First legacy deck - Izzet Delver budget, need reviews

[VlaeKD]

Hello!
Let me introduce myself, i'm a TGC player from quite a time now, but having a new group of friends playing Magic i thought it would be the right time to try that game that scared me a bit for his difficulty at first sight.

They are playing legacy type with no restrictions at all, and even they don't have solid and competitives decks, i wanted to try to make one based on an already acknowledged archetype.

Here's my list!

Budget Izzet Delver

//Creatures//
1 Brazen Borrower
4x Murktide Regent
4x Dragon's Rage Channeler
4x Delver of Secrets
//Spells//
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Brainstorm
4x Daze
4x Ponder
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Mishra's Bauble
4 Expressive Iteration
1 Misdirection
1 Dress Down
//Lands//
2 Izzet Boilerworks
8 Island
3 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls

Gitaxian Probe // I know that card isn't playable at all. But as i said my group of friends aren't banning cards so at that moment i might play it.

PS: Got like 200€ budget for the deck

[Weapon X]

What do you mean legacy with no restrictions? Like can you play dig through time and ancestral recall?

[VlaeKD]

Yeah, we technically can play whatever we want. But ancestral is way too expensive for me

[Fox]

If you want to play paper legacy with zero dual lands, there's only really a few ways to play a optimal/near-optimal deck.

Pathway 1 is ragequit legacy b/c you built Shadow and never stood a chance vs the Plow/Ending format.

Pathway 2 is build DnT and have around $1200 sinkholed into a deck you can't build out of. So....you better love playing it, and just it.

Pathway 3 is buy 4 Tarn, 4 Vista, and play 6 blue source ( so that's 4 Island, 2 Otawara or 3 island, 2 Otawara, 1 Steam Vents, or 4 Island, 1 Otawara, 1 Steam Vents), 1 Mountain, 3x Wasteland. Now you have the staples (FoW, Bstorm, Daze, Bolt, Red Blasts, etc) and can engage in useful play patterns that apply to Delver-style decks. Just know that if you build this as Ponder/vanilla Delver you will just be crappy Delver...and it won't stop being crappy until you have 4x Volc. A better idea is to immediately reach an end-stage optimal legacy deck by playing Dreadstill; this endpoint is achieved at 1x Volc, then you're ready to farm Delver.

[Weapon X]

I may lean into foil and gush as well as chain lightning then as “budget options”. No idea what the euro price point is of that, but I think it can inform the directions you may want to go. Ideally you’re going to be heavy blue with access to red so the “basic fetches” are probably going to be better then fake duals for you. That said I’m pretty certain you’d have to bite the bullet on force of wills which will crush your budget

[VlaeKD]

Hi, thanks for all your answers.

First of all, i want to specify that none of my friends got cards such as Volc, FoW, Wasteland or cards like that.
I know i might be crushed by playing blurry decks in format like Legacy if i decided to play people with optimized decks.

To be honest, they are more playing commanders decks that they transform into 60cards decks, and adding some features in it (Sensei divining top for exemple)

We are in a case where they don't have what it needs to play pure Legacy format, but they are playing everything as long as it's a Magic card.

I decided to check Legacy decks as it's the closest format to total freedom, but i don't know if an unoptimized legacy deck is 'better' than an optimized pioneer or standard deck tbf

Don't hesitate to tell me what you would do.

[FTW]

In a no-ban budget Legacy format, the low-hanging fruit starts with
4 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual
4 Mind Twist
and other big mana black haymakers.

With access to that much mana, you're just going to get higher-power cards. You can add to it with whatever fun creatures and planeswalkers you want, playing the game with faster mana than normal. Meanwhile opponent's deck won't have Force of Will or Wasteland or Karakas to ruin your fun. I am 100% playing ramp or combo in a no FoW format.

If you prefer to start with something that looks like a traditional Legacy deck, turn 1 combo is the most powerful thing you can play in budget Legacy circles. Belcher can be built cheaply other than LED. You can play Stomping Ground instead of Taiga with negligible difference to win%. Instead of the usual LED (Lion's Eye Diamond), you could play Pyretic Ritual, Jeska's Will or with Sol Ring if they're allowed. It's a bit slower without LED but the deck still wins fast.

Budget Belcher
//Initial Mana: 21
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant
1 Stomping Ground

//Other Mana: 20
4 Sol Ring
4 Rite of Flame
4 Tinder Wall
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Seething Song

//Free Spells: 8
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Manamorphose

//Business Spells: 11
4 Burning Wish
4 Goblin Charbelcher
3 Empty the Warrens

//Sideboard: 15
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Goblin War Strike
1 Irencrag Feat
1 Reverent Silence
1 Cave-In
1 Chain Lightning
1 Diminishing Returns
1 Hull Breach
1 By Force
1 Shattering Spree
4 Xantid Swarm


This has a high turn 1-2 win % in a meta with no Force of Will or City of Traitors (maybe no Force of Vigor either).

Chrome Mox is the only expensive card. If that's still out of budget, you could try 4 Chancellor of the Tangle OR 2 Jeska's Will + 2 Street Wraith.



Edit2: If you think combo would be unfun for your friends and prefer the fair Izzet Delver archetype, I would make some changes to your OP list. Delve cards and Brainstorm are harder to play without fetchlands. Daze is not playable without enough ways to get "Islands" on turn 1 (blue fetchland + Steam Vents + basic Island). Treasure Cruise is very strong without a banlist, although it conflicts with Murktide Regent.

Budget UR Delver - Treasure Cruise Era

//Creatures: 14
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Dragon's Rage Channeler
2 Murktide Regent

//Spells: 30
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Treasure Cruise
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Daze
2 Misdirection

//Lands: 16
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Prismatic Vista
2 Arid Mesa
3 Steam Vents
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Fiery Islet

//Rough Sideboard:
4 Mental Misstep
3 Foil
2 Price of Progress


The idea behind this is that you won't be able to disrupt as much without Force and Wasteland, but opponents won't either, so you want to play more aggressive and race. That tilts towards 16 lands and playing more 1 drops and Chain Lightning, with Probe + Treasure Cruise to refill hands. Meanwhile opponents won't have turn 1 Chalice of the Void to punish such a low curve. Swiftspear is quite strong in this set up where you want to cast cheap spells quickly. You might even get away with greed like 2 Fireblast as a finisher, instead of Misdirection.

The SB will depend a lot on what your opponents play. Cards like Surgical Extraction, Tormod's Crypt, Pithing Needle, Red Elemental Blast, Meltdown, Pyrokinesis, Smash to Smithereens, Echoing Truth, Searing Blaze, Spell Pierce may also be good depending on what opponents are playing.

If even the fetchlands are out of budget, then I would not play Izzet Delver at all. Multiple cards get much worse (Brainstorm, Daze, Treasure Cruise, Murktide Regent... even Ponder and Delver of Secrets).