Brian1 - Custom Budget: Samurai

Modern Aggro Budget Enchantment RW (Boros)

NoviceMagician

Instant (10)

• 2x Gods Willing
• 4x Mortal's Ardor
• 4x Titan's Strength

Enchantment (13)

• 4x Ethereal Armor
• 4x Furor of the Bitten
• 3x Madcap Skills
• 2x Taste for Mayhem

Creature (15)

• 2x Araba Mothrider
• 2x Battle-Mad Ronin
• 2x Bushi Tenderfoot  ^Flip
• 4x Devoted Retainer
• 2x Kentaro, the Smiling Cat
• 2x Samurai of the Pale Curtain
• 1x Takeno, Samurai General

Land (22)

• 8x Mountain
• 14x Plains

---

Maybeboard

Creature (4)

• 4x Favored Hoplite

---

This is the second custom budget deck that I have built at the request of another user. This deck was built under the request by Brian1. As can be seen, the deck is a W/R samurai deck, with the enchantment approach? The maximum budget for he deck is $22, although it is much preferred to stay well under that.

The Cards Show

What each card does for the deck.

Creatures

- Bushi Tenderfoot is one of the go-to creatures of the deck. It makes for early board presence, and a high potential of flipping into a strong fatty early game. If he is not flipped, he still makes for a good creature when enchants are placed on it. When he is flipped, look out opponents, "there's a storm coming."

- Devoted Retainer serves the same purpose of Bushi Tenderfoot, and that is to keep an early board presence, and attack the opponent. Since Retainer has Bushido, he can make for a good early game blocker, attacker, or both!

- Araba Mothrider is a samurai with a damage guarantee because of flying. He can not only block for you, but attack with some unblockable damage.

- Battle-Mad Ronin was put in at the request of Brian1. It is pretty straightforward what he can do.

- Samurai of the Pale Curtain is a 2/2 with Bushido 1 for only 2 CMC. Sure, why not!? It comes in with more board presence than Araba Mothroder because it is a larger creature for the same CMC. And let's not forget that awesome effect that shuts down any decks that use the graveyard.

- Kentaro, the Smiling Cat is another samurai that has a higher power than the others for only 2 CMC. His effect can be a life saver. He allows you to leave any mana open to cast your samurai creatures, whether it is the mana they usually require or not.

- Takeno, Samurai General can come in late game as a large attacker. He also buffs all your other samurai. Usually it's GG after he hits the field of you haven't won already that is. However, he is kept as a 1of because of the high CMC that would, if there were more of him, slow down the deck to where it becomes detrimental.

Auras

- Furor of the Bitten is a solid enchant aura for only 1 CMC. Granted the creature will have to attack every turn, but with this deck, you're more than likely to do that already. Besides, who wouldn't want to buff a creature with +2/+2 for only 1 CMC?

- Taste for Mayhem makes for an enchant, for yet again, only 1 CMC. It gives your creature a slight buff of +2/+0, with an additional buff if you happen to have no cards in hand.

- Madcap Skills is a great enchant for two reasons. It gives your creature a larger power buff than other enchants at +3/+0, and it makes your creature more difficult to block. All that for only 2 CMC.

- Ethereal Armor is the bread and butter of the enchants. On its own, it is a great enchant that not only gives your creature +1/+1, but also first strike. With friends, it can give very large boosts to the enchanted creature. And let's face it, having more than one of these on a creature gets flat out ridiculous.

Other Spells

- Titan's Strength is a quick buff that not only gives your creature a temporary +3/+1, but also some card manipulation. It is great for your samurai attackers.

- Mortal's Ardor serves the same purpose as Titan's Strength. With the disadvantage of a smaller buff, it gives the advantage of lifelink, which is really cool for an Aggro early game.

- Gods Willing both protects one of your creatures, and offers card manipulation. A great instant for only 1 CMC.

The Need to Know's Show

These are the things you should know before making suggestions, and in case the strategy is unclear.

Strategy

Keep an early board presence and attack your opponent with creatures like Bushi Tenderfoot . Use quick buffs and enchants to increase the damage output even faster, use cards like Ethereal Armor and Titan's Strength. Incase you need it, Gods Willing can protect your creature in a sticky situation. Get your opponent's life total down to zero as fast as possible, i.e. - Aggro.

Budget

The deck's maximum budget is $22. The ideal price range is $15 - $20. However, if able, we would like to keep the deck price as low as possible, so please, don't make expensive suggestions. If a card is worth more than $1.00, I will ask Brian1 if it is worth it. Thank you! :)

Suggestions

If I feel a suggestion is poorly justified or explained, I will most likely ask you to elaborate. This isn't as much of a problem, because I can usually see why a card would make a good addition to a deck. Oh, and if I'm being stubborn (I'm usually not) be prepared to defend your reasonings on any cards very, very throughly (this is even a less seldom problem).

Favored Hoplite

I am currently considering dropping the Araba Mothrider s and Samurai of the Pale Curtains to make some open spots. I would use those spots for a play set of 4 Favored Hoplites. The following are the drawbacks and advantages:

- Drawbacks: Favored Hoplite is not a samurai, and the deck price would increase by about $2.50.

- Advantages: The deck's performance would increase by at least 15%, and that is the minimum. Also, the overall average CMC would lower, speeding the deck up by about 10%, which contributes to the overall 15% minimum improvement. The improvement would guarantee a turn 4 or turn 5 win, eliminating the percentage of times when it would be a turn 6 or beyond win.

This change is up to you Brian1.

Comments, suggestions, upvotes, hate messages: all of these things are accepted and encouraged! Good luck, and have fun playing magic!

Shoutout to Brian1! One hell of a casual player, and a really cool bro! Thanks for leaving a custom budget deck request, and for all the help you've given me! Thanks man! :)

(For those of you who are unaware, I have began taking custom budget deck requests. Check the Announcemnets panel on my page for more info if interested.)

Date added	8 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Rares 4 - 0 Uncommons 31 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.42
Folders	Custom Budget Decks, want, cheap n fun, $10 Decks