Adventures in Budget Building: Getting Close

It was a good week for my Cheap Guy Ale build. I wasn't able to play with it in a store, but I found some deals, made some trades, and am far closer to completion than I thought I would be at this point. Here is what I was able to pick up at some local stores:

2 Slaughter Pact- Last week I mentioned one of my local stores had these for $3 each, much cheaper than the current TCG mid price. Sure enough, I went in last week and was able to pick up two for that same price. Talk about a bargain! Slaughter Pact lets me tap out when need be without fearing a game changing creature being played. Testing online this week, this card single-handedly won me a game 1 against Splinter Twin... well I mean I had creatures attacking for 20 points of damage too, but this card stopped the combo. You know what I mean!

A few days after picking up the Slaughter Pacts I brought in my trade binder to one of the other local stores to trade for store credit and pick up a few things. I had a playset of Hero's Downfall, three Eidolon of the Great Revel, and a few other rares that the store took for over $50 of credit, and this is what I got in return:

3 Phyrexian Arena- Cheap Guy's replacement of Dark Confidant, this card should provide enough gas in the later rounds that I am able to survive. It can kill me if I don't have enough of a clock, but that's the price you have to pay I guess.

1 Restoration Angel- I had hinted last week that I should have picked up three of these right away, this should be the last one I need.

1 Bloodstained Mire- I had enough store credit to pick up this card, my first fetch land! Depending on when/if the Zendikar fetches get reprinted, a playset of Bloodstained Mire should be able to help solidify my mana base until I can get some Marsh Flats. At $12 in-store, it was hard to pass up this card.

With all of these purchases and trades, this is the decklist I am looking to play at my LGS's weekly modern night:

All I'm missing from my initial completed list is 4 Mutavaults and about 5-6 fetch lands, which of course are some of the biggest financial investments. Mutavault makes this deck better in so many ways, so I will surely pick up some of those man-lands when I am able. If you are wondering about my sideboard, it's pretty basic: 4 Kor Firewalker to try to help with burn, some Stony Silence and Disenchant to help against Affinity and the like, and a few other utility cards.

Since I'm trying to get into modern on a budget, I've been scouring MTGGoldfish's metagame page the last week looking to see what others are having success with, and honestly, budget decks have done pretty well in Modern Dailies the last week.

Here is a BW midrange deck piloted by ACG88 to a 3-1 record this last week:

I like the creature base, with Mirran Crusader offering solid beats, especially against BGx decks that rely on Tarmogoyf and Abrupt Decay. In playtesting I've been a bit under whelmed by my Blade Splicer + Restoration Angel combo, and this creature base may be where I end up going in the long run. The 4 planewalkers are also excellent additions, giving the deck a few more options at the 4-drop slot.

Speaking of Tarmogoyf, who needs it anyway? Player andoneko piloted this Tarmogoyf-less zoo deck to a 3-1 record in a Daily this week:

Talk about fast! And yes, Hooting Mandrills has made its way into modern, Delve isn't just for blue decks any more. Backing up super-efficient creatures with Boros Charm is a great play. This kind of deck is surely meta-dependent, as a Burn-heavy meta might bring down a deck that takes so much damage from its own lands. But still, at around $300, this is a fairly inexpensive way to break into modern for aggro players out there.

The last deck I have for this week is easily my favorite: Zombie Jund! Player UWRgeist went tribal to 3-1 a Daily Event.

How cool is this list? The recursion of Gravecrawler and Bloodghast feed perfectly into Lotleth Troll and Falkenrath Aristocrat. This deck is so cool I traded around for it online. I didn't have some of the same fetches as UWRgeist and must say that this is a hard deck to play without proper fetches! It's horrible to not have a green source when you have Lotleth Troll, or only have gotten one red source when a Lightning Bolt plus Blightning could win the game. Kudos to UWRgeist for making an awesome brew and being successful with it!

As a budget player, it is awesome seeing three decks less than $500 in paper and less than $200 online win dailies! Keep brewing and having fun! Until next time,

Kedelbro