Throwing money
Standard forum
Posted on Feb. 19, 2013, 12:06 a.m. by Fenrisulfen
Is there any way to make a standard competitive deck in the current block without throwing $200+ for cards?
ChiefWannaHacka says... #3
Ohthenoises has a pretty slick deck that stays pretty competitive without breaking the bank Everlasting Vorapede.
February 19, 2013 12:20 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
You can try a Rakdos/Boros aggro deck using mostly commons and uncommons (Rakdos Cackler , Gore-House Chainwalker , Skullcrack , etc.), but your deck will lack the power of similar builds that avail themselves of shocks and Boros Reckoner s.
February 19, 2013 12:20 a.m.
Fenrisulfen says... #5
That's what I feared. It sucks that it's come to that, I remember my first FNM after moving and losing all my cards I went with a pauper vamp deck mid zendikar and went 3-1. Yay for dual lands :/
February 19, 2013 12:22 a.m.
Fenrisulfen says... #6
During the pre-release and the actual release I chose gruul as my guild so all my friends kinda threw the gruul cards at me. Any tips for a cheap-ish gruul deck? I have all the lands already just need some consistency in a deck.
February 19, 2013 12:32 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #7
Budget is possible if you find a niche. As ChiefWannaHacka mentioned I have one that isn't bank breaking because I found cards that work incredibly well together that weren't worth much when I picked them up. The land base will set you back a bet but it sets you up for eternal formats like U/G pumpfect.
It's easier to point you towards a decent budget deck if I knew your meta but knowing that you have Gruul cards helps, I'd suggest some kind of ramp/big red especially if you got ahold of 4x Rubblehulk , then you could pair it with Farseek and other ramp cards and make things get stupid really fast. Might even be able to viably run Borborygmos Enraged . Like I said, it depends on your meta.
February 19, 2013 12:44 a.m.
Fenrisulfen says... #8
Thank you for the input, I'll try and put together a rubblehulk deck, seeing as I have 4 of him :D. Should I post it here or in the deck help forum as a response? My biggest problems right now are 2-3 RDW, a few Naya FOTM decks, and an esper spirit/control deck, Other things I've been able to outpace.
February 19, 2013 12:47 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #9
You are going to want to add a lot of burn to pick off aggro before they can hurt you, Mugging , Pillar of Flame , Searing Spear , Mizzium Mortars , etc. include some combination of those, ramp, and midrange fatties, and you could have a basic budget deck. There are other things you can do as well but it would take a more in depth look at the card pool. For your mana purposes I'd put a red lean on the mana base with the shocks and inn duals included as well, that way you get your early game red for removal and ramp as well.
February 19, 2013 12:52 a.m.
Fenrisulfen says... #10
Gruublehulk Is an attempt at something using cards I know I have at hand. It seems really bad, for some reason I just can't brain Magic lately haha :/
February 19, 2013 1:22 a.m.
I think you can get a decent build with Gruul I think, while staying within a budget... things like Experiment One , Flinthoof Boar , Burning-Tree Emissary , Madcap Skills , Instigator Gang Flip , and others can make for a decent agro approach. I can't say whether it could truly compete with other standard decks though I guess
February 19, 2013 2:10 a.m.
RDW is probably your best bet. You won't be able to afford Boros Reckoner or Thundermaw Hellkite , but the rest of the deck is cheap and mostly commons and uncommons. Take a look at the Rakdos Red decks in this daily mtg column for ideas. You can swap out the expensive cards for Burning-Tree Emissary , Lightning Mauler , and Stonewright .
February 19, 2013 2:28 a.m.
Use Kessig Wolf Run to beef your budget cards to get the job done faster. Experiment One is nice, and I'll say that if you are looking to ramp go with Gyre Sage and some mana dorks. Farseek will allow you to beef Rubblehulk as stated above. Also, as filler take full advantage of Bloodrush as an ability. Also, if you run the white use the green Bloodrush card that gives death touch to Guardian of the Gateless . I stand board wipe on their turn. Good luck, I wanna see how this turns out.
February 19, 2013 7:57 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #14
Dont forget about card:Ranger's Path, If you T2 Farseek it sets you up for a T3 card:Ranger's Path allowing for a T4 7/7 Rubblehulk . if you got 4 why not put them to use. Also it makes for a +7+7 bloodrush if you do use Experiment One .
February 19, 2013 8:13 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #15
This is just a basic thing, you can change it as you wish but this a start. Gruuling Big Red.
February 19, 2013 8:26 a.m.
mono white is the cheapest competitive dck i can think of and im sure it goes for 300. other than that mono red and boros are the next but thundermaw hellkites and hellriders add to the price quite a bit. the problem right now isnt even shocks because theycan all be picked up for under 20 dollars, the problem is that the powerhouse cards that eithe make or break a deck all go for more than 20. this is sure to change with the release of dragons maze because a bigger pool will allow for more flexibility in deck building causing certain cards to drop in price. for example, restoaration angel used to only be 10 dollars even though it was a staple 4 of for almost every deck running white. then scars rotated out and it jumped to almost 20 because it was still astaple and there was a smaller pool so there were less choices in that slot.
February 19, 2013 10:24 a.m.
@capriom85: Be careful on the Guardian of the Gateless suggestion... Bloodrush only can target attacking creatures, so if you tried to use it while blocking you would end up having to target your opponent's guy, buffing him instead of your own.
February 19, 2013 10:52 a.m.
Oh snap, you're right! What about blood rushing that creature to a Golgari Decoy instead? Also, if you want cheap spot removal, I know a girl that effectively used Ambush Viper in her decks. The flash made it nice and also usually never seen coming. It's easy to clear a board and attack but flashing that in changes things a bit. Again, these are all budget suggestions. My son has beaten my $500+ decks with masses of cheap never ending creatures before so part of this is all about getting the right draws and not money.
capriom85 says... #2
I'm pretty inclined to say the answer to this question is no, unless you are extremely lucky enough to pull the key cards in packs or have some extremely good trades. The problem is, right now, that the cards that will make your deck standard competitive are pricey. For instance, you're looking to stay under $200 and a palyset of either Geist of Saint Traft , Huntmaster of the Fells Flip , or Boros Reckoner will run you over half that value just by itself. If you are going to stickto a budget build, I would say gow ith a "white weenie" build. You can also probably do pretty well with a Golgari based deck if you do it right. Good luck with this endeavor!
February 19, 2013 12:18 a.m.