To start off, the chance Jace gets banned is very low. Most of us felt that he was safe to unban, even if we didn't think it was necessary. Even if it's only been a few days, the preliminary data doesn't suggest he's breaking the format. I would be extremely surprised if he got banned.
I would say Tron decks can compete in this meta. Tron has traditionally been a Jund killer, and if you're playing against Jace, you either go under it or way over it, and Tron can go way over it. Not sure how Mono U Tron matches up, I feel like Jund might be problematic, but RG Tron or Eldrazi Tron seem good.
For what it's worth though, you won't build a competitive deck for $200 if you don't already have cards. You're resigning yourself to whatever budget deck looks good. At that point, I have no idea what to build or what matchups are going to be like. Your mileage will vary, and I'd wager you probably won't have a fair chance of winning. I don't think Jace or BBE change that, it's just a fact of how competitive Magic works.
I think UW Control is the best Jace deck right now, but it's hard to really figure out what the best deck is in such a short time. UW Control was actually playing some pretty awful win conditions before, and Jace is just an upgrade for them. On top of that, Field of Ruin is really good in the meta right now. I think with people being greedy on 3 or 4 colour BBE/Jace decks along with Tron being rampant, access to LD is really powerful. I think this should be within your budget. I've seen lists with like 2 Jace 4 Colonnade, so it's probably easy enough to afford.
I think if the only expensive things are Jace and Colonnade then you don't have to worry too much about picking up bad cards. You're getting Jaces either way, and Colonnade is useful in other decks like Jeskai Control, UW Tron, etc. I'd recommend waiting until we see what comes out in A25 (spoilers start tomorrow) because there's a good chance Colonnade gets reprinted.
Don't forget that you can always substitute cards. Nobody knows the best Jace list yet and I think if you build something like UW or UWR, you could sub out a few cards to drive the price to an affordable place.
Hi folks. I'm looking to getting into modern, and I've narrowed down the archetype to pyromancer.
What are people's thoughts of spells vs land base for the above colour combinations, both pro and con.
Mardi just placed well, but I'm wondering what the deck can do with blue instead.
Thanks in advance.
Merged with the "What deck should I play" thread. - Torpf
well blue/red and black/red pyromancer variants sorta bring different things to the table. i dont think you can pinpoint either as being the outright better option.
UR pyromancer are heavy on cheap card selection spells (Serum Visions, Opt), have Ancestral Vision for card advantage, and use Thing in the Ice as an additional threat. your main form of disruption is various counterspells.
both, being primarily 2 colors, get to play Blood Moon.
the grixis version probably plays more similarly to mardu. you lose access to lingering souls but get to play Snapcaster Mage.
on the surface the blue/red versions are probably a little faster. you make tempo plays to keep your opponent off-balance while building up your army.
mardu just looks to grind your opponent into dust. proactively trading resources with your opponent using discard/removal with you getting the better end of the value deal.
blue just recently got access to Jace, the Mind Sculptor, which is a powerful card that im not quite sure how it fits into the equation. however it is something to consider.
best of luck
Merged with the "What deck should I play" thread. - Torpf
I currently have most of jeskai expensive pieces to build any deck.
But i'm not enjoying control that much lately.
I tried jeskai tempo geist but it seems to have fallen out of flavor again, back down to a tier 2/3 deck.
It becomes pretty tiring playing a long game over so many rounds.
I've always enjoyed interactive games, I liked jund and twin playstyles.
Twin is not an option, obviously.Should I sell my jeskai pieces and build jund, or will it be boring/not competitive as well? It seems to have gained a significant buff with BBE.
That being said. What interactive game do you recommend? A deck that's tier 1/1.5 preferably.
Trons and eldrazis are options as well.
Merged with the "What deck should I play" thread. - Torpf
Sounds to me like you are in the same place I was after Twin was banned.
Have you ever played Jund? I sold out of a bunch of stuff and put it together for a few months, but it just wasnt for me. There is no arguing (this was pre-Push) with Discard, into Goyf, into Lilly, into 'I Win' but...it wasnt what I wanted to be playing.
BBE is going to bring Jund back up to Tier 1, its going to be very strong. If you like the play style, then I would say do it, if you are not liking UWR.
For me though, the current Big Jeskai Control lists are a ton of win, and while you dont get the same quick 'free win' potential as Twin, and you have to earn your victory, a big EOT Secure the Wastes after blowing up everything your opponent has done for turn after turn is pretty satisfying.
And Jace is a mental work out at times. :]
Its all about how you want to play. To me, Jund has so many fewer choices to make, it gets boring.
Well, there's a lot to digest here, so I'll just start at the top of your post:
BGx decks are going to be very tiring like Control decks are. The decks are very grindy and cause you to play long games of Magic. Maybe not quite as long, but still long. If the tiring aspect is an issue for you, Jund isn't going to be the deck for you. You may want to try some faster combo decks, or even some aggro decks in that case. I'll put it as blunt as I can: if you're basing this decision on Jeskai being too gruelling due to game length, don't get Jund.
Jund will be competitive for sure. It's probably a tier 1 deck now. It was never that bad, it just was missing one piece to make it good. The BGx archetype has always been good, and I don't think you need to be worried about this aspect. Even if for whatever reason it isn't good, Liliana and Goyf hold their value, and you can move a lot of the pieces easily enough.
I absolutely would avoid Tron if I were you. It's pretty far from interactive, it just tries to ignore what the opponent is doing and hope that big dudes is enough. Seems like a mistake for sure, you're not gonna like it.
Sounds to me like you are in the same place I was after Twin was banned.
Have you ever played Jund? I sold out of a bunch of stuff and put it together for a few months, but it just wasnt for me. There is no arguing (this was pre-Push) with Discard, into Goyf, into Lilly, into 'I Win' but...it wasnt what I wanted to be playing.
BBE is going to bring Jund back up to Tier 1, its going to be very strong. If you like the play style, then I would say do it, if you are not liking UWR.
For me though, the current Big Jeskai Control lists are a ton of win, and while you dont get the same quick 'free win' potential as Twin, and you have to earn your victory, a big EOT Secure the Wastes after blowing up everything your opponent has done for turn after turn is pretty satisfying.
And Jace is a mental work out at times. :]
Its all about how you want to play. To me, Jund has so many fewer choices to make, it gets boring.
Thanks so much! I think you actually might have me sold here.
also, I've been looking and I found the new through the breach and Emrakul combo decks quiet interesting.
Do you think those are any competitive?
Otherwise, after a little burn, a secure the wastes can feel a bit like twin in the sense that it wins out of nowhere.
Well, there's a lot to digest here, so I'll just start at the top of your post:
BGx decks are going to be very tiring like Control decks are. The decks are very grindy and cause you to play long games of Magic. Maybe not quite as long, but still long. If the tiring aspect is an issue for you, Jund isn't going to be the deck for you. You may want to try some faster combo decks, or even some aggro decks in that case. I'll put it as blunt as I can: if you're basing this decision on Jeskai being too gruelling due to game length, don't get Jund.
Jund will be competitive for sure. It's probably a tier 1 deck now. It was never that bad, it just was missing one piece to make it good. The BGx archetype has always been good, and I don't think you need to be worried about this aspect. Even if for whatever reason it isn't good, Liliana and Goyf hold their value, and you can move a lot of the pieces easily enough.
I absolutely would avoid Tron if I were you. It's pretty far from interactive, it just tries to ignore what the opponent is doing and hope that big dudes is enough. Seems like a mistake for sure, you're not gonna like it.
You're probably right, I always thought it's gameplay was fun, but now that you mention that, it does tend to get very grindy.
Of the faster decks, for a second deck, either tron, scapeshift (UG ou GR), storm or affinity.
Which tends to be the most fun to play? I'm leading towards affinity and tron.
UR Breach for sure is a thing. I've never played it, but I've played against it.
Of your second list, for my money, I would put it in Affinity. I dont like Tron at all, Scapeshift is cool though, and Storm is just not something I've ever wrapped my head around even though I can appreciate its lines of play.
Fun is subjective, so I can't really tell you what deck is the most fun. The decks I find fun, most people do not. That being said, Affinity is the best choice.
Tron, Scapeshift (RG), and Storm are all the opposite of interactive decks. None of them care what the opponent is doing, and in an ideal world just ignore them completely. Tron I already explained, but Scapeshift just has to hit the magical land count and then burn you out with Scapeshift, or sometimes just play Valakuts and put lands into play to shoot the opponent. With Storm, you're just trying to get enough of the right cards that you can chain enough things. Usually it's very easy to know if you can manage it, especially with Electromancer and Baral. I think most people don't like this style. Especially the current iteration, you basically always just do the same kind of lines (Gifts for Rituals), etc.
Affinity is the deck that has the most unique lines and interesting gameplay. There are lots of different lines and lots of different ways to approach winning. You always play with the goal of dumping your hand and winning fast, but you always get tons of decisions on which creatures to play (which 1 or 2 drop do I play?), how to utilize them (Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, Inkmoth/Blinkmoth), etc. It's very much a deck that requires some practice to play well, and it seems like the perfect kind of fast deck for you to play.
Hi guys, I would like to know your opinion in this. Currently I own full affinity and full GDS (I used to play twin so i have all the UR base). But with the recent unbannings I am considering switching all my UR stuff into jund stuff. Is it worth it or should I invest towards UW stuff (I am only missing JAce, colonnade, flooded strand). I am looking forward to play competitive and i see Jund having better results than UWR/UW/GDS.
Hi guys, I would like to know your opinion in this. Currently I own full affinity and full GDS (I used to play twin so i have all the UR base). But with the recent unbannings I am considering switching all my UR stuff into jund stuff. Is it worth it or should I invest towards UW stuff (I am only missing JAce, colonnade, flooded strand). I am looking forward to play competitive and i see Jund having better results than UWR/UW/GDS.
GDS is probably going to suffer a bit, but how heavily is up for debate.
I don't see Jund or UWx as being significantly better than the other. Jund is going to be a tier 1 deck but some UWx deck with Jace will also be tier 1. It's more so a matter of what you want to play and how much you're willing to spend. Jund is typically more expensive than UWx so you should expect it to be more expensive to acquire.
Right now, you're seeing better results from Jund just because lists are easier to build. We've had BBE Jund before and people largely just took up old lists, slotted whatever new that made sense (Tireless Tracker, new Liliana, K-Command) and called it a day. Sure, there will be some iterations on it, but largely it's easy to put together a working list. With the UWx decks, people are experimenting with Jace because it's a big change for them. With Jace they're largely trying decks they know won't work just to make sure they won't. You can find more information from failure so it's better to start at places more likely to fail. You could very easily just slot Jace into UW Control on top of some of the Gideons or something and call it a day. But since people know that will work, they're instead trying things like 4c Jace + BBE or Sultai to see if they can make it work.
Mardu Pyromancer. It's probably the cheapest deck playing Thoughtseize. GerryT's list played 1 Liliana and a handful of lands that are >$30, but that's as cheap as you're going to get playing Thoughtseize.
I'm once again in the position of looking for a "new" deck, so I figured I'd come and get some opinions. Currently I'm playing Mono W Death and Taxes as my main deck, and while I absolutely love it I don't want to get burnt out on it. I've done that in the past when I only have a single deck, and I want to try and head that problem off before it happens.
I recently picked up UR Gifts Storm (60/75 altered into full arts, deck is GORGEOUS) in paper, and also decided to pick the deck up on MTGO to practice with. While I used to enjoy the deck greatly... I've just not found myself enjoying it at all lately. I love playing combo decks, but Storm just doesn't seem to do it for me anymore. If I sell both my paper deck and the MTGO deck, I should be able to free up about $500 to invest in a new deck. I have no problem with saving up to pick up the remainder of whatever I want to play or trading for it over time, however I am looking to limit the total value of the new deck to around $1000ish, give or take a bit.
Here's a list of the decks I'm considering this time around: Affinity, Grishoalbrand, UR Breach, UG Infect, Ad Nauseam, Amulet Titan.
All of them have at least some combo aspect (although Affinity is more aggro-combo than straight combo, same with Infect). Grishoalbrand and Breach are very much at the top end of my budget, although I already have 2/4 Through the Breaches. If I do choose to go one of the other routes, I can sell those as well to help me pick up whatever I settle on. Ad Nauseam I'm not entirely sure about--I may wind up asking to borrow our local Ad Naus player's deck for an FNM to get a feel for it. In the past I haven't been too impressed when I've played it, but I figure I may as well give the deck a second chance. Amulet Titan is a deck that I've always thought looks incredibly fun, but have never had the chance to pick it up and try it out.
Definitely would recommend either Affinity or Amulet Titan. It seems like you want to play combo, but more so that you just want a deck with a lot of different options. Decks like Infect, Ad Nauseam, and Grishoalbrand seem too linear for you. You're going to get bored quickly from the extremely repetitive gameplay. Affinity and Amulet both offer enough different ways to play out games that I think you'll enjoy it.
I am looking to get into modern. I don't really have much of a card pool as I haven't played a lot since I was 16 and just randomly opening boosters.
Personally I enjoy unique/different strategies and more controll-ish gameplans. Decks like Lantern Control are very interesting to me, however it seems like Lantern Control requires way too much knowledge to work well and I am just trying to take a peek into the format.
Definitely would recommend either Affinity or Amulet Titan. It seems like you want to play combo, but more so that you just want a deck with a lot of different options. Decks like Infect, Ad Nauseam, and Grishoalbrand seem too linear for you. You're going to get bored quickly from the extremely repetitive gameplay. Affinity and Amulet both offer enough different ways to play out games that I think you'll enjoy it.
You know... that's actually a pretty good point. I think I've basically been barking up the wrong tree for most of my magic-playing life. I've basically always played fairly linear decks other than DnT. Death's Shadow Zoo, Burn, Storm, Merfolk (not as linear as the others). I had Affinity briefly once in the past but never took the time to actually learn it properly and dropped the deck after punting in front of a crowd. I think I just might have to pick that deck back up!
I am looking to get into modern. I don't really have much of a card pool as I haven't played a lot since I was 16 and just randomly opening boosters.
Personally I enjoy unique/different strategies and more controll-ish gameplans. Decks like Lantern Control are very interesting to me, however it seems like Lantern Control requires way too much knowledge to work well and I am just trying to take a peek into the format.
Yeah, Lantern is definitely a deck that requires knowledge of the format to play well. If you look at the opponent's top card and can't determine if they should or shouldn't have it, then you absolutely can't play the deck. It becomes imperative that you know all the decks and how they function. The deck doesn't have a lot of room for error, you can lose by giving them even just one card you weren't supposed to. Even if you can figure it out, as a new player you might be a little slow at it, and the deck takes a long time to win games so it's inherently slow.
We can definitely help you out if you give us a better idea of what you'd like to play. There are plenty of decks out there to play, we just need to find one that fits you.
Definitely would recommend either Affinity or Amulet Titan. It seems like you want to play combo, but more so that you just want a deck with a lot of different options. Decks like Infect, Ad Nauseam, and Grishoalbrand seem too linear for you. You're going to get bored quickly from the extremely repetitive gameplay. Affinity and Amulet both offer enough different ways to play out games that I think you'll enjoy it.
You know... that's actually a pretty good point. I think I've basically been barking up the wrong tree for most of my magic-playing life. I've basically always played fairly linear decks other than DnT. Death's Shadow Zoo, Burn, Storm, Merfolk (not as linear as the others). I had Affinity briefly once in the past but never took the time to actually learn it properly and dropped the deck after punting in front of a crowd. I think I just might have to pick that deck back up!
Punting with decks just means you have more room to grow, it happens to everyone. I think it's important that you recognize your failures and learn from them. You need to embrace being wrong because it means next time you can do better. Affinity looks like it will offer you the flexibility you want, it's significantly less linear than the decks you listed that you play, and I think you'll welcome that change.
I am looking to get into modern. I don't really have much of a card pool as I haven't played a lot since I was 16 and just randomly opening boosters.
Personally I enjoy unique/different strategies and more controll-ish gameplans. Decks like Lantern Control are very interesting to me, however it seems like Lantern Control requires way too much knowledge to work well and I am just trying to take a peek into the format.
Yeah, Lantern is definitely a deck that requires knowledge of the format to play well. If you look at the opponent's top card and can't determine if they should or shouldn't have it, then you absolutely can't play the deck. It becomes imperative that you know all the decks and how they function. The deck doesn't have a lot of room for error, you can lose by giving them even just one card you weren't supposed to. Even if you can figure it out, as a new player you might be a little slow at it, and the deck takes a long time to win games so it's inherently slow.
We can definitely help you out if you give us a better idea of what you'd like to play. There are plenty of decks out there to play, we just need to find one that fits you.
Well overall I guess I enjoy preventing the enemy's gameplan or winning with planeswalkers/mostly creatureless.
I like to play white or blue in combination with any other color.
I don't really own any modern staples, outside of a few remands and serum visions, but there's not really any noteable cards that would impact my decision on what I should play. I suppose I would like a deck that is either midrange or control based that I don't have to invest too heavily in to get started with, but that can be upgraded later on (by adding cards like Snapcaster Mage for instance), that doesn't feel like it is completely lagging behind by not including all the expensive rares at first.
The deck would be mainly used for FNM.
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I would say Tron decks can compete in this meta. Tron has traditionally been a Jund killer, and if you're playing against Jace, you either go under it or way over it, and Tron can go way over it. Not sure how Mono U Tron matches up, I feel like Jund might be problematic, but RG Tron or Eldrazi Tron seem good.
For what it's worth though, you won't build a competitive deck for $200 if you don't already have cards. You're resigning yourself to whatever budget deck looks good. At that point, I have no idea what to build or what matchups are going to be like. Your mileage will vary, and I'd wager you probably won't have a fair chance of winning. I don't think Jace or BBE change that, it's just a fact of how competitive Magic works.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I think if the only expensive things are Jace and Colonnade then you don't have to worry too much about picking up bad cards. You're getting Jaces either way, and Colonnade is useful in other decks like Jeskai Control, UW Tron, etc. I'd recommend waiting until we see what comes out in A25 (spoilers start tomorrow) because there's a good chance Colonnade gets reprinted.
Don't forget that you can always substitute cards. Nobody knows the best Jace list yet and I think if you build something like UW or UWR, you could sub out a few cards to drive the price to an affordable place.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
What are people's thoughts of spells vs land base for the above colour combinations, both pro and con.
Mardi just placed well, but I'm wondering what the deck can do with blue instead.
Thanks in advance.
Merged with the "What deck should I play" thread. - Torpf
UR pyromancer are heavy on cheap card selection spells (Serum Visions, Opt), have Ancestral Vision for card advantage, and use Thing in the Ice as an additional threat. your main form of disruption is various counterspells.
BR (mardu) pyromancer leverage discard spells (Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek) to strip their opponents hand, accrue value with Faithless Looting and Lingering Souls, then gas back up with Bedlam Reveler.
both, being primarily 2 colors, get to play Blood Moon.
the grixis version probably plays more similarly to mardu. you lose access to lingering souls but get to play Snapcaster Mage.
on the surface the blue/red versions are probably a little faster. you make tempo plays to keep your opponent off-balance while building up your army.
mardu just looks to grind your opponent into dust. proactively trading resources with your opponent using discard/removal with you getting the better end of the value deal.
blue just recently got access to Jace, the Mind Sculptor, which is a powerful card that im not quite sure how it fits into the equation. however it is something to consider.
best of luck
Merged with the "What deck should I play" thread. - Torpf
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)But i'm not enjoying control that much lately.
I tried jeskai tempo geist but it seems to have fallen out of flavor again, back down to a tier 2/3 deck.
It becomes pretty tiring playing a long game over so many rounds.
I've always enjoyed interactive games, I liked jund and twin playstyles.
Twin is not an option, obviously.Should I sell my jeskai pieces and build jund, or will it be boring/not competitive as well? It seems to have gained a significant buff with BBE.
That being said. What interactive game do you recommend? A deck that's tier 1/1.5 preferably.
Trons and eldrazis are options as well.
Merged with the "What deck should I play" thread. - Torpf
Have you ever played Jund? I sold out of a bunch of stuff and put it together for a few months, but it just wasnt for me. There is no arguing (this was pre-Push) with Discard, into Goyf, into Lilly, into 'I Win' but...it wasnt what I wanted to be playing.
BBE is going to bring Jund back up to Tier 1, its going to be very strong. If you like the play style, then I would say do it, if you are not liking UWR.
For me though, the current Big Jeskai Control lists are a ton of win, and while you dont get the same quick 'free win' potential as Twin, and you have to earn your victory, a big EOT Secure the Wastes after blowing up everything your opponent has done for turn after turn is pretty satisfying.
And Jace is a mental work out at times. :]
Its all about how you want to play. To me, Jund has so many fewer choices to make, it gets boring.
Spirits
BGx decks are going to be very tiring like Control decks are. The decks are very grindy and cause you to play long games of Magic. Maybe not quite as long, but still long. If the tiring aspect is an issue for you, Jund isn't going to be the deck for you. You may want to try some faster combo decks, or even some aggro decks in that case. I'll put it as blunt as I can: if you're basing this decision on Jeskai being too gruelling due to game length, don't get Jund.
Jund will be competitive for sure. It's probably a tier 1 deck now. It was never that bad, it just was missing one piece to make it good. The BGx archetype has always been good, and I don't think you need to be worried about this aspect. Even if for whatever reason it isn't good, Liliana and Goyf hold their value, and you can move a lot of the pieces easily enough.
I absolutely would avoid Tron if I were you. It's pretty far from interactive, it just tries to ignore what the opponent is doing and hope that big dudes is enough. Seems like a mistake for sure, you're not gonna like it.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Thanks so much! I think you actually might have me sold here.
also, I've been looking and I found the new through the breach and Emrakul combo decks quiet interesting.
Do you think those are any competitive?
Otherwise, after a little burn, a secure the wastes can feel a bit like twin in the sense that it wins out of nowhere.
Thanks a lot for the feedback!
You're probably right, I always thought it's gameplay was fun, but now that you mention that, it does tend to get very grindy.
Of the faster decks, for a second deck, either tron, scapeshift (UG ou GR), storm or affinity.
Which tends to be the most fun to play? I'm leading towards affinity and tron.
Of your second list, for my money, I would put it in Affinity. I dont like Tron at all, Scapeshift is cool though, and Storm is just not something I've ever wrapped my head around even though I can appreciate its lines of play.
Spirits
lets start by listing the modern decks I own
BEST
1. Mardu Burn
2. Mono Green Infect
3. Mono Green Stompy
Better
UW,pillow fort
GW, enchantress prison
I am considering my next deck.
Ive always loved midrange strategies like jund,junk,grixis and soul sisters
but have never had the money until now.
however Ive also had my eye on Nykthos, devotion to green AND MONO U turns.
im not sure tell me why i should play each i cant convince my self
Merged with the "What Deck Should I Play" thread - Torpf
Tron, Scapeshift (RG), and Storm are all the opposite of interactive decks. None of them care what the opponent is doing, and in an ideal world just ignore them completely. Tron I already explained, but Scapeshift just has to hit the magical land count and then burn you out with Scapeshift, or sometimes just play Valakuts and put lands into play to shoot the opponent. With Storm, you're just trying to get enough of the right cards that you can chain enough things. Usually it's very easy to know if you can manage it, especially with Electromancer and Baral. I think most people don't like this style. Especially the current iteration, you basically always just do the same kind of lines (Gifts for Rituals), etc.
Affinity is the deck that has the most unique lines and interesting gameplay. There are lots of different lines and lots of different ways to approach winning. You always play with the goal of dumping your hand and winning fast, but you always get tons of decisions on which creatures to play (which 1 or 2 drop do I play?), how to utilize them (Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, Inkmoth/Blinkmoth), etc. It's very much a deck that requires some practice to play well, and it seems like the perfect kind of fast deck for you to play.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
GDS is probably going to suffer a bit, but how heavily is up for debate.
I don't see Jund or UWx as being significantly better than the other. Jund is going to be a tier 1 deck but some UWx deck with Jace will also be tier 1. It's more so a matter of what you want to play and how much you're willing to spend. Jund is typically more expensive than UWx so you should expect it to be more expensive to acquire.
Right now, you're seeing better results from Jund just because lists are easier to build. We've had BBE Jund before and people largely just took up old lists, slotted whatever new that made sense (Tireless Tracker, new Liliana, K-Command) and called it a day. Sure, there will be some iterations on it, but largely it's easy to put together a working list. With the UWx decks, people are experimenting with Jace because it's a big change for them. With Jace they're largely trying decks they know won't work just to make sure they won't. You can find more information from failure so it's better to start at places more likely to fail. You could very easily just slot Jace into UW Control on top of some of the Gideons or something and call it a day. But since people know that will work, they're instead trying things like 4c Jace + BBE or Sultai to see if they can make it work.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
BW Tokens is fine, not sure how good it is but it's certainly fine.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Mardu Pyromancer sounds like the deck you're looking for, and could be fancifully called Mardu Tokens for the Pyromancer and Souls package.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I recently picked up UR Gifts Storm (60/75 altered into full arts, deck is GORGEOUS) in paper, and also decided to pick the deck up on MTGO to practice with. While I used to enjoy the deck greatly... I've just not found myself enjoying it at all lately. I love playing combo decks, but Storm just doesn't seem to do it for me anymore. If I sell both my paper deck and the MTGO deck, I should be able to free up about $500 to invest in a new deck. I have no problem with saving up to pick up the remainder of whatever I want to play or trading for it over time, however I am looking to limit the total value of the new deck to around $1000ish, give or take a bit.
Here's a list of the decks I'm considering this time around: Affinity, Grishoalbrand, UR Breach, UG Infect, Ad Nauseam, Amulet Titan.
All of them have at least some combo aspect (although Affinity is more aggro-combo than straight combo, same with Infect). Grishoalbrand and Breach are very much at the top end of my budget, although I already have 2/4 Through the Breaches. If I do choose to go one of the other routes, I can sell those as well to help me pick up whatever I settle on. Ad Nauseam I'm not entirely sure about--I may wind up asking to borrow our local Ad Naus player's deck for an FNM to get a feel for it. In the past I haven't been too impressed when I've played it, but I figure I may as well give the deck a second chance. Amulet Titan is a deck that I've always thought looks incredibly fun, but have never had the chance to pick it up and try it out.
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Personally I enjoy unique/different strategies and more controll-ish gameplans. Decks like Lantern Control are very interesting to me, however it seems like Lantern Control requires way too much knowledge to work well and I am just trying to take a peek into the format.
You know... that's actually a pretty good point. I think I've basically been barking up the wrong tree for most of my magic-playing life. I've basically always played fairly linear decks other than DnT. Death's Shadow Zoo, Burn, Storm, Merfolk (not as linear as the others). I had Affinity briefly once in the past but never took the time to actually learn it properly and dropped the deck after punting in front of a crowd. I think I just might have to pick that deck back up!
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
Yeah, Lantern is definitely a deck that requires knowledge of the format to play well. If you look at the opponent's top card and can't determine if they should or shouldn't have it, then you absolutely can't play the deck. It becomes imperative that you know all the decks and how they function. The deck doesn't have a lot of room for error, you can lose by giving them even just one card you weren't supposed to. Even if you can figure it out, as a new player you might be a little slow at it, and the deck takes a long time to win games so it's inherently slow.
We can definitely help you out if you give us a better idea of what you'd like to play. There are plenty of decks out there to play, we just need to find one that fits you.
Punting with decks just means you have more room to grow, it happens to everyone. I think it's important that you recognize your failures and learn from them. You need to embrace being wrong because it means next time you can do better. Affinity looks like it will offer you the flexibility you want, it's significantly less linear than the decks you listed that you play, and I think you'll welcome that change.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
Well overall I guess I enjoy preventing the enemy's gameplan or winning with planeswalkers/mostly creatureless.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I don't really own any modern staples, outside of a few remands and serum visions, but there's not really any noteable cards that would impact my decision on what I should play. I suppose I would like a deck that is either midrange or control based that I don't have to invest too heavily in to get started with, but that can be upgraded later on (by adding cards like Snapcaster Mage for instance), that doesn't feel like it is completely lagging behind by not including all the expensive rares at first.
The deck would be mainly used for FNM.