I also like Sylvan Advocate as a budget Tarmogoyf. The plus side is it plays nice with cards like Raging Ravine or Mutavault or Hissing Quagmire in Jund. The card has pretty minimal drawbacks at 1G given that it is a 2/3 and the 6 land threshold in Green is similar to the needing different card types threshold for a Goyf in that it comes down at a lower power and takes a little bit to get ramped up. Goyf is also susceptible to graveyard disruption, where land disruption to stop the Advocate is probably more difficult with an opponent needing to run something other than Ghost Quarter since that replaces the land you lose. It would really just be weak to Fulminator Mage et al. hitting any manland that you use, but that is a pretty small complaint given that this is a $3 replacement for a $100 card. Advocate coming down as a 2/3 is also very relevant as that is typically a halfway online Goyf without needing to stock your graveyard, making it, commonly, a better or on par turn 2 play. Goyf has a higher upside of potentially up to a 7/8 where advocate is much more limited in power, but distributes power to manlands as well, which can help to balance that deficiency.
Obviously the card will never be as good because getting card types in a graveyard is easier than hitting 6 lands and there are up to 7 card types that could be in a yard, but I think there is serious potential.
The card would probably be individually good in Modern Elves if not for the low land counts that the list typically plays.
Got another one: Erebos's Titan for Phyrexian Obliterator. Similar stats, nearly as much devotion for decks that care about that kind of thing. Abilities are completely different, but not necessarily worse in all situations.
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What is a good budget replacement for Glimmervoid in affinity ?
I want to slowly buy this deck since I have some staples of it but I'm lacking the Glimmervoid and the money to buy them.
Thanks!
Shivan Reef: Painlands are a very good substitute but no Thoughtseize or instant-speed Cranial Plating. Maybe Sulfurous Springs if you're not running any blue Gemstone Mine: 3 mana only, but you should be able to win with just three taps... Tendo Ice Bridge: Not as cheap as it used to be but this works too. Crumbling Vestige: Budget-er replacement for Tendo Ice Bridge. Great Furnace: Many budget players do not have the banlist memorized. OK, this one may be pushing it.
How about Ojutai's Command as a budget Cryptic Command? It's got a couple modes in common. Could even be more useful sometimes.
Maybe consider Silumgar's Command too, although 5 CMC is stretching it severely.
No. Ojutai's Command is a good card in Emeria Control but it kind of requires you to build around it to avoid a huge power loss. The reanimation is actually extremely relevant in that deck. Cryptic is pretty cheap now since most decks only run 1-2, honestly. I would just run Dissipate or Dissolve if you can't shell out $20 for one.
Anyway, back before Tarmogoyf was a thing, people used Quirion Dryad in their Miracle-Gro decks as a two-drop. There's also Leatherback Baloth and Woolly Thoctar but both of these guys are 3-drops.
These days, some wizards are finding they have a little too much deck left at the end of their $$$.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
Anyone think the new lands from Innistrad might be good budget replacements for Blackcleave cliffs and copperline gorge? They seem reasonable, though they do require some work to use right.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I'm almost afraid to ask, but are there currently any replacements for Arcbound Ravager in Affinity? I've heard Paradise Mantle is a passable replacement for Mox Opal, but I'd like further confirmation just in case.
The answer is, as you know, Definitely not. Ravager is one of a kind. Similar effects can be had, but nothing like him. You can run Atog, Shrapnel Blast, but again, these cards don't offer the resiliency that Ravager has and are really just for pushing in more damage.
I disagree about granulate. I don't advise using it becuase the no land clause allows players to activate a blinkmoth or inkmoth sac all to ravenger and put the tokens on it. I recommend vandal blast. More flexible and sometimes worse than shatterstorm but sometimes far better.
Looking for a budget replacement for Ensnaring Bridge found Norn's Annex but was wondering if anyone could find anything else. (The deck I'm looking to play it in is mono black)
Edit: Found Silent Arbiter could be a possible budget replacement.
I have all the cards for BUG in modern. Except for the goyf. So I ask myself why play green? It just seems like grixis is better. Change 4 abrupt decay and 1 malestorm pulse for 3 bolts and 2 kologans command. Stil no replacement for the actual goyf though, perhaps young pyromancer? Or more black delve creatures?
I am confused. Lilliana of the veil + goyf has such outragus prices. And the fechlands are also so expensive.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
quiron dyrad is a really good replacement for the goyf
I tryed Dryan in both simic and temur. It is modern there is just sooo much removal it is never bigger then 3/3 and then it is really bad in the lategame. Perhaos acestral visions will help it.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
I have all the cards for BUG in modern. Except for the goyf. So I ask myself why play green? It just seems like grixis is better. Change 4 abrupt decay and 1 malestorm pulse for 3 bolts and 2 kologans command. Stil no replacement for the actual goyf though, perhaps young pyromancer? Or more black delve creatures?
I am confused. Lilliana of the veil + goyf has such outragus prices. And the fechlands are also so expensive.
Goyf is a low cost to play, play 4 of it card, in multiple popular decks that gets rather strong by just 'playing magic' with things going into the graveyard and thus doesn't have to have a deck specifically built to power it, and has only been printed at high rarity in sets that have had low or limited print runs or are very old, especially compared to the size of the Modern player base. It's basically proof that mythic rares in Modern Masters sets with their limited print runs can't really keep up with Modern's growth as a format. The price on Goyf won't become reasonable unless they reprint it in a set that doesn't have a limited print run (like a Standard set), and even then, such improvement will only be temporary, due to how many decks Goyf can be jammed into easily, and being so low cmc thus able to play full playsets easily in those decks.
Liliana otv has only had one proper printing at mythic rare, and again is seen in multiple decks, if not as many as Goyf. It also got boosted by speculators due to some key missed chances to be reprinted when such should have made sense lore wise, and WotC making some noise that indicates it won't get a Standard legal reprint, and thus it'll probably never show up outside of a limited print run set like Modern Masters, and at mythic rare at that, due to being a planeswalker, which basically means that demand will continue to increase at a rate that supply _can't_ match under WotC's current reprint policies. Which means speculators will buy them up like hotcakes and drive up the price furthur, knowing there isn't really much chance of anything driving the price down, so they can sell them whenever they want later for a higher price, unless WotC goes about a major change in their reprint policies.
Fetches have the problem of being not nearly printed enough for the multiple formats they are really good in, which is pretty much all major non-rotating formats. Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Modern all play them. They're much stronger in those non-Modern formats since they can fetch up old dual-lands, rather than shocklands (which hurt you if you want to play them untapped). On top of that, they are highly useful for a number of deck types, including 3 color decks since they let you fetch more types of duals with basic types attached, and lots of decks that like having lands in the graveyard or otherwise feeding the graveyard, such as decks with delve or goyf. Shocklands aren't as good in as many formats, and have had two full printings since the Modern cutoff, while Fetches haven't all been reprinted as much recently, and newer sets tend to have much larger runs than older ones, due to the growth of the game, so fetches tend to find more demand and less supply than shocklands, the next most comparable Modern dual lands in demand.
I have all the cards for BUG in modern. Except for the goyf. So I ask myself why play green? It just seems like grixis is better. Change 4 abrupt decay and 1 malestorm pulse for 3 bolts and 2 kologans command. Stil no replacement for the actual goyf though, perhaps young pyromancer? Or more black delve creatures?
I am confused. Lilliana of the veil + goyf has such outragus prices. And the fechlands are also so expensive.
You have all Cards except Goyf, Lili and Fetchlands?
So please tell us what do you own, because otherwise it's hard to evaluate what you could build up to.
If your Cardpool is lacking important Cards you should look at other Decks.
With a solid BUG Cardpool you can try to put together some of the listed decks:
BUG, UG or BG Infect
BG Midrange
UB Control or maybe Delver
BUG Dredge, Loam or Dredgevine
It's also possible to build solid Decks in 1 or 2 Colors that just implement tiny splashes e.g. UB Control / Midrange with a W splash for Geist of Saint Traft + Lingering Souls.
If you start Soccer today, would you begin in the Premier League?
No, you have to start up from scratch. It's important to make a budgetwise decision and stick to it.
Buy a Deck, stick to it and trade up for better Cards slowly.
Invest into your Manabase step-by-step and dig deeper into your deck, knowing it from inside out.
if you got the BUG Manabase (psst, Darkslick Shores) i recommend buying into Dredge with the new released Cards.
It'll get up to Tier 2 soon and Prices will spike.
Obviously the card will never be as good because getting card types in a graveyard is easier than hitting 6 lands and there are up to 7 card types that could be in a yard, but I think there is serious potential.
The card would probably be individually good in Modern Elves if not for the low land counts that the list typically plays.
EDH:
G[cEDH] Selvala, Heart of the StormG
URW[cEDH] Narset, the Last AirmericanURW
GWUSt. Jenara, the ArchangelGWU
UBGrimgrin, Chaos MarineUB
GOmnath, Mana BaronG
URWNarset, Justice League AmericaURW
GWUBAtraxa, Countess of CountersGWUB
GWUEstrid, Enbantress PrimeGWU
WUB Puresteel Midrange WUB
Maybe consider Silumgar's Command too, although 5 CMC is stretching it severely.
Shivan Reef: Painlands are a very good substitute but no Thoughtseize or instant-speed Cranial Plating. Maybe Sulfurous Springs if you're not running any blue
Gemstone Mine: 3 mana only, but you should be able to win with just three taps...
Tendo Ice Bridge: Not as cheap as it used to be but this works too.
Crumbling Vestige: Budget-er replacement for Tendo Ice Bridge.
Great Furnace: Many budget players do not have the banlist memorized. OK, this one may be pushing it.
No. Ojutai's Command is a good card in Emeria Control but it kind of requires you to build around it to avoid a huge power loss. The reanimation is actually extremely relevant in that deck. Cryptic is pretty cheap now since most decks only run 1-2, honestly. I would just run Dissipate or Dissolve if you can't shell out $20 for one.
Anyway, back before Tarmogoyf was a thing, people used Quirion Dryad in their Miracle-Gro decks as a two-drop. There's also Leatherback Baloth and Woolly Thoctar but both of these guys are 3-drops.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
The 2nd one even works fine with Bloodghast together.
Green @ it's best
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Not sure about Mox Opal Though.
WUB Puresteel Midrange WUB
It's one more mana expensive. But how about Distress?
Prized Amalgam
Green @ it's best
Edit: Found Silent Arbiter could be a possible budget replacement.
So any budget cards to replace Eye of Ugin? Besides Conduit of ruin
I have all the cards for BUG in modern. Except for the goyf. So I ask myself why play green? It just seems like grixis is better. Change 4 abrupt decay and 1 malestorm pulse for 3 bolts and 2 kologans command. Stil no replacement for the actual goyf though, perhaps young pyromancer? Or more black delve creatures?
I am confused. Lilliana of the veil + goyf has such outragus prices. And the fechlands are also so expensive.
I tryed Dryan in both simic and temur. It is modern there is just sooo much removal it is never bigger then 3/3 and then it is really bad in the lategame. Perhaos acestral visions will help it.
Goyf is a low cost to play, play 4 of it card, in multiple popular decks that gets rather strong by just 'playing magic' with things going into the graveyard and thus doesn't have to have a deck specifically built to power it, and has only been printed at high rarity in sets that have had low or limited print runs or are very old, especially compared to the size of the Modern player base. It's basically proof that mythic rares in Modern Masters sets with their limited print runs can't really keep up with Modern's growth as a format. The price on Goyf won't become reasonable unless they reprint it in a set that doesn't have a limited print run (like a Standard set), and even then, such improvement will only be temporary, due to how many decks Goyf can be jammed into easily, and being so low cmc thus able to play full playsets easily in those decks.
Liliana otv has only had one proper printing at mythic rare, and again is seen in multiple decks, if not as many as Goyf. It also got boosted by speculators due to some key missed chances to be reprinted when such should have made sense lore wise, and WotC making some noise that indicates it won't get a Standard legal reprint, and thus it'll probably never show up outside of a limited print run set like Modern Masters, and at mythic rare at that, due to being a planeswalker, which basically means that demand will continue to increase at a rate that supply _can't_ match under WotC's current reprint policies. Which means speculators will buy them up like hotcakes and drive up the price furthur, knowing there isn't really much chance of anything driving the price down, so they can sell them whenever they want later for a higher price, unless WotC goes about a major change in their reprint policies.
Fetches have the problem of being not nearly printed enough for the multiple formats they are really good in, which is pretty much all major non-rotating formats. Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Modern all play them. They're much stronger in those non-Modern formats since they can fetch up old dual-lands, rather than shocklands (which hurt you if you want to play them untapped). On top of that, they are highly useful for a number of deck types, including 3 color decks since they let you fetch more types of duals with basic types attached, and lots of decks that like having lands in the graveyard or otherwise feeding the graveyard, such as decks with delve or goyf. Shocklands aren't as good in as many formats, and have had two full printings since the Modern cutoff, while Fetches haven't all been reprinted as much recently, and newer sets tend to have much larger runs than older ones, due to the growth of the game, so fetches tend to find more demand and less supply than shocklands, the next most comparable Modern dual lands in demand.
You have all Cards except Goyf, Lili and Fetchlands?
So please tell us what do you own, because otherwise it's hard to evaluate what you could build up to.
If your Cardpool is lacking important Cards you should look at other Decks.
With a solid BUG Cardpool you can try to put together some of the listed decks:
It's also possible to build solid Decks in 1 or 2 Colors that just implement tiny splashes e.g. UB Control / Midrange with a W splash for Geist of Saint Traft + Lingering Souls.
Regarding Tarmogoyf and other pricey Cards:
If you start Soccer today, would you begin in the Premier League?
No, you have to start up from scratch. It's important to make a budgetwise decision and stick to it.
Buy a Deck, stick to it and trade up for better Cards slowly.
Invest into your Manabase step-by-step and dig deeper into your deck, knowing it from inside out.
if you got the BUG Manabase (psst, Darkslick Shores) i recommend buying into Dredge with the new released Cards.
It'll get up to Tier 2 soon and Prices will spike.
Green @ it's best