User blog:Tagion/BF D.I.P. - Finding a strategy

My Deckbuilding Experience

Lesson 1: Starting a Deck

'''IMPORTANT: This is based solely off of my experience deck-building and is not 'the concrete way'. It's just an option to improve yourself, like how it improved me. Budget is not discussed, and may affect some steps.'''

Ok, first thing’s first, what is a deck used for?

“Well, to win a Buddyfight of course...” Said some random internet person.

Ok, so...how does a deck do that?

“Well, it...” They pause.

Exactly. The first thing that your deck needs to do is that you need to figure out what it does. Like any machine or meaningful art piece, it has a specific purpose to fulfil. But it’s not dead-set...okay, a better example.

Does anyone watch RWBY? We’ll fangirl later, right now, pay attention to the weapons used by the main heroines or other characters. They’re personal, complex and can have multiple uses, but they clearly are capable of extraordinary victory in the hands of its maker.

That’s the same with your deck. You need to figure out exactly what your deck does, and how it ticks. Your deck is your sword, or shield, or bow and arrow set, whatever weapon. You refine it to be your companion for life.

Note that you both (you as player and deck) should evolve. Sometimes the deck isn't up to par because you the player aren't experienced enough to realize things. For that, it's a matter of practice and time...

And sometimes it's a matter of not having the support needed for the deckstyle yet. :P

So how do we find that Strategy? Simple, with these steps I managed to discover.

Finding a suitable metal (strategy)
Imagine the last state of the game. Don't even think about the worlds/specific cards or whatever, just feel.

When your opponent’s life hits 0, what does the field look like? What does your hand and rest of the game looks like? Is there a giant monster on the field, or the Gao formation, or any other condition? This is your “Final Turn” (thanks CFV!). Every deck needs to be able to get to their Final Turn, every match, every time, no matter what the opponent does against that.

Now take one step back from that. How did you get to that state throughout the match? What combos did you us: Did you use complex tricks to outmatch your foe, did you smack them into death with a hit-crit weapon, did you turtle yourself until you found the right moment? Once you determined that, you’ve got how your deck handles in a match.

<p class="MsoNormal">Your deck should be able to near your Final Turn, as well as stop your opponent from reaching theirs at the same time. This is more than not your ideal playstyle, but using it for other types of decks: stall, rush, beatdown, control etc., can work with a bit of innovation.

Forging the Weapon
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, actually creating a deck initially....


 * 1) ·           Find your Final Turn and Deck Strategy
 * 2) ·           Pick a Flag that aligns with your Deck Strategy. For example: Don’t pick Magic World if you want to completely annihilate your opponent with high crit attacks, use Danger World for that. (There might be two or more worlds which can align with your strategy and sometimes the world that is the most obvious isn’t the right choice. It just takes trial and error to figure these out.)
 * 3) ·           With only instinct, build a prototype deck. Good? Play a few games with another deck, and take note of whether you win or lose, and from there, why did you win/lose. The more games you play, the better this part may work out.  This requires Field Analysis.
 * 4) ·           Using your play experience, pick out the Key cards of your deck. A Key Card is a card which, if removed, would render the entire deck useless, or those cards which appeared the most useful in your play tests. Set those cards aside, and then discard the rest of the deck recipe. Key Cards should be run at 3-4, mostly 4, unless you have play experience saying otherwise. Your Buddy is often apart of this group. (     Just a note, while building, make sure that you keep in mind the conditions you wrote while initially playtesting.)
 * 5) ·           From there, look through the World and Generic support for if there are cards which synergise with your Key cards. The more the card synergises with your Key card (and the more Key cards it synergises with), the more it should be added into the deck. These are your support cards, and I’d suggest adding 2-3 copies of them initially. The values can change as you playtest.
 * 6) ·           There should be room remaining for other cards, known as ‘filler cards’. These cards may just exist to fill space for a legal deck, but they should play the extra/backstage cards. These cards may be anything. Here are some examples of what should be included in filler, in order of importance. Note that if your deck’s Key/support cards already fills a void in this list, then skip it: i) Cards that draw from the deck. ii)Cards that block damage from the opponent. iii) Cards that specifically counters a play style or are situational. iv) Extra monsters to fill the void. v) Generally cool cards. Fill in cards as needed.
 * 7) ·           Play test some more! See if the errors made initially are corrected or if they continue. If so, see if that can be fixed by playing around with numbers, or try teching in certain cards at 2 to see if they work well or not. If nothing seems to work, then ask someone else for advice before changing anything. Make sure that the error stems not from the World used, but your own. (DO: My hand is often low of cards. Don’t: Legend World Asgard can’t kill the opponent fast in less than 3 turns!!!1!) (Turbo Asgard would be possible though...hmm...)

<p class="MsoNormal">That’s it. Your deck is yours. As you grow more confident analysing the field, and as the game naturally evolves, your ability to build decks quicker and better will improve. This method was not exclusive to competitive play, so all players can do this to build a deck they're sure to appreciate. (You pour your heart and a bit of time into this, so

<p class="MsoNormal">“But is it that simple...?”

<p class="MsoNormal">It’s not the full recipe for a fool-proof deck, and it might to not suited for some people but it does improve it or give new perspective on certain cards or strategies. And as long as you enjoy your deck once you play with it, and have fun,

<p class="MsoNormal">This is the first in a few tips I've learnt which will hopefully help you guys and gals. A deck to illustrate this concept will be uploaded in the coming days.