Soldier of the Pantheon is not in the spirit of budget though

A play set of soldier of the panth costs under 10 dollars. Not cheap, but it really depends on what you consider budget. Considering that most standard decks cost between $250-500 dollars, if say anything under 70 would be budget, if it runs well. That's just my opinion.

I am going on 6 FNM in a row using decks under 40 bucks, i have only had 1 second place and i am determined to find a 40 dollar deck that can place first....Biggest problem i am having is making a deck that can stop "red deck wins" or control. and when i do pick one match up to focus on, i have to get lucky and hope i don't get matched against the other. 1 FNM i focused on beating Red deck wins and i didn't play one, however i played 3 control decks in a row and lost 2 of 3... the next week i focused on beating control and played 2 red deck wins and lost them both....Maybe i should get better at sideboarding, LOL

How about Viper's Kiss for dealing with AEtherling and other nasties with activated abilities? They're cheap, and count as another enchantment.

KottonMouse, if someone is running Aetherling, and you Viper's Kiss it, they'll just use the blink effect in response. Pithing Needle is a better response to Aetherling.

wait, wouldn't Pithing Needle not work on AEtherling ? It's blink and pump effects ARE mana abilities.

You are getting mana abilities confused with activated abilities Grimgrinner.

A mana ability is like Birds of Paradise , an ability that produces mana. This is also an activated ability but since it produces mana Pithing Needle wont affect it.

Arbor Elf on the other hand does NOT produce mana in his own right so he just has a standard activated ability like AEtherling .

If it worked like you thought it did Pithing Needle would be the most overpowered card ever because simply naming Forest would turn off all Forest s in play since basic lands read "T: add (Color) to your mana pool.".

@Grimgrinner: A manager ability is one that produces mana, such as Elvish Mystic . AEtherling has activated abilities that aren't mana abilities, but they cost mana to be activated.

*mana ability

Have you considered Ultimate Price as an additional piece of removal? It works well in tandem with Doom Blade and Dark Betrayal as, barring protection, the three of them cover every creature that doesn't sport an ability like Hexproof.

In match-ups where either Doom Blade or Ultimate Price aren't very effective, the less effective one can be sided out for Dark Betrayal in games 2 and 3.

I realy like that almost all of your decks are budget decks.Magic is so expensive, so let's make the most out of cheap cards :)