Playing with Blocks in 2257
moderated discussion - initiated by Jaskulke, moderated by B5DotW

Jaskulke (Jaskulke@aol.com) [5/25/98]

Oh, I got to thinking, why not build a deck in "blocks".  Say you have a defense in depth deck.  Divy it up into a 15 card block that is for the defense in depth, then 15 for the general surrport ( cards like meditation, trade windfall and other such) and 15 for defense ( cards like lack of sutbely, not meant to be and stuff like that).  Then in the sideboard, have 15 cards that make up a different deck, like a sherdian/doom mark deck.  Now you can have three different decks all in one, a saki, doom and a combo of the two.
 

William Cavert (mcavert@sprynet.com) [5/28/98]
 Ok, well, I was thinking about the building blocks idea and it could be a good idea.  The only turn-off is when you do this it limites you. Most decks are built using one main idea and then a couple of other cards are thrown into slow other decks down.  The building blocks idea is another way to build more decks like Versitility that can do almost everything but, they don't execl at one thing that should pave the way to victory.
Kevin Cronin (kcronin@datasys.net) [6/8/98]
        Building Blocks.  When I first saw this, I said to myself, "Hey, I'm not the only genius out here!"  Okay, maybe not, but seriously, I've been using a similar style since the day the original set was released.  It works on a 70 card combination (which some people say seems too much, but I think has worked more than perfect).  40 cards are spent on a concept (Shadows, Vorlons, B5, Intrigue, etc.), 20 on the Faction basic cards, and 10 cards that are unique to a Minbari-Shadow deck (Whee... is that a fun deck to play : )  ).  I combine, shuffle, play.  Result, I have nearly 256 different possibilties to play or more!
        Result, fun for all, and other than that for player game where I was the only player /not/ supporting the shadows, I haven't lost a game since the week after it was released.  Is it tournament level?  Give me a chance against one, and we will see.  The 20 Faction card set, usually gives me a diverse enough scattering to give me at least a chance to 'defend' briefly against other decks, and then the 40 Concept cards give me the push to win with the plot I have set out.
        And for those who believe that 70 card decks can't win, Let me just say this:  IN short games, they have faired very well, and in long games: they have never exhausted of cards and reduced to 'Out of Opportunities'.


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