Best Budget <50
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Sept. 20, 2017, 8:15 p.m. by bazaku
I know there are others trheads with the same answer BUT those i found are a bit old, so the meta may changed since then. Thing is i want to know what budget deck has the best chance in small tournaments. I have been testing a few and saw 3 that i liked, stompy, tempered steel and eminent domain. Who has a higuer chance of winning against the decks in the current meta? You may suggest whatever you think is better, the only restrictions are burn, infect and boogles cause my friends allready have them and i dont want to "copy" them.Thanks!
First, welcome to Modern!!!
It's really hard to say which deck would be best, as LGSs are so very different. Plus the meta is going to shift again with the new cards and rule changes (especially Legendary Planeswakers) from Ixalan.
Here are some generic thoughts though:
- Stompy: Probably the easiest for someone new to Modern. Upgrade path to Gx Tron.
- Tempered Steel: Probably the best Game 1s, but everyone has Artifacthate in their sideboard, so Games 2 and 3 will be much tougher. Upgrade path to Affinity
- Eminent Domain: Probably the toughest for someone new to Modern, because you really have to understand your opponent's deck to play it effectively. And you'll probably be really slow at first, which can be frustrating. But you'll be REALLY good once you figure it out. Upgrade path to UW, UR, or Jeskai Control.
So it probably comes down to which play-style you prefer. On that, I recommend proxying it up (or using the Playtest feature here on T/O) and playing some real games with your friends. Because decks play WAY differently irl than they do goldfishing. You can also get some idea of it from videos. You might want to proxy up or watch videos of the upgraded versions as well.
Good luck with the decision, and draw well!
September 20, 2017 9:48 p.m. Edited.
Hello and welcome! First thing, mind your budget: Affinity is relatively cheap compared to other Tier 1 deck, but you have to be prepared to spend a lot of money for playsets of its best cards like Mox Opal and Arcbound Ravager if you want to upgrade your budget list. Btw, if you are interested Magic Aids published a good Tempered Steel build, slightly different from the usual because it is mono-white and uses cards from Kaladesh and Aether Revolt which are easy to find in any LGS.
I would also suggest you to take a look at some alternatives i personally prefer to those you proposed and are competitive for their price:
-Mono-G Elves; upgradable in Elves combo, Gb Elves or Gw Elves. You won't snowball as fast without Collected Company, but the budget alternatives make you sufficently fast the majority of time. Only problem i had with it is i couldn't find Elvish Archdruid, Joraga Warcaller or Ezuri, Renegade Leader at my LGS because Elves are quite popular as a tribe and you too could have problem in that sense.
-Mono-Black Control; upgradable to Mono-B devotion, BG Rock, BR control, Jund and Abzan. A personal favourite, black already has removals, hand disruption, board wipes, card advantage and win conditions on its own. It can be built in a lot of ways from classic devotion (Budget Mono-Black Devotion) to Black Panharmonicon (https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-83-40-tix-modern-mono-black-panharmonicon), through midrange Competitive Mono Black Midrange on a Budget or my little project Midrange? No, midnight.).
-BW Tokens or BW Aristocrats. These are both decks with a fairly cheap core and a solid upgrade path for the rest of the deck. Their competitive advantage in the current metagame is that they are resilient to removal and aggro strategies. Neither is a T1 deck, but sometimes someone takes down a tournament with them and they are fun.
-Mono-B vehicles; a sweet list proposed few months ago by SaffronOlive. Here is the article with the matches he played: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-84-50-tix-mono-black-vehicles-modern.
-Mono-U Hatebirds; another recent, juicy build by SaffronOlive. Article with matches is here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-81-24-tix-favorable-winds-modern. Both lists revolve around one of modern strongest but less played card, Smuggler's Copter, to support an aggressive plan, able to race even with format's top tier. A problem you can have assembling this list in particular is that, after the article was published, Psionic Blast's price spiked. It happens every time Seth builds a succesful list and it is already going back, but you can still have some problem finding and buying copies, so i had to tell you.
September 21, 2017 12:14 a.m.
lithium142 says... #6
I started a whole series on this. mono green is the easiest way to go. however there are several combo decks (see Children of Korlis combo, and Monastery Swiftspear suicide red) thatcan be built for cheap as well.
Myself and a couple others have put together control lists that can be good on a budget. I made a devastating u/w bounce list that my gf won fnm with; abusing Reflector Mage style abilities. There are also several ways you can play aggro. stompy is probably the most competitive you'll get without spending a lot, but you're likely looking at <100 rather than <50 for it. That said, there is an incredible W/B tokens deck on this site that can be built for pennies. I've seen some good mono blue illusions techs out there, and even some relatively cheap burn decks. I built a <$20 mono red deck for somebody about a year ago.
LINKS
Swiftspear combo this is the best one I could find that is still legal. most of the techs for this have Gitaxian Probe which has since been banned.
U/W control (intro series) ~ this deck is brutal. if you're interested in blue control, this deck is an excellent place to start in modern.
B/W tokens: budget ~ this man is basically the modern tokens aficionado on this site. This one is a little out of budget for you, but it has links to a both his competitive version, and his hyper budget version. so i figured it'd be the most useful to you.
I hope this is helpful, and here's another thing you could check out: The Cheap Deck Club.
best of luck, and if there's a particular kind of deck you're interested in, id be more than happy to help you tech it
September 21, 2017 2:33 a.m.
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast says... #7
Hey man, welcome to the format!
A pretty cheap deck that I LOVE is Ponza. Outside of Blood Moons it really doesn't cost that much. The feeling of T2 Moon-ing your opponent is just the best. Insta win vs 3+ color decks, Tron and Eldrazi. Mid game is strong but you'll find yourself topdecking a lot :)
If you like decks that deny resources, Ponza and Death and Taxes (mono W is quite cheap and still pretty effective) are the way to go!
September 21, 2017 4:34 a.m.
For $50? Stompy is literally your only option. Even Burn costs more than that.
September 21, 2017 9:47 a.m.
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast says... #9
Wait, Souls Sisters might also go around this budget range with the reprints of Serra Ascendant and Auriok Champion. Not 50 but under 100 I'd guess?
September 21, 2017 10:05 a.m.
Zombie hunt play zombie hunt the deck is dirt cheap and the upgraded deck is less then 150 so yeah zombie hunt you can build zombie hunt for less then 20 I believe
September 21, 2017 10:31 a.m.
Thanks guys for answering and explaining! you gave me a lot of good options to see, I guess I'm going to try proxys before deciding.There are a lot of very interesting decks here.
September 21, 2017 11:16 a.m.
bazaku,
You bet! Please let us all know what you end up on!
By the way, I'd like to +1 WizardOfTheNorthernCoast's comment about Ponza. You want Land Destruction and ramp, followed by "unplayable" fatties? Then Ponza is your deck for sure. I think Competitive RG Ponza On A Budget is a pretty solid budget list, and you could drive the price down more by subbing Llanowar Elves or maybe Lands for the Birds of Paradise and your four-drop of choice (e.g., Chameleon Colossus/Pia and Kiran Nalaar/Obstinate Baloth) for the Thrun, the Last Troll. The upgrade path is just to More Ponza ... some competitive decklists are here.
Again, welcome to Modern!
September 21, 2017 12:27 p.m. Edited.
September 21, 2017 5:22 p.m.
Kjartan,
I was thinking about it from a play-style standpoint ... insanely fast Ramp into HUGE beaters. It just seemed like the lessons-learned on the budget deck would translate directly.
But yeah, except for maybe a couple Forests, there's really no overlap in cards. Thinking about it, I wonder if Tooth and Nail might make more sense as an an upgrade path ...
shadow63 says... #2
I'd say it would depend on your lgs meta. That being said I'd go with stompy personally. As its not hard to change it to a tron list
September 20, 2017 9:06 p.m.