$8 Modern

[Zilla]

Greetings friends. I need some advice and I hope you can help me. I went to a 4 year old's birthday party today (I have a 4 year old myself so it wasn't super weird or anything) and it turns out the birthday boy's dad is also a giant Magic nerd. He invited me to join him and a group of his friends to play a casual format they created called $8 Modern.

The format's rules are as follows:

- It uses Modern's B+R list.
- Your deck cannot cost more than $8, based on tcgplayer.com's lowest price on any version of the card (shipping not included).
- Basic lands are not included in the cost total.
- Deck size is 60 card minimum.
- Sideboard is not mandatory, but can be up to 15 cards. The sideboard cards are included in the $8 cost limit.

Now I don't know a goddamned thing about Modern, so I don't even know where to start. Obviously the really popular strategies are going to be totally unplayable. The goal of the format is to have a chance to play cards that would be otherwise unplayable, while still having a relatively competitive format.

Can you guys help me brainstorm (no pun intended) some ideas?

[GoblinSettler]

It looks like you could get all the Urza lands from Chronicles for about $3.50. Ancient Stirrings to dig. And then janky huge artifacts with the rest.

Bane of Bala Ged looks like some choice colorless beef.

[Ace/Homebrew]

$8 Modern
Seems like an odd arbitrary number to use... It's so close to $10. :wink:

Anyways, if you've drafted at all during Modern legal sets, I'd look back at power-house limited cards that do nothing in constructed formats (like Putrid Leech.

It'd be fantastic if there was some janky combo deck you could show up with. I'm guessing the group would be unprepared for such a thing.

[frafen]

All-In Red. It's a simple deck. Put a threat in play and kill your opponent as fast as you can. With immolating souleater you can win with only 1 assault strobe/temur battle rage (make it a 10/1 paying 18 life). Same with kiln fiend, but instead of paying life you have to cast a spell (Brute Force+Temur Battle Rage=lethal).

19 mountain

4 Immolating Souleater
4 Kiln FIend
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Satyr Hoplite

4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Brute Force
4 Titan's Strength
4 Temur Battle Rage
4 Assault Strobe

2 Apostle's Blessing
3 Lightning Bolt

Sideboard

2 Apostle's Blessing
1 Lightning Bolt
3 Smash to Smithereens
3 Dragon's Claw
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Brothers Yamazaki
1 Myojin of Infinite Rage

Total is 6,25$. I played this deck for fun in Modern and Pauper, but it's kinda competitive. In the normal version I have also 4 simian spirit guide (and only 16 lands) that allow turn 2 kills but simians cost too much money (a full set is more than 12$).

Prices:

4 Immolating Souleater 0,12$
4 Kiln FIend 0,60$
4 Akroan Crusader 0,12$
4 Satyr Hoplite 0,12$

4 Mutagenic Growth 0,68$
4 Brute Force 0,12$
4 Titan Strength 0,08$
4 Temur Battle Rage 0,32$
4 Assault Strobe 0,80$

2 Apostle's Blessing 0,12$
3 Lightning Bolt 1,56$

Sideboard

2 Apostle's Blessing 0,12$
1 Lightning Bolt 0,52$
3 Smash to Smithereens 0,09$
3 Dragon's Claw 0,09$
3 Tormod's Crypt 0,12$
2 Brothers Yamazaki 0,20$
1 Myojin of Infinite Rage 0,47$

[frafen]

Goblins:

20 Mountain

4 Goblin Cohort
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Mudbrawler Cohort
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin King

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Flame Jab
2 Burst Lightning

Just a mix between modern and pauper goblins. In this version you lose some good cards that aren't avaliable in modern, but you gain Goblin Grenade and Goblin King. The price should be lower than 6$.

And if you want to try some kind of combo deck:

4 Presence of Gond
3 Sigil of the Nayan Gods
3 Ivy Lane Denizen
4 Devoted Druid
4 Midnight Guard
3 Heliod's Pilgrim
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Temporal Isolation
4 Commune with the Gods
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Utopia Sprawl
14 Forest
1 Plains
4 Blossoming Sands

Midnight Guard+Presence of Gond=infinite tokens
Devoted Druid+Sigil of the Nayan Gods+Presence of Gond=infinite tokens
Devoted Druid+Ivy Lane Denizen+Presence of Gond=infinite tokens

Heliod's Pilgrim tutors the aura that you need. Commune with the Gods can find any missing piece of the combo. Vines of Vastwood protect the combo. I don't know if this is good since I've never tried it but probably is pretty fun.

[Zilla]

These are good suggestions so far. Thanks very much. Keep em coming!

[dragonwisdom]

Goblins:

20 Mountain

4 Goblin Cohort
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Mudbrawler Cohort
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin King

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Goblin Grenade
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Flame Jab
2 Burst Lightning

Just a mix between modern and pauper goblins. In this version you lose some good cards that aren't avaliable in modern, but you gain Goblin Grenade and Goblin King. The price should be lower than 6$.

And if you want to try some kind of combo deck:

4 Presence of Gond
3 Sigil of the Nayan Gods
3 Ivy Lane Denizen
4 Devoted Druid
4 Midnight Guard
3 Heliod's Pilgrim
4 Vines of Vastwood
4 Temporal Isolation
4 Commune with the Gods
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Utopia Sprawl
14 Forest
1 Plains
4 Blossoming Sands

Midnight Guard+Presence of Gond=infinite tokens
Devoted Druid+Sigil of the Nayan Gods+Presence of Gond=infinite tokens
Devoted Druid+Ivy Lane Denizen+Presence of Gond=infinite tokens

Heliod's Pilgrim tutors the aura that you need. Commune with the Gods can find any missing piece of the combo. Vines of Vastwood protect the combo. I don't know if this is good since I've never tried it but probably is pretty fun.


Lightning Bolt- is expensive 1-2 dollars

[dragonwisdom]

play tokens

intangible virtue 4
lingering souls 4
spectral possession 4
Duress 4
use this as a core and fill out the rest with cheap token cards.
lingering souls and spectral possession have been reprinted and are thus cheap

this and all-in red posted above are cheap decks that will be competitive.

[apple713]

You could just go back to the basics and create some old school decks like a white weenie variant, mono black control, or RG stompy. The format is going to be incredibly limited. Looking at pauper lists would be a good place to get a feel for the meta.

[Ace/Homebrew]

He invited me to join him and a group of his friends to play a casual format they created called $8 Modern.

The format is going to be incredibly limited. Looking at pauper lists would be a good place to get a feel for the meta.
The meta will be incredibly limited. It's just a group of guys. Isn't pauper an eternal format? The deckbuilding constraints include 'cards must be Modern legal'.

The combo deck sounds awesome. Devoted Druid also combos with Quillspike to make infinite :g: and a lethal Quillspike.

Looks like Ivy Lane Denizen and a Presence of Gond enchanted Devoted Druid also makes infinite mana (and creatures). Essence Warden or Suture Priest reward you with infinite life for the trouble of making infinite creatures. :tongue:

It'd be nice to have a mana sink if you got infinite mana. Something like Wildheart Invoker.

[Zilla]

Right, there's no meta, per se, outside of what these few guys choose to play. If one deck gets to be too dominant, someone else will presumably create something that smashes it. But I haven't played with them at all so I don't know what's out there to begin with.

[frafen]

Lightning Bolt- is expensive 1-2 dollars I checked tcgplayer.com, looking at the "low" price, the one below market price and median (it was 0,52$). Anyway you could play something like Burst Lightning instead of normal bolts.

[ScatmanX]

Can the basic lands be snow covered?

[dragonwisdom]

I checked tcgplayer.com, looking at the "low" price, the one below market price and median (it was 0,52$). Anyway you could play something like Burst Lightning instead of normal bolts.

some sellers make the price cheaper, then charge 2 dollars for shipping. the real price for bolt is 1-2 bucks. maybe you can find a damaged bolt for less or someone who charges excessive shipping. But the effective price is 1-2 bucks. the rest of your deck would have to be really cheap cards..

let me put it this way you won't be able to make a deck, for 8 bucks with 4 lightning bolts. try it and checkout with tcgplayer and then you will see. Wizard would have to reprint in a core set for it to drop again.

[Zilla]

Can the basic lands be snow covered?
I don't know, actually. Let's pretend they are. What would you suggest?

EDIT: Confirmed - they don't count towards the deck cost.



some sellers make the price cheaper, then charge 2 dollars for shipping. the real price for bolt is 1-2 bucks. maybe you can find a damaged bolt for less or someone who charges excessive shipping. But the effective price is 1-2 bucks. the rest of your deck would have to be really cheap cards..

let me put it this way you won't be able to make a deck, for 8 bucks with 4 lightning bolts. try it and checkout with tcgplayer and then you will see. Wizard would have to reprint in a core set for it to drop again.Doesn't matter, actually. The letter of the law for this format is that you use the tcgplayer.com shopping cart as your price limit, and shipping is not included in the $8 cost. If Bolts are listed low at $0.50, that's what they cost for deck building purposes.

[ScatmanX]

We had a tournament some years ago that was the legacy card pool. You could only use the cheapest cards the store had in stock, which was 59p at the time. I got second, facing mirror in the final. Will get a decklist if I get time today.

[dragonwisdom]

I don't know, actually. Let's pretend they are. What would you suggest?

EDIT: Confirmed - they don't count towards the deck cost.


Doesn't matter, actually. The letter of the law for this format is that you use the tcgplayer.com shopping cart as your price limit, and shipping is not included in the $8 cost. If Bolts are listed low at $0.50, that's what they cost for deck building purposes.


If that is true, then the real cost of some decks is much greater than 8 dollars. In my opinion, the true spirit of the tournament is to create 8 dollar decks that you can actually buy for 8 dollars. But rules are rules. In addition, the best way to break your tournament is to find a card where the shipping cost is high, but the card price is low hiding the true cost and potential value of the card. And you only need to find one seller who skews the price of the card and adds a higher shipping cost.
For example, one seller has desperate ritual listed for 5 cents with 99 cent shipping, while all other sellers have it for much more, closer to a 1 dollar.

[ScatmanX]

Firstly, I think snow covered should not be allowed. It breaks the format, at least the one I played. Chilling Shade is too strong.
I cannot remember a list properly. Cannot find my report. But these are the RB cards it ran:

snuff out

Cuombajj Witches
Immolation
Aftershock
Galvanic Arc
Crippling Fatigue

Chilling Shade - Seriously broken
Rimebound Dead
Viscera Dragger - Really awesome card
Chartooth Cougar
Foul Imp
Phyrexian Ranger - Really good

sink into takenuma

This is a decklist that got 3rd, also abusin snow covered:
4 Krovikan Mist
4 Errant Ephemeron
4 Shaper Parasite
4 Mistform Seaswift
3 Thalakos Mistfolk
3 Illusionary Forces

// Spells (17)

2 Grim Harvest
4 Snuff Out
3 Counsel of the Soratami
3 Essence Drain
2 Train of Thought
3 Parallax Dementia

// Sideboard (15)

3 Flash Flood
3 Phyrexian Bloodstock
3 Frozen Solid
3 Crippling Fatigue
3 Mistform Wall

A dude actually managed to do a combo deck, but it's not legal in modern. Neither are the other decks I liked.

[dragonwisdom]

Heartless Summoning 10 cents
Myr Retriever 9 cents
grapeshot 6 cents
viscera seer 11 cents

Multiply each card by 4 and you have a killer infinite combo for $1.44. In reality as I pointed out above the real cost is much higher, but
all you need is one seller to break the format. You now have 6.56 to really put the deck over the top with tutors and other win conditions.

good luck and let us know what you built

[Zilla]

Firstly, I think snow covered should not be allowed. It breaks the format, at least the one I played. Chilling Shade is too strong.
I cannot remember a list properly. Cannot find my report. But these are the RB cards it ran:

snuff out

Cuombajj Witches
Immolation
Aftershock
Galvanic Arc
Crippling Fatigue

Chilling Shade - Seriously broken
Rimebound Dead
Viscera Dragger - Really awesome card
Chartooth Cougar
Foul Imp
Phyrexian Ranger - Really good

sink into takenuma

This is a decklist that got 3rd, also abusin snow covered:
4 Krovikan Mist
4 Errant Ephemeron
4 Shaper Parasite
4 Mistform Seaswift
3 Thalakos Mistfolk
3 Illusionary Forces

// Spells (17)

2 Grim Harvest
4 Snuff Out
3 Counsel of the Soratami
3 Essence Drain
2 Train of Thought
3 Parallax Dementia

// Sideboard (15)

3 Flash Flood
3 Phyrexian Bloodstock
3 Frozen Solid
3 Crippling Fatigue
3 Mistform Wall

A dude actually managed to do a combo deck, but it's not legal in modern. Neither are the other decks I liked.
I have two questions about this post:

1. How do you not remember your own decklist but you know the third place decklist card for card? Just curious.
2. How does the third place decklist abuse snow covered?

[Ace/Homebrew]

2. How does the third place decklist abuse snow covered?
Neglect




:tongue:

[supremePINEAPPLE]

All-In Red. It's a simple deck. Put a threat in play and kill your opponent as fast as you can. With immolating souleater you can win with only 1 assault strobe/temur battle rage (make it a 10/1 paying 18 life). Same with kiln fiend, but instead of paying life you have to cast a spell (Brute Force+Temur Battle Rage=lethal).

....

Total is 6,25$. I played this deck for fun in Modern and Pauper, but it's kinda competitive. In the normal version I have also 4 simian spirit guide (and only 16 lands) that allow turn 2 kills but simians cost too much money (a full set is more than 12$).

Haha, I was just about to recommend the blistercoil weird/monastery swiftspear version and then I looked up the price of swiftspear. I'd definitely be playing something very similar to this.

[JPoJohnson]

Zombie Hunt


4 Halimar Depths
4 Reliquary Tower
23 Islands
23 Swamps
4 Treasure Hunt
2 Zombie Infestation


I would imagine in budget decks that it would be extremely uncommon that decent counter spells will be a big threat.

[H]

Zombie Hunt

4 Halimar Depths
4 Reliquary Tower
23 Islands
23 Swamps
4 Treasure Hunt
2 Zombie Infestation

I would imagine in budget decks that it would be extremely uncommon that decent counter spells will be a big threat.

Would you be able to squeeze Serum Powders into there, they are $1.56 each, TCG Low?

[Zilla]

Would you be able to squeeze Serum Powders into there, they are $1.56 each, TCG Low?
The problem with Serum Powder is that it breaks your combo if you hit one with Treasure Hunt.


I'll probably build the deck because it would be cheap and hilarious, but ultimately it's a casual format and I imagine it would get pretty boring to play.

[H]

The problem with Serum Powder is that it breaks your combo if you hit one with Treasure Hunt.


I'll probably build the deck because it would be cheap and hilarious, but ultimately it's a casual format and I imagine it would get pretty boring to play.

Oh, yeah, brain fart there.

[Zilla]

Shit. 4x Reliquary Tower alone is over the $8 mark. :<

[Jander78]

Interesting thread. I love the idea of a Treasure Hunt deck.

What about a Landstill'ish type of build?


4 Treasure Hunt
4 Zombie Infestation

7 Island
6 Swamp
4 Dread Statuary
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Dismal Backwater
4 Desert
4 Quicksand
4 Halimar Depths
4 Skyline Cascade
4 Spawning Pool
2 Stalking Stones
1 Temple of Deceit
4 Zoetic Cavern
2 Reliquary Tower


Total Cost (according to TCGPlayer.com "low" price) $7.40.

Costs:


Qty Name Cost Per Total Cost
4 Treasure Hunt .08 .32
4 Zombie Infestation .09 .36

7 Island
6 Swamp
4 Dread Statuary .05 .20
2 Bojuka Bog .07 .14
4 Dismal Backwater .05 .20
4 Desert .19 .76
4 Quicksand .05 .20
4 Halimar Depths .20 .80
4 Skyline Cascade .03 .12
4 Spawning Pool .03 .12
2 Stalking Stones .05 .10
1 Temple of Deceit .68 .68
4 Zoetic Cavern .03 .12
2 Reliquary Tower 1.64 3.28
7.40

[Zilla]

Interesting thread. I love the idea of a Treasure Hunt deck.

What about a Landstill'ish type of build?


4 Treasure Hunt
4 Zombie Infestation

7 Island
6 Swamp
4 Dread Statuary
2 Bojuka Bog
4 Dismal Backwater
4 Desert
4 Quicksand
4 Halimar Depths
4 Skyline Cascade
4 Spawning Pool
2 Stalking Stones
1 Temple of Deceit
4 Zoetic Cavern
2 Reliquary Tower


Total Cost (according to TCGPlayer.com "low" price) $7.40.

Costs:


Qty Name Cost Per Total Cost
4 Treasure Hunt .08 .32
4 Zombie Infestation .09 .36

7 Island
6 Swamp
4 Dread Statuary .05 .20
2 Bojuka Bog .07 .14
4 Dismal Backwater .05 .20
4 Desert .19 .76
4 Quicksand .05 .20
4 Halimar Depths .20 .80
4 Skyline Cascade .03 .12
4 Spawning Pool .03 .12
2 Stalking Stones .05 .10
1 Temple of Deceit .68 .68
4 Zoetic Cavern .03 .12
2 Reliquary Tower 1.64 3.28
7.40

Not a bad idea, Rick. Certainly the manlands make the deck a bit more interesting to play. Do you really think 4x Infestation is the way to go? It seems like you're going to see a lot fewer lands on average when you combo out that way.

[Jander78]

Not a bad idea, Rick. Certainly the manlands make the deck a bit more interesting to play. Do you really think 4x Infestation is the way to go? It seems like you're going to see a lot fewer lands on average when you combo out that way.
Good point. I'm going off of zero testing, so 4x Zombie Infestation is probably too many. Dropping 2x Zombie Infestation opens up room to fit in another Temple of Deceit which would give a little more card filter to help find the Treasure Hunts.

[Zilla]

Good point. I'm going off of zero testing, so 4x Zombie Infestation is probably too many. Dropping 2x Zombie Infestation opens up room to fit in another Temple of Deceit which would give a little more card filter to help find the Treasure Hunts.
I was thinking the same. If you're so inclined, let me know if you have some time to do some testing on Cockatrice.

[sjmcc13]

I seem to recall Klin fiend having a low TCG low price, and Nivix Cyclops (something like $0.45) has a low of something like $0.03.

Can someone build from there?

[Zilla]

I seem to recall Klin fiend having a low TCG low price, and Nivix Cyclops (something like $0.45) has a low of something like $0.03.

Can someone build from there?
Kiln Fiend is certainly playable. There's an aggressive mono-red list with him in the first couple posts in this thread. I'm not sure adding blue is worth it, but it could be. You could attempt to go a U/R cantripburn style deck with Kiln Fiend, Nivix Cyclops, etc. You could even get Delver in there, although it would eat up a big part of the deck's budget and it might not be worth it. Gitaxian Probe is totally outside the price range. Wee Dragonauts would also be an option, since they cost a nickel.

I dunno... it's definitely doable, but I'm not sure that U/R brings enough to the table to warrant it over a highly aggressive mono-red build.

[Zilla]

About the Treasure Hunt deck, I don't think it's gonna fly. I just goldfished a bunch with it, and absolute best case scenario it wins on turn 5. Here are the biggest issues I noted with it:

1. Stalking Stones is unplayable. If you haven't comboed out before turn 7, there's absolutely no way your opponent won't have won by then, because you will have put up almost no fight to that point.

2. The combo is extremely weak without Reliquary Tower. Without it, you need to wait until turn 4 so you can play Treasure Hunt and Infestation on the same turn so you don't waste a bunch of lands to discard. And even if you do that, you have to play a bunch of them on your own turn rather than your opponent's EOT, which opens you up to removal. Also, you often don't know if you're actually going to hit Tower, so it's a gamble whether you want to wait till turn 4 or go all in on turn 3.

3. Even with Reliquary Tower in hand, you have to wait until turn 3 to combo out, because you need to be able to have a land drop available to play it.

4. Even with a great opening hand that has both Reliquary Tower and Treasure Hunt in hand, once you combo out there's a very good chance you'll hit another Hunt before Infestation, sometimes more than once. So even with a perfect draw, you may not fully combo out until like turn 6, all the while doing nothing at all to develop a board or disrupt your opponent.

5. The deck is totally unplayable without Treasure Hunt in your opening draw. I tried keeping a few hands that didn't have Hunt but did have Infestation. You end up with a few 2/2s on turn 3, but any decent deck should be able to handle that threat, and then you just flop around like a beached fish. Without either Infestation or Hunt, you stand absolutely zero chance at all. What this boils down to is that you pretty much have to mull until you find Hunt. And there are times when you don't get it even on a mull to 1. If that happens, you not only lose before the game starts, you look really dumb doing it.

Long story short, it's a hilarious idea, but I don't think it will hold up in actual games.

[Tylert]

Zilla, If you ever play this format, please make a small report. I'd love to hear about the decks...

[Zilla]

Zilla, If you ever play this format, please make a small report. I'd love to hear about the decks...
Will do. I've decided to go ahead and build frafen's All-In Red decklist from page 1, with some minor tweaks. Bolts went up in price so the budget only allows for 2 of them in the list, so I've had to sub in Incinerates. Made a couple other minor SB adjustments as well. I don't know when the next tournament will be, but that's probably what I'll be taking.

[Technics]

Zubera's is what I would play.


11 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
8 Swamp

4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
4 Ember-Fist Zubera
4 Floating-Dream Zubera
4 Silent-Chant Zubera

4 Barter in Blood
3 Death Pit Offering
3 Devouring Greed
4 Fertile Ground
4 Kodama's Reach

[Phoenix Ignition]

I absolutely love zubera decks. You can run a whole mess of board wipes with them too if you want so you don't need a sac outlet those are probably pretty good against the other decks too. Added bonus is there are so many board wipes that you don't even need Pyroclasm or other cards that might be over a quarter.

[frafen]

I would play a zubera deck like this. Only 4 colors, I don't think that the white zubera is good enough.
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
4 Ember-Fist Zubera
4 Floating-Dream Zubera
4 Viscera Seer
4 Mulldrifter
4 Shriekmaw

4 Prophetic Prism
7 Swamp
4 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Island

2 Vampiric Rites
3 Tracker's Instincts
2 Barter in Blood

other?

taurean mauler

[dte]

Mirror entity (few cents) is a zubera that can win by making a huge army and then sacrificing your team.
Fecundity can also be a nice addition.

[Technics]

I absolutely love zubera decks. You can run a whole mess of board wipes with them too if you want so you don't need a sac outlet those are probably pretty good against the other decks too. Added bonus is there are so many board wipes that you don't even need Pyroclasm or other cards that might be over a quarter.

Board wipes are better because then they all see eachather hit the bin for maximum zeberaness. I just grabbed a list off the mothership since what I used to run involved fecundity and damnation which is way more than the 8$ budget here. However the core is dirt cheap so there is a ton of room to build it out to any budget you want.

[Zilla]

Hi. I'm kinda necroing this thread, but someone axed me to tell how it went when I finally got around to playing this silly format, and I did, so I am.

Not having any idea at all where to start, I originally built frafen's All-In Red list from page one of this thread. Got all the cards for it and everything. I then playtested the deck with a friend of mine who plays a lot of Pauper. He happened to have a few decks that were fairly close to legal in this format. From playing with him I determined that I'm really not really a fan of All-In Red. It's not frafen's fault; I just realized I disliked the deck for the very reason I originally chose it: it's incredibly simple and straightforward, with very little variation from game to game. You typically go all in on a single threat and your opponent either has answers or they don't. If they do, you just lose. It turned out, my opponent frequently did. And even when he didn't, winning didn't feel that fun. Long story short, I wanted something with slightly more interactivity.

Ironically, I ended up building a modified version of my friend's Pauper Mono-G Stompy and taking that to the first tournament. This was the list:

Mono-G Stompy

3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
4 Young Wolf
3 Dryad Militant
2 Vault Skirge
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
2 Nest Invader
3 Garruk's Companion

4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Gather Courage
3 Hunger of the Howlpack
4 Giant Growth
3 Bonesplitter

18 Forest

Cost-wise I only had like 4 cents left over, so no sideboard.

I didn't keep notes because the tournament was in a bar and I was too busy sipping Maker's to write stuff down. In a nutshell:

A lot of people weren't able to make it so it ended up just being me and 4 other guys. It was a real casual affair (obviously.) We just played each other person there 2 out of 3. I went 0-2, 1-2, 2-0, 2-0. I lost badly to a B/W Midrange deck with lots of removal, Oblivion Rings, Vampire Nighthawks, Tidehow Scullers, etc. The second match was against a guy with a combo deck that sacked artifacts to draw cards and gain life and then generate 4/4 angel tokens with an enchantment based on life gain that I don't remember the name of. Third match was against a guy with a Zombie combo deck that I never really saw work because I won so fast. I felt bad because he got kinda mana screwed both games. Last guy had beaten every other person there with a U/R midrange deck with a bunch of ramp, burn, mass removal, Wildfire, and Frost Titan. Again, I never saw any of that because I won so fast, but I think I got lucky there. He sideboarded in Pyroclasms and shit but never managed to draw them. I won both games against him by or before turn 5.

I'm told that people rarely bring the same deck to these tournaments, so next time the meta will be completely different. This little experience reminded me that I still like Magic, so I've spent a bunch of time researching budget Modern (heretofore I had played exactly zero Modern and knew nothing about the format.) I've built and tested roughly 30 different decks on Cockatrice. The vast majority of the decks I've tried have been terrible, but a few have been pretty good. There's a U/R counter-burnish deck based on Flashback cards and Burning Vengeance that was surprisingly effective, a solid Mono-B Control deck that works well, and what I think is probably one of the strongest decks in the format, a budget version of B/W Tokens. It's done really well in testing, and it's what I'll be taking to the next one of these little tournaments:

B/W Tokens

Creatures (4)
4 Tidehollow Sculler

Token Generators (16)
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Spectral Procession
4 Lingering Souls
4 Raise the Alarm

Buffs (8)
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Honor of the Pure

Removal (5)
3 Murderous Cut
2 Condemn

Disruption (4)
2 Castigate
2 Duress

Lands (23)
4 Scoured Barrens
10 Plains
9 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Disenchant
2 Celestial Flare
1 Duress
2 Stain the Mind
3 Zealous Persecution
1 Harsh Sustenance

Anyway, this is probably way more information than anyone cares about, but I've been having a lot of fun experimenting with the format. If anyone feels like trying it out with me, I can always use people to test with on Cockatrice. :)

[Bed Decks Palyer]

That WB deck you plan to use is really nice. I like the "duals" in there. Those are really nice cards. Shame that all of our lgs turned into "real" decks only. (Or EDH deathtrap.) If there'd be anyone to play casually with, I'd build piles of such piles. :frown:

[kirkusjones]

Zilla, could you post some of the other decklists you've messed around with? I've been playing EDH with one of my students, but I'd like to have him try other formats/have games we can squeeze into a lunch period.

[Zilla]

Like I said, the majority of the lists I tried were pretty crappy. Aside from Mono-G Stompy and B/W Tokens, the other two decks I have the most faith in are:

U/R Burning Vengeance

3 Desperate Ravings
4 Geistflame
4 Shock
3 Think Twice
4 Faithless Looting
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Pyroclasm

3 Mana Leak
2 Dissipate

4 Burning Vengeance
2 Secrets of the Dead

10 Island
13 Mountain

The Shocks can be Bolts if you're not worried about sticking hard and fast to the $8 rule. Just slow the opponent's creatures with removal in the early game, draw a bunch of cards and fill your yard, then win the long game with flashback cards + face damage from Burning Vengeance. The maindecked Pyroclasms do a lot to keep it in the game against fast aggro. Because the majority of the format is very creature based, and this runs zero creatures, your opponents often have many dead cards pre-board. Behind B/W Tokens, this is my favorite deck in the format.


Mono-Black Control

4 Chittering Rats
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Vampire Nighthawk

3 Disfigure
3 Geth's Verdict
2 Murderous Cut
2 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Corrupt
3 Drown in Sorrow
3 Duress
3 Sign in Blood

23 Swamp

This deck capitalizes on the fact that the vast majority of the decks in the format are creature-based. By and large, it wrecks these decks hard. It actually doesn't have a strong game against the B/W Tokens deck though, because most of its removal is 1 for 1, and Tokens tends to be able to win that war of attrition. Still a fun deck to play. Vampire Nighthawk is one of the strongest creatures in the format, imo.


EDIT: Here's a list my friend was testing against me with decent results. It's classic weenie aggro and clocks in at a whopping $5:

Mono-White Soldiers

4 Boros Elite
2 Celestial Flare
4 Dryad Militant
4 Elite Vanguard
3 Kor Aeronaut
3 Loyal Cathar
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Veteran Armorsmith
3 Veteran Swordsmith
4 Precinct Captain

3 Raise the Alarm
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Spear of Heliod
1 Sunlance

20 Plains

[frafen]

You could play a deck without creature to punish decks that play lots of creature removals. I have started developing a creatureless control deck (http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/666572-dragons-eggs-rx-control), you could call it "burn aggro-control" since the deck can play both roles (and for this reason the gameplan isn't as linear as classic burn). The main engine of the deck is ghirapur aether grid that in this deck is almost as good as koth of the hammer ultimate.

A 8$ version of the deck could be:

2 lightning bolt
4 pyrite spellbomb
4 galvanic blast
4 shrapnel blast
2 staggershock
2 burst lightning

4 conjurer's bauble
4 chromatic sphere
4 prophetic prism
4 ichor wellspring

3 ghirapur aether grid
3 thoughtcast

4 darksteel citadel
2 swiftwater cliffs
1 izzet boilerworks
3 ghitu encampment
1 hellion crucible
6 mountain
3 island

total 7,3$

You could also maindeck pyroclasms to help against aggro but maybe isn't necessary. Also you could consider some mana leak or izzet charm as counterspells. For the sideboard is nice ensoul artifact but it'll be hard to fit it in the 8$ budget.

[Zilla]

Thanks for the list, frafen. It looks like a similar concept to the U/R Burning Vengeance list I posted above, except using artifacts and Aether Grid over flashback and Burning Vengeance. I'll give your list some testing and let you know what I think.

[frafen]

You are welcome. I'm not too sure about the mana base since I never played this version. I like wandering fumarole but it's out of budget. If you want you could try some number of faerie conclave, radiant fountain (maybe with more izzet boilerworks), blighted gorge in place of the islands.

The UR Burning vengeance deck looks pretty good, I would only add 2-3 dual lands to make the mana base a bit better. I would try izzet boilerworks since it's good in combination with faithless looting.

EDIT Just realized that probably terrarion is better than chromatic sphere.