Deckbuilding

Alright I'm making this thread due to the excessive number of questions I get about deckbuilding.


FAQ:

-Land count:
This is probably the most asked question I receive by far. I hate lands with a passion, they're useless draws for the most part but you usually need at least 3 to run any deck sanely. I recommend for most decks 30 lands at most. In some special cases, like Mimeoplasm, where you're doing self milling or something else similar; I recommend 35 lands. On average my decks run 28 lands, and the minimum I will run in Commander is 26. This includes my utility lands and fetch lands. Note: the recommended amount is on average 40.


-Commander choice:
Your commander should add something to your deck and not just be colors. In my opinion it should help you win the game or help prevent you from losing. Under no circumstances should it be your only win condition though. The commander should compliment the deck not be the deck. So yes I'm telling you not to run the 99 lands Borborygmos Enraged deck


-How much mana ramp should be run:
I run anywhere from 8-24 sources to ramp. I usually stick around 8-14 though. Most of my ramp helps color fix me more than anything. EDH is about who ramps the hardest, and so I do my best to pull that off. You can win a ton of games just by ramping hard enough. In non green decks you probably will end up using mana rocks to accomplish this, but it is possible.


-Creatures:
How many creatures and what type of creatures should you run? That's up to you. I hear this question a bunch and it's really based on preference. What type of deck do you want to build? Creature swarm, aggro, control, combo, or what? What colors are you running? There are a ton of questions that come from this one as it's a case by case question. I run anywhere from 14 - 30 creatures in a deck. It really depends on what you want to do with it. Keep in mind that you want to have your creatures do as much as possible for the least amount of mana.


-Removal:
You need to be able to deal with scary things that might cause the opponent to win. If you're good at playing out of your graveyard/exile and have some tutors you can easily get away with 7 forms of this at most and just keep recurring them. If possible you want to be able to deal with everything (lands, creatures, artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, etc).

-Defenses:
Make sure to have a few ways to prevent yourself from dying early game. These may come in the forms of propaganda, spellbombs, big creatures, etc. Make sure a small aggro deck can't wipe you instantly.


TO BE FINISHED.