B(D)log

Card Kingdom dropped a new Battle Deck.

Vanishing Act (White/Blue/Black) blinks its own creatures to draw cards, remove threats, and trigger a variety of value generating effects. Now you see them, now you don't!

The deck is now in the archive, though we don't have any specific version lists logged yet. If you picked one up, share it.

Build a Box helps you assemble a Battle Box from scratch.

Pick a size (4, 8, or 16 decks), choose your pool — decks currently in stock at Card Kingdom, your personal collection, or the full archive — and the engine builds a balanced set for you. It optimizes for variety in terms of Archetype mix (Aggro, Midrange, Control, and Combo), color coverage, color combinations, play-stile diversity, and matchup balance. You can lock in a few decks you definitely want to include, exclude ones you'd rather not play with, and regenerate until you find a configuration you like.

Check a Box does the opposite: you bring a Battle Box you already have, and it tells you what's off.

The tool scores your current box across four variety dimensions — Archetype Mix, Color Coverage, Color Combinations, and Play-style Diversity — plus an overall Matchup Balance score. When something's imbalanced, it doesn't just flag it: it recommends specific swaps from your chosen pool, showing the before/after impact on each dimension so you can make an informed call.

Both tools are available under the Balance tab in the main nav. Your collection syncs across the two tools via a code you can save and share, so you don't have to re-enter it each time.

Would love to hear if the recommendations land well for real boxes, or if the thresholds need tuning.

Card Kingdom dropped two new Battle Decks this week.

Masquerade Brigade (Green/Blue) plays its cards face-down to surprise your opponent with a combo of sneaky tricks and huge threats. Keep your creatures' identities hidden until the time is right to make a grand appearance!

Phoenix Remix (Red/White/Black) uses the cycling mechanic to trade behemoths for card draw, then brings them back from the graveyard for an earthshaking encore. Mix in removal and effects that trigger from cycling, and you'll be dropping fire beats just like that!

Both decks are now in the archive, though we don't have any specific version lists logged yet. If you picked one up, share it — every variant matters.

Card Kingdom dropped two new Battle Decks earlier this month.

Wize Guys (Blue/Red) is a wizard-tribal deck built around damage spells and card draw. Zap away blockers, refill your hand, repeat — these grey-beards punish anyone who gets in the way of their lesson plan.

Exquisite Corps (White/Black/Green) goes wide by casting spells from the graveyard to flood the board with tokens, then pumps the whole team to close out the game.

Both decks are now in the archive, even though we do not have any specific version logged yet. If you purchased a copy, share it — every variant matters.

Card Kingdom makes Battle Decks, and that's a gift — a steady stream of clever, affordable, ready-to-play decks for people who just want to sit down and enjoy a game of Magic. But a deck name was never a promise of a single fixed list. As Card Kingdom themselves put it: "Over time, decklists may change, but the theme and mechanics will remain intact."

And change they do, over the years — same theme, different cards — so one name can hide several distinct versions, with no official tally of which was which. Once a version sold out, it was gone, the only proof it ever existed sitting in someone's closet.

So in 2017 I started keeping track. It began as a Tableau dashboard — as far as I can tell, the first dedicated Battle Decks resource anywhere on the internet. In 2018 it moved to a humble Google Site.

This week, after years of collecting and tracking, it becomes something I'm finally ready to put a real name on: the Battle Deck Archive.

It's all here now — every deck, with full card lists across every known version, the version histories, the stats, the strategy breakdowns. Properly organized for the first time.

But here's the thing about an archive like this: it's only ever as complete as what people remember. If you own a Battle Deck that doesn't match what's listed — a different card count, a substitution, a version that isn't here yet — that mismatch isn't an error, it's a missing piece of the record. Send it in and it becomes part of what everyone else gets to see. Some versions only exist here because someone took the time to share a photo.

So come in and look around. Find your decks, dig through the stats, tell me what's wrong or missing. The archive's open — let's make sure none of this gets lost.