MTG Salvation

Can't afford Tarmogoyf but still want to play one of Modern's best decks? Here are some list and card choice ideas for aspiring Junk/Abzan mages who don't have the big bucks.

Budget lists
Here is an idea for a budget Junk list.



Budget substitutions
Almost every successful Junk list is going to run cards like Goyf, Thoughtseize, Liliana of the Veil, Verdant Catacombs, Abrupt Decay, and so on. Others may run staples like Dark Confidant, Voice of Resurgence, and other pricier tech. Although these cards will ultimately be necessary for a top tier Junk list, there are lots of substitutions you can make when you are starting out that will give you both a competitive deck and won't cost as much as a used car.

Tarmogoyf replacements

1. Scavenging Ooze: If you aren't running Goyf, run a playset of these instead. They beat up enemy Goyfs, are quite affordable, and are maindecked answers for lots of graveyard based decks in the format.
2. Tasigur, the Golden Fang: Another strong choice if you aren't (or even are!) running Goyf. He shrinks enemy Goyfs and blocks the average 4/5 Goyf to a stalemate. His ability will also help you grind out long games. This card is getting a little expensive, but it is unlikely to hit a ceiling higher than 10-15 and is a great investment.

Other budget creature choices

1. Siege Rhino: The best $5-$6 you will ever spend on a Junk rare. "Bloodbraid Rhino", to quote Junk player Willy Edel, is a powerhouse that gives you game in both the midrange and aggro matchup. This beast is also the main reason why Junk is the preferred BGx archetype of choice these days.
2. Pack Rat: 2-3 of these in your maindeck all but guarantee a strong matchup against grindy decks. Short of hard sweepers and Maelstrom Pulse, this card is almost impossible to kill in the mirror match.
3. Kitchen Finks: Aggro decks beware! Finks is a monster in the aggro matchup and against midrange decks that choose to take an aggressive posture in your matches. The card is affordable, extremely versatile, and fits well into a lot of Junk decks.
4. Knight of the Reliquary: Another great option against slower decks. An unanswered Knight is very hard to keep down, and it has the added advantage of thinning your deck. Be wary that Knight will require fetchlands to make her work, so if you can't afford those then this isn't the card for you.
5. Putrid Leech: Old school beater that does a fair Goyf impression while also costing life. I'm not really calling this a Goyf substitute because it can't actually block the average 4/5 Goyf, but it's a decent option for aggressive decks.

Dark Confidant replacements

1. Phyrexian Arena: Although Arena doesn't have legs, it's by far the best replacement for Confidant in a midrange deck. It has the same effect as Bob, is much harder for most decks to remove, and costs you way less life. Although it comes down a turn later, this is generally acceptable for BGx decks that aren't playing Liliana anyway. Also, although Bob's legs were a benefit in previous metagames, the removal-heavy Modern of today is generally very hostile to Bob. This makes Arena a strong choice.
2. Courser of Kruphix: Although not as consistent a source of card advantage over Bob, Courser still gives you some extra draw power, alongside a much more durable body and a nice lifegain engine.

Liliana of the Veil replacements
(NOTE: Lilly is even harder to replace than the other cards in this deck, so these budget alternatives aren't really good substitutes for her)

1. Phyrexian Arena: If you aren't dropping Lilly on turn 3, Arena becomes a great choice. Strong in slower matchups, just like Lilly, and an almost guaranteed win if you hold it out there long enough.
2. Necrogen Mists: If Lilly's discard is your main reason for running her (for instance, if you are in a combo or control-heavy metagame), then Mists fulfills that same role while being far less vulnerable to removal. The loss of the removal option is too bad, but Mists is brutal on decks that need their hands intact.

Thoughtseize replacements

1. Inquisition of Kozilek: If you aren't running TS anymore, then IoK is your new discard of choice. Modern mostly curves out at 4, so IoK tends to hit almost everything of value in the format.
2. Despise: Rhino, Resto Angel, Primeval Titan, Lilly, and others got you down? Despise is your backup discard of choice to keep those cards from hitting play.
3. Duress: The venerable Duress is probably the most well-rounded supplement to your IoKs. Although it doesn't hit creatures at all, almost all Modern decks have non-creature spells that are worth hitting, even decks that are historically creature and aggro heavy.

Abrupt Decay replacements
(NOTE: AD is really not that expensive, so you should look to investing in these earlier rather than later)

1. Maelstrom Pulse: Slightly cheaper ($$wise) than AD and a good card anyway. 2 CMC is very different from 3 CMC, and the uncounterability is rough in some matchups, but overall Pulse is a very strong card that you will probably collect anyway.
2. Putrefy: Decent super-budget replacement for AD. 3 mana is still a lot, but hitting artifacts and creatures is great for metagames that have lots of Junk and Affinity.
3. Hero's Downfall: Strong replacement if you are already coming over from Standard and have these cards in your binder already. If you aren't worried about enchantments and artifacts, Downfall is going to hit everything else that matters.
4. Victim of Night/Doomblade/Go for the Throat: These 2 CMC removal spells are great inclusions in any deck, especially if you are starting at an FNM or local level where creature-based strategies are more common.
5. Golgari Charm: Versatile substitute that hits enchantments, kills small threats, and saves your big guys.
6. Abzan Charm: Super versatile substitute that's a little higher on the curve. Kills creatures, saves and pumps your own guys, and even gets card advantage. Great choice for budget-minded players because it covers a lot of bases.

Manabase ideas

1. Windswept Heath: The cheapest of the Junk fetchlands, owing to its reprinting in KTK and FRF. If you are serious about Modern then you need to own these lands anyway, so you might as well start with the cheapest one that also most helps your deck.
2. Overgrown Tomb/Temple Garden/Godless Shrine: These cards got reprinted in RTR block for a reason; to support Modern's manabase. These cards are MANDATORY to play many decks in this format, so you need to get them ASAP. They are pretty cheap as of early 2015, so it's a good time to cash in.
3. Woodland Cemetery: Checklands are some of the cheapest and most under-appreciated lands in the format. Non-budget lists use these cards, so that's always a good sign when picking budget alternatives. Also check out Isolated Chapel and Sunpetal Grove, depending on your color balance.
4. Stirring Wildwoods: A great dual land that also doubles as a win condition and blocker. Again, non-budget lists use this, so it's a good investment early in your Abzan journey. Also see Treetop Village.
5. Llanowar Wastes/Caves of Koilos/Brushland: The classic "painlands" are a bit pricier today than before the recent Standard season, but they are still budget minded alternatives to fetchlands. Beware using these in aggressive metagames.

Sick guide! I may throw this together at some point.

Quote from destroyermaker »

Sick guide! I may throw this together at some point.

Trying to do some for other Tier 1 archetypes too, especially with the budget discussion rules changing on 2/9. It's not quite fair to tell the budget Junk players to go to this subforum if they don't really have a home. So this is a good start; Junk is probably the most-requested-for budget list, from what I have seen.

My problem is that I have I have lillies and bobs, but Goyf is on such a level of its own expense wise. The list I'm currently working with is something like

I was thinking about cutting tasigur and cut for some number of bob and Pack rat.

If this is the wrong place for this, my apologies.

Quote from spidernova »

My problem is that I have I have lillies and bobs, but Goyf is on such a level of its own expense wise. The list I'm currently working with is something like

ktkenshinx's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4x Heath 4x Verdant Catacombs 2x temple garden 3x overgrown tomb 2x swamp 1x forest 2x Godless shrine 1x plains 1x stirring wildwood 2x tectonic edge	Planswalkers 3x Liliana of the Veil 1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor Creatures 3x scavenging ooze 3x Voice of Resurgence 4x seige rhino 1x anafenza 2x Tasigur Sorcery 4x Lingering souls 3x thoughtseize 3x Inqusition of kozilek 2x Maelstrom pulse	Instants 3x Abrupt Decay 2x Path To Exile 1x murderous cut 1x slaughter pact

I was thinking about cutting tasigur and cut for some number of bob and Pack rat.

If this is the wrong place for this, my apologies.

This is the perfect place to discuss lists like this. If you are just substituting for Goyfs, I would suggest going heavy on the Scooze and the delve cards. The idea is to both play cards that are good replacements for Goyf, but also cards that shrink enemy Goyfs so you don't have to worry as much about them. Your current list seems like it's doing a good job in that regard, but you could maybe squeeze in the 4th Scooze or something like Gurmag Angler/

I just felt kind of bad posting a list that really isn't all that cheap in the budget section.

Sideboard is somthing liie

• 2x Phyrexian Arena
  
• 2x stony silence
  
• 2x choke
  
• 2x quasli pridemage
  
• 1x spellskite
  
• 1x Sigarda, host of Herons
  
• 1x thoughtseize
  
• 1x Scavenging Ooze

Cant remember the rest.

The list im running is kind of budget. More so kust goyfless. I have everything else. I chose not to run my confidants.I feel like they just are not worth it in the current meta. I regularly stomp the other guy who plays a version with goyf and confidants...I don't feel at a disadvantage at all. I regularly beat twin,burn,soul sisters, u tron,rg tron, tokens, affinity,living end,american control, and some homebrew stuff.

Hello, nice thread! Do you think it is possible to fit whip strategies in this primer? Sorry if I am offtopic!

If you are on a budget don't play Jund/Junk, without Goyf, Liliana and Thoughtseize it's not really good at all. There are other potential midrange decks going around that are cheaper/easier to budget than this versions. Also this list isn't really budget anyway (fetchlands, voice of resurgence... etc).

@ franciscok what do you recommend then?

I think it's fine playing jund/junk without those cards. Yes, they are extremelly good and tested cards. But there are lot's of other very powerfull cards out there that people don't play, as well as strategies. But that's my opinion, feel free to back up yours with an alternative.
The only alternative I see is Dega midrange, but that also runs Dark Confidant and Lilianas.

I didn't say you can't play Jund/Junk colors with other cards, but one thing is making a different shell/strategy with the same colors another thing is trying to copy a deck by trying to replace unreplaceable cards if you get my drift. What's cheap often turns out to be expensive, this one of those cases. As a jund player I have trouble against many t1 and some t2, sure there are good match ups but even the good matchups need to be piloted very carefully and skillfully, you can't make any mistake with Jund decks, I don't know about Junk, but I can imagine it being similar and that's playing with the good cards goyf/liliana/yada/yada. If your going to spend 400USD or Euro in a budget version of the deck, remember that apart from having to be even more skillfull at the game you won't have free wins derivated from "god" hands or opponents making mistakes. They will have to make mistakes and have really bad drawsteps for you to get anywhere.

That's why I do not recommend trying to budget jund/junk colors. If you budget a storm deck, you can get away with a small percentage loss of wins. Same applyed to burn before it relied so much in running two and three colors. Zoo decks can also be budgeted by running RG instead of Naya or even Domain. But playing a budget jund is asking to go 0-4 every FNM.

I think thtat the spirit of this forums is doing thing on budget: on Junk primers ther's a big fat red advise: do not discuss budget alternative/choises here, do it in budget forum. If we can't discuss on budget here we can't talk about it at all. So ofc replacing 80 euros of liliana is sub-optimal, it's not a mistery. We're here to reduce sub-optimal more than we can, not to suggest to play other Tier 1 or 2 decks just because cost less

Hi guys. I need some advice here: i'm build a budget version here:



Ok here's the questions:

1) I know that Tarmogoyf can't be replaced, and i know what ai want in that spot: ATM i'm on Pack Rat and i love it...but not in this deck. This "junk" impression was actually a G splash for my deadguy's ale, but suddenly became something more. Pack Rat fits amazingly in BW midrange, with Mutavalut and stuff, but not quite here apperentrly; I need a 2 drop who can make preassure: if you dont' deal immediatly with it can create problems.
Quirion Dryad -> i'm quite amuze by this. If opponent won't bolt/terminate/path/etc she grow big widout efforts...allowing me to procede with my plan. If she get removed, is a less removal for Rhino, Anafenza, Lingering, etc...if she don't, she grow...too bad she is a lost top deck in late game or with an empty hand. This make me think about Skinshifter, overral worse, can be bolted in response ... but a lot better in late game. With Discard on T1 can be played safely...but again, he require G every turn, and make your T3 worse, counting that i have a lot of 3 drop.
On the other hand Pack Rat is the best top deck you can make in Late, but almost usless in T2; in Bw append that you can safely play t2 rat and copy by 3° turn or swinging for 4 damage wiht Mutavault, but sems unlykley here. I need some advice and suggestion. Any idea?

2) About Phyrexian Arena and Abzan Charm: Arena won me a lot of games and i really love her, but i was thinking that i can fill other 2 Charms and saving 1 slot for 2° Anafenza or the 4° Path of 4° 2CMC drop...what do you guys think?

3) I miss a lot Blood Baron of Vizkopa, do you think can fill him in MB or is better sideboard card?

Thnx for the attention and i'm wating for your opinion guys!

Very cool thread! I'd like to try to do the same for a Jund list actually.

Quote from Paghus »

Hi guys. I need some advice here: i'm build a budget version here:

Barachai's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 1 Anafenza, the foremost 1 Gurmrag Angler 2 Tasigur, The golden Fang 3 Scavenging Oooze 3 Pack Rat 3 Siege Rhino Enchantment 3 Phyrexian Arena Instant 3 Abrupt Decay 2 Abzan Charm 1 Dismember 3 Path to Exile	Sorcery 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 3 Thoughtseize 3 Lingering Souls 2 Maelstorm Pulse Lands (23) 2 Godless Shrine 1 Plains 2 Swamp 1 Vault of the Archangel 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 4 Bloodstained Mire 2 Ghost Quarter 3 Windswept Heath 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Forest 2 Stirring Wildwood 1 Treetop Village 1 Temple Garden

Ok here's the questions:

1) I know that Tarmogoyf can't be replaced, and i know what ai want in that spot: ATM i'm on Pack Rat and i love it...but not in this deck. This "junk" impression was actually a G splash for my deadguy's ale, but suddenly became something more. Pack Rat fits amazingly in BW midrange, with Mutavalut and stuff, but not quite here apperentrly; I need a 2 drop who can make preassure: if you dont' deal immediatly with it can create problems.
Quirion Dryad -> i'm quite amuze by this. If opponent won't bolt/terminate/path/etc she grow big widout efforts...allowing me to procede with my plan. If she get removed, is a less removal for Rhino, Anafenza, Lingering, etc...if she don't, she grow...too bad she is a lost top deck in late game or with an empty hand. This make me think about Skinshifter, overral worse, can be bolted in response ... but a lot better in late game. With Discard on T1 can be played safely...but again, he require G every turn, and make your T3 worse, counting that i have a lot of 3 drop.
On the other hand Pack Rat is the best top deck you can make in Late, but almost usless in T2; in Bw append that you can safely play t2 rat and copy by 3° turn or swinging for 4 damage wiht Mutavault, but sems unlykley here. I need some advice and suggestion. Any idea?

2) About Phyrexian Arena and Abzan Charm: Arena won me a lot of games and i really love her, but i was thinking that i can fill other 2 Charms and saving 1 slot for 2° Anafenza or the 4° Path of 4° 2CMC drop...what do you guys think?

3) I miss a lot Blood Baron of Vizkopa, do you think can fill him in MB or is better sideboard card?

Thnx for the attention and i'm wating for your opinion guys!

Random: four rhino's are better than 3. I'd drop the third pack rat, honestly (they come down late and you don't need to see more than 1)

1) Kitchen Finks is a very good card. Also, Grisly salvage could let you get more angler/tasigur value, is a thought.

2) With tasigur and abzan charm already in the mix, not sure if there is any need for arena's; I have found 4 path to be very nice.

3) Blood Baron is definitely sideboard; if you want to go big mainboard, Thragtusk is solid (and cheap!), though upping the land count to 24 would be wise. Also, Wrath of God can surprise people, works well with souls/finks, and can make up for not having the card advantage normally gained by having Liliana of the Veil.

My .02

This is what I'm considering making. I set it up so that it can be purchased reasonably, but so that it also can slowly grow overtime by having the subs be replaced by the stronger versions. Arena turns into Liliana, Dismember and downfall to path to exile and abrupt decay, and Duress to thoughtseize. I may switch Anafenza to Loxodon Smiter, since I may want to have Scavenging ooze instead of some of these cards.

My main concern with this deck is that the mana curve is a tad high, which, granted, will change once abrupt decay and path get added back in.

I decided to sub in Fleecemane Lion for Goyf. I don't think this will be too difficult to play with proper mana fixing. I like Fleecemane because in addition to being a 2 drop, it comes out from the gate as a whopping 3/3, giving you early board presence. It's ability, while hard to pull off, commands respect and can force out a removal spell from your opponent. And, if you get out its monstrosity, it gives you a big power boost. I understand Goyf is probably better, but I definately think this card is fills the void pretty well.

I went with 2 courser due to there not being too much use in having more than 1, and I put in 2 Anafenza/Tasigur due to them being Legendary.

I added in Elspeth as a sort of win condition at the top of my mana curve, though I feel like there's a better choice out there.

Any thoughts in how I can improve this? Advice on how to do the lands?

Hi there!
First i'll consider Abzan Charm: is versitile, can save you creatures from bolt, can exile and make you some extra draw.

Scooze is for sure solid choise! I love anafenza too and i'm playng 2x, same for tasigur.
3x dismember is too much...think about it; same for hero's downfall.


About elspeth: i'm using new sorin wich is awsome; if you can afford duble W try the khint-errant: she is amaizing!

Quote from Paghus »

Hi there!
First i'll consider Abzan Charm: is versitile, can save you creatures from bolt, can exile and make you some extra draw.

Scooze is for sure solid choise! I love anafenza too and i'm playng 2x, same for tasigur.
3x dismember is too much...think about it; same for hero's downfall.


About elspeth: i'm using new sorin wich is awsome; if you can afford duble W try the khint-errant: she is amaizing!

I'll look into abzan charm. Is there any reason as to why I don't want 3 dismember/hero's downfall? They're sort of replacements for path and deca as removal. I suppose I could choose some better ones, maybe. What would you suggest?

My main concern with ooze is that, if I have an anafenza out, then it won't be able to do as much. suppose it's still good. What do you suggest I take out for the scooze?

Quote from MajorMajora »

Quote from Paghus »

Hi there!
First i'll consider Abzan Charm: is versitile, can save you creatures from bolt, can exile and make you some extra draw.

Scooze is for sure solid choise! I love anafenza too and i'm playng 2x, same for tasigur.
3x dismember is too much...think about it; same for hero's downfall.


About elspeth: i'm using new sorin wich is awsome; if you can afford duble W try the khint-errant: she is amaizing!

I'll look into abzan charm. Is there any reason as to why I don't want 3 dismember/hero's downfall? They're sort of replacements for path and deca as removal. I suppose I could choose some better ones, maybe. What would you suggest?

My main concern with ooze is that, if I have an anafenza out, then it won't be able to do as much. suppose it's still good. What do you suggest I take out for the scooze?

About Abzan Charm: help a lot exiling stuff, you can draw 2 extra cards in dead moments, and buff your own creatures if needed. Hero's downfall is nice but a CMC 3 removal is usually good in singleton more than multiple copyes.

About anafenza and scooze: anafenza exile only opponent's greveryard and this mean that you can recycle your own dead creatures! Scooze is nice 2 drop, consider it as replacement of Lions who are really slow.

Elspeth: i live her but 6 lands? Why not knight-errant? Or New Sorin? We play anough creature to use them nicely!