Mikaeus, Extreme Sub $20 Budget EDH

Commander / EDH Sleazebag

SCORE: 3179 | 1154 COMMENTS | 534778 VIEWS | IN 2040 FOLDERS


Major changes to the decklist —May 10, 2015

It's been a while since I have gone through and checked the current deck price, and I've been dreading it for quite some time, because I knew it would be over $20.

When I first made this deck, Mikaeus was a $3 Mythic.

Now he is $10-15 (Major retailers), $7-10 (MagicCardMarket and Ebay), or $0 (If you use a Proxy), which has lead to me having to tighten the decklist even further.

As a result, I have now cut several cards in the deck, among them two of the strongest cards I had. Also two of the most expensive ones however.

Since these cards are still relatively cheap and do a HUGE amount of work for the deck, I will leave them in the maybeboard so people can easily see them if they want to know what to add next.

Blasting Station has gone from $0,5 to $1 to all of a sudden spiking to $3. It is hands down the best way to win with Mikaeus, but currently it is too much for the decks extremely tight budget. I replaced it with Altar of Dementia, which is one third of the price and achieves mostly the same goal (with the exception of fizzling against Eldrazi titans, but I have learned that most playgroups don't run them).

The second big cut is Sol Ring. It dropped from $5 to $1 when the commander precons came out, but has steadily been climbing upwards to $3 lately. Obviously this is another powerhouse of a card, but I had to cut it for budget reasons. In its place I'm putting in Worn Powerstone which was reprinted in the commander set and is therefore dirt cheap now (down from $3 to $0.5).

Whispersilk Cloak is another one. Overnight it went from $0.4 to $4. This is just a bug, they are still around $0.5 everywhere else I check, but for clearness I replaced it with Dauthi Embrace as they mostly do the same thing and it wasn't really important to me in the deck.

Crypt Ghast is another card that has climbed a lot. From $0.2 junk rare to over $1. It's a great card in this deck (and all other heavy black EDH decks, hence its price increase!) but with the changes I had to make it got the cut. Soldevi Adnate gets its place.

Then finally Praetor's Grasp gets the cut to make the $20 limit work. Still a great card, but a meta call (To counter combo, or if you know people are running cards like Nevermore and Humility which shut you down). In I put more ramp to make up for the loss of Sol Ring, which is Commander's Sphere. The ability to sac this for a card whenever you want it something I really appreciate.

Sleazebag says... #1

It has been done!!! A non budget version of my Mikaeus deck!


Mikaeus, Extreme Not So Budget EDH Playtest

Commander / EDH Sleazebag

SCORE: 0 | 1 COMMENTS | 2 VIEWS

I also reset the discussion to commemorate this event.

Check it out, and remember that this list is completely new, there's undoubtedly something I have overlooked, if you find it then tell me!

April 2, 2015 3:03 p.m.

Any thoughts on running Viscera Seer as an alternate sac outlet (with scry as an added bonus)?

April 8, 2015 3:13 p.m.

Sleazebag says... #3

canterlotguardian: I do run Viscera Seer in my Not So Budget list. I used to run it in this one and it is definitely a strong card.

The reason I took it out was that I didn't have enough draw to make proper use of it. You want to be able to scry the card you need to the top, draw it and cast it in the same turn. Too often I ended up getting Viscera Seer in play, setting up my next turn to instantwin then getting my boardstate dealt with, so I felt it would be better to replace it with a creature that could beat someone to death.

As I said above though, with more draw it is absolutely amazing and a must play, so when the rest of the deck is stronger so does it become. Worth adding if you improve the decklist.

April 8, 2015 3:47 p.m.

Megalomania says... #4

Wouldn't Jet Medallion be better than Charcoal Diamond and Jeweled Amulet?

It doesn't produce black mana but the cost-reduction is pretty useful especially if you can cast multiple black spells on the same turn.

April 8, 2015 8:54 p.m.

Sleazebag says... #5

Megalomania: Definitely! Unfortunately it's $1 which is far too expensive for this deck. I run it in my Mikaeus, Extreme Not So Budget EDH.

April 8, 2015 10:48 p.m.

EnderSlayer13 says... #6

April 15, 2015 5:24 p.m.

EnderSlayer13 says... #7

It's 2 dollars and 60 cents.

April 15, 2015 5:26 p.m.

Sleazebag says... #8

EnderSlayer13: It's an awesome card, but too slow, and for this deck $2.6 is $2.5 too much!

Still a card I'm a fan of though.

Also want to thank everyone for getting me to 700 votes! You're awesome!

We're now the 8th highest rated deck on tappedout (and 4 votes behind the 7th)!100 more votes and we pass the only deck that is an actual functional deck and not some sort of magic joke.

Help me get an actual magic deck on the top of tappedout.

April 15, 2015 8:59 p.m.

DragonMaster53 says... #9

This is awesome. +1 to you and your family.

One question, have you considered Dictate of Erebos? I'm not sure on the price but that can helo you in a pinch.

April 18, 2015 3:33 a.m.

Sleazebag says... #10

DragonMaster53: It was in the deck for a long time but as some cards increased in price I had to cut a few.

April 18, 2015 3:52 a.m.

mortilus says... #11

An easy way to calculate the low/med/high price is to copy the deck to http://www.mtgvault.com/

That site displays all three (my friends and I do this, but using a $30 low-end budget)

April 18, 2015 11:03 a.m.

DirtyDan490 says... #12

I really love this deck! I hope you don't mind but I built mine based off of this deck! It is a non-budget build. +1 upvote from me

April 18, 2015 4:48 p.m.

pryoplasm says... #13

got this for mtgo, and it's even cheaper than paper, about $9 overall, and a good time

April 19, 2015 12:17 a.m.

Sleazebag says... #14

DirtyDan490: Of course not, always nice to see more people building this deck!

pryoplasm: MTGO has a tendency to be cheaper than paper magic. Especially when you don't need to pay any shipping. Nice to hear!

mortilus: Well, that sure beats adding it up manually... I think I'll need to try that. (Although I'm kind of afraid to, since when I added the lows manually I ended up with $2 more to spend)

April 19, 2015 8:47 a.m.

mortilus says... #15

On MTGVault, it matters which version of the card you choose, since different versions of the cards have different costs. For example, Counterspell

April 19, 2015 12:46 p.m.

hoboartrus says... #16

This deck is absolutely fun to play! I build it with everything I had, spent a reasonable amount to get some of the stuff I didn't have, and although the lists aren't perfectly identical, it works like a charm. It feels good to pull out this deck to deal with those that are consistently winning via shenanigans. Thanks, I'll continue to improve it as I get the pieces, great budget deck. The non budget version looks fantastic too, I'm jealous of a few of those cards ;)

April 20, 2015 2:30 p.m.

Sleazebag says... #17

hoboartrus: Awesome to hear from people who enjoy the deck! Make sure to rub it in when you beat them with something so cheap...

April 20, 2015 6:46 p.m.

Dr4c0 says... #18

Have had this build for 2-3 months now. Love It!

Trying to foil the really inexpensive stuff, mostly for grins. SCG has 20 foil Swamps for $12. Tcgplayer has 40 or so non-swamp cards, foiled, for around $35.

April 21, 2015 3:42 p.m.

EnvokeV2 says... #19

Just some thoughts, all under 2.50:Vengeful DeadSanguine BondMagus of the CoffersLiving DeathVictimizeRun all in my Sidisi deck, which is really expensive :P

April 21, 2015 10:24 p.m.

Sleazebag says... #20

EnvokeV2: Really good suggestions, I used to run Victimize but took it out since it had a bit too many hoops to jump through.

Unfortunately these are still too expensive. We're talking $0.1 range to meet the criteria here!

Dr4c0: I've always been kind of tempted to foil the Mikaeus deck just for kicks, but then again I'd kind of defeat the point of having the deck be as cheap as possible... But still, imagine the pimpness!

April 21, 2015 11:09 p.m.

Dr4c0 says... #21

Sleazebag I did imagine it, then realized it merely doubles the price of the deck. I only picked up foils that were under $2 with the winnings of a $5 scratch ticket. All of the Pimpness. I'mma need sunglasses to play this deck!

April 22, 2015 9:52 a.m.

koligee says... #22

I think that there is a card that is DEFINITELY worth including in a mikaeus deck, especially one that's on a budget: Retribution of the Ancients. Not only does it take off all +1/+1 counters from creatures we control, but it even acts as removal for indestructible creatures!

April 23, 2015 12:10 a.m.

Ibuki says... #23

Eh, I made the deck intended for a free-for-all, usual commander game. Little did I know my LGS ran 1v1 and 1v1 only, and only the 1v1 banlist. Looks like I'm keeping that Necropotence in a binder after all.. eh.

Anyway, I reconstructed the deck a bit and have been using it for 1v1. Winning is incredible and Flesh-Eater Imp + Infernal Darkness is usually a win without even needing Mikaeus, but it's not like I don't ever lose either. It's about 50/50? Though the first FNM I ran it 1v1, I ended up 0/7, which is pretty embarrassing, especially since I upgraded it as much as I could.

I added hand disruption, it's an amazing way of removing threats before your opponent has a chance to play them; therefore making the whole "black only has creature removal" argument pointless. Though, while Blood Artist goes incredibly well with the deck, I've learned it's an incredible counter against the whole combo, which is a setback, at least.

Though, the deck is still somewhat slow. Especially when my opponent is running Braids as a general, who's, for some reason, legal in 1v1.

In any case, here's the decklist;http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mikaeus-100-mono-black-deck/ It'd be super nice if anyone could give a few suggestions as to what I should run in the deck. Do remember it's 1v1, though. I'd put Bitterblossom, but I don't really have the cash for it r/n.

May 1, 2015 3:04 p.m.

Sleazebag says... #24

Ibuki: The problem here is that Mikaeus is really bad at Duel Commander. 1v1 commander is COMPLETELY different from multiplayer.

Imagine yourself building a legacy deck, that is how 1v1 is. You want most of your cards to be at 2-3 mana, with your bombs and win-conditions the only ones higher than that. You also want a ton of removal and disruption like Go for the Throat, Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek etc, since you don't lose card advantage with 1 for 1 removal like in multiplayer.

As much as it pains me to say it, but if you want a relatively budget 1v1 deck I'd try something other than Mikaeus. You are better off with a commander that costs 3-4 mana. Talrand for example could be a great budget 1v1 commander.

May 1, 2015 4:32 p.m.

Ibuki says... #25

The problem is in the fact that I'd already went and made this deck, and while I could reliably sell most of it for about 100$ added up, I'm really digging this deck's whole strategy. Though, if that was my only issue, I'd sell it and build something else right away. I'll be moving soon though, and I'm pretty sure at least someone's gonna play regular EDH in the UK, especially in London.

I'm running some 1 for 1's, like Despise and Duress. I had Thoughtseize, but someone stole it, it's real bad luck. And I have the reverse Inquisition of Kozilek (discards a cmc of 4 or more), though I'm not sure if it's any good.

Also, when playing 2HG (with 1v1 rules), this deck is absolutely brutal. With a good support to take care of the things mono-black can't, I usually combo out by turn 4. One of the best ways to do this is with Altar of Dementia, since nobody plays Eldrazi at my LGS. Well, not that I've seen.

Braids, Cabal Minionis a really good deck, and I have a lot of the engine needed to run her, but the issue is that I'm unskilled with piloting her.

I should note that decks, both 1v1 and (sometimes) multiplayer that run commanders for 6 or more mana will easily get played out by this one. Prossh, for example, has several combos, but usually doesn't go off on the turn someone drops it. Mikaeus most usually does.

May 1, 2015 7:07 p.m.