Lyrics of the Night : Multiple Copies

One of the most challenging thing about building a deck is the number of copies of certain cards that you want to include in the deck. Granted, there are quite a good number of cards that is generally easy to decide - for example, few includes more than 1 copy of Giant's Blood, or Ancient Influence in a deck simply because they can only be used once in a game, and are rarely game changing, or completely essential to the operation of a deck (at least I've not seen that happening).

There are also quite a good number of not-so-crucial cards that are good to have, and because they are unique, don't normally see more than 1 copy in any one deck - good examples would be all the Hunting Grounds, the occasional Aranthebes or unique allies such as Carlton or Mylan. 

There are exception to the rule of Uniqueness though - not all unique cards are worth only a single copy in the deck. Of course, being unique simply means that any extra copy that you have in your hand when the same card is already on table are dead weight, which is a bad thing; the trade off is that you get to draw the card more frequently, preferably right in the beginning. This is a very common tactic - inserting multiple copies to increase draw chance, and very often seen with speed cards such as Information Highway or Dreams of the Sphinx. In the latter case, since Dreams actually do expire after you use it a couple of times, having extra copies is not necessarily a bad thing. There is also the existence of thematic decks that utilized interesting combos to cycle or exploit unique cards - Soul Gem is the prime example of those kinds of decks~

The issue of how many copies a card deserves to take up in a deck very much depends on what you want to do with it, how often, and how important its place is in the greater scheme of things. For example, a Thrown Gates deck have pretty much the whole deck dedicated to Thrown Gates because that's what it does and Thrown Gates is the most effective card that it wants to draw. Therefore a good number of card slots will be allocated to it.

A deck only has a maximum of 90 cards, and every card is an asset. (or at least should be) The allocation of these slots is therefore an important aspect of the Vtes greater game. 

I commonly allocate 4-6 for cards that I want to use, and up to 12 for cards that I know is very important to me. This ratio is only a guide, and due to the incredible number of cards that I want to include in every deck, there is never enough space. For me, I use these numbers as a reference:-

1 - unique cards, good to have, if never draw, fine, used also for surprise cards or meta cards. Example - Hunting Grounds, Giant's Blood, Mylan Horseed, Carlton Van Wyk, Crimson Sentinel, Entrancement.

4 - semi-important cards that I want to draw as a backup for situations - generally allocated to maneuvers or light combat defense cards. Example - Charismatic Aura, Engling Fury, Nocturn in a non-Nocturn bleed deck.

6 - cards I intend to use frequently but is generally more defensive and not completely crucial to the game, or doesn't expire easily, or is rather costly or risky to play. Example - .44 Magnum in a gun deck, Deflection, Awe, Preternatural Strength, Majesty.

8 - important card that is the backbone of the deck, or have multiple applications. Example - Freak Drive, Ambush in a combat deck, Immortal Grapple, Domain of Evernight, Swallowed by the Night.

10 or more - a must have card, expected to use frequently and aggressively, or requires a good number to be effective, or simply runs out very quickly. Example - Aid from Bats, Kindred Spirits, Gremlins.

Deck recycling tech in Vtes is rather limited, so the exact multiples that you may need to sweep a table is the magic number that you need to prepare for. Having mental excercises on how each attack will consume cards is a good habit if you like to build Vtes decks a lot. I believe that there is no "most correct" number of each type of deck genre, simply because the immediate environment in every community is going to be different, and every person's playstyle will deviate a little. This number will eventually become clear after one toys with the deck for a while, and adapt to the people around him. Of course, this deck will have to evolve whenever a new expansion comes by, or sometimes even react to a particularly interesting or influential new entrant into the game~

And then there is the limitation post by the availability of cards - I would very much like to have 6 Siren's Lure in my Daughter's deck, but I simply do not own that many...

That is the unlife's reality man, sad, but true~

(o.o)