2 drop (8)
1 drop (16)
4 drop (4)
Sideboard
6 drop (1)
4 drop (4)
Maybeboard
I'm really happy with this deck. It's fun and challenging to pilot and stands a chance against some competitive decks. Best part is how reliably every game you will get to play a whole lot of cards, usually way more then anyone else with 24 perfect Islands, 16 one-drops, and 24 cards that can draw a card at instant speed. Plus, it doesn't get much more budget then this at under $15.
If your looking for a budget deck because your new to Magic this may not be for you, it's all about careful timing and multi-turn strategies. Play an island, pass the turn. Manage the opponents threats and slow them down until you can stick and protect a Tempest Djinn. Time of Ice buys most of three turns and every other card can either draw cards or be played to protect Tempest Djinn.
In the early game where it matters most the average converted mana cost really is 2. Before the opponent attacks with their first significant threat, your mana is best spent just cycling cards to dig for threats and removal and to ensure you hit every land drop, making Tempest Djinn huge and allowing you to reliably cast Lay Claim.
I haven't been playing or even following current competitive Standard lately, I have no idea how this will match-up against any specific deck. I do know Magic in general pretty well though. I know that in the early game I like curving out every turn at instant speed while making every land drop, interacting with creatures, and drawing extra cards. That's generally the most fun you can have in the early game. Late game all I want to do is play bombs. This Standard legal budget deck does all of that with little compromise!
Tempest Djinn is possibly the most powerful 3-drop evasive blue creature ever printed. Time of Ice is almost as good as Time Walk. Lay Claim is always affordable and is one of the most powerful abilities in Magic. Everything else draws cards AND/or removes threats.
Against Control: We get to have some fun. Transform into a creature-less Mill deck by replacing Tempest Djinn with Psychic Corrosion and they will be stuck with a handful of dead creature removal cards. You likely want to side in Negate and possibly Leave in the Dust. Choose what to take out based on the opponents deck. Likely Unsummon since it’s card disadvantage. You won’t win a counter spell fight and the game is going to go very long so I’d usually take out Censor unless they rely on a non-creature win-con.
Against everything else: The strategy is to just do our own thing only better. That means we need more Tempest Djinn! For the fifth and sixth we can use Mirror Image. For the seventh an Aethertide Whale. These numbers feel right to me. Two Mirror Image and five creature targets seems like an acceptable risk. Take out three of the Lay Claim’s for the creatures. Negate can replace Censor, I’d rarely, if ever play them both and often don’t play either. If there’s any other weak card in the matchup, replace it with Leave in the Dust. With luck, this can keep up to an aggro deck which will struggle to remove a 3 mana 4 toughness creature while the bounce effects slow them down a lot. Two unanswered Tempest Djinn’s can do 20 damage very quickly.
Playtest, then upvote if you think you could win some games at your FNM with this budget deck
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 6 years |
| Last updated | 5 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Standard legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 4 - 1 Rares 12 - 6 Uncommons 20 - 8 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.00 |
| Folders | kek, Decks, liked, Budget decks, Interesting Standard Decks, M19Standard, fun budget decks to buy, cool decks, Standard, Cheap Stuff |
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