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04.19.04 What Type of Deck Are You Playing? Hello to all the patrons of the deck garage. I am your host and lowly mechanic Jason. I would first like to say that I appreciate all of you taking the time to come in and read these article and support the website. I would also like to thank all the readers that responded to my last article and gave such supportive comments. One of the most common things I see in the emails I receive is people say they are not sure what format there deck is or that they are playing a format that there cards are not legal in. This week I am going to follow up last weeks article with an explanation of what the different major constructed formats are called and what cards are legal in them. This does not cover the limited formats of sealed deck and draft. This is so that all of you that are looking for information on tournament formats will have an idea of what is available and what is legal in the different formats. If your deck doesn’t fall into one of the following formats then it is most likely a casual deck. A small point before we go on is to tell you that there are several other formats like Prismatic, Highlander, and Peasant magic. I tried to include the constructed formats that are used for DCI sanctioned formats. I hope that this will enlighten you and if you have any questions or wish to send me your deck list to have me look it over send your emails to pojojason@hotmail.com and I will do my best.Block Deck Construction The term Block constructed refers to the use of only sets available in a block of cards. I will use the example of Onslaught Block Constructed. If you were to build a deck for Onslaught block constructed tournament you could only use cards from the set Onslaught, Legions, and Scourge. This is one of the formats that most players will either claim to love or to hate. One of the positive things about this format is that with such a small pool of cards to choose from, most players will have easy time getting the cards they need to build decks with. The number of different decks is also limited by the cards that are available and some would consider that one of the drawbacks of Block Constructed. Most of the block constructed formats don’t have banned cards but you can find out all of the banned cards from the different sets at the following link. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=judge/resources/banned
Standard Deck Construction (Type 2) This is actually one of the most common formats for play outside of casual play. This format is the one that most tournaments are played with. Standard uses the most common core set, the last sets available from the most current block of cards and the full previous block of sets. So at the least you will have five sets to build from and at the most you will have seven sets to build from. Standard goes thru what we call a rotation when there is a new block released. When the new block is released the oldest block is removed. This rotation of cards keep the Standard(type2) environment from getting stagnant and allows for new players to have the same ability to make decks as the player that have been playing for years. I believe you could look at this format as the answer to making a balance between the haves and have nots. Permitted sets for the current Standard. Eighth Edition Onslaught Legions Scourge Mirrodin Darksteel Banned Cards There are currently no banned cards in Standard. Extended Deck Construction This is the format that many of the new players will find there decks falling into without realizing it. Extend currently has twenty three sets available for play. This format recently introduced the rotating out of sets but on a different schedule than Standard. Instead of rotating a block out every year like in standard, Extended rotates out two blocks roughly every three years. This is one of the formats that gives you a world of different decks to work with. The amount of competitive decks in the extended environment is pretty tough to count but there are always a few stand outs in any current Extended. The one drawback to having so many cards available in a format is that you will from time to time have cards that need to be banned. There are currently twenty three cards that are banned in Extended. This is a great format for the player that doesn’t want to quit playing cards from blocks that are not available in standard or players that just want more cards available with some form of structure. Permitted Sets Classic (Sixth Edition) Seventh Edition Eighth Edition Tempest Stronghold Exodus Urza's Saga Urza's Legacy Urza's Destiny Mercadian Masques Nemesis Prophecy Invasion Planeshift Apocalypse Odyssey Torment Judgment Onslaught Legions Scourge Mirrodin Darksteel
Banned Cards Ancient Tomb Dark Ritual Dream Halls Earthcraft Entomb Frantic Search Goblin Lackey Goblin Recruiter Grim Monolith Hermit Druid Lotus Petal Memory Jar Mind Over Matter Oath of Druids Replenish Survival of the Fittest Time Spiral Tinker Tolarian Academy Windfall Yawgmoth's Bargain Yawgmoth's Will
Type 1 Deck Construction This is the format where most of the decks sent to me fall under. This is one of the fastest formats in the game. It boast turn one and two kills as an excepted event that happens on a regular basis. It has restricted cards which means that you can use one of that card and it also has the second highest banned count in all the formats. This is also potentially one of the most expensive formats to play. As far as I have been informed you will not see a rotation of cards from this format ever. It allows you the most cards to work with and the most deck building potential in all the excepted formats. Card prices in this format can range form .05 cents to $1000 Us dollars. It can be a most entertaining format to play and one of the most expensive if you want to play it on a very competitive basis. Permitted Sets All basic sets All extensions of the basic set All promotional cards released by Wizards of the Coast All limited-edition or large expansion sets Restricted Cards Ancestral Recall Balance Black Lotus Black Vise Braingeyser Burning Wish Channel Chrome Mox Crop Rotation Demonic Consultation Demonic Tutor Doomsday Dream Halls Earthcraft Enlightened Tutor Entomb Fact or Fiction Fastbond Fork Frantic Search Grim Monolith Gush Library of Alexandria Lion’s Eye Diamond Lotus Petal Mana Crypt Mana Vault Memory Jar Mind Over Matter Mind Twist Mind's Desire Mox Diamond Mox Emerald Mox Jet Mox Pearl Mox Ruby Mox Sapphire Mystical Tutor Necropotence Regrowth Sol Ring Strip Mine Stroke of Genius Time Spiral Time Walk Timetwister Tinker Tolarian Academy Vampiric Tutor Voltaic Key Wheel of Fortune Windfall Yawgmoth's Bargain Yawgmoth's Will Banned Cards Amulet of Quoz Bronze Tablet Chaos Orb Contract from Below Darkpact Demonic Attorney Falling Star Jeweled Bird Rebirth Tempest Efreet Timmerian Fiends
Type 1.5 Deck Construction This basically a toned down version of Type 1. The only real difference in this format from Type 1 is that all cards that were restricted in type 1 are banned in Type 2. It was scene as a balancing factor for the type 1 scene but it doesn’t get played as much as Type 1. If you want to play a wider range of cards but don’t have the money to play Type one this can be a good substitute. Permitted Sets All basic sets All extensions of the basic set All promotional cards released by Wizards of the Coast All limited-edition or large expansion sets Banned Cards Amulet of Quoz Ancestral Recall Balance Black Lotus Black Vise Braingeyser Bronze Tablet Burning Wish Channel Chaos Orb Chrome Mox Contract from Below Crop Rotation Darkpact Demonic Attorney Demonic Consultation Demonic Tutor Doomsday Dream Halls Earthcraft Enlightened Tutor Entomb Fact or Fiction Falling Star Fastbond Fork Frantic Search Grim Monolith Gush Jeweled Bird Library of Alexandria Lion’s Eye Diamond Lotus Petal Mana Crypt Mana Vault Memory Jar Mind Over Matter Mind Twist Mind's Desire Mox Diamond Mox Emerald Mox Jet Mox Pearl Mox Ruby Mox Sapphire Mystical Tutor Necropotence Rebirth Regrowth Sol Ring Strip Mine Stroke of Genius Tempest Efreet Time Spiral Time Walk Timetwister Timmerian Fiends Tinker Tolarian Academy Vampiric Tutor Voltaic Key Wheel of Fortune Windfall Yawgmoth's Bargain Yawgmoth's Will
Well there you have it a look at constructed. I hope that this has enlightened you to what is out there and what we are talking about when we refer to decks as Type 2, standard or some other term. Remember if you have any questions about this article or just have a decklist you want me to look at send it to pojojason@hotmail.com and I will do my best.Thanks as always. Jason
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