I always wondered about how I would build weatherlight.dec but I never thought about building the predator one. The good guys seemed to have a tactical advantage in the cards, despite Gerrard Capashen being the crappiest card I've ever seen. Good work on these though, maybe you could get a partner and play a couple of games with these, and tell us how it goes. I can see that being more entertaining than actually reading about the characters.
Gerrard isn't that bad, as free life gain in this matchup is quite handy. Remember, these decks are meant to be pitted solely against each other, and the kills are generally methodical and life-oriented.
[EDIT: I think it would be ok to expand the range of your sets, as long as you don't include cards that are TOO broken (cough bargain cough). I also think it would be a good idea to go highlander on the manabase, which could be feasible if you include more sets.]
I thought about expanding the set range, but that starts getting
very messy in terms of balancing the decks' power levels - lands are usually flavorless, which is why I don't feel guilty including the Onslaught fetchlands or Duals - and other random cards were pulled from early sets due to overall synergy. Bargain really ins't that overpowered in the Predator deck, as there really isn't much in terms of life gain (Claws is about it), and it has to be hardcast in order to hit play - and the Weatherlight deck has counter capability. Bargain can be a fun card when not abused, and let's face it, we need a picture of Yawgmoth in the deck somewhere
Going highlander on the manabase is a definite possibility
. Something like that should be saved for when utility card selection is completed, though.
The Weatherlight deck was built to have a lot of power that builds steadily and consistently (sort of like the light side of the force), whereas the Predator deck is a lot more chaotic in terms of performance, but it has a lot of potential to do some really broken stuff (sort of like the dark side of the force).
You're missing the Blind Seer in the Weatherlight deck. I'd be loath to leave out Urza (albeit incognito) when throwing together a deck of that theme.
I did indeed think about including Blind Seer, but not only does it not have very much synergy with the deck - although he could provide protection from Sleeper's Guile - I thought the inclusion of Urza's Rage gives him some recognition as well as it serving a useful spot removal and direct damage function. Urza is also a planeswalker to boot - and Wizards has a policy against printing planeswalkers as cards - which is why they didn't name the card flat out Urza. My goal, in any case, isn't to have highlander decks that
must feature every legend from Weatherlight, but to make a couple of playable and fun decks to pit against each other while allowing for nostalgia about an erstwhile Magic storyline.
Speaking of Sleeper's Guile, I'm thinking about replacing it with Unmask - which plays into the reanimation capability of the Predator deck (besides the fact it has my most favoritest are evar
). Sleeper's guile was just Ertai fodder, anyways - but Processor can serve the same function.
Starke of Rath is notably absent as well. Despite his earlier role in the story, he would probably be thrown in the Weatherlight deck as well.
Starke simply isn't very much fun to play - the side-swapping isn't the issue, but rampant permanent destruction just doesn't fit into the flavor of the decks as he can flat out kill anything except Tsabo (including the Legacy Weapon, which is just nuts). I wouldn't mind finding some other way of including some Starke flavor, though - which is another reason I would like to put Unmask in, since it shows Volrath masquerading as Takara, Starke's daughter.
I'd move Crovax the Cursed to the Weatherlight because that card portrays him while he was still with Gerrard and crew. Ascendant Evincar is Crovax as a big baddy, and he's already joined the Predator. And there shouldn't be a problem with character overlap, seeing as how Ertai is represented twice.
Crovax the Cursed could probably be cut entirely - the Weatherlight deck was constructed specifically to
not support black (the exceptions being Birds and Petal to allow for Legacy Weapon usage), and the only way to fit the card in was to put it in the Predator deck - which is where his eventual alliance aligned with anyways.
