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Main » Articles » Your Budget Needs You!

Your Budget Needs You!

Abe Sargent
Posted on May 29, 2012
 Reddit

HGTV is my favorite channel on cable. I can watch it for hours at a time if I’m not careful. One of the most popular concepts on the network is a variety of shows built around looking for houses. From Househunters to Property Virgins, a lot of shows deal with people house shopping. A precept often stated is that no matter what budget a person has when shopping for a home, that person never finds everything he or she wants in a house. Compromise must follow.

The same is true of Magic collections. It doesn’t matter whether you make $20,000 a year or $200,000. You will never have all of the Magic cards you want. Compromise follows. The other day, I placed an order for cards from Avacyn Restored that I wanted, and I wasn’t able to pick up all of the cards I wanted. I had to ignore some cards in order to add others, and budgetary decisions took precedence. Prioritization was the key.

Throughout the history of Magic writing, there have been columns and decks that consider financial constraints. I’ve often built formats and decks around cheaper options just to shake things up. However, I’ve never actually written a whole article with decks for the pocketbook. There always seem to be other options out there for budget-oriented players to have their fix. Recently, I’ve been in a mood to try it out and see how it feels.

Today, I have a simple challenge. I want to build five decks that each cost $10 or less to assemble on www.CoolStuffInc.com. Each deck must be good for kitchen-table play with an option for multiplayer fun. Basic lands don’t count toward the cost. I’ve seen a lot of budget limits in these articles at $20 or $25, so let’s take it to the next level! I have no deck ideas in my head, so I’ll just explore until I can find options. This should be fun, so alons-y!

"Mono-White Control"

Total price if you pay near-mint costs: $9.87

Phyrexian Rebirth
If you pay for lower-level condition, you can add some copies of Seraph Sanctuary or other cards. This is a nice control deck for the kitchen table since it really controls creatures. You have four flat-out Wrath effects with Phyrexian Rebirth. Not only do they give you sweeping removal, but it leaves you with a creature as well. Then, add a pair of Sunblast Angels to the mix, and your power increases significantly. That’s six mass-removal spells tied to creatures, so you can swing through a newly opened board position.

Our creature removal doesn’t end there either. A full set of Second Thoughts provides the ability to exile any attacker and also draw a card. In a deck with as little card-drawing as this one, I preferred the 5-mana Second Thoughts to a 3-mana Rebuke, but I’d understand if you wanted to go elsewhere. Finally, a pair of Wing Shards wraps up our removal. Getting just one extra use of this via storm is very powerful, and if you manage more, it’s broken. You’ll find a lot of times when just one heavy creature attacks, and this ends it even if nothing else was played that turn.

Ballista Squad
If people attack, we also have Ballista Squad and Brigid fighting to keep them back. Few will attack into an untapped Ballista Squad with a lot of mana open. They also will help to shoot down blockers, and thus play double duty. Imagine attacking with a Seraph of Dawn with 6 mana and a Ballista Squad available to use in case someone blocks. Then after combat, just use your mana for other stuff. It’s as though you force double-duty from your mana.

Then, we have defensive creatures designed to block attacks and stay alive. Ideally, you kill and block everything that can come your way and then sail over the other team with your flyers for game. Angelic Wall is a nice, cheap blocker. You can play it early and block anything on the ground or in the air for a while. I even play a Portal copy in my 2500+ Highlander Deck, and it works very well. Cho-Manno, Revolutionary will hold the fort against any creature that comes your way. The Seraphs can play defense if needed, and the Archangel’s vigilance helps to mug up the ground as well. Finally, Stonehorn Dignitary can jump into play and force a foe to skip his or her next combat phase. Add a 1/4 body to that, and you have a nice creature to shore up your life against opposing beats.

Kor Sanctifiers
I didn’t want this focus on anti-creatures to take away from other things, so in went a set of Kor Sanctifiers. Just pay the kicker if you need, and you can take out any artifact or enchantment. As a creature, the card adds to your red zone when needed, and it also gives you the ability to fight against opposing magic.

With mass removal, pinpoint removal, massive creature defense, flying beaters, and ways to take out noncreatures that are problems, this is a deck that has the ability to be strong against a lot of casual decks you will be facing.

In case you want to increase your budget, look at cards such as Commander Eesha, Dawn Elemental, Swords to Plowshares, and Day of Judgment. Having cheaper removal and better defensive creatures can push this deck to the next level. I’d also add cycling lands to give you some sifting ability and something such as Akroma's Blessing to protect the team.



"Warped Love"

Total cost if everything is bought near mint is: $9.89

Warped Devotion
This is a little combo deck built around Warped Devotion. Whenever a permanent is bounced while it’s on the battlefield, that permanent’s owner has to discard. If no cards are in hand prior to the bouncing, that turns every bounce into a Vindicate since the player will have to discard what was returned. When your foe discards, he or she pumps Abyssal Nocturnus and triggers Sangromancer for 3 life for you. Note that the Devotion works on you, too, so there is no self-bouncing here.

Once you know what the Devotion does, it’s time to find cards that bounce spells. Every bounce effect in this deck is tied to something that won’t cost you card advantage. We don’t want you to lose card advantage because we are playing Unsummon, you know? Recoil forces a discard when the card is bounced, and with Devotion out, that’s a double-discard.

Lost in the Mist
Both Aether Adept and Aethersnipe give you dudes while also bouncing a creature for free. With a Devotion in play and no cards in your foe’s hand, these are creatures with an enters-the-battlefield trigger that is better than Nekrataal’s or Shriekmaw’s. Finally, Lost in the Mist not only counters a spell, but it bounces any permanent.

I felt that this deck needed some instant-surprise creature removal, so in went a player’s set of Expunge. This old Terror variant is amazing since it can be cycled against creatureless decks or mono-black decks—situations in which Terror and similar cards would suck. It’s just 3 mana to kill something, so it isn’t costed that much more to add cycling possibilities.

Gravedigger
Cancel also gives me another set of counters for when we want to keep something off the board. With all of this bounce, counters are really keen—if you miss something truly awful, you can just bounce it and counter it when it’s replayed. With just four spots left in the deck, in went Gravedigger. I wanted some more creatures, and the ability to bring back a dead Nocturnus, Sangromancer, or bouncer was deemed to be particularly good. With no spots in the deck available to dedicate to raw card-drawing, another enters-the-battlefield creature that gives us a bit of card advantage was necessary.

If you wanted to push the theme, I would double the Nocturnuses and Sangromancers and look at Quest for the Nihil Stone and perhaps a pair of Liliana's Caress or Megrim. This is another fun deck for your casual tables!

Did you know that there are 1,848 rares on CoolStuffInc that have a price of roughly fifty cents? It’s been pretty easy to find ideas for decks so far. Let’s see what the next one is!



"Beef for Dinner"

I had to build this with used prices on some cards, and it clocked it at $9.76. I thought a fun little tribal deck would be a nice change of pace, and everyone loves beef, right? Right?

Anaba Ancestor
This deck came to mind when I was looking at card prices below fifty cents, and I saw both the Anaba Ancestor and Anaba Spirit Crafter down there. Even hero Tahngarth has a cheap price tag, leaving us all set. I even had space for a pair of moderately expensive (for this project) Taurean Maulers to fit along the Minotaurs. Rounding out our cattle are two sets each of Anaba Shaman and Gorehorn Minotaurs. We have twenty bullmen in the deck.

The rest of the deck is removal of various sorts. I really like Spitting Earth in any mono-red deck. I don’t mind the sorcery speed that much, and you can blast a lot of big guys, and it scales in damage as the game continues. Since I didn’t have money for a lot of nonbasic lands, I decided to use the fact that I would have just Mountains by including Spitting Earth.

Dead // Gone
Dead // Gone is a great spell because it’s a Shock to creatures and a surprise bounce spell once in a while. You’d be surprised how often you want a surprise bounce spell. You can bounce a blocker to sneak in some hits or bounce an enemy creature with an Aura on it. It’s a nice answer to creatures that came out way too soon to anything from Reanimate to Tinker to Oath of Druids to Show and Tell.

Lava Axe gives the deck some surprises. You’d be shocked at how useful a simple Lava Axe is. When your opponents know that you have Axes in the deck, they will play differently. Since we don’t have any other burn in the deck to hit someone’s face, this can act as a bit of a surprise. You can see Lava Axe as an end to a burn deck, but a moo-cow deck? It seems to come out of nowhere.

Demolish
Finally, we have Demolish to destroy either artifacts or lands, whichever is being messy. It’s the red version of Naturalize and Disenchant, just swapping enchantments for lands . . . and priced twice as much and made into a sorcery. Because red never gets the good stuff anymore; sigh.

If you have the money, I’d pull Lava Axes for a good X spell and increase the number of Maulers. You might want to toss in a pair of Lord of Shatterskull Pass as well.

A deck idea I had to discard was a prowl-based Rogue deck fed by new Rogue champion Invisible Stalker. With Stalkers at a buck each, it would come in way too high for this challenge, but for a $20 dollar deck, it would be fine. What’s the next deck idea?



"Impromptu Crowns"

This deck clocks in at $9.99 exactly! It’s a fun, beefy combo deck built around Impromptu Raid and Crown of Convergence with other combo elements included.

Impromptu Raid
With twenty-two creatures in the deck, we have a good chance of having one on top when we use Impromptu Raid. When we do, we create a creature for the turn with haste, but at the end, sadly, it dies.

In order to ensure that we know when to use the Raid, we have a full set of Crowns. They not only show the top card of your deck at all times, but you can activate one to put the top card of your library on the bottom of your deck. The Crown also can pump some of your creatures if the right color creature is on top of the library.

I also included some cards to play with the top of your library a bit. Llanowar Empath is a creature with scry 2 when it enters the battlefield. You can draw that creature if one is on top afterward. This allows you to move cards off the top of your library that are interfering with your Raids. Crystal Ball is a cheap, recursive tool to scry again and again, setting up your deck for a few Raids. Finally, Wirewood Guardian can be forestcycled, and that gives your deck a nice shuffle. All of these cards help place creatures to the top of your library again and again.

Rootbreaker Wurm
We also have beaters to bring out in high numbers. Back when Tempest had been released, I referred to Rootbreaker Wurm—which was so good in Draft—as Gamebreaker Wurm because when you played it, you won. Now I can add a Gamebreaker Wurm to a new deck. There’s a new Gamebreaker Wurm with the recently released Pathbreaker Wurm. Not only can it help to give something trample, such as Wirewood Guardian, but it also is a nice-sized body all on its own. As the Guardian is a 6/6, it’s not to be taken lightly.

After having this beef core, I finished the deck with a few cards to help us out. Crystal Shard will bounce a creature that Raided before it dies. Acidic Slime gives you a smattering of emergency removal if needed. Finally, Goldnight Commander will pump the team whenever someone joins the table. He turns a Raid into a mini-Overrun every time it is successfully activated.

Garruk's Horde
If you wanted to expand this deck, I’d look at Garruk's Horde, which both can be a beater off a Raid and reveals the top card of your library. I’d improve Crystal Ball to Sensei's Divining Top and swap in Erratic Portal for Crystal Shard. Krosan Tusker would replace the Guardian, and I’d add some useful lands, including a pair of Temple of the False God. Last, Pathbreaker Wurm would swap for a much bigger rare beater, such as Symbiotic Wurm, which becomes a ton of 1/1s after it dies to the Raid trigger, or Penumbra Wurm which turns into a 6/6 trampler after it dies. Even Woodfall Primus fits here instead of Acidic Slime if you really want to push it. There are a ton of good cards to enhance the core of this deck, so take a look around and see what you have!



"Luring You into a Sense of False Security"

This deck has enough money left over to add a full set of cycling Tranquil Thickets, and it still clocks in at $9.51. It wants to play a creature that has a trigger when my enemy blocks it and then drop either a Lure or Tempting Licid onto that creature for hijinks!

Engulfing Slagwurm
The old-school combo of Lure and Basilisk is here, and we are using the good Sylvan Basilisk. Whenever a creature blocks it, it is immediately destroyed. There is no deathtouch and no destroy-at-the-end-of-combat clause. It is destroyed before damage is even dealt. Despite the age on that combo, it’s still good. I added a pair of Engulfing Slagwurms to the deck as well. Not only do they kill what blocks them, but you will also gain a ton of life from it. Finally, Elven Warhounds will send any blocking creatures back to the opponent’s deck. Sure, the player will draw them again, but losing those draws to do it is especially nasty. Destroying creatures is one thing, but these are essentially Time Walks against a foe.

I wanted some mana acceleration for this deck, and in went Arbor Elf. Clocking in at a quarter each, they are ten cents cheaper than a near mint Llanowar Elves. That’s a savings of forty cents on the deck project overall, so I figured they would work just fine. I wanted Rampant Growth, Sakura-Tribe Elder, or something similar, but I went with the old standby Wirewood Guardian again. Forestcycling is pretty good because you can use the creature as well. You can even drop a Lure down on it and just kill a lot of creatures due to its size.

Pygmy Troll
Pygmy Troll fit perfectly here. Not only did we add a cheap creature to drop before everything else, but its regeneration can shore up our defense. Additionally, you are comfortable throwing a Tempting Licid onto it. You can swing and regenerate it while the rest of the team pushes through a defense. Or maybe you just want to kill one of your opponent’s utility creatures, so you swing and force the block, regenerating it while you kill your target. It’s very strong in this deck.

I wrapped up the deck with Crushing Vines. Destroying artifacts is keen, and flyers could pose a real problem to a deck devoid of them. You don’t want your foes repeatedly tapping flyers to dole out damage and avoid the block. Having a flying removal spell for them is really important to establishing victory.

If you want to amp this deck, toss in Tribe-Elders for the forestcycling craziness. (You can Lure them and attack, force all to block, sac for a land, and get in a hit with everything else, so they are on-theme.) That’s the only major change I’d make. This deck works as is. (Of course, feel free to change things out based on your own card collection or personal style.)



Today, we looked at five decks, each of which clocked in at fewer than ten bucks. The total cost of today’s article is $49.02. Only one deck used anything other than near-mint prices, and if you wanted, you could assemble these decks for less by going the route of used cards. Trading for the cards in this deck should be pretty easy since none have a lot of value.

Even if you are missing some of these cards from your own collection, I’m sure your play group has most of them already. We have everything in here from counters to mass removal, combo, aggro, and control, and even decks for duels and multiplayer. All of these decks can win, and you should have fun doing so!

I really enjoyed the challenge of today’s article, and I expect similar ideas to follow occasionally in this column. While I would never make the mistake of equating “casual” with “budget,” it’s important to acknowledge the large budget-minded sub-community of casual players out there.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent

TAGS articles, budget, casual, analysis, deck lists, kitchen table, abe sargent

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