Is protean hulk a viable deck to play in competitive tournaments?
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 15, 2016, 10:27 p.m. by TUMTUM
I have this deck which (obviously budget) is ok? I need some people to give some advice on the deck and what to do if I Were to play protean hulk. I am going to GP vancouver So I need to decide between restore balance or protean hulk. Protean Hulk RESTORE BALAAAANCE
So if my restore balance deck is weak can you give me a (budget of 80 or less) list that is good?
December 16, 2016 11:37 a.m.
Wanting to do well in a GP and wanting to play a very budget-friendly deck are incompatible aims.
Would you like to be punished more by decks that can interact on the stack or by decks that stop your creature plan?
December 16, 2016 2:22 p.m.
Yes, Living End is viable but it's another deck with an incredibly demanding mana-base that I really don't think you can accomplish on a budget.
I'm really not an expert on Modern - most of my knowledge comes second-hand - so I'm not exactly the best person to ask but, as a general rule in Magic, if you're playing on a budget, you should play something mono-coloured. You can achieve a perfectly consistent, incredibly resilient mana-base effectively for free by just running twenty-something of the same basic land. Mono-red burn would probably be my best suggestion.
December 16, 2016 2:42 p.m.
thunderlicous says... #7
If you're looking to participate in the GP, then a Restore Balance list would be a good idea to go on, but I would avoid Protean Hulk in any list, since Dredge and other graveyard based strategies are prevalent, it's easily punished. A good list to base a Restore Balance list would be here --> Ari Lax Restore Balance
It's nowhere near budget, but honestly if you are planning to participate in the GP, then you should really try to either build a budget list and play it til the end of time and learn every match-up, or try to find the non-budget cards you need and borrow/trade for them. Honestly, the Restore Balance deck isn't too terribly expensive, so I think you could come up with this list in a decent time frame.
December 17, 2016 12:32 a.m.
thunderlicous says... #8
Just thought of this, again coming up to budget issues, mono red burn like suggested above is a great intro deck for modern players. There is also an awesome list called 8 whack that can be super budget and super competitive if given the time to learn match-ups. A list could be found here --> SaffronOlive's 8 whack
Here's a link to a lot of budget lists on the same site -->MTG goldfish budget lists
Again, any deck you want to take to the GP, definitely play it til you can't play it anymore, then play it some more. Find people who have the tier 1 - 1.5 modern lists and play against them. The modern scene right now comes down to what you know about your list and what you can do to win, not about straight card value (we're talking $ here) since there is no real top of the meta right now, so any deck has a chance to win if it's set up correctly.
Lame_Duck says... #2
I think you mean PROTEAN HULK.
The long and short of it is that you're very unlikely to do well with either list but, of the two, I would go for the Restore Balance one over the Protean Hulk deck. The Hulk deck is vulnerable to graveyard hate, which is likely to be plentiful due to Dredge, and trying to play 4 colours off just basics and Gemstone Caverns is a recipe for disaster. Trying to run 5 colours on a budget for the Balance deck is still not a very good idea but at least you've got the Borderposts to help, although that makes you weak to artifact hate like Stony Silence, which you're always likely to encounter due to the omni-presence of Affinity.
December 16, 2016 7:56 a.m. Edited.