If it's any help as far as what the "average" pauper cube looks like, my list should be included below in the signature, it's a fairly typical one as far as I know.
The thing about Oakgnarl, is you can't really get card advantage or extra quality with it. Havenwood Wurm, you can flash it in to make a surprise block. Krosan Tusker, you can cycle for 2 cards. Walker of the Grove, a little overcosted for the base stats but you get a free 4/4 when it dies. Sandwurm, you can cycle, or at least when it attacks, they have to sacrifice their better cards to block it.
Oakgnarl... while the stats abilities are pretty good, attacking on turn 8+ is all it can do. Thats what makes it slightly worse than the others in my book.
One of the settings I'm contemplating for my Theros campaign is thousands of years before the canon events of Theros, with the main focus being on a forgotten RG god that existed before Xenagos.
Another idea for Zendikar, if you don't want to have any mention of Eldrazi (like my playgroup likely would want), is to make the setting way far back before Eldrazi or any canon characters ever appeared on the plane. Additionally, if you create a sound explanation reason for why the Roil doesn't exist, you have room for much more developed urban environments, while the plane is still big enough have a lot of cool untamed nature, I think.
lol, I guess my design philosphy is "make it so far forward/back in time that it doesn't effect the canon". Whether or not that turns out to be a good idea, remains to be seen
Usually I'm an EDH player, but I've been jamming Pauper which has given me a taste for 1v1 constructed. Since there's no pauper paper community but there is some kind of modern community I've been looking to expand into this format as well.
Cards I own: Random EDH singles. A few mono-black pauper staples which likely don't scale up to Modern / are not legal in Modern.
Colours I like: Every colour offers something worth playing, its all about how you use it.
Style I would like to play: Generally find myself preferring control. My theory is that control is better than aggro in this format on a budget for two reasons. Firstly you can better handle running slower lands. Secondly you can easily kill a Tarmogoyf etc with a 1c Doom Blade but its hard to run creature pressure that compares. However open to anything highly interactive that wins through damage as opposed to combo. Strongly dislike all in aggro, combo or other very linear deck styles, but fine with say an aggro deck that has a lot of interactive elements.
Budget: Very low. I have no budget whatsoever for buying expensive lands, I hate that element of the game with a passion.
Level for playing: FNM
Mainly looking at mono-blue or mono-black as going one colour seems the best choice on a budget and these are the best 1 colour control options. If there is a feasible way to go two colour without getting absolutely smashed by any half decent deck then I'm all ears.
Try 8-Whack, basically it's mono-red goblins. If you cut Goblin Guide or wait for it to be reprinted, the deck should be pretty cheap, and its quite fun to play.
Hey guys, long time lurker looking to finally get into modern! Need some help picking a deck because I'm really torn...
Cards you already own:
Not many, I mostly play EDH so what I do own are singles, random thing like Bolts, one to two fetch and shock lands, etc. but not enough to specify.
Colors you like to play:
Blue!!! My favorites would be Blue > White | Black > Red > Green. I'm ok with playing almost anything that isn't red & green, but if it helps those are my preferences.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I like to play control, aggro, midrange, and tempo. I know that isn't really specific but I've enjoyed all the styles. I probably prefer tempo and midrange the most, while aggro and control are tied as not too far back. The only thing I don't like about control is 30+ minutes games. I prefer games to take about 4-10 turns, something like that.
Budget you have:
Starting: $200. I have stuff to trade so that can go up, and I am looking to build into a bigger modern collection, so I'd prefer to get a deck I can upgrade.
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq):
FMN, if I ever get good enough would love to compete, but would have to spend a lot more to get there. Just looking to learn the metagame while building a deck.
Decks I've been looking at:
Merfolk, Affinity, UW control, Azorious Titan, Delver, Jeskai Nahiri. I was originally looking to stay away from decks with snapcaster, noble hierarch, and scalding tarn, but I am anticipating reprints in 2017 so I can definitely build into them I think.
Any help would be grateful, thanks!
I can't remember exactly how expensive Esper Zur is, but you might be able to build it for under $200 if you cut some of the more expensive lands. Basically, its a WUB tempo/control deck that uses a creature called Zur the Enchanter to cheat powerful enchantments into play. You might also enjoy budget UR Delver, which I have posted in this thread before, or Death and Taxes. Both of those decks can be easily upgraded if your budget expands. There is also Mono-Blue Tron, although I have heard that the deck isn't as competitive as it once was and may have gotten a lot more expensive.
etc. There are so many creatures you can choose from, lots of room for exploration. You can definitely make a decent Zoo build for $150-$200. You might need to stick to RG starting out since budget 3-color landbases can be unreliable. Then later you can upgrade the land base with the RG and GW fetches (they're cheapest they'll ever get right now), shocklands and Goblin Guide(both possibly will be reprinted in MM2017), Knight of the Reliquary and Atarka's Command, and even later down the road, the legendary Tarmogoyf (which, oddly enough, not all Tier 1 Zoo decks even play)
Fully-upgraded Zoo lists have been on and off the Tier 1 list for a while, however you can also branch off into two decks that are Tier 1 right now, RGW Burn or Suicide Zoo
I also made a UR Bedlam Delver thread a while ago, which is aggressive and really fun to play. It's a Tempo/Aggro deck, you can play it two ways: one with more focus on tempo, and one with more focus on aggro
I've had a few people suggest a Nivmagus Elemental/Ground Rift build, but I don't know... it seems pretty explosive but not consistent enough. I'd imagine that having Ground Rift or Nivmagus Elemental in hand without other spells to make them better, would be pretty bad. You still have to negate the effects of your own spells in order to pump Nivmagus.
Right now I'm testing a variant with Pyro instead of Stormchaser and removing Twisted Image for other stuff... Stormchaser just seems really mediocre if you don't have Twisted Image, and even then...
Buy Spirebluff Canals while they're cheap--they'll be a 4-of in this deck. In non-budget versions of UR Delver, these will probably replace Sulfur Falls and some fetches, but you could probably run it alongside the Falls in this deck. Here's the land base I suggest...
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Sulfur Falls
6 Island
3 Mountain
If you're going the super aggressive route, you definitely want 15 lands, 15 creatures, and 30 instants/sorceries, this way Delver has a 50% blind flip chance. Abbot of Keral Keep can be run in this version, but you might want to add another land or two, and cut some/all of the countermagic as it nonbo's with Abbot.
If you're going the tempo-oriented route, add 2 Shivan Reef or something to get the land count up to 17. I would suggest Young Pyromancer in this version as it allows you to build up a defense vs. creature-heavy decks. Snapcaster Mage would be really good here too, so watch out for that MM2017 reprint; you can use him to replace Pyro or Swiftspear. I also suggest some mainboard Flame Slash, maybe replacing some Forked Bolt, as it will kill lots of the emerging midrangey creatures out there like non-spirit Anafenza, Spellskite, 4-toughness Goyfs, TKS, and Grim Flayers, while it's cmc is still low enough to be worth using it on smaller creatures.
TITI is cheaper now too, and hes a great sideboard card vs Jund.
Keep in mind that with Rukh Egg, if you use the Arabian Nights version, this can make an interesting Dredge card. If you make a house rule for your cube where you ignore the oracle text and play with it exactly as worded, it will create a 4/4 token when it gets milled or discarded, not just when it dies.
I really like Wings of the Guard because you don't want to block much with 2-power flyers anyway, while the buff it gets on attack makes it more resilient to 1-power flyers (spirit tokens, etc). Plus if you plan to have 3+player games it can be more fun.
I was originally going to post this in the "UR Cheapo Delver" thread, but that thread seems dead...
I've built this deck to see if I can make a cheap deck that can compete with a LGS meta full with stock tier 1-2 lists, as my LGS is.
Bedlam Reveler has seen a lot of discussion concerning Delver lists. I like the card because it's a pseudo-Treasure Cruise, which comes with a beater. This means that we don't have to splash Green for goyfs or Black for delve creatures, and we don't have to shell out the money for good landbases to accomodate such a splash. This deck I built is more aggressive than your typical UR Delver, opting for Stormchaser Mage over Young Pyromancer, and Monastery Swiftspear over Snapcaster Mage. However, Bedlam Reveler gives the deck more of a late game plan. Delver decks with Reveler will undoubtedly be better vs midrange than they were without it, but I think only time will tell if Reveler is enough to make the midrange matchups even. Though right now, Jund is the only competitively played midrange deck
3 Bedlam Reveler rather than 4 seems correct. We should still be able to hit it consistently with our 16 cantrips. Having two Revelers in hand is a difficult situation because you can't play one without discarding the other. Additionally, you simply can't cast him early on like you can a Goyf.
I play Stormchaser Mage over Young Pyromancer because he's better at pushing through damage and works well with Twisted Image. However, Young Pyro may be more correct, especially in a different meta. I don't fully know.
Snapcaster Mage nonbos slightly with Bedlam Reveler, because Snappy tends to get stuck in your hand, and exiles cards from your grave. So it may be that Monastery Swiftspear is better in this deck, budget aside. I'll have to do more testing to be sure. Not running Snapcaster also allows us to run Pyroclasm in the sideboard, since Delver of Secrets is our only creature that will die when we cast it. I think Delver decks were lacking one-sided board sweeps, and 'clasm works a lot like Affinity's Whipflare here.
Twisted Image works really well in this deck as it cantrips, and all of our Prowess creatures have higher toughness than power. It also kills the many 0-power creatures in competitive decks, such as Infect's/Abzan CoCo's/Bant Eldrazi's Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise, Affinity's Signal Pest and Ornithopter, Suicide Zoo's Steppe Lynx, and random Spellskites.
After optimizing my TCGPlayer cart, this deck cost about $150, which I call budget if you are comparing to the average modern deck's $400-2,000 price tag.
I'm quite sure I've mentioned Terastodon as a card more than enough times in this thread, and it's for sure in the primer itself. But I've cut it lately and continue to advocate to cut it except if you're anticipating RG Tron as a matchup. I play it at one location if a specific guy shows up, otherwise it sits collecting dust.
The RG Tron matchup has been giving me some difficulty lately. My past sideboard plan was to side out Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Unburial Rites, since they can very easily be exiled by their early planeswalkers. However, I still found difficulty establishing the thopter combo for the same reason. Then I remembered that Terastodon is a thing. Not a lot of people run it anymore, but now that I think about it, it works well in some of UW Tron's worst situations, such as a a resolved Karn Liberated/Stony Silence, or if Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle is pinging a lot, or as a way to win the Colonnade war late game versus control.
Terastodon gives us a reason to keep Unburial Rites in versus RG Tron. Next time I face against that deck I'll let you all know how I feel about it. Something I didn't think of may pop up during testing.
Sorry for taking so long to reply. Your reply intrigues me because it seems to me that you should already be okay vs burn. You run 2 total Timely Reinforcements, you can Gifts Ungiven for Baneslayer Angel, you have 2 Celestial Purge sideboard, and you play Mana Leak. Luck probably has a lot to do with it. Although I do have some tips. I would cut the Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and the 2 Relic of Progenitus from the sideboard for other stuff. If you're running a card only for the shuffle effect, it's probably not worth it. Also, graveyard-based decks aren't that prevalent in the overall meta right now. However if your local meta is different and there are more reasons why you would want shuffle/grave hate, obviously continue to run them. However I would cut them for more cards that are better against burn. As much as I like Meddling Mage as a card, I also don't think he makes the cut. We'd rather not waste our singly copy of Unburial Rites on him, and if you resolve him you pretty much have to name their removal, or else they will just remove him, so he very rarely stops them from casting their important cards. Lastly you should probably run more artifacts. In order to consistently discard artifacts when casting Thirst for Knowledge, we probably need no less than 8 mainboard. This is where Crucible of Worlds, Chalice of the Void, and/or Mindslaver can help (mainly Chalice if you're worried about burn). Hope this helps.
Hey guys, so the main cards I see in Eternal Masters that we would consider in Caw-Blade would be Peregrine Drake, Warden of Evos Isle, and maybe Humble. Also Stupefying Touch might be a sideboard card. Thoughts? I think we might be able to use both flyers. 1-mana Squadron Hawk, 3-4-mana Mulldrifter and 2-3-mana Seraph of Dawn seems legit. I'll try to post a preliminary list utilizing some of these cards soon.
The set also reminded me of Memory Lapse, although we already have access to it, is it a card we can consider in Caw-Blade or is it better to just max out on Counterspell/Prohibit?
Oakgnarl... while the stats abilities are pretty good, attacking on turn 8+ is all it can do. Thats what makes it slightly worse than the others in my book.
Another idea for Zendikar, if you don't want to have any mention of Eldrazi (like my playgroup likely would want), is to make the setting way far back before Eldrazi or any canon characters ever appeared on the plane. Additionally, if you create a sound explanation reason for why the Roil doesn't exist, you have room for much more developed urban environments, while the plane is still big enough have a lot of cool untamed nature, I think.
lol, I guess my design philosphy is "make it so far forward/back in time that it doesn't effect the canon". Whether or not that turns out to be a good idea, remains to be seen
Try 8-Whack, basically it's mono-red goblins. If you cut Goblin Guide or wait for it to be reprinted, the deck should be pretty cheap, and its quite fun to play.
I can't remember exactly how expensive Esper Zur is, but you might be able to build it for under $200 if you cut some of the more expensive lands. Basically, its a WUB tempo/control deck that uses a creature called Zur the Enchanter to cheat powerful enchantments into play. You might also enjoy budget UR Delver, which I have posted in this thread before, or Death and Taxes. Both of those decks can be easily upgraded if your budget expands. There is also Mono-Blue Tron, although I have heard that the deck isn't as competitive as it once was and may have gotten a lot more expensive.
Sup dude,
Sounds like your friend would love playing RG/RGW Zoo. I would suggest looking up a primer thread for the deck somewhere. You can start out with lots of cheap stuff like:
Flinthoof Boar
Kird Ape
Loam Lion
Wild Nacatl
Burning-Tree Emissary
Qasali Pridemage
Hooting Mandrills
Loxodon Smiter
Ghor-Clan Rampager
Lightning Bolt
etc. There are so many creatures you can choose from, lots of room for exploration. You can definitely make a decent Zoo build for $150-$200. You might need to stick to RG starting out since budget 3-color landbases can be unreliable. Then later you can upgrade the land base with the RG and GW fetches (they're cheapest they'll ever get right now), shocklands and Goblin Guide(both possibly will be reprinted in MM2017), Knight of the Reliquary and Atarka's Command, and even later down the road, the legendary Tarmogoyf (which, oddly enough, not all Tier 1 Zoo decks even play)
Fully-upgraded Zoo lists have been on and off the Tier 1 list for a while, however you can also branch off into two decks that are Tier 1 right now, RGW Burn or Suicide Zoo
I also made a UR Bedlam Delver thread a while ago, which is aggressive and really fun to play. It's a Tempo/Aggro deck, you can play it two ways: one with more focus on tempo, and one with more focus on aggro
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/budget-modern/738332-ur-bedlam-delver
Hope this helps
Right now I'm testing a variant with Pyro instead of Stormchaser and removing Twisted Image for other stuff... Stormchaser just seems really mediocre if you don't have Twisted Image, and even then...
Buy Spirebluff Canals while they're cheap--they'll be a 4-of in this deck. In non-budget versions of UR Delver, these will probably replace Sulfur Falls and some fetches, but you could probably run it alongside the Falls in this deck. Here's the land base I suggest...
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Sulfur Falls
6 Island
3 Mountain
If you're going the super aggressive route, you definitely want 15 lands, 15 creatures, and 30 instants/sorceries, this way Delver has a 50% blind flip chance. Abbot of Keral Keep can be run in this version, but you might want to add another land or two, and cut some/all of the countermagic as it nonbo's with Abbot.
If you're going the tempo-oriented route, add 2 Shivan Reef or something to get the land count up to 17. I would suggest Young Pyromancer in this version as it allows you to build up a defense vs. creature-heavy decks. Snapcaster Mage would be really good here too, so watch out for that MM2017 reprint; you can use him to replace Pyro or Swiftspear. I also suggest some mainboard Flame Slash, maybe replacing some Forked Bolt, as it will kill lots of the emerging midrangey creatures out there like non-spirit Anafenza, Spellskite, 4-toughness Goyfs, TKS, and Grim Flayers, while it's cmc is still low enough to be worth using it on smaller creatures.
TITI is cheaper now too, and hes a great sideboard card vs Jund.
I was originally going to post this in the "UR Cheapo Delver" thread, but that thread seems dead...
I've built this deck to see if I can make a cheap deck that can compete with a LGS meta full with stock tier 1-2 lists, as my LGS is.
Bedlam Reveler has seen a lot of discussion concerning Delver lists. I like the card because it's a pseudo-Treasure Cruise, which comes with a beater. This means that we don't have to splash Green for goyfs or Black for delve creatures, and we don't have to shell out the money for good landbases to accomodate such a splash. This deck I built is more aggressive than your typical UR Delver, opting for Stormchaser Mage over Young Pyromancer, and Monastery Swiftspear over Snapcaster Mage. However, Bedlam Reveler gives the deck more of a late game plan. Delver decks with Reveler will undoubtedly be better vs midrange than they were without it, but I think only time will tell if Reveler is enough to make the midrange matchups even. Though right now, Jund is the only competitively played midrange deck
3 Bedlam Reveler
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Stormchaser Mage
Instants (18)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Thought Scour
4 Twisted Image
2 Vapor Snag
Sorceries (10)
2 Forked Bolt
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
6 Island
3 Mountain
2 Shivan Reef
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Dispel
3 Dragon's Claw
1 Electrolyze
1 Izzet Charm
3 Molten Rain
1 Negate
2 Pyroclasm
2 Smash to Smithereens
1 Distortion Strike
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Gut Shot
1 Izzet Charm
1 Mutagenic Growth
1 Remand
1 Shattering Spree
1 Young Pyromancer
3 Bedlam Reveler rather than 4 seems correct. We should still be able to hit it consistently with our 16 cantrips. Having two Revelers in hand is a difficult situation because you can't play one without discarding the other. Additionally, you simply can't cast him early on like you can a Goyf.
I play Stormchaser Mage over Young Pyromancer because he's better at pushing through damage and works well with Twisted Image. However, Young Pyro may be more correct, especially in a different meta. I don't fully know.
Snapcaster Mage nonbos slightly with Bedlam Reveler, because Snappy tends to get stuck in your hand, and exiles cards from your grave. So it may be that Monastery Swiftspear is better in this deck, budget aside. I'll have to do more testing to be sure. Not running Snapcaster also allows us to run Pyroclasm in the sideboard, since Delver of Secrets is our only creature that will die when we cast it. I think Delver decks were lacking one-sided board sweeps, and 'clasm works a lot like Affinity's Whipflare here.
Twisted Image works really well in this deck as it cantrips, and all of our Prowess creatures have higher toughness than power. It also kills the many 0-power creatures in competitive decks, such as Infect's/Abzan CoCo's/Bant Eldrazi's Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise, Affinity's Signal Pest and Ornithopter, Suicide Zoo's Steppe Lynx, and random Spellskites.
After optimizing my TCGPlayer cart, this deck cost about $150, which I call budget if you are comparing to the average modern deck's $400-2,000 price tag.
What do you guys think?
Yeah you did mention it, I just completely forgot
My current list is the following:
3 Azorius Signet
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Expedition Map
1 Mindslaver
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Thopter Foundry
Creatures (4)
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Thought-Knot Seer
Instants (18)
2 Condescend
3 Remand
4 Path to Exile
1 Repeal
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Day of Judgment
1 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Unburial Rites
Lands (24)
3 Urza's Mine
3 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
1 Academy Ruins
1 Buried Ruin
3 Celestial Colonnade
2 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Tolaria West
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
1 Hangarback Walker
2 Trinket Mage
1 Terastodon
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Spellskite
1 Disenchant
1 Spell Snare
2 Negate
2 Timely Reinforcements
Terastodon gives us a reason to keep Unburial Rites in versus RG Tron. Next time I face against that deck I'll let you all know how I feel about it. Something I didn't think of may pop up during testing.
The set also reminded me of Memory Lapse, although we already have access to it, is it a card we can consider in Caw-Blade or is it better to just max out on Counterspell/Prohibit?