What format do you have in mind? I'd assume you're talking about T2, but either way there's a subforum for each format that would likely have more informed people.
Depends on what you want out of the deck and what you define as "decent."
I'm not really well versed in standard, but from my understanding it's play Jund or die. Jund has 4x Maelstrom Pulse. Even if you wanted to play vamps you'd be paying for 4x Vampire Nocturnus and other decks include (and again, I'm not super versed in standard) cards like Baneslayer Angel. Basically, the price tag on those cards is huge.
The most expensive card in the sample decklist is Chain Lightning and with some luck you could get a playset for the price of one of the middle-popularity duals/one Jace/one Baneslayer...
Elves are usually fairly cheap, and usually withstand format change and are easy to make legacy viable.
as long as you pick up any good elves early you'll always have a good deck for fairly cheap.
Basically anything that is monocolored is easy to build. You don't need to spend a ton of money on multicolored lands.
Yep. Any kind of goblins is usually pretty good (unless you're talking about standard) and extremely cheap. In standard I guess RDW would be the equivalent.
Elves and White Weenie variants are also usually pretty good and pretty cheap to build.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
Valakut Ramp is a pretty decent deck that's cheap, the main card being about $2 a pop, and is everywhere. The only card's you'd really shell out for is the optional Bloodbraids, and Earthquakes. Maybe Siege-Gang Commanders as well.
Seconding this. It has solid matchups against the field, and it's way cheaper than Vampires or Jund or anything with Baneslayer.
Cheaper decks (no Jace, BSA etc) in order of effectiveness:
Runeflare Trap
RDW
RbDW (Needs Dragonskull Summits though)
Vampires
Runeflare decks lose hard to RDW though, and my Vamps smash one of my friends Runeflare decks on a routine basis.
RDW is pretty straightforward, it's solid, it's relativly cheap, but loses to WW, especially after Kor Firewalker hits the board.
RbDW is becoming more popular since it can actually deal with Firewalker (terminate) plus it plays everyone's favorite card (Blightning). Downside is having to get four Dragonskull Summits, which are like, $8-$10 a pop.
Vampires is well rounded against everything, and it'll remain viable after Shards leaves, and probably when M10 leaves as well, with minor tweaks. Downside is having to get Nocturnus (a major backbone and $20 a pop or so), four Bloodghasts, and 8 Fetches since they have so much synergy with 'Ghast. But the nice thing about fetches is that once you get your set, they'll be usable and good in whatever deck you choose to put them in in the future. It's the most expensive deck until you start talking decks with four BSA and such.
My reccomendation? If you wanna play tourny Magic cheap, go play drafts every FNM. You'll pick up some cool cards, you don't need a fortune to compete, and good cards you wind up with can get traded for constructed cards, eventually bringing you into constructed.
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Legacy: TES
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Cheaper decks (no Jace, BSA etc) in order of effectiveness:
Runeflare Trap
RDW
RbDW (Needs Dragonskull Summits though)
Vampires
Runeflare decks lose hard to RDW though, and my Vamps smash one of my friends Runeflare decks on a routine basis.
RDW is pretty straightforward, it's solid, it's relativly cheap, but loses to WW, especially after Kor Firewalker hits the board.
RbDW is becoming more popular since it can actually deal with Firewalker (terminate) plus it plays everyone's favorite card (Blightning). Downside is having to get four Dragonskull Summits, which are like, $8-$10 a pop.
Vampires is well rounded against everything, and it'll remain viable after Shards leaves, and probably when M10 leaves as well, with minor tweaks. Downside is having to get Nocturnus (a major backbone and $20 a pop or so), four Bloodghasts, and 8 Fetches since they have so much synergy with 'Ghast. But the nice thing about fetches is that once you get your set, they'll be usable and good in whatever deck you choose to put them in in the future. It's the most expensive deck until you start talking decks with four BSA and such.
My reccomendation? If you wanna play tourny Magic cheap, go play drafts every FNM. You'll pick up some cool cards, you don't need a fortune to compete, and good cards you wind up with can get traded for constructed cards, eventually bringing you into constructed.
i think you meant deathmark.
in terms of monetary value, valakut ramp is the cheapest semi-competitve deck in t2. the only "expensive" cards are sgc ($3?) and valakut (<$1). dont expect to win any tournaments with it, but you'll probably put up a good fight.
in terms of tier 1 decks, i'm pretty sure u can buuild RbDW for ~100. it has a good jund matchup and the black splash gives it a chance against WW. but if ur really tight for money then u might wanna just make the classic RDW. RbDW doesnt work if ur using swamps (need rrr for ball ligthing)
He is so man, he is mario, and I will tell my opponents such. As and when I bounce their permanent I will exclaim "MARIO" as though he were stomped on by our mighty Jace. Every time someone kill him I will give them 99 USD (not AUS!!!) because their lightning bolt should cost 100 DOLLARS...
Jace even made it into the Teenage Super Hero Mutant Ninja Hero Turtles.
Play Valakut ramp its the most fun/bang for your buck you can get and you can play at the block PTQs also. On a side not I read that article on naya alies vs Jund and It made me laugh. They guy has completely miss analyzed the deck and glossed over some huge weaknesses. 1 he lost against jund not becuase instead of playing scrubs on some daily event he played a decent player and Jund is a FAR beter deck. 2nd I just dont understand that list is it trying to aggro or mid range? Either way RDW and White weenie are both faster and Jund,Boss naya, and vamps, are beter mid game. I just dont see how that deck succedes.
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Originally Posted by badjuju
As the Last of the Control Players, we are all part of a sacred brotherhood; a band of brothers who would rather die on their knees tapping islands and giving permission than live on our feet cascading into Blightning.
Look up Jacob VanLunen's Sedraxis Jund. The most expensive cards are broodmate dragon and/or siege gang commander.
If it's not within your budget, try valakut ramp. It's a blast to play.
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Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
open the vaults is decent and cheap.
standard dredge is less than $12 if you do it right
flame on (counter/burn) is cheap if you take out the planeswalkers
theres a deck thats based around infinite landfall (selective memory/skyward eye prophets kinda deal) that is less than $10
if your looking for a good competitive deck id go with valakut ramp. it built my original one for about $20 -$30 easy.
I'm not really well versed in standard, but from my understanding it's play Jund or die. Jund has 4x Maelstrom Pulse. Even if you wanted to play vamps you'd be paying for 4x Vampire Nocturnus and other decks include (and again, I'm not super versed in standard) cards like Baneslayer Angel. Basically, the price tag on those cards is huge.
With that being said you could try Legacy Burn... It's eternal so you won't need to keep updating your deck. No Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Baneslayer Angel, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, duals, Force of Will, etc. Just burn. Lots of burn. Here's the primer:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=148024
The most expensive card in the sample decklist is Chain Lightning and with some luck you could get a playset for the price of one of the middle-popularity duals/one Jace/one Baneslayer...
Just make sure your LGS hosts Legacy.
Legacy:
WGMaverickWG
UMerfolkU
WStaxW
XRaffinityX
BRGoblins RB
RBUTESRBU
UGW Countersliver UGW
UB Dredge UB
U W CounterThopter U W
"Casual:"
BVampiresB
WMWCW
GElfdraziG
WWhite WeenieW
BWClericsBW
UGMadnessUG
UBPsychatogUB
GWAstral SlideGW
as long as you pick up any good elves early you'll always have a good deck for fairly cheap.
If you suggest a card to add to a deck, suggest one to take out as well.
Yep. Any kind of goblins is usually pretty good (unless you're talking about standard) and extremely cheap. In standard I guess RDW would be the equivalent.
Elves and White Weenie variants are also usually pretty good and pretty cheap to build.
Seconding this. It has solid matchups against the field, and it's way cheaper than Vampires or Jund or anything with Baneslayer.
In that case, moved to Standard
Here's an article on the deck, some strategy against Jund (you'll play them a lot!) and a list inside if your not familiar with it. Careful Study: Trial by Fire #1: Naya Allies vs Jund
manaSHIFT.com
@manashift (Twitter)
Runeflare Trap
RDW
RbDW (Needs Dragonskull Summits though)
Vampires
Runeflare decks lose hard to RDW though, and my Vamps smash one of my friends Runeflare decks on a routine basis.
RDW is pretty straightforward, it's solid, it's relativly cheap, but loses to WW, especially after Kor Firewalker hits the board.
RbDW is becoming more popular since it can actually deal with Firewalker (terminate) plus it plays everyone's favorite card (Blightning). Downside is having to get four Dragonskull Summits, which are like, $8-$10 a pop.
Vampires is well rounded against everything, and it'll remain viable after Shards leaves, and probably when M10 leaves as well, with minor tweaks. Downside is having to get Nocturnus (a major backbone and $20 a pop or so), four Bloodghasts, and 8 Fetches since they have so much synergy with 'Ghast. But the nice thing about fetches is that once you get your set, they'll be usable and good in whatever deck you choose to put them in in the future. It's the most expensive deck until you start talking decks with four BSA and such.
My reccomendation? If you wanna play tourny Magic cheap, go play drafts every FNM. You'll pick up some cool cards, you don't need a fortune to compete, and good cards you wind up with can get traded for constructed cards, eventually bringing you into constructed.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
i think you meant deathmark.
in terms of monetary value, valakut ramp is the cheapest semi-competitve deck in t2. the only "expensive" cards are sgc ($3?) and valakut (<$1). dont expect to win any tournaments with it, but you'll probably put up a good fight.
in terms of tier 1 decks, i'm pretty sure u can buuild RbDW for ~100. it has a good jund matchup and the black splash gives it a chance against WW. but if ur really tight for money then u might wanna just make the classic RDW. RbDW doesnt work if ur using swamps (need rrr for ball ligthing)
If it's not within your budget, try valakut ramp. It's a blast to play.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
standard dredge is less than $12 if you do it right
flame on (counter/burn) is cheap if you take out the planeswalkers
theres a deck thats based around infinite landfall (selective memory/skyward eye prophets kinda deal) that is less than $10
if your looking for a good competitive deck id go with valakut ramp. it built my original one for about $20 -$30 easy.
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