Budget Modern Deck
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on July 3, 2017, 1:14 p.m. by TuckerMTG
I want to get in to modern. I'm trying to build a deck that is kind of competitive but budget. Budget can be anything that is not like hundreds of dollars. Preferably the deck is aggro of combo. Any suggestions are appreciated for what kind of deck to build. If you have a certain deck that you think will work please tell me.
Oloro_Magic says... #3
White weenie is pretty cheap and moves quickly, mono green elves without Craterhoof Behemoth, I would say burn isn't budget if you want it to be competitive, grixis ninjas is pretty cheap, any delver deck.
July 3, 2017 1:23 p.m.
StoryArcher says... #4
Take a look at this:
If you replace the three Summoner's Pact with three or four Heroic Intervention it should be exactly what you're looking for. There are maybe three cards in that deck that would be more than $4, its aggressive and its damned effective.
July 3, 2017 1:31 p.m.
Mono burn is a great starting point and decently competitive. Not terribly expensive in comparison to other good modern decks and can get the job done at almost any competitive level. From there you could build out into the slightly more costly Naya Burn that is more flexible and more dangerous.
July 3, 2017 1:43 p.m.
If you consider infect combo and don't mind basically dying to counters company or whatever decks end up running solemnity then you might be able to get away with infect on the cheap expensive cards in it are the Noble Hierarchs at about 60-70 but if you can't do that I'm sure Birds of Paradise is an okay replacement while you rebuild funds. After that it would be either the fetches or Inkmoth Nexus depending on the route you go but I mean the fetches are worth picking up in general anyways in modern. It's definitely competitive if people don't expect it, it's been on a downswing since the printing of Fatal Push and banning of git probe but it's like aggro combo sort of?
Otherwise mono red burn might be your best bet.
Merfolk is another option, mono U tribal. I recall when I built it years ago it wasnt too too expensive. Technically though it all depends on your budget in the end. Moderns initial price based cost of entry is a bit steep. My recommendation is work towards a deck you want to play and pick up the essentials and fill in the gaps as you go. I'm building dredge for example (in case shadow gets banned soon) I have filler cards sleeved while a get my funds together to finish building the deck in my case it's a matter of I need 3 more loams that I don't have money for lying around just yet.
Apologies for the novel of a post was longer than I thought.
July 3, 2017 2:03 p.m.
I am behind aeonstoremyliver, Stompy, and Burn as well as Infect are some of the cheepest aggro decks around.
Infect is probably the cheapest, if we talk established budet decks.
July 3, 2017 2:19 p.m.
Let me rain on your parade (sorry about it, but...)
infect. Without the expensive cards, it's not a good deck. In its non-budget form, it works because it's fast, and without Noble Hierarch and Inkmoth Nexus you fall behind by at least a full turn. And without fetchlands to fuel your Become Immense it takes at least a turn longer to acquire enough delve-material.
burn. Monored burn is like the retarded younger brother of naya burn. It tries to do the same thing, but if you have to go without some of stronger cards because they are multicolored, and Goblin Guides because they are expensive, this deck will always disappoint you.
merfolk. Great deck at a reasonable price. But it does not work without Mutavault and full set of Aether Vial. Ask any merfolk player - when you don't draw your vials, this deck feels way too fair. Cavern of Souls is optional, though.
delver. Not very good currently, even in the full-price/no-budget version. Needs at least 2 colors (meaning fetches and shocklands) and Snapcaster Mages to be really good.
Instead of downgraded versions of tier 1/2 decks, there are some budget builds, that do ok on their own. Monogreen stompy, f.ex. Or my favorite: kuldotha 8whack
July 3, 2017 2:34 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #9
Mono-w death and taxes is pretty good and pretty cheap too. Less than $200 without vial, and yeah vial is what makes the deck really good, but it's still quite effective without it. My fiend plays it and it beats decks far more expensive than it.
Here's the list my fiend plays: Smoothie of Tears
July 3, 2017 3:32 p.m. Edited.
July 3, 2017 3:45 p.m.
Oh... monowhite death and taxes. Forgotten about that one. Definitely one of the better decks, if you want to start cheap and add better cards over time. And pretty adaptable to the local meta too.
July 3, 2017 5:35 p.m.
Oloro_Magic says... #12
If doing death and taxes I would recommend Eldrazi and Taxes, death and taxes needs Aether Vial much like Merfolk.
July 3, 2017 5:46 p.m.
So does eldrazi and taxes. It does have some really nice tricks, though. But it's also a good deal more expensive if you look at the collected value of cards. Monowhite D&T can start as monowhite blink, usingCloudshift for instant speed tricks, and improve from there.
July 3, 2017 6:18 p.m.
Oloro_Magic says... #14
My point is you can get away with not using Aether Vial in Eldrazi and Taxes plus the deck lets you go more routes, mono white death & taxes (which I play) lends itself to blink and a few versions of decks like it, many of the cards work well together but not necessarily in other competitive decks. Eldrazi and taxes contains some important pieces of eldrazi tron if you ever want to make the switch.
July 3, 2017 6:36 p.m.
Saffron Olive over at MtG Goldfish has got you covered:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-98-30-tix-modern-little-kid-gw
That's only one sample, but he has a whole series on budget decks. You can find the archive at the bottom of that page.
Prices are all under $100, some in the $20 range.
July 4, 2017 4:28 a.m.
landofMordor says... #16
Probably the best budget combo deck is Sram Cheeri0s, where you play lots of 0-cost artifacts to build a huge Storm count for Grapeshot. Puresteel Paladin and Retract are the only truly expensive cards out of the deck.
July 4, 2017 9:11 a.m.
landofMordor have you seen the price of Mox Opal though...
July 4, 2017 9:13 a.m.
landofMordor says... #18
Kjartan forgot about that one. But if you're building budget, you can easily put in Springleaf Drum to go off on T3-4 rather than T2-3 and save yourself $200. Granted, I haven't built Cheeri0s myself so I might be mistaken, but it seems like the best option for budget combo.
July 4, 2017 9:18 a.m.
I honestly don't think the deck is any good without Opal :/
July 4, 2017 9:22 a.m.
InnerFlame says... #20
Get on to MTG Goldfish and look at their list of budegt decks. I will note, this is a red reck that cost a little over $100 dollars in the main deck metagame ordering that isnt in their budget deck rankings.
aeonstoremyliver says... #2
Mono Stompy, Mono Burn, are good Aggro decks. Not sure of a budget combo deck, though.
July 3, 2017 1:21 p.m.