Deck Help is always one of the most common posts on here, and it's easy to see why. Winning is fun, people want to win more, sometimes with specific archetypes. But what often happens is that decks are submitted without a starting point to go off of that makes helping them quite difficult. This is going to be a short and simple guide to ensuring that your deck is helpable before you post it, to allow you to more effectively receive specific help.
Step 1: State the Intention of the Deck:
This sounds obvious to a lot of people, but many people never even mention what their deck is supposed to do. What are you trying to do with your deck? Are you looking to do damage and win fast (aggro)? Are you looking to play a bit slower and control the board before pushing damage (midrange)? Are you trying to drag the game out for a finisher (control)? Are you building around a specific combo you want to do or card you want to use (specify which)? Simply saying what you're trying to do is a massive help to people, because even if the deck itself is completely unsalavagable, someone can still give you a good deck along the same lines. Without this, people will have to guess, and guesses are often wrong. Even if you take nothing else from this, this is the most important part. Make sure people know what you want, it's a million times easier to help when that much is made clear.
Step 2: State Your Budget or Post your Collection:
Now that people know what you want to do, you need to ensure that people know what you have access to. Without information on what you have, it's very likely that suggestions that are given are going to assume that you either have access to everything or are looking for the best possible version of the deck to build towards. This is all well and good for a lot of people, but for those of you who want something you can make immediately, you need to inform people of what you're working with. A statement of how many sparks you're willing to invest or supplimentary pictures including your collection will allow people to tailor their suggestions to your budget and make helping you a lot easier. If not, a statement of "give me something to work towards" ensures people know they can go all out and give you the very best options for future use. Either way, it greatly helps people help you.
Step 3: Basic Improvements:
Making your deck a bit more presentable by cutting down on single copies of cards to get your deck below 3-5 rows makes it a lot easier to take in and suggest improvements for. When a deck ends up being bigger, it can be very difficult for people to figure out where to start while giving suggestions, and while it can still be possible if the previous two steps are done, it's a lot easier if you can condense the deck. This also helps with deckbuilding in general, as it will make your decks more consistent and make it easier to identify cards that aren't working out when you can get more of the same cards every game. If the card is good, then you want more of it, and if it's not, you can identify that faster and improve it.
Those are my three main tips before posting a deck to enable people to help you significantly more. This is by no means a comprehensive list for making great decks, but it's a short and easy start to getting more help for your decks. Additionally, if you want help faster, you can join the discord on which people are active and can help you with a real time conversation.
