Another Contribution This time from Mr Hodge... Keep em coming

So, onto low budget decks and here is Joe, or ‘the Hodge’ with my entry.

After Scars was spoilt I looked at what decks I thought would be good, then decided how best to deal with them. It looks like various forms of control with lots of planeswalkers would be strong considering that Jace is a lot harder to deal with without pithing needle or o-ring. Ramp still looked good with the Valakut version staying strong. Once the meta settled down a bit elves came along and proved very strong as well. When thinking about what deck to build for the new standard I aimed that dealing with 3 problems:
1. Jace the (insert various insulting finish)
2. Decks that land a titan turn 4 and avenger turn 5.
3. Aggro swarm decks, predominantly elves and WW quest.

So, looking at those 3 points, 1 word sprung to mind – RED. Red burns walkers, outpaces ramp and can knock down little dudes till the cows come home. With some new additions to choose from, I decided to toss together goblins and see what happened. I ended up with a pretty standard list until I saw two cards, goblin Gaveleer and kuldotha rebirth and made a connection. Equipments are artefacts; they pump Gaveleer and then make goblins with rebirth. Another list was strung together and got some testing, however it seemed a little slow and I did not like sacrificing good equipment to get goblins, which left lots of dead cards. Then in a dream Memnite appeared to me and all problems were solved. No, seriously, I saw this card and it just dropped right in. Temps increase – yes. Turn 1 rebirth – yes. Keeps Gaveleer powered – yes. In the end I put this together and a seriously enjoying it:

4 Goblin Guide

4 Goblin Chieftain

4 Goblin Bushwhacker

4 Memnite

3 spikeshot elder

4 Goblin Gaveleer

4 infiltration lens

1 darksteel axe

2 basilisk collar

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Kuldotha Rebirth

4 Teetering peaks

18 mountains

Picture this scenario.
Turn 1 – land, memnite, rebirth for 3 goblins.
Turn 2 – Land, kicked bushwacker, swing for 8.
Turn 3 – Land, chieften – swing for 10.
Turn 4- Assume that some damage earlier got prevented, but hey, you still have a guide/bolt/spieshot elder in hand.
This may seem like a god hand, but enough people who have played this deck will testify that, uncontrolled it can often have you turn 4, 5 if something got removed /blocked. I would seriously advise people who are looking for a £30, fun, quick deck that works well in the current meta to sleeve this up, have a play and have some fun.


Solid Deck Mr Hodge and without the need for the doublsstriking Instigator.. It's brutal quick and I bet it wins a lot of game... 

Low Budget Deck Idea

Golem Economics

This deck is nuts if it goes off and once again uses the principle that the clever bods in Wizards R&D may like the odd afternoon snooze, because they must have been napping to let this little trick slip through...

We’re going to let you build the deck yourself but we are going to show you the combo that makes this deck INSANITY...

Here’s the question... What if I told you that for one mana you could draw five cards at instant speed, perhaps even more and at the same time give your creatures a bonus, Intrigued?

Right now you’re probably thinking I’m insane, but it’s true it can be done and without too much hassle either. Naturally there’s a catalyst and here it is...

Precursor Golem

Now the R&D boys obviously thought such an overpowered card needed a negative side and therefore the part of the card that says...‘whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery that targets only a single golem, that player copies that spell for each other golem that spell could target’ was clearly meant for doom blade and lightning bolt and the like... Now Wizards ‘building on a budgett’ have already highlighted a couple of combos with this beast and the likes of Giant Growth and Vines of The Vastwood., but we think they’ve missed a few tricks, so here; the redux with lots of added card draw...

For this experiment you are going to need any of the following cards , you’ll probably have them all kicking around in the commons box , but today we are going to turn them into giant killers...

Twisted Image

Feetting Distraction (only play this one during opponents end step)

Irresistible Prey

Tel-Jilad Defiance (ok so this one costs 2 bite me! )

You can even splash black...

Nighthaze

Basically because these spells copy for each golem in play, and it's easy to have 4/5 or even more out at once, you'll be drawing dcards for each of them., giving you huge card advantage.

There are a good few golems in standard at the mo...Lodestone Golem, Rusted Relic, Platinum Imperium, Dread Statuary, Golem Artisan and more...

...And a few ways to protect them, but we recommend Asceticism and Leyline of Vitality...It’s in colour and boom, they’ll come in at 0/4 and you’ll gain 3 life , also when you swing and play twisted image they’ll all be hitting for 4...

Whichever way you go you can be certain that you won't be running out of cards...

Ok We've done no budget...

Now its time to check out low budget....

Low budget for me means a deck that has a few lower priced rares, but nothing over say £10. It may have some cheap mythics but it's not going to play any super cards...

In this field I know there are some amazing competitive decks and we could start seeing sme real contenders...   

1. Adventures In the Meta Rule No.1 -  To be a low budget deck - The entire thing has to come in under £65... (ie. less than a Jace the Money Scammer...)
2. Adventures In the Meta Rule No.2 - You can ignore rules if your version is better or funnier...

 So what you waiting for get innovating... I'll be posting my first low budget deck later today...

Our First Outside Contribution and I like it... Here it comes... exactly as Joe T sent it

The Sack Race

Hello all. Joe T here with another built on a budget deck. It was devised in the same vein as Gordon’s ‘handful of commons and thought’ philosophy – I had done well at the previous FNM with my current pet deck, but I had noted that it was leaning on a bit of ‘rare power’ to enable its god draws. I then thought it was due time to create something out of left field, without using any rares if possible, but more importantly, was a blast to play. The following deck was the result.

The Sack Race

4 Furnace Celebration
4 Zektar Shrine Expedition
4 Panic Spellbomb
4 Act of Treason
4 Spawning Breath
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Fling
3 Culling Dais
3 Expedition Map
3 Kuldotha Rebirth

4 Ember Hauler

4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Evolving Wilds
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
12 Mountains

Huh?

The grand plan behind this deck is to abuse Furnace Celebration for fun and profit. There are a great many synergies contained within the deck that utilise sacrificing permanents, and the Celebration rewards this with virtual card advantage and even a potential win condition. Let’s discuss the other cards in the deck.

• Zektar Shrine Expedition – A cousin deck to Control This! – the Sack Race uses the hasty 7/1 to good effect as the activation involves a sacrifice, it can be made hard to block and is particularly tasty paired with…
• Fling – for another seven damage before its untimely demise, another sacrifice trigger, and is itself a particularly nasty combo with…
• Act of Treason – This little one-two punch has seen a lot of play in M11 mono-red drafts. Independently however, Act is a solid metagame call as there are any number of Titans, Wurmcoil Engines, Baneslayers and Eldrazi kicking around and the ability to steal one AND use its benefits attacking for a turn are huge. Ideally though you’d want to end up sacrificing it before giving it back, either to the aforementioned Fling, or…
• Culling Dais – This deck mostly utilises chump blockers of creatures to hold larger creatures at bay, so why not cash them in for more card draw?
• Expedition Map & Panic Spellbomb – Both sacrifice for a benefit, either to force through a hasty Zektar elemental and draw, or fetch more land to power up the Shrine’s landfall trigger. Both are also sacrifice targets for…
• Kuldotha Rebirth – Gives the deck a way to generate chump blockers to keep pace with faster aggro decks. These will usually be sacrificed to the Dais, where they will be turned back into more cards.
• Spawning Breath & Ember Hauler – More chumps and burn combined in one card.
• Lightning Bolt – The burn spell of choice.
• Terramorphic Expanse & Evolving Wilds – Sacrifice triggers and pull double duty for landfall.
• Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle – My one concessionary rare, can be found by Maps and gives the deck a way to finish off the last few points of burn in the long game.

The Road Not Travelled

One option I considered for this deck was to go more of the Eldrazi route, using Brood Birthing, Emrakul’s Hatcher and Rapacious One alongside Spawning Breath. I ultimately decided against it, believing it to be too slow, but I would be interested to see what someone could make of it.

But At What Cost?

The Sack Race clocks in at just under £12 or less than a tenner if you decide to drop the Valakut. I suppose if you wanted to pimp it out a bit and add rares, the rare fetchlands and more Valakuts would go in, but as we’re building on a budget, the rare I would be most excited to add to this deck would the 50p rare king himself, Magmaw. Time for him to shine.

Matchups

This deck is still in its initial design phase and hasn’t been tested against many of the major archetypes yet, so I’ll just add some thoughts on each.
• Destructive Force – Act of Treason + a sac outlet is huge against their Titans, but the titular Force sets you back a long way and disrupts the Valakut plan.
• Valakut – No real way to disrupt their Valakuts, perhaps run a singleton Tectonic Edge in the main to fetch with Maps and more in the side.
• Eldrazi Ramp – Similar to D-Force, you’ll need to have Act of Treason ready after they land their first huge fatty.
• Red Deck Wins/Turbo Goblins – If you can get enough early burn and chump blockers to keep pace, you’ll likely win if you can survive long enough to get a Celebration and/or Valakut active.
• U/W Planeswalkers – Their Wraths do very little to this deck, so aiming burn and/or Zektar elementals at their face at strategic intervals is the way to go here. You have very little way of removing their walkers apart from burn, so it’s better to just go for the face and attempt to Treason their Baneslayers.
• Infect – Most infectious creatures are small enough to fall to the burn suite, however the green Infect deck with Giant Growths could be a problem.
• Zero Weenie – Most of their creatures will die to the burn, but it will be important not to give them a window of opportunity to activate their Quest for the Holy Relic, otherwise you will likely lose.
• Fauna Shaman – Vengevine will give you a lot of trouble, so much so that it will need to be addressed in the sideboard.
• Tribal Golems / Wall for Nothing / Control This! – God only knows.

Sideboard

A little up in the air, but the following should probably be considered;
Tectonic Edge – vs Valakut, Eldrazi Temples, Eye of Ugin, Manlands
Brittle Effigy – Titans, Eldrazi, Vengevine, Baneslayer
Combust – I really hate Baneslayers
Unstable Footing/ Leyline of Punishment – Kor Firewalkers
Pyroclasm – Goblins, Elves, random aggro.
Manic Vandal – Mimic Vat and other random artifacts that are bound to show up.

Pack Up Your Party Sack

And there you have it – a spicy new deck to confound people with at the next FNM that won’t break the bank. I welcome questions and comments, as always, Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly, Yo. PEACHY.

Thanks Joe and a fine additoon to the database...

I like the idea and I love the mechanics... If i had to suggest anyhing, I'd maybe offer Horizon Spellbomb, sod the green for the card draw you don't need it, but thining the deck and getting to thst Valakut trigger is tempting, plus its another fuse for the furnace bomb...

Also I'd suggest adding Elixir of Immortality, just incase you run out of steam ( but mainly because i'm slightly obsessed with adding Elixir of Immortaility to everything., not that I'm in love with it or anything. It's not like its a bear o anything.and definately  not a Wombat...  See post titled There's some cards I like if you're wondering what I'm on about ).  

Deck 3 Toxic Toolbox

Deck 3 – Toxic Toolbox

Ok this one’s another budget beauty... For this deck you will need...

4 Heavy Arbalest

4 Necropede

4 Ichorclaw myr

4 Corpse Cur

4 Razor Boomerang

4 Throne of Geth

4 Contagion Clasp

4 Voltaic Key.

2 Elixir of Immortality

4 Everflowing Chalice

4 Dread Statuary(man-land)

18 lands of any description.   

Because this deck is colourless the mana curve is very shallow. And because of that you could experiment with any of the cheaper non basics in the set. As you can see above, we’ve included the excellent dread statuary which you can pick up for about £0.30 $0.50 each and fits the artifact creature build brilliantly.

Ok here’s the deal, this deck is simplicity itself... 

You use the arbalests with the infect artifacts and use the keys to un-tap them and then do it again, that’s 4 poison each one every turn, because the Arbalests grant their damage ability to the creature, and infect creature will give a player poison counters instead of the damage. The Razor Boomerangs work in the same way and once the poison counters are through, sac the necropedes to the Throne of Geth take out any threats and proliferate your chalices up and your opponent and his fatties to death. Use your Corpse curs to recur the necropedes and do it all again.

The Arbalests will also help you take out threats like planeswalkers and key creatures, which your opponent needs to hold back, like lotus cobras, fauna shamans and the like.

This deck has great synergy, you can also use the voltaic keys to un-tap the thrones to proliferate higher or on the chalices to help you ramp or use them late game on the clasps to proliferate again.

Of course if there’s nothing in your way you can also just swing in with poisonous little beasties...

And once again NOT a single RARE...  

There's some cards I really like...

but this guy may have issues...

Enjoy...Here

Well the stats are singing... So welcome everyone... And a wee reminder about why we're here...

Ok I got some feedback recently some good, some bad and some ugly, I guess we better keep the Jace bashing to a minimum in future...(he he)

Anyway some of the feedback on Wall or Nothing got me thinking that maybe our message isn't clear enough, because one of them suggesting adding Wall Of Omen to the deck.. Dude! 4 x Walls of Omen costs more than the rest of the deck!

This blog is aboiut building decks when you only have budgets of £10/20 $15/30 to spend. We may comment on other decks and we welcome submissions about anything on topic.We're even planning one on a top budget Legacy Deck soon, but at our heart, we are cards for the masses...

So while there may be better cards for our Wall deck we're keeping it as it is because its cheap and fun...

And besides this was our thinkng...

Wall of Vines v's Wall of Omen

Vines is one drop with 3 in the ass and the all important reach. There isn't a card in standard that cnn topple it with the Leyline Of Vitality in place

Omens is storng with the cantrip, has one more in the ass, but costs one more and doesn't have the all important reach...

Verdict! Whilst drawing cards is great, this deck isn't about that.... Its about gaining life and digging in...  We stay with the Wall of Vines

Oh and there's one more reason!
Wall of Omen todays price Magic Madhouse £3.99/$5.50

Wall of Vines  same source £0.10$0.15

Sure, there's some argument for using Overgrown battlement, and tapping for mana is a great ability, (and we did suggest this as an alternative), but it still can't block fliers...

The Wall or Nothing deck works by being able to block anything your opponent can throw at you.  Sitting back and either gaining life to keep you out of the range of ultimate effects (like Valakut Ramp, because when those mountains are on the field that card is over) or swinging in with huge fliers (an equipped gargolyle with it's ability paid, one stalwart and one leyline on the field will fly in for 8/8...)  But the decks real win is simply to top deck your opponent. (leave them no way in, play only what you need to, keep a hand full of cards and use the elixir when you need to., eventually they will run out of cards)

Its strong against valakut ramp beacuse of the lifegain and safe passage...
It eats red deck...
It's strong against infect...
Its weaker against blue/white control and Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp (isn't everything?) But with a sideboard of leylines of sanctity for the former and tajura preservers for the latter, it can take even them.( which you can afford, because they are still cheaper than wall of omens...)

But here's where you really win...

Total build cost

Wall or Nothing £10

Single Card Cost

Eldrazi ramp/Valakut ramp Primeval Titan  £35 (and you'll need four)
Blue White Control Jace the Mind Sculptor £65 (and you'll need four)

Of course Control This... will beat all of them and costs even less than the wall deck...(see the archives)

Anyway its good to know people are reading and what I'd really like to hear just now are ideas for other decks, and articles. So if you fancy writing something (constructive please) then email me... As for Jace bashing, well if anyone can think of better ways to use him and can actually use photoshop, please get intouch...

Later,

Gordon Vader...

Alright Alright...

In a bid to prove once and for all, we are not Anti 'Jace The Mind Sculptor'
Here's one situation that screams for Jace's special talents

Click here

Speculating and Accumulating

Ok, so one way to get good cards is to get them cheap.. While this is nowhere near a perfect science cheap cards can't really go down much so if you don't 'win win' you can usually 'draw draw'...

Cards that are going to go up for sure

Voltiac Key - With another set or two of artifacts still to come and the rise of the Mimic Vat these uncommons are going to go up like hot air ballons with rockets on...

And of course what goes up must come down... So cheap artifact removal will go the same way...

Green has Nature's claim and white has Revoke Existence and Solemn offering, for red its easy there's so many ways to deal with artifacts its not funny...

Black will mainly just duress the mimic vats out of your hand and Blue players will just continue to spend stupid money on Jaces

Enchantments however may be a little bit trickier and so to my next must have card...

Liquimetal Coating - That enchantment/manland/planeswalker/mahousive green fattie bothering you? Tick... tap... Boom!  Simply add any of the above spells or in red's case creatures to this little nugget and no more problems... Get em while you can...

Ok In my opinion the rares worth watching are ...

My bet's are on...

Lux Canon (seriously! why is no one playing this???)

Mindslaver (Oh you wanted a Primeval titan under your Mimic Vat? I'm so sorry I let it go for this memnite... Oh that was your ratchet bomb?}

Prototype Portal (because you can never have too many atrifacts, particularily Mimic Vats and Volataic Keys)

Of the plainswalkers I'd say...

Elspeth Tirel, because the Portal makes tokens too and this set is shy of wraths.

Of the Titans?

Well this one is easy...Infact get as many as you can... Beacause the Mimic Vat can bring ALL The Titans back, but only one Titan can bring back the Mimic Vat...

Get your Sun Titans now and don't let them out of your sight...

Oh and I'm planning a deck aroound Semblence Anvil next, I reckon there's something in it and I'm just looking for it's home...

Practical Magic

Ok, So we had a little fun Jace Bashing earlier, but in all seriousness there are some good practical applications for the card...


So here's the First 

or try here if you get errors...

Deck 2 : Wall or Nothing

Fog, as we previously discussed no one really plays this card and I’m hard pushed to say why... So we’ve teamed it up with a few other playable, yet under used, misfits and built a deck that is both competitive and inexpensive...

For this deck you will need...

4 Fog

4 Safe passage

4 Leyline of Vitality

3 Wall of Vines

3 Perimeter Captain

3 Stalwart Shield Bearers

4 Warmongers Chariot

3 Roc Egg

4 Asceticism

4 Heavy Arbalest

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Gargoyle Sentinel

20 land - A mix of plains and forests ( this deck has a very cheap mana curve, but experiment with up to 24 land until you find it works for you. You could add overgrown battlements in place of the walls of vines and add some big green fatties if you feel you need them...)

Ok, so this deck uses a few rares. Asceticism and Leylines of Vitality, but oh my lord they're cheap and strangely the leyline is the only one of the set playable in multiples. If you think about it, the others all have very useful effects, but the vitality is the only one that has more than one effect, with two in play creatures get an extra +0 +2 and you gain two life every time you have a creature enter the battlefield.  So this deck is simple, it’s all about digging in, sitting back and gaining as much life as you can before returning fire with tricksy tappers or suicidal walls...

With this deck the mana curve is so shallow that you can afford to go to 5 or even 4 cards in search of the all important leyline, although getting a second one is amazing...   As soon as you find it you’re off...

Turn one you’re looking for a leyline, a couple of lands and one of the one drop walls, the vines or the captain.  

What’s clever about this deck is that as soon as you have the leyline, all of your creatures will come in with toughness of 4 or more and therefore out of the range of burn and of course you can add more leylines and stalwarts later in the game and extend the toughness even further.  Basically the idea is really really easy The Walls of Vines have reach and should come in at 0/4, the stalwart will pump them to 0/6 the captains will net you 2 life every time you block. 

When you are ready to swing in, use the Gargoyle Sentinels and equip the warmonger’s chariots on the Roc Eggs and swing them to their doom and don’t forget the arbalests, your creatures may be defenders, but it doesn’t mean they can’t cause damage, just remember to un-equip them before the next turn. There’s no way your opponent is going to waste doom blades, or mana leaks on one mana walls, at least not in the first game, so you’ll have to be careful when you play  asceticism, because he’ll likely have a handful ready. If the worst does happen and you lose your walls make sure you play the Elixir at the right time and simply start again...

  

Asceticism will save you from tapping, bouncing and stealing effects, which really only leaves you vulnerable to mass removal.  Sideboard  natures spiral and cheap umbras like snake umbra, hyena umbra and spider umbra against day of judgement and ratchet bomb, use fog early game and safe passage later for fireball, burn and seemingly suicidal rushes and remember you still get the 2 life gain from blocking defenders if you play fog...

Here's how quickly it gets going...

I have a feeling that The leylines are going to go up in value soon.  All it will take is a need for extra toughness or turn one and all the decks will be running them... Obviously card values fluctuate so it’s a good idea to look ahead and try to get them cheap while you can... I remember when Frost Titans were £4 and Grave Titans were £30... 

So we’re going to have some punts in the next article please feel free to add your own ideas...
Today’s pick is Mimic Vat, get them while you can. Currently they go for £3/4, but I predict they are going to be at least double that soon.

  

Much though I hate to say it...

I saw this awesome alternate art Jace the Mind Sculptor...

Cards to start digging for...

DECK ONE : CONTROL THIS

Ok we're starting with a belter... This deck has a rare and acheivable Turn 4 kill and is difficult to stop...

It revolves arround three key cards and is therefore somewhat combo based, it has elements of red deck and some of it you may recognise, but the twists are entirely homebrew... And best of all, it doesn't use a single rare!

Ladies and gentleman.... We give you CONTROL THIS!!!

The principle The deck is really centred arround  zetkar shrine expedition   kiln find , elemental appeal and the twist is this ...


In my experience in magic the more a card can do for you and the less you have to pay for it, the more valuable it is in a deck.... So The Shrine is obviously awesome a 7/1, trample and haste creature that, after you have enough triggers, come in when you say so for 2 mana is cheap... The kiln fiend...  a front pumpable 1/2 is equally playable, but the trick is  Not of this world... Obvioulsy a 7 mana counter spell is too pricey for most decks and the boys in theWizards R&D dept. clearly meant it for use with the massive eldrazi. They may have been drinking when they did, though becausre they forgot the plucky 7/1 trampler you get free from siimply dropping some land... So, turn 4 kill I hear you ask? ... Oj here's the trick...

Turn one - Lay a mountain.and burn your  opponent in the face with either a lightning bolt or a galvanic blast...  Opponent goes to 17/18

Turn two lay mountain  drop shrine - pass turn...

Turn three lay Terramorphic Expanse (put shrine to one) Your oppoenent will note that you have a potential 7/1 on your next turm and if they are smart they will keep mana open for the answer...then use two red to drop kiln fiend... pass turn ( In their turn sac Teramorphic expanse and get mountain put shrine to 2) you now have 3 red mana.

Turn four - Drop mountain put shrine to 3 counters, sac it create 7/1 elemental, depending on your opponent and their deck they might try an answer here, but more likely they'll wait until you've used your all mana... so use one red for assault strobe on shrine elemental, giving it double strike. Your opponent will probably try and kill it here,.use Not of this World on their answer, kiln fiend is now also at 7/2  you now have lots of other options for the other three red... you could lightning bolt  any blockers or fling the kiln fiend if he meets a blocker or you could  double bull rush the elementzal making it a brutal 11/1 trampling double strike  Either way you win unless they're playing fog and no-one plays fog (or do they? Watch out for our next top budget deck featuring amongst other cards the very underrated fog)

The rest of this deck we'll leave to you... you could add ember smiths and cheap artifacts like memnites for cheap removal,chump blockers and burn and to help get the galvanic blasts up to full power... or just go for lots of burn like Staggershock, burst lightning and searing blaze...

Here's the horrible moment when your opponent discovers his £500 deck has just been eaten by some uncommons...

Like we said at the start... Control This...

The reason this blog exists is fair play...

Its all very well to have all the fetch lands and Jace the bloody Mind Sculptor if you can afford to spend £500/$700 on a deck.

Ok, So there was always red deck wins, but with the arrival of Koth of the Hammer, the man has managed to spoil that avenue too...(Is it just me or does Koth Of The Hammer look like he likes wearing dresses on the Weekend? Not that I'd say it to his face)

Oh Wizards run their Building on a budget section and whislt we applaud it, it can push the value of the cards they highlight back out of budget...

So how do you compete? Well thats why this blog exists we're going to get thinking and get chatting and get innovating and we shall be bringing you the best in top budget builds.  

Because there's nothing more satisfying in the realm of magic than smashing a two grand deck with a handful of commons and some thought...