Competitive U/R deck on a budget?
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on July 26, 2017, 1:35 a.m. by WhiteWeasel
The other day I was playing against a competitive player, and they beat me pretty soundly with a deck that had the fetchlands and everything. And my homebrew I use against my friends just cannot keep up.
The guy recommended to me that I speed up my clock and that I should try out a budget prowess deck with stuff like this:
Problem is I'm not quite sure it can keep up. As the rule for modern is that it has to win the game by turn 4 or at least have it decided by then. Without resorting to poison counters or using pricey fetchlands, can you create a izzet deck that fast on a budget?
I second going for the Kiln Fiend route. Your play style seems to want to go fast on weenie creatures and end the game quickly, rather than U/R Delver that just wants to play a single creature on turn 1 and spend the rest of the game stalling until that creature can end the game.
The changes are pretty minor. I'd cut 4x Bloodwater Entity for Kiln Fiends. Delver of Secrets Flip should be replaced by Manamorphose for more prowess triggers, cantrips, etc.
I'd also recommend not playing Wings of Velis Vel. Really what it does is make your prowess creatures get +3/+x because prowess goes on the stack first. So for example, Monastery Swiftspear would become a 2/3 from prowess triggering off of Wings of Velis Vel, then a 4/4 after Wings of Velis Vel resolving. It wouldn't become a 5/5.
Wings of Velis Vel is nice when you first start the chain to "go off" and kill your opponent, but it's terrible when you draw it in the middle of the chain. You don't want to cast 4 spells, make your Monastery Swiftspear a 5/6, then cast Wings of Velis Vel to turn it into a 4/4. Swap out the Wings of Velis Vel for Temur Battle Rage. Your Monastery Swiftspear still becomes a 2/3, but now it has double strike, so it gets in for 4 damage total or kills a chump blocker that has more than 3 power but only 2 toughness.
Lastly, there's Mutagenic Growth. The card is nuts. But wait! You're out of room in your list of 60 cards! The solution is simple. Since you're playing a bunch of draw spells (Serum Visions, Manamorphose, Thought Scour, Slip Through Space), you'll rarely miss land drops. Go ahead and cut 3 lands and replace them with Mutagenic Growths. To fit the 4th. copy in, I'd cut an Expedite, since you'll rarely be in a position to play a creature, give it haste, and still have enough mana to pump the creature up. It would require the game to go until at least turn 3, and you'd rather just kill them outright.
I'd then cut the remaining copies for Apostle's Blessing. Not only can you save one of your creatures from removal, you can also make them unblockable by giving the creature protection from whatever colors your opponents' creatures are.
Other cards to consider are Blistercoil Weird, Artful Dodge, Nivix Cyclops, and Titan's Strength, Faithless Looting, Gut Shot, and Nivmagus Elemental.
For a sideboard, I'd play something like:
4x Young Pyromancer (you board these in and turn into a tempo deck against decks with a lot of removal)
2x Mizzium Skin/any extra copies of Apostle's Blessing to have 4 copies total between the main andd the side.
3x Twisted Image (otherwise, Spellskite will fuck your shit up).
2x Stubborn Denial (Counterspell their problematic cards, like planeswalkers)
1x Dispel (Counterspell their removal and Counterspells)
2x Vapor Snag (bounce creatures, including your own, while getting damage in if you bounce their creatures)
1x Noxious Revival (get back your creatures after they die, recur draw spells to build up prowess triggers, etc.)
July 27, 2017 4:55 p.m.
WhiteWeasel says... #4
Kiln Fiend and Apostle's Blessing are great suggestions! Manamorphose is also good, but ~$7 a single isn't really within my budget.
July 28, 2017 6:10 p.m.
Ok in that case, I'd use the following list:
4x Kiln Fiend
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Stormchaser Mage
(just cut Delver of Secrets
Flip out entirely)
12 Creatures
3x Apostle's Blessing
2x Expedite
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Mutagenic Growth
2x Temur Battle Rage
4x Thought Scour
2x Titan's Strength
21 Instants
2x Assault Strobe
4x Serum Visions
4x Slip Through Space
10 Sorceries
17 Lands (split between whatever colors you have more of)
Sideboard:
1x Apostle's Blessing
1x Dispel
2x Stubborn Denial
3x Twisted Image
4x Vapor Snag
4x Young Pyromancer
July 29, 2017 5:35 p.m.
The new printing of Wings of Velis Vel is a lot clearer worded. "Until end of turn, target creature has base power and toughness 4/4, gains all creature types, and gains flying."
That means any buffs remain - it's the stats of the creature in unbuffed condition, that change to 4/4. Or do I misunderstand the card? So, whenever played on a Monastery Swiftspear, it gains +3/+2 from the card, with another +1/+1 from its own prowess ability. Or...?!?
In terms of rules: Setting power and toughness occurs on layer 7B, and any further bonuses occur on 7C, which means that the buffs remain.
July 29, 2017 5:54 p.m.
WhiteWeasel says... #7
Thanks for all the help! My friends and that competitive player should be a bit surprised with my new deck (once I order the cards eventually). Can't wait to try it out!
rothgar13 says... #2
Based on the style of game that it seems you want to play here, I'd recommend Kiln Fiend as a way to go faster. I'd also recommend Apostle's Blessing for some protection, Mutagenic Growth for more oomph, and Shivan Reef to make your mana more consistent. Your life total is a resource, and you shouldn't be afraid to use it as such.
July 26, 2017 9:21 a.m.