I think you get the idea, there are more cards like this. I think it's important for the metagame not to steal stuff permanently from the battlefield. Illusory Gains is an exception because you have to attach it to new creatures.
So far I am very satisfied. Immortal Servitude is mandatory. The removal spells saved my ass more than once, Bile Blight was overperforming. Behind the Scenes does a damn good job to push damage through if you want to rely on creatures. Dark Prophecy allows you to never run out of steam. Thrull Parasite with extort pulled me through the game more than once.
Questinable cards at the moment are: Asylum Visitor - Because she always died before I could draw cards. Foul-Tongue Shriek - Because it was of no use so far.
The main problem will be that people probably won't attack you very often with Kazuul at the table. So I would include cards that build threat over time like Shrine of Burning Rage, Torch Song or the mana sinks mentioned above. Also Kazuul will need some form of protection like Swiftfoot Boots, Whispersilk Cloak or General's Kabuto.
Christ! I present you a cute little deck and you start turning it into a lethal weapon!
Throne of the God-Pharaoh is an auto include (though i wouldn't run 3 because it's legendary). Ankh of Mishra, Winter Orb, Springleaf Drum, ouch, now that's really mean. I like it that the deck has always potential to be upgraded (to Legacy) If I want. I didn't consider Dark Prophecy for card draw, good call.
Blood artist/Zulaport Cutthroat + recursion creatures like dread wanderer/Bloodghast + sac outlets (e.g. Viscera Seer) would turn the deck in a total different direction and I think I would end up with nearly none of the original cards. However you can form a very lethal deck with those cards which is discussed here.
And yeah, I saw Skullclamp isn't modern legal, thanks for the info.
Hi there, it's the faboulous Mono One Drop deck revisited!
Credits for the original deck idea go to BibboTheFirst. It's like Wizards read his post and thougt "we can make this idea work", gifting us with the second Innistrad cycle and, more important, Kaladesh. This resulted in a budget and hopefully fun deck. I kept it modern legal, because in my local store there are Friday Night Multiplayer events for modern.
Yes, we absolutly needed a better version of Pulse Tracker! Night Market Lookout is a fine example that there seems to be no stop to wizards power spirale. He's perfect to complete the team, byebye Maggot Carrier.
Gonti's Machinations - Blood Tithe for one mana that can work as a rattlesnake? Again, thank you Wizards. This directly goes into the deck as a budget replacement for Bloodchief Ascension. With Bloodchief Ascension i would consider to run both cards and kick out Foul-Tongue Shriek. Foul-Tongue Shriek is in because I wanted to have some surprise damage in my hand my opponents can't see. However, even in the goldfish it rarely goes off for more than 5 points of life.
Behind the Scenes is the next keycard. Skulk is exactly what those Wheenies needed. Considered Concealed Courtyard but I would hardly trigger the pump ability more than once, so I stayed budget with simple swamps.
Removal is tailored towards my meta. I run Tragic Slip in a couple of other decks and never regreted to have one in my hand. Bile Blight is in because tokens are a thing in my meta. I considered Killing Wave, but I think the mana count is a little bit low and it also works against my wheenies. Smallpox could work here even without the small synergy with Asylum Visitor. However, land destrcution is shunned in my meta so I dropped this idea.
Card draw is my biggest concern. Skullclamp would be THE solution but it was out of budget nobody told me that it was reprinted a couple of times and is affordable now. I have no clue if Asylum Visitor will work (use Blood Scrivener to make this deck even more cheaper). Infiltration Lens didn't work in my Goblin Gaveleer-deck and doesn't work well with Behind the Scenes but I will give it a last chance.
I also run a demon deck but with a little "cuter" cardlist. Here are my experiences: Indulgent Tormentor sucks, end of story. Archfiend of Depravity shines, especially if in team games. But like you said, your deck is already full of mass removal. Reaper from the Abyss is a very good silver bullet for a demon deck.
I use Mirrorweave in an old casual mp deck tinkering with creature types mainly using Griffin Rider, Cloudreach Cavalry and many flying tokens from cards like Battle Screech. Win option one is to have Runed Stalactite in play or a changeling at my hand. Play MW, turn all creatures into Griffin Riders/Cloudreach Cavalry, attach the Runed Stalactite or play a changeling. Option two is to attack unblocked with lots of flying tokens and then copy the biggest thing at the table.
Best play ever happened with MW was when i started turn five with 6 creatures, Mirrorweave at my hand and a resurected It That Betrays under one of my opponents control at the battlefield...
@WetBanditMarv: Volatile Rig is in it for the player damage, not for mass removal. Besides it's a little bit pricey, Darksteel Forge+Nevinyrral's Disk is strong but too combo-ish for my meta, since it doesn't win directly and can lead to stall games and downtime. I'll stick with Prototype Portal + Scourglass which nearly feels too combo-ish, too . I saw your deck in your post, it's on a higher power and budget level than what I try here. Worn Powerstone is strong ramp but I think Everflowing Chalice, Hedron Archive and Mind Stone are equal replacemens. The Chalice is more flexible and can be turn two ramp if needed while the other ones can be turned into card draw in late game.
Metalwork Colossus is a tempting suggestion. It escaped somehow my radar, but on a second look, his function as an instant sac engine with no mana cost involved could earn him a place in the deck. I will try some goldfishing with him.
@Prid3: I think your suggestions covered most of my concerns with this deck. Bomat Bazaar Barge, Pierce Strider, Voltaic Key, the 2-drop creatures, the lack of card draw, this was all something I wondered about. Endbringer is a strong card but is already played in my meta by some people and doesn't fit the artifact theme, so I'll stick with the Doom engine. I'll also stick with Congregate because it's a trap card and we play team games regularly. Of course in pure FFA, lifelink on a stick is more powerful, especially with Volatile Rig.
Your 2 drops kind of suck. Does Hangarback Walker count as "budget" nowadays?
Well, not for me. 14 bucks for a playset is affordable but exceeds my budget limit and the rest of the deck is a little too goofy for spending this amount of money for it. So I am still searching for some early blockers. Anyways, your suggestions gave me enough input to try some more iterations of the deck, so thanks for the feedback!
I couldn't disagree more with the Emperor suggestion. From my experience Emperor games always take way longer than typical FFA games. It usually boils down to two 1v1 games on the outsides giving the Emperors time to build up a massive defense.
Interesting. Maybe decks are different, maybe house rules are different. We play with spell range two, as soon as one lieutenant is dead you can attack the emperor from that side and all players in one team play the same time like in Two-Headed Giant. When one or two lieutnants are killed, game usually doesn't take very long after that in our meta.
The others already made good suggestions. Playing team formats like Two Headed Giant (4 Players), Traitor (5 Players) or Emperor (6 Players) helps to decrease downtime.
We tried a version that had the game end when the first player died, and whoever had the highest lifetotal at that point was the winner. This obviously removes the problem entirely, but it also drags the game out as often the player who is able to take out someone else is not the person with the highest life total, or they are afraid that another player with open mana may play a burn-spell/lifegain to win. So the game just stalls forever.
Any better suggestions?
We play a similar variant we call "King of the Hill". The game is finsihed when one player is killed by another, so the first kill ends the game. However, you are not allowed to target or attack every player but only the "King". At the beginning of each players turn the King is the player with the most life. If you are the King, then you can treat the player with the second highest life as king (other player still have to treat you as king). If two players have the same amount of life, they are both targets. Only the king can be target of spell with a single target that is a win condition (damage, loss of life, mill). Only the king may be attacked. Global spells stay global and you can win by kiling the weakest player with e.g. Breath of Malfegor even if that player is not king. Permanents on the other hand can be targeted freely.
In this variant all players usually go low on life until someone can pull a win in mid- or lategame.
Maybe you can help me with this deck idea: A budget artifact ramp deck.
During my years as a casual magic player I think I battled every Artifact archetype that is out there. I got smashed by bigbaddudes that were Tinkered/Goblin Weldered/Master Transmutered into play, I was beeing overrun by Signal Pest + Chronomaton, lost against some combo decks with Unwinding Clock and unlimited creatures or turns, got crushed by Affinity, Tempered Steel, equipment decks, my lands were wrecked by Sundering Titan, I lost life in EDH due to Magister Sphinx, get robbed by Memnarch and Vedalken Shackles, saw Precursor Golem going nuts, suffered from Wurmcoil Engine coming back again and again with Skeleton shard and got beaten by the Egg, which was the worst combo experience ever, because I had to watch 10 minutes of shuffling, drawing and playing stuff until my opponent said "I win".
I realized that, apart from some mildly equipment focused decks, I actually don't own any artifact deck myself. Ha! Payback time! Now it is my turn to strike back with the strength of lifeless iron and steel.
Manabase could need a manland in case of mass removal, like, maybe Forbidding Watchtower? Speaking of Mass Removal, Wave of Reckoning seems like an option.
Flayer of the Hatebound + Thermopod + Ion Storm = 1: deal 7 damage to target creature or player
As an alternative to Group hug, why don't just play with their cards:
I think you get the idea, there are more cards like this. I think it's important for the metagame not to steal stuff permanently from the battlefield. Illusory Gains is an exception because you have to attach it to new creatures.
here is my budget, modern-legal list:
4 Mardu Shadowspear
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Pulse Tracker
4 Thornbow Archer
3 Thrull Parasite
4 Asylum Visitor
1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
Enchantments 8
2 Behind the Scenes
2 Dark Prophecy
4 Gonti's Machinations
Spells 11
2 Foul-Tongue Shriek
2 Immortal Servitude
3 Bile Blight
4 Tragic Slip
2 Leechridden Swamp
15 Swamp
So far I am very satisfied. Immortal Servitude is mandatory. The removal spells saved my ass more than once, Bile Blight was overperforming. Behind the Scenes does a damn good job to push damage through if you want to rely on creatures. Dark Prophecy allows you to never run out of steam. Thrull Parasite with extort pulled me through the game more than once.
Questinable cards at the moment are:
Asylum Visitor - Because she always died before I could draw cards.
Foul-Tongue Shriek - Because it was of no use so far.
What's the deal with Basilisk Collar? It's a good card but when I don't see the direct benefit it brings to any of your creatures compared to stuff like Goblin Sharpshooter or Wojek Embermage.
And what is the big mana ramp with cloud posts for? Your mana curve stops at cmc 5 and your only mana sink is Purphoros, God of the Forge. You could drop the cloudposts for mountains and maybe Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and replace the Mana Geysers with mana rocks like Worn Powerstone, Mind Stone or Ruby Medallion. Or you could add more mana sinks like Dragon Roost, Planeswalker's Fury, Subterranean Tremors, Shivan Hellkite or Shard Phoenix.
The main problem will be that people probably won't attack you very often with Kazuul at the table. So I would include cards that build threat over time like Shrine of Burning Rage, Torch Song or the mana sinks mentioned above. Also Kazuul will need some form of protection like Swiftfoot Boots, Whispersilk Cloak or General's Kabuto.
The deck needs some form of card draw/advantage.
Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep is a no brainer. If you skip the Cloudposts, Kher Keep.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh is an auto include (though i wouldn't run 3 because it's legendary). Ankh of Mishra, Winter Orb, Springleaf Drum, ouch, now that's really mean. I like it that the deck has always potential to be upgraded (to Legacy) If I want. I didn't consider Dark Prophecy for card draw, good call.
Blood artist/Zulaport Cutthroat + recursion creatures like dread wanderer/Bloodghast + sac outlets (e.g. Viscera Seer) would turn the deck in a total different direction and I think I would end up with nearly none of the original cards. However you can form a very lethal deck with those cards which is discussed here.
And yeah, I saw Skullclamp isn't modern legal, thanks for the info.
Credits for the original deck idea go to BibboTheFirst. It's like Wizards read his post and thougt "we can make this idea work", gifting us with the second Innistrad cycle and, more important, Kaladesh. This resulted in a budget and hopefully fun deck. I kept it modern legal, because in my local store there are Friday Night Multiplayer events for modern.
4 Mardu Shadowspear
4 Night Market Lookout
4 Pulse Tracker
4 Thornbow Archer
4 Thrull Parasite
4 Gonti's Machinations
2 Foul-Tongue Shriek
Card draw 6
2 Infiltration Lens
4 Asylum Visitor
Evasion 2
2 Behind the Scenes
2 Immortal Servitude
Removal 7
4 Tragic Slip
3 Bile Blight
Lands 17
2 Leechridden Swamp
15 Swamp
Yes, we absolutly needed a better version of Pulse Tracker! Night Market Lookout is a fine example that there seems to be no stop to wizards power spirale. He's perfect to complete the team, byebye Maggot Carrier.
Gonti's Machinations - Blood Tithe for one mana that can work as a rattlesnake? Again, thank you Wizards. This directly goes into the deck as a budget replacement for Bloodchief Ascension. With Bloodchief Ascension i would consider to run both cards and kick out Foul-Tongue Shriek. Foul-Tongue Shriek is in because I wanted to have some surprise damage in my hand my opponents can't see. However, even in the goldfish it rarely goes off for more than 5 points of life.
Behind the Scenes is the next keycard. Skulk is exactly what those Wheenies needed. Considered Concealed Courtyard but I would hardly trigger the pump ability more than once, so I stayed budget with simple swamps.
Removal is tailored towards my meta. I run Tragic Slip in a couple of other decks and never regreted to have one in my hand. Bile Blight is in because tokens are a thing in my meta. I considered Killing Wave, but I think the mana count is a little bit low and it also works against my wheenies. Smallpox could work here even without the small synergy with Asylum Visitor. However, land destrcution is shunned in my meta so I dropped this idea.
Card draw is my biggest concern. Skullclamp would be THE solution but
it was out of budgetnobody told me that it was reprinted a couple of times and is affordable now. I have no clue if Asylum Visitor will work (use Blood Scrivener to make this deck even more cheaper). Infiltration Lens didn't work in my Goblin Gaveleer-deck and doesn't work well with Behind the Scenes but I will give it a last chance.Took me some time to notice that the dash ability from Mardu Shadowspear will trigger extort from Thrull Parasite.
Do I need more lands? Cards are ordered, I am very curious how this deck will work out.
Indulgent Tormentor sucks, end of story. Archfiend of Depravity shines, especially if in team games. But like you said, your deck is already full of mass removal. Reaper from the Abyss is a very good silver bullet for a demon deck.
I always try to include some way to deal non-combat damage or loss of life into my decks against pillow-forts and control decks that hinder combat. Leechridden Swamp is obvious. The beforementioned Xathrid Demon is a possibiltiy. In my deck I use Syphon Mage but with Kagemaro and Demon of Dark Schemes that hardly makes sense. A single Hollowborn Barghest maybe? Gonti's Machinations can fuel Demon of Dark Schemes.
What about one or two cards to cycle late game draws? I was thinking of something like Necromancer's Stockpile, Key to the City, Call the Bloodline or Grimoire of the Dead.
Another case of "I-did-not-read-the-whole-card". Thanks for correcting me!
MW + Legendary Creature = Divine Reckoning-Effect
I use Mirrorweave in an old casual mp deck tinkering with creature types mainly using Griffin Rider, Cloudreach Cavalry and many flying tokens from cards like Battle Screech. Win option one is to have Runed Stalactite in play or a changeling at my hand. Play MW, turn all creatures into Griffin Riders/Cloudreach Cavalry, attach the Runed Stalactite or play a changeling. Option two is to attack unblocked with lots of flying tokens and then copy the biggest thing at the table.
Best play ever happened with MW was when i started turn five with 6 creatures, Mirrorweave at my hand and a resurected It That Betrays under one of my opponents control at the battlefield...
Metalwork Colossus is a tempting suggestion. It escaped somehow my radar, but on a second look, his function as an instant sac engine with no mana cost involved could earn him a place in the deck. I will try some goldfishing with him.
@Prid3: I think your suggestions covered most of my concerns with this deck. Bomat Bazaar Barge, Pierce Strider, Voltaic Key, the 2-drop creatures, the lack of card draw, this was all something I wondered about. Endbringer is a strong card but is already played in my meta by some people and doesn't fit the artifact theme, so I'll stick with the Doom engine. I'll also stick with Congregate because it's a trap card and we play team games regularly. Of course in pure FFA, lifelink on a stick is more powerful, especially with Volatile Rig.
Well, not for me. 14 bucks for a playset is affordable but exceeds my budget limit and the rest of the deck is a little too goofy for spending this amount of money for it. So I am still searching for some early blockers. Anyways, your suggestions gave me enough input to try some more iterations of the deck, so thanks for the feedback!
If you just need numbers, there's Mogg War Marshal, Goblin Rabblemaster and others. With a splash of blue there would be Reef Worm.
Interesting. Maybe decks are different, maybe house rules are different. We play with spell range two, as soon as one lieutenant is dead you can attack the emperor from that side and all players in one team play the same time like in Two-Headed Giant. When one or two lieutnants are killed, game usually doesn't take very long after that in our meta.
We play a similar variant we call "King of the Hill". The game is finsihed when one player is killed by another, so the first kill ends the game. However, you are not allowed to target or attack every player but only the "King". At the beginning of each players turn the King is the player with the most life. If you are the King, then you can treat the player with the second highest life as king (other player still have to treat you as king). If two players have the same amount of life, they are both targets. Only the king can be target of spell with a single target that is a win condition (damage, loss of life, mill). Only the king may be attacked. Global spells stay global and you can win by kiling the weakest player with e.g. Breath of Malfegor even if that player is not king. Permanents on the other hand can be targeted freely.
In this variant all players usually go low on life until someone can pull a win in mid- or lategame.
Maybe you can help me with this deck idea: A budget artifact ramp deck.
During my years as a casual magic player I think I battled every Artifact archetype that is out there. I got smashed by big bad dudes that were Tinkered/Goblin Weldered/Master Transmutered into play, I was beeing overrun by Signal Pest + Chronomaton, lost against some combo decks with Unwinding Clock and unlimited creatures or turns, got crushed by Affinity, Tempered Steel, equipment decks, my lands were wrecked by Sundering Titan, I lost life in EDH due to Magister Sphinx, get robbed by Memnarch and Vedalken Shackles, saw Precursor Golem going nuts, suffered from Wurmcoil Engine coming back again and again with Skeleton shard and got beaten by the Egg, which was the worst combo experience ever, because I had to watch 10 minutes of shuffling, drawing and playing stuff until my opponent said "I win".
I realized that, apart from some mildly equipment focused decks, I actually don't own any artifact deck myself. Ha! Payback time! Now it is my turn to strike back with the strength of lifeless iron and steel.
I searched around the database for budget cards that I can win/have fun with and ended up trying ramp with Everflowing Chalice and Hedron Archive into Volatile Rig and Scuttling Doom Engine. I like decks that are able to deal siginificant combat damage AND non-combat damage. Volatile Rig can kill mana dorks so no Renowned Weaponsmith, Etherium Sculptor and their like.
However, after lots of goldfishing later, the deck just doesn't get together and still feels clunky:
2 Myr Retriever
2 Perilous Myr
2 Bomat Bazaar Barge
2 Pierce Strider
4 Volatile Rig
4 Scuttling Doom Engine
1 Thopter Assembly
2 Myr Battlesphere
3 Everflowing Chalice
3 Hedron Archive
Other Artifacts 8
1 Voltaic Key
1 Strionic Resonator
1 Trading Post
2 Prototype Portal
1 Minion Reflector
2 Scourglass
3 War Report
Land 24
4 Boros Garrison
8 Plains
2 Forbidding Watchtower
2 Buried Ruin
2 Sequestered Stash
2 Inventors' Fair
2 Phyrexia's Core
1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
1 Urza's Factory
Any thoughts?