I thought this deck should be posted up because it's one of the stronger budget options around. The main deck is pretty solid, but I need some help figuring out the sideboard.
So I don't have a deep understanding of this deck's match-ups, but clearly we have multiple combo pieces that can close a game out. Electrostatic Pummeler grows exponentially as energy grows linearly. Invigorated Rampage or Larger than Life with nine energy gives you 40 attack power and trample. We can also potentially end the game with double strike, or even just a good beat-down if our opponent doesn't get off their feet quickly enough.
The sideboard should run Swamp and three Cartouche of Ambition. This is for the match-up against Ramunap Red and other aggro decks. There's also the possibility of running three Duress for the control match-up. Beyond that it becomes difficult to determine what else could go into the sideboard because our strong mid-range options are too pricey for a budget deck. This is where some new thoughts are needed.
I would look into GR Energy and UG Energy decks. They are relatively cheap and have a lot of the basic cards that go into a Temur Energy deck. It might give you something to play while you build up your collection for a more expensive deck.
TBuzzsaw, very cool deck. I play-tested it some and it was quite fun. It was impressive how much staying power it had with all the card draw and token generators.
Okay, I'm considering a build that's pretty similar to some existing builds. Very similar in fact.
Strategic Planning is a great card in this deck because you can pick 1 card out of 3 and dump the other 2 in your graveyard, which is helpful. However, it takes up the 2-drop slot which already has eight members. I thought Opt was a reasonable inclusion for a 1-drop. It's not as powerful as Strategic Planning, but it is half the cost and becomes our only 1-drop in the main. I've simplified the lands for more efficiency with less tap lands. I don't know if that's good or not. Overall, since it's similar to existing decks that seem to have had some success, I'm sure it's decent in its own right.
I've never played magic in a public environment, but from what I've heard there are a lot of players who say inappropriate, rude, or nasty things to women who play the game.
Yeah see, I feel like this is very problematic. You've NEVER played magic in a public environment, and yet you're already assuming based on what people have said on the internet that it's a cesspool of misogyny. Are there bad apples? Sure, but in my experience they're pretty far between - and they're way more likely to be well-meaning awkward idiots than intentionally hateful. And giving random people on the internet carte blanche to go "defend women's honor" is going to result in some major-league cringe-fests that are probably a lot more painful than someone being slightly condescending or whatever. Not that you can't tastefully stick up for someone if you feel someone is being treated unfairly, but if there's a problem the magic community has, it's more likely to be awkward social stupidity than it is misogyny (and I include myself in being an awkward idiot as well, btw).
Long story short, I'd recommend you actually make an effort to have more than zero experience before making broad generalizations or advocating for vigilante justice.
Calling a judge if you think something steps over the line into harassment seems like the best policy - I still imagine it will generate plenty of cringe, but at least you have an impartial observer, and if they are in fact behaving badly they can be removed from the store, instead of just getting defensive, making everyone uncomfortable, and accomplishing nothing.
What a dramatic interpretation of what I said. I never said there was a cesspool of misogyny. I never said anything referencing vigilante justice. Some of what you're saying is the very reason why I didn't say those things.
I've never played magic in a public environment, but from what I've heard there are a lot of players who say inappropriate, rude, or nasty things to women who play the game. That sucks, and I think approaching such people and suggesting to them that they change whatever it is they are doing would help everyone. If they are really obstinate and refuse to change then at least standing up to them will make someone feel less alone, and maybe they'll feel some pressure to change over time.
The solution to this is clear. You call the judge (even at your local LGS) and report the behavior. If I'm at the table next to someone verbally harassing ANYONE, I call the judge and report it. JUST LIKE CHEATING. If the store doesn't take care of it, whether I'm the target or not, I'm not going to play there anymore. They are responsible to keep a safe/good environment for their customers.
I know my local store will not tolerate abusive behavior or cheating and you use the system to weed out the flak. Unfortunately it takes diligence and usually repeated reports to really get someone removed but once on alert the judges and your fellow players will help keep people honest/respectful or help get them gone.
I didn't know you could report cheating or bad behavior. I need to get out more.
This is a complex deck. It's hard for me to really critique it without playing it myself some. One thing I notice is that you have Druid of the Cowl but only one potential 4-drop in the deck. This means that if you get a turn 2 Druid of the Cowl then on the following turn you'll have no real use for the extra mana with your third land drop. The deck is rather complex so I'm not sure how I would improve this, but maybe just keep an eye on Druid of the Cowl during play-testing and see how it performs, and if you can imagine something more useful in its place.
The other thing I notice is that there are only 9 green sources in the deck that are lands. The numbers for drawing a green source by turn 2 or turn 3, when factoring in Reason // Believe are decent, but I wonder if they should be MORE than decent considering your entire strategy relies on drawing that one green source.
I'm not sure if that helps but I just wanted to leave some thoughts. It looks like a fun deck with a lot of variety, and a lot of cards I don't usually see played.
I've never played magic in a public environment, but from what I've heard there are a lot of players who say inappropriate, rude, or nasty things to women who play the game. That sucks, and I think approaching such people and suggesting to them that they change whatever it is they are doing would help everyone. If they are really obstinate and refuse to change then at least standing up to them will make someone feel less alone, and maybe they'll feel some pressure to change over time.
The benefits of this approach are many I think. Everyone is treated with respect, everyone gets a chance to change what they're doing that's bothering someone else, and everyone can actually do it in real life.
It'd be interesting to test the deck out against mono-white vampires. I haven't seen anyone try warriors but the build makes sense and it looks fun.
Edit: The only thing about the build that I'm questioning at the moment is the number of tap lands (~6). You score well on color sources, but your curve is slowed down for an aggro deck. With only 23 lands and Scavenger Grounds there's kind of a high demand for tap lands though.
I think there is more to mana curves than meets the eye. I think good mana curves are related to the Rayleigh distribution, NOT the normal distribution. Also there seems to be some hidden but simple arithmetic rules for a good mana curve that no one knows about. Mana curves haven't been studied by serious mathematicians that I know of, so it's up to hobbyists to pick up the slack.
Lots of possibilities! I'm going to experiment with some of the other colors, but I'll talk about the upsides to blue. The deck plays a little bit like a combo deck, where the combo is Etenralize + Anointed Procession. Having extra card draw helps you get to your combo pieces, but also Champion of Wits is very powerful late game. For 7 mana you draw 8 discard 4 with Anointed Procession. Drawing 4 discard 2 isn't bad either. And you can discard your creatures without feeling too bad because they have eternalize. Chart a Course acts as support, and Negate is helpful for the control match-up.
It's true that there isn't a lot of blue in the deck, and going more than two colors might be beneficial too.
Especially the first two decks inspired me, whereas the last one is more of an aggressive token build. But I do like some of the themes of the aggressive build. Oketra's Monument works poorly with eternalize, but well with Anointed Procession. I might actually take it out of the deck because it's power level isn't what I hoped for. I will put MORE of it in a deck that is more creature-heavy though.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary doesn't work with eternalize, so I feel like it belongs in a more creature-heavy deck. I could try making a creature-heavy version of this deck.
On the other hand, it might be possible to build a more aggressive UW deck in the vein of the third deck I linked, where Temmet, Vizier of Naktumun might find play, but definitely Aven Wind Guide.
I'm going to work on some revisions and alternatives now.
This is my first shot at a non-budget deck. I did quite a bit of studying up to this point so I hope it's on the right track. I really like the style of play so I'm considering building the deck in real life, but before I build it I want to make it as solid as possible to save money. As far as I know no one has perfected a deck based on embalm/eternalize and Anointed Procession. I doubt I'll perfect it, but I'd like to try. I put a lot of thought into each card choice and multiplicity choice, but there is so much more to consider.
Post your deck's land count, mana cost distribution, and the number of turns you want to play your cards efficiently, and I'll tell you how good your mana curve is.
How does it work? I wrote a program that simulates deck play literally millions of times to determine the most efficient mana curve given land count, whether you're on the play or not, and how many turns you want to play efficiently. If you want to play the first 8 turns as efficiently as possible, then just specify "8 turns." The simulator considers mulligans and even makes decisions about how to play cards in hand intelligently (should I play two 2-drops on turn 4 or a 3-drop and a 1-drop?). Then I use a hill climbing algorithm to find the best mana curve possible, and divide average mana spent of your mana curve by the average mana spent by the best mana curve. This gives you how good your mana curve is as a fraction of the best mana curve possible.
Note: Unfortunately I can't incorporate ramp spells and card draw with the program I've written, but I've still found my algorithm useful for rough checks on my mana distributions. It has also guided my taste in how to craft a good mana distribution.
2nd Note: If your highest cost card is 5, then a good choice for turn count is 5. If your highest cost card is 7, then a good choice for turn count is 7. But non-equal numbers can work too.
I actually only use news for vague updates on what's going on in the world, but if I want to really learn something then I read research papers. You can be informed on a surprising number of issues in the world by reading research that has already been done rather than reading the news. For example, how does illegal immigration impact the economy? Economists and others have studied this and you can read their findings to get a sense of what the impacts might be and with what levels of certainty. Be careful about low quality research though. Encyclopedias are a good starting point for finding research papers too, or books. If you read a book then be careful because they aren't all golden. I like to read critical book reviews and do some fact checking before believing everything I read. It really comes down to how much time and energy I have for the subject.
I just want to note that if you run Solemn Recruit alongside Narnam Renegade then your color consistency will be moderate rather than great, and you'll need to play lands that enter the field tapped which will also slow your curve. Running Devoted Crop-Mate in its place makes color consistency and curve better. I really like the deck by the way.
I can't possibly cover everything that goes into building a deck, but I can suggest a starting point: tribes. Pick a format you like, and figure out what the solid tribes are for that format. For example, in standard there are dinosaurs, zombies, vampires, and so on. Learn all the cards in the tribe you choose, and learn what the best support cards are for the colors that that tribe consists of. For example, if you choose vampires, then you want to learn what the common and useful black and white cards are, as well as all of the cards that are vampires or have some effect related specifically to vampires. Next, create a list of about 26 of the best creatures in that tribe you can find. Put in about 10 support cards, like Cast Out, Walk the Plank, and so on. Put in about 24 lands. You've made your first deck, and it should be an okay deck too. Next you can see how other people built that same deck, practice playing that deck, and make modifications.
That's how I started out, and I thought it was a good mixture of learning, fun, and effectiveness. When you're ready to get serious then learn all of the cards in the format you're interested in, study the top tier decks, and plow through the "MtG Deck Building Series" on youtube. That series is really good and covers everything from probability calculations to deck testing.
The main deck below is a near-copy of this deck:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/james-stevenson/r-g-pummeler/1306781
I swapped a Bristling Hydra for another Harnessed Lightning, to lower the chance of getting duplicates of Bristling Hydra and to provide extra removal. I also got rid of Sheltered Thicket for Mountain as I'm not a fan of tap lands in aggressive decks, and the color base is already quite good.
4 Electrostatic Pummeler
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Voltaic Brawler
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Samut, Voice of Dissent
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Invigorated Rampage
3 Harnessed Lightning
4 Blossoming Defense
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Samut, the Tested
Sorceries (5)
4 Attune with Aether
1 Larger Than Life
4 Aether Hub
4 Hashep Oasis
4 Rootbound Crag
6 Forest
3 Mountain
So I don't have a deep understanding of this deck's match-ups, but clearly we have multiple combo pieces that can close a game out. Electrostatic Pummeler grows exponentially as energy grows linearly. Invigorated Rampage or Larger than Life with nine energy gives you 40 attack power and trample. We can also potentially end the game with double strike, or even just a good beat-down if our opponent doesn't get off their feet quickly enough.
The sideboard should run Swamp and three Cartouche of Ambition. This is for the match-up against Ramunap Red and other aggro decks. There's also the possibility of running three Duress for the control match-up. Beyond that it becomes difficult to determine what else could go into the sideboard because our strong mid-range options are too pricey for a budget deck. This is where some new thoughts are needed.
Example UG Energy Deck:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/nickzeppelin13/u-g-energy/1307526
Example GR Energy Deck:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/james-stevenson/r-g-pummeler/1306781
Example Temur Energy Deck:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/dolermin/temur-energy/1307519
Okay, I'm considering a build that's pretty similar to some existing builds. Very similar in fact.
4 Sunscourge Champion
4 Angel of Sanctions
4 Champion of Wits
4 Adorned Pouncer
Enchantments (8)
4 Anointed Procession
2 Ixalan's Binding
2 Cast Out
3 Opt
Sorceries (7)
4 Chart a Course
3 Fumigate
Land (26)
4 Glacial Fortress
12 Plains
8 Island
2 Field of Ruin
2 Vizier of Many Faces
4 Authority of the Consuls
2 Gideon's Intervention
4 Negate
2 Spell Pierce
1 Fumigate
Strategic Planning is a great card in this deck because you can pick 1 card out of 3 and dump the other 2 in your graveyard, which is helpful. However, it takes up the 2-drop slot which already has eight members. I thought Opt was a reasonable inclusion for a 1-drop. It's not as powerful as Strategic Planning, but it is half the cost and becomes our only 1-drop in the main. I've simplified the lands for more efficiency with less tap lands. I don't know if that's good or not. Overall, since it's similar to existing decks that seem to have had some success, I'm sure it's decent in its own right.
I've still yet to experiment with other colors.
What a dramatic interpretation of what I said. I never said there was a cesspool of misogyny. I never said anything referencing vigilante justice. Some of what you're saying is the very reason why I didn't say those things.
I didn't know you could report cheating or bad behavior. I need to get out more.
The other thing I notice is that there are only 9 green sources in the deck that are lands. The numbers for drawing a green source by turn 2 or turn 3, when factoring in Reason // Believe are decent, but I wonder if they should be MORE than decent considering your entire strategy relies on drawing that one green source.
I'm not sure if that helps but I just wanted to leave some thoughts. It looks like a fun deck with a lot of variety, and a lot of cards I don't usually see played.
The benefits of this approach are many I think. Everyone is treated with respect, everyone gets a chance to change what they're doing that's bothering someone else, and everyone can actually do it in real life.
It'd be interesting to test the deck out against mono-white vampires. I haven't seen anyone try warriors but the build makes sense and it looks fun.
Edit: The only thing about the build that I'm questioning at the moment is the number of tap lands (~6). You score well on color sources, but your curve is slowed down for an aggro deck. With only 23 lands and Scavenger Grounds there's kind of a high demand for tap lands though.
It's true that there isn't a lot of blue in the deck, and going more than two colors might be beneficial too.
Here are the three decks that inspired me, excluding my mono-white monument budget deck:
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/auron9999/w-u-embalm/1295977
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/furikawari/w-u-eternalize/1296369
https://decks.tcgplayer.com/magic/standard/slapjackson/w-u-monument/1296402
Especially the first two decks inspired me, whereas the last one is more of an aggressive token build. But I do like some of the themes of the aggressive build. Oketra's Monument works poorly with eternalize, but well with Anointed Procession. I might actually take it out of the deck because it's power level isn't what I hoped for. I will put MORE of it in a deck that is more creature-heavy though.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary doesn't work with eternalize, so I feel like it belongs in a more creature-heavy deck. I could try making a creature-heavy version of this deck.
So my thoughts currently are that a GW build would use more creatures, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, and the third Oketra's Monument.
On the other hand, it might be possible to build a more aggressive UW deck in the vein of the third deck I linked, where Temmet, Vizier of Naktumun might find play, but definitely Aven Wind Guide.
I'm going to work on some revisions and alternatives now.
2 Oketra's Monument
Creatures (16)
3 Champion of Wits
4 Sunscourge Champion
3 Angel of Sanctions
2 Sacred Cat
4 Adorned Pouncer
Enchantments (10)
3 Legion's Landing
4 Anointed Procession
2 Cast Out
1 Ixalan's Binding
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Chart a Course
2 Fumigate
Lands (24)
12 Plains
8 Island
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Authority of the Consuls
2 Gideon's Intervention
4 Negate
2 Fumigate
Example:
5 Turns (On the Play)
Lands: 24
1drop - 4
2drop - 8
3drop - 12
4drop - 8
5drop - 4
Score: 98.76% (excellent)
Example:
5 Turns (On the Play)
Lands: 24
1drop - 12
2drop - 6
3drop - 6
4drop - 6
5drop - 6
Score: 92.88% (mediocre)
How does it work? I wrote a program that simulates deck play literally millions of times to determine the most efficient mana curve given land count, whether you're on the play or not, and how many turns you want to play efficiently. If you want to play the first 8 turns as efficiently as possible, then just specify "8 turns." The simulator considers mulligans and even makes decisions about how to play cards in hand intelligently (should I play two 2-drops on turn 4 or a 3-drop and a 1-drop?). Then I use a hill climbing algorithm to find the best mana curve possible, and divide average mana spent of your mana curve by the average mana spent by the best mana curve. This gives you how good your mana curve is as a fraction of the best mana curve possible.
Note: Unfortunately I can't incorporate ramp spells and card draw with the program I've written, but I've still found my algorithm useful for rough checks on my mana distributions. It has also guided my taste in how to craft a good mana distribution.
2nd Note: If your highest cost card is 5, then a good choice for turn count is 5. If your highest cost card is 7, then a good choice for turn count is 7. But non-equal numbers can work too.
I can't possibly cover everything that goes into building a deck, but I can suggest a starting point: tribes. Pick a format you like, and figure out what the solid tribes are for that format. For example, in standard there are dinosaurs, zombies, vampires, and so on. Learn all the cards in the tribe you choose, and learn what the best support cards are for the colors that that tribe consists of. For example, if you choose vampires, then you want to learn what the common and useful black and white cards are, as well as all of the cards that are vampires or have some effect related specifically to vampires. Next, create a list of about 26 of the best creatures in that tribe you can find. Put in about 10 support cards, like Cast Out, Walk the Plank, and so on. Put in about 24 lands. You've made your first deck, and it should be an okay deck too. Next you can see how other people built that same deck, practice playing that deck, and make modifications.
That's how I started out, and I thought it was a good mixture of learning, fun, and effectiveness. When you're ready to get serious then learn all of the cards in the format you're interested in, study the top tier decks, and plow through the "MtG Deck Building Series" on youtube. That series is really good and covers everything from probability calculations to deck testing.