Rather than focusing more on high toughness creatures inherently, this one instead uses buffs of Spear of Heliod and Hold the Gates. It's pretty crazy on colors, but it's got plenty of mana fixing to make up for that, with Axebane Guardian, Sylvan Carytid, Gatekeeper Vine, and Chromatic Lantern, as well as all the lands being some form of dual-lands. All that mana generation also helps power up Sphinx's Revelation to get everything out.
I don't really like Brushstrider or Horizon Chimera here. Horizon Chimera's power and toughness are too small to be a good evolve trigger for it's mana cost, and it's mana cost is too high for you to get much life out of it's trigger. It seems like it is there solely to combo with Bident of Thassa, and with only 2 of it, and 2 Bidents, I don't think that is a good set-up.
I feel like Brushstrider's 1 toughness is a really big issue, although I can't really give you a better choice for an evolve trigger 2 drop with as flexible of mana costs that can attack (Murmuring Phantasm being of similar quality if not superior for evolve triggering, but is a defender).
I think Horizon Chimera feels like it is only in there for Bident, which is awkward with only 2 of each, meaning that it will be hard to pull off that combo, and increasing the number of either messes up your mana curve. They also have the issue of both being on the same 4 drop spot on your mana curve, and not comboing as well with other parts of the deck. They both offer things the deck needs though, so I don't really have any suggested changes, just wishing that there were better options there.
Yeah, guess it isn't really a deck design all that compatible with budget lands, it really wants to be mostly shocklands with assorted basics making up the leftovers to go for with Ordeal of Nylea, or totally alter it's mana base and acceleration methods. Looking at it again, it's really bad and awkward, mostly due to mana issues. It's going too many different places as well. Made it really quick though, so at least I didn't waste much time and effort.
I tried throwing this together. It's more going for Kiora's Follower/Illusionist's Bracers/Codex Shredder combo, with Phenax as a backup. Hold the Gates and all the gate lands drive up defenses high, to help Phenax, and there are some okay draw mechanics as well as Gatecreeper Vine deck-thinning to speed things up. It may be 4 color, but it's got plenty of mana fixing. Ready // Willing can potentially help gain some life or be pseudo-removal by giving your blockers deathtouch, or it can protect your stuff from some removal or un-tap stuff for Phenax to trigger them again. I'm not really sure about the deck as a whole, but this thread inspired me to the idea.
Edit: Replaced Doorkeeper with Pillar of War, since Doorkeeper's mill is minimal and Pillar of War combos better with the deck's enchantments, as well as takes advantage of the Vigilance granted by Hold the Gates if for some reason you need to attack, plus it is more flexible mana cost as an artifact in a 4 color deck. Edit 2: Replaced some guildgates with forests, because slooow start. And other mana-base adjustments. Edit: where did the bracers go? Replaced Ready/Willing and Prophetic Prism with them. Replacing some Codex Shredder with Prophetic Prism.
I didn't mean a pair and in two cards of Illusionit's Bracers, but a pair as in a pair of bracers (or pants), that is why I used '2' on the Follower, and 'pair' on the Bracers, to try to distinguish that. It's a language thing, English is mad yo!
Sapphire Drake? It's basically Crowned Ceratok's flying blue brother. It's bulkier than Archetype of Imagination and thus more likely to trigger evolve at least. Aqueous Form is always cheap, but just makes your creatures with it removal targets to 2 for 1 them, a better option might be Fleetfeather Sandals or Prowler's Helm might be more reliable. Elusive Krasis or Cloudfin Raptor though should both be able to do that sort of stuff on their own, as long as you trigger their evolve once so they can deal damage, which actually makes Bred for the Hunt look a bit better in such a deck, since any evasive creatures triggering it will likely already have a +1/+1 counter.
2 Kiora's Follower will go infinite with a pair of Illusionist's Bracers. Which is really nice if Mistcutter Hydra is kept, along with some repeatable inspiration triggers like Karametra's Favor or Oracle's Insight. It also helps you go monstrous of course, or any other kind of mana payments. Notably, it goes well with clone effects, like Clone and Fated Infatuation, some of which can get hilarious when done to Prime Speaker Zegana. I don't think Prime Speaker is very budget though. I don't care much for Raiders either, but Aerie Worshippers is actually pretty good, especially with some kind of combos going down, like the follower combo and Karametra's Favor or Oracle's Insight. Oracle's Insight as an inspired trigger could also be a nice alternative price-wise to Prime Speaker, and can be hooked up to something not as failtastic as Sphinx's Disciple.
I put together a try at something like this, the red one is called 'Mirage'. My version went more off triggers to casting spells, using lots with scry attached to trigger flamespeaker adept, and just general sorceries and instants to trigger other stuff like Young Pyromancer.
Maybe consider Door of Destinies, probably too slow and not budget enough though, especially when you are already buffing slivers with other slivers so many ways. I just thought perhaps it's less vulnerable to nerfing remaining slivers when one faces spot-removal. Ranger's Guile might also be worth it to protect key Slivers from spot removal of types that Boros Charm's indestructible doesn't work on.
I threw together a try, if you find this as inspiration. The Ordeals sac off of +1/+1 counters, so they combo well with evolve creatures, allowing them to more rapidly be used for card draw or mana ramp. Retraction Helix can have a creature use it on itself, after having any counters it might have shifted off of it with bioshift if necessary, but also has offensive uses against the opponent. Simic Charm of course can also be used to bounce a creature.
Messing around with simple budget deck designs, restricted to Standard, basic lands, single color, and no rares or mythic rares. I'm wondering if these are any good or if anyone has suggested improvements within the rules I've set for the decks. Also opinions on which is the best and which is the worst of the 5.
New here, although I seem to already have an account through curse.sites somehow. I'm Nekomata-sensei on nogoblinsallowed and the old D&D forums. Felt like I wasn't getting responses to some stuff on some parts there, so thought I'd also post some of it here, which seems like it might be a little more populated.
4 Phenax, God of Deception
4 Axebane Guardian
4 Gatecreeper Vine
2 Desecration Demon
2 Prophet of Kruphix
2 Sphere of Safety
2 Drown in Sorrow
4 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Chromatic Lantern
1 Simic Charm
1 Ready // Willing
2 Underworld Connections
2 Far // Away
4 Hold the Gates
2 Spear of Heliod
1 Dimir Guildgate
2 Orzhov Guildgate
3 Golgari Guildgate
2 Simic Guildgate
3 Selesnya Guildgate
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
2 Ready // Willing
2 Simic Charm
1 Prophet of Kruphix
2 Pithing Needle
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Unravel the Æther
2 Bow of Nylea
Rather than focusing more on high toughness creatures inherently, this one instead uses buffs of Spear of Heliod and Hold the Gates. It's pretty crazy on colors, but it's got plenty of mana fixing to make up for that, with Axebane Guardian, Sylvan Carytid, Gatekeeper Vine, and Chromatic Lantern, as well as all the lands being some form of dual-lands. All that mana generation also helps power up Sphinx's Revelation to get everything out.
2 Clone
4 Omenspeaker
2 Swan Song
2 Dissolve
4 Illusionist's Bracers
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Codex Shredder
1 Oracle's Insight
1 Razortip Whip
1 Divination
4 Simic Charm
4 Fog
3 Cyclonic Rift
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Temple of Plenty
4 Revoke Existence
2 Mortal's Resolve
2 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
2 Last Breath
3 Bow of Nylea
I threw together a try.
I feel like Brushstrider's 1 toughness is a really big issue, although I can't really give you a better choice for an evolve trigger 2 drop with as flexible of mana costs that can attack (Murmuring Phantasm being of similar quality if not superior for evolve triggering, but is a defender).
I think Horizon Chimera feels like it is only in there for Bident, which is awkward with only 2 of each, meaning that it will be hard to pull off that combo, and increasing the number of either messes up your mana curve. They also have the issue of both being on the same 4 drop spot on your mana curve, and not comboing as well with other parts of the deck. They both offer things the deck needs though, so I don't really have any suggested changes, just wishing that there were better options there.
2 Crowned Ceratok
1 Loxodon Smiter
1 Nemesis of Mortals
4 Phalanx Leader
2 Zameck Guildmage
4 Cloudfin Raptor
1 Elusive Krasis
4 Experiment One
1 Arbor Colossus
4 Ordeal of Nylea
4 Ordeal of Thassa
2 Bioshift
2 Bred for the Hunt
1 Hindervines
2 Last Breath
1 Angelic Edict
1 Unravel the Æther
6 Forest
3 Plains
4 Simic Guildgate
3 Selesnya Guildgate
3 Azorius Guildgate
I threw together something with white as well, because of Phalanx Leader.
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
3 Simic Guildgate
3 Selesnya Guildgate
6 Forest
2 Phenax, God of Deception
4 Axebane Guardian
4 Pillar of War
4 Gatecreeper Vine
4 Trestle Troll
4 Oracle's Insight
4 Karametra's Favor
2 Codex Shredder
2 Prophetic Prism
4 Hold the Gates
I tried throwing this together. It's more going for Kiora's Follower/Illusionist's Bracers/Codex Shredder combo, with Phenax as a backup. Hold the Gates and all the gate lands drive up defenses high, to help Phenax, and there are some okay draw mechanics as well as Gatecreeper Vine deck-thinning to speed things up. It may be 4 color, but it's got plenty of mana fixing. Ready // Willing can potentially help gain some life or be pseudo-removal by giving your blockers deathtouch, or it can protect your stuff from some removal or un-tap stuff for Phenax to trigger them again. I'm not really sure about the deck as a whole, but this thread inspired me to the idea.
Edit: Replaced Doorkeeper with Pillar of War, since Doorkeeper's mill is minimal and Pillar of War combos better with the deck's enchantments, as well as takes advantage of the Vigilance granted by Hold the Gates if for some reason you need to attack, plus it is more flexible mana cost as an artifact in a 4 color deck. Edit 2: Replaced some guildgates with forests, because slooow start. And other mana-base adjustments. Edit: where did the bracers go? Replaced Ready/Willing and Prophetic Prism with them. Replacing some Codex Shredder with Prophetic Prism.
I put together a try at something like this, the red one is called 'Mirage'. My version went more off triggers to casting spells, using lots with scry attached to trigger flamespeaker adept, and just general sorceries and instants to trigger other stuff like Young Pyromancer.
4 Cloudfin Raptor
3 Elusive Krasis
3 Shambleshark
2 Adaptive Snapjaw
2 Crowned Ceratok
4 Ordeal of Nylea
4 Simic Charm
4 Bioshift
4 Retraction Helix
10 Forest
8 Island
I threw together a try, if you find this as inspiration. The Ordeals sac off of +1/+1 counters, so they combo well with evolve creatures, allowing them to more rapidly be used for card draw or mana ramp. Retraction Helix can have a creature use it on itself, after having any counters it might have shifted off of it with bioshift if necessary, but also has offensive uses against the opponent. Simic Charm of course can also be used to bounce a creature.
2 Wavecrash Triton
4 Aerie Worshippers
4 Cloudfin Raptor
4 Blistercoil Weird
2 Oracle's Insight
2 Springleaf Drum
2 Crypsis
4 Dissolve
4 Hidden Strings
4 Retraction Helix
4 Experiment One
4 Crowned Ceratok
2 Ivy Lane Denizen
4 Nessian Asp
2 Staunch-Hearted Warrior
2 Wasteland Viper
4 Karametra's Favor
2 Hindervines
2 Ordeal of Nylea
4 Bioshift
2 Burst of Strength
2 Unravel the Æther
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Guttersnipe
4 Flamespeaker Adept
2 Archetype of Aggression
2 Rage of Purphoros
2 Portent of Betrayal
2 Shattering Blow
4 Bolt of Keranos
4 Titan's Strength
4 Magma Jet
4 Nyxborn Shieldmate
4 Phalanx Leader
2 Archetype of Courage
2 Banisher Priest
4 Boros Elite
3 Cavalry Pegasus
2 Dauntless Onslaught
4 Ethereal Armor
2 Last Breath
2 Celestial Flare
2 Gods Willing
2 Revoke Existence
4 Spiteful Returned
4 Thrull Parasite
4 Blightcaster
4 Tormented Hero
2 Contaminated Ground
3 Bile Blight
2 Stab Wound
4 Read the Bones
2 Scourgemark
4 Gift of Orzhova