Your build looks pretty classic. I'm a big fan of hexdrinkers and I would recommend a payset. I would cut down to 3-4 evolving one drops. With the addion of hexdrinker and not running narnams pelt is slightly better. But it's down to prefrance.
I would drop Rhona's and steelleaf as they are a little slow and suck when you get stuck on lands. Rhona's may be worth bring back in of deathshadow decks become the dominant deck.
Barkhide troll is another solid cards that our new filler. So any left over slots tend to go to him.
I feel like you need at least a little removal (2 dismembers or savage swipes, should do it, with another dismember in the SB. )
The cards I would drop for this are 1-2 rancors.
On the SB with 3 scoozes and 4 militants I wouldnt bother running more that 1 relic. 8 bits of gy hate are enough. Especially with milatanat stoping loam and con kills from dreadge.
With the rise of sfm Collector ouhpe is going to become more and more relevent. So upping his number may be worth doing. I would also consider adding another bit of art/enc hate in rec sage to help take out chalices on 1-2 or ensuring bridges (that will be making a comeback now the format is slowing down and becoming more creature based.)
I would also drop bow as it doesn't really do enough in alot of matchups where you want it, and yes I would add 2-3 pitching needles to the sb. But be wear that jund can easily deal with them with abrupt decay, kcommand and trophy. So hex proof pump ins general better.
The general rule for mulling is you need
2 lands 2 cretures (at least one drop) and the either a third creture or a protection spell. The other 2 cards in you opening hand are the gravy.
Good rules of thumb that I use.
Mull down to 5 cards before considering keeping a one land hand.
Same rule for having 2 creatures. As with the decks very limited board draw you mulling is your best chance a a good game.
Pump spells are nice
Protection is essential. As it will offen win games through removal.
Looking at your list I would seriously consider dropping 1 land and one rancor for more creatures
(Probably 2 scavenging oozes I would also trade 2 basic lands for some utility lands.) This should help make things a little more consistant.
id add to you analysis on Auriok Champion. because this was a competitive event its placed really well to hate really hard on hogaak, phoenix, burn and deathshadow
it did pretty well in some locals fnms, (only 2/2s) but im still misplaying and there have been time when i could have easily gone 4/0 if i had been more careful and played correctly)
im currently tinkering with another design. a little more white heavy with a exile opponents stuff sub theme
i like the idea, loosing dead of winter is going to hurt, as i'm not sure how viable the deck is without a turn 3 wipe.
the true power of marit isn't the token at the end (although thats nice) its turning all your lands into free scrys and astrolabes into opts. and just the threat of the ultimate can force you opponent to make some pretty inopportune plays.
on lands /snow permanents, i feel like the number of none snows is going to hurt a little as only 14 of the lands can be with on thin ice and astrolabe. which might bring down the consistency (a couple copies of evo wilds and fields of ruin should help this as having lands tapped turn one is pretty reasonable in for a budget build)
the necessity of astrolabe is an interesting one. in my build its critical because,
1. it's a turn 1 snow permanent which turns dead of winter into a languish which makes it a lot more powerful in a meta with carrion feeder and thing in the ice.
2. is very solid mana fixing
3. the cantrip can be reused with Silumgar's Command (which means Silumgar's Command can do a much more accurate impression of cryptic)
4. it allows for stacking multiple scrys a turn off of slumber can really help churn through the deck.
but with two color and without some of the other interactions it dose loss some of its potency although with both archmages charm and absorb needing very specific mana it's arguable that the deck might need it to smooth out the mana base when its running 12 basics
i feel like i would want a couple of man lands in the deck even if just 2 copies of fairy conclaves. to help as closers.
i've also found running a couple of field of ruins can help in quite a few matchups while also working well with the snow theme
i've been playing around with 2 mb copies of Aven Mindcensor, and for budget list they do a solid job of slowing you opponent down, if you play in a meta with lots of fetchlands.
i've also been trailing Rule of Law in my sb. and if you can get it down it really acts as a hardlock against a huge number of decks currently in modern
(hogaak, phoenix, storm, reanimator, burn, urza combo, neoform, deathshadow variants that don't run G or W) and a lot of random strange brews
another card that i've been play around with is Blizzard Strix, on the surface it doesn't look great but being able to flickerwisp at flash that doesn't die to gutshot/wren and adding to the snow count may make it viable as an option (is strength against chalice, about to ult pw, tron, and creature deck are also nice bonuses)
gy hate isn't hard to change in the sb. the price of rest in peace is dropping a lot from spellbook and if worse come to worse just take in 4 tormod's crypts into sb
a couple of other questions, is the life gain significant enough from fumigate to so offset the extra mana when compared to supreme verdict or day of judgment?
a popular package u see popping up in budget w/u control build is 4 wall of omens, 2 resto angels and occasionally 2 mb Ojutai's Commands. do you feel like the pw are stronger in this slot?
lastly what's your thoughts on Narset, Parter of Veils?
Thought Id share, I've been having with the archtype as a budget control deck.
It can be slow but astral drift acts as pretty effective repeatable stall, a little like displacer, only cheaper to activate.
It a little slow for this build but may be worth playing with a more control orientated build
yeah wren sucks in the early game. and honestly there's not much i've found that can help. i personally feel this comes from a lack of any decent planeswalker removal in general (and not just in modern). your best bet is a turn 1 pithing needle as its the only thing that can stop your one drop dieing to wren on the draw. on the play it tends to be a little easier if your holding a significant amount of protection spells. but with jund playing decay, trophy and pulse there really is very little you can do keep your hate cards around.
if found that decent gy hate can also help shore up the matchup a little as they are unable to keep recurring lands, stops the reclaim and shrinks goyf but ahain it has to be sac to exile gy type effect (like crypt or relic) as leyline and scooze and rest in peace just dont last.
if your willing to go long with the game i've found that you can grind them out if you side all one drops except hex drinkers out game 2-3 and then only play hex dinkers as a 4 drop so you can lvl up immediately and remove all bobs with huge prejudice (strangleroot and kitchen finks are your friends in this matchup) (and you need to get at least a little lucky). but between lily and wren and the addition of other edict effects and there own hexdrinkers the matchup is almost as bad as eldrazi tron used to be. and i'm almost at the stage of just not sb for it and call the matchup a loss as it takes up so many sb slots and not doing so to side more effectively against decks when we can swing the advantage with the sb more significantly.
if its a big part of your meta the best card to use against jund are
kitchen finks
tormod's crypt
pithing needle
thrun
and mb rhonas.
and if your willing to take this risk, leyline of sanctity can make a large difference as well
ive also seen someone sb in nullhide ferox which seemed to do well but you need to go really lite of your inst and soc spells
not really if they cannot respond then they are probably a creature deck. probably dredge, human, vizia or taxes (maybe tron, or storm but if they do there thing it really doesn't matter much anyway)
in all of these builds where either card matters its better to have swipe than rancor.
assuming that your a 2 power onedrop turn one
turn 2 with swipe, you cast, (you protect with vines if needs be), you kill there blocker/combocreture/birds (hopefully a nice thalia or druid or noble(stop those turn three cocos)) and swing for 4 damage
with rancor you play your 2 power onedrop, you swing in with a 4/1 trample, you either get blocked and now you have no creature or they take the 4 and have a way to abuse there turn 1/2 drop for value or they just combo off and you don't get a third turn *cough* vizer/Carrion Feeder *cough*
in meta with fair magic you would be right but in the current meta having 2 more damage over a second turn (or even 4 dandge over 2 extra turns) is not as good as removal and damage now.
i would also point out that with gy decks being so strong in the current metas mainboard surgicals are pretty common when playing modern. normally these are dead cards against us but stompy has 2 good targets these are rancor and strangleroot. which isn't back breaking in itself but it is another point solidly in swipes corner.
after playing, gear hulk never really had an issue with targets, as its tends to be turn 7 plus and if you haven't found some instants in that time your pretty much dead anyway. and astrolabes and slumber do some serious work
i have literally just added 2 copies of Angel of Grace to my 75 to test over exemplars. ill see how they go.
another card ive been considering is Ulamog's Nullifier as on thin ices real issue is being ghost quartered or stone rained, which can be debilitating, but if the deck was running paths and with kayas guile as another enabler it might very well be a valuable option that shores up issues with the snow build. im not going to do so now (as i suspect its a bit of a build around) but possibly very viable in the future for a budget snow control.
agreed on azcanter although i suspect they will spike back up over the next 6 months (after rotation) similar to tireless tracker. just managed to get a copy for £5 locally to add in hear.
im a big fan of Creeping Tar Pits they have been a deciding factor more than once. and they are pretty cheap atm so worth picking up.
i think prohibit vs leak is very much a meta choice and as my local paper meta has a lot of tron leak is the one i have to use. (in a phoenix meta i agree i would prefer prohibit) not shore in a hogaak meta as leak can counter him pretty effectively.
similar to search i managed to borrow 2 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper for testing and i have to say shes extremely useful, if she had card draw it would be perfect but killing a one drop, vial and most importantly chalice, and woking as incidental gy hate + life gain. and most importantly having a very viable ultimate that dose win games, means she may be the best budget walker for the deck (after rotation drops her price to a reasonable level $4-5)
im my build at least im not sold on charm as the triple blue can be a serious issue, can see it being viable in a 2 color or mono deck (i've already added 3 to my mono u delver list :D)
i've been very impressed with sb damping spheres at the moment as there are alot of fast decks and it really dose stop a large amount of the meta going off. so have increased to 3 in sb.
i've also been very impressed with dovins veto in against control as it allows the deck to effectively fight planeswalkers with i have found to be the hardest thing to answer (especially baby tef which seems to be a almost guaranteed loss if your opponent untaps with it. ) (shame he's so pricey as he fits very nicely in hear. might just be viable as a 2-3 off in your <$200 list?)
i dont know about you but ive been a little underwhelmed by esper charm and very impressed with fact or fiction. im beginning to think that 3 fact 2 charm might be the way to go.
Is 22 lands a bit much? Isn't the deck supposed to be lower to the ground and run 18-20 lands?
Traditionaly its 21 lands. Lower if you run fetches and have a very low curve (14-16 1 drops). With the addion of barkhide troll and and the lack of powerful one in the budget list upping the lands helps a little with consitancy. While adding thickets help with flood as you can simply cycle them if you draw them after you hit your third land drop.
I think that if you play rancor you might as well play 4 since the penetration aid plus your never not wanting to have one in hand in this deck. Only 2 means your either waiting for it or its rarely relevant.
The biggest issue with rancors is the ability for an opponent to kill a creture your cast the rancor on befor it resolves meaning they 2/1 you. As stompy has no/very little card draw this can be a big issue. Once in a game is something you can recover from twice and it makes things almost unwinnable.
For penatration you already have swipes in the deck. And removal and pump is better payoff than pump and trample. So risk/reward swipe is better but you still don't what to many soc speed pumps so only 2 rancors.
i can add a generic sb as for the deck but its always better to make your own for your own local meta.
card choice,
pelt over eone: two reasons. the first reason for pelt is that as soon as you remove beloth and narnams the toughness clause becomes irrelevant. the second is that with the addition of savage swipe as removal the size at death clause on pelt can be used to increase its size.
savage swipe over mb dismember: first i recommend 2-3 dismembers sbto help deal with stuff swipe cannot. now reasons. with the addition of troll the 2 power claus is easy to reach and use. this paired with pelt collector synergy and the explosive turns it can offer makes it the strongest choice for a budget list. (it also hits a lot of relevant creatures with 4 damage, like thing in the ice and thought knot seer, while making our creatures survive fights with thalias, snaps, grave crawlers and Reflectors. )
it also adds to aggression of the deck which is needed i the current meta.
vines of blossoming: in a budget build of the deck, there is less focus needed for all out aggression. with the higher land count and the need for more effective pump vines is a better choice.
Tasigur has been awesome as a two of. Normally a late game value engine (rather that a beatsticks) he helps refil the hand while chumping goyfs and bloodghausts. He helps alot in that he's push proof and I don't have to tap out to make home work.
I think 2 is the right number for him
After testing the logic knots I agree, they have been droped.
Astrolabe has been a suprise alstar so uped to 4 mb.
Silumgar's has been constantly strong the only reason it's not a 3-4 of is its lack of card draw as a option.
Ojutai Exemplars was an interesting test but I don't think it completely fits. If the exile was till tend step then I would be perfect but not being able to dodge your own boardwipes and having to tap out for it hurts quite alot. (Although the tapping down of opponents big cretures and lifegain has been pretty solid.)
Slumber has been solid, the scry value from a land into a astrolabe into a thin ice has can be huge, pair this with the increased number of astrolabes and thin ices in the deck and slumber has been a reliable turn 7 with a rare turn 6.
Both veto and absorb have been pretty hard to cast on there respective turns so absorb has been droped and I'm considering alternatives for veto.
I think the deck needs another option over exemplars just to have another relevent body to help things along. Ideally with lifegain protection and card advantage but it's pretty bhard to fine something that fits the whole bill
so i have a friend obsessed with the lorwyn block(/s?) and has has been in love with earwig squad since it was first released. recently he deceded to give modern another try (after about 5 years) and went strait for the earwig squads and bitter blossoms, so after a good amount of me making him cut stuff and him trying to keep the deck as lorwyn esk as possible we eneded up with a ok build and we took it along for an fnm with a fairly developed meta and it went 3-1 and also beat 2 other proper decks in testing.
this list is as follows
the addition of changeling outcast has done wonders of the deck in terms of consistency, as unless its killed quickly it ends up being the main enabler of half the deck and a source of constant unavoidable damage.
the upgreads that will be made going forwad include 6 fetch lands and fatal pushes over defile.
the bitter blossoms are genuinely extremely powerful in a post bridgevine meta, as the boosted heavy removal midrange slowly takes over.
mathcups
simic tempo (with snakes), the build was suboptimal and was completey steamrollered by the rogues
grixis control: early bitter blossom g1 followd by a bad moon just won the game by its self. g2 morsel theft dug while keeping the game going and finly stuck a bitter blossom with a black guard, and destroyed there hand over 2 turns to get the win.
tron: (slight bugdet version using karn and latis combo) again the rogues destroyed the deck, an turn 2 thought size to take there board wipe shear overwhelming board state closed the game quickly and effectively. g2stuck a blossom, no big karn or ugin, lots of disruption and a stinkdrinker closed the game
mardu pyro: (fully updated with sesoned, guile, horizon lands) this game was close and ended in a 1-2 loss. all games where dead close with only the shear number to souls tokens and well timed removal swinging the game in favour of pyro this match could have easily gone either way.
also tested against
selenya zoo, rogues just out tempoed on the play, and with just a little disruption they really struggle to recover (although thalia and can be a big issue)
burn: about 50:50 between brutality, theft and cutthroat there is a fair amount of mb lifegain, but if burn is able to keep our creaters down and is able to draw into gas it can turn into a real uphill battle.
anyway thought id share this list on the off chance anyones playing around with the idea. mvps are bitterblossom, theft and earwig squad (in other events since and other matchups, this guy destroys combo and control decks, while also being able to go toe to toe with a goyf. )
would be interested in any suggestions for future improvements
with decks with this much discard you also need some value plays to offset the value loss.
the 2 big things i would add is bloodghast, and lingering souls, souls might requires a very small splash to white but with the sear amout of discard is should be a very very rare hand cast.
i would also consider gurmag angler. the reason normal jund doesn't run it is dark confidant makes you loos life equal to its mana cost. using visitor allows you to go a slightly different direction (you don't want to many as its not an unearth target, may 2 mb in the deck)
i also agree that bitterblossom is immensely in this style of deck, as the constant value engin should mean your able to outvalue control and always have a blocker against aggro.
I would drop Rhona's and steelleaf as they are a little slow and suck when you get stuck on lands. Rhona's may be worth bring back in of deathshadow decks become the dominant deck.
Barkhide troll is another solid cards that our new filler. So any left over slots tend to go to him.
I feel like you need at least a little removal (2 dismembers or savage swipes, should do it, with another dismember in the SB. )
The cards I would drop for this are 1-2 rancors.
On the SB with 3 scoozes and 4 militants I wouldnt bother running more that 1 relic. 8 bits of gy hate are enough. Especially with milatanat stoping loam and con kills from dreadge.
With the rise of sfm Collector ouhpe is going to become more and more relevent. So upping his number may be worth doing. I would also consider adding another bit of art/enc hate in rec sage to help take out chalices on 1-2 or ensuring bridges (that will be making a comeback now the format is slowing down and becoming more creature based.)
I would also drop bow as it doesn't really do enough in alot of matchups where you want it, and yes I would add 2-3 pitching needles to the sb. But be wear that jund can easily deal with them with abrupt decay, kcommand and trophy. So hex proof pump ins general better.
2 lands 2 cretures (at least one drop) and the either a third creture or a protection spell. The other 2 cards in you opening hand are the gravy.
Good rules of thumb that I use.
Mull down to 5 cards before considering keeping a one land hand.
Same rule for having 2 creatures. As with the decks very limited board draw you mulling is your best chance a a good game.
Pump spells are nice
Protection is essential. As it will offen win games through removal.
Looking at your list I would seriously consider dropping 1 land and one rancor for more creatures
(Probably 2 scavenging oozes I would also trade 2 basic lands for some utility lands.) This should help make things a little more consistant.
1x Cast Down
2x Esper Charm
3x Fact or Fiction
2x Fatal Push
1x Go for the Throat
3x Kaya's Guile
3x Mana Leak
2x Silumgar's Command
Creature (6)
2x Aven Mindcensor
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Torrential Gearhulk
2x Boreal Shelf
2x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Field of Ruin
4x Snow-Covered Island
6x Snow-Covered Plains
4x Snow-Covered Swamp
Enchantment (6)
2x Marit Lage's Slumber
3x On Thin Ice
1x Search for Azcanta
Sorcery (3)
3x Dead of Winter
4x Arcum's Astrolabe
1x Ashiok, Dream Render
2x Damping Sphere
1x Dead of Winter
2x Dovin's Veto
1x Kaya's Guile
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x On Thin Ice
2x Pithing Needle
2x Rebuild
2x Rule of Law
it did pretty well in some locals fnms, (only 2/2s) but im still misplaying and there have been time when i could have easily gone 4/0 if i had been more careful and played correctly)
im currently tinkering with another design. a little more white heavy with a exile opponents stuff sub theme
2x Boreal Shelf
2x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Field of Ruin
4x Snow-Covered Island
5x Snow-Covered Plains
5x Snow-Covered Swamp
2x Aven Mindcensor
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3x Ulamog's Nullifier
Artifact (4)
4x Arcum's Astrolabe
Instant (16)
1x Esper Charm
3x Fact or Fiction
3x Kaya's Guile
3x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
2x Silumgar's Command
2x Marit Lage's Slumber
3x On Thin Ice
1x Search for Azcanta
Sorcery (3)
3x Dead of Winter
i can't help think its missing something, if you can figure out any obvious omission in be interested.
the true power of marit isn't the token at the end (although thats nice) its turning all your lands into free scrys and astrolabes into opts. and just the threat of the ultimate can force you opponent to make some pretty inopportune plays.
on lands /snow permanents, i feel like the number of none snows is going to hurt a little as only 14 of the lands can be with on thin ice and astrolabe. which might bring down the consistency (a couple copies of evo wilds and fields of ruin should help this as having lands tapped turn one is pretty reasonable in for a budget build)
the necessity of astrolabe is an interesting one. in my build its critical because,
1. it's a turn 1 snow permanent which turns dead of winter into a languish which makes it a lot more powerful in a meta with carrion feeder and thing in the ice.
2. is very solid mana fixing
3. the cantrip can be reused with Silumgar's Command (which means Silumgar's Command can do a much more accurate impression of cryptic)
4. it allows for stacking multiple scrys a turn off of slumber can really help churn through the deck.
but with two color and without some of the other interactions it dose loss some of its potency although with both archmages charm and absorb needing very specific mana it's arguable that the deck might need it to smooth out the mana base when its running 12 basics
i feel like i would want a couple of man lands in the deck even if just 2 copies of fairy conclaves. to help as closers.
i've also found running a couple of field of ruins can help in quite a few matchups while also working well with the snow theme
i've been playing around with 2 mb copies of Aven Mindcensor, and for budget list they do a solid job of slowing you opponent down, if you play in a meta with lots of fetchlands.
i've also been trailing Rule of Law in my sb. and if you can get it down it really acts as a hardlock against a huge number of decks currently in modern
(hogaak, phoenix, storm, reanimator, burn, urza combo, neoform, deathshadow variants that don't run G or W) and a lot of random strange brews
another card that i've been play around with is Blizzard Strix, on the surface it doesn't look great but being able to flickerwisp at flash that doesn't die to gutshot/wren and adding to the snow count may make it viable as an option (is strength against chalice, about to ult pw, tron, and creature deck are also nice bonuses)
gy hate isn't hard to change in the sb. the price of rest in peace is dropping a lot from spellbook and if worse come to worse just take in 4 tormod's crypts into sb
a couple of other questions, is the life gain significant enough from fumigate to so offset the extra mana when compared to supreme verdict or day of judgment?
a popular package u see popping up in budget w/u control build is 4 wall of omens, 2 resto angels and occasionally 2 mb Ojutai's Commands. do you feel like the pw are stronger in this slot?
lastly what's your thoughts on Narset, Parter of Veils?
2x Akroma, Angel of Fury
2x Eldrazi Displacer
2x Fiend Hunter
4x Flickerwisp
2x Restoration Angel
2x Sagu Mauler
4x Soul Warden
4x Street Wraith
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Wall of Omens
4x Battlefield Forge
2x Ghost Quarter
7x Plains
4x Secluded Steppe
4x Shefet Dunes
Enchantment (5)
3x Astral Drift
2x Cast Out
4x Ephemerate
Thought Id share, I've been having with the archtype as a budget control deck.
It can be slow but astral drift acts as pretty effective repeatable stall, a little like displacer, only cheaper to activate.
It a little slow for this build but may be worth playing with a more control orientated build
if found that decent gy hate can also help shore up the matchup a little as they are unable to keep recurring lands, stops the reclaim and shrinks goyf but ahain it has to be sac to exile gy type effect (like crypt or relic) as leyline and scooze and rest in peace just dont last.
if your willing to go long with the game i've found that you can grind them out if you side all one drops except hex drinkers out game 2-3 and then only play hex dinkers as a 4 drop so you can lvl up immediately and remove all bobs with huge prejudice (strangleroot and kitchen finks are your friends in this matchup) (and you need to get at least a little lucky). but between lily and wren and the addition of other edict effects and there own hexdrinkers the matchup is almost as bad as eldrazi tron used to be. and i'm almost at the stage of just not sb for it and call the matchup a loss as it takes up so many sb slots and not doing so to side more effectively against decks when we can swing the advantage with the sb more significantly.
if its a big part of your meta the best card to use against jund are
kitchen finks
tormod's crypt
pithing needle
thrun
and mb rhonas.
and if your willing to take this risk, leyline of sanctity can make a large difference as well
ive also seen someone sb in nullhide ferox which seemed to do well but you need to go really lite of your inst and soc spells
in all of these builds where either card matters its better to have swipe than rancor.
assuming that your a 2 power onedrop turn one
turn 2 with swipe, you cast, (you protect with vines if needs be), you kill there blocker/combocreture/birds (hopefully a nice thalia or druid or noble(stop those turn three cocos)) and swing for 4 damage
with rancor you play your 2 power onedrop, you swing in with a 4/1 trample, you either get blocked and now you have no creature or they take the 4 and have a way to abuse there turn 1/2 drop for value or they just combo off and you don't get a third turn *cough* vizer/Carrion Feeder *cough*
in meta with fair magic you would be right but in the current meta having 2 more damage over a second turn (or even 4 dandge over 2 extra turns) is not as good as removal and damage now.
i would also point out that with gy decks being so strong in the current metas mainboard surgicals are pretty common when playing modern. normally these are dead cards against us but stompy has 2 good targets these are rancor and strangleroot. which isn't back breaking in itself but it is another point solidly in swipes corner.
i have literally just added 2 copies of Angel of Grace to my 75 to test over exemplars. ill see how they go.
another card ive been considering is Ulamog's Nullifier as on thin ices real issue is being ghost quartered or stone rained, which can be debilitating, but if the deck was running paths and with kayas guile as another enabler it might very well be a valuable option that shores up issues with the snow build. im not going to do so now (as i suspect its a bit of a build around) but possibly very viable in the future for a budget snow control.
agreed on azcanter although i suspect they will spike back up over the next 6 months (after rotation) similar to tireless tracker. just managed to get a copy for £5 locally to add in hear.
im a big fan of Creeping Tar Pits they have been a deciding factor more than once. and they are pretty cheap atm so worth picking up.
i think prohibit vs leak is very much a meta choice and as my local paper meta has a lot of tron leak is the one i have to use. (in a phoenix meta i agree i would prefer prohibit) not shore in a hogaak meta as leak can counter him pretty effectively.
similar to search i managed to borrow 2 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper for testing and i have to say shes extremely useful, if she had card draw it would be perfect but killing a one drop, vial and most importantly chalice, and woking as incidental gy hate + life gain. and most importantly having a very viable ultimate that dose win games, means she may be the best budget walker for the deck (after rotation drops her price to a reasonable level $4-5)
im my build at least im not sold on charm as the triple blue can be a serious issue, can see it being viable in a 2 color or mono deck (i've already added 3 to my mono u delver list :D)
i've been very impressed with sb damping spheres at the moment as there are alot of fast decks and it really dose stop a large amount of the meta going off. so have increased to 3 in sb.
i've also been very impressed with dovins veto in against control as it allows the deck to effectively fight planeswalkers with i have found to be the hardest thing to answer (especially baby tef which seems to be a almost guaranteed loss if your opponent untaps with it. ) (shame he's so pricey as he fits very nicely in hear. might just be viable as a 2-3 off in your <$200 list?)
i dont know about you but ive been a little underwhelmed by esper charm and very impressed with fact or fiction. im beginning to think that 3 fact 2 charm might be the way to go.
Traditionaly its 21 lands. Lower if you run fetches and have a very low curve (14-16 1 drops). With the addion of barkhide troll and and the lack of powerful one in the budget list upping the lands helps a little with consitancy. While adding thickets help with flood as you can simply cycle them if you draw them after you hit your third land drop.
The biggest issue with rancors is the ability for an opponent to kill a creture your cast the rancor on befor it resolves meaning they 2/1 you. As stompy has no/very little card draw this can be a big issue. Once in a game is something you can recover from twice and it makes things almost unwinnable.
For penatration you already have swipes in the deck. And removal and pump is better payoff than pump and trample. So risk/reward swipe is better but you still don't what to many soc speed pumps so only 2 rancors.
this is a solid budget build (under $50 from tcg)
4x Dryad Militant
2x Kessig Prowler
4x Pelt Collector
4x Avatar of the Resolute
3x Barkhide Troll
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Strangleroot Geist
3x Steel Leaf Champion
16x Forest
2x Hashep Oasis
2x Tranquil Thicket
2x Treetop Village
Instant (6)
3x Aspect of Hydra
3x Vines of Vastwood
4x Savage Swipe
Enchantment (2)
2x Rancor
i can add a generic sb as for the deck but its always better to make your own for your own local meta.
card choice,
pelt over eone: two reasons. the first reason for pelt is that as soon as you remove beloth and narnams the toughness clause becomes irrelevant. the second is that with the addition of savage swipe as removal the size at death clause on pelt can be used to increase its size.
savage swipe over mb dismember: first i recommend 2-3 dismembers sbto help deal with stuff swipe cannot. now reasons. with the addition of troll the 2 power claus is easy to reach and use. this paired with pelt collector synergy and the explosive turns it can offer makes it the strongest choice for a budget list. (it also hits a lot of relevant creatures with 4 damage, like thing in the ice and thought knot seer, while making our creatures survive fights with thalias, snaps, grave crawlers and Reflectors. )
it also adds to aggression of the deck which is needed i the current meta.
vines of blossoming: in a budget build of the deck, there is less focus needed for all out aggression. with the higher land count and the need for more effective pump vines is a better choice.
This is now my current list
1x Cast Down
2x Dovin's Veto
2x Esper Charm
2x Fact or Fiction
2x Fatal Push
3x Kaya's Guile
2x Mana Leak
2x Silumgar's Command
Creature (6)
2x Ojutai Exemplars
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Torrential Gearhulk
Land (24)
2x Boreal Shelf
2x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Field of Ruin
2x Frost Marsh
4x Snow-Covered Island
4x Snow-Covered Plains
4x Snow-Covered Swamp
2x Marit Lage's Slumber
3x On Thin Ice
Sorcery (3)
3x Dead of Winter
Artifact (6)
4x Arcum's Astrolabe
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Ashiok, Dream Render
3x Damping Sphere
1x Dead of Winter
2x Detention Sphere
2x Dovin's Veto
1x On Thin Ice
2x Rebuild
2x Settle the Wreckage
Updates and info
Tasigur has been awesome as a two of. Normally a late game value engine (rather that a beatsticks) he helps refil the hand while chumping goyfs and bloodghausts. He helps alot in that he's push proof and I don't have to tap out to make home work.
I think 2 is the right number for him
After testing the logic knots I agree, they have been droped.
Astrolabe has been a suprise alstar so uped to 4 mb.
Silumgar's has been constantly strong the only reason it's not a 3-4 of is its lack of card draw as a option.
Ojutai Exemplars was an interesting test but I don't think it completely fits. If the exile was till tend step then I would be perfect but not being able to dodge your own boardwipes and having to tap out for it hurts quite alot. (Although the tapping down of opponents big cretures and lifegain has been pretty solid.)
Slumber has been solid, the scry value from a land into a astrolabe into a thin ice has can be huge, pair this with the increased number of astrolabes and thin ices in the deck and slumber has been a reliable turn 7 with a rare turn 6.
Both veto and absorb have been pretty hard to cast on there respective turns so absorb has been droped and I'm considering alternatives for veto.
I think the deck needs another option over exemplars just to have another relevent body to help things along. Ideally with lifegain protection and card advantage but it's pretty bhard to fine something that fits the whole bill
this list is as follows
4x Changeling Outcast
3x Earwig Squad
4x Oona's Blackguard
4x Stinkdrinker Bandit
4x Vampire Cutthroat
Enchantment (8)
4x Bad Moon
4x Bitterblossom
2x Field of Ruin
3x Mutavault
13x Swamp
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sorcery (10)
2x Collective Brutality
4x Morsel Theft
4x Thoughtseize
3x Defile
3x Bontu's Last Reckoning
3x Damping Sphere
1x Faerie Macabre
4x Nihil Spellbomb
3x Pithing Needle
1x Plague Engineer
the addition of changeling outcast has done wonders of the deck in terms of consistency, as unless its killed quickly it ends up being the main enabler of half the deck and a source of constant unavoidable damage.
the upgreads that will be made going forwad include 6 fetch lands and fatal pushes over defile.
the bitter blossoms are genuinely extremely powerful in a post bridgevine meta, as the boosted heavy removal midrange slowly takes over.
mathcups
simic tempo (with snakes), the build was suboptimal and was completey steamrollered by the rogues
grixis control: early bitter blossom g1 followd by a bad moon just won the game by its self. g2 morsel theft dug while keeping the game going and finly stuck a bitter blossom with a black guard, and destroyed there hand over 2 turns to get the win.
tron: (slight bugdet version using karn and latis combo) again the rogues destroyed the deck, an turn 2 thought size to take there board wipe shear overwhelming board state closed the game quickly and effectively. g2stuck a blossom, no big karn or ugin, lots of disruption and a stinkdrinker closed the game
mardu pyro: (fully updated with sesoned, guile, horizon lands) this game was close and ended in a 1-2 loss. all games where dead close with only the shear number to souls tokens and well timed removal swinging the game in favour of pyro this match could have easily gone either way.
also tested against
selenya zoo, rogues just out tempoed on the play, and with just a little disruption they really struggle to recover (although thalia and can be a big issue)
burn: about 50:50 between brutality, theft and cutthroat there is a fair amount of mb lifegain, but if burn is able to keep our creaters down and is able to draw into gas it can turn into a real uphill battle.
anyway thought id share this list on the off chance anyones playing around with the idea. mvps are bitterblossom, theft and earwig squad (in other events since and other matchups, this guy destroys combo and control decks, while also being able to go toe to toe with a goyf. )
would be interested in any suggestions for future improvements
the 2 big things i would add is bloodghast, and lingering souls, souls might requires a very small splash to white but with the sear amout of discard is should be a very very rare hand cast.
i would also consider gurmag angler. the reason normal jund doesn't run it is dark confidant makes you loos life equal to its mana cost. using visitor allows you to go a slightly different direction (you don't want to many as its not an unearth target, may 2 mb in the deck)
i also agree that bitterblossom is immensely in this style of deck, as the constant value engin should mean your able to outvalue control and always have a blocker against aggro.