The Deckstats Deckbuilder

[Morganator 2.0]

Most of you have used the deckbuilder at this point. I'm hoping to have this thread show you the ins-and-outs of the deckbuilder, so that both new users and veterans will learn something new.

The deckbuilder works both in your browser and on mobile phones. All of the things you can do in a browser you can also do on mobile (and vice-versa), the buttons are just in different places. I'll be going through how to use both of them at the same time.

To get started you need to open the deckbuilder. There are two buttons on the homepage labelled "Deckbuilder" and "Build a new deck". There is also a button when you go to view your saved decks and when you're in your collection tracker. The button there will automatically add a filter where the deckbuilder will exclude all cards not in your collection. Lastly, when viewing a set spoiler on Deckstats, there is a button that says "Build a [set name] deck", which will add a filter to only see cards from that set.


Deckbuilder basics
Layout

First thing that happens; a window pops-up and asks you for the name and format of the deck. Selecting the format now will automatically add a legality filter to the card database, to eliminate cards that aren't legal in the format (including stuff like Un-cards and planechase cards).

The layout in a browser is pretty straight-forward. On the left is the card search database with a section for direct card entry just below it. To the right is the mana curve graph (which you can minimize if it irritates you) and below it is your decklist. On mobile the layout is a little different. The mana curve graph is non-existent for starters. Second, the deckbuilder is divided into two sections. The top part has two tabs; card database and basic lands. The bottom half is the decklist. You can minimize the tabs on top by tapping on them a second time, allowing you to see more of your decklist at once. Note: Regardless of whether you are on desktop or mobile, each section scrolls independently of each other. This can be disorienting at first, but it helps to keep things condensed. There is also a toolbar at the bottom of the screen (both mobile and desktop) that allows you to switch to the text-based editor, and the "Analyze" button for when you want to see what your deck looks like. I'll go in more detail about this later.

Adding cards

There are three ways to add cards to your decklist; Direct card entry, searching for the card, and uplaoding/pasting a deck.

Direct-entry
In the decklist to the right, you'll see that each subsection has a place for you to type in cards directly. Easy to use.

Card database
Use this if you're searching for a card or cards. Typing in the search box will turn up both card names and rules text. For example, typing in the word "Fight" first gives cards with "Fight" in the name, and then it gives cards with rules text that includes "Fight". Once you found a card that you want, all the way at the right side of the card entry is an arrow (). Clicking this will add one copy of the card to your deck, while holding down shift and clicking will add 4 copies. Alternatively you can drag and drop cards from the search section to your deck, or you can use the down arrow key to highlight a card, and press enter for 1 copy or shift + enter for 4 copies. This type of card entry is described later in the "Filters" section further down in this thread.

Uploading or pasting a deck list
On the toolbar at the bottom of the screen there is also a button that lets you add a whole list of cards at the same time (or you can switch to the text-based editor). This is the option to use if you're copying your list from somewhere else, or if you are hardcore and want to manually type out your entire deck. Pay attention to the checkboxes, particularly the one labelled "Interpret card names without a number as "1x card name"" and "Merge lines containing the same card name". If you're importing a deck from somewhere else, you can use the "Upload deck" feature from here, or you can copy and paste the decklist. There are also commands that you can add in the text-based editor. Click the "Formatting help" button to see which deck list formats Deckstats supports and which special features (such as set abbreviations, card comments, overrides) are available.

Commander and similar formats

If you're making a Commander deck or one for a similar format (Brawl, Oathbreaker, Tiny Leaders) the first thing you'll want to do is specify your commander(s). To start, you need to specify your format as one that has a command zone. If your chosen format isn't featured on Deckstats (like Tiny Leaders or 2DH) just select "EDH / Commander". If you're using partner commanders (or you have a signature spell in the case of Oathbreaker), you'll need to click on the "Properties" button found just above the decklist. There is a checkbox with the label "Allow multiple commanders (Partner, Oathbreaker)". Check it off. Back in the decklist, find the card(s) that you want to have as your commander. Click the flag icon () next to the name to make that card your commander. On mobile you have to tap on the card name and find the checkbox labelled "Commander".

Filters

If you're adding cards using the Card Database, there will be a lot of cards that you don't want to see. The filters will get rid of certain cards. There are a variety of filter options.
Legality: This is to select your format. This will remove cards that are not legal in that format.
Type: You have your basic types "Creature", "Enchantment", "Instant", but you can also search by supertype (Legendary) or subtype (Goblin).
Colors: There's actually a sub-filter here. "Are exactly" means that you will only see cards that include all of the selected colours and no others. "Containing one or more of" will return any cards that have at least one of the selected colours. Lastly, "Contain nothing other than" will show only cards that contain at least one of the selected colours, and none of the colours that weren't selected. Note that in all cases this filter sorts by colour identity, not the straight colour of the card (Azorius Signet counts as both a blue and white card).
CMC: Only shows cards with the selected converted mana cost.
Rarity: Self explanatory. You also have the option to include commons and uncommons if you're making a peasant deck.
Set: Only shows cards that were printed in the selected set. The first option says "Enter set codes", which allows you to search across multiple sets of your choice at once. Just make a list of the sets' 3-letter code, separated by commas.
Max Price: Gives a price cap on what the most expensive card you want to see is. Useful for budget building.


Advanced options
Subsections and Grouping

If you scroll all the way to the bottom of your decklist in progress, you'll see a couple of buttons, and then sections for your sideboard, maybeboard, and tokens.

The button that says "Group by..." will decide how the cards are sorted after you click the analyze button. The other button says "Create new subsection", and does exactly what it says. If you delete a subsection the cards in that section will be moved to the main section instead of being removed from the deck. There is a similar button found in the top right of your decklist labelled "Sort by..." which organizes the cards within the grouping. It defaults to alphabetical order, but you can sort by CMC, card price, and a few others. You can always alter these options when you are viewing a deck, these just set the defaults.

Note for Commander decks: If you plan on having other Deckstats members review and comment on your deck, it's best to organize your deck into custom sections (mana ramp, card draw, win-conditions, lands, etc). It makes it easier for people to give good advice if your commander deck is organized this way.

To move a card between sections you can either drag and drop the card, or you can click the arrow all the way to the right of the card name () to select which section to move the card to. Neither of these options are available for mobile though. For that, you need to tap on the card, select "Move" and then choose which section you want to move the card to.

Editing card properties
Desktop options


: This is just the spot that you're supposed to drag and drop from. Nothing special.
: Edit card quantity. Either type in the amount or use the arrows to increase/decrease to the desired amount. You can also use the plus sign () to add one card at a time.
: Card name. Hovering over it will show a picture of the card. Clicking on it will open a new window with the card price as well as links to Scryfall and Gatherer.
: Specify the set of the card. Affects the visual spoiler and displayed price of the card.
: Designate this card as your commander. Only available if you selected Commander, Brawl, or Oathbreaker as the deck's format.
: Add a comment to the card.
: Mana cost of the card.
: Now here's a fun option. This a checkbox that you can use to edit a bunch of cards at once. Say you just made a "Lands" subsection. You can check off all the lands and then move all of them to the new subsection. You can also use this feature to delete a bunch of cards at once, change the set of a bunch of cards, or change a bunch of them to foil.
: Delete the card.
: More options! Gives everything I just mentioned, and also let's you designate a card as foil, or override the mana cost of the card. For example you can manually set the cost of a card with "cost=X", which is useful when you are not planning to play a card for its normal mana cost. You can also specify a custom price for a card with "price_tcgplayer=1.00;price_cardmarket=2.00", or use "ignore_price" to remove it from the calculation.


Mobile options

None of the fancy buttons that desktop has, but the principle is the same. Tap on the card you want to edit and a window will pop up with all the same options.

After clicking Analyze

The "Analyze" button is what sets the deck up the for further... well... analysis. Think of it as submitting a rough draft. You can look at the charts to see if the colour balance is good. You can calculate card probabilities. You can get a visual layout of the cards. Test starting hands. Print proxies. So many things that there will be a completely different thread to handle all of it. My point is, the analyze button is the first step towards saving your deck. If you're just making a quick change to a deck you've already made, there is also the option for "Analyze and Save", to save yourself a step.

What shows up after you hit analyze is basically a preview of what people will see (yourself included) when they view your deck. In the top right corner is a button that says "Save" (on mobile its just a floppy disc icon). Guess what it does? Scrolling to the bottom is a button that says "Open Deckbuilder", and here's where things get weird. It reopens the deckbuilder, but then the deck preview disappears. To go back to the deck preview, either click analyze again after you've made your changes, or click on the icon in the top right corner (same icon on mobile, but without the word "deck". The screen will scroll back up to the preview and then you can freely scroll between the deck preview and the deckbuilder. Note that if you're making changes to the deck it won't change the preview in real time, you'll have to re-click the analyze button to see what the changes look like.

Saving

Last step. Saving the deck is pretty simple. Decide if this deck is done, or if it's still a work in progress. You'll still be able to make changes to the deck regardless of which you choose. What's more important is whether or not you make the deck public. If you want other people to see the deck, or if you want the "EDH suggestions" feature enabled, make the deck public. If you would rather keep this deck a dirty little secret, leave the box unchecked. After you click "save deck" and if you want feedback and deckbuilding advice from other users, there is a convenient button that says "Post on our forums" in the window that pops up. You can also use this button to post updates on any changes you made to the deck.