MTG Wiki:WikiProject Tournament deck articles

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This project aims to expand and improve the wiki's coverage of tournament decks.

To help, you can:

  • Write more articles about tournament decks! This is the most important task. Only a tiny sliver of tournament decks have articles. An incomplete, messy article is much better than no article.
  • Create the proposed infobox.
  • Edit an existing article to bring it closer to the proposed guidelines.
  • Edit this page to revise the proposals or to add your own ideas.

Proposed infobox

Decks should have an infobox template, Template:Infobox deck, similar to other infobox templates. It should have the following fields:

  • Deck name (defaults to article title)
  • Alternate name(s)
  • Header image
  • Format
  • Color(s)
  • Archetype(s)
  • Key card(s)
  • Date range(s) of competitive prominence

Proposed guidelines for writing about tournament decks

Notability

Use your best judgment to decide whether a deck is notable enough for its own article. Consider whether the deck has ever:

  • …received coverage from Wizards of the Coast or other reliable sources.
  • …occupied a non-negligible metagame share, as measured by tournament aggregators like MTGGoldfish.
  • …placed highly in any competitive tournaments.
  • …appeared at the highest tiers of competitive play (e.g., Pro Tour, World Championship), regardless of its performance.

Content

A deck article should contain the following (listed here from most to least important). This is not a prescriptive list of headings.

  • Basic information: name, format, color(s), archetype(s), key card(s), what makes it notable
  • Example deck list: Using deck tags, show a typical example of the deck. If possible, use a real, notable example (e.g., a top 8 finish in a notable tournament).
  • Strategy: How does this deck win games?
  • Metagame standing: Is the deck fringe, mid-tier, top-tier, or dominating its format?
  • History (if applicable):
    • Origin — How did the deck come to be? Who was the first person to brew the deck and/or pilot it to success?
    • Changes over time — How has the deck's composition and/or metagame standing changed in response to new cards entering the format, bans & restrictions, and rotation?

Rely on secondary sources

Compared to rules and products, decks have more gray areas in coverage. Where exactly do you draw the line between aggro and tempo? Which of a deck's three colloquial names should you use? When do two different versions of the same deck become two distinct decks?

Secondary sources can help resolve these gray areas. Whenever possible, follow the conventions established by Wizards of the Coast and other reliable sources when they talk about decks and deck archetypes. The more you can justify your choices by citing secondary sources, the better.

Use Template:WebRef to format your sources.

Future-proof facts that are likely to change

When writing about a deck's metagame share, relative power level, and other facts that are likely or guaranteed to change, qualify the present. The fact should remain true even if the article is indefinitely neglected.

  • ❌ Dimir Midrange is the best deck in Standard.
  • ✅ Dimir Midrange is the best deck in Duskmourn: House of Horror Standard.
  • ❌ Mono-White Initiative occupies 10% of the Vintage metagame.
  • ✅ As of March 2025, Mono-White Initiative occupies 10% of the Vintage metagame.

Style

The names of specific decks are capitalized: Caw Blade, Gruul Mice. The names of deck archetypes are not automatically capitalized, but may include words that should be capitalized: aggro, blue/red combo, Human typal.

Articles should be titled with the name of the deck, minus any reference to format. When disambiguation is needed, add a parenthetical with the format followed by the word "deck".

  • ✅ Gruul Mice
  • ❌ Gruul Mice (Standard deck)
  • ❌ Standard Gruul Mice
  • ❌ Standard Gruul Mice deck
  • ✅ Merfolk (Modern deck)
  • ❌ Modern Merfolk
  • ❌ Merfolk
  • ❌ Merfolk deck

In the above examples, "Gruul Mice (Standard deck)" is not correct because no disambiguation is needed; there is nothing else called "Gruul Mice" except the Standard deck. Contrast with the title "Merfolk", which already belongs to the creature type.

Note
this contradicts the established naming practice: see Category:Tournament decks --Hunter (talk) 07:56, 10 March 2025 (UTC)
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