I'm looking to build a standard control deck for approximately $50 total. I've been out of the loop for a while, so these card choices may not be entirely optimal. Constructive criticism and advice concerning the current metagame are welcome. From what I gather, creature decks are quite prevalent, and there are a few planeswalkers that see heavy play in most competitive decks (both control and aggro). Some of my card choices reflect the aggressive decklists that I've seen around, but I'm having trouble finding inexpensive answers to planeswalkers (aside from Duress and counterspells). Here's what I have in mind:
Crux of Fate should probably be in here somewhere, and I'm debating a playset of Font of Fortunes instead of Divination. I can't afford a playset of Dig Through Time - but the lack of this card allows me to get away with 4 Murderous Cuts given that the list isn't delve-heavy.
I'm somewhat worried about having to scoop to a timely Despise...
This list is exactly $50 shipped including sleeves from my preferred source, so please keep a principle of equivalent exchange in mind (all you FMA fans) when making suggestions.
I recommend proxying first and trying it. A budget version of this deck is very, very different from the nonbudget version. It operates a whole turn slower and not as well. Also, its win cons are much more iffy. On top of that, it just scoops to walkers. These are the key differences in no particular order.
1. No polluted deltas to allow for threatening turn 2 nullify or bile blight.
2. No dig through time.
3. No permanent board wipes.
4. Less than impeccable win cons.
5. 1 mb answer to a resolved planeswalker. Lack of hero's downfall leaves an utterly massive chink in the deck.
So don't expect it to behave remotely like the nonbudget version. I'm not going to look up prices while I do this but I look at things this way as far as the deck goes on a budget if you must.
The cheap but good.
1. Anticipate. Duh.
2. Jace's ingenuity. This is your best proxy draw spell and you will play it in spades without dig through time.
3. Prognostic sphinx/Silumgar. Not the most amazing of win cons. However, I'm not about to be wanting to keep trying PLA. I'd rather have something that can block. This holds especially true when you can't play a full playset of crux of fate.
4. Silumgar's scorn. Decks tapping out against you will happen a bit, I think. This makes this not too bad to work with even without Silumgar in hand. I want to play nullify but I honestly fear letting a walker resolve without downfall.
The necessary.
1. Crux of fate. Sorry. I don't think this will work without some of these.
2. Jace, the living guildpact. Cheap planeswalker here we are. And oh you're so bad, Jace. 3-4 bucks for a reason. However, he does have a saving grace in loyalty counters. I suggest using him and aiming to ult him multiple times a game till you win. This way you do not need to worry as much about a despise or thoughtseize.
3. Cancel. Ugh, I feel so dirty saying this but budget-wise, switching from dissolves to cancels pays for a crux of fate or a Jace depending upon how you acquire them. Go to your LGS. Ask someone for cancels. After laughing at you or giving you an odd look, you will likely get them. They are so crappy and plentiful. If you can get them for free, get dissipates. They're so much better and can take spells out of the cycle for post Jace ult.
Temple of deceit was cut because the scry 1 just isn't worth the money you're paying for it. Maybe not so much if you bought things online but try asking around your lgs. Find someone who drafts a lot and sells to newer players. See what of this they have to sell to you. Chances are you could acquire most of the low cost, low demand cards for free or at a significantly discounted rate. I've lost count of the number of times I have bought 2/3 of a working budget deck "for a soda". Scry 1 is important. Much less important imo than getting some Jaces and crux of fates. Note that Jace is indeed pretty bad. However, a stabilized game with Jace is one that you can push to time. With twice as many "win cons" as getting back your win cons might as well be the same, you are much more resilient to being thoughtseized out. Jace -3 bounces a planeswalker which allows you the chance to counter it as opposed to scooping because you fought the UB mirror and they did turn 3 Ashiok on you on the play. While absolutely horrible, I think this is about the best you get.
Ultimate Price is an entirely reasonable card to be playing in a list like this. I'd play 1 or 2. It's also been printed in RTR as well as DTK, so you get your pick of art.
I think Temple of Deceit is a great card, and I think that Scry 1 is a great ability in most control decks, but if you're looking to save money, they're easy cuts.
Silumgar's Command is real cheap right now, and one of the only ways for you to interact with PWs. If you up your count in any direction, I'd consider 1 more of that card.
I would agree with Lugger - Ultimate price over Murderous Cut, just for the flexibility and non-reliance on delve, or maybe an equal split between them. Bile Blight, while running $2 each, should be a consideration as this deck doesn't really have many answers to token generation. I would also consider not running the Scorns, as only 2 Dragons will leave it running as a Force Spike most of the time. Swap that with either a Nullify or Negate, depending on what you are more afraid of (creatures or non-creatures). Also, if you want instant speed card draws that aren't too much, then you could always consider Weave Fate - same mana cost as Font of Fortunes for the same number of cards, and the opponent doesn't see it coming.
An alternative way to deal with PWs is to have something like Void Snare and a Negate in hand or when they recast... Same total cost as a Downfall, except it works out as 1UU instead of 1BB.
Ultimate price is indeed something to consider and I could see swapping 1-2 in for murderous cuts. I don't think that a full playset or anything would be wise, though, just because there's so many bases that need to be covered. Something like 2 ultimate price, 1 murderous cut, perhaps.
Bile blight was purposely omitted. Bile blights or crux of fate? Well... I think more crux is better. Bile blight vs drown in sorrow was on my mind. I definitely wasn't running both since it just racked the money up too fast. Ultimately, I decided that drown in sorrow was better. The key point was because without the mana base to reliably play bile blight on turn 2 when I wanted to and being more likely to do it turn 3, drown in sorrow comparatively did almost everything I wanted bile blight to do except that it swept away aggro armies too. Against aggro or tokens, spending budget of bile blight might be attractive but against the various array of 4+ toughness things, the deck feels too lacking in hard removal to choose to spend its budgets on bile blights over crux.
The scorns I am well aware will often be a bad force spike. I want to normally play nullify. However, as I noted, this deck is terribly, terribly weak to walkers and there isn't much to be done about that game 1. Rather than scoop it, I'd rather take my chances trying to force spike early against decks that want to move quickly against a UB control deck. I do not want to play negate because it'd harm the aggro matchups a lot. Sb, sure. Mb, no. Its easy to say "just run the better card for the better situation" but you do not get to preboard against people. This deck on a budget is not something that I think works half as well as one would like and therein lies the problem. You are afraid of both early walkers and creatures. Neither is a good answer without punching a larger hole in your defense than you want. If they play around it, so be it. That's perfectly fine. Slowing them down is all that needs to be accomplished.
Weave fate is fine. I like Jace's ingenuity more and don't feel like you need too much more than that.
Void snare and negate is terribad. Yes, terribad. No competent control deck would try it. First of all, that's playing a bunch of horrible cards against aggro. Second, there is a big difference between that and downfall. That requires and costs 2 cards. Downfall costs 1 and has other applications as a generic instant speed kill spell. This is not comparing 1UU to 1BB. A closer comparison would be sonic seizure (lighning bolt but with additional cost of discarding a card at random) to lightning bolt... except that that is even more forgiving. Still, its the difference between staple and unplayable.
I can't believe I forget foul-tongue invocation. You probably want to play 1-2 of them.
Heh. Terribad. I like that. You're completely right, and I missed "plus two cards, which is not optimal." at the end. I was aiming to show that, while there are alternatives, they don't compare to being to play/afford the "real" cards.
Well, you wouldn't compare spark jolt plus shock to lightning bolt, would you? Though that's admittedly much more forgiving. You want every card to be individually good. The same thing is accomplished by the comparatively much more palatable Jace, the living guildpact. Which is still bad but Jace can do other important things for the deck. That option just gives you the extra flexibility where needed.
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2x Prognostic Sphinx
1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1x Pearl Lake Ancient
Instants (20):
4x Anticipate
3x Bile Blight
4x Dissolve
4x Murderous Cut
2x Aetherspouts
1x Jace's Ingenuity
1x Silumgar's Command
1x Dragonlord's Prerogative
4x Duress
4x Divination
2x Drown In Sorrow
Lands (26):
3x Radiant Fountain
2x Temple of Deceit
4x Dismal Backwater
3x Evolving Wilds
7x Swamp
7x Island
4x Despise
3x Disdainful Stroke
3x Negate
1x Pearl Lake Ancient
1x Aetherspouts
3x Pharika's Cure
Crux of Fate should probably be in here somewhere, and I'm debating a playset of Font of Fortunes instead of Divination. I can't afford a playset of Dig Through Time - but the lack of this card allows me to get away with 4 Murderous Cuts given that the list isn't delve-heavy.
I'm somewhat worried about having to scoop to a timely Despise...
This list is exactly $50 shipped including sleeves from my preferred source, so please keep a principle of equivalent exchange in mind (all you FMA fans) when making suggestions.
Thanks in advance for your input.
1. No polluted deltas to allow for threatening turn 2 nullify or bile blight.
2. No dig through time.
3. No permanent board wipes.
4. Less than impeccable win cons.
5. 1 mb answer to a resolved planeswalker. Lack of hero's downfall leaves an utterly massive chink in the deck.
So don't expect it to behave remotely like the nonbudget version. I'm not going to look up prices while I do this but I look at things this way as far as the deck goes on a budget if you must.
The cheap but good.
1. Anticipate. Duh.
2. Jace's ingenuity. This is your best proxy draw spell and you will play it in spades without dig through time.
3. Prognostic sphinx/Silumgar. Not the most amazing of win cons. However, I'm not about to be wanting to keep trying PLA. I'd rather have something that can block. This holds especially true when you can't play a full playset of crux of fate.
4. Silumgar's scorn. Decks tapping out against you will happen a bit, I think. This makes this not too bad to work with even without Silumgar in hand. I want to play nullify but I honestly fear letting a walker resolve without downfall.
The necessary.
1. Crux of fate. Sorry. I don't think this will work without some of these.
2. Jace, the living guildpact. Cheap planeswalker here we are. And oh you're so bad, Jace. 3-4 bucks for a reason. However, he does have a saving grace in loyalty counters. I suggest using him and aiming to ult him multiple times a game till you win. This way you do not need to worry as much about a despise or thoughtseize.
3. Cancel. Ugh, I feel so dirty saying this but budget-wise, switching from dissolves to cancels pays for a crux of fate or a Jace depending upon how you acquire them. Go to your LGS. Ask someone for cancels. After laughing at you or giving you an odd look, you will likely get them. They are so crappy and plentiful. If you can get them for free, get dissipates. They're so much better and can take spells out of the cycle for post Jace ult.
2 Silumgar, the drifting death
4 anticipate
4 Jace's ingenuity
3 Silumgar's scorn
2 Silumgar's command
2 crux of fate
2 aetherspouts
4 cancel/Dissipate
3 murderous cut
2 drown in sorrow
4 dismal backwater
3 evolving wilds
3 opulent palace
3 radiant fountain
8 island
6 swamp
Temple of deceit was cut because the scry 1 just isn't worth the money you're paying for it. Maybe not so much if you bought things online but try asking around your lgs. Find someone who drafts a lot and sells to newer players. See what of this they have to sell to you. Chances are you could acquire most of the low cost, low demand cards for free or at a significantly discounted rate. I've lost count of the number of times I have bought 2/3 of a working budget deck "for a soda". Scry 1 is important. Much less important imo than getting some Jaces and crux of fates. Note that Jace is indeed pretty bad. However, a stabilized game with Jace is one that you can push to time. With twice as many "win cons" as getting back your win cons might as well be the same, you are much more resilient to being thoughtseized out. Jace -3 bounces a planeswalker which allows you the chance to counter it as opposed to scooping because you fought the UB mirror and they did turn 3 Ashiok on you on the play. While absolutely horrible, I think this is about the best you get.
I think Temple of Deceit is a great card, and I think that Scry 1 is a great ability in most control decks, but if you're looking to save money, they're easy cuts.
Perhaps play the full set of Opulent Palace?
Silumgar's Command is real cheap right now, and one of the only ways for you to interact with PWs. If you up your count in any direction, I'd consider 1 more of that card.
An alternative way to deal with PWs is to have something like Void Snare and a Negate in hand or when they recast... Same total cost as a Downfall, except it works out as 1UU instead of 1BB.
Bile blight was purposely omitted. Bile blights or crux of fate? Well... I think more crux is better. Bile blight vs drown in sorrow was on my mind. I definitely wasn't running both since it just racked the money up too fast. Ultimately, I decided that drown in sorrow was better. The key point was because without the mana base to reliably play bile blight on turn 2 when I wanted to and being more likely to do it turn 3, drown in sorrow comparatively did almost everything I wanted bile blight to do except that it swept away aggro armies too. Against aggro or tokens, spending budget of bile blight might be attractive but against the various array of 4+ toughness things, the deck feels too lacking in hard removal to choose to spend its budgets on bile blights over crux.
The scorns I am well aware will often be a bad force spike. I want to normally play nullify. However, as I noted, this deck is terribly, terribly weak to walkers and there isn't much to be done about that game 1. Rather than scoop it, I'd rather take my chances trying to force spike early against decks that want to move quickly against a UB control deck. I do not want to play negate because it'd harm the aggro matchups a lot. Sb, sure. Mb, no. Its easy to say "just run the better card for the better situation" but you do not get to preboard against people. This deck on a budget is not something that I think works half as well as one would like and therein lies the problem. You are afraid of both early walkers and creatures. Neither is a good answer without punching a larger hole in your defense than you want. If they play around it, so be it. That's perfectly fine. Slowing them down is all that needs to be accomplished.
Weave fate is fine. I like Jace's ingenuity more and don't feel like you need too much more than that.
Void snare and negate is terribad. Yes, terribad. No competent control deck would try it. First of all, that's playing a bunch of horrible cards against aggro. Second, there is a big difference between that and downfall. That requires and costs 2 cards. Downfall costs 1 and has other applications as a generic instant speed kill spell. This is not comparing 1UU to 1BB. A closer comparison would be sonic seizure (lighning bolt but with additional cost of discarding a card at random) to lightning bolt... except that that is even more forgiving. Still, its the difference between staple and unplayable.
I can't believe I forget foul-tongue invocation. You probably want to play 1-2 of them.