Welcome to a new series of articles I'm calling "The Evolution of a Deck". Every month I hope to publish a two-part article based around what I consider to be an original deck idea; the chief aim being to take the reader on an inspirational journey through the wonderful world of deck-building.

In Part One, I'll detail the contents of the initial version of my new deck, and the strategy I plan to use when playing it. In Part Two, which will come out about two weeks later, I'll talk about the playtesting of the deck: the good match-ups, the bad match-ups, the cards I've dropped, the cards I've added, the kills, the corruptions. I'll then provide a final deck list and summarise what I've learned.

1. PICK YOUR BATTLES

As this is the first article, I've decided to only try out a new Shadow side. This limits the risk involved in using a brand new deck and also means I can attempt to find the right Free Peoples side to go with it along the way.

• Part One - Original idea and strategy
  
• Part Two - Playtesting, deck changes and conclusion