This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, Squandered Resources: Super Budget Super Series 4. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.
One quick note on the Gruul deck: Cascading into a pump spell or Rancor won't allow you to put them on the elf. In the same way that the balance deck allows you to cast balance before your creatures enter play, you won't be able to target your elf for the exact same reason. If you have a creature already in play it works perfectly fine though.
Aside from that, a very interesting article! Love seeing budget options for Legacy!
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One quick note on the Gruul deck: Cascading into a pump spell or Rancor won't allow you to put them on the elf. In the same way that the balance deck allows you to cast balance before your creatures enter play, you won't be able to target your elf for the exact same reason. If you have a creature already in play it works perfectly fine though.
Aside from that, a very interesting article! Love seeing budget options for Legacy!
You know, I feel pretty stupid now, lol.
Yeah, I knew that was true, so I'm not sure what I was thinking when I said that. Oh well, everything else in the article is true....right?
One quick note on the Gruul deck: Cascading into a pump spell or Rancor won't allow you to put them on the elf. In the same way that the balance deck allows you to cast balance before your creatures enter play, you won't be able to target your elf for the exact same reason. If you have a creature already in play it works perfectly fine though.
Aside from that, a very interesting article! Love seeing budget options for Legacy!
I was about to say that
Also, I'm not convinced the Gruul deck is that strong: running only 20 lands with six 4-drops (and five 3-drops) seems too low, and the curve seems too high for an aggro deck. I would probably drop the maindeck artifact hate and the behemoths, and go for stuff like Scab clan mauler and Silhana Ledgewalker (and the geist that you mentioned in the article) along with Moldervine Cloak (instead of might?) with more Rancor to put out the beats as fast as possible.
Also, I think Elecktricky is almost strictly better than Simoon (apart from the former being less cool, which is important), for those corner cases when you only need to kill one dude.
It is worth noting that, apart from the Skyshroud elite and Simoon, this deck is Modern legal too!
Also, have you looked at Boros aggro in this series? Or do the fetchlands it requires for landfall guys price it out of range?
Also, I'm not convinced the Gruul deck is that strong: running only 20 lands with six 4-drops (and five 3-drops) seems too low, and the curve seems too high for an aggro deck. I would probably drop the maindeck artifact hate and the behemoths, and go for stuff like Scab clan mauler and Silhana Ledgewalker (and the geist that you mentioned in the article) along with Moldervine Cloak (instead of might?) with more Rancor to put out the beats as fast as possible.
Also, I think Elecktricky is almost strictly better than Simoon (apart from the former being less cool, which is important), for those corner cases when you only need to kill one dude.
It is worth noting that, apart from the Skyshroud elite and Simoon, this deck is Modern legal too!
Also, have you looked at Boros aggro in this series? Or do the fetchlands it requires for landfall guys price it out of range?
This is what I get for typing without thinking That really was stupid of me, but, live and learn!
I've used mauler before and really, I don't like him at all. I would certainly go geist before I played him. Moldervine Cloak seems sub par, but I can't judge until I test i suppose. I would think that going +2 Rancor would be better than going a full 4 on the cloak.
I can see dropping the behemoths. I just wanted some kind of main deck trump to pure control, and he fit the bill. I have never really regretted having him in the list, but he was in the list from the get go, and playing a cheaper beater may be better.
As far as the mana base goes, the deck used to have 22 lands but through testing we found it just flooded out way too often. we went down to 20 lands, adding 2 Hull Breach, and never looked back. the deck just seemed to play so much better at 20 lands. You may have different results if you play it, but we did do testing with a higher land count and I like this much better.
I have not tested Elecktricky, mostly because it has not been released yet :D, but i can see your argument. though the difference between 2 and 3 mana is pretty large, especially in legacy.
Overall, the Gruul deck was birthed out of my love for bloodbraid elf. In the beggining just took a bunch of green and red cards that I thought would be fun to cascade into and threw them together. through testing and polishing we ended up with the list I presented. Thinking back on this though, I think more hasted gems like Strangleroot Geist should have made the cut. A list like the one below may be better, but I don't really know. I'm tired. lol.
I've wanted to do Boros for a while now, but you are correct, the fetch lands just make it too expensive. Using budget fetch lands is really just too slow for legacy as well.
I'd like to say, in the bonus deck built around Kor Spiritdancer, I'm a pretty big fan of Auratog, because of the shenanigans it can pull with Rancor. It becomes a huge Shade that, given a Spiritdancer in play also draws you a card every time you pump it.
I'd like to say, in the bonus deck built around Kor Spiritdancer, I'm a pretty big fan of Auratog, because of the shenanigans it can pull with Rancor. It becomes a huge Shade that, given a Spiritdancer in play also draws you a card every time you pump it.
Yeah, I've known about that combo but for some reason it slipped my mind when I wrote up that deck list. I know it is indeed very strong. I wonder how I can fit it in...
Regarding Axebane Guardian... what slot would you replace in the mono-green Urzatron´s deck?
Thanks!
Wall of Blossoms is certainly an option, but you could also pull out some Beast Within or Moment's Peace. You just have to play with it and see what you like. The other thing I have been playing with is a deck that concentrates much more on the wall aspect and less on the urza tron aspect. It may look something like this, but I really dont know. this is speculation.
Pack Hunt can find you multiple copies of either Overgrown Battlement or Axebane Guardian, which becomes very powerful. Genesis Wave is just something to pump your mana into. If it results in Concordant Crossroads or Staff of Domination hitting the field, well that's pretty cool. Don't know how strong this is, but I feel like it could go somewhere.
Oh, and yes, that is a Flickering Ward, and yes, it is crazy with Kor Spiritdancer.
Hehe, you're welcome.
Ok, so you probably already knew of the combo prior to my comment back in Budget 1 article. LINK Let me have the warm-n-fuzzy that I was behind the inspiration
I too just about dropped my jaw to the floor when I saw Ethereal Armor and knew I would be main decking.
While my decklist is slightly different (I'll post my version when I get home), my format is FFA and I run Enchanted Evening as my boom card. I've swung for 4 players worth of 20+ life totals in one game with this baby! (also helps I pack at least one Calming Verse)
Even with 4 Kor Spiritdancer and 2 enchantresses I still found card draw to be hit or miss. The ramp is also adequate enough I put in Abundant Growth over Utopia Sprawl just to get that extra card or two to get rolling.
When I drag out the pen and paper (keep track of +x/+x per creature) I have between 4 and 5 people who put a target on my forehead. I need all the card advantage I can squeeze out.
I'm also working on a version 2.1 that also adds in Spirit Loop. What's better than huge/huge trample/unblockable......+lifegain with rancor graveyard return!
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I'd rather stab myself in the neck with a #2 pencil before I spent $15 on a piece of cardstock.
Yes, sorry, but I already knew about the combo. =(
I like Abundant Growth, but I really don't think you should be taking out mana acceleration. A turn 2 Enchantress or badger is probably the strongest turn 2 play this deck can make. You will be doing that much less often without any acceleration from utopia sprawl.
A turn 2 Enchantress or badger is probably the strongest tirn 2 play this deck can make.
For 1v1 duels I very much agree. A 3/3 with or w/o evasion to keep the pressure on is the smart play.
In FFA, and also depending on play group, perhaps not so much. I've been trying to be more Art of War'ish in my FFA so I don't want to lay down the threats right out of the gate. I like to be a bit more established before I offer up creatures as prime removal targets.
If I were to run 1v1 primarily with the deck you can bet your next mythic I'd run a decklist that almost matches yours.
Great articles and comments, keep em comming!
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I'd rather stab myself in the neck with a #2 pencil before I spent $15 on a piece of cardstock.
I recommend these articles to all of our new players and often use them as an example for the cost of entry in to Legacy. There are more mainstream T2 and T1 decks that are also considered "budget", albeit a more expensive "budget". The decks featured in the Squandered Resource articles are all great rogues, able to steal games and confuse opponents with some weird lines of play.
The effort to compile these decklists and explain the plays is invaluable, having saved me countless hours trying to find super budget decks to loan out too.
Please continue with this excellent series, they are definitely appreciated!
I recommend these articles to all of our new players and often use them as an example for the cost of entry in to Legacy. There are more mainstream T2 and T1 decks that are also considered "budget", albeit a more expensive "budget". The decks featured in the Squandered Resource articles are all great rogues, able to steal games and confuse opponents with some weird lines of play.
The effort to compile these decklists and explain the plays is invaluable, having saved me countless hours trying to find super budget decks to loan out too.
Please continue with this excellent series, they are definitely appreciated!
Well thanks a ton, the praise is much appreciated. It makes me so happy that people actually find my articles helpful and use them. This is the kind of thing that helps me know that what I'm doing is worthwhile. I very much enjoy writing these articles and coming up with these decks, so it's only a bonus that my hobby can actually help people enjoy theirs.
Like the others said your article is absolutely great! I really like it! Keep up the good work and keep writing about cool decks.
I've got one question when I saw the Rogue deck: What do you think about a blue/black Ninja deck? What would that look like? Could be a fun, competitive and cheap deck.
Hmm, I'm not sure. I think it would be close to fairyninjastill. I would have to play around with the idea though.
I run a build similar to CascaBalance with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, which I can discard to shuffle my graveyard into my library in case 4 Restore Balances aren't enough. If straits get sufficiently dire, you can always hardcast him. In a recent match against a strong UB Snapcaster counter deck that was going to keep me from bringing out Restore Balance, I used the sac lands to do so on T8 for the win.
The Maelstrom Wanderers sometimes cascade into Nihilith, but the 2x cascades usually mean that at least one will get to Restore Balance. If not, getting a Wanderer plus two hasted Nihiliths into play for 4 sac lands doesn't suck.
Etherium-Horn Sorcerer and Maelstrom Wanderer seem a little too expensive to me, but I have never tested it, so I can't really say one way or another if it they should be run.
As I was reading through the article I kept wondering when you would bring up Dryad Militant. Then there it is at the bottom.
I think the biggest thing I took away from the article though is that Etheral Armor is a card. Oh boy is that thing bonkers.
Now I just need to find a way to use blessing of the nephilim by merging enchantments and gold creatures. Probably garbage but half the fun is in making (or trying to) decks.
blessing of the nephilim is cool, not sure what a list would look like if you are trying to combine it with Etheral Armor. Some sort of combination with the New alara deck I'm sure.
Very nice article, as always. Aura Gnarly will be my deck of choice for Legacy, as I have nearly all the cards there. I hope you keep us fans of that deck updated with versions 3.0, 4.0, etc. Hehe...
May I suggest Transguild Courier in the New Alara Aggro deck? Though it's just a vanilla 8/8, but at 4 cmc? I sure would like to sleeve that deck up, but I took a sabbatical from Magic when Shards of Alara came out, so I don't have them cards. :sad face:
I've figured out that, at least in the mono green version, keen sense is definitely something that needs to be included. The cards draw is very powerful.
Let me know how the white version plays as far as being able to cast Utopia Sprawl reliably. I'm not sure how powerful the card is without dual lands or a strictly forest land base. I saw that a 30 man modern tournament top 8 had a green white list. It ran worship, which I thought was very interesting.
Transguild Courier is certainly an option. To be honest I forgot that card even existed. A vanilla 8/8 for 4 is not that impressive, but it is also nothing to scoff at. Someone would have to test it I suppose. =/
Great article, I have been getting a little bored of playing my Legacy elf deck, gives me some good ideas to spice things up, have some more fun, and still remain competitive. Very good ideas that i can through some stuff into and really get the creative juices flowing:). I would probably throw a cho-mono's blessing, inviobility, or a pariah in the enchantment deck as well.
I love the Cascabalance deck! I was getting bored with my other decks and stopped playing (since your last article coincidentally!). I've always wanted to play with the cascade mechanic, but the Hypergenesis deck wasn't as good without the expensive Show and Tell, and Living End just coped too much GY hate.
Hey spooky,
I just read all of your squandered resources articles, and I have to say, they're pretty awesome! I'm relatively new, so I realize this may not carry much weight, but for what it's worth, I thought they were very accessibly written and entertaining, and the decks themselves looked really fun to play.
So, if you would care to indulge a newbie, do you think you could help me pick out a deck (from your articles or otherwise)? I've been getting some experience in standard constructed and limited games, and I think I want to make the move to legacy. I'm looking for something relatively cheap (you certainly have that covered) but also decently competitive. Some of your decks, like boo berry and about face, struck me in particular, but I'd be willing to go with something else if it will let me win a bit more often. Having the option to expand the deck in the future as I'm able to afford more cards would also be awesome.
Anyway, keep up the awesome work! I'm thankful that someone out there is writing articles for people like me who don't have hundreds of dollars in disposable income
Hey spooky,
I just read all of your squandered resources articles, and I have to say, they're pretty awesome! I'm relatively new, so I realize this may not carry much weight, but for what it's worth, I thought they were very accessibly written and entertaining, and the decks themselves looked really fun to play.
So, if you would care to indulge a newbie, do you think you could help me pick out a deck (from your articles or otherwise)? I've been getting some experience in standard constructed and limited games, and I think I want to make the move to legacy. I'm looking for something relatively cheap (you certainly have that covered) but also decently competitive. Some of your decks, like boo berry and about face, struck me in particular, but I'd be willing to go with something else if it will let me win a bit more often. Having the option to expand the deck in the future as I'm able to afford more cards would also be awesome.
Anyway, keep up the awesome work! I'm thankful that someone out there is writing articles for people like me who don't have hundreds of dollars in disposable income
Thanks for the reads! Happy to help, really, it's why I'm here.
I would be happy to help you in deciding on a deck. Between the 2 you mentioned, About face and boo berry, I would Suggest Boo berry. There has been a decent amount of discussion on the deck here that you can use to decide on a list. I would personally go for something close to this...
If you are looking for something that costs less than that (its around 80 bucks) or you are having thoughts about some of the other decks feel free to ask. What types of decks (combo, aggro, control) Do you like the most?
It's been a while since I last posted on one of your budget articles, but I had to chime in on this one. Eggs is a deck I've played far more than any one person ought (mostly in Modern) and with an eye for Legacy I worked on alterations. A few things your article slightly misses on, in my opinion:
1) By increasing the budget just a little (to $150, instead of $100) you can switch Reshape to Transmute Artifact. It seems trivial, but the difference is enormous. Transmute doesn't require the sacrifice as a cost, which makes it harder for control players to know if they should counter. Many control players will recognize a 2-for-1 when they see it, and immediately shut you down when you attempt to Reshape. This is important if you want to be truly competitive in a field where your opponents have degenerate countermagic like Force of Will, Daze, and Spell Pierce.
2) You don't include any number of Ghost Quarter, which seems incorrect. Part of the deck's ability to ramp comes from Ghost Quartering your own basic to get another, then Second Sunrising (or Faith's Rewarding) back the Ghost Quarter and the basic.
3) Skycloud Egg and Seal of Fire are sub-optimal choices. You really want to be running Pyrite Spellbomb and Aether Spellbomb. You need multiple maindeck answers to Ethersworn Canonist (who stops your repeated Second Sunrise loops) and Gaddock Teeg (especially if you insist on Reshape) who many Maverick decks have in the sideboard as a Green Sun's Zenith target.
4) Noxious Revival is absent from the list, and should be present as a one to three of. It provides additional insurance that you will repeatedly see a sunrise effect to continue your combo.
5) Trust me on this, extensive testing has shown me that Cephalid Coliseum is not as good as you think it is in this deck.
6) 4 Lotus Bloom is too many. It's fine in the opening hand and it's your best Reshape target, but drawing them after you've started to combo is abysmal. The correct number seems to be 3 from my testing, though that may even be 1 too many.
7) 4 Faith's Reward may be slightly too many. While the additional copies of Second Sunrise are nice, I've found that with 8 you will run into scenarios where you simply have too many Sunrises in hand and not enough gas to go off on turn 3 (when you want to be comboing). The idea here is that once you find a Sunrise effect, you are able to recycle it into the deck with conjuror's bauble, shuffle, and draw it again. Draw too many, and you can fizzle. I think 2-3 is a better number there as well.
8) You probably want some number of Ponder (or Preordain, which I've found to be excellent as well) in your 60. The cantripping is fine, and the shuffle effect can be critical if you have no Sunrise effect in hand and no Noxious Revival, but you do have a Conjuror's Bauble. They also help give the deck more consistency in going off on turn 3, which is where you want to be as a combo deck in this format.
Having said all that, I really enjoyed your article as always. You do a great job of providing decent budget options for newer players (I was particularly impressed with your Burn and White Weenie articles). If I may make a request, it's that you address the issue of sideboard construction in a future article. These decks are fun, but as they are aimed at newer players, sideboards (and the relevant additions and subtractions) aren't something that should be skimped on. The example that occurs to me off the top of my head is a newer player walking into legacy night with eggs, having goldfished at home extensively, and then facing a turn one Chalice of the Void on 1 from their opponent. That's soul-crushing. Or, as another example, Rogues coming up against Engineered Plague (on Rogue) in games 2 and 3; blue and black aren't great at dealing with Enchantments, but it's doable if you've recognized that as a weak point and built your sideboard accordingly.
Again, I love the articles, and I hope I've voiced these minor criticisms in a constructive enough manner that they encourage you to keep more article coming. There's been a major void in budget-oriented magic writing since Jacob Van Lunen stopped writing Building on a Budget, and you're doing a fantastic job of filling it.
Also, sorry for not tagging the cards I mentioned. I'm lazy and MOCS is starting soon, so you know, priorities.
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Aside from that, a very interesting article! Love seeing budget options for Legacy!
You know, I feel pretty stupid now, lol.
Yeah, I knew that was true, so I'm not sure what I was thinking when I said that. Oh well, everything else in the article is true....right?
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I was about to say that
Also, I'm not convinced the Gruul deck is that strong: running only 20 lands with six 4-drops (and five 3-drops) seems too low, and the curve seems too high for an aggro deck. I would probably drop the maindeck artifact hate and the behemoths, and go for stuff like Scab clan mauler and Silhana Ledgewalker (and the geist that you mentioned in the article) along with Moldervine Cloak (instead of might?) with more Rancor to put out the beats as fast as possible.
Also, I think Elecktricky is almost strictly better than Simoon (apart from the former being less cool, which is important), for those corner cases when you only need to kill one dude.
It is worth noting that, apart from the Skyshroud elite and Simoon, this deck is Modern legal too!
Also, have you looked at Boros aggro in this series? Or do the fetchlands it requires for landfall guys price it out of range?
This is what I get for typing without thinking That really was stupid of me, but, live and learn!
I've used mauler before and really, I don't like him at all. I would certainly go geist before I played him. Moldervine Cloak seems sub par, but I can't judge until I test i suppose. I would think that going +2 Rancor would be better than going a full 4 on the cloak.
I can see dropping the behemoths. I just wanted some kind of main deck trump to pure control, and he fit the bill. I have never really regretted having him in the list, but he was in the list from the get go, and playing a cheaper beater may be better.
As far as the mana base goes, the deck used to have 22 lands but through testing we found it just flooded out way too often. we went down to 20 lands, adding 2 Hull Breach, and never looked back. the deck just seemed to play so much better at 20 lands. You may have different results if you play it, but we did do testing with a higher land count and I like this much better.
I have not tested Elecktricky, mostly because it has not been released yet :D, but i can see your argument. though the difference between 2 and 3 mana is pretty large, especially in legacy.
Overall, the Gruul deck was birthed out of my love for bloodbraid elf. In the beggining just took a bunch of green and red cards that I thought would be fun to cascade into and threw them together. through testing and polishing we ended up with the list I presented. Thinking back on this though, I think more hasted gems like Strangleroot Geist should have made the cut. A list like the one below may be better, but I don't really know. I'm tired. lol.
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Goblin Guide
4 Skyshroud Elite
4 Strangleroot Geist
2 Spellbreaker Behemoth
4 Colossal Might
4 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Electrickery
2 Rancor
4 Copperline Gorge
8 Forest
4 Karplusan Forest
5 Mountain
I've wanted to do Boros for a while now, but you are correct, the fetch lands just make it too expensive. Using budget fetch lands is really just too slow for legacy as well.
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Regarding Axebane Guardian... what slot would you replace in the mono-green Urzatron´s deck?
Thanks!!
Yeah, I've known about that combo but for some reason it slipped my mind when I wrote up that deck list. I know it is indeed very strong. I wonder how I can fit it in...
Wall of Blossoms is certainly an option, but you could also pull out some Beast Within or Moment's Peace. You just have to play with it and see what you like. The other thing I have been playing with is a deck that concentrates much more on the wall aspect and less on the urza tron aspect. It may look something like this, but I really dont know. this is speculation.
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Wall of Roots
4 Axebane Guardian
4 Tinder Wall
2 Vine Trellis
1 Wall of Mulch
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Pack Hunt
2 Concordant Crossroads
3 Genesis Wave
1 Staff of Domination
1 Banefire
4 Lotus Petal
18 Forest
Pack Hunt can find you multiple copies of either Overgrown Battlement or Axebane Guardian, which becomes very powerful. Genesis Wave is just something to pump your mana into. If it results in Concordant Crossroads or Staff of Domination hitting the field, well that's pretty cool. Don't know how strong this is, but I feel like it could go somewhere.
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Hehe, you're welcome.
Ok, so you probably already knew of the combo prior to my comment back in Budget 1 article. LINK Let me have the warm-n-fuzzy that I was behind the inspiration
I too just about dropped my jaw to the floor when I saw Ethereal Armor and knew I would be main decking.
While my decklist is slightly different (I'll post my version when I get home), my format is FFA and I run Enchanted Evening as my boom card. I've swung for 4 players worth of 20+ life totals in one game with this baby! (also helps I pack at least one Calming Verse)
Even with 4 Kor Spiritdancer and 2 enchantresses I still found card draw to be hit or miss. The ramp is also adequate enough I put in Abundant Growth over Utopia Sprawl just to get that extra card or two to get rolling.
When I drag out the pen and paper (keep track of +x/+x per creature) I have between 4 and 5 people who put a target on my forehead. I need all the card advantage I can squeeze out.
I'm also working on a version 2.1 that also adds in Spirit Loop. What's better than huge/huge trample/unblockable......+lifegain with rancor graveyard return!
I like Abundant Growth, but I really don't think you should be taking out mana acceleration. A turn 2 Enchantress or badger is probably the strongest turn 2 play this deck can make. You will be doing that much less often without any acceleration from utopia sprawl.
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For 1v1 duels I very much agree. A 3/3 with or w/o evasion to keep the pressure on is the smart play.
In FFA, and also depending on play group, perhaps not so much. I've been trying to be more Art of War'ish in my FFA so I don't want to lay down the threats right out of the gate. I like to be a bit more established before I offer up creatures as prime removal targets.
If I were to run 1v1 primarily with the deck you can bet your next mythic I'd run a decklist that almost matches yours.
Great articles and comments, keep em comming!
I recommend these articles to all of our new players and often use them as an example for the cost of entry in to Legacy. There are more mainstream T2 and T1 decks that are also considered "budget", albeit a more expensive "budget". The decks featured in the Squandered Resource articles are all great rogues, able to steal games and confuse opponents with some weird lines of play.
The effort to compile these decklists and explain the plays is invaluable, having saved me countless hours trying to find super budget decks to loan out too.
Please continue with this excellent series, they are definitely appreciated!
Well thanks a ton, the praise is much appreciated. It makes me so happy that people actually find my articles helpful and use them. This is the kind of thing that helps me know that what I'm doing is worthwhile. I very much enjoy writing these articles and coming up with these decks, so it's only a bonus that my hobby can actually help people enjoy theirs.
Hmm, I'm not sure. I think it would be close to fairyninjastill. I would have to play around with the idea though.
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My list:
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Enlisted Wurm
3 Deny Reality
2 Ardent Plea
2 Violent Outburst
4 Restore Balance
4 Shardless Agent
1 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
2 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Land
4 Ancient Spring
2 Archaeological Dig
4 Geothermal Crevice
4 Irrigation Ditch
4 Tinder Farm
2 Dwarven Ruins
4 Crystal Vein
4 Sulfur Vent
2 Ebon Stronghold
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Sundial of the Infinite
2 Avatar of Woe
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Violent Outburst
1 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
1 Ardent Plea
The Maelstrom Wanderers sometimes cascade into Nihilith, but the 2x cascades usually mean that at least one will get to Restore Balance. If not, getting a Wanderer plus two hasted Nihiliths into play for 4 sac lands doesn't suck.
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I think the biggest thing I took away from the article though is that Etheral Armor is a card. Oh boy is that thing bonkers.
Now I just need to find a way to use blessing of the nephilim by merging enchantments and gold creatures. Probably garbage but half the fun is in making (or trying to) decks.
blessing of the nephilim is cool, not sure what a list would look like if you are trying to combine it with Etheral Armor. Some sort of combination with the New alara deck I'm sure.
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May I suggest Transguild Courier in the New Alara Aggro deck? Though it's just a vanilla 8/8, but at 4 cmc? I sure would like to sleeve that deck up, but I took a sabbatical from Magic when Shards of Alara came out, so I don't have them cards. :sad face:
Let me know how the white version plays as far as being able to cast Utopia Sprawl reliably. I'm not sure how powerful the card is without dual lands or a strictly forest land base. I saw that a 30 man modern tournament top 8 had a green white list. It ran worship, which I thought was very interesting.
Transguild Courier is certainly an option. To be honest I forgot that card even existed. A vanilla 8/8 for 4 is not that impressive, but it is also nothing to scoff at. Someone would have to test it I suppose. =/
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Getting Started in Legacy and Legacy Budget Primer 5!
Special thanks to Bornnover for the banner used in those articles.
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging ooze
3 Dryad Militant
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Marisi's Twinclaws
4 Naya Hushblade
4 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Swords to Plowshares
Knight of the Reliquary would probably fit in somewhere, but I'm not too sure where.
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Getting Started in Legacy and Legacy Budget Primer 5!
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I just read all of your squandered resources articles, and I have to say, they're pretty awesome! I'm relatively new, so I realize this may not carry much weight, but for what it's worth, I thought they were very accessibly written and entertaining, and the decks themselves looked really fun to play.
So, if you would care to indulge a newbie, do you think you could help me pick out a deck (from your articles or otherwise)? I've been getting some experience in standard constructed and limited games, and I think I want to make the move to legacy. I'm looking for something relatively cheap (you certainly have that covered) but also decently competitive. Some of your decks, like boo berry and about face, struck me in particular, but I'd be willing to go with something else if it will let me win a bit more often. Having the option to expand the deck in the future as I'm able to afford more cards would also be awesome.
Anyway, keep up the awesome work! I'm thankful that someone out there is writing articles for people like me who don't have hundreds of dollars in disposable income
Thanks for the reads! Happy to help, really, it's why I'm here.
I would be happy to help you in deciding on a deck. Between the 2 you mentioned, About face and boo berry, I would Suggest Boo berry. There has been a decent amount of discussion on the deck here that you can use to decide on a list. I would personally go for something close to this...
2 Aphetto alchemist
1 Angel of glory's rise
1 Azami, lady of scrolls
1 Laboratory maniac
4 Narcomeba
1 Phantasmagorian
4 Mesmeric orb
4 Basalt monolith
4 Daze
3 Spell pierce
4 Careful study
4 fabricate
4 Ponder
4 preordain
1 dread return
14 island
4 Ancient Tomb
If you are looking for something that costs less than that (its around 80 bucks) or you are having thoughts about some of the other decks feel free to ask. What types of decks (combo, aggro, control) Do you like the most?
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Getting Started in Legacy and Legacy Budget Primer 5!
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1) By increasing the budget just a little (to $150, instead of $100) you can switch Reshape to Transmute Artifact. It seems trivial, but the difference is enormous. Transmute doesn't require the sacrifice as a cost, which makes it harder for control players to know if they should counter. Many control players will recognize a 2-for-1 when they see it, and immediately shut you down when you attempt to Reshape. This is important if you want to be truly competitive in a field where your opponents have degenerate countermagic like Force of Will, Daze, and Spell Pierce.
2) You don't include any number of Ghost Quarter, which seems incorrect. Part of the deck's ability to ramp comes from Ghost Quartering your own basic to get another, then Second Sunrising (or Faith's Rewarding) back the Ghost Quarter and the basic.
3) Skycloud Egg and Seal of Fire are sub-optimal choices. You really want to be running Pyrite Spellbomb and Aether Spellbomb. You need multiple maindeck answers to Ethersworn Canonist (who stops your repeated Second Sunrise loops) and Gaddock Teeg (especially if you insist on Reshape) who many Maverick decks have in the sideboard as a Green Sun's Zenith target.
4) Noxious Revival is absent from the list, and should be present as a one to three of. It provides additional insurance that you will repeatedly see a sunrise effect to continue your combo.
5) Trust me on this, extensive testing has shown me that Cephalid Coliseum is not as good as you think it is in this deck.
6) 4 Lotus Bloom is too many. It's fine in the opening hand and it's your best Reshape target, but drawing them after you've started to combo is abysmal. The correct number seems to be 3 from my testing, though that may even be 1 too many.
7) 4 Faith's Reward may be slightly too many. While the additional copies of Second Sunrise are nice, I've found that with 8 you will run into scenarios where you simply have too many Sunrises in hand and not enough gas to go off on turn 3 (when you want to be comboing). The idea here is that once you find a Sunrise effect, you are able to recycle it into the deck with conjuror's bauble, shuffle, and draw it again. Draw too many, and you can fizzle. I think 2-3 is a better number there as well.
8) You probably want some number of Ponder (or Preordain, which I've found to be excellent as well) in your 60. The cantripping is fine, and the shuffle effect can be critical if you have no Sunrise effect in hand and no Noxious Revival, but you do have a Conjuror's Bauble. They also help give the deck more consistency in going off on turn 3, which is where you want to be as a combo deck in this format.
Having said all that, I really enjoyed your article as always. You do a great job of providing decent budget options for newer players (I was particularly impressed with your Burn and White Weenie articles). If I may make a request, it's that you address the issue of sideboard construction in a future article. These decks are fun, but as they are aimed at newer players, sideboards (and the relevant additions and subtractions) aren't something that should be skimped on. The example that occurs to me off the top of my head is a newer player walking into legacy night with eggs, having goldfished at home extensively, and then facing a turn one Chalice of the Void on 1 from their opponent. That's soul-crushing. Or, as another example, Rogues coming up against Engineered Plague (on Rogue) in games 2 and 3; blue and black aren't great at dealing with Enchantments, but it's doable if you've recognized that as a weak point and built your sideboard accordingly.
Again, I love the articles, and I hope I've voiced these minor criticisms in a constructive enough manner that they encourage you to keep more article coming. There's been a major void in budget-oriented magic writing since Jacob Van Lunen stopped writing Building on a Budget, and you're doing a fantastic job of filling it.
Also, sorry for not tagging the cards I mentioned. I'm lazy and MOCS is starting soon, so you know, priorities.