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Thread: Budget Legacy Guide V5

  1. #1

    Budget Legacy Guide V5

    After 2 long years (has it really been THAT long?!) I have finally gotten the drive to finish version 5 of my budget legacy guide. As of right now, the guide has a little over 65 decks to check out, and is now using a fancy new Google Doc format. So, come on in and check out the budget lists!

    As a side note, about 20 more decks are scheduled to be added within the coming week. So, be sure to check back in a bit!

    If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please drop me a line!

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  2. #2

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Thanks a lot for doing this!

    Of all these decks, which one do you think is the most competitive one? In other words, which deck has the highest chance to win a tournament?
    If you can't decide, can you give us a Top 3?

  3. #3
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    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Manaless Dredge maybe??

  4. #4
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    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    This rocks - nice work. Are you spreading the word on Reddit, etc? Those sites are polluted with people asking how to play Legacy for under $300.

  5. #5

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by Bongo View Post
    Thanks a lot for doing this!

    Of all these decks, which one do you think is the most competitive one? In other words, which deck has the highest chance to win a tournament?
    If you can't decide, can you give us a Top 3?
    This is tough to answer, because it depends a lot on your meta. Both dredge variants are very powerful simply because if your meta is not prepared for it, they can sweep through opponents with sheer brute force and uncommon tactics. Other favorites are Burn, Reanimator and Ooze strategies, and Enchantress. Another powerful deck that I have been playing for over a year is Turbo Depths. I have a budget list that I am planning on putting into the article soon. Thanks to the new B/G tap land the deck can actually be built 95% in tact for less than $300. Th deck is insanely strong, and I am always ready to spread the gospel of Marit Lage.

    @Stuart: Thanks! Nice to know my hard work is appreciated! I am most certainly spearding the word on reddit and other sites. The more the merrier, ya know?

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  6. #6

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    This is freaking outstanding. I plan to share with friends who are hesitant due to the high cost barrier of the format. Thanks for all your hard work, it's very much appreciated!

  7. #7

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by filln View Post
    This is freaking outstanding. I plan to share with friends who are hesitant due to the high cost barrier of the format. Thanks for all your hard work, it's very much appreciated!
    Oh stop it, you! I'm more than happy to help build the legacy community. I started playing on a budget, and I want to share what I learned about budget deck building with everyone I can. Plus, I have a ton of fun making decks!

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  8. #8

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    This is fantastic Spooky.

    I think a deck like Eldrazi would have a ton of appeal to new/budget players. Easy to play, fun, aggressive and very competitive.

    Quote Originally Posted by Zooligan View Post
    Manaless Dredge maybe??
    Dredge is very easy to hate out. Any deck packing 4 Leyline in the board will shut it down completely. The same goes to any glass canon budget decks like Elves and Belcher. They can win a tournament or two against an unprepared meta but they are very easy to answer.

    I am certain that a well tuned Eldrazi list would actually be the most competitive budget list in legacy. Eldrazi is the most competitive deck in the format and you actually don't lose much in the conversion to a budget Eldrazi list.

    You honestly can't go wrong bringing the following budget eldrazi list to any tournament...

    Budget Eldrazi

    //Mana
    4 Eye of Ugin
    4 Eldrazi Temple
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 Cloudpost
    4 Glimmerpost
    3 Vesuva
    2 Crystal Vein
    2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

    //Threats
    4 Eldrazi Mimic
    4 Thought-Knot Seer
    4 Reality Smasher
    4 Endless One
    4 Oblivion Sower
    4 Conduit of Ruin
    2 Trinisphere
    2 Expedition Map
    1 Phyrexian Revoker
    1 Phyrexian Metamorph
    1 Breaker of Armies
    1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
    1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

    //Sideboard
    4 Pithing Needle
    3 Faerie Macabre
    3 Dismember
    3 Warping Wail
    2 Tsabo's Web

    Such a list will be very effective in any meta no matter how competitive.

    It's basically my current Eldrazi list but I swapped out the only two maindeck cards that put it out of the budget price range with effective substitutes.

    -4 City of Traitors
    -4 Chalice of the Void
    +2 Expedition Map
    +2 Trinisphere
    +2 Crystal Vein
    +1 Glimmervoid
    +1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

    I also modified the sideboard to make it significantly more affordable while giving you options against a variety of decks.

    SB: +2 Pithing Needle
    SB: +2 Tsabo's Web
    SB: +3 Warping Wail
    SB: +3 Faerie Macabrel
    SB: -4 Leyline of the Void
    SB: -3 Thorn of Amethyst
    SB: -2 Trinisphere
    SB: -2 All is Dust
    Last edited by Captain Hammer; 11-01-2016 at 07:20 PM.

  9. #9

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Hammer View Post
    This is fantastic Spooky.

    I would like to contribute to it.

    I think a deck like Eldrazi would have a ton of appeal to new/budget players. Easy to play, fun, aggressive and very competitive.

    What cards would you need me to remove from the below list to make this list budget friendly?


    //Mana
    4 Eye of Ugin
    4 Eldrazi Temple
    4 Ancient Tomb
    4 City of Traitors
    4 Cloudpost
    3 Glimmerpost
    3 Vesuva
    1-2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

    //Core
    4 Chalice of the Void
    4 Eldrazi Mimic
    4 Thought-Knot Seer
    4 Reality Smasher

    //Flex
    4-3 Endless One
    4 Oblivion Sower
    4 Conduit of Ruin
    1 Phyrexian Revoker
    1 Phyrexian Metamorph
    1 Breaker of Armies
    1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
    1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

    //Sideboard
    4 Leyline of the Void
    3 Trinisphere
    2 Thorn of Amethyst
    2 Dismember
    2 Pithing Needle
    2 All is Dust

    I would be happy to tweak the list to remove the non-budget friendly cards from this list while finding a way to still have it function well. Just let me know what you need me to find budget replacements for.

    As a start, I am thinking Chalice of the Voids and City of Traitors could be replaced with Crystal Veins, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoths.

    Would Grim Monoliths, Basalith Monoliths and Voltaic Keys be too pricy to be considered budget friendly?
    I would love to make Eldrazi a viable budget deck, but I am very skeptical of the quality the deck would have. Chalice of the Void, for example, used to be a cost effective card. Now, the card is not even close to budget. It is, however, one of the reasons the deck is good at all. I just don't know if Eldrazi can function with some of those key cards missing.
    When deciding if a deck can even be made budget, the first thing I do is pull up a couple "real" lists, tune them all into a single list that I like, and the put that list into a website like MTGGoldfish, to see the price. Then, I start eliminating cards that I think the deck can still work without, and replacing them with budget options. When I've made all the budget replacements I think are acceptable I then check the price. My current ceiling is $300. If it's more than that, I normally scrap the project.

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  10. #10

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    I find that Chalice of the Void has become increasingly less potent the more play it sees in the format.

    There are no longer any viable decks that aren't unprepared for chalice. The remaining decks in the format all plan for chalice and pack tons of counter magic, discard and Abrupt Decays to deal with it. They expect to see chalice in atleast 30% of the matchups they face.

    My wins with the deck aren't coming off the back off chalice as much as they are the crazy mana efficiency of the Eldrazi mana base.

    In addition, Trinisphere and Thorn of Amethyst from the board offer suitable substitutes for Chalice of the Void on a budget when needed.

    So, yes I think it's a mistake not to include Eldrazi in your budget database.

    The real loss that Budget Eldrazi suffers is City of Traitors. However, by going bigger and utilizing the post manabase, the deck can compensate for this adequately.

    Spooky, I highly encourage you to add the list I edited into my post above to your database. If you are unsure about it, feel free to test it in a few matches against tier one non budget decks and I am confident you will come away very impressed by it's performance.

  11. #11

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Hammer View Post
    I find that Chalice of the Void has become increasingly less potent the more play it sees in the format.

    There are no longer any viable decks that aren't unprepared for chalice. The remaining decks in the format all plan for chalice and pack tons of counter magic, discard and Abrupt Decays to deal with it. They expect to see chalice in atleast 30% of the matchups they face.

    My wins with the deck aren't coming off the back off chalice as much as they are the crazy mana efficiency of the Eldrazi mana base.

    In addition, Trinisphere and Thorn of Amethyst from the board offer suitable substitutes for Chalice of the Void on a budget when needed.

    So, yes I think it's a mistake not to include Eldrazi in your budget database.

    The real loss that Budget Eldrazi suffers is City of Traitors. However, by going bigger and utilizing the post manabase, the deck can compensate for this adequately.

    Spooky, I highly encourage you to add the list I edited into my immediate post above to your database. If you are unsure about it, feel free to test it in a few matches against tier one non budget decks and I am confident you will come away very impressed by it's performance.
    I will definitely look into it. Thanks for the contribution! I do hope it works out. The more decks I can present to people, the better. :)

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  12. #12

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by -Spooky- View Post
    I will definitely look into it. Thanks for the contribution! I do hope it works out. The more decks I can present to people, the better. :)
    Excellent.

    I verified that the list falls under your range so Im hoping you'll be including it in the database shortly.

    Its a shame that Cavern of Souls is a $70 card now. I would prefer to play 2 Cavern to 2 Crystal Vein. However its not anywhere near as big a loss as it is in other tribal lists, Crystal Vein has been exactly what I needed in some situations (allowing me to cast a Kozilek or Ulamog a turn earlier singlehandedly winning the game).

    I've tried the budget list listed above last night and again this afternoon against a variety of decks and I couldn't be happier with its performance. It generally manages to wreck fair decks including Miracles, D&T, Shardless, Delver, and the Mirror matchup thanks to Oblivion Sower and playing bigger eldrazi than other eldrazi decks. None of the decks that this budget deck beat were budget decks themselves btw.

    Its only weakness seems to be ultra fast combo decks like ANT and Belcher (Needle doesn't answer goblin tokens) that it doesn't have the tools to disrupt even post board. I think it might need post board combo hate in metas where combo is expected. Perhaps Thorn or Sphere or something along those lines are worth playing in the board in combo metas even if they increase the decks budget a bit.
    Last edited by Captain Hammer; 11-02-2016 at 05:50 PM.

  13. #13

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Not sure if doc is totally broken or if its just Tapatalk, but I get an error when I attempt to see it.

    Is LEDless dredge on there? Without LED deck is maybe 2-300.

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    Belcher
    Delver
    Dredge

    When your heart won't beat, your eyes go black
    There's a light in the tunnel and you can't turn back
    Your friends can't save you, your family's gone
    You're waiting on your judgment at the foot of the throne
    Will you beg for some mercy? Will you cop some pleas?
    Will you stand on your own or get down on your knees?
    Will your angels release you from where demons dwell?
    Will you make it into Heaven or go right back to Hell?
    Only time will tell

  14. #14
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    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Hammer View Post
    Dredge is very easy to hate out. Any deck packing 4 Leyline in the board will shut it down completely. The same goes to any glass canon budget decks like Elves and Belcher. They can win a tournament or two against an unprepared meta but they are very easy to answer.
    It's a metagame predator, nothing wrong with that. That being said, I've both top 8'd with it and gone 0-5. When it's good, it's really good. When it isn't, prepare to have a bad day.
    Quote Originally Posted by cavalrywolfpack View Post
    DAMMIT ECHELON

  15. #15

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by Beatusnox View Post
    Not sure if doc is totally broken or if its just Tapatalk, but I get an error when I attempt to see it.

    Is LEDless dredge on there? Without LED deck is maybe 2-300.

    Sent from my ASUS_Z00TD using Tapatalk
    Not just you. I get an error from my iPhone too. Maybe its not working on mobile devices.

    Is Eldrazi on there yet? The list I posted up is 300 and it frequently wrecks tier one $5000 decks with the exception of ANT (an issue for all budget deck and easy to fix for that list if the budget is expanded slightly to allow for combo hate like sphere or thorn so that's not a valid reason to discount it).

  16. #16

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by Beatusnox View Post
    Not sure if doc is totally broken or if its just Tapatalk, but I get an error when I attempt to see it.

    Is LEDless dredge on there? Without LED deck is maybe 2-300.

    Sent from my ASUS_Z00TD using Tapatalk
    People have been having issues viewing the document on mobile. If you are trying to look at it on your phone I would suggest testing the link on a computer, or using the Google Docs app on your phone to look at it, instead of the web browser.

    LEDLess dredge is indeed in the list. :)



    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Hammer
    Is Eldrazi on there yet? The list I posted up is 300 and it frequently wrecks tier one $5000 decks with the exception of ANT (an issue for all budget deck and easy to fix for that list if the budget is expanded slightly to allow for combo hate like sphere or thorn so that's not a valid reason to discount it).
    The list you posted, and a list I was working on, are both above $300 according to the sources I use. Right now, your list sits at just under $400.

    I am trying to see how I can bring the price down while still maintaining its power. The easiest way to lower the price would be to get rid of Ancient Tomb, but the card is so integral to the deck that I feel removing it would make playing the deck trivial.

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  17. #17

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    I see. I had added up the lowest prices I saw on tcgplayer and it added up to under $300 but some of the cards were in moderate condition and maybe I didn't take shipping costs into account. Also the foil ancient tombs are cheaper than the tempest tombs but mtggoldfish doesn't use the foil prices. Prices fluctuate daily as well.

    That's why I think being very strict about enforcing a $300 cutoff when a deck just barely goes over is a mistake imo. However if you insistent that it must strictly fall under $300, I would make the following changes...

    -1 Kozilek
    -2 Trinisphere
    -1 Ancient Tomb (I strongly discourage making this cut unless absolutely needed to get it to qualify as budget)
    +2 Warping Wail
    +2 Dismember

    Edit: Just found out Kozilek the Great Distortion is $3 instead of $20. So play the cheaper Kozilek for budget reasons.

    Ideally, don't cut any Ancient Tomb (tcgplayers lowest price is much more reflective of how much players actually will buy the card for but mtggoldfish uses their median price instead and thus tends to overestimate prices slightly anyway) and make this change to qualify the deck as budget...
    -1 Kozilek, Butcher
    -2 Trinisphere
    +1 Kozilek, Distortion
    +1 Dismember
    +1 Warping Wail

    You can cut dismembers and warping wails from the board to fit in ANT hate.
    Last edited by Captain Hammer; 11-05-2016 at 12:05 PM.

  18. #18

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Just wanted to chime in and say this list is awesome. It's reminiscent of the casual decks that Wizards would post on their website on a more-or-less weekly basis until a few years ago, highlighting powerful synergies or combos that are good, but just barely nudged out of serious consideration due to marginally more powerful or more consistent options.

    Love it!

  19. #19

    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Quote Originally Posted by MaximumC View Post
    Just wanted to chime in and say this list is awesome. It's reminiscent of the casual decks that Wizards would post on their website on a more-or-less weekly basis until a few years ago, highlighting powerful synergies or combos that are good, but just barely nudged out of serious consideration due to marginally more powerful or more consistent options.

    Love it!
    Thanks! I actually have never read the articles you are talking about. Is there an archive for them? They sound interesting.

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  20. #20
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    Re: Budget Legacy Guide V5

    Great list. I'd like to suggest to add Affinity. It could be built on a budget as well.

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