Coming out of retirement and I need a serious question answered!

[Madmankevinx]

Hi guys! I quit the game for financial reasons a couple years ago (bought a house had a kid etc...) and sold everything but Death and Taxes and my Unlimited Lotus. I am going to start attending a weekly Legacy event in Syracuse again every week and I want to have a deck besides D&T to play to avoid getting bored. I'm going to trade the Lotus for the bulk of a deck and finish off whatever I can't get at my leisure. I have an opportunity to trade it + some other random extras I have laying around for an English Foil Dark Maverick shell (no lands just the main deck-no promos except for the pimp StPs) but should I?
Basically folks, I'd like your suggestions as to what I should consider building to have another option next to D&T. I'm only going to get one shot at this since I really can't be spending $$$ on cards like I used to. For what it's worth, don't suggest burn, infect, affinity, dredge, oops all spells etc. I'm looking to PLAY magic. I know how ;)

Help me out guys, the Lotus is gonna go bye bye and I want to be able to feel good about the deck I build by saying goodbye to my baby. Open to your suggestions folks!

[H]

If it was me, I would definitely want some Blue cards. While I love playing D&T, sometimes I need Blue in my life. A blue core has such versatility, once you have it, there are so many options with only a few cards you can later pick up, or chances are borrow, to make different decks.

Foil Dark Maverick sounds really nice, as I love me some shiny Bobs, but I don't feel it will offer you a different enough play option to warrant it as a good option to break from D&T.

[cab0747]

That seems a little rough. the Maverick decks play like Death and Taxes. If you want variety, I would look elsewhere. Additionally, not getting the lands for the deck is a huge problem: The duals have shot up recently and Karakas is around $100 as well. Even after you have the shell you will have to put a decent amount of money into the deck.

I would agree with the other poster: Get into blue. Blue duals aren't going down and the decks play a lot differently than Death and Taxes does. Selling a Lotus should get you the majority of most decks. In addition to variety, you now have duals to branch into other decks if you would like.

Just my thoughts :)

Edit: Even getting into something like UW Stoneblade opens up things like UWR Delver, Esper Stoneblade, or Miracles down the line if you want to get into something else.

[Ace/Homebrew]

I don't feel it will offer you a different enough play option to warrant it as a good option to break from D&T.

This would be my major concern as well.
Have you considered Burn, Dredge, or Affinity?

Seriously though, were you considering Dark Mav because it was convenient (the trade that is) or because D+T/Mav is just your style?
Elves might be a good consideration.

[Richard Cheese]

If you already have D&T built, I don't think I would bother with that trade because there's so much crossover between the decks. You've likely already got a ton of those cards, and the play style is going to be pretty similar so it won't really alleviate any boredom or frustration.

As much as I hate to say it, you're probably better off picking up as much of a Delver deck as you can for that money. An unlimited Lotus is what, $3500? I think you could put together most of BUG or RUG, at least the Forces and the manabase. If you go for RUG, you could put together UR Delver for cheap while you pick up Goyfs over time.

[H]

I would go the following route, right off the bat: UWR Delver

Since you already have Wastelands, Stoneforges, Equipment, StPs, this isn't too much to make (2400 or so according to Goldfish). From there, I doubt pick up extra Blue duals, so you can eventually branch out in to other Delver decks. UWR will also feel familiar, coming from D&T, while still giving you a little more play.

[Charon]

I also just came back in. Ended up going blue.

[Megadeus]

Pick up stuff to play Dak Fayden- Goblin welder Grixis

[Dice_Box]

Maybe I am the odd one out, but I would go with Lands. You got a good amount of the core and the bonus of lands is that most of it does not go in other decks. Normally that would be a negative, but in this case if you want to make sure that you don't spend more money later, it's better to just remove that temptation and have two decks that are not really interchangeable.

The other choice that fits the same bill is Painter. But you have to be a special kind of sadist to play Painter.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Foil Dark Maverick sounds really nice, as I love me some shiny Bobs, but I don't feel it will offer you a different enough play option to warrant it as a good option to break from D&T.

This. Also, as long as your main concern is gameplay, foils are simply waste of money.
With (Dark) Maverick you might have a good chance against some Delver/genericblue decks that do not have enough tools to fight the neverending stream of threats supported by land/hand disruption. Otoh, e.g. Storm might be pretty annoying.
With a blue shell you'll have good chances in any matchups, maybe except for the most brutal ones like Pox or Dredge.

I support the idea of UWR. You may use lots of staples you already got and it has got a solid chance against nearly everything relevant.
Or, if you don't want to play two aggro-control decks, you may try Miracles.

Maybe I am the odd one out, but I would go with Lands. You got a good amount of the core and the bonus of lands is that most of it does not go in other decks. Normally that would be a negative, but in this case if you want to make sure that you don't spend more money later, it's better to just remove that temptation and have two decks that are not really interchangeable.

The other choice that fits the same bill is Painter. But you have to be a special kind of sadist to play Painter.

Read what this man wrote. There's some wisdom in those words.
Seriously, if you really don't want to (be forced to) spend more money in future, you got only so many choices. Either quit - it has it pros, too, but you want be playing Magic, so it's not the kind of and advice you looked for -, or choose something that shouldn't be upgraded anymore. Some kind of Stompy deck might be reasonable for that matter. But those decks seem pretty bad ever since Abrupt Decay made CotV unreliable.
Speaking of "evolutionary dead end" decks, what are the possibilities? Dredge, Lands, Stax/Stompy... What else?

But I'd still prefer Delver. Your advantage is that right now you got nothing in excess. It's pretty easy to not be tempted once you'll purchase only what you need, instead of being tempted by what was left over. Building the perfect 75 (ok, more realistically perfect 100) shouldn't be hard and as long as you don't have the non-UWR duals, the temptation is not strong enough to overwhelm the reason.

[Mr Miagi]

I'd also suggest go with blue as the "all rounder", UXx is never a bad thing to do in legacy.

Another quite budget friendly (disclaimer: I did say quite) would be Elves. I like litlle green dorks, there's a lot of "magic" going there. From long grindy game to turn 3 hoofing ftw

[Madmankevinx]

Thanks for the advice. How much different from RUG Delver is UWR Delver in gameplay? I was pretty successful with RUG pre-Abrupt Decay/Deathrite Shaman.

[ESG]

Thanks for the advice. How much different from RUG Delver is UWR Delver in gameplay? I was pretty successful with RUG pre-Abrupt Decay/Deathrite Shaman.

They are similar, but RUG is more aggressive in restricting the opponent's game plan. RUG might undergo a shift due to the new Delve cards, but it has been extremely stable for years. Canadian Threshold, as RUG used to be predominantly known, has changed only a few cards over a six-year or seven-year period, so I consider it a bedrock Legacy deck. UWR has a slightly slower, almost midrange strategy. If you like tempo decks, then I would recommend RUG, but once you have a blue tempo shell, shifting over into another wedge is fairly easy: You're picking up a few dual lands and a handful of different creatures and maybe a playset or two of different spells.

Also, I echo the point about foils: If play value is important, skip the foils and build multiple other decks.

[snorlaxcom]

Maybe I am the odd one out, but I would go with Lands.

My man.

[feline]

I would suggest High Tide but I am bias, ha ha.

In all seriousness though, if you want to play something that's proven itself, the huge field of decks that is Legacy should give you many options. The "Decks to Beat" section might help in the forum, it gets it's date from here: http://www.tcdecks.net/formato.php?format=Legacy

[poxy14]

my pool is dedicated to RUG, and i can change decks easily and still be very competitive... and somehow not bored with only 1 deck..
with RUG pcs, i could go UGInfect (very good deck right now), RUG Delver, UR cruise, or BlueZoo..
and these decks are playable with just 3 trops, 3 volcanics... so u can stretch still your budget for other pcs.

[Mr. Safety]

I would want somerthing unfair to play. D&T is a great fair deck to play but sometimes it takes an Emrakul or a Tendrils for twenty. If you get a set of Lion's Eye Diamond you could opt for ANT, TES, or dredge. Then you have a skilltesting deck that can get your combo fix going.