[Discussion] Budget Manabases

[kicks_422]

I love making budget decks (no, not just Burn deck cheap - like, $20 cheap). One of the things that really bites is making manabses for 3-5 colored decks.

Just for discussion purposes, what do you think are the best lands and configurations for 3-5 color manabases?

For me:

3 Colors
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Evolving Wilds
4-5 each of the basics for your color

5 Colors

4 each of every Vivid land :laugh:

[sporenfrosch1411]

The triple Lands from Alara :)
They are cheap and good (y well, come into play tapped, but hey, if u wanna save money, you can't expect to "delta" into "sea" :D )

[Quark.Nova]

Yeah the Alara triples are very nice for budget, besides that City of Brass and, depending on the Deck stuff like Ancient Ziggurat or Pillar of the Paruns.

[kiblast]

gemstone mine is very good, also Alara triples and city of brass as said above are probably your best choose.
For 2 colored decks i would play (assuming not-so-high cmc curve) 6-7 between evolving winds and terramorphics and 14/13 basics.

[Nidd]

The Filter Lands are looking quite good for 2-3 colored decks, IMO.

[(nameless one)]

I think it also depends on what kind of deck it is.

For control decks, the best mana base would be Vivid Lands + Reflecting Pool.

For combo decks, the best mana base would be Dredge's mana base (sans Cephalid Colisseum)

For aggro decks, M10 and SoM duals seem to work.

All in all, Fetchlands are superb and the next best thing to the original dual lands.

[Gocho]

SoM duals are cheap, and I like it if you play an Aggro deck, where you only need a bunch of lands. You can keep Basics and play them as your 4th-5th lands if you need it.

They are faster than the CIT tapped lands most of the time, but doesn't work with the M10 lands, you must choose between them.

[kicks_422]

How much are M10 and SoM duals going for? Because I'd like to find the cheapest manabase configurations that still somewhat work. :tongue:

[Pastorofmuppets]

SHM-EVE filterlands and fetches work really, really well in Extended.

[Gocho]

How much are M10 and SoM duals going for? Because I'd like to find the cheapest manabase configurations that still somewhat work. :tongue:

In Europe 2-2.50€ each. You can find them cheaper if you buy a lot.

You can make it cheaper with Basics and Vivid, but is slower.

[Mr. Safety]

I have made several, possibly over 100, budget 2+ color decks. These are the lands I use to keep the deck within a reasonable budget (in order of preference):

1) Shadowmoor filter lands (ie Sunken Ruins)
2) Pain lands (ie Llanowar Wastes)
3) M10 duel lands with a high basics count (ieSunpetal Grove)
4) Odyssey duel lands (ie Shadowblood Ridge)
5) Zendikar Refuge lands (ie Akoum Refuge) these are better than traditional tapped lands because they get you 1 life besides the color fixing.

***Honorary mention*** - the tainted lands (ie Tainted Field) are AWESOME when you are doing a primarily black deck with a minor splash.

Also, the new Mirrodin duel lands are GREAT for low curve decks that only expect to see 3-4 lands or so the whole game.

I also build up the lands power over time by adding in the lands that SHOULD be there 1 or 2 at a time. My mana-base is usually really spastic, like with my 3-color decks I would have 2 painlands of each color pair, 1 shadowmoor filter land of each color pair, and then basics based on how much of each color is represented. I don't get mana-screwed, but I typically take extra damage from the painlands and the tapped lands sometimes slow me down too much.

The reality is that there are only so many alpha/beta/unlimited duel lands available, and they are pretty much taken up. The onslaught fetchlands are fairly common, and the zendikar enemy fetches are fairly easy to get a hold of. Some day, the typical legacy deck won't have the $1000 mana base it has been privy to for so many years, it just won't be available.