I am making Ten Ultrabudget modern decks!
Other decks in the series:
U/W control (intro series)
Gruul Beat-down (intro series)
the criteria given to me was this:
~ all five mono-colors must be included
~ must be $60 or less
~ diversity of strategies (they cant all be the same deck with different colors)
~ effectively "teach" the archtype without being overcomplicated (sorry, no lantern control)
~ be upgradeable into competitive modern decks
if you have a suggestion into this series, message me, and we can talk details =)
Tapped out includes basic lands in it's pricing. you can pick those up for free at any LGS. in addition, card prices fluctuate more often than i check my decks. so please bear that in mind before you comment on the price tag
U/R Prowess
I dont think there was any way i was going to do anything but a spellslinger combo for Red/Blue. I considered doing a midrange control deck with
Quiet Contemplation
to make use of cantrips and build this like delver. it seemed pretty strong, but i was having a really hard time getting the price below $80
In the end, that was just way too inconsistent anyway, and although you wouldn't expect a 16 land deck to be the essence of "consistency", i find that all you need is a two lands and a creature in your opening hand with this deck and you're good to go.
This deck can achieve a win as early as turn 3, and is very consistent at killing no later than turn 4 or 5. Our goal is to pump our prowess creatures through the roof by dumping most of our hand in a single turn, and thus dealing a massive load of damage in a single turn. Cap off a wave of spells with a Temur Battle Rage and it is easy to be extremely aggressive very early on.
we wont last very long in the mid-game, but our unblockable package in the form of Slip Through Space and
Riverfall Mimic
can buy us a couple extra turns after our explosive burst. in addition to the extra damage they provide while comboing, Lightning Bolt and Shock give us a way to finish off our opponent if the game goes later than we want it to. it also gives us some small ammount of removal if we really need it.
Clout of the Dominus
is a powerhouse in this deck. put it on anything but swiftspear and you now have a fatty with excellent evasion very early in the game.
Improvements
This is a weird one, because i almost have to go 2 directions with this: How to improve this as the combo deck it is, but give ideas for building a competitive R/U control deck; I.E. Blue-Moon
Combo Deck
first, you'll want your 4th Gitaxian Probe.
Manamorphose - this is essentially a free cantrip, and you will want 4 of them.
Serum Visions, the cheaper your cantrips are, and the deeper they dig, the better your deck will be. 3 or 4 of these is excellent.
The rest are not strick improvements, but rather, they are other cards you can tinker with in a deck like this:
Kiln Fiend, Brute Force, Apostle's Blessing,
Titan's Strength
, Brute Force, Mutagenic Growth, Assault Strobe
Blue-Moon
The name comes from the use of two cards: Spreading Seas and Blood Moon. The deck is designed to control the board through counterspells, removal, and most importantly, Blood Moon. It then wins with standard blue win-cons.
This is a deck that likes to run playsets of Lightning Bolt, Remand, and Snapcaster Mage, and usually 3 Cryptic Command. In the current meta, i've also seen a lot of Spellskite, but my knowledge of the deck is too outdated to give you a number (if anyone could fill me in, that'd be awesome).
Magus of the Moon is another blood moon effect worth considering, and
Vendillion Clique
is excellent hand manipulation that doubles as a decent aggro win - con. The rest of the counter package is fairly versatile, and can include any of the following: Mana Leak, Spell Pierce, Spell Snare. I've also seen the decks that splash white for Path to Exile also sometimes run Mana Tithe (yes, that's a white counter).
one of the most popular win conditions for this deck is Batterskull, and it's not hard to see why. As a second beater, the new enemy manlands are gaining some popularity, so it couldn't hurt to give
Wandering Fumarole
a shot!
As always, i'd love to hear everyone's feedback and suggestions for the deck! but id also love to hear your opinions on converting this to a competitive combo deck, or blue moon control deck.
since the meta switched away from twin, this has been of some debate, so it cant hurt to have some discussion
