Flavor V.S Function

 In a card game such as magic the gathering there are two things that are major to look at. Flavor and Function.

Savor the flavor

Function is the easiest to work with. function asks, "what does this card do" a functional theme takes cards that work together in similar ways and groups them together. for instance, cards that deal direct damage are grouped alongside small low cost creatures to create a burn deck. a deck which relies on dealing a lot of damage quickly. most competitive decks are created to be bound together by function.

Functionally grouped cards

Functionally grouped cards

Flavor is a little harder. a card with flavor is telling a story, this is either contributed by card mechanics, or overall theme. a card about a stampede, if it gives your creatures trample(dealing excess damage in combat to the opponent) would be mechanically flavorful. meanwhile a card with a thematic name alluding to a kingdoms or flavor text reciting a parody of the Iliad (yes that one is real) is thematically flavorful. Flavor is often harder to balance because of its narrative nature.

A flavorful card, The flavor text and the
 effect relate well to each other

Often groups of decks (like commander decks) can be either tied together through one of these angles. for instance The Commander 2014 Deck series (Freyalise) was functionally linked through a similar planes walker commander design. meanwhile the Duel Deck series (evasive action) were all thematically linked through a major battle.

For my decks, despite being called tasteless repeatedly, I decided to link the two decks flavor-wise. my current idea is to make one tell the story of the honorable knights fighting for righteousness, and their king. and the assassins fighting in the shadows for the same goal. and I hope I can connect these two.