Just getting back into actually playing semi-competitively for first time in years. My selection of standard legal cards is fairly shallow (fat pack from each of Zen block sets and some other assorted, plus all my older cards that got reprinted in M10/M11).
I've asked around on some other sites about some fun semi-competitive decks for FNM, as myself and my li'l sis are going fairly weekly now, but most ppl seem to consider a "budget" deck to be in the $150+ range... ludicrous.
So... open to suggestions, but I'm *NOT* looking to dump $30-40 bucks on individual cards.... I'd rather buy packs/boxes and trade for what I need.
That said... any thoughts are welcome. I personally love milling strategies, but from what I've seen in the current standard... it doesn't seem viable. I'm more of a control player, and my sis is more aggro... both can stand a bit of combo thrown in.
Thanks in advance for your help. Oh and if this isn't the right place for this thread, feel free to move it and let me know (PM).
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Yeah, mill is kind of bad with the legendary eldrazi floating around. Control? I'd suggest a mono blue control deck or a UW budget control. Yakusoku's Budget Guide to standard in the Standard Deck Creation is really good to look at for this kind of thing.
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There are some interesting budget strategies floating around in the Developing Competitive forum. There's Pyromancer Combo, RB Discard, Mono-White control, and even Mono-U Permission could be effective in this meta if you do your homework.
I have heard vague rumors of a moustache-dispensing vending machine in a distant laundromat, across the street from a tattoo parlor. However, this information is shaky, and time is of the essence.
Jund is the cheapest T1 deck, since you don't want to lay down 30-40 on a single card that cuts out blue completely... The naya destructive force deck seems pretty decent though you really would need knight of the reliquary (a conflux card). Also, Bant/Shaman decks are probably a no-no (vengevine).
I guess that leaves you with random stuff like RB discard/burn, its not that bad, if you can get bit-blast and blightnings. You could do a BU mill and use leyline of the void and hedron crab/whatever else blue can mill with, that could be fun though not terribly good.
Honestly you are probably looking at a red or black deck if you want to be really competitve the other colors have too many money cards that demand play if you use them:
white: baneslayer, Gideon, Elspeth
blue: Jace TMS
green: primeval titan, Vengevine
Runeflare Trap B/R Megrim and Pyromancer acension are all prettyy cheap
They are cheap and on THE FNM level very effective. Not many people are going to sideboard the hate cards for these decks.
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They are cheap and on THE FNM level very effective. Not many people are going to sideboard the hate cards for these decks.
and all have some pretty nasty combos and are really hard to get bored of because they are fun to play but yeah if you want a cheap and effective deck the prices for each deck are
B/R Megrim should be at most $50 with the sideboard
Runeflare should be about 85-100
nd pyromancer should be about the same as runeflare mabye a littlebit more
RDW, white weenie, and (possibly) some variant of mono-black are all decent fnm things to build that don't involve Jace2 or Vengevine, the two linchpins in expense at the moment.
Pyromancer's is a great deck for FNM as well, especially to learn control/combo. however, it's only going to be viable for another one or two months (Time Warp goes out with Scars) and is a bit difficult to play if you've never done it before. still a blast to play though.
Take your monoblack deck, then set aside 14 swamps. Add 4 Creeping Tar Pits, 4 Darkslick Shores, 4 Drowned Catacombs, and 2 Jwar isle Refuge and add 4 Jace, the Mindsculptors. Your monoblack deck is instantly better. Better yet, drop those refuges, throw in some islands and some mana leaks, and lo and behold, you're now playing a real deck. Congratulations. Welcome to the world of competitive M:TG.
I've asked around on some other sites about some fun semi-competitive decks for FNM, as myself and my li'l sis are going fairly weekly now, but most ppl seem to consider a "budget" deck to be in the $150+ range... ludicrous.
So... open to suggestions, but I'm *NOT* looking to dump $30-40 bucks on individual cards.... I'd rather buy packs/boxes and trade for what I need.
Hate to say it, but $150 to $200 IS the "budget" range these days, as opposed to the $50 to $100 of about five years ago. When you say you don't want to spend $30-40 bucks on individual cards, do you mean per card, or do you mean you're not willing to buy singles at all. If the latter is the case, it's going to be a loooong time before you and your sister have even semi-playable decks, since the vast majority of cards you get from packs, nobody will want to trade for. There's no such thing as semi-competitive, either you're competitive, or you're not.
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I know you said its not your type of deck, but red deck wins is competitive and inexpensive (besides fetches and dragonlords its all cheap) also pyromancer's is a good deck and also competive while being thrifty.
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UW Sun Titan Control. It's under $100 [sans PW's that aren't mini Jace anyways] and is really competitive.
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my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
I have been running a very cheap mono white life gain deck at FNM. The deck is focused around the synergy of Ajani's Pridemate, soul warden, soul's attendant, and conqueror's pledge. Very cheap to make and you can spend on what you want to make it better. I threw in serra ascendant which is very powerful in this deck. Especially with turn 2 rest for the weary. I also run some white control cards in it as well. oblivion ring, condemn, journey to nowhere... Any way the cards for the deck are very cheap. The deck has been able to beat RDW easily and Mythic Conscription. The only weakness is to JUND. However, I have been able to hang with UW control.
Yea, the lifegain builds are suprisingly solid for a cheap deck from what I've seen of them - but one quibble with your cards listed - wouldn't the Kor token maker from ROE be better than Pledge a majority of the time?
And as stated, most of RDW can be done on a budget - only a few cards from it are expensive, and easily replaced with options that while good are less optimal than the much more costly options.
Also, keep in mind there's a reasonable number of folks that post on these forums that don't differentiate between the various sections of the Type 2 boards and they will assume your use of the word "competitive" means Tier 1 - when I'd imagine what you really mean is you want to be able to show up at reasonably mellow events (FNMs and the like) and have a chance at any given matchup, not that you're going to have great w/l % against every build on the block.
Yea, the lifegain builds are suprisingly solid for a cheap deck from what I've seen of them - but one quibble with your cards listed - wouldn't the Kor token maker from ROE be better than Pledge a majority of the time?
And as stated, most of RDW can be done on a budget - only a few cards from it are expensive, and easily replaced with options that while good are less optimal than the much more costly options.
I had thought about using the kor token maker instead, however, my version of the deck doesn't run quite as creature heavy so I like to have 6 garanteed tokens for 1 less mana. Plus, day of judgment hits this deck hard so playing a pledge after they wipe the board is nice. It's just a more consistant option in my opinion.
Land, manadork
Land, Leatherback Balloth or Land, Growth Spasm then next turn Terra Stomper or Rampaging Balloths.
Canopy Cover is there to help the creatures get past walls and spot removal, but it depends on your build. Vines of Vastwood gives extra reach and combat tricks plus counters spot removal.
This deck obviously can't really do anything about things like Mythic that are just faster, but it's decent against UW as it's creatures get through Wall of Omens easily while also having maindeck ways to stop their spot removal and DoJ.
The other option is the Eldrazi Monument token build with Wolfbriar Elemental, many mana dorks and possibly even Nissa Revane, but i like the consistency of the bigguys.dec against most casual creature decks.
Also, keep in mind there's a reasonable number of folks that post on these forums that don't differentiate between the various sections of the Type 2 boards and they will assume your use of the word "competitive" means Tier 1 - when I'd imagine what you really mean is you want to be able to show up at reasonably mellow events (FNMs and the like) and have a chance at any given matchup, not that you're going to have great w/l % against every build on the block.
This.
So we've been running a RG burn/aggro (her) and UB permission/discard (me) and have gone consistently 3-1 in our FNM matchups...
Have lost horribly to ppl playing w/4 valakuts and searching up tons of lands, superfast vampires & allies. otherwise the majority of the rest (we usually have 30-40 ppl at FNM) have been no big deal.. seen BIG eldrazi, and WW and Jund... and those haven't seemed to be a huge problem.
intrigued by the white lifegain, the discard that was mentioned and possibly the green aggro....
can i get some sample decklists of suggested builds?
Thanks everyone for your feedback... and to the commented who said budget was $150-200... that's ridiculous. Budget for me always has been in the $50 range. period. And I've been playing off/on since 1993.
I have TONS of killer vintage and other decks... but it's simply that my standard pool is rather limited... College took focus over the last 2 yrs...
Thanks again, and I look forward to your suggestions. Oh, and definitely don't really want to invest in singles from Alara block, as they are only going to be legal (our LGS *ONLY* runs standard tourneys) after October.
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"Here only miracles. Here, only the rising of spirit. And yes, love if it was pertinent (which it was so often); and sometimes bloodletting. But never the prosaic, never the trivial. Here the man who brought the strangest tale was the most welcome. Here every excess was celebrated if it brought visions, and every vision analyzed for the hints it held to the nature of the Everlasting." - Clive Barker's Imajica
RDW is pretty much THE budget 1.5 but that is more along your sister's lines for hard aggro. For you, control atm is not even close to budget due to the only competitive ones having Jace2 which is stupidly expensive... I would recommend a Runeflare Trap deck, which can be traded for pretty easily if your meta is as fair with trades as mine is. The cards by themselves are only useful in Runeflare Trap so their value is not much at all to most players and can be traded for easily, though Howling Mine is rotating out, and im not sure of the others off the top of my head...
Hmmm...
What is the majority deck in your meta?
Sun Titan Control can be done under 80 dollars (cut in half with some good trades)
Just built a deck that revolves around Dark Tutelage. It runs a bunch of smaller fast creatures and removal, with some life gain. Very cheap and has done very well so far.
Just getting back into actually playing semi-competitively for first time in years. My selection of standard legal cards is fairly shallow (fat pack from each of Zen block sets and some other assorted, plus all my older cards that got reprinted in M10/M11).
I've asked around on some other sites about some fun semi-competitive decks for FNM, as myself and my li'l sis are going fairly weekly now, but most ppl seem to consider a "budget" deck to be in the $150+ range... ludicrous.
So... open to suggestions, but I'm *NOT* looking to dump $30-40 bucks on individual cards.... I'd rather buy packs/boxes and trade for what I need.
That said... any thoughts are welcome. I personally love milling strategies, but from what I've seen in the current standard... it doesn't seem viable. I'm more of a control player, and my sis is more aggro... both can stand a bit of combo thrown in.
Thanks in advance for your help. Oh and if this isn't the right place for this thread, feel free to move it and let me know (PM).
Mabbz on MTGO | Demgrinds on Twitch & Twitter | Helpdesk
I guess that leaves you with random stuff like RB discard/burn, its not that bad, if you can get bit-blast and blightnings. You could do a BU mill and use leyline of the void and hedron crab/whatever else blue can mill with, that could be fun though not terribly good.
Honestly you are probably looking at a red or black deck if you want to be really competitve the other colors have too many money cards that demand play if you use them:
white: baneslayer, Gideon, Elspeth
blue: Jace TMS
green: primeval titan, Vengevine
They are cheap and on THE FNM level very effective. Not many people are going to sideboard the hate cards for these decks.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
B/R Megrim should be at most $50 with the sideboard
Runeflare should be about 85-100
nd pyromancer should be about the same as runeflare mabye a littlebit more
Mabbz on MTGO | Demgrinds on Twitch & Twitter | Helpdesk
(only 8 rares, goblin guide, and hell's thunder)
UR Pyromancer's Ascension
(8 Rares. Ascension and Time Warp.)
B/R Megrim
(Some rares, such as Earthquake in the SB)
Pyromancer's is a great deck for FNM as well, especially to learn control/combo. however, it's only going to be viable for another one or two months (Time Warp goes out with Scars) and is a bit difficult to play if you've never done it before. still a blast to play though.
Hate to say it, but $150 to $200 IS the "budget" range these days, as opposed to the $50 to $100 of about five years ago. When you say you don't want to spend $30-40 bucks on individual cards, do you mean per card, or do you mean you're not willing to buy singles at all. If the latter is the case, it's going to be a loooong time before you and your sister have even semi-playable decks, since the vast majority of cards you get from packs, nobody will want to trade for. There's no such thing as semi-competitive, either you're competitive, or you're not.
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Thanks to Theismisacrime for this beautiful signature over at damnation studios
Modern - Green & Taxes:symw::symg:
Standard - Illusions:symu::symb:
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
Jund is also fairly cheap and can be made on a budget. (but rotating in a couple months)
Not really trading atm
BRVamps
And as stated, most of RDW can be done on a budget - only a few cards from it are expensive, and easily replaced with options that while good are less optimal than the much more costly options.
Also, keep in mind there's a reasonable number of folks that post on these forums that don't differentiate between the various sections of the Type 2 boards and they will assume your use of the word "competitive" means Tier 1 - when I'd imagine what you really mean is you want to be able to show up at reasonably mellow events (FNMs and the like) and have a chance at any given matchup, not that you're going to have great w/l % against every build on the block.
Re: People misusing the term Vanilla to describe a flying, unleash (sometimes trample) critter.
I had thought about using the kor token maker instead, however, my version of the deck doesn't run quite as creature heavy so I like to have 6 garanteed tokens for 1 less mana. Plus, day of judgment hits this deck hard so playing a pledge after they wipe the board is nice. It's just a more consistant option in my opinion.
Several variations available.. Elves version focuses on Elvish Archdruid, Joraga Warcaller, and other small elves to create mana & grow bigger over time. The "other" version goes with beasts like Leatherback Baloth, Nest Invader, Kozilek's Predator, Wolfbriar Elemental, and so on. With either version, the idea is to win by hitting Overrun, Overwhelming Stampede, or Eldrazi Monument on a bunch of creatures.
Then there's the Eldrazi ramp version.. Accelerate your mana with mana elves, Cultivate, Rampant Growth, Explore, etc. then hit Eldrazi Conscription or Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth, or the other legendary Eldrazi to win.
Try something along these lines:
4 Oran-Rief, The Vastwood
4 Dread Statuary
14 Forest
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Arbor Elf
4 Leatherback Balloth
4 Growth Spasm
4 Terra Stomper
1 Terastodon
2 Rampaging Balloth
2 Vines of Vastwood
1 Thornling
1 Canopy Cover
1 Scute Mob
It basically plays out like this:
Land, manadork
Land, Leatherback Balloth or Land, Growth Spasm then next turn Terra Stomper or Rampaging Balloths.
Canopy Cover is there to help the creatures get past walls and spot removal, but it depends on your build. Vines of Vastwood gives extra reach and combat tricks plus counters spot removal.
This deck obviously can't really do anything about things like Mythic that are just faster, but it's decent against UW as it's creatures get through Wall of Omens easily while also having maindeck ways to stop their spot removal and DoJ.
The other option is the Eldrazi Monument token build with Wolfbriar Elemental, many mana dorks and possibly even Nissa Revane, but i like the consistency of the bigguys.dec against most casual creature decks.
This.
So we've been running a RG burn/aggro (her) and UB permission/discard (me) and have gone consistently 3-1 in our FNM matchups...
Have lost horribly to ppl playing w/4 valakuts and searching up tons of lands, superfast vampires & allies. otherwise the majority of the rest (we usually have 30-40 ppl at FNM) have been no big deal.. seen BIG eldrazi, and WW and Jund... and those haven't seemed to be a huge problem.
intrigued by the white lifegain, the discard that was mentioned and possibly the green aggro....
can i get some sample decklists of suggested builds?
Thanks everyone for your feedback... and to the commented who said budget was $150-200... that's ridiculous. Budget for me always has been in the $50 range. period. And I've been playing off/on since 1993.
I have TONS of killer vintage and other decks... but it's simply that my standard pool is rather limited... College took focus over the last 2 yrs...
Thanks again, and I look forward to your suggestions. Oh, and definitely don't really want to invest in singles from Alara block, as they are only going to be legal (our LGS *ONLY* runs standard tourneys) after October.
Hmmm...
What is the majority deck in your meta?
Sun Titan Control can be done under 80 dollars (cut in half with some good trades)