Introduction:
The cards above are easily the scariest staples of the Modern format. They vary in price from $35 all the way to nearly $200! Each of their prices are insanely bloated due too various factors. Some of them hold such high values simply because of supply and demand, whereas others shot up in price through speculation(Bitterblossom) or lucrative mass buyouts(Fulminator Mage). Even a few have the sad fate of seeing play in other formats such as Commander or Legacy(Grove of the Burnwillows) and their price has nothing to do with the Modern metagame. Regardless of why any of these cards are so expensive, the fact remains that they are, and it doesn’t look like their values are going to diminish any time soon.
Modern is a wonderful format and a great overall concept by Wizards of the Coast. When I read about Modern’s introduction it looked like the perfect stepping stone for steady Standard/FNM players to branch out into older eternal formats. Ideally once rotation came along Standard players wouldn’t feel as hurt by the loss of their playables, and their collections could easily translate into Modern. It’s a great concept and should in practice make sense, but there has recently formed a huge barrier in a player’s path towards older formats. That barrier is one of the main subjects of this article, price. As I see it, the extremely high value of some of the Modern staples has made it nearly impossible to reasonably get into the format without spending an arm and a leg. Even though buying into Modern is, for the most part, a worthwhile investment, it still doesn’t make up for its initial cost.
I’ve personally bought and traded in and out of Modern a few times with the season and my changing schedule, but I’m sad to admit that after the sudden spike in card prices I’ve become too discouraged to invest that amount of money again. I can safely assume I’m not alone in this disgruntled view on the format, and I hate seeing other players in our community being scared off by the cost of playing Magic: the Gathering. It’s unreasonable that a tier 1 deck should run you upwards of $1,200 – $2,000 dollars. Modern is an incredibly fun format and I really want to see it grow. In an attempt to see our Modern playerbase expand I’d like to spend the rest of this article covering various decks and archetypes that are fun, interactive, competitive, and mainly inexpensive when compared to the premiere decks in the format.
Budget Modern Decks:
The following decks are not polished by any means and are merely basic breakdowns of their play style and interactions. These should be used as inspiration and lead towards further development. Most of these decks aren’t going to be true budget builds. A budget competitive deck is not a luxury we have while playing Magic. The more popular and playable a card is, the higher it’s value rises. This theory leads me to a concern I’d like to point out about the following decks. If any of these less expensive decks start to gain interest then you can assume that their prices will alter and start to increase. Keep that in mind when looking into building a Modern deck, the longer you wait, the harder and more expensive it might become.
Let’s jump right into the decks in no particular order!
Mono Red Burn: $100
| Creatures: (12) 4 Goblin Guide 4 Spark Elemental 4 Hellspark Elemental Spells: (28) 4 Lava Spike 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Shard Volley 4 Searing Blaze 4 Skullcrack 4 Flames of the Blood Hand 4 Rift Bolt Lands: (20) 20 Mountain | Sideboard: (15) 2 Relic of Progenitus 2 Combust 2 Satyr Firedancer 3 Searing Blood 4 Smash to Smithereens 2 Flamebreak |
I’m starting this list off with the most obvious suggestion. Historically, mono red aggressive decks have been really inexpensive. Despite how cheap they are, they tend to be very powerful strategies and can exist in any format. The game plan is always very straight forward, point and click. When your opponent goes from 20 to 0 life, you win the game. Not much else to explain about this archetype, and really that’s why you rarely see it. It can be fun for a few tournaments but it tends to become rather stale to play after a while. There are still players out there who swear by mono red and wouldn’t be caught dead playing anything else. Also, if you’re new to a format and don’t know all of the intricacies, then starting off with a simpler deck will normally lead towards a better initial performance.
Soul Sisters: $200
| Creatures: (27) 3 Martyr of Sands 4 Serra Ascendant 3 Soul Warden 4 Soul’s Attendant 4 Ajani’s Pridemate 4 Squadron Hawk 1 Aven Mindcensor 4 Ranger of Eos Spells: (10) 1 Brave the Elements 2 Path to Exile 3 Honor of the Pure 4 Spectral Procession Lands: (23) 23 Plains | Sideboard: (15) 2 Ethersworn Canonist 3 Rest in Peace 3 Stony Silence 2 Suppression Field 1 Aven Mindcensor 2 Ghostly Prison 2 Rule of Law |
Soul Sisters gets its name because of its two gain life female characters, Soul Warden and Soul’s Attendant. The deck gains large amounts of life through these two “sisters” along with other supporting cards. With your increased life total you can create a large version of either Ajani’s Pridemate or Serra Ascendant, and with those cards and the help of swarms of little creatures, you can start to take over a game and make it out of reach for your opponent. If you’re in a straight up race, you can rarely lose because of your massive amounts of life gain.
Martyr-Proc: $350/$280 (w/o 4 Leyline of Sanctity)
| Creatures: (20) 1 Figure of Destiny 1 Heap Doll 1 Kami of False Hope 4 Martyr of Sands 4 Serra Ascendant 1 Weathered Wayfarer 4 Squadron Hawk 4 Ranger of Eos Spells: (16) 4 Path to Exile 4 Ghostly Prison 2 Oblivion Ring 3 Proclamation of Rebirth 3 Wrath of God Lands: (24) 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Cavern of Souls 2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin 4 Flagstones of Trokair 4 Ghost Quarter 2 Mistveil Plains 10 Plains | Sideboard: (15) 3 Tormod’s Crypt 2 Stony Silence 4 Suppression Field 2 Oblivion Ring 4 Leyline of Sanctity |
Martyr-Proc shares a lot of cards with Soul Sisters, but unlike Soul Sisters which is trying to use it’s life gain to win the game very fast, Martyr-Proc wants to play a long drawn out controlled game. By using the combination of Martyr of Sands with Proclamation of Rebirth, this deck plans to gain an unimaginably large amount of life. From here you can control the game and slowly try to win through recurring your best creatures with Proclamation of Rebirth or Emeria, the Sky Ruin. The games tend to go long but having inevitability against your opponent is a great thing. This deck is full of subtle interactions that are very important to learn if you choose to run it. I can’t get into all of them now but be sure to take the time to understand them all.
BW Tokens: $625/$400(w/o Fetch Lands)
| Creatures: (4) 4 Tidehollow Sculler Spells: (33) 2 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Path to Exile 4 Thoughtseize 1 Gather the Townsfolk 3 Honor of the Pure 2 Intangible Virtue 4 Raise the Alarm 3 Zealous Persecution 4 Lingering Souls 2 Sword of Fire and Ice 4 Spectral Procession Lands: (23) 1 Arid Mesa 1 Caves of Koilos 2 Fetid Heath 4 Godless Shrine 2 Isolated Chapel 4 Marsh Flats 4 Plains 1 Swamp 4 Windbrisk Heights | Sideboard: (15) 2 Engineered Explosives 1 Extirpate 3 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Runed Halo 3 Stony Silence 2 Sundering Growth 1 Dismember 1 Memoricide |
BW Tokens would have been a great choice as a deck to build, but recently Wizards released that they’re going to sell a complete 75 card BW Tokens deck. This is in attempt to make Modern more accessible and they chose the perfect deck to release to new Modern players. Hopefully the value of the deck will remain at MSRP and not be inflated. You can check out their offer here: Link. As for the deck itself, it’s a very fun and skill testing archetype. Any time you add discard effects and more choices per turn, the more interesting a deck becomes. You’re game plan is to disrupt your opponent’s hand while increasing your board presence and eventually overpower them with cost efficient tokens. A full version of the deck includes 4-5 Zendikar Fetch Lands, which you’d really want to avoid if at all possible. If you do remove them it lowers the cost of BW Tokens by a large chunk. Those land slots can be easily replaced by other B/W hybrid lands. More Isolated Chapel and Caves of Koilos would be my easy suggestion.
GW Hate Bears: $425
| Creatures: (29) 4 Birds of Paradise 1 Gaddock Teeg 4 Leonin Arbiter 2 Qasali Pridemage 2 Scavenging Ooze 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 2 Aven Mindcensor 2 Blade Splicer 4 Flickerwisp 2 Loxodon Smiter 3 Restoration Angel Spells: (9) 4 AEther Vial 4 Path to Exile 1 Sword of Fire and Ice Lands: (22) 2 Forest 2 Gavony Township 4 Ghost Quarter 2 Plains 4 Razorverge Thicket 2 Stirring Wildwood 2 Tectonic Edge 4 Temple Garden | Sideboard: (15) 2 Back to Nature 2 Ethersworn Canonist 2 Kavu Predator 2 Rest in Peace 2 Stony Silence 1 Dismember 1 Harmonic Sliver 1 Sword of Light and Shadow 2 Creeping Corrosion |
GW Hate Bears is really great because its plan in part is to punish players for using Fetch Lands with Leonin Arbiter. Because it’s running the Arbiter, the deck can’t run Fetch Lands of its own and it helps to keep the price of the deck down. Some versions also play Noble Hierarch, but that card is on the “no no” list and if you added a playset of those it would increase the value of the deck by $240 dollars. The deck itself is very fun. Similar to the discard in BW Tokens, GW wants to advance its board while making life difficult for your opponent. It blows up their lands, makes it harder to search, and forces their spells to cost more, all while bashing them in the face with aggressive duders.
Mono W Hate Bears: $350
| Creatures: (28) 3 Dryad Militant 4 Leonin Arbiter 3 Serra Avenger 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 2 Aven Mindcensor 1 Blade Splicer 1 Fiend Hunter 2 Flickerwisp 3 Kitchen Finks 2 Mirran Crusader 2 Hero of Bladehold 2 Restoration Angel Spells: (10) 4 AEther Vial 4 Path to Exile 1 Sword of Fire and Ice 1 Sword of War and Peace Lands: (22) 1 Eiganjo Castle 4 Ghost Quarter 15 Plains 2 Tectonic Edge | Sideboard: (15) 2 Disenchant 2 Grand Abolisher 3 Kor Firewalker 2 Rest in Peace 3 Stony Silence 1 Sword of Light and Shadow 2 Day of Judgment |
Here’s a variation of GW Hate Bears that only consists of White cards. It has the same style of play but is a little cheaper to build.
Mono White Stax: $300
| Creatures: (1) 1 Heliod, God of the Sun Spells: (36) 4 Porphyry Nodes 1 Rest in Peace 4 Runed Halo 4 Suppression Field 4 Ghostly Prison 3 Nevermore 4 Oblivion Ring 1 Endless Horizons 4 Leyline of Sanctity 4 Sigil of the Empty Throne 3 Sphere of Safety Lands: (23) 3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 12 Plains 4 Temple of Enlightenment 4 Temple of Silence | Sideboard: (15) 3 Kataki, War’s Wage 3 Rest in Peace 3 Stony Silence 3 Timely Reinforcements 3 Supreme Verdict |
Stax decks derive their name from Smokestack, which was a card used in older formats to lock a player out of a game by destroying all of their permanents. This deck has the same general idea but to a lesser extent. The goal is to make life hard for your opponent. Runed Halo and Nevermore are used to stop their key cards, Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety stop their creatures, and Suppression Field and Leyline of Sanctity stop their deck from functioning. You want to bring your opponent to a grinding halt and then kill them with Sigil of the Empty Throne(one of my favorite cards of all time), or Heliod, God of the Sun.
UW Control: $450
| Creatures: (9) 3 Snapcaster Mage 4 Wall of Omens 1 Aven Mindcensor 1 Restoration Angel Spells: (26) 4 Path to Exile 1 Repeal 2 Serum Visions 4 Spell Snare 4 Mana Leak 2 Detention Sphere 2 Jace Beleren 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 3 Supreme Verdict 1 Batterskull 2 Gideon Jura Lands: (25) 3 Celestial Colonnade 4 Glacial Fortress 3 Hallowed Fountain 6 Island 3 Plains 4 Seachrome Coast 2 Tectonic Edge | Sideboard: (15) 2 Dispel 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Celestial Flare 2 Meddling Mage 1 Negate 2 Rest in Peace 2 Stony Silence 1 Aven Mindcensor 1 Supreme Verdict |
Keeping with the control theme, here is classic Blue White Control. Just like Mono Red Burn, UW Control has always been and will always be a staple of constructed Magic. The combination of blue counter magic with white removal is a perfect recipe for victory. This is the true control deck. What you want to do is counter their important spells, kill their threatening creatures, and finish them off swiftly with resilient threats such as Gideon Jura or Celestial Colonnade. If I were to change anything about this list, I’d like to add another Colonnade and possibly a Mutavault or two. You’ll also see versions of this deck that are a lot more expensive in large part due to the inclusion of Cryptic Command($55). Some variants also include red into the deck but then you’re looking to add Arid Mesa and Scalding Tarn, which is an extra $560 bucks.
Mono U Tron: $200
| Creatures: (8) 1 Treasure Mage 3 Solemn Simulacrum 2 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Platinum Angel 1 Sundering Titan Spells: (29) 4 Condescend 4 Expedition Map 3 Repeal 1 Spell Burst 1 Cyclonic Rift 4 Remand 3 Talisman of Dominance 2 Fabricate 1 Oblivion Stone 4 Thirst for Knowledge 2 Mindslaver Lands: (23) 1 Academy Ruins 8 Island 1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds 1 Tectonic Edge 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower | Sideboard: (15) 2 Relic of Progenitus 1 Repeal 2 Spell Pierce 3 Squelch 3 Dismember 1 Trinket Mage 3 AEtherize |
U Tron is one of my favorite decks. It’s a simple idea but when it works it’s tremendously fun. Like other Tron decks you’ll see, you’re goal is to assemble “Urza Tron”, or get at least one copy of Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Power Plant, and Urza’s Tower into play. Once you’ve done this you can go crazy with your massive amounts of mana and play really fun huge spells. This deck gets to cast Wurmcoil Engine, Platinum Angel and Sundering Titan. The most common way to win is to get 13 mana each turn and infinitely loop Mindslaver with Academy Ruins and lock your opponent out of them game, forcing them to draw their whole deck or kill themselves some other way.
Mono G(Colorless) Tron: $640
| Creatures: (6) 1 Spellskite 3 Sundering Titan 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn Spells: (36) 4 Mishra’s Bauble 4 Ancient Stirrings 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chromatic Star 4 Expedition Map 2 Gitaxian Probe 4 Sylvan Scrying 4 Oblivion Stone 2 Mindslaver 4 Karn Liberated Lands: (18) 1 Buried Ruin 1 Cavern of Souls 1 Eye of Ugin 1 Forest 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower | Sideboard: (15) 2 Grafdigger’s Cage 3 Spellskite 1 Wurmcoil Engine 4 All Is Dust 4 Platinum Angel 1 Sundering Titan |
Here’s a different version of Tron that has removed all of the filler cards and focuses more around just assembling Tron and forcing huge monsters out onto the field. This deck gets to play the real fatties of the format in Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. You’ll probably notice that the price tag for this deck is much higher than most that I’ll show you today. It’s playing a full playset of Karn Liberated which is roughly $200 dollars of the total value but is a very important part of the deck. I wouldn’t recommend this deck as a real budget Modern deck but when looking at some of the other high end decks out there it still pales in comparison. It’s also worth noting that there is another Tron deck that uses red and green and needs to run 4 Grove of the Burnwillows for efficient mana and hikes the price up another $180.
Mono G Devotion: $500/$330(w/o 3 Fetch Lands)
| Creatures: (23) 4 Arbor Elf 2 Birds of Paradise 2 Joraga Treespeaker 4 Burning-Tree Emissary 4 Eternal Witness 3 Wistful Selkie 3 Primeval Titan 1 Craterhoof Behemoth Spells: (16) 2 Abundant Growth 4 Utopia Sprawl 2 Genesis Wave 4 Garruk Wildspeaker 3 Primal Command 1 Karn Liberated Lands: (21) 11 Forest 1 Kessig Wolf Run 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 2 Stomping Ground 3 Verdant Catacombs | Sideboard: (15) 2 Ghost Quarter 1 Nature’s Claim 2 Ancient Grudge 1 Combust 1 Scavenging Ooze 1 Spellskite 2 Vexing Shusher 1 Beast Within 1 Dismember 2 Creeping Corrosion 1 Thrun, the Last Troll |
First off I’d remove the Verdant Catacombs and save yourself a bunch of money. This deck is splashing red for a few cards but they’re not 100% necessary for the deck to function. Like devotion decks in Standard, Mono G Devotion is looking to play a lot of green permanents and ramp up every turn until you can start playing huge spells before your opponent has developed a board. I have never played this deck and I’ve only seen it once in person, but any deck that looks to kill its opponent with Craterhoof Behemoth is doing it right. It looks like a very fun deck and its wise to keep in mind how easy it is to win with Garruk Wildspeaker‘s ultimate.
Amulet of Vigor Ramp:$400
We have another Primeval Titan ramp deck. This one wants to abuse the Ravnica “bounce” lands with Amulet of Vigor to start to and generate a lot of mana. Using Primeval Titan‘s come into play trigger you can find lands such as Boros Garrison and Slayer’s Stronghold, have them both come into play untapped with Amulet of Vigor, and then give your Titan haste and attack again for another set of search triggers. The combination of cards you can search for is very involved and this is another deck that you have to sit down and learn all of the intricacies before bringing it to an event. It also has an alternate win condition with Hive Mind and any Pact. Hive Mind forces your opponent to cast the same spells as you and with the various Pacts they’ll be forced to pay the upkeep cost, and if they can not then they lose the game on the spot.
UR Storm: $220
| Creatures: (4) 4 Goblin Electromancer Spells: (40) 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Serum Visions 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Thought Scour 4 Desperate Ravings 4 Desperate Ritual 2 Grapeshot 4 Manamorphose 4 Pyretic Ritual 4 Pyromancer Ascension 2 Past in Flames Lands: (16) 3 Island 3 Mountain 2 Shivan Reef 4 Steam Vents 4 Sulfur Falls | Sideboard: (15) 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Vandalblast 1 Combust 2 Defense Grid 2 Echoing Truth 2 Anger of the Gods 3 Empty the Warrens |
Now lets look at a series of other strange combo decks. First off is UR Storm. Like traditional storm decks it wants to cast several spells in conjunction during one turn to build up its “storm count” and then finish off its opponent with a large Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens. One of the easiest way to build up your storm count is to turn on a Pyromancer Ascension and get double the effect per card. This well help you generate more mana and draw more cards and in part get your storm count higher with ease. Another alternative is to cast several mana spells and draw spells, then follow it up with a Past in Flames. You can now cast your spells again from the graveyard and get your storm count within lethal range.
Ad Nauseam Unlife: $320
| Creatures: (4) 4 Simian Spirit Guide Spells: (36) 4 Lotus Bloom 3 Pact of Negation 1 Slaughter Pact 4 Angel’s Grace 1 Conjurer’s Bauble 4 Serum Visions 3 Sleight of Hand 1 Disperse 1 Peer Through Depths 4 Pentad Prism 1 Lightning Storm 4 Phyrexian Unlife 1 Mystical Teachings 4 Ad Nauseam Lands: (20) 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All 1 Darkslick Shores 2 Gemstone Mine 1 Godless Shrine 1 Hallowed Fountain 4 Island 2 Marsh Flats 3 Plains 1 Seachrome Coast 3 Swamp 1 Watery Grave | Sideboard: (15) 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Angelic Wall 2 Disperse 2 Doom Blade 2 Essence Scatter 2 Negate 2 Rest in Peace 1 Act of Treason |
Ad Nauseam Unlife is probably going to be the strangest deck I go over in this article. To put it simply, you want to hit a certain amount of mana where you can cast Ad Nauseam either with Angel’s Grace or with a Phyrexian Unlife in play. Then you draw your whole deck off of Ad Nauseam and cast Lightning Storm with the help of Simian Spirit Guide, then discard lands to Lightning Storm and shoot your opponent in the face. The deck has a lot of build up before you get to that point but once you’re there it’s very hard to lose.
Living End: $400/$175(w/o 4 Fetch Lands)
| Creatures: (24) 2 Architects of Will 4 Avalanche Riders 4 Deadshot Minotaur 4 Monstrous Carabid 1 Shriekmaw 4 Street Wraith 4 Pale Recluse 1 Jungle Weaver Spells: (16) 4 Living End 4 Beast Within 4 Demonic Dread 4 Violent Outburst Lands: (20) 1 Dryad Arbor 3 Blackcleave Cliffs 1 Blood Crypt 4 Copperline Gorge 1 Forest 1 Mountain 2 Overgrown Tomb 1 Plains 1 Stomping Ground 1 Swamp 4 Verdant Catacombs | Sideboard: (15) 2 Faerie Macabre 4 Leyline of the Void 2 Wild Ricochet 4 Ingot Chewer 3 Shriekmaw |
Living End is a very straight shooting combo deck. It’s incredibly resilient and a lot of fun. Your goal is to discard a ton of creatures into your graveyard then play a cascade spell(Demonic Dread/Violent Outburst) and cascade into Living End. Via the cascade mechanic you can cast Living End for free and destroy all creatures in play and replace them with your graveyard full of monsters. The Verdant Catacombs probably aren’t too important for the mana, and would save you a chunk of money on the deck.
Restore Balance: $600/$350(w/o 4 Fetch Lands)/$280 (w/o 4 Leyline of Sanctity)
| Creatures: (20) 4 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Keldon Halberdier 4 Riftwing Cloudskate 4 Errant Ephemeron 4 Greater Gargadon Spells: (15) 4 Restore Balance 4 Ardent Plea 3 Thieves’ Fortune 4 Violent Outburst Lands: (25) 1 Breeding Pool 4 Copperline Gorge 4 Gemstone Mine 1 Hallowed Fountain 2 Island 1 Mountain 1 Razorverge Thicket 1 Sacred Foundry 4 Scalding Tarn 4 Seachrome Coast 1 Steam Vents 1 Stomping Ground | Sideboard: (15) 4 Boom // Bust 4 Leyline of Sanctity 4 Ricochet Trap 3 Ingot Chewer |
Another cascade style deck. This time instead of cascading into Living End, this deck wants to abuse Restore Balance. The game plan is to suspend lots of creatures from your hand and decrease your handsize. Then with the help of Greater Gargadon, sacrifice your lands in play, now with your floating mana cast a cascade spell and run into Restore Balance. Your opponent’s board will have to be sacrificed to match your own and once they have nothing out then your spells will start to unsuspend and take over the game. Once again just like Living End, you can cut the Fetch lands from the deck and save so much money.
KCI: $200/$130 (w/o 4 Leyline of Sanctity)
| Creatures: (5) 4 Etherium Sculptor 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn Spells: (38) 1 Banefire 4 Chromatic Sphere 4 Chromatic Star 4 Conjurer’s Bauble 1 Expedition Map 4 Elsewhere Flask 4 Ichor Wellspring 4 Prophetic Prism 2 Fabricate 1 Faith’s Reward 4 Krark-Clan Ironworks 4 Open the Vaults 1 Spine of Ish Sah Lands: (17) 2 Adarkar Wastes 3 Plains 4 Urza’s Mine 4 Urza’s Power Plant 4 Urza’s Tower | Sideboard: (15) 2 Nihil Spellbomb 3 Pithing Needle 1 Defense Grid 1 Disenchant 1 Grapeshot 3 Oblivion Ring 4 Leyline of Sanctity |
KCI or Krark-clan Ironworks is a really fun deck. It centers around the mana producing power of KCI and the recursion from Open the Vaults. Through sacrificing artifacts , drawing cards, and bringing them back into play, you start to generate a lot of mana. Once you have enough mana you can cast a lethal Banefire or slam an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into them. Unlike it’s predecessor, Eggs, this deck doesn’t need to draw through its whole library to create an infinite loop. It just needs to get enough mana to win. Also, because it plays Open the Vaults, it doesn’t need to win in one big long turn.
Robots(Affinity): $625
| Creatures: (26) 3 Memnite 4 Ornithopter 4 Signal Pest 4 Arcbound Ravager 3 Steel Overseer 4 Vault Skirge 3 Etched Champion 1 Master of Etherium Spells: (18) 4 Mox Opal 1 Welding Jar 1 Galvanic Blast 4 Springleaf Drum 4 Cranial Plating 4 Thoughtcast Lands: (16) 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Darksteel Citadel 3 Glimmervoid 4 Inkmoth Nexus 1 Island | Sideboard: (15) 2 Galvanic Blast 1 Relic of Progenitus 1 Spell Pierce 2 Thoughtseize 2 Ancient Grudge 2 Spellskite 1 Torpor Orb 2 Whipflare 1 Blood Moon 1 Etched Champion |
Robots is another stretch on the price barrier but it’s still a deck worth looking at. This is the combination of several different artifact-based aggro decks from the last ten years of Magic. It’s very fast and very aggressive, which makes it such a powerful deck. If Mox Opal wasn’t so important to the consistency and explosiveness of the deck then you could save a lot of money when building it. Mox Opal currently costs $60 dollars, making the set $240 of the $625 price. If you’re fearless and want to try and make Robots on a budget then please trailblaze the way for the rest of us!
Skred Red: $280
| Creatures: (11) 4 Boros Reckoner 2 Magus of the Moon 2 Simian Spirit Guide 3 Stormbreath Dragon Spells: (26) 4 Lightning Bolt 3 Relic of Progenitus 4 Skred 2 Mind Stone 3 Pyroclasm 4 Blood Moon 2 Volcanic Fallout 4 Koth of the Hammer Lands: (23) 2 Scrying Sheets 21 Snow-Covered Mountain | Sideboard: (15) 1 Pyrite Spellbomb 1 Relic of Progenitus 2 Shattering Spree 3 Combust 1 Shattering Blow 2 Molten Rain 3 Shatterstorm 2 Blasphemous Act |
Skred Red is a big red control deck. It has lots of removal and powerful creatures. One angle that Skred attacks its opponent it through their manabase. Using cards like Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon you hope to lock your opponent out of colored mana. You can catch a lot of deck off guard in game one and get a few free wins this way. Past that the deck gets to play Koth of the Hammer, which is an easy to ultimate Planeswalker with an almost unbeatable ability. Another fun interaction with this version of Skred Red is to Skred your own Boros Reckoner and deal tons of damage! It’s good to see a big red deck exist in a fast format and I think this one can be very competitive against the majority of the field.
UR Delver: $315
| Creatures: (14) 4 Delver of Secrets 2 Grim Lavamancer 4 Snapcaster Mage 4 Young Pyromancer Spells: (28) 4 Gitaxian Probe 4 Lightning Bolt 2 Pillar of Flame 3 Serum Visions 2 Spell Pierce 4 Spell Snare 3 Vapor Snag 4 Mana Leak 2 Electrolyze Lands: (18) 5 Island 4 Mountain 3 Shivan Reef 4 Steam Vents 2 Sulfur Falls | Sideboard: (15) 2 Dispel 2 Shattering Spree 4 Combust 1 Blood Moon 2 Counterflux 3 Molten Rain 1 Sulfur Elemental |
Delver decks have always been really interesting and skill testing tempo decks. You rarely get free wins and every win you do get comes from intense/intelligent play. That being said, I find them really fun to pilot. Like I mentioned earlier, the more options you have in a game of Magic the more fun I find the deck to be. This deck has a plethora of cheap spells and cheap creatures that help you gain advantage over your opponent’s more expensive, possibly slower cards. Lots of counter magic and lots of burn make this deck a blast to play.
Merfolk: $450
| Creatures: (26) 4 Cursecatcher 4 Lord of Atlantis 4 Master of the Pearl Trident 3 Phantasmal Image 4 Silvergill Adept 2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 3 Merrow Reejerey 2 Master of Waves Spells: (14) 4 AEther Vial 2 Spell Pierce 4 Vapor Snag 4 Spreading Seas Lands: (20) 16 Island 4 Mutavault | Sideboard: (15) 3 Grafdigger’s Cage 4 Relic of Progenitus 2 Spell Pierce 2 Swan Song 2 Dismember 1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 1 Master of Waves |
Merfolk is a port from Legacy that happened to keep the majority of its cards in Modern. Like most blue aggro decks the goal is to rush the board with creatures and then defend them through counter magic. Merfolks tend to grow rapidly in size and outclass most creatures within a couple turns. The islandwalk ability your “fish” will gain seems trivial against most decks until you slam a Spreading Seas on your opponent’s land and swim over for the win. I like getting to play Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in a deck because it’s such a risk free play that defends your team so well.
UG Infect: $190
| Creatures: (12) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Blighted Agent 4 Ichorclaw Myr Spells: (28) 2 Distortion Strike 3 Gitaxian Probe 4 Groundswell 4 Might of Old Krosa 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Rancor 4 Vines of Vastwood 3 Apostle’s Blessing Lands: (20) 4 Breeding Pool 3 Forest 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Inkmoth Nexus 1 Island 4 Yavimaya Coast | Sideboard: (15) 2 Dispel 1 Gitaxian Probe 4 Nature’s Claim 3 Ranger’s Guile 2 Alpha Authority 1 Apostle’s Blessing 2 Spellskite |
Mono G Infect: $90
| Creatures: (12) 4 Glistener Elf 4 Ichorclaw Myr 4 Necropede Spells: (26) 4 Groundswell 4 Might of Old Krosa 4 Mutagenic Growth 4 Rancor 4 Vines of Vastwood 4 Apostle’s Blessing 2 Livewire Lash Lands: (22) 4 Cathedral of War 12 Forest 4 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Pendelhaven | Sideboard: (15) 4 Tormod’s Crypt 4 Gut Shot 4 Nature’s Claim 3 Ranger’s Guile |
I’m going to lump these two infect decks together because they operate the same way. Play a cheap creature with infect, get into the red zone and pump it up! Get your opponent from 0 to 10 poison and you win the game. These decks are often very strong against slower control decks and combo decks. They tend to be too cheap and fast for control and a turn faster than most combo decks. I also really like them because they can ignore the life gain decks of the format by attack from a completely different dimension. Playing infect requires more skill then you would think, if you misuse your resources you can run out of gas very fast. Pick your battles wisely and you can get through any defense.
Mono B Infect: $150
| Creatures: (8) 4 Phyrexian Crusader 4 Phyrexian Vatmother Spells: (30) 4 Disfigure 4 Funeral Charm 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Raven’s Crime 1 Devour Flesh 1 Doom Blade 2 Go for the Throat 2 Runechanter’s Pike 3 Sign in Blood 4 Wrench Mind 1 Beseech the Queen Lands: (22) 4 Howltooth Hollow 4 Inkmoth Nexus 13 Swamp 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth | Sideboard: (15) 2 Illness in the Ranks 3 Nihil Spellbomb 2 Drown in Sorrow 4 Vampire Nighthawk 3 Lashwrithe 1 Mutilate |
The last deck I’ll show you today is Mono Black Infect. It’s an infect deck coming from the opposite end of the spectrum as the ones above. Instead of try to bash through and end the game really fast, this deck is looking to eliminate its opponent’s resources until it can slowly start swinging for huge chunks of infect damage. The 16 discard spells destroy your opponent’s hand and you can start to gain control easily from there.
Conclusion:
Hopefully those of you who are looking to get into Modern gained some inspiration from these decks. I hope to see the community grow to its full potential and I know there are a lot of you out there itchying to try out Modern! I’m going to battle with a few of these lists, and see if I can take down a couple tournaments with the budget side of the format. If you have any awesome deck lists you’d like to share, post them in the comments. See anything to change about the lists above, let everyone know about it down below!
Now get out there and jump into Modern!
Blaine Alexander Johnson
GobWins:
Creatures [24]
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Guide
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Mogg War Marshal
Spells [16]
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Krenko’s Command
3 Dragon Fodder
2 Shared Animosity
20 Mountain
Sideboard:
Nothing spicy, just build per meta.