Alright, I've been looking at some of the current Standard lists for interesting styles that might suit me and my interest was drawn to the G/B Aristocats list run by LSV, the only thing is that I'm not looking to go like all in on the deck and thus I am looking to change it more into a budget version based on this list. Now, this is obviously going to set the clock/pace of the deck back a bit but yeah I am not looking forward to like getting a playset of CoCo.
So yeah, these are cards that are going to be hard to replace, but it would be definitely better for my wallet to try and go without them. Also, just as minor cuts I am initially listing Llanowar Wastes and Hissing Quagmire as only three-of's, they could end up being bumped up a bit if budget lets me but this is going to be the starting point for me.
First of, land wise the deck is set back a little bit since Foul Orchard comes into play tapped, but it does fix us a bit. I might still cut it back down to three of them and run a [b]Blighted Fen[/c] for one instead. Other then that it's fairly basic and like mentioned Quagmire and Wastes were initially cut back to keep budget in mind.
Since we do run a bit of sacrifice theme, I decided to bring Fleshbag Marauder into the main since it does synergize well with the deck and can act as a pseudo form of removal in this shell. Also, to exploit our sacrifical theme a bit more I felt that Ulvenwald Mysteries could do well for us as well, we should ramp enough to pop our clues a fair bit. Enough so that I decided to sneak in a Graf Mole to provide some incidental life gain, we don't run enough clue generation to warrant more than one at the moment but even without Mysteries it can block decent enough here and there.
While sacrificing does a lot and because I did cut back probably most of the original win-cons, I looked into adding skulk as a means to push through our Husk and other creatures for damage. Sure, we can't use the pump on Behind the Scenes but in this deck I prefer to go wide with the skulk instead of relying on something like Skeleton Key to get one thing through.
And to add a little fun aspect as well, one copy of Triskaidekaphobia. It's probably not going to be super relevant but it does give a little life drain/gain when needed and we can live the dream by sacrificing a bunch to Husk/Cutthroat and sneak out a win that way.
Anyways, that's my first draft/spin towards making a budget version of the deck and am looking forward to getting some opinions and suggestions on it. Haven't jumped into putting together a sideboard yet, but it will probably focus on some removal and ways to maybe deal with more control match ups.
Even if it doesn't look like it, Blisterpod and Loam Dryad are very important and you want one of them on turn 1. They are very important in the more explosive draws that do not have a Cryptolith rite. Rogue's Passage is a better win con than Behind the Scenes as there is not really a good way to deal with it and it gives straight up unblockable (very important against weenie and token builds). With no Collected Company, you are free to add removal. Grasp of Darkness and Ultimate Price are both great in this deck (especially since they kill Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. The mana is similar to LSV's with one more tap land. It makes casting Grasp on curve hard, but you generally don't want to cast it on curve unless you really need to deal with a one or two drop. The only one that needs to be dealt with is Jace, but he is not as good on curve as he use to be since he will not flip immediately.
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So which cards do I look to cut:
- Collected Company
- Liliana, Heretical Healer
- Westvale Abbey
So yeah, these are cards that are going to be hard to replace, but it would be definitely better for my wallet to try and go without them. Also, just as minor cuts I am initially listing Llanowar Wastes and Hissing Quagmire as only three-of's, they could end up being bumped up a bit if budget lets me but this is going to be the starting point for me.
3x Blisterpod
4x Catacomb Sifter
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Elvish Visionary
2x Fleshbag Marauder
1x Graf Mole
3x Loam Dryad
4x Nantuko Husk
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
2x Behind the Scenes
3x Cryptolith Rite
1x Triskaidekaphobia
2x Ulvenwald Mysteries
Land (23)
7x Forest
4x Foul Orchard
3x Hissing Quagmire
3x Llanowar Wastes
6x Swamp
Since we do run a bit of sacrifice theme, I decided to bring Fleshbag Marauder into the main since it does synergize well with the deck and can act as a pseudo form of removal in this shell. Also, to exploit our sacrifical theme a bit more I felt that Ulvenwald Mysteries could do well for us as well, we should ramp enough to pop our clues a fair bit. Enough so that I decided to sneak in a Graf Mole to provide some incidental life gain, we don't run enough clue generation to warrant more than one at the moment but even without Mysteries it can block decent enough here and there.
While sacrificing does a lot and because I did cut back probably most of the original win-cons, I looked into adding skulk as a means to push through our Husk and other creatures for damage. Sure, we can't use the pump on Behind the Scenes but in this deck I prefer to go wide with the skulk instead of relying on something like Skeleton Key to get one thing through.
And to add a little fun aspect as well, one copy of Triskaidekaphobia. It's probably not going to be super relevant but it does give a little life drain/gain when needed and we can live the dream by sacrificing a bunch to Husk/Cutthroat and sneak out a win that way.
Anyways, that's my first draft/spin towards making a budget version of the deck and am looking forward to getting some opinions and suggestions on it. Haven't jumped into putting together a sideboard yet, but it will probably focus on some removal and ways to maybe deal with more control match ups.
4x Blisterpod
4x Catacomb Sifter
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
4x Elvish Visionary
1x Fleshbag Marauder
4x Loam Dryad
4x Nantuko Husk
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
3x Cryptolith Rite
1x Triskaidekaphobia
Instants (4)
2x Ultimate Price
2x Grasp of Darkness
Land (23)
8x Forest
2x Foul Orchard
3x Hissing Quagmire
3x Llanowar Wastes
4x Swamp
3x Rogue's Passage
Even if it doesn't look like it, Blisterpod and Loam Dryad are very important and you want one of them on turn 1. They are very important in the more explosive draws that do not have a Cryptolith rite. Rogue's Passage is a better win con than Behind the Scenes as there is not really a good way to deal with it and it gives straight up unblockable (very important against weenie and token builds). With no Collected Company, you are free to add removal. Grasp of Darkness and Ultimate Price are both great in this deck (especially since they kill Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. The mana is similar to LSV's with one more tap land. It makes casting Grasp on curve hard, but you generally don't want to cast it on curve unless you really need to deal with a one or two drop. The only one that needs to be dealt with is Jace, but he is not as good on curve as he use to be since he will not flip immediately.