As collaborative effort with Mikeyjh72, we bring you the budget version of "In response, i'll tap 7". http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/in-response-ill-tap-7/ . This list is intended for players who want to start building Naru, as it contains the core list and upgrade path. Currently, the list is valued around 500 dollars average, a cheap buy into CEDH with plenty of overlapping cards should one choose to play multiple decks.
Let's talk about; What this list is lacking
A way to ramp quick
Ancient TombCopy ArtifactGrim MonolithMana CryptMana DrainMox Diamond
Premium Counters and Removal
Force of Will Gilded DrakeMana Drain
Utility
Snapcaster MageUrza, Lord High Artificer
A better land base
Misty RainforestScalding TarnThe Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
The Twist
Timetwister
Let's talk about; What we're doing to alleviate the problem
A way to ramp quick
Coldsteel HeartJeweled AmuletMirrormadeNaiad of Hidden Coves
Nothing can replace how good fast artifact ramp can be, there's a reason why almost every CEDH list runs them. While no Grim Monolith or Mana Crypt, both Coldsteel Heart and Jeweled Amulet are the best cheap replacements. Coldsteel can filter for blue while using Isochron Scepter, and Jeweled Amulet plays way better than it looks on paper. If we can't afford Copy Artifact, Mirrormade is a recently released budget option that has more versatility for an additional . Copying someone's fast mana or our own Isochron Scepter is mainly the utility of Copy Artifact. However, being able to copy Rhystic Study, Necropotence, Sylvan Library, Smothering Tithe, Carpet of Flowers and Mystic Remora cannot be understated! While lacking the acceleration the main list presents,Naiad of Hidden Coves is excellent to reduce your Ghostly Flicker combo by just like Sapphire Medallion. Being an additional blocker for Tymna and Najeela is also useful.
Premium Counters and Removal
Disallow
Disallow is a fantastic hard counter to anything. While it doesn't have the reliability of Force of Will or the ramp of Mana Drain, it has the versatility to work upon activated or triggered abilities. Stifling a Godo, a Thassa's Oracle or a Gilded Drake is quite useful.
Utility & Misc
Witching WellSerum Visions
Both of these cards have potential to make it into the main list, and they are frequent sideboard cards of mine. Witching Well and Serum Visions help sculpt the beginning turns of your game plan for a low mana investment. Witching Well can also be used as an outlet with Ghostly Flicker; flicker the well to scry Blue Sun's Zenith to the top of the deck after flickering an island to make , crack the Well and it's go time.
A better land base
Island
The all-powerful Island, we're running 5 more in the budget list than the original. Quite frankly, there aren't any other lands that I'd consider as replacements. Think of it this way: your list is more resilient to Back to Basics and Blood Moon effects.
The Twist
Day's Undoing
Day's Undoing is quite simply underplayed as this card literally reads the exact same as Twister except you're forced to end your turn. Yes, that's a huge drawback to the card, and it's the sole reason no one chooses to run it. However, Naru is a deck that often chooses to go off in response to other combos so the draw back is negligible. Furthermore, without the quick artifact ramp, there is substantially less to do post Timetwister on your turn. A way to wheel, save Ghostly Flicker and less than 5 dollars? Give this card a try!
Let's talk about; Upgrading your list and a word on MTG Finance
Keep in mind, Tapped Out is currently using (TCG MID) pricing and the entire list/upgrade options can be found for cheaper! It's important to look through CardKingdom, TCG player Low, MTG Sick Deals on Facebook, and MTGStocks.com to find the cheapest prices and trends. Without further adieu, let's talk about upgrading the budget list. Both myself and Mikeyjh72 both agree that this is the order of importance to upgrading your Naru deck; cards are ranked from first to last purchase.
- Mana Crypt
- Ancient Tomb
- Force of Will
- Gilded Drake
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Snapcaster Mage
- Misty Rainforest
- Scalding Tarn
- Mox Diamond
- Grim Monolith
- Copy Artifact
- The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
- Timetwister
Mana Crypt is the first upgrade to your deck and trust me, you'll feel the difference. If you understand the power of Sol Ring, Mana Crypt is going to blow you away. It's price per gameplay value is astronomical and it offers so much to the deck. Ramping to 7 mana is essential to threaten a win, but this card offers so much outside of that: early turn one plays such as Rhystic Study, Windfall and Timetwister, breaking parity with Isochron scepter/Dramatic Reversal, playing your Sensei top and being able to scry immediately while holding up that open Island, the list goes on and on. Not to mention, this card just saw a Mystery Booster reprint so the price is ideal currently.
Ancient Tomb Speaking of using our life as a resource, the tomb is the next step on your upgrade path. While not necessarily a budget card, it's price is pretty cheap for what it offers our deck. Having ramp attached to a land is great, and land destruction is very rare in CEDH.
Force of Will Is close to the top on your upgrade path because of how crucial and game breaking it can be. Free counters are incredible, and having a counter while being able to tap out and overextend "play greedy" is worth everything. Yes, let me tap out for my Rhystic while still being able to interact with you. When it's time to combo with Ghostly Flicker, we'll need all the fuel to fight the counter/removal war and this easily tops the list. This card is worth your investment and sees play in every single deck splashing the color blue.
Gilded Drake Is mom's not so secret sauce. I can't tell you how many times I've denied players from winning the game because their commanders were stolen. Steal a Thrasios and you now have an infinite outlet, a Tymna grants you card draw, a Zur gives you value engines. There is no bad target for a Gilded Drake, it's extremely annoying for players to deal with and let's face it: no other player is going to help the Draked player in getting their commander back! While being a reserved list card, Drake's price is pretty stable to fluctuations. Though I must say, it's price for gameplay value is very high and it's an absolute staple in almost any CEDH list.
Urza, Lord High Artificer Urza is both a premium outlet and form of ramp in our Naru deck. While we're not really short on deck outlets, Urza has both synergy with Ghostly Flicker and Isochron Scepter. Turning all of your generic mana into blue is essential, and sometimes having a huge Karn to block and pressure the life totals of players is crucial.
Snapcaster Mage While not as useful as Urza, Snap is a necessary add to your budget list. Being able to flashback a Ghostly Flicker, any counterspell, or being used as a "pseudo outlet" depending on your graveyard feels right at home in the deck. The floor can be pretty mediocre for Snapcaster but the ceiling is game defining!
Misty Rainforest/Scalding Tarn While it may seem like a waste including fetchlands in mono-colored lists, they are actually very important. They can help manipulate the top of your deck after you spin Sensei's Diving Top or re-arrange cards after a Brainstorm/Ponder. While minute, they can help with thinning the deck to lower our overall card count while feeding Dig Through Time. Lastly, fetch-lands enable us to find Mystic Sanctuary and this is the primary reason to run them. Mystic Sanctuary can help save a fallen Ghostly Flicker, and can be combined with a cantrip to bring it back to our hand. Mystic Sanctuary can also help recycle a utility spell, wheel, or anything else you may need in a pinch. While playing with fetches, it's important to wait on cracking them because of how useful they are. Need to starve someone from carpeting your flowers?
Mana Drain I absolutely love this counter, it feels so simic. Being able to counter any spell + turn that into a ramp advantage? While crucial to the list, we find Mana Drain lower down in the priority list because of how we can exploit it. To be honest, we don't always have a great use for the generic mana we are granted from Drain. We can play our hand out faster, ramp into a generic Dig Through Time, maybe even be enticed to Ghostly Flicker combo on our turn? What's up with the current price by the way? Primed for a reprint.
Mox Diamond Do you know how many times I've drawn this card while having no lands in my current hand? The floor here is extremely low, but a free blue rock is a very high ceiling. The diamond is reserved list and has been slowly gaining value, but it's game-play for buy-in cost is pretty low unfortunately. While some may argue how good the diamond is, and we really can't dispute the ceiling, it's low on the pick up list essentials.
Grim Monolith Just below the Diamond is our generic all-star Grim Monolith. While this card helps ramping to our goal of 7 mana early, it's impact as the game progresses is limited. There are better rocks to invest in first that are stronger for early acceleration such as the Crypt and Diamond. While I love my monolith, it's impact compared to the other cards on this list is limited.
Copy Artifact I've used this card to catch up to accelerating board states so many times, and every time it's proven worthy of a deck slot. However, while compared to it's budget sister "Mirrormade" Copy Artifact is only better because of it's cost despite the lack of versatility it offers. Make no mistake, we value copying artifacts over enchantments more often than not, but the price attached to this card + the game play difference it gives compared to Mirrormade is underwhelming.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale This card is very powerful but it is by no means necessary to the overall function of our deck. While being valuable to have (holding down Najeela and Dorks) it does nothing to support our main strategy and the price tag is 1K plus! Full powered decks will notice very little difference with this card being included, and aside from Expedition Map we can't search for it.
Timetwister While this card is Power 9 for a reason, we are unable to truly abuse this card since the deck doesn't offer twister loops and we already have have enough win conditions (Blue Sun, Sun-Scorched Desert, Isochron Scepter). Day's undoing as discussed, is an excellent budget replacement and in most instances, you wont notice a real difference unless you've obtained all of the fast mana in the list above.
