New to magic, need advice on how to go about building my deck!
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on July 18, 2015, 11:41 a.m. by moonsaber
Hi guys,
I'm trying to get into Magic and am looking at putting together a deck for modern. More info about the deck is in the description. If you guys could lend me a hand it would be much appreciated.
Budget U/W Control transitioning to Jeskai Control Playtest
Modern*
SCORE: 1 | 0 COMMENTS | 13 VIEWS
its hard to play modern on a budget unless your just playing casually
July 18, 2015 11:54 a.m.
I'll take a look smack jack, thanks.
@DarkHero I mean I'm not intending to play permanently on a budget. I just want something semi decent until I can afford to buy Snapcaster Mage etc.
July 18, 2015 11:56 a.m.
Kingofsouls says... #5
For Modern, I would consider the definition of Budget being "under $100". That being said, it is possible to build a competive budget deck in Modern. Usually it's a red deck, but I have foudn success with my mono-green deck My deck (and can be made for under $100 once you cut out the Chord and Heaths):
Cry Havoc and Let Loose The Beasts of War! Playtest
Modern*
SCORE: 0 | 5 COMMENTS | 116 VIEWS
The point is this: You don't need Snapcaster Mage or $500 decks to have a good time and knock some heads. If you are new, I suggest playing a mono-color deck first, green being my personal suggestion, since by keeping it simple you can learn the game and it's nuances before jumping into more complex decks like Control (i.e. your deck).
Long story short, Control isn't my bag so all I can suggest is more hard counters.
July 18, 2015 2:52 p.m.
I suggest cutting out some of the non-basic lands. Stuff that makes you pay life or comes in tapped can really slow down the game or hurt you in the long run when that one or two life would have been the difference for the game. Also check out lands that generate colored Mana, but do things to. If you're going to have a land come in tapped, it might as well have some kind of benefit, like the temples. It comes in tapped, but you get to scry one. So its like paying one mana automatically to scry.
I also suggest running more blue control instances. I think a basic package for blue control would consist of Cancel since Counterspell isn't legal in modern, Dissipate is the same cost as cancel but it exiles the nonland permanent instead, so I run that in place of cancel, Unsummon for removing a creature once it's already in play. You could also run Disperse for other nonland permanents such as artifacts enchantments, auras, and emblems. I'm not sure if it works for plainswalkers though. Annul is another good instant blue counter. Honestly there's a lot you could run from blue to basically say "nope" to what your opponent throws at you. The down side is once they know you're running that kind of control they will adjust their strategy to keep throwing things at you so you burn through your control. The same applies to red burn spells. "Throw stuff at it til it runs out of gas." So in a match be careful what you pick to counter and get rid of. Another great card that basically says "F YOU" to hexproof is Glaring Spotlight and I run Swiftfoot Boots to then give a creature who's ass I need to save hexproof. It also gives them haste which can be useful if on the field already and you can summon the creature _and_equip it.
Control needs to be fast and efficient because a big part of it is reactive and defensive. One of my favorite moves to make with my blue control cards is Polymorphist's Jest They send everything my way thinking they've got bigger creatures, then I turn em all into blue frogs and eat like a french dude. AEtherize does the same thing to but sends everything back to the hand. Good for a token wiper, and for at least a turn or two you can have a clear field to swing through if they can't get something back out soon. But it's also good for offense because you can clear something out then swing.
Lastly, as you can see, none of these cards are particularly expensive, and I do believe everything I've mentioned is Modern legal with the exception for counterspell. So it can help you control the field without controlling your wallet to much. :P
July 20, 2015 5:57 a.m. Edited.
Thanks for the advice man!
Actually I am already running Cancel atm until I can obtain Spell Snare. Rather than unsummon i'm playing a mixture of Vapor Snag and Condemn until I can get my hands on a set of Path of Exile.
AEtherize seems like an interesting card, I like the fact that it's an instant, i've been playing Day of Judgment until I can get some Supreme Verdict but AEtherize seems like it would have interesting utility.
You've given me a bunch of cards to think about!
July 20, 2015 9:49 a.m.
Kingofsouls says... #8
3rdeye88, Disperse does work on planeswalkers, as planeswalkers are not lands and are permanents.
@moonsaber: Day of Judgment > AEtherize because Day outright kills everything while AEtherize just bounces them. True it hits your side too, but when the other side absolutely positively needs to die, having your side go up in smoke is a reasonable compromise.
July 20, 2015 2:15 p.m.
Ah yea, Day of Judgment is great. What I really need is Supreme Verdict or Wrath of God though. I just happend to have Day of Judgment lying around.
I had a look into merfolk after your post king of souls. Seems like a really decent budget option but I decided that ill just stick with the uw control for now since it compliments nicely with my colonnades and I managed to pick up a set of Flooded Strand! Also this should let me dable a bit in standard with Flooded Strand in a uw control deck.
Thanks for all the help guys! It's been very useful so far.
July 20, 2015 9:18 p.m.
Kingofsouls says... #10
NP moonsaber. While I have not played with Merfolk, I have played against it and oh boy can it hit like a truck with 80% of the creature base being Merfolk Lords.
My advice is to play around with several arctypes. Try aggro, try control, try combo, try everything. You'll find something that clicks with you
July 21, 2015 1:29 a.m.
@moonsaber See this is the beauty of talking to other players, new or expert, I didn't know of Vapor Snag That's a good card. Definitely need to pick that up and replace Unsummon with it.
Everyone's playstyle is different. Personally, I don't want to shoot myself in the foot along with my opponent, so AEtherize is more my style. Wait till they're sending enough over at me and get rid of them. I play against a lot of tokens to so for me this works better in the long run since tokens go poof and the creatures need to slowly be put back, which by then if you're still holding onto some good counter spells you can disrupt them and keep their field weak while you still have your side going. With a field wiper you've got to start over to and it becomes a race to see who can get back to field advantage. But I will definitely look at those field wipers as I don't have any.
@Kingofsouls thanks for the info. Emblems count as permanents and can be removed the same way to right?
July 21, 2015 11:23 a.m.
Kingofsouls says... #12
@moonsaber Emblems are not permanents. Once an emblem hits the table, it sticks.
July 21, 2015 12:23 p.m.
Hi guys
Im trying a more mid range type build going with just uw. Let me know what you guys think :)
smackjack says... #2
Check out my UWR control deck with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Restoration Angel as wincon. Pretty fun deck. Its not really budget, but maybe something to aim for :)
Kiki-Kontrol
July 18, 2015 11:46 a.m.