gif

Can we have the deck restrictions, mana gains and abilities of the following planeswalkers at level 1, 40 & 60?
Chandra, Roaring Flame
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Gideon, Battle-Forged
Jace, Telepath Unbound
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
Nissa, Sage Animist

These are the planeswalkers which do not have their information listed on octal9’s site and it would be best to know their stats before building a deck for them at those levels. Even better if you can just provide the full planeswalker data to octal9 for him to upload onto his website. icon_e_biggrin.gif

If the goal is to give players decks to build toward, the restriction of using only cards from the appropriate block might keep them from being top tier if that was the intention.

It definitely makes the deckbuilding challenge harder and more interesting, but I feel like it will lead to a lower quality deck.