What Makes a Deck Easy to Play

In my last article on the topic, I dug deep into what makes a deck tricky to play. I listed eleven traits that you should be on the lookout for when assessing the difficulty of a deck. I also made a statement about how society assesses certain decks, which I want to quote here so that we are on the same page.

"[W]ith that comes the other side of the coin: stigmatizing the easy decks. Some people like to downplay others' achievements or tournament wins, saying they played a 'mindless' deck. 'A monkey could have played that deck.' It's unfortunate and detrimental to the community. Instead of lifting each other up, it's a way to tear others down.

"Neither this article nor I personally intend to glorify difficult decks or to trivialize the ones I consider easier. I want to discuss factual differences in complexity. Identifying whether a deck is difficult or not can be a meaningful observation. If you're starting out in a format, choosing a beginner-friendly construction is a smart choice. In addition, if you have to decide on a deck the day before a tournament, you should be able to tell which you'll be able to pilot effectively to maximize its potential."

When looking at a spread of decks you can place them in different spots on the difficulty spectrum. In this article I want to analyze what characteristics are emblematic of the decks that you find on the "easy" side of said spectrum.

Simple Deck Composition

This point pertains to decks that lack any intricacies or where the number thereof is minimal. The classic example is Burn, one third of which consists of lands, one fifth of creatures, and the last part of burn spells. In addition, cards within those respective categories do very similar things, barely different from each other. You can usually identify such decks by very short "tips and tricks" sections when you read their deck guides. Another trait is that cards do what they say, there is rarely anything beyond face value.

Low Number of Decisions per Turn

The moment I realized that most control decks belong in this group, I immediately questioned the illusion of control being a supremely difficult strategy. Basically, if your curve is quite high, you will likely cast a three-drop on turn three, a four-drop on turn four, et cetera. This is the case for control in Pioneer and occasionally in Modern. Turn one you pass, turn two you try to hold up a counterspell, turn three you play a planeswalker like or , and on turn four it's time for your mass-removal spell. The reverse would be true if most of your deck consisted of one- and two-mana plays, at which point you could have a lot of permutations of spells to cast on turn four, hence more decisions. If your options are limited to one of two three-drops, the matter becomes much easier.

Scripted Turns

Some decks could be programmed with a simple algorithm to play out its turns until the game's conclusion. An example of this is Red-Green Titanshift in Modern. It's basically all ramp and payoff. In oversimplified terms, each turn you check whether or not you can play your payoff. If you can, you do. If not, play ramp. Keep going through this short algorithm until the game ends. For some decks, the setup turns will be scripted, but the payoff turn won't as there might be multiple payoffs to choose from, each of a different nature. This particular deck has , which works as long as you have seven lands or more, and , whose endgame is similar. Both revolve around and a bunch of Mountains. The more scripted the turns are and the fewer deviations from the script exist, the easier the deck.

A Single, Linear Plan

This point is related, but a tad different from the one above. It's more about the overall game plan and strategy than individual turns and actions. For example, Burn will most likely play a 3-damage-to-your-face game while occasionally acting as a control deck against creature opponents, killing threats with , , and . Bogles have one plan, no questions asked—suit up a creature and go to attacks. You can also look at this as the question of whether or not a deck has a plan B. Decks like Belcher, Mill, or Infect do not. There are very specific conditions the deck wants to meet, nothing less and nothing else. Meanwhile, Amulet Titan has a strong linear plan, but also some divergent paths involving manual Valakut triggers with or Construct token beatdown.

No Card Selection or Tutors

A lack of card selection like or tutor effects such as save the pilot from facing mind-numbing decisions. When you have the whole deck to choose from, it's tough to weigh all the options and to get things completely right. Likewise you have to know exactly what you need to accomplish in order to scry properly. Without these effects, you are free of the decisions.

A Simple Mana Base

This point mainly refers to the absence of a need to sequence land drops properly. When you run a deck with four or more colors, it's a headache to make sure you play the right fetch land at the right time, find the right shock land, and know when to squeeze in a tapped land. With an extremely simple mana base, think of a monocolored deck using all basics, you just play whichever land is the rightmost in your hand and go to town.

Obvious Mulligans

If your deck has prescripted opening hands, it makes everything so much easier. Some decks don't function without a namesake or a way to find it, or without any pressure, or without a particular effect. I love it when there are hands that are predetermined keeps or mulligans. I find mulligans to be one of the toughest decisions in all of Magic. After all, they determine how the whole game will play out.

A Deck Hard to Interact With

If you run a deck that dodges opposing interaction, then you can't be stopped and won't have to stop to consider the possibility. You will goldfish your way through the game and see whether you come out on top or not. Examples of these decks are combo decks in creature metagames, Bogles (against which targeted removal is useless), or creatureless control decks. Everything is much easier when you can do your thing and the opponent can't stop it.

A Deck with Powerful Cards

The more powerful your cards are, especially relative to your opponent's, the smoother your games are going to go. If you play a deck with and against and , you'll be heavily advantaged from the get-go, and you can afford more misplays as your stronger cards will simply bail you out. You may not encounter such a situation at the highest level, but at a local level, you could face an opponent who will quickly feel hopeless while you feel invincible.

This is my list of what makes decks easy to play. Would you add another dimension that I haven't covered? What's the easiest deck you have played? Let us know below! And as always, hold my hand and let's pass the turn together. Cheers!

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.