Netdecking - General stuff

[Airact]

The concept of Netdecking is probably known to most of you. You find a deck that's been winning a lot or is otherwise interesting and use it yourself with the hope that you can accomplish the same that the original deckbuilder could, be it to win games, have fun or troll people. Mostly to win though. Every time when there's a massive tournament, people watch it, take the winning decks and think that they can be the next iClipse, Raphael Majere or whoever manages to win the tournament. Almost an equal number of people will find themselves really disappointed about their performance with said decks.

The problem of netdecking in general is that you have no clue how the deck is supposed to be played. You might've seen a game or two in the tournament where the deck was played and though "yeah I got this". You don't. You might not understand the metagame the deck is built for, meaning that you will have a bad time with it if you take it to a different metagame that's bad for the deck. Let's take Raphael Majere's Portal deck (WC2012) as an example:


Majiya

4x Infernal Gargoyle
4x Death Mage Thaddeus
4x Shadow Knight
2x Brutal Minotaur

4x Fireball
4x Lightning Strike
4x Portal
3x Shriek of Vengeance
2x Acid Jet
3x Sacrificial Lamb
2x Supernova

3x Research

Total 40

Probably for most of you, 14 allies seems way too little for a Portal deck and most people would add Brutalis in the deck. That's the 2nd major problem with netdecking: Switching cards without knowing how the deck works. I've seen it happen, I've done it before and it, in 99,9% of the cases, makes the deck worse. This is tied to the first problem: People probably don't understand how the deck works and when they make changes, the changes are most likely in the wrong direction and might even fuck the whole deck up. In this case, if you decide to run Brutalis, it might come to hurt you in the form of you getting a really bad ally back with your Shadow Knight.

Now, the man himself can come here and set things straight if my analysis is wrong but I'll go for it anyway. Portal Maj, especially this deck, is run as a midrange deck. Your early-game goal is to not take that much damage and keep the board sort of even. Your goal is to make your first aggressive play with your first Portal at around t5-6 or so when you are comfortable with the set-up. The 14 allies in the deck come to play here. You might not want to use more than 1-2 before this and you do not want to use your Shadow Knights for anything before the first power-play. Your burn and tech are there to keep the board settled before that power-play so even if your first Portal gets killed, you aren't dead and you can extend the game until you find another.

If your power-play passes. Your allies come to effect, even the ones that should be dead by now. It's time to spam Shadow Knights (or a Brutal Minotaur if there's a 6hp ally on-board and you can't kill it with ability + SK). You should be dealing a decent amount of damage right about now and you are really contesting for dominance either by simply hitting his face and forcing answers or by keeping the board and forcing answers. The end-game should be around when you get to 9 resources and get a Portal up and haste an ally immediately after. The turn after that, sac to 10 and kill him.

The deck isn't the best drawer in the game and as such it doesn't really like dead draws. The ally count is 14 because there isn't really a dire need to spam them and 4x Shadow Knight means you don't really run out. Some people will argue against 3x Research and how it should be 4, but you need to remember that chances are you might draw more than one in a game and that additional one is probably a dead draw for you. You don't want dead draws.

I might be wrong about this of course and mis-analyzing a deck before netdecking it can be really bad, especially if you run it in a tournament. You will hear about it if I mis-analyzed this.

Always play the deck for like 10-20 games before you even think about making any changes to it.



Now, let me share you a deck to analyze. It's way newer than the previous one.


Ter Adun

4x Infernal Gargoyle
2x Plasma Behemoth
4x Darkwood Wraith
4x Death Collector
3x Wild Berserker

1x Enrage
4x Crippling Blow
4x Blood Frenzy
1x Shadow Font
2x Bad Santa
1x Dark Revelations

3x King's Pride
3x Dragon's Tooth
3x Spectral Saber

Total 40


I won't explain yet why I made the card choices or how the deck is intended to be played. The deck might also not be a perfected one. That's always a thing with netdecks. They aren't always perfect.

For some additional internet points: Make a sideboard for this deck.

[jacqui]

That's the 2nd major problem with netdecking: Switching cards without knowing how the deck works. I've seen it happen, I've done it before and it, in 99,9% of the cases, makes the deck worse.

The deck might also not be a perfected one. That's always a thing with netdecks. They aren't always perfect.

Seems contradictory, no?

[Airact]

While decks aren't perfect, every deck has an idea in them you need to understand before making decisions to switch cards in it.

If you don't know how the deck works, or is supposed to anyway, you don't know if your card swaps make the deck better or worse and considering that most netdecks are from major tournaments where decks are mostly refined, the changes you make are most likely going to make the deck worse.

[Maximont]

I generally agree with what you are saying. I am not a fan of net decking as you miss out a large chunk of the learning curve, and part of the fun/challenge for me is creating decks.

On the Ter deck I am probably sideboarding in cards to deal with rush (ironside; rampage), and more cards to deal with stealth & wulven savage (DMT; morbid acolyte).

Please explain what dark revelations is doing there...?

[Diamond Dog]

How much have you tested that Ter deck, Air?

[Airact]

About 30-something games total probably.

I generally agree with what you are saying. I am not a fan of net decking as you miss out a large chunk of the learning curve, and part of the fun/challenge for me is creating decks.

On the Ter deck I am probably sideboarding in cards to deal with rush (ironside; rampage), and more cards to deal with stealth & wulven savage (DMT; morbid acolyte).

Please explain what dark revelations is doing there...?

That would spoil the fun. I think if I ever played this deck in a sideboard tournament, it would have more Dark Revelations in the SB.

[Diamond Dog]

I agree that ter needs an outlet for unused shadow energy, and you dont really need something like Punisher's Gauntlets with all those weapons at your disposal. Dark Revelations here is rather brilliant imo becuase it synergizes well with the control theme.

[Diamond Dog]

The more I think about it I have to admit its a very "tight" and well-put together deck. Whats the highest rating you can go with it?

[Airact]

I've been in the 230-240's for quite a while (since the last test server period, it doesn't reset) and I gain less rating from wins than I lose when I lose.

[4Ak]

I agree that ter needs an outlet for unused shadow energy, and you dont really need something like Punisher's Gauntlets with all those weapons at your disposal. Dark Revelations here is rather brilliant imo becuase it synergizes well with the control theme.

...i myself found Aldmor Conduit really handy in Ter Decks, against some heroes is simply awesome, against others not so much, but then u can use it for awhile and if u ever feel u r giving too many cards to your opp, just destroy it