I got back into magic a couple of months ago, and have been building mostly budget casual decks since then. This generally means monocolored decks, since quality dual lands tend to cost money. 3+ color decks seem all the rage right now, and I've been tempted to start trying to build some, but the price of land tends to scare me off. Of the better budget lands, the check-lands seem sketchy in a three color deck, and painlands run into trouble when casting dual mana cards like Demigod of Revenge and three colored cards that don't involve colorless like Abzan Charm. I don't really want to load up on too many lands that enter play tapped. Anybody have any advice for doing three colors on a budget, or am I looking at having to spend some money here?
You could use the appropriate trilands (eg. Savage Lands) for your three color combination from Shards of Alara (for Shard colors) or Khans of Tarkir (for wedges).
Any card with more than 3 colored mana symbols will be a problem and you should consider cutting it from the deck and look for an easier to play alternative. The best card doesn't help you if you can't play it, then it may as well be not there.
If you're in green, you can favor that color and run things like Market Festival to create a land that can produce all three colors of yours at once.
You can shift the balance of the colors towards two of them and run the third more as a splash than a full fledged color of the deck. Or cut the third color entirely. People run 3-color decks in tournaments because they can afford the mana base to support it. But if you can't, it isn't nessessary to run three colors to be competitive. Those decks are more like good-stuff decks, in that they run simply use what is best among the available cards regardless of color. 2-colored decks can do just fine, however, and offer more than enough options to solve all your problems. This also puts much less strain on your land base. Running only as many colors as you absolutely need is a fundamental deckbulding principle. So before even start to build a 3-color deck, check carefully if you even need that third color.
There are "Liars" from Planeshift that's shouldn't be too expensive- Crosis's Catacombs, Darigaaz's Caldera, etc, in addition to the Shard Tri-lands, or the Clan-Lands.
going multiple, there's Meteor Crater that nets you a color of a permanent you control, that shouldn't be too expensive.
Further more to what Rezz said, playing green has options to create multiple colors. Overlaid Terrain is an excessive measure.
Two things you need to consider when building a deck more than two colors- look at the two colors have the highest ratio's, and build a land base around those colors most, then try to eke in the third color with dual lands that provide the third.
Second, look at alternate mana sources. mana rocks, if you have the room. Worse case, go fetch.
if you're running black, the "Tainted Lands" grant a bonus if you play Swamps.
SELVAXRI! King of Misfortune & Master of Rocket Launchers "Do ya feel lucky? Because you'd better start runnin' while you still can." 375 Misfortune {+3 signed AP's} & 104 Rocket Launcher (41 AQ/ 63 Rev) Edgar Rice Burroughs, forgotten legend of the word.
I'm not sure I would rule out the check lands so quickly. They really are decent if you are looking for something on a budget. Also Chromatic Lantern can help if you are just looking to splash a color and don't want to build too much of a mana base around it.
In the end, it will really depend on what you are trying to play.
- Matt
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Any card with more than 3 colored mana symbols will be a problem and you should consider cutting it from the deck and look for an easier to play alternative. The best card doesn't help you if you can't play it, then it may as well be not there.
If you're in green, you can favor that color and run things like Market Festival to create a land that can produce all three colors of yours at once.
You can shift the balance of the colors towards two of them and run the third more as a splash than a full fledged color of the deck. Or cut the third color entirely. People run 3-color decks in tournaments because they can afford the mana base to support it. But if you can't, it isn't nessessary to run three colors to be competitive. Those decks are more like good-stuff decks, in that they run simply use what is best among the available cards regardless of color. 2-colored decks can do just fine, however, and offer more than enough options to solve all your problems. This also puts much less strain on your land base. Running only as many colors as you absolutely need is a fundamental deckbulding principle. So before even start to build a 3-color deck, check carefully if you even need that third color.
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"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
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going multiple, there's Meteor Crater that nets you a color of a permanent you control, that shouldn't be too expensive.
Further more to what Rezz said, playing green has options to create multiple colors. Overlaid Terrain is an excessive measure.
Two things you need to consider when building a deck more than two colors- look at the two colors have the highest ratio's, and build a land base around those colors most, then try to eke in the third color with dual lands that provide the third.
Second, look at alternate mana sources. mana rocks, if you have the room. Worse case, go fetch.
if you're running black, the "Tainted Lands" grant a bonus if you play Swamps.
I have a GWR deck that runs:
4 Plains
4 Mountains
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Rith's Grove
2 Vec Townships
2 Mogg Hollows
2 Meteor Crater
and does pretty well.
King of Misfortune & Master of Rocket Launchers
"Do ya feel lucky? Because you'd better start runnin' while you still can."
375 Misfortune {+3 signed AP's} & 104 Rocket Launcher (41 AQ/ 63 Rev)
Edgar Rice Burroughs, forgotten legend of the word.
In the end, it will really depend on what you are trying to play.
- Matt