Hey there! I’m new to paper MTG and play Commander with my playgroup. We’ve been having a debate about whether the total value of a deck really indicates how strong it is. One of my friends argues that value doesn’t equal strength, but I can’t help but wonder when I keep losing to a deck with a higher price tag than mine.
I’ve been playing 1v1 games with my friend for a few months now, so I know their deck almost as well as mine. It can be frustrating when I can predict their moves but still can’t win with my basic deck. I understand the point that a couple of expensive cards in a deck won’t guarantee a win, but when a deck is upgraded with so many pricey cards, it feels like a whole different ball game.
For reference, we both started with precons, and both upgraded. I spent $20, they spent $120+. Inputing my deck list in a deck value calculator returns $103, which is lower than their upgrade alone lol
I don’t mind losing when the match is good. I hate losing when I’m always on the backfoot and can’t do much besides hoping to survive another turn
What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear different perspectives on the relationship between deck value and strength in the game.
edit: I received more responses than I expected, so I’ll need some time to go through them all and respond. Thank you in advance!
That sounds interesting, thanks for the suggestion. We’ll definitely consider it!
I’ll have to understand where exactly is the “issue” lying, first. We both have creature-heavy decks, but mine has weaker creatures that “waste” mana because they don’t bring much to the table compared to what theirs do, not to mention the fact that they can play more creatures than me each turn thanks to the basic mechanics of their deck
We considered this as well, but we haven’t decided on how to do it! For the moment we’re good with just our cards without venturing there!
coincidentally, the Youtuber Salubrious Snail just released a video that’s directly relevant to your question