The Budget Clinic - Your place for help with budget decks!

[Johm000]

Welcome to the Budget Clinic!

Are you constantly put off by not being able to play Standard due to costs?
Are you annoyed because you don't own playsets of Bitterblossom, Cryptic Command or Reflecting Pool?
Are you always struggling to find alternatives for those expensive decks?

Then this is the right place for you.

Here, myself and iRebel will help you make your decks that much better! All you need to do is post your decklist, your deck theme, your budget and cards you really want to include or avoid. You should also include a general idea of your meta if you can. Then me or iRebel will try our best to give you ideas. It's very simple really! Other users are welcome to join in and help out as well!

So... get posting!

[TigerFangRed91]

Oops. I did not see this thread until a few minutes ago. Sorry bout that. But anyways, here's my budget deck:

Elf Deck (Standard)

Deck
4 Elvish Beserker 4 Twinblade Slasher 4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher 4 Wolf-Skull Shaman 4 Civic Wayfinder 4 Drove of Elves 4 Llanowar Elves	3 Tower Above 2 Gift of the Gargantuan 2 Overrun 2 Elvish Promenade 19 Forest 4 Treetop Village

Keep in mind, the reason I've used mediocre cards is to keep this in a budget range. The deck came out to be around $25(not including the Treetop Villages) and would like to keep it in that range.

For the price, do you think this is a decent deck? Tell me if you see the synergy and the strategy I'm going for.

[iRebel]

TigerFangRed91 -- the first, and most glaring emission is the lack of Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel. Even on a budget, these are exceptionally cheap and pretty much needed for the deck.

[TigerFangRed91]

Originally Posted by iRebel

TigerFangRed91 -- the first, and most glaring emission is the lack of Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel. Even on a budget, these are exceptionally cheap and pretty much needed for the deck.

I have a playset of Nettle Sentinel, and I can get the druids, so what should I take out to make room for them? I don't want to slow down the deck. I was also considering Elvish Visionary to speed up the draw process. What do you think?

[iRebel]

Originally Posted by TigerFangRed91

I have a playset of Nettle Sentinel, and I can get the druids, so what should I take out to make room for them? I don't want to slow down the deck. I was also considering Elvish Visionary to speed up the draw process. What do you think?

Don't think Visionary is needed myself.

Elvish Berserker and Drove of Elves would be my first choices to cut.

[ElricJC]

Originally Posted by iRebel

Don't think Visionary is needed myself.

Elvish Berserker and Drove of Elves would be my first choices to cut.

Agreed. And the Visionary can be good IMO if you are running some combo elements, but as it is I would dump the Berserker and Drove, and -1 Tower Above for +1 Overrun - with swarm decks global pumps are more useful than effects that target a single creature. If you can, Imperious Perfect is what you need badly (kick the Wayfinders). I know as far as uncommons go she is a little pricey, but try when you get the chance. Elf Ball just isn't Elf Ball without Heritage + Nettle.


Also I am really not a fan of Gifts, and I might tempt you to oust them for a couple of cheap Gilt-Leaf Ambushes. More threats are always good. And if 2 Towers just don't work, kick em for 1 more Promenade and 1 more Ambush.

[TigerFangRed91]

Alright. I see what you mean but why not Drove of Elves?

[ElricJC]

Drove seems like a good card, but in practice without evasion it tends to muck up the curve of the deck. Your higher CMC spells should either produce CA (token generators like Promenade) or act as the linchpin for the win (Overrun). Drove is resistant to enemy spells, but it's a very poor topdeck if your field has been swept away. Elf-Ball in order to improve its efficiency seeks to avoid bad top decks like the plague (which is why the also seemingly made-for-it card, Talara's Battalion, is not used in it). Promenade stretches this line, and some prefer Hunting Triad since it is a better top deck, if less explosive. But it is versatile, that's another one to consider. As this deck swarms it's better to keep the creature costs low (especially with Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel interactions). Drove of Elves is a part-time fatty that can end up being a dead card or a 4 cmc 1/1 critter after sweeps. Try it out, but I'll tell ya even on a budget there are better options.

[iRebel]

Originally Posted by TigerFangRed91

Alright. I see what you mean but why not Drove of Elves?

Bang for your buck, really. At 3G, you get a vanilla creature that can't be killed by terror, but gets chump blocked all day. Yeah, he can get big, but when a big creature gets chump blocked unto oblivion, there's not much use for him, is there?

All in all, without some sort of evasion, Drove of Elves isn't that good overall. His effect doesn't justify his mana cost, IMO.

[TigerFangRed91]

That makes sense. The reason I put him in there at first is because a lot of people in my area seem to get me with spot removal(coincidentally, only 1 person in my area has mass removal in main deck) so I was looking for something that is resistant to spot removal. I'll take your advice and replace him with Nettle Sentinel, and take out Elvish Berserker and add Heritage Druid(I already ordered the cards, so I'll have to get him later).

[ElricJC]

Ha, limited mass removal? You should have fun then. Really outside of Heritage and Nettle, few things in Elf-Ball warrant spot removal since everything tends to be pretty even. Nothing save those two stand out in the crowd, so to speak.

[luminum can]

Deck
Creatures 4x Spark Elemental 4x Flamekin Harbinger 4x Sunflare Shaman 4x Rageforger 4x Incandescent Soulstoke 4x Inner-Flame Acolyte Spells 2x Dolmen Gate 4x Incinerate 3x Pyroclasm 4x Flame Javelin 1x Beacon of Destruction	Lands 22x Mountain

Here's a budget Elemental/Shaman aggro deck that's been doing quite well for me in casual play (in MtGO), and I'd like some opinions on how it might do in more serious play. I don't have a sideboard at the moment, as I've only been playing it in single matches, so advice on what to include there would be much appreciated as well.

My goal is a fast aggro deck. A fast chain of Flamekin Harbinger into Sunflare Shaman into Rage Forger is not uncommon and can end the game quickly. Problems thus far have been with creatures too large to burn out or cannot be targeted. For mass removal I have Pyroclasm, but this hurts my own board position as well of course, unless I have enough Rageforgers and/or Soulstokes.

My budget is pretty limited; I'd like not to spend more than $10-20 at the most on improvements. I don't have any preferences as far as what cards should or should not be used, outside of what is essential to the deck's theme, so long as it stays within budget.

[rastercaster]

Great thread, although I think there are enough 'budgeted' threads to warrant an entire forum subsection. Anyway, here's my budget Cruel Control deck I've been working on, it's based around Chapin's Worlds deck. I've kept it to three colors to keep the mana base simple enough to work well without Reflecting Pools, but I'm not opposed to running ~16 vivids and going 5-color. It performs pretty well for a budget deck.

Budget Cruel Control
4 Broken Ambitions 4 Dream Fracture 2 Terror 2 Pyroclasm 2 Firespout 1 Grixis Charm 2 Cruel Ultimatum 4 Courier's Capsule 1 Tidings 4 Mulldrifter 3 Plumeveil 2 Broodmate Dragon 1 Nucklavee 1 Oona, Queen of the Fae 1 Jace Beleren	4 Crumbling Necropolis 4 Vivid Creek 3 Vivid Marsh 1 Vivid Crag 8 Island 3 Swamp 3 Mountain

My budget is about $10-$20, but I might spend more if it will greatly improve the deck's performance. I pulled one Wrath of God out of a pack, so I'm looking to put at least 2 Wrath of God in the deck. I'm also looking to squeeze in a Call the Skybreaker, as I think there are enough control decks around to warrant it. My sideboard is in the air, and for the most part is 4 Negate and 4 Flashfreeze. My meta is mostly the latest and greatest netdecks piloted by competent players, many of the decks are some form of 5-color control or faeries.

[TigerFangRed91]

Originally Posted by ElricJC

Ha, limited mass removal? You should have fun then. Really outside of Heritage and Nettle, few things in Elf-Ball warrant spot removal since everything tends to be pretty even. Nothing save those two stand out in the crowd, so to speak.

I playtested the original build I had against my friend's T2 Bant Exalted deck and his artifact deck and won both games on apprentice. I really like it and thanks for the help guys.

[Lazy Lockie]

Originally Posted by luminum can

Here's a budget Elemental/Shaman aggro deck that's been doing quite well for me in casual play (in MtGO), and I'd like some opinions on how it might do in more serious play. I don't have a sideboard at the moment, as I've only been playing it in single matches, so advice on what to include there would be much appreciated as well.

My goal is a fast aggro deck. A fast chain of Flamekin Harbinger into Sunflare Shaman into Rage Forger is not uncommon and can end the game quickly. Problems thus far have been with creatures too large to burn out or cannot be targeted. For mass removal I have Pyroclasm, but this hurts my own board position as well of course, unless I have enough Rageforgers and/or Soulstokes.

My budget is pretty limited; I'd like not to spend more than $10-20 at the most on improvements. I don't have any preferences as far as what cards should or should not be used, outside of what is essential to the deck's theme, so long as it stays within budget.

Puncture Blast easily solves the problem for big threats and stills a cheap card