MTG Salvation

I just found time to look at this page again, and I am happy to see that my Monored Aggro deck has been well received. To Khanth, great job! I've been having mostly the same results. I agree with you in adding Stoke the Flames, I actually got a playset before the spike in price. My decklist includes taking out 2 Firedrinkers (LGS didn't have enough) for a Hammer of Purphoros and Purphoros himself. Also, thanks quake004! I agree that the monored aggro is a very competitive deck. I hope to have more decks up in the future, thanks guys!

MasterOfEtherium look your deck. Minute 12:25 has a good comment.

I've playtested monored deck I mentioned earlier, and made some minor changes:


Got 3-0 (6-0) with the changed decklist at my last last FNM. Arena Athlete didn't seem that appealing after some playtesting, Hall of Triumph is good, but only against certain MUs, moved it to sideboard. In theirs' place I mainboarded more burn (Magma Jet). War-Name Aspirant lies in SB for dealing with mana dorks or tokens. I invested in Eidolons, and I guess it was a great idea, but even thou you can play totally fine without them. I heard that Crater's Claws plays nicely instead of Coordinated Assault, but I haven't tested it by myself.

Sorry I haven't been terribly active here, guys! Life and such! At the moment, I'm a little disenchanted with Khans Standard, so I probably wont be personally posting any new decks for a little while.

personally no. its kind of slow imo. Also its kinda boring to play. the temur deck and sultai deck are way more enjoyable.

There's no grand need for mono black humans. It is just a bad mono black aggro that wishes it had dropped some of the subpar humans to play the other aggro cards that it is playing some of anyway along with some annoying push through cards like boon of erebos. It is, however, hurting for having 8 one drops as opposed to 12. Bloodsoaked champions are a bit more expensive than last rotation rakdos cacklers.

OK,

Here are a pair of mono colored decks. I like the black one a fair bit actually. The red is a bit iffy but I'm sure someone will figure out a way to make it better.

This is my first black deck ever (never even USED black cards till now. Not even a splash). I like it so far. The first obvious non-budget upgrade would be -2 despise +2 thoughtsieze. However, It is super important to also prioritize fetchlands over the evolving wilds. Even though it doesn't make much sense at first glance, the sacrifice of the cards fuels murderous cut, so it is a HUGE deal.



For the red deck I feel like the mana base is a bit frail. I also feel like splashing white might make this a ton better because you get access to Gods willing and Defiant Strike to trigger both akroan heroic and swiftspear prowess. Will update this after a bit more playtesting.

Quote from planeswalkerunderstand »

OK,

Here are a pair of mono colored decks. I like the black one a fair bit actually. The red is a bit iffy but I'm sure someone will figure out a way to make it better.

Mono Black (TCG Low $14.34 @ 10AM 19/11/14)

Khanth's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 4x Bloodsoaked Champion 4x Gnarled Scarhide 4x Tormented Hero 4x Pain Seer 4x Herald of Torment 4x Mardu Skullhunter	Non Creature Spells 3x despise 3x sign in blood 4x murderous cut 2x Bile Blight	Land 4x Evolving Wilds 20x Swamp

This is my first black deck ever (never even USED black cards till now. Not even a splash). I like it so far. The first obvious non-budget upgrade would be -2 despise +2 thoughtsieze. However, It is super important to also prioritize fetchlands over the evolving wilds. Even though it doesn't make much sense at first glance, the sacrifice of the cards fuels murderous cut, so it is a HUGE deal.

Mono Red (TCG Low $13.33 @ 10AM 19/11/14)

Khanth's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 4x Monastery Swiftspear 4x Akroan Crusader 4x satyr Firedancer 4x Borderland Marauder 4x Bloodfire Expert	Non Creature Spells 4x coordinated assault 2x Hordeling Outburst 4x magma jet 4x lightning strike 4x hammerhand 2x Act of Treason 4x Blinding Flare	Land 20 Mountain

For the red deck I feel like the mana base is a bit frail. I also feel like splashing white might make this a ton better because you get access to Gods willing and Defiant Strike to trigger both akroan heroic and swiftspear prowess. Will update this after a bit more playtesting.

For the monored deck, I guess Bloodfire Expert is way out of our curve, this deck should run smoothly provided 2 lands. Also, I see no point in not using Titan's Strength, this card is a must in any monored aggro. When you already use Hordeling Outburst, then why not try Foundry Street Denizen? You can get 3 tokens AND swing for 4 in one turn. Outburst synergises well with Stoke the Flames too, but I guess they are out of the price range. Act of Treason is purely a sideboard card.

YES. Edited original post -4 Bloodfire, +4 foundry street denizen

Also SB'ed the 2x act of treason and added in 4x titan's strength.

Finally, -1 of each Lightning and Magma for +2 Dragon Mantle

P.S. I played the list with the aforementioned edits against 3 decks and went undefeated: UW heroic, mono black midrange (is this a thing in the current meta?), and another monored aggro (this was just a matchup based on draws tbh)

Yes Sir. Thanks for pointing that out. Will replace them for the SB.

For mono black, ignore the evolving wilds. Fueling murderous cut or the tiny, tiny amount of deck thinning aren't remotely worth the cipt bit. You will be spending all of your mana most turns. So cut the wilds and move down to 22 swamps. -1 murderous cut because you aren't losing THAT much and you are playing pain seer. You need to run evasive cards like mogis' marauder, the half evasive spiteful returned over skullhunter which is usually better, and some more cheap removal. Boon of erebos is excellent vs caryatid and courser, triggers heroic on tormented hero for extra small goodies, and lets you survive some kill spells at times though that's the weakest use. Then there's crippling blight which works well to keep things like Polukranos, rhino, or courser from blocking you and ruining your day.

The mono red list is essentially a less tuned boss sligh deck.

SELESNYA CONVOKE

Background
After drafting some M15, i've noted that some of the convoke cards had potential.I mean, cmon, a 5/5 that can be cheated into play?Sign me up.
Not only that, this deck also has some good mana ramping in voyaging satyr, satyr wayfinder and Elvish Mystic, so some green goodies could be added.Genesis Hydra, after getting some mana setted up, serves as a great search engine for the bees and colossus.Once they´re in, they are a strong threat that if not dealt with promptly, could do some serious damage.
The early gameplan is flooding the field with some smaller creatures that can provide mana and convoke outlets, such as elvish mystic, voyaging satyr, Satyr wayfinder, and the best one for convoking in general, raise the alarm.Then, after getting all set up with the mana and the creatures to convoke with, start casting the powerhouses of the deck.Siege wurm is a beast, a 5/5 trampler that can be cast almost freely if the field is ready.It´s always good to have him on the field.Arbor colossus and Hornet queen both provide much needed protection against one of green´s greatest problems:Flying creatures.Without them, you would be completely open to most of the flyers in the meta.Not so strong now that i have an arbor colossus, eh mantis rider? Devouring light is a way get rid of something that can be problematic.Sarkhan, for example, gets countered by devouring light, and since it can be cast even with all our mana tapped, they will never see it coming. Triplicate spirits and feral incarnation are both great ways to add some blockers, and they also pump a seraph of the masses a lot, which i only added 2 because she is only a powerhouse if the field is flooded.If it isn´t, well, at least is a flying chump blocker.Lastly, Titanic growth is for that Little extra ´´oomph`` that you might need to finally defeat your opponent, or succesfuly block his siege rhino.
In the sideboard, 2 hornet nest to deal with some more agressive decks, such as red deck wins,Monoblack aggro, mardu rush, etc.You will love this card when facing a rabblemaster. 2 more devouring lights, if the enemy attacks more than expected, and 2 Suspension field, for some more reliable banishing if they are not attacking too much, with a courser, for example, since they will prefer to have it untapped to block.4 Gods willing if you are playing against a more target removal centric deck, like mardu or jeskai burn, 2 overwhelm, if you need a stronger finisher, and 2 more tripicate spirits, if you feel like they are needed.
The Best thing someone with more budget could do is ditch white and try to go to a mono-green devotion deck, Adding in polukranoson the place of the siege wurms, Caryatids instead of the wayfinders, etc etc etc.
Those with less budget than to buy a mono-green but more than the shown here, could swap the wayfinders with Rattleclaw Mystics, so they take off the chance of sending important cards to the graveyard, or maybe some Sunblade elf, they are great as finishers when you have enough mana, pumping all your creatures and turn-1 agressive drops.

Decklist
TIMESTAMP: 12:12 11/25/2014


Curve (0-1/2/3/4/5/6+): 4/12/2/0/2/12
Note:I am counting Raise the alarm as a 2-drop, triplicate spirits as a 6-drop, etc.Genesis hydra is listed as a 3-drop.)


Current Cost: $20.00 Bucks EXACTLY
Remaining Budget: $0.00.But hey, at least you completed your MTG deck

Mana dorks prettymuch defeat the purpose of convoke since they already tap for the said mana that the cost would be reduced by anyway. That means that so called free spells like siege wurm just often end up being bad versions of arbor colossus given that you'll curve to them anyway given the curve. A lot of times, you'll end up actually getting to arbor colossus before the wurm. Not to mention that it gets grabbed by genesis hydra much easier. And so on. Convoke is a lot better when being used to cast spells that you normally would not be able to cast at all like obelisk of urd in a white weenie deck or stain the mind out of side for mono black aggro vs combo.

I think GW convoke might have some potential, though you'd have to lean more heavily on the convoke.

Here are my suggestions:

God-Favored General - Seems perfect in here as he can spawn dudes without ever needing to go into battle.

Sunblade Elf - Pretty much made for this strategy, as a decent beater and a 1 drop that lets you curve into T3 Triplicate Spirits if you Raise the Alarm. He is also a great mana sink late game for pumping your squad.

Selfless Cathar - Again, 1 drop lets you hit T3 Spirits and he also boosts your dudes. Kinda sad next to Elf but still potentially worth it.

Living Totem - A flexible early drop that is maybe just efficient enough if you're all in on convoke.

Spear of Heliod - Cheap anthem for your inevitable tokens.

Dictate of Heliod/Soul of Theros - Anthems, but might be too high on your curve, as you want to take advantage of convoke by cutting lands. Paragon of New Dawns is in here as well if you're white enough.

Mardu Hordechief - Pretty efficient if you have an anthem out.

If you want to get really dumb you could toss in some Ornithopters for that turn 2 7/7 Seraph of the Masses.

I think I might have come up with a pretty decent budget build here. It's evasive, and tries to sneak in damage where it can't by denying blockers, and also shutting down your opponents creatures. Deck price is $7.40

X1 Chandra, Pyromaster
X1 Avalanche Tusker
X4 Alpine Grizzly
X4 Frost Lynx
X4 Heir of the Wilds
X4 Generator Servant
X4 Elvish Mystic

Spells

X2 Steam Augury
X2 Into the Void
X4 Winterflame
X3 Voyage's End
X4 Hammerhand
X2 Void Snare

And I'm still trying to work out my mama base. But the mana ramp is in here to drop more than one creature a turn, and also the servants are to bring out your creatures with haste after you frost Lynx, voyages end, Winterflame, or void snare your opponents creatures. This completely *****s them down from either being able to block or it causes them to have their creatures tapped out, making them useless. Also Hammerhand became a key part in this deck. Mostly for your weaker creatures to pump them slightly and then to also give them haste, and also shutti down one of your opponents creatures for just 1 red mana. Chandra is also a pretty decent engine for causing creatures not to block. You can probably get away with running more than 1 in this deck, but I find the 1 of to be sufficient enough with the rest of this deck. And the steam Augurys in here are just to help you get vital cards to make your next (or last) turns count. You need to be able to have a draw engine to try and get to the void snares or voyages ends to shut down the defense while you try and squeeze through for damage.

There are numerous issues. First and foremost, you're talking about going through defenses all decks that are not combo (combo has various subtypes) does one of several things. Aggro. Midrange. Control. There are also blends of these. Curve up aggro. Tempo. Midrange control which is control plus midrange value. There are variations but every good deck aims to do something exceedingly well either by doing it well or supporting it with an enabler package. A breakthrough type strategy makes some various assumptions that are unreasonable.

1. My opponent will not be more proactive than me. Aggro, curve up aggro, tempo, and even most midranges will simply outpace you. They don't need to block a lot. You swing for 4. They swing back for 8 in midrange. In the others, you'll be too worried about living.
2. My opponent's defense will involve blocking. Against a midrange control or control deck, a lot or all of their defense does not care about blocking. They will nullify your creatures and proceed to wreck face. In such cases, you will have a large number of useless (yes I do mean useless) cards.
3. My mana base as a 3 color deck will not wreck me. It will. You may be budget but many of your opponents may not be. Or they may run more budget appropriate decks with more stable mana bases. By choosing to play 3 colors, you're going to be setting yourself back in terms of time by a lot. This brings me to what your deck is trying to do.

The deck type you're trying to play is tempo. All tempo holds 2 key things in common. The first is low cost efficiency. The second is playing cheap disruption. Get the best of it. Get the cheap stuff. Use a cmc 1 spell to get rid of a cmc 3 problem. Use a cmc 2 spell to deal with a cmc 5 problem. And make every threat you have do absolutely as much work as possible. In trying to accomplish this, you would have to do as much as possible to make your answers cheap and flexible. Each threat should be efficient, coming down fast and harassing the opponent as they struggle to keep up with it.

Here is a Generator Servant deck I came up with today.



Basically a Monster deck. Ramp into Creatures and turn them sideways. Costs $19.70 at TCG Player.

Servant + Underworld Cerberus is pretty cool. Could be pretty nice with some sac outlets like Tymaret, the Murder King.

I'm not sure how far you'd get on a budget, though. This kind of deck begs for Bloodsoaked Champion and Butcher of the Horde.

Azorius Auras

Background:

I originally got back into magic around New Ravnica (having quit around Lorwyn) and shinbatsu's super budget standard decks are what got me going again. So when I got interested in playing standard after Born of the Gods hit (I 'quit' playing competitively because there weren't any good shops around my college and my Maze's End deck had mostly rotated out when Innistrad did)...So I build my own $5-ish deck that basically used enchantment creatures and enchantments that draw to pump guys up and swing big and fast. With the loss of Ethereal Armor I thought the deck would not play as consistently. But after reading some of the threads on here, I got the idea to go back and see what Khans and M15 gave to this deck.

Basically you want to get a low costing creature out and start dropping bestows and other enchantments down...because of bestow it makes it easier to deal with creature hate without getting 2-for-1-ed. Plus it helps that, Chasm Skulker has Murder Investigation built right in. However, I haven't played standard competitively in a while, so if there's a lot of creature hate you might want to run some counters in your board to deal with that. But without further ado, here's the deck:

TIMESTAMP: 12/21/2014 2:58AM EST



Price: $16.97 Budget Left: $3.03

Not sure what makes this better than uw heroic. Feels way too conservative for me. Budget kind of wants to be greedy. Do what the other guy does but 1.5 turns slower or with 1 less p/t and you're setting yourself up to lose. There's also azorius soulblade which can be done relatively cheaply. Also prettymuch an aura deck. Both are faster and more consistent. As you stand, it has a few heroics and a ton of bestow. The problem is that that bestow is "safe" at the cost of speed. They don't give huge size either which lets opponents naturally outpace you. Even lifelink can't be relied upon as in the desire to get safety from being 2 for 1ed, you skimped on fatty retaining defense. Side note, fate foretold wasn't so hot to begin with. With the large chunk of exile removal, it is only less useful.

@TheLovelyLamia: I have taken an effort to make a budget mill list for you.



Total Cost at TCGPlayer Low: $14.71

I'm not sure if its as strict a mill deck as you'd like and it could obviously stand to gain some money cards: Ashiok for the awesome planeswalker action, more temples for fixing, and some fetchlands for further Altar synergy and fixing, but it looks solid to me. You hopefully have tur 1 Altar and you mill them out by playing permanents and having a good control game. Mill makes Aetherspouts even better, your stuff will die so you have delve fuel, the inspired guys love convoke and Phenax. Hope it helps your friend.

P.S. Have not played a single game with this deck I just threw it together, so it might be heavy by 2-3 delve cards maybe put some Grindclocks in place of those.

Bant Heroic



Total cost tgcplayer low price: 15.55

it functions like an ordinary uw heroic deck, so anyone familiar with the archetype with have little problem piloting it. the green splash is just for increasing the counters in a heroic creature. the land is much slower than my usual deck, I've removed all scry land and pain lands to reduce the price of the whole deck. Lands are so pricey nowadays. sage of hours is one of the cheapest mythic you'll be able to avail but that doesn't mean he's weak just give him atleast 5 counters then remove those and he'll give you an extra turn; with a heroic deck putting counter on sages won't be a problem.

Budgeet Jeskai Ascendancy!


Price: 18.40$ (5.02.2015)

Budget version of competetive deck. To combo off you need Jeskai Ascendancy and Retraction Helix. There are various ways you can combo - Akroan Hoplite + Dragon Mantle + Voyaging Satyr (bouncing Mantle and targeting Hoplite for infinite tokens) is just one of it.

Non-budget upgrades:
One thing this deck would really make use of is better manabase - painlands and Mana Confluence really makes this deck running smooth. Sylvan Caryatid is strictly better than Voyaging Satyr

A few things. If you play the 4 color version, play kiora's follower too for more combo and don't blow tons of budget on swiftspear. Pick whether you want to do combo focus or heroic focus. A bad 4 color aggro deck is no threat. A combo deck watered down with aggro elements is no threat either.

Oh, and you're missing dragon mantle.

Derp, how did I do dat.

-4 Swiftspear, -2 Goblinslide, +4 Dragon Mantle, +2 Kiora's Follower. That should do it.