Pulled a Vraksa... want to try and get into standard on a Budget

Standard Deck Help forum

Posted on Jan. 21, 2018, 5:28 p.m. by Arcaneful

Hey guys.

I used to be into standard and frontier and those formats awhile ago, they just fell out of favor with me since my old store was almost only commander players. I still love commander and it's still my favorite format, I just want to try and expand back into standard on a budget of around $50. Do I expect to win FNM? Heavens no. Do I expect to have fun? Yeah, I do. Like the title says I pulled a Vraska, Relic Seeker yesterday and would like to see what I could do with it. Is there a good budget Golgari list I can throw together? If not, would someone want to brew one up with me? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,Arcaneful

Argy says... #2

Unfortunately was heavily nerfed recently with the banning of Attune with Aether.

Most of the decent builds relied on , so that really hurt them.

Pirates are usually , , or , so that doesn't really work with your Planeswalker either.

Your best bet would be to work out how to stay alive until Vraska, Relic Seeker hits the field, and then protect her until she wins the game. Which she can do quite handily on her own.

You could try using some cards that destroy Opponent Creatures, and some big beaters to keep your Opponent busy. There are a lot of beefy Dinos around at the moment. They cost peanuts.

Your Vraska, Relic Seeker isn't going to be seen much unless you tutor for her. There is a 4 drop that just came out that does that.

There are some cheap removal spells. A couple that your deck would REALLY need, however, aren't. They are Fatal Push and Vraska's Contempt.

Standard is not a poor person's game, I'm afraid to say. Unless you are some kind of genius deck builder.

If you put a deck together tag me in the Comments and I'll take a look at it.

Best of luck.

January 21, 2018 6:22 p.m.

Arcaneful says... #3

@Argy

Thanks for the detailed comment!

From what you're saying, do you think it'd be best to try and trade Vraska for some pieces of a standard deck instead? If green isn't strong with the Attune with Aether ban (to be fair I didn't look at recent bans) I may not play it. What would you say are the strongest color pairs currently? I think sticking to a color pair would make it easier on the mana base for the budget. Maybe not blue though. That seems like it involves A LOT of Search for Azcanta  Flip's...

Back on green however I do have 3 Growing Rites of Itlimoc  Flip if that's any good in standard. I could see that it is only an EDH playable card though.

January 21, 2018 6:33 p.m.

Ryjo says... #4

Well, Golgari isn't that well represented within Standard right now. The only deck to post any results recently are constrictor decks that run over $250 currently. Vraska, Relic Seeker is in a weird place, where she's a pirate that doesn't fit in with other pirates. If you want a budget deck that uses Vraska, Relic Seeker, you could try a pirates deck that uses Treasure tokens to generate the mana for Vraska. Other than that, Vraska might fit in well with a -1/-1 counters deck like this:

It currently costs approximately $75, but since you already have 1 Vraska, it would only cost roughly $60 to acquire the rest of the cards.

January 21, 2018 6:43 p.m.

Arcaneful says... #5

@Ryjo

Thanks for the list! I'll definitely look into it. I have an old Hapatra EDH deck so it has a few of the cards that might cost abit more like Bontu's Last Reckoning and a few of the cards that cost around 50 cents.

I've been thinking that since Vraska is in such a weird space right now, maybe I should trade it in and make a deck in different colors?

January 21, 2018 6:46 p.m.

EmblemMan says... #6

Here is another deck you could try its basically a BG explore deck. The only expensive cards are Jadelight Ranger and Fatal Push and push could be replaced with maybe Walk the Plank or something similar. G as a color was not nerfed a couple of green cards got banned and so some decks that ran green got nerfed but green and black as colors are fine.

January 21, 2018 6:48 p.m.

Arcaneful says... #7

@EmblemMan

Thanks for the list! Explore is an option I've been looking into. I may be changing colors though from black... maybe a blue green variant?

January 21, 2018 7:02 p.m.

Argy says... #8

It's difficult to advise which colours are going to be strong this season, as it's still early and we haven't seen the Pro Tour yet.

I advise people to be a bit cautious with Walk the Plank as Merfolk are in a much stronger place this time around.

January 21, 2018 7:05 p.m.

EmblemMan says... #9

Yeah, I don't really know the blue cards in explore but whatever floats your goat. And that is a good point from argy that merfolk are actually played now I was just giving a quick example that you COULD play other things besides fatal push.

January 21, 2018 7:30 p.m.

multimedia says... #10

Hey, if you want to play Golgari on a budget I recommend Winding Constrictor. Supported by:

Treasure Cove has synergy with Vraska's ability to make treasures, using those treasures as draw. Treasure Map  Flip has synergy with Constrictor since you put a counter on it each time you scry with it Constrictor puts two counters each time. Scry helps with explore knowing what's on the top of your library before you explore. Blossoming Defense is a very good green spell in Standard. Walking Ballista and Jadelight Ranger are nonbudget creatures, both are excellent with Constrictor.

Fatal Push and Vraska's Contempt are the two best removal spells for Golgari, but they're not budget. Some budget options are:

Plank is risky if you play where there's a lot Merfolk, but if no Merfolk then other than not being instant it's a fine budget removal spell. If Merfolk than it can be a good sideboard card for other matchups. Walk the Plank or Moment of Craving can be removal spells to replace Fatal Push and Hour of Glory is the best alternative Vraska's Contempt. It has the same mana cost and it can exile any creature at instant speed with the bonus of it exiling Hazoret, Scarab God or any other God getting to then see your opponent's hand and exile any other copies in hand of that God. Never is I think the best overall alternative budget removal spell because it can also destroy a Planeswalker.

Blooming Marsh the best Golgari dual land, but it's not budget. For budget there's Foul Orchard, Evolving Wilds and Aether Hub energy synergy with Constrictor. Ifnir Deadlands is also an underrated black land that can fit into a Golgari manabase.

Good budget sideboard cards for Golgari are:


January 22, 2018 6:36 a.m. Edited.

Atroxreaper says... #11

could also try abazan tokens since they banned rampaging ferocidon.

January 22, 2018 2:42 p.m.

Leon9358 says... #12

I Have a nice 25$ list that works very well and is a blast to play. It dosen't use vraska and the sideboard needs refining but its a great budget option. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/19-01-18-the-red-menace/?cache=2018-01-22%2015:03:05.111064

January 22, 2018 3:03 p.m.

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