Okay, so it's like this, I'm currently playing a budget burn deck that I don't really like (I was never big on burn or aggro strategies, I'm good at them, but it doesn't really feel like my 'style'). Testing different decks has indicated to me that I prefer midrange, tempo, or hatebears sorts of strategies. I kinda like control, but none of the control strategies I can dig up that look like they have budget potential catch my interest.
I recently finished collecting all the shocklands and all the Khans fetchlands. My next rounds of 'purchases' will be mostly focused on Path to Exile and Serum Visions since I want them for the long run and FNM promos making it possible for me to get them at slightly more reasonable prices if I play in the FNM events at my LGS. Also want to get Collected Company. I've got a box of DtK waiting to be opened that I planned to play limited games with some friends but that get-together got delayed.
Other than that, for Modern staples, I have playsets of Lightning Bolt, Mana Leak, Anticipate, and Monastery Swiftspear, I've also got at least one remand and at least one Dismember. I can't think of much else, but I mostly started around RTR and there may be some things I have I'm not really thinking of.
I'm thinking I want to spend roughly $20 to help build a deck, starting around the start of next month, we can ignore land prices, and know I probably won't get paths or visions until the full months for those for FNM promos are up. We probably don't need to spend anything on lands if it is an ally color 2 color deck, since I'm guessing my khans fetches and all my shocks should be sufficient in that case. I like Azorious colors the best, but I'm not so tied to them that I'll insist on them.
Based on my experience, I'm decently skilled with aggro decks, I've tried some standard and casual black decks and done well with them, and I've also done well in Modern with budget burn, budget goblins, and budget soul sisters (on MTGO), and budget burn in paper. I liked better playing some of the blue mill/control decks in casual stuff including some versions of Duels of the Planeswalkers, even though it wasn't especially competitive, and my first Modern deck was a budget semi-casual mono-blue mill deck with full Jace's Phantasms and Hedron Crabs. I played decently well with budget WUR control during RTR Theros Standard, using aling and Assemble the Legion and Keranos as win-cons.
Flavor wise, I can understand all the colors, and feel elements of them all in my thoughts and personality, but I dislike many aspects of black and red, especially black, and can be picky about asthetics.
I HATE phyrexia, so I'd prefer to have good enough removal and other tricks to effectively fight infect (they've got too much evasive tricks for me to be confident with just blocking).
I'm also wary of all the BGx decks and twin decks running rampant, and would prefer to not be crushed by either, although I don't hate them like I hate phyrexia and know it would be unreasonble to expect stellar matchups against two of the top competitive decks with a budget deck, I don't want to just fold against either of them however, as my LGS is relatively competitive.
I'm also somewhat wary of land destruction, tron, and blood moon, because my LGS has some strong tron decks, a number of blood moon users due to them, and at least one player who uses Flagstones Pox and other weird setups involving land destruction as part of a weird burn/token WBR deck. Other particularly threatening decks at my LGS include a merfolk player and a really skilled faeries player. The faeries player kicked my ass really badly every time I've played him with my budget burn deck, and even worse with my mill deck, and is generally really good at faeries, getting the right timing and knowing when to mulligan and stuff.
I've not actually played against any of our infect players, so I don't know how good they are, but at least one of them is on a budget deck, or at least was the last time I checked.
I think the biggest threat at our LGS is playing some kind of weird deck that looks like some kind of BIG zoo variant, naya colored, with lots of resilient threats, threats that pump themselves up permanently, bolts and paths. I've not played him much myself, but I've seen him play and he's really good, and wins more Modern and limited tournaments than any other player at our store I know of. What I can recall of his deck includes Wild Nacatl, Scavenging Ooze, Voice of Resurgence, Knight of the Reliquary and Thundermaw Hellkite, and I think in the sideboard some Thrun, the Last Troll. As far as I know, he's the most skilled player besides the faeries player. I don't really expect to be able to beat him or the faeires player any time soon, they make too few mis-plays and I make too many.
The decks I'm likely to face the most are both Mardu colored, and not on official events, but owned by some of the store owner and one of the employees, since I'm not at the store during events most of the time, but earlier in the day, and they can sometimes play so long as they are looking towards the front and can stop at any time to attend if a customer comes in, especially on weekdays. The store owner's deck is vampire tribal (white and red are more of splashes in it, it's mostly black), and the employee's deck is some kind of midrange thing with a relatively high number of planeswalkers and very solid creature removal, and relatively high numbers of tokens spells for a midrange deck, partly due to Sorin.
I'd like to have good matchups against the mardu decks mentioned and very strong against the infect decks, and avoid being utterly crushed by most things except the big zoo and faeries players who would crush me no matter what deck I played unless I got lucky and they got unlucky and I'm at the top of my game and make less mistakes than normal. (note, the faries player doesn't actually win tournaments that often, due to occasional bad draws and bad matchups, but they're still one of the more skilled players at the LGS, and the only person I've ever seen play faries right outside of pro stuff)
I think I prefer midrange to tempo, if only slightly, with hatebears somewhere in between them (although I'm concerned about budget issues for hatebears).
When it comes to shards, I like Bant and Esper and hate Grixis. When it comes to pairs I like Azorioius, Boros, Izzet, and Selesnya, and hate Rakdos. When it comes to wedges I like Jeskai and Abzan, and dislike Sultai.
I like a sort of 'heroic' or 'calculating, efficient and clean' feel to my creatures and spells, and dislike stuff that feels 'gross' or 'evil' or 'horror' focused if I can avoid it.
Well, with all of the "modern staples" you have, the obvious thing is to play UR counter burn. It would be able to match faster decks but also beat midrange decks. Its also a good match up for, well, everything. Burn wins. Always.
Well, with all of the "modern staples" you have, the obvious thing is to play UR counter burn. It would be able to match faster decks but also beat midrange decks. Its also a good match up for, well, everything. Burn wins. Always.
I thought I mentioned I already play burn and don't really like it's style. And I'm not sure if I've heard of a version of counter-burn that is any better than budget mono-red burn, although I can see it being slightly more my 'style' due to adding blue. Might have to try and see if I can test a proxy version.
Have you considered Stompy? The whole deck can be had for close to $30 from scratch, if you exclude things like Spellskites out of the board, and can compete against most decks pretty well. It might be more of an aggro deck than you want perhaps, but it's remarkably effective for the cost. Check it out.
From that deck you can move to UW midrange slowly or to UW control, i really feel that UW cards are underappreciated, and investing in them is really good (supreme verdict for example).
Edit: 3-1 decklist a month ago and from a diff player
edit 2: dont buy CoCo, it will go down, yes is a good card, but is "hot stuff" right now, take this from a budget player: buy 2 month after rotation and never buy expensive cards from the lastest edition.
Hm... I'll look into that Azorious Titan deck, it looks interesting. I actually already have Supreme Verdict, from when I played control in Standard. I've gotta wonder what It's matchups are, because I've heard Detention Sphere is next to unplayable in the current metagame with all the Abrupt Decays running around. I'm also not sure that deck has what I'd need to survive infect decks, as Path to Exile seems to be it's only tool against them, and they can always play things like Vines of Vastwood or Apostle's Blessing to stop it.
I've played Stompy online, I liked the playstyle somewhat, and I'm pretty good with it, but the matchups feel wrong. I do like playing it better than playing Burn, but I don't really like that level of aggro focus. I think I liked playing Goblins more than Stompy, mostly because Goblins winds up running more removal than a green deck can and has reach since that removal is burn, even though I won more with Stompy.
Hm... I'll look into that Azorious Titan deck, it looks interesting. I actually already have Supreme Verdict, from when I played control in Standard. I've gotta wonder what It's matchups are, because I've heard Detention Sphere is next to unplayable in the current metagame with all the Abrupt Decays running around. I'm also not sure that deck has what I'd need to survive infect decks, as Path to Exile seems to be it's only tool against them, and they can always play things like Vines of Vastwood or Apostle's Blessing to stop it.
according to creator:
"Affinity, Infect, Abzan/Rock/etc, Delver, Living End. YES, PLEASE!!!!!! 85/15 feels conservative here. All creature based matchups are very heavy in our favor and get even better when you side out the 3 flex slots for the rest of the verdicts and the last sphere.
Burn. Can be difficult game 1. I'm running about 60/40 game 1 and 70/30 post board. The amount of triggers that resolve from lone missionary have a lot to do with who wins the matchup. post board counterspells for their skullcrack are really good. SB out pilgrim's eyes and spellbombs for counterspells and leyline/missionary.
Twin. 60/40. I love playing twin because it is a matchup that requires optimal play to win. It is a common enough deck that this matchup dictates or influences a lot of my card choices. Spellbomb is very good here. Keranos and bolts beat me as often as the combo but lone missionary and sphere combat that plan. SB out verdicts and pilgrim's eyes for counters/nevermore and dismember.
Tron. GR Tron Specifically is a bad matchup that influences my sb decisions. I feel like I'm about 35/65. I don't expect to get this matchup in my favor, but I want it to be competitive. Blue Tron is easier than r/g because they only have a few ways to win that are easier to interact with but it still is probably not in my favor.
Storm. the other tough matchup probably also about 35/65
U/W based control 75/25 or better. Deal with their man lands and play the long game until emeria is active
Scapeshift and other combo 40/60 game 1, 80/20 post board. "
personal note: seem a little exaggerated, but if he put infect on that numbers it should be at least 60/40.
About Detention Sphere and Abrupt Decay:
Draw Go Control dont want Detention Sphere since you give the GBx player target for their abrupt decay, yes, in UW control deck DS is bad, but in UW midrange/tempo creature sphere is good, because their abrupt decay cant deal with all the <3cc permanents, with Sun ttian, you dont even care about decay...
About the bold part: Modern is really a "master a deck" thing, i still remember the SCG final where Ali Aintrazi (dont know if spell it right) playing RG tron beat Vanmeter playing AMulet combo like 3-1, and in theory that MU is something like 75/25 on Amulet favor. So pick a deck you kinda like, and play a lot!. And the meta change a lot, the good thing is that playing a UW shell let you do a lot of Main and Side changes to keep up with meta change.
I recently finished collecting all the shocklands and all the Khans fetchlands. My next rounds of 'purchases' will be mostly focused on Path to Exile and Serum Visions since I want them for the long run and FNM promos making it possible for me to get them at slightly more reasonable prices if I play in the FNM events at my LGS. Also want to get Collected Company. I've got a box of DtK waiting to be opened that I planned to play limited games with some friends but that get-together got delayed.
Other than that, for Modern staples, I have playsets of Lightning Bolt, Mana Leak, Anticipate, and Monastery Swiftspear, I've also got at least one remand and at least one Dismember. I can't think of much else, but I mostly started around RTR and there may be some things I have I'm not really thinking of.
I'm thinking I want to spend roughly $20 to help build a deck, starting around the start of next month, we can ignore land prices, and know I probably won't get paths or visions until the full months for those for FNM promos are up. We probably don't need to spend anything on lands if it is an ally color 2 color deck, since I'm guessing my khans fetches and all my shocks should be sufficient in that case. I like Azorious colors the best, but I'm not so tied to them that I'll insist on them.
Based on my experience, I'm decently skilled with aggro decks, I've tried some standard and casual black decks and done well with them, and I've also done well in Modern with budget burn, budget goblins, and budget soul sisters (on MTGO), and budget burn in paper. I liked better playing some of the blue mill/control decks in casual stuff including some versions of Duels of the Planeswalkers, even though it wasn't especially competitive, and my first Modern deck was a budget semi-casual mono-blue mill deck with full Jace's Phantasms and Hedron Crabs. I played decently well with budget WUR control during RTR Theros Standard, using aling and Assemble the Legion and Keranos as win-cons.
Flavor wise, I can understand all the colors, and feel elements of them all in my thoughts and personality, but I dislike many aspects of black and red, especially black, and can be picky about asthetics.
I HATE phyrexia, so I'd prefer to have good enough removal and other tricks to effectively fight infect (they've got too much evasive tricks for me to be confident with just blocking).
I'm also wary of all the BGx decks and twin decks running rampant, and would prefer to not be crushed by either, although I don't hate them like I hate phyrexia and know it would be unreasonble to expect stellar matchups against two of the top competitive decks with a budget deck, I don't want to just fold against either of them however, as my LGS is relatively competitive.
I'm also somewhat wary of land destruction, tron, and blood moon, because my LGS has some strong tron decks, a number of blood moon users due to them, and at least one player who uses Flagstones Pox and other weird setups involving land destruction as part of a weird burn/token WBR deck. Other particularly threatening decks at my LGS include a merfolk player and a really skilled faeries player. The faeries player kicked my ass really badly every time I've played him with my budget burn deck, and even worse with my mill deck, and is generally really good at faeries, getting the right timing and knowing when to mulligan and stuff.
I've not actually played against any of our infect players, so I don't know how good they are, but at least one of them is on a budget deck, or at least was the last time I checked.
I think the biggest threat at our LGS is playing some kind of weird deck that looks like some kind of BIG zoo variant, naya colored, with lots of resilient threats, threats that pump themselves up permanently, bolts and paths. I've not played him much myself, but I've seen him play and he's really good, and wins more Modern and limited tournaments than any other player at our store I know of. What I can recall of his deck includes Wild Nacatl, Scavenging Ooze, Voice of Resurgence, Knight of the Reliquary and Thundermaw Hellkite, and I think in the sideboard some Thrun, the Last Troll. As far as I know, he's the most skilled player besides the faeries player. I don't really expect to be able to beat him or the faeires player any time soon, they make too few mis-plays and I make too many.
The decks I'm likely to face the most are both Mardu colored, and not on official events, but owned by some of the store owner and one of the employees, since I'm not at the store during events most of the time, but earlier in the day, and they can sometimes play so long as they are looking towards the front and can stop at any time to attend if a customer comes in, especially on weekdays. The store owner's deck is vampire tribal (white and red are more of splashes in it, it's mostly black), and the employee's deck is some kind of midrange thing with a relatively high number of planeswalkers and very solid creature removal, and relatively high numbers of tokens spells for a midrange deck, partly due to Sorin.
I'd like to have good matchups against the mardu decks mentioned and very strong against the infect decks, and avoid being utterly crushed by most things except the big zoo and faeries players who would crush me no matter what deck I played unless I got lucky and they got unlucky and I'm at the top of my game and make less mistakes than normal. (note, the faries player doesn't actually win tournaments that often, due to occasional bad draws and bad matchups, but they're still one of the more skilled players at the LGS, and the only person I've ever seen play faries right outside of pro stuff)
I think I prefer midrange to tempo, if only slightly, with hatebears somewhere in between them (although I'm concerned about budget issues for hatebears).
When it comes to shards, I like Bant and Esper and hate Grixis. When it comes to pairs I like Azorioius, Boros, Izzet, and Selesnya, and hate Rakdos. When it comes to wedges I like Jeskai and Abzan, and dislike Sultai.
I like a sort of 'heroic' or 'calculating, efficient and clean' feel to my creatures and spells, and dislike stuff that feels 'gross' or 'evil' or 'horror' focused if I can avoid it.
I thought I mentioned I already play burn and don't really like it's style. And I'm not sure if I've heard of a version of counter-burn that is any better than budget mono-red burn, although I can see it being slightly more my 'style' due to adding blue. Might have to try and see if I can test a proxy version.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/600378-mono-value-control-aka-azorious-titan
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/267514#online (4-0 in mtgo with 50 tix)
From that deck you can move to UW midrange slowly or to UW control, i really feel that UW cards are underappreciated, and investing in them is really good (supreme verdict for example).
Edit: 3-1 decklist a month ago and from a diff player
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/291868#online
edit 2: dont buy CoCo, it will go down, yes is a good card, but is "hot stuff" right now, take this from a budget player: buy 2 month after rotation and never buy expensive cards from the lastest edition.
I've played Stompy online, I liked the playstyle somewhat, and I'm pretty good with it, but the matchups feel wrong. I do like playing it better than playing Burn, but I don't really like that level of aggro focus. I think I liked playing Goblins more than Stompy, mostly because Goblins winds up running more removal than a green deck can and has reach since that removal is burn, even though I won more with Stompy.
according to creator:
"Affinity, Infect, Abzan/Rock/etc, Delver, Living End. YES, PLEASE!!!!!! 85/15 feels conservative here. All creature based matchups are very heavy in our favor and get even better when you side out the 3 flex slots for the rest of the verdicts and the last sphere.
Burn. Can be difficult game 1. I'm running about 60/40 game 1 and 70/30 post board. The amount of triggers that resolve from lone missionary have a lot to do with who wins the matchup. post board counterspells for their skullcrack are really good. SB out pilgrim's eyes and spellbombs for counterspells and leyline/missionary.
Twin. 60/40. I love playing twin because it is a matchup that requires optimal play to win. It is a common enough deck that this matchup dictates or influences a lot of my card choices. Spellbomb is very good here. Keranos and bolts beat me as often as the combo but lone missionary and sphere combat that plan. SB out verdicts and pilgrim's eyes for counters/nevermore and dismember.
Tron. GR Tron Specifically is a bad matchup that influences my sb decisions. I feel like I'm about 35/65. I don't expect to get this matchup in my favor, but I want it to be competitive. Blue Tron is easier than r/g because they only have a few ways to win that are easier to interact with but it still is probably not in my favor.
Storm. the other tough matchup probably also about 35/65
U/W based control 75/25 or better. Deal with their man lands and play the long game until emeria is active
Scapeshift and other combo 40/60 game 1, 80/20 post board. "
personal note: seem a little exaggerated, but if he put infect on that numbers it should be at least 60/40.
About Detention Sphere and Abrupt Decay:
Draw Go Control dont want Detention Sphere since you give the GBx player target for their abrupt decay, yes, in UW control deck DS is bad, but in UW midrange/tempo creature sphere is good, because their abrupt decay cant deal with all the <3cc permanents, with Sun ttian, you dont even care about decay...
example: http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpsin15/top-32-decklists-2015-06-28 look at 22th decklist.
About the bold part: Modern is really a "master a deck" thing, i still remember the SCG final where Ali Aintrazi (dont know if spell it right) playing RG tron beat Vanmeter playing AMulet combo like 3-1, and in theory that MU is something like 75/25 on Amulet favor. So pick a deck you kinda like, and play a lot!. And the meta change a lot, the good thing is that playing a UW shell let you do a lot of Main and Side changes to keep up with meta change.