Squandered Resources: Super Budget Super Series 1

[-Spooky-]

In part one of this series of 3 articles I go over 5 budget legacy decks that cost less than $100, describing their strategies and key interactions within. Comments and criticisms are appreciated. You can find the article at the link below.

Thoughts?

http://mtgsalvation.com/1366-squande...-series-1.html

[thefringthing]

I'm pretty skeptical of these lists. I would have really liked to see some testing reports against stuff like RUG Delver and so on, like JVL does in his articles on the mothership.

[-Spooky-]

It's perfectly fine to be skeptical. In my defense I believe that these decks are the best that can be done with such a low budget. Will they win tournaments? No, probably not. Are they great starters for someone with a really low budget? Yeah, I would argue so. It's all about doing the most broken things you can with the resources provided, and I think I have done that fairly well with these lists.

[Awaclus]

Will you include a Fluctuator Tendrils deck in a later part? It's almost competitive (at least it should beat unprepared aggro decks and SneakShow) and last time I checked, it was possible to get it for under $20.

[-Spooky-]

Fluctuator is something I had considered. I am afraid to include it simply because it only has 4 copies of its namesake card with no way to search for it. this means it is completely reliant on the opening hand. A little too iffy for me.

[Mr Miagi]

Fluctuator is something I had considered. I am afraid to include it simply because it only has 4 copies of its namesake card with no way to search for it. this means it is completely reliant on the opening hand. A little too iffy for me.

You mean except Enlightened tutor and Fabricate?

[rufus]

Fluctuator is something I had considered. I am afraid to include it simply because it only has 4 copies of its namesake card with no way to search for it. this means it is completely reliant on the opening hand. A little too iffy for me.

I do wonder how far a GW fluctuator could get with Boneyard Wurm and friends. Probabyl ends up non-budget though.

[Koby]

Fluctuator is something I had considered. I am afraid to include it simply because it only has 4 copies of its namesake card with no way to search for it. this means it is completely reliant on the opening hand. A little too iffy for me.

You mean except for cycling over half your cards to find it anyway?

[-Spooky-]

You mean except for cycling over half your cards to find it anyway?

You can only cycle 1-2 cards per turn starting at the earliest turn of 2. This is especially true when all your lands come into play tapped. cycling to find it is not a reliable way to win the game in time.

Enlightened tutor is both 15 dollars and a white card. You need a white land to cast it, which you have 4 of in the deck. This is not a reliable way to find fluctuator.

Fabricate costs 3 mana, which means it will be cast no sooner than turn 4 for this deck, also, it requires a blue source, of which you have 4. This is also not a reliable way to find fluctuator.

[Koby]

You can only cycle 1-2 cards per turn in the furst 4 turns. This is especially true when all your lands come into play tapped. cycling to find it is not a reliable way to win the game.

Enlightened tutor is both 15 dollars and a white card. You need a white land to cast it, which you have 4 of in the deck. Good luck with that.

Fabricate costs 3 mana, which means it will be cast no sooner than turn 4 for this deck, also, it requires a blue source, of which you have 4. Good luck with this one as well.

E-tutor is not a $15 card Mint. Closer to $9. SCG Prices is not the reality, not should it be the metric.

[dsck]

Those seem way too ghetto budget for legacy. I'd much rather build elf combo without cradle than any of those.

[-Spooky-]

Those seem way too ghetto budget for legacy. I'd much rather build elf combo without cradle than any of those.

Elf combo without cradle is more than $100. Like I said, this is about doing the most powerful thing you can with the resources given. I have written about elf combo before in my other articles, but it's price was closer to $150-$200.

Also, I had not checked the proce of e tutor since a month or so back. that being said, y point still stands. it takes a white source to cast, which brings you back to square one.

[dsck]

Elf combo without cradle is more than $100. Like I said, this is about doing the most powerful thing you can with the resources given. I have written about elf combo before in my other articles, but it's price was closer to $150-$200.

I get $120 going by ebay completed average. I'd much rather shell extra $20 to have competitive deck than some casual combo piles.

Check this thread:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ks-My-Attempts

[Awaclus]

Fluctuator is something I had considered. I am afraid to include it simply because it only has 4 copies of its namesake card with no way to search for it. this means it is completely reliant on the opening hand. A little too iffy for me.

Luckily it's the only card you need, so mulliganing aggressively is usually enough.

[andy]

I assume you already have your other 10 decks chosen. But there are two points I would have liked to see discussed:

1) It would be good to show some budget decks that use some staples. I'd even say a slightly higher budget would be acceptable if the deck included cards that could be easily used in future decks. Shelling out for staples to build your collection can occur slowly, over time. It's good to have decks that use only a handful of staples so that you can still compete while you're building your collection.

2) For each of your budget decks, it would be good to have some discussion about where to take the list in the future. Presumably people won't just put together the list and then play it forever. They'll eventually save up more money and want to start adding more powerful, and perhaps higher budget, cards to the decks to make them more competitive.

[Jamaican Zombie Legend]

None of these decks are very good, but given the current prices of Legacy cards, it's practically impossible to make decent decks at a budget of <$100. Stark difference to a few years ago, when decks like Dredge, Affinity, and some Elf builds could be built for close to 100 dollars, or less if you shopped around. Even worse, most budget decks nowadays flounder in the current meta (thanks Delver, outstanding Mav critters, and S&T), making Legacy even harder to get into. It's good to see someone trying to help though, bro. Fight the good fight.

Also Aggro-Enchantress with all auras is probably the "best" deck here, though I wouldn't stay mono-green, because Kor Spiritdancer (no Argothian, but still) as well as white "removal auras" are worth having to use a budget two color manabase (probably painlands or M10 duals). Journey to Nowhere might surprise a few Show and Tell players, and white gives access to some more sideboard cards that could help out.

[Basara]

I absolutely loved your contamination deck , that deck looks superb , the deck as game vs rug delver believe it or not , i think the deck needs some surgical extraction , because rug delver just have a feeew threats in their decks...

Deck budget ideas:
what about something like black/white tokens , key cards are inexpensive lingering souls , spectral possesion,STP,hymn to tourach,honor of the pure etc....
Mono green infect also looks to fit the budget if you have berserk , the other things are inexpensive as well..

[-Spooky-]

thanks for the replies guys.

@dsck-
None of teh decks in that thread come even close to the budget I have set myself with. Many are closer to $500.

@andy- If you read the introduction to teh article you will see that the $100 budget is not what I normally create with. In my other articles I run with a budget of $250, which does indeed give room for some staples to be used.

I will probably include some kind of "if you want to improve the deck later on" talk, since a lot of people have suggested it. Thanks.

@Jamaican Zombie Legend and Basara-
Adding another color to a deck seriously jacks up the price. This is especially true since the scars duel lands have gone up. It is very difficult to make a multi-color deck that is still under $100. Sadly. =/