This post helps MTG players upgrade a deck using an MTG deck upgrades workflow that reduces wasted prints by locking a core list first, then iterating on flex slots, so they can test faster and spend less.
TLDR
Print upgrades in waves so you don’t pay for 87 “maybe” cards you cut after two games.
Wave 1 = Core (mana + the deck’s actual plan). If this part is wrong, everything is wrong.
Wave 2 = Consistency + interaction (the cards that stop you from losing to a single problem permanent and a light breeze).
Wave 3 = Flex slots (meta calls, pet cards, spice, experiments). Keep this small on purpose.
Treat your deck like software: ship a stable build, then patch with controlled changes.
The problem with “one big print order”
The classic deck upgrade arc goes like this:
You tweak a list late at night.
You convince yourself every new card is “basically essential.”
You print the whole batch.
Two games later, you cut twelve cards and stare at your new pile of cardboard regrets.
This is normal. It’s also avoidable.
A clean MTG deck upgrades workflow is mostly about accepting a brutal truth: you don’t actually know your final 99 yet. Not because you’re bad at deckbuilding, but because Magic is a game where context matters. Your pod, your meta, your mulligans, your own tolerance for “cute but slow” all change what’s good.
So instead of printing your entire dream list in one swing, you print in waves.
Printing in waves: the simple model
Think of your deck as two parts:
Core: the cards that make your deck function at all.
Flex slots: the cards that are good, interesting, or powerful, but not required for the deck to be itself.
Printing in waves is just committing to this order:
Core first (because a shaky core makes every test result meaningless).
Then flex (because now your testing actually tells you something).
Here’s the punchline: the core changes slowly. Flex slots change constantly. So you print the slow-changing part once, and you iterate on the rest in small batches.
Wave 0: Sort your list like you mean it
Before you print anything, do one boring thing that saves you money: label every card.
You don’t need a spreadsheet empire. A decklist with tags works.
The minimum tagging that matters
Tag each card as one of these:
Mana: lands, ramp, fixing, cost reducers
Engine: the cards that generate your deck’s main advantage (draw engines, token engines, recursion engines, commander synergies)
Interaction: removal, counters, wipes, protection
Win: the cards that actually close games (or lock them)
Flex: “this might be great,” “this is a meta call,” “this is my favorite card and I refuse to grow as a person”
Now pick a number for your flex slots. For Commander, a good starting point is 8 to 15. That’s enough room to tune without turning the deck into a rotating identity crisis.
If you can’t decide, pick 10. Ten is honest. Ten admits you’re going to change your mind.
Wave 1: Print the Core (the “my deck should function” wave)
Wave 1 is where you print the pieces that make your deck do its job consistently. In Commander, that usually means:
1) The mana base (yes, really)
If you print nothing else, print the mana first. Bad mana makes you mis-evaluate everything else.
Core mana includes:
Lands and fixing you expect to keep
Your ramp package (rocks, dorks, land ramp, cost reducers)
Any “this deck doesn’t work without it” mana engines (especially in higher power tables)
If your deck is multicolor, the mana base is often the first thing you’ll upgrade in paper later too, which makes it a perfect “core” print.
2) The engine that defines the deck
This is the part where your deck stops being “goodstuff with a commander” and starts being an actual deck.
Examples:
A sacrifice deck’s fodder makers and payoffs
A spellslinger deck’s draw engine and cost reduction
A graveyard deck’s enablers plus recursion
A +1/+1 counters deck’s counter multipliers and payoff creatures
If you can remove a card and the deck still feels like itself, it probably wasn’t core.
3) The “non-negotiables”
These are cards you already know you want:
Your commander plan pieces
Your best synergy glue
The handful of cards you would put back into the deck even after a bad night of testing
Be strict. Wave 1 is not “every card that seems good.” Wave 1 is “cards I’d bet money I won’t cut.”
What you do after Wave 1
You play 3 to 8 games (or whatever your life allows) with one rule:
Do not change the list mid-session.
Write down what felt wrong, then change it afterward.
If you change cards every game, your testing becomes emotional support, not information.
Wave 2: Print Consistency and Interaction (the “stop dying to nonsense” wave)
Once your deck actually functions, Wave 2 prints the cards that make it survive real tables.
This wave is about two things:
1) Consistency tools
These are the cards that reduce randomness:
Repeatable draw
Selection (scry, surveil, impulse draw, looting)
Tutors if your playgroup is into that
Redundant copies of key effects (not literal copies in Commander, functional redundancy)
If Wave 1 makes your deck “work,” Wave 2 makes it “work on purpose.”
2) Interaction that matches your pod
This is where people mess up by copying internet lists.
Your interaction should answer what you actually face:
If your group wins with big boards, you want wipes and tempo tools.
If your group wins with combos, you want stack interaction and hate pieces (if that’s acceptable at your table).
If your group plays long value games, you want efficient answers and protection.
Wave 2 is also where you decide your personal tolerance for being the table police. Some players love it. Some players want to cast dragons and vibe. Both are valid life paths.
The Wave 2 test
After Wave 2, you’re looking for:
Fewer non-games (mana screw, doing nothing, dying with answers you can’t cast)
Clearer patterns of what’s underperforming
Whether the deck’s “plan A” actually shows up often enough
If you still feel like you’re goldfishing while everyone else plays Magic, that’s usually a core or consistency issue, not a “need better wincons” issue.
Wave 3: Flex Slots (the “fine, now we tune” wave)
Now you earn the fun part.
Wave 3 is where you print small batches of cards to tune your deck to:
Your meta
Your preferences
The reality that some cards are great, but you hate playing them (or they make your friends miserable, which is socially expensive)
What belongs in flex slots
Flex slots are for:
Meta calls (graveyard hate, artifact hate, anti-token tech)
Alternate wincons
Cards you want to try, but you’re not sure they’re real
Pet cards (in controlled doses)
“Spice” that raises your ceiling but might lower consistency
The flex rule that keeps you sane
Keep a fixed number of flex slots and rotate them like a test bench.
For example:
Flex slots = 10 cards
Every update cycle, you change 2 to 5 of them, not all 10
If you swap all 10 at once, you learn nothing except that you enjoy chaos.
A quick way to choose what to test next
When a card feels bad, label the reason:
Dead: sat in hand doing nothing
Win-more: only good when you were already ahead
Too slow: the table moved on without you
Wrong half: you drew payoffs with no enablers, or enablers with no payoffs
Redundant: you already had enough of that effect
Then pick replacements that fix the specific problem, not replacements that are just “strong cards.”
A simple wave plan you can reuse forever
If you want the whole workflow in one place:
Wave 1 (Core)
Mana + engine + non-negotiables
Wave 2 (Stability)
Consistency + interaction + protection
Wave 3 (Tuning)
Flex slots in small batches
And yes, you can stop after Wave 1 and still have a playable deck. That’s part of the point. You can “ship” a stable version now, then iterate later.
Common mistakes that waste prints
Printing “upgrades” before fixing the mana
If you can’t cast your spells, you are not testing your deck. You are testing your ability to stay optimistic.
Changing 15 cards at once
That’s not tuning. That’s reincarnating your deck as a different deck.
Treating flex slots like a junk drawer
Flex slots should be deliberate. Otherwise your deck becomes a pile of “cards I owned” but with nicer cardstock.
Forgetting the social layer
If you’re using proxies for casual play, clarity matters. Make the cards readable, keep backs consistent in sleeves, and tell people what’s going on. Most proxy conflict is surprise, not principle.
FAQs
How many cards should I print in Wave 1?
Enough to make the deck function reliably: mana base, ramp, and the main engine pieces. For Commander, this is often the majority of the deck, with a small chunk reserved for flex.
How big should my flex slot pool be?
Start with 8 to 15 flex slots in Commander. If you’re constantly changing more than that, you probably haven’t locked your core yet.
How many games do I need before I change cards?
You can learn something in as few as 3 games, but 5 to 8 gives you better signal. The key is to avoid changing cards every game, or you’ll never see patterns.
Does this workflow apply to 60-card formats too?
Yes. The idea is the same, even if the categories shift. Print the stable foundation first (mana, core plan, key 4-ofs), then iterate on sideboard and flex numbers.
Are proxies allowed in sanctioned events?
Generally no. In official tournament policy, “proxy” usually means a judge-issued proxy for a card that became damaged during the event. If you’re playing at a store, ask whether the event is sanctioned and what their policy is.