The newest version of my "budget" modern deck Charmed 8-Rack (Budget Modern) (budget increased a bit over time, but moved to mono color as well). The two color build wasn't working well consistently, and I believe a large part of that was because it wasn't focused enough on any one thing. Adding in too many blue control elements took away from the discard focus.
I finally broke down and invested in
Ensnaring Bridge
. I love 8Rack, but I'm just not winning at FNM. The symmetric effects of
Necrogen Mists
and
Smallpox
keep my hand low, but my low mana costs and lack of creatures makes the effects far less symmetric as they sacrifice creatures and lands. Necrogen Mists and Ensnaring Bridge also provide more targets for enchantment/artifact removal, making it even harder to disrupt your setup.
The discard package includes
Inquisition of Kozilek
,
Blackmail
,
Funeral Charm
,
Raven's Crime
, and
Wrench Mind
. I don't like
Thoughtseize
, primarily for the loss of life and that it can't remove land late game. Inquisition is a great early game start, with Blackmail doing a great job picking apart their hand mid-late game. Funeral Charm is instant speed, allowing you to remove small creatures early game or force a hellbent opponent to discard before their main phase late game. Raven's Crime is reusable from the graveyard, making it an acceptable discard to Mists or Pox and giving late game land draws a function (especially
Dakmor Salvage
). Wrench Mind makes most decks discard 2, which is good enough for me.
Murderous Cut
gives you a little removal in case something happens to Ensnaring Bridge, or for creatures like
Dark Confidant
or
Grim Lavamancer
that might get around your set up.
Mutavault
gets in early or during a late stalemate to help seal the deal, and provides an emergency blocker.
Bojuka Bog
gives you a way to deal with graveyards pre-board. While there aren't a lot of primarily graveyard strategies in Modern right now, disabling Flashback (
Snapcaster Mage
/
Jace, Telepath Unbound
) and Delve (
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
) are worth a tapped land.
Sideboard Cards:
Ghost Quarter
disrupts man-lands, Tron, and Eldrazi.
Hunted Horror
punishes
Leyline of Sanctity
. In control matchups, there is a creature package of
Pack Rat
and
Nezumi Shortfang
, which they will hopefully have boarded out removal for.
Pithing Needle
is primarily for dealing with Tron, shutting down
Oblivion Stone
and
Karn Liberated
.
Ravenous Trap
is primarily included to interrupt
Living End
and
Past in Flames
.
Shadow of Doubt
is just a personal favorite 'gotcha' card, primarily for interrupting Tron's
Expedition Map
s and
Eye of Ugin
, but also stifling fetch lands in mana intensive decks (especially brutal paired with
Smallpox
).
Surgical Extraction
is included to disrupt any combo deck, especially useful if you can choose what they are discarding on turn 1.