Deck suggestion ? Budget, not too complicated

[ParkerLewis]

Hi all,

My Magic playing group is quite small at the moment, we basically manage to get around four players and so we tend to play some 2HG.

In this group, there is one player with deck that don't matchu up the level of the other decks in the group (we have either players with mainly Modern-legal decks, typically mid-range, with good, focused gameplans and interactions, that are quite fit for 2HG where they have more time to develop ; or players like me with Legacy archetypes or former archetypes, so not tuned at all for multiplayer, but with enough raw power to easily compensate).

My current plan would be to try to point him to deck lists or at least deck ideas that he could build at a reasonable price (total guess : <100€/$ would be a good goal (no sideboard required)) and of course would be able to enjoy. I would love it if there was a way to get out of the mono-dimensional gameplan of "some creatures plus equipment". Also, some kind of versatile, useful removal / disruption is mandatory. The list has to have at least some way to prevent the opponent from advancing his gameplan unconstrained.

Either decklists or card lists to pick from to build a focused deck.

• 1st approach : the less risky : just build or give him card lists to build a mono-dimensional beatdown deck, but at least an effective one.
  For that I had some kind of "dumbed-down" D&T in mind, with a higher curve (for 2HG), but even without Port, Vial, Wasteland Karakas etc, the 100€ target is difficult to reach if you want to keep some potent cards. See below for an example.
  
• 2nd approach : still aggro strategies, but with some obvious synergy. Things like affinity could i guess be in budget. Even though it's as linear, obvious and in-your-face a mechanic as they come, it would already be quite transformative for him (once again, his current decks have just no angle / synergy in them, other than random useless ones here and there).
  
• 3rd approach : budget combo. This page has some neat ideas. This would typically be giving him decks the likes of which he has never played, which has its pros and cons : giving him new perspectives and maybe an appetite for these kinds of decks (which would be great), but if this idea doesn't resonate with him, I fear to be stuck.

My starting point : still mostly the first option, but at least with some synergy between the cards. I've managed to get it down to <120€ (according to a real buying simulation on MKM, shipping included, and deducing one Gisela since he has one already)

White beatdown


// Lands
23 [M10] Plains (3)

// Creatures
4 [FNM] Mother of Runes
3 [DKA] Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 [EMN] Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 [MBS] Mirran Crusader
2 [EMN] Gisela, the Broken Blade
2 [SOM] Sunblast Angel
3 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
4 [AVR] Silverblade Paladin
3 [SOI] Odric, Lunarch Marshal

// Spells
3 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
1 [MMA] Sword of Light and Shadow
1 [NPH] Sword of War and Peace
2 [C15] Sword of Vengeance
4 [CMD] Oblivion Ring


Another option, at about the same price tag :

White control


// Lands
1 [NE] Kor Haven
23 [M10] Plains (3)

// Spells
2 [MMA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 [MI] Enlightened Tutor
2 [TE] Humility
2 [R] Island Sanctuary
4 [10E] Wrath of God
2 [ZEN] Luminarch Ascension
4 [V10] Isochron Scepter
4 [JGC] Orim's Chant
4 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
1 [9E] Story Circle
1 [DS] Pulse of the Fields
3 [DDI] Path to Exile
4 [CMD] Oblivion Ring


What would you suggest ? Also and of course, deck lists suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks for your help

[Coast]

It sounds like your friend might enjoy Slivers or possibly a pauper deck like Stompy. Here is a link to an archetypal Stompy deck. If $50ish is too much, a few cuts that can be made.

[ParkerLewis]

It sounds like your friend might enjoy Slivers or possibly a pauper deck like Stompy. Here is a link to an archetypal Stompy deck. If $50ish is too much, a few cuts that can be made.

Even though money luckily isn't an issue for any of us, it's more like I get the feeling his biggest investment in Magic is usually spending ~30€/$ on boosters every now and then, so I think he's just not used to the idea of spending more at a single time, especially on singles. Hence the budget aspect to ease him into it. I'd say 50$ should be definitely fine though.

Regarding your prposals : either is definitely miles better than his current decks. I'm not a big fan of the linked Stompy list as it may lack some middle/end-game for a 2HG environment. Also I would want him to play some hard removal and/or disruption in the deck (I should have mentioned that, sorry, will edit my OP), because what also sucks immensely is that his decks never have any way of preventing anything the opponent is going for. This btw is why for a stompy list, I was looking at white, because of all the cheap and versatile available removal (Oblivion Ring, StP, PtE).

The Slivers option I like better : like affinity, there's a mechanic with synergy, where the deck as a whole is much better than the individual cards, even though also just like affinity it's been beaten to death and is extremely linear and obvious (but at this point it's probably be a good thing). It also has some unpredictability. Thanks for leading me to that option. I'll try to see if there's something to go to there.

[Steamflogger]

Do you know what he could be into? Like colorwise..

black -> destructive removal, recursion, drain life abilities, small guys eg vampires, big guys eg demons
green -> ramp, midrange, stand-alone big guys, even bigger guys, or small elves ramping into whatever
white -> exiling removal, control, small guys, equipment
red -> burn, aggro, maybe goblins
blue -> bounce, counter, control, flying creatures, card draw

There is obviously more to those colors, but to keep it simple for a first deck this would be enough i think. Thinking about color combinations if not going for a mono deck I'd recommend BG or BR. Tons of cards to find and cheap duals to play. Pain + Tainted duals from Torment in addition to basics and he's set to start off.

Sample decklists (played in my casual group):

a) Kor Equipments

4 Armament Master
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Kor Duelist
4 Kitesail Scout
4 Devout Lightcaster
4 Flayer Husk
4 Captain's Claws
2 Bonehoard
2 Mortarpod
1 Batterskull
1 Scytheclaw
2 Brave the Elements
2 Dispatch
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
16 Plains

b) BR Tempo Vampires

3 Viscera Seer
4 Pulse Tracker
4 Bloodghast
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Blade of the Bloodchief
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Terminate
1 Dreadbore
2 Arc Trail
2 Backlash
2 Phyrexian Arena
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Tainted Peak
1 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Lavaclaw Reaches

Both are pretty cool decks that have their little thing to durdle and make you go "huh.. interesting" but are not too complicated for a first proper deck. The latter one is pretty strong in 2hg but not op.
If he actually decides on one of those, there are some rather expensive cards that could be dropped for cheaper ones. But maybe you can even lend them until he gets them himself. Talking about Inquisition, SFM and Batterskull..
If not, I hope that thinking about colors will help to get at least a 'direction'.

[ParkerLewis]

Sample decklists (played in my casual group):

a) Kor Equipments

4 Armament Master
4 Stone Haven Outfitter
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Kor Duelist
4 Kitesail Scout
4 Devout Lightcaster
4 Flayer Husk
4 Captain's Claws
2 Bonehoard
2 Mortarpod
1 Batterskull
1 Scytheclaw
2 Brave the Elements
2 Dispatch
4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
16 Plains

To be honest, this is still the kind of list I would want to avoid. There is no removal/disruption, so if someone casts anything problematic you have to deal with, be it a threat or a simple defensive card like Propaganda or Ghostly Prison, this list crumbles (or relies entirely on your teammate doing the job alone which is what we want to avoid ; and we want to teach him to always play some of it). This would be fixable by adding some combination of the classic Oblivion Ring, StP & PtE (replacing Dispatch and Brave the Elements, and any other 2 cards).

Regarding late-game power, even though Emeria is an interesting touch, I'm afraid even in a 2HG context, this will get online far too late (you have to have at least 8 lands for it to go online). Think that with 16 Plains, you need to have drawn almost half your deck to get it online. 7/16 plains means having seen an average of 26.25 cards. That's about turn 15 at best (!), more realistically 17-22 (!!). It would simply never happen in our group. I don't know the dynamics of your group, but even if it tends to be super-slow, I'd suggest reducing Emeria to a 2-of at the very most in your list, to get 2 more plains instead. You would on average shave off almost 3 turns (!) of waiting this way. That's still turn 12 at best, which is still ultra-late (unusable in our group), but if your group is slower, it would be a big deal :)

[Steamflogger]

The difference is, that we mostly (probably 95% of the time) play FFA with at least 5 people, which is a much slower format than 2HG. But if we do, the Kor list works there, too, plus I posted it how my friend plays it. I would probably swap Dispatch and Brave the Elements for STPS, too. If you really only play 2hg and have only one other player go against your opponents, I'd even be in on your thought to play 2 Oblivion Rings.

[ParkerLewis]

The difference is, that we mostly (probably 95% of the time) play FFA with at least 5 people, which is a much slower format than 2HG. But if we do, the Kor list works there, too, plus I posted it how my friend plays it. I would probably swap Dispatch and Brave the Elements for STPS, too. If you really only play 2hg and have only one other player go against your opponents, I'd even be in on your thought to play 2 Oblivion Rings.

Oh yeah FFA@5 must make for some ultra-long games. Btw, how do you deal with early player deaths ? (see this thread)