Horrornick: Like Blutsau showed MUC can be done on the cheap really easily (I'd play more walls than Blut did because I see aggro and tribal so much but the deck Blut showed is a fine example of budget MUC).
Mono Blue Mill Control can be done on a budget as well if your interested in going that route.
Mesmeric Orb actually does a better job of mill than probably anything else out there, and don't worry about milling yourself you won't run out of cards before they do because you will be hitting them via Hedron Crab.
That mill deck there is just about the same price as Blut's MUC deck, it's gonna run you between $25 and $30 depending on where you get your cards. Honestly you can build great decks on the cheap (PM me if you want some more) you just have to know how to build them and what cards serve as alternatives to more expensive cards.
For example: Dismiss is an alternative to Cryptic Command (yes it's not as good but it is a counter and a cantrip)
Also if your playing multiplayer remember that Blatant Thievery equals awesomeness. This card is so good I can't say enough about it in multiplayer, especially if your playing at a huge table.
Voting to keep Crystal Ball as it's money and let's us put the crap on the bottom of our deck and isn't as mana intensive as Soothsaying. I'd be all for removing one of them but not for removing all of them.
Vote to keep Drift of Phantasms, I could care less about it's transmute ability because it's a good wall that happens to also have that and I face a ton of aggro and I know most of you do too because we usually build our decks as anti aggro decks in these GMaD's and without Drift of Phantasms speedy aggro and tribal decks will just roll over us before we get ready.
Vote against adding more Soothsaying I feel it's good at two copies.
Vote to remove one Wheel and Deal. Yes I realize it's money as hell when Omen Machine is out but it's crap until than and we have so much top of the library shenanigans two copies should be fine.
Also it looks like you have money and I forgot to mention it earlier, if your willing to truly spend cash to get a top tier deck than invest in four Cryptic Command they are wild good, but run like $15 each I think. If you do get them than lose either Spell Pierce or Deprive for them, whichever you didn't lose for the walls.
Also, are you going to play this in duals or in multiplayer?? If your playing multiplayer switch out the Vedalken Shackles / Volition Reins for Blatant Thievery this card is so so good it should be banned in big multiplayer games.
In this deck, well in most decks, Fact or Fiction is gonna be better. Boomerang v Echoing Truth is a harder one though, I'd say if you play against a lot of aggro than Echoing Truth is better but if you play against control or combo than Boomerang is better.
Also, if you really want to go bananas on spending money (or if this deck is for online play) than add two more fetch lands to the deck as six shuffling effects is the usual norm.
Come to think of it I'm just gonna post my mono blue control deck.
An aggressive deck like this wants to play Path to Exile over Swords to Plowshares because your trying to race against the clock to kill your opponent and giving them life is counter intuitive. The longer the game lasts the less likely a deck like this is going to win so you don't want to extend the game via giving your opponent lifegain.
Extraplanar Lens needs to go, your average CMC in this deck is very low so you don't need the Extraplanar Lens. Moreover you'd just be better off playing more lands, 20 lands is too low you should be at 22 so take it out for a slot for another land.
Gift of Estates seems cool, I remember a long time ago when I used to play with it, but it's too conditional. There are two options which are both much better than it:
A. Land Tax: A little expensive but one of the best cards ever printed it's worth it's price.
B. Tithe: Just outright better than Gift of Estates, I've made the switch and never looked back. Moreover it's an instant so you can play it at the end of your opponents turn.
If your playing multiplayer than definitely invest in Land Tax as it is wildly bonkers in multiplayer as there will nearly always be someeone with more lands than you out.
Lose Rebuff the Wicked. Honestly, you don't have anything that big that is worth protecting, it's not worth a spot in your deck. Use one of it's slots for the 22nd land, you need 22 lands in this deck please just trust me on this one. It's the biggest mistake that new players make is playing too few lands. I've been playing since Revised came out (off and on, started in Revised quit during Ice Age came back during Lorwyn), that's third edition so a long long long time ago, and I used to always go by the 20 land rule when I first played and I was at best an average player, now since I've found this site I run 22 to 24 lands in all of my decks, with the exception of some decks like burn, and I hardly ever lose a game. So in sum just play 22 lands, you will see a difference.
Okay now with the other two spots open from Rebuff the Wicked add two more copies of Path to Exile, you want six pieces of spot removal in your deck. I always play six to eight pieces of spot removal, because I mainly play against aggro, and it comes so so so in handy. With the two Oblivion Ring and four Path to Exile that's six pieces of spot removal and enough. From there you can lose the Disenchant's as you have non creature removal from the Oblivion Ring. Use these two spots for two more Soulcatcher as it's one of the best birds out there.
Lose Recumbent Bliss as you already have six pieces of spot removal and do not need anymore in a deck that wants to be this aggressive, also lose Magus of the Moat as your deck wants to be aggressive not defensive. This card is just bad here, you don't care if your opponent attacks you you just want to swing at them.
That leaves four spots open in your deck, use them to add four Honor of the Pure. It gives +1+1 to all of your creatures for just 1W, yes please.
Finally lose the four Courier Hawk as they basically suck, two mana for just a 1/2 isn't worth the mana investment, especially since it doesn't net you anything else. Use these spots for four Spectral Procession. It's WWW for three 1/1 flying creatures, that is a spectacular deal, it's off the wall good. Yes they aren't birds but it's fine to have something that aren't birds because it's three 1/1 flyers for three mana, nothing else in all of Magic gives you this kind of deal it's such an undervalued card that is truly a powerhouse. Moreover, remember for Soulcatcher it's when creatures with flying die not just birds so it works with Soulcatcher and the tokens are white so if you have a Honor of the Pure out you will get three 2/2 flying creatures for just three mana, thats a win win win.
Overall all of these changes will costs you around $50 and will give you a deck that will dominate your friends. If your on a budget and thrifty with money than go with the Tithe over Land Tax and that will take the improvements down to about $35. If you still want to go cheaper use Journey to Nowhere over Path to Exile, DO NOT USE Swords to Plowshares (it's one of the best cards ever printed but just not good in a deck that wants to be this aggressive). If you do that that will put the improvements down to like $20.
This is a play on "group hug", instead of just giving a bunch of cards though it punishes them for it. My group is six people and is about half control and half aggro with no real combo players, occassionally someone will play a combo but there aren't any dedicated combo players.
Any suggestions on how to improve this deck are appreciated.
Thanks
Yes it still works without Vesuva but not as well, I'd say Urzatron is better if your not gonna spring for the Vesuva's and yeah Expedition Map is definitely a card you want.
Also you already have the Demonic Tutor would you be willing to have a few more colored cards? Fabricate would tutor for anything in your deck and only costs like a dollar. I'd play a playset of it over the Demonic Tutor and save your Demonic Tutor for a different deck, same with the Cabal Coffers. But you really do want to invest $10 if that's not too much for one Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth as it's so good with Cabal Coffers for any other deck you decide to put them in.
Also, if you play blue with Fabricate over Demonic Tutor that would allow you to play Academy Ruins and get any of your artifacts back from the graveyard if you need too.
If your playing colorless than you want to go with Urzatron as the Cloudpost combo will be out of your budget because Vesuva is so expensive.
Also your really gonna want four copies of All is Dust as it will be a one sided sweeper, it's about $5 on the low side so not sure what your budget is but it's not that badly priced.
Sol Ring was recently rereleased in the Commander set and only costs about $4 to $5 in that set so one of those would be handy.
Skullclamp is actually pretty reasonably priced at only about $2 a copy and it is pretty much your only option for draw in completely colorless.
Oh and LOL The Abyss would be awesome here and it only costs like $300 a copy so you should easily be able to get your hands on four of them LOL
You need more early defense so aggro decks just don't stomp all over you before you can get your combo out. I would suggest four Wall of Omens and four Wall of Denial as your early defense package.
Bbearz: Concentrate is a sorcery and thus has to be played during your own turn so you can't keep your mana open for counterspells or spot removal, with Jace's Ingenuity you can keep all your mana open to react to whatever your opponent does during his / her turn than play Jace's Ingenuity at the end of your opponent's turn.
Vote to keep Coldsteel Heart, with Scrying Sheets in the deck we want as many snow permanents as possible.
Vote to remove Rune-Scarred Demon, we don't need to splash black there are plenty of good artifact fatties, Eldrazi, and blue fatties.
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2x Sphinx of Uthuun
2x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4x Fog Bank
4x Drift of Phantasms
2x Fabricate
4x Sleight of Hand
Instants: 7
3x Wheel and Deal (2 vote to remove 1)
4x Fact or Fiction
Artifacts: 12
4x Omen Machine
2x Worn Powerstone
3x Crystal Ball (1 vote to remove one, -1)
3x Coldsteel Heart (-1)
2x Soothsaying
Lands: 24
20x Snow-Covered Placeholders
4x Scrying Sheets
24 Lands
42 Non Lands
66 Total Cards
Voting to remove one Sky Diamond and two Worn Powerstone as I think two of each will be fine.
Voting against Brainstorm as it's dead when we have the Omen Machine out.
Scroll Rack would be a good addition as it lets us dump stuff from our hand ontop of deck, but because of it's price we could only have one copy.
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2x Sphinx of Uthuun
2x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4x Fog Bank
4x Drift of Phantasms
2x Fabricate
Instants: 11
4x Brainstorm (-1)
3x Wheel and Deal (1 vote to remove 1)
4x Fact or Fiction
Artifacts: 14
4x Omen Machine
4x Worn Powerstone (1 vote to remove two)
3x Crystal Ball
3x Sky Diamond (-1, 1 vote to remove one)
2x Soothsaying (-1)
Lands: 24
20x Snow-Covered Placeholders
4x Scrying Sheets
If I was you I'd just turn this into a basic blue / red pinger deck. Goblin Sharpshooter may be a little pricey but he is an all star here.
I'd turn the deck into this:
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Arid Mesa
2 Cascade Bluffs
9 Island
7 Mountain
4 Basilik Collar
Creatures: 12
4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Trinket Mage
2 Gelectrode
2 Curiosity
Instants: 14
4 Mana Leak
4 Negate
4 Brainstorm
2 Jace's Ingenuity
4 Ancestral Vision
Mono Blue Mill Control can be done on a budget as well if your interested in going that route.
18 Island
4 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
Artifacts: 4
4 Mesmeric Orb
4 Fog Bank
4 Guard Gomazoa
4 Hedron Crab
Instants: 18
4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Leak
4 Counterspell
4 Echoing Truth
2 Jace's Ingenuity
2 Wash Out
See you don't necessarily need the expensive cards like Jace Beleren for mill or Cryptic Command for MUC.
Mesmeric Orb actually does a better job of mill than probably anything else out there, and don't worry about milling yourself you won't run out of cards before they do because you will be hitting them via Hedron Crab.
That mill deck there is just about the same price as Blut's MUC deck, it's gonna run you between $25 and $30 depending on where you get your cards. Honestly you can build great decks on the cheap (PM me if you want some more) you just have to know how to build them and what cards serve as alternatives to more expensive cards.
For example:
Dismiss is an alternative to Cryptic Command (yes it's not as good but it is a counter and a cantrip)
Also if your playing multiplayer remember that Blatant Thievery equals awesomeness. This card is so good I can't say enough about it in multiplayer, especially if your playing at a huge table.
Vote to keep Drift of Phantasms, I could care less about it's transmute ability because it's a good wall that happens to also have that and I face a ton of aggro and I know most of you do too because we usually build our decks as anti aggro decks in these GMaD's and without Drift of Phantasms speedy aggro and tribal decks will just roll over us before we get ready.
Vote against adding more Soothsaying I feel it's good at two copies.
Vote to remove one Wheel and Deal. Yes I realize it's money as hell when Omen Machine is out but it's crap until than and we have so much top of the library shenanigans two copies should be fine.
Vote to keep Sphinx of Jwar Isle, I just really like shroud.
3x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2x Sphinx of Uthuun
2x Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4x Fog Bank
4x Drift of Phantasms
2x Fabricate
Instants: 3
3x Wheel and Deal (1 vote to remove 1)
Artifacts: 15
4x Omen Machine
4x Worn Powerstone
4x Lantern of Insight (-2)
3x Crystal Ball
2x Soothsaying
Lands: 24
20x Snow-Covered Placeholders
4x Scrying Sheets
Also it looks like you have money and I forgot to mention it earlier, if your willing to truly spend cash to get a top tier deck than invest in four Cryptic Command they are wild good, but run like $15 each I think. If you do get them than lose either Spell Pierce or Deprive for them, whichever you didn't lose for the walls.
Also, are you going to play this in duals or in multiplayer?? If your playing multiplayer switch out the Vedalken Shackles / Volition Reins for Blatant Thievery this card is so so good it should be banned in big multiplayer games.
In this deck, well in most decks, Fact or Fiction is gonna be better. Boomerang v Echoing Truth is a harder one though, I'd say if you play against a lot of aggro than Echoing Truth is better but if you play against control or combo than Boomerang is better.
Also, if you really want to go bananas on spending money (or if this deck is for online play) than add two more fetch lands to the deck as six shuffling effects is the usual norm.
Come to think of it I'm just gonna post my mono blue control deck.
17 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
1 Academy Ruins
Artifacts: 2
2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Fog Bank
4 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
2 Guard Gomazoa
2 Plumeveil
Instants: 22
4 Counterspell
4 Cryptic Command
4 Mana Leak
4 Echoing Truth
4 Brainstorm
2 Fact or Fiction
That is the duals version, in multiplayer I switch out Vedalken Shackles for Blatant Thievery.
Extraplanar Lens needs to go, your average CMC in this deck is very low so you don't need the Extraplanar Lens. Moreover you'd just be better off playing more lands, 20 lands is too low you should be at 22 so take it out for a slot for another land.
Gift of Estates seems cool, I remember a long time ago when I used to play with it, but it's too conditional. There are two options which are both much better than it:
A. Land Tax: A little expensive but one of the best cards ever printed it's worth it's price.
B. Tithe: Just outright better than Gift of Estates, I've made the switch and never looked back. Moreover it's an instant so you can play it at the end of your opponents turn.
If your playing multiplayer than definitely invest in Land Tax as it is wildly bonkers in multiplayer as there will nearly always be someeone with more lands than you out.
Lose Rebuff the Wicked. Honestly, you don't have anything that big that is worth protecting, it's not worth a spot in your deck. Use one of it's slots for the 22nd land, you need 22 lands in this deck please just trust me on this one. It's the biggest mistake that new players make is playing too few lands. I've been playing since Revised came out (off and on, started in Revised quit during Ice Age came back during Lorwyn), that's third edition so a long long long time ago, and I used to always go by the 20 land rule when I first played and I was at best an average player, now since I've found this site I run 22 to 24 lands in all of my decks, with the exception of some decks like burn, and I hardly ever lose a game. So in sum just play 22 lands, you will see a difference.
Okay now with the other two spots open from Rebuff the Wicked add two more copies of Path to Exile, you want six pieces of spot removal in your deck. I always play six to eight pieces of spot removal, because I mainly play against aggro, and it comes so so so in handy. With the two Oblivion Ring and four Path to Exile that's six pieces of spot removal and enough. From there you can lose the Disenchant's as you have non creature removal from the Oblivion Ring. Use these two spots for two more Soulcatcher as it's one of the best birds out there.
Duskrider Peregrine sucks lose it, put in two more Aven Riftwatcher. Aven Riftwatcher is very very good here because it is guaranteed to die so it will guarantee to pump up Soulcatcher and all of your birds if you have Soulcatcher's Aerie out.
Lose Recumbent Bliss as you already have six pieces of spot removal and do not need anymore in a deck that wants to be this aggressive, also lose Magus of the Moat as your deck wants to be aggressive not defensive. This card is just bad here, you don't care if your opponent attacks you you just want to swing at them.
That leaves four spots open in your deck, use them to add four Honor of the Pure. It gives +1+1 to all of your creatures for just 1W, yes please.
Finally lose the four Courier Hawk as they basically suck, two mana for just a 1/2 isn't worth the mana investment, especially since it doesn't net you anything else. Use these spots for four Spectral Procession. It's WWW for three 1/1 flying creatures, that is a spectacular deal, it's off the wall good. Yes they aren't birds but it's fine to have something that aren't birds because it's three 1/1 flyers for three mana, nothing else in all of Magic gives you this kind of deal it's such an undervalued card that is truly a powerhouse. Moreover, remember for Soulcatcher it's when creatures with flying die not just birds so it works with Soulcatcher and the tokens are white so if you have a Honor of the Pure out you will get three 2/2 flying creatures for just three mana, thats a win win win.
Overall all of these changes will costs you around $50 and will give you a deck that will dominate your friends. If your on a budget and thrifty with money than go with the Tithe over Land Tax and that will take the improvements down to about $35. If you still want to go cheaper use Journey to Nowhere over Path to Exile, DO NOT USE Swords to Plowshares (it's one of the best cards ever printed but just not good in a deck that wants to be this aggressive). If you do that that will put the improvements down to like $20.
Basically what I am saying is there are budget alternatives to Path to Exile and Land Tax but there are not for Honor of the Pure and Spectral Procession these two cards you want to buy badly.
Still working on other one.
Any suggestions on how to improve this deck are appreciated.
Thanks
10 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scrubland
2 Godless Shrine
4 Howling Mine
4 Font of Mythos
2 Scroll Rack
1 Sol Ring
Creatures: 4
4 Psychosis Crawler
4 Underworld Dreams
4 The Abyss
3 Land Tax
Instants: 5
4 Dark Ritual
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Vindicate
1 Demonic Tutor
Also you already have the Demonic Tutor would you be willing to have a few more colored cards? Fabricate would tutor for anything in your deck and only costs like a dollar. I'd play a playset of it over the Demonic Tutor and save your Demonic Tutor for a different deck, same with the Cabal Coffers. But you really do want to invest $10 if that's not too much for one Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth as it's so good with Cabal Coffers for any other deck you decide to put them in.
Also, if you play blue with Fabricate over Demonic Tutor that would allow you to play Academy Ruins and get any of your artifacts back from the graveyard if you need too.
Also your really gonna want four copies of All is Dust as it will be a one sided sweeper, it's about $5 on the low side so not sure what your budget is but it's not that badly priced.
Sol Ring was recently rereleased in the Commander set and only costs about $4 to $5 in that set so one of those would be handy.
Skullclamp is actually pretty reasonably priced at only about $2 a copy and it is pretty much your only option for draw in completely colorless.
Oh and LOL The Abyss would be awesome here and it only costs like $300 a copy so you should easily be able to get your hands on four of them LOL
You need more early defense so aggro decks just don't stomp all over you before you can get your combo out. I would suggest four Wall of Omens and four Wall of Denial as your early defense package.