deckbuilder

English

Etymology

From deck +‎ builder.

Noun

deckbuilder (plural deckbuilders)

1. One who constructs a deck of playing cards in certain games where players can make decisions about which cards to include.
   • 1999 May, Duelist, volume 6, number 5/37, Renton, Wash.: Wizards of the Coast, Inc., →ISSN, page 80:

     Michael Mikaelian will be taking a break from this column to spend time with his lovely new wife Shanna. Starting next month, master Star Wars CCG deckbuilder Woj (fill-in-the-blanks) Jankowski will be taking over for him.

   • 2002 July/August, Mary Van Tyne, “Teamwork pays off in Magic”, in Scrye, number 52, page 44, column 1:

     Another major benefit of having teammates is access to their ideas. You may be an excellent player but a mediocre deckbuilder, while one of your friends is an excellent deckbuilder but a substandard player.

   • 2007, Lorwyn: Player’s Guide, Renton, Wash.: Wizards of the Coast, Inc., page 14:

     After all, there are many ways to succeed in the Magic: The Gathering game. Which path will you choose? Innovative deckbuilder? Storyline expert? Art aficionado? Most sage mage? Savvy collector?

   • 2016 May 5, James Hsu, Magic: The Addiction: My 20-Year Gaming Journey, Charleston, S.C.: [CreateSpace], →ISBN, page 102:

     Although Matt did not play the most mainstream decks, he always had a gameplan on how to beat the top tournament decks. Matt’s identity as a renegade deckbuilder has also inspired me to adopt a similar approach over the years.

2. A card game or board game where construction of a deck of cards is a main element of gameplay.
   • 2020 April 9, “Monster Train: Bringing a twist to your standard deckbuilding card game”, in Ryan Lambie, editor, Wireframe, number 36, Cambridge, Cambs.: Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd, →ISSN, pages 10–11:

     GENRE / Deckbuilder […] It’s not necessarily the engine most would jump to when thinking of a deckbuilder, but Monster Train is indeed built using Unity. […] There can never be a guarantee that something will be good, of course, but Shiny Shoe appears to be making all the right moves in ensuring its deckbuilder has all the ingredients necessary to both stand out in an ever-more crowded field, and to actually be pretty good.

   • 2021 April, Edge, number 356, Bath, Somerset: Future Publishing Limited, →ISSN, page 57:

     Dedicated collectible card games and deckbuilders have enjoyed huge success recently, as we’ve seen with CCGs Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, along with the excellent deckbuilder Slay The Spire.

   • 2022 December, The Games Machine, number 395, Milan: Aktia srl, →ISSN, page 18:

     Nadir: A Grimdark Deckbuilder

3. One who constructs a deck (raised flat surface that can be walked on).
   • 1975 May 4, “Barbecue deck gets summer off the ground”, in Independent Press-Telegram, volume 23, number 41, Long Beach, Calif., page H-7:

     This is the recommended finish and no other finish or treatment is necessary although some deckbuilders will want to stain their new deck to match the house or other garden structures.

   • 1998, Jim Barrett et al., Landscape Structures & Decks, Minnetonka, Minn.: Handyman Club of America, →ISBN, page 134:

     Traditionally, deckbuilders have always installed boards with the bark side facing up, presuming that if the boards cup from exposure to moisture the cupping will be directed against the joist, preventing the surface of the deck from becoming uneven.

   • 2005, Stephen L. Slavin, “The Export-Import Sector”, in Economics, 7th edition, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, →ISBN, page 168:

     By the way, can you figure out the opportunity cost of building the deck yourself? It would be $18,000 (60 hours × $300). So you would save yourself $16,800 (the $18,000 that you earned – the $1,200 you paid the deckbuilder).

   • 2016, Black+Decker, The Complete Outdoor Builder: From Arbors to Walkways, 150 DIY Projects, Minneapolis, Minn.: Cool Springs Press, Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., →ISBN, page 191:

     Some deckbuilders cut strips of ½-inch-thick exterior plywood to the same dimension as the beam members and sandwich the plywood between the boards.

Related terms

• deckbuilding

Further reading

• Deck-building game on Wikipedia.Wikipedia