I was always fascinated by modern but never felt like with my restrictive magic budget I would ever be able to compete with the likes of Tarmogoyf or even
Vendillion Clique
With my LGS beginning monthly modern FNM, I had a chance to build a budget (for modern) powerhouse of a deck. if you can't afford a 'real' deck this is definitely a list worth checking out because its power level rivals top tier decks.
As I've played the deck, I've used my winnings at modern tourneys (store credit) to buy upgrades for the deck. Batterskull and leyline are the results of that, and I can no longer call this "Budget", and on top of that, Greater Gargadon has increased in price for some ungodly reason.
I'll break down each of the individual aspects of the deck.
==The Combo==
I say combo, but really the combo is 'resolve a cascade spell' is to cast
Restore Balance
2-3 times a game and put our opponent in a complete lockdown. no lands means no spells.
Ardent Plea
is alright, but Violent Outburst is the real meat of the deck. Both are three mana cascade spells, meaning that when you cast them you reveal cards until you reveal a card with a converted mana cost less than 3. There's only one spell in the deck it can hit, and it's restore balance.
RB checks creatures in play, lands in play, and cards in hand. the deck plays no creatures aside from finishers and a few creatures that do not need to be in play to have an impact. as for the lands, you can either sacrifice them or not have any in play thanks to the odd mana-rock intensive manabase.
==The Manabase==
The deck plays 15 lands, 4 of them are fetches, 2 shocks2 utility, and 7 basics. Now, a 4 color mana-light deck seems awful, but the lands don't matter. As long as you have a basic land on turn one you should be fine.
Borderposts were mediocre at best mana fixers from shards of alara block. As you can see from
Wildfield Borderpost
(the most important one) you can pay 1 and return a basic land to pay the cost. that's one of any color, not necessarily the color of the post. so an Island can play a
Firewild Borderpost
, and a mountain can play the
Fieldmist Borderpost
the two other borderposts are so that the deck reaches maximum mana rock capacity, not for mana-fixing purposes. RB doesn't count artifacts, so getting to 3 untapped mana and wrath/armageddon/mind twisting your opponent is fairly easy to do. sometimes in the late game your hand begins to fill with land. this is usually fine because you get up to
Batterskull
mana shortly after wiping the opponents lands.
==Finishers==
Batterskull
's resilience earns it a spot in the deck even with no outward synergies with the deck. It can be tutored with Saheeli's ult, picks up Ardent Plea's exalted triggers, and can stabilize your life total. The combo kill of Saheeli and Cat is powerful, but sometimes Skull + Gargadon beatdown is more than enough.
Greater Gargadon is techincally the deck's main finisher, however, it functions differently from these other late game spells. I'll be discussing Gargadon later. With the addition of Saheeli Rai to the deck, coordinating a massive Gargadon swing (sometimes involving 3 hasty 9 power dude-guys) can close out a game in a hurry.
Saheeli Rai + Felidar Guardian Oh man this shakes things up. Before, this deck ran a swath of planeswalkers for value, but now the deck actually has a way to win. Saheeli's Scry 1 is incredibly potent, and for a deck that is already running Simian Spirit Guide the ability to have a way to win in one shot adds a ton to this deck. Saheeli can also produce copies of Gargadon in a pinch.
==Utility==
Thirst for Knowledge is great! Before the cat combo entered the list, the card was middling. It never felt better or worse than other options, but now the card draw is just so efficient that the card is now one of the best in the deck. You'll often pitch the basic lands that accumulate in your hand, and even at instant speed draw 3 pitch 2 is still really good.
Simian Spirit Guide allows you to power out turn 2-3 RBs which can be super useful with the number of agressive decks in the format. he also does a lot of work as a grey ogre too, picking up
Ardent Plea
's exalted trigger. he also pairs well with the sideboard card
Ricochet Trap
Greater Gargadon is probably the most important card in the deck besides Restore Balance. it's a very non-interactive sac outlet for lands and creatures (like hero of bladehold tokens) maintaining priority on a restore balance casting and eating your lands is a way to just leave your opponent resourceless while simultaneously counting down for a 9/7 with haste. tick tock.
Mistveil Plains This card is fetchable with 75% of the fetch lands and provides you with a long game plan. Normally you cap the number of balances at 2-3, but mistveil plains allows you not only to continue to rock their face and also manipulate your draws. by putting a restore balance on the bottom of your deck, you can then put another card underneath it and make it so that after you cascade into the restore balance you draw the card you need from the bin!
==sideboard==
obviously sideboards change depending on your meta. So I'm going to list sideboard options and, depending on your meta, you can make informed decisions. The stipulation of the cards having to be cmc 3+ definitely makes the choices... interesting.
Ricochet Trap
- Most important sideboard card. Remand and Cryptic Command are very real and, while your able to time things well and should be able to wipe lands before cryptic is even an option, ricochet trap is a must have in the sideboard.
Oketra's Last Mercy
is being tested for the burn matchup. Sticking a balance is usually not the problem against them, it's not dying to the remaining lightning bolts in their hand. I have yet to play this, but I'll update this when I do.
Leyline of Sanctity at one time I ran nevermore in order to beat ad nauseum. Now I just play Leyline and it's much better. burn has always been a rough matchup and I hope that the inclusion of leyline swings the odds in my favor.
Dismember costs 3, casts for 1, thumbs up!
Leyline of the Void against dredge if someone at your fnm is notorious for their dredge list. alternatively, a lot of homebrew dredge decks just lose to Rest in Peace so cascading into it can really REALLY screw them up.
3x
Refraction Trap
is a situational blowout. For a single white mana you can redirect a lava spike at a goblin guide, and that's big game. Depending on how much burn you've got around, I'd consider this card heavily.
Thanks for reading, any feedback is appreciated!
