Because I am a budget player, this deck was constructed for the Modern format with the condition that its total value could not exceed $20.00, sideboard included. The value of each these cards was based on the Medium price rating for each card on TCGPlayer.com, in order to avoid inaccurately high or low prices. I hope that this decklist can be of use to other budget players, or simply any player looking for a fun casual deck that can be easily assembled. Enjoy!
This is a Midrange deck which aims to delay the game through spot removal and chump blocking, until it can build a huge swarm of tiny creatures and then buff them into an enormous army. Spells in this deck are either devoted to producing tiny creatures, boosting those tiny creatures, or removing enemy threats.
Avacyn's Pilgrim and Llanowar Elves form the one-drops of the creaturebase. They can be used to ramp into bigger spells during the earlygame, and can become threats in their own right later on. Tapping these creatures for mana is usually a better choice than swinging in for one or two damage during the first few turns, as your bigger spells are simply worth the longer-term investment.
Selesnya Guildmage
is the only two-drop creature in the deck, and embodies the deck perfectly. One of its abilities is used to create 1/1 Saproling creatures, while the other is used for buffing your army of little dudes. Despite being an aura,
Fists of Ironwood
could also be considered a two-drop creature because it produces two 1/1 Saprolings when it enters the battlefield.
This deck features several three-drop creatures. Wood Elves is used to manaramp, and puts an untapped Forest into play, which is perfect for casting a one-drop manadork for even more mana advantage. Fiend Hunter functions as a creature/removal spell, and has decently-sized body for holding off small aggro creatures. Finally, Heliod's Pilgrim is an easy source of card advantage, and can be used to tutor for any aura in the deck. This is very useful, as it can locate removal auras, creature-spawning auras, or creature-buffing auras, depending on what you need at the time.
Loxodon Hierarch
tops off the curve at four mana. The Hierarch has the largest natural body in the deck, and provides lifegain and an anti-boardwiping ability for your army. More so than any other creature in this deck, the Hierarch can stop Aggro decks in their tracks.
The deck features two Congregation at Dawn, which are great when you need to locate a specific creature to defeat a certain decktype. Versus Aggro, I generally choose Hierarch, Hierarch, Heliod's Pilgrim, while against Control, I prefer Guildmage, Guildmage, Heliod's Pilgrim. The flexibility is excellent.
The deck's aura-removal package is composed of
Guard Duty
, Weight of Conscience, and Faith's Fetters. Guard Duty is an excellent anti-aggro card because it's so cheap, while Weight of Conscience is better for creatures that can do things other than attack. The abundance of Saprolings, Clerics, Elves, and Humans in the deck make it very possible to exile a creature which is enchanted with a Weight of Conscience.
Faith's Fetters is a little slower than the other auras, but it provides a decent life boost, and can disable permanents other than just creatures. Although it's situational, having a pair in this deck often makes the difference between winning or losing against a pesky card.
Dictate of Heliod and
Verdant Embrace
are the finishers of choice in this deck. Casting a Dictate turns all of your tiny creatures into serious beaters, and doing so at instant speed will often catch an aggressive opponent by surprise. Take note that you cannot tutor for a Dictate of Heliod by using Heliod's Pilgrim, since the Dictate is not an aura. Verdant Embrace is the opposite of this, buffing one creature and producing many others rapidly. A well-time Embrace can quickly take over the match, and unlike Dictate of Heliod, it can be tutored by a Heliod's Pilgrim. Combining a Dictate with an Embrace is unspeakable, obnoxious, and totally hilarious.
The landbase in this deck is very important.
New Benalia
provides the deck with some much-needed card filtering, while Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree acts as an infinite source of 1/1 Saproling creatures. Many decks simply don't have an answer to a City-Tree, as long as you can keep your life total out of burning range.
The sideboard for this deck is fairly unexciting. Extra copies of key cards can be brought in against decks which may be unable to handle them, while some more noncreature removal spells can be brought in against opponents trying to do the same. A single copy of Gaea's Revenge can be sided in along with a third Congregation at Dawn to cause serious lategame trouble for any deck which may be unequipped to handle such a resilient creature. If you have any questions about this deck, feel free to ask in the comments below.
This particular deck has good matchups against my UB Control and BR Aggro decks. It has poor matchups against my WU Control and RG Midrange decks. You can find the exact price listings for all of the cards in this deck at the link below.
http://pastebin.com/fndsqffq
- (Note that these prices may have fluctuated since this deck was created)
