Article: Deck Making 101, First Steps

     Hey guys, it's Hurricane, and I've decided to start doing a series of articles on deck making. They will show you everything form the basics to making super advanced decks. To start off, I'll show you the absolute basics of making a deck

Choosing A Deck

     The first, and most important step of making a deck is to choose the deck itself. It's generally best to start by going with an archetype. They generally have good support cards you can add in to the deck, as well as other staples. A good example of an archetype deck is HEROes. They have a nearly infinite amount of support, strong field presence, grave and RFG advantage, as well as swarming capabilities. To start making an archetype deck, it's good to search out some of the cards generally used for that deck, then look for some support cards. After you've piled the cards together, make sure they all fit and work together. In the example of HEROes, Elemental HERO Stratos would be a better choice than Elemental HERO Poison Rose.
     There are many decks that work that don't follow an archetype. Chaos Dragons and Dino Rabbits are some of those. The best way to make a non-archetype deck is by finding cards that work well together. Lightpulsar Dragon and Darkflare Dragon are good examples of those. If a card that you like to use doesn't fit in well with a deck, then simply don't use it. Make sure to have all of the cards work well together to, not just many couples of cards that have somewhat good combos. Also, put in multiples of good cards, not just one of every card that works.

Staples

     After you've piled together essential cards for the deck, it's time to throw in some staples. The definition of a staple is a card that is so splashable, or useable in many decks, that it'll fit into just about any deck. Be sure that the staples you use aren't counterintuitive to the deck's main use. An example of this would be using something like Sangan or Tour Guide of the Underworld in a deck that uses only WATER monsters and has support cards geared towards them. A list of staples in the modern meta are
Sangan
Tour Guide of the Underworld
Maxx "C"
Effect Veiler
Book of Moon
Dark Hole
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Mystical Space Typhoon
Bottomless Trap Hole
Mirror Force
Solemn Judgment
Solemn Warning
Torrential Tribute

Stack and Balance

     Once you've gotten the best cards together, you need to make sure that it has a good balance and the right amount of cards. The generally accepted amount of cards in a competitive deck is 40-41. If the deck is heavily focused on milling your own cards, it's acceptable to have up to 43 cards. After it has been reduced to the correct amount of cards, it's time to work on the balance of the deck. Decks that don't have any specific focus between Spells, Monsters, or Traps generally have 18-20 Monsters, 10-13 Spells, and 9-12 Traps. There are tons of other decks that have different balances. Spellbook/Prophecy and HEROes tend to be Spell heavy while Chaos decks are almost always very Monster heavy. If a deck is well balanced, it will be consistent.

     Overall, the basics of deck making are: Choose a deck you like, add in Monster cards that pertain to the deck, throw in staples, thin it out, and balance it. With this knowledge, you're set to start building

Until next time
          Hurricane

Very nice article you got here, Hurricane! It's simple, concise, and the grammar is pristine, to say the least. Even though I've been dueling for years now, I actually learned some stuff here. I guess it's true when they say it's good to go back to the basics ^^;

Anyway, I'm expecting next week's article with anticipation, and I know it'll be just as good as (or better than) this first one, and I hope this'll be the first of many helpful articles to come. ^^