(Not actually a deck list but 4 lists in the links below.)
Please take into consideration, I am not the best mtg player ever and don't own the best decks and can't give the best advice, but I want to help our community in the only way I feel I can and this is how.
Like many people I can't either afford or justify spending about a grands worth, give or take, to create a competitive deck in modern. fair enough I'd love to play birthing pod, UW control or even UR delver but they're not cheap and like myself, many others wanting to build their first competitive mtg deck can't afford it either. So today I put together a list of decks that I now own the complete lists of that cost no more than 300 pound or 400 dollar, to give people an idea of what you can create at a justifiable price.
Fair enough some might say "hey kid, trade them in and get a tier 1 deck," which yeah I might do eventually but that's not the point of this list as at that time, I didn't have the trades or funds to create a top end deck.
They're all fun decks to play and like I say I own them all so I know that they work. I don't claim them to be the best decks or even the best variant of the deck but here goes. :P
I'll start with modern merfolk.
Modern merfolk (comment and rate!!!)
After accumulating my first notable trades I realised, "oh look, these are the most expensive parts of a merfolk deck." These cards being a play set of Aether Vial and Mutavault. I chose to build merfolk as I had various other parts of this deck lying around and knew I could afford the rest. This deck is currently my pride and joy and the list changes every day so the original list was a little different to the one I play now, but if you get those most expensive cards the rest of the deck is not hard to acquire. Currently my list is 300-350 dollar on TCG but you can build it cheaper with all the best cards of the deck.
I won many tournaments at my locals with this deck and it has earned me money within the world of magic, helping to gain a more impressive trades folder.
Next i'll mention mono U tron.
Mono blue urzatron
After winning local tournaments opening boosters and trading, I started to realise I had a lot of cards in my folder for this deck. I used to use Remand and Chalice of the Void in my merfolk deck so they were lying around with others such as Wurmcoil Engine and I thought, "I wanna delve into the world of control" after playing so much aggro. Again, not the best control deck there is, but it's affordable fun to play and you can win with it. Around 300 dollar on TCG
The next deck I'll mention is living end.
Living end reanimate combo
I always like the idea of, 5 colour decks, combo decks, and legacy dredge. This next bit is slightly irrelevant but... At one point I started collecting pieces for modern affinity and had the Mox Opal and various other pieces after some hard trading and buying a card a week tactic. A guy I once met was also wanting the same deck and he had some cash to splash and made me an offer I couldn't refuse, so I sold the lot. Then with what I like to call my "magic funds" (money I make off cards to buy cards so it doesn't interfere with personal life) I ended up buying this deck out right as it appealed to my love for 5 colour combo decks, (basically I mean Legacy dredge), and looked interesting to play. When you don't draw a hand with Living End in it, this deck works great and currently at just under 300 dollar on TCG. it is my cheapest deck I own and is a deck worth checking out. The only card anyone will have trouble picking up is Fulminator Mage which are worth around 25 or $40.
UPDATE I now run a 75 card version worth 360 dollars but you don't have to run it like this and a 60 card version is still under 300 dollar. Check out lists on mtgtop8.com
Finally I will talk about the first deck I started to play with, which ended up becoming a variant of this deck I will present to you.
Naya deck wins... BURN
I started out playing modern with a real jank version of red deck wins back In The day when I picked up Goblin Guide for less than 5 quid. Unfortunately they're worth a bit more than that now though. I put this deck aside for aaaaagggeeess, but then, I realised that I had a strong enough collection of burn spells and a variety of lands to create a better burn deck. So I got the rest of the little cards and built a variant that I like to call, wait for it... "Naya deck wins"... Oh wow so original. Anyway it's pretty much the same list as burn decks that top 8 all the time but I like how this plays and is another deck worth checking out. At just over 350 dollar on TCG it's my most expensive deck but it's pretty cool and my merfolk seems to lose to it quite a lot. Not to say it's the best deck I have or even out there but it's great for its price.
There are other affordable decks in modern that also work great but I have used these ones so feel I can present them to others as I've tried and tested them.
Kudos for reading this far and please, comment, even if you're gonna throw any hate.
Cheers, jay. :)
