(Hi everyone!! I'm trying to get back into deck building again with a brand new entry to my old Ultra-Budget series! If you'd like to help me get this new build off the ground, head over to Ultra-Budget: Dunwich Horror (And Friends!), check it out, and shoot me a comment with your suggestions!)
If you like this deck and want to check out the rest of the ever-expanding Ultra-Budget series, you can view them all in this folder here!
If you like them, please give them a +1!
Burning Legions aren't just for World at Warcraft anymore!
Just a note: I'm aware this deck no longer falls into the Ultra-Budget category as some cards have gone up in price, but I'm going to keep the deck in the series because it was only $25 when I designed it and it still has the spirit of an Ultra-Budget deck despite the slight higher price tag. Also, it's actually pretty good!
First and foremost, big thanks to SirFowler, jandrobard, and Grantley91 for helping me get this brew off the ground.
This is yet another entry in my ultra-budget deck series (which currently includes Ultra-budget: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Ultra-budget: Midnight Onslaught and the wildly popular Ultra-budget: Wrath of the Witch-King)! This deck comes in right around $25 shipped if you don't need to buy the lands. Like all my ultra-budget decks, this isn't designed to be ultra competitive. It's Modern legal so you can take it to your local gaming store for Modern night, but don't expect to take down T1/T2 competitive decks with it. It's designed to be effective but also cheap and fun around the kitchen table with your friends. That said, it is very aggro and even some competitive level Modern decks might have trouble keeping up with it. For example, it can go toe-to-toe with my very competitive Modern Boros aggro deck, Win Hard: Or Die Trying (Akroan Style) (capable of regular turn 3 and 4 wins), and win. Not every game of course, but it can beat it. And it's fast enough to outright stomp my competitive Golgari dredge deck, Touched by a Lich Lord: 1 Shot Kill Combo, which is monstrously powerful if it survives into the midgame. That says a lot for a $25 deck!
The previous two ultra-budget decks were mono-black. This time I wanted to try something in mono-red that hasn't already been done to death. That's when I found World at War and
Brighthearth Banneret
. These two cards really brought the deck together.
Killer Combos
I'll get into the details of the deck below, but if you're just here to see how this deck wins, here you go:
Turn 3
Nova Chaser
(ridiculous right off the bat!) exiles
Flamekin Harbinger
. When
Nova Chaser
leaves play, exiled or otherwise,
Flamekin Harbinger
comes back, triggers again, and you dig for more elementals, possibly another
Nova Chaser
to repeat the combo.1 drop
Hellspark Elemental
s for early aggro. Cast World at War turn 5 to clear the board using your buffed up first strikers with
Claws of Valakut
. Then when World at War rebounds the next turn, you Unearth your
Hellspark Elemental
s which are doubly effective thanks to the extra combat phase. If you need just a little more oomph to finish your opponent off during the Rebound round of World at War, pop
Siege of Towers
and duplicate as needed to send your lands in for the kill - under ideal circumstances, on turn 6 you can duplicate this once leaving two lands untapped to become creatures that can attack, and if both go unblocked for both combat phases, that's 12 extra damage for 4 mana!
Deck Breakdown
So this deck aims to be super aggressive. Use your tools to get your deadliest creatures out as quickly as possible then pump them up with Auras and Tribal Lords and go straight at your opponent before they can react. With this deck's arsenal, even your 1/1s and tokens can become serious threats out of nowhere.
-
Flamekin Harbinger
is here to make sure you've always got the creature you need coming up. This card combos well with
Nova Chaser
who can bounce her out, and when he dies, she comes back to trigger again.
-
Brighthearth Banneret
speeds the deck up considerably by making everything cheaper. Your first
Flamekin Harbinger
should dig for him if he isn't in your opening hand. The Reinforce ability is just an added bonus later in the game.
-
Hellspark Elemental
becomes a 1 drop in this deck and brings some welcomed speed and heat. Burn them early so they're ready to be Unearthed turn 6 when your World at War rebounds for free, doubling their effectiveness!
-
Incandescent Soulstoke
is your lord, beefing up your field and helping you spit out creatures faster. Pretty straightforward.
-
Nova Chaser
provides a ton of damage for the cost, which is likely reduced in this deck. With
Incandescent Soulstoke
out, he's an 11/3 right off the bat. And with just
Goblin War Paint
he's out of Bolt range. The trample is excellent, of course. And if you Championed a
Flamekin Harbinger
, you can attack without worry of him dying because you know you'll be able to dig again if he does.
-
Flaring Flame-Kin
is this deck's bomb. A seemingly unassuming creature, with a single Aura he becomes a monster. As I mentioned in the combo section above, he can very quickly become a 9/5 (or more) trampling first striker with firebreathing, and that's super hard for most deck's to deal with. He'll draw removal, but that's OK, because you've got plenty more heat where he came from. If he makes it to the World at War phase, he's going to help you wipe the board out very quickly.
-
Claws of Valakut
, Clout of the Dominus, and
Hammerhand
are all here to ensure both speed and power from all of your creatures. But mostly, they're to make your
Flaring Flame-Kin
a total menace!
- Fling gives you the option of creature removal or direct damage to your opponent's head. A particularly nasty combo is to attack with
Nova Chaser
either dealing 10 damage to your opponent or destroying a blocker and trampling through, then sacrifice him with this for 10 more damage. Bonus if you Championed the Harbinger so you can dig for another Elemental!
-
Siege of Towers
is here to help you put the nail in the coffin during your World at War turns. Cast and duplicate this during the rebound to send a couple of your lands in to finish the job. If you don't care about this deck being Modern legal, replace this with Tempt with Vengeance for even more shenanigans!
- Finally, World at War allows you to throw all of this deck's aggression at your opponent over and over again. Again,
Hellspark Elemental
becomes extra powerful during these combat phases because he gets an extra attack before he disappears. And if your opponent's creatures get wiped out by your first strikers in the first combat phase, it's possible that you could win in the second one before the spell ever rebounds. Speaking of which, THIS SPELL REBOUNDS! FOR FREE! That's a lot of combat turns 5 and 6!
And that's it! Cheap, fun, and awesome. Hope you enjoy it!
If you're running the deck in multiplayer, subbing in Tempt with Vengeance for
Siege of Towers
brings maximum lulz at the cost of Modern legality. But who cares about that if you're at the kitchen table, right?
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please leave them. And please don't forget to +1!
