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 Control deck, so you're probably pretty familiar with the gameplan here. We want to deploy some blockers, counter some spells, and remove enemy threats until the early game is over. By the time the lategame rolls around, we'll hopefully have a decent chunk of life left, and way more cards in our hand that our opponent does. Each card in this deck contributes to this gameplan in some way.
Creatures like Court Hussar,
Sphinx of Lost Truths
, and
Archon of Justice
are here because they're hard to remove and they gain us card advantage in some way. This makes them spectacular blockers, and we can use them to beat face after the enemy is disabled in the lategame.
Guile
creates less card advantage than the other creatures in the deck, but he's got a huge body, combos well with counterspells, and keeps coming back over and over again, even if he gets removed by the enemy. This makes him a very reliable win condition.
Condemn, Azorius Charm, and
Judge Unworthy
are here because they're removal spells that can be cast in the very first turns of the game. This is important because Aggro decks will be trying to kill us before we can play our best spells, and we'll need something to slow them down. If you're in a bind, Azorius Charm and Judge Unworthy can be cast in order to improve your card draws, rather than just being used to get rid of threats. This versatility is very handy.
Mana Leak and Dissipate make up our counterspell package, and they serve very important purposes here. If the enemy knows you're using a bunch of combat tricks to remove their beaters, then they're just going to delay attacking and keep casting spells until you've wasted the mana you left up and they have more creatures than you can remove in a single turn. Using counterspells keeps the enemy guessing what that mana you left up is for, and it also gives you the ability to deal with noncreature threats more easily.
Divine Reckoning
is our boardwipe of choice here. Although it allows the enemy to save one of their creatures, it also allows you to do the same, often gaining you card advantage when you've only got one blocker out to begin with. This spell can also be flashbacked later in the game to gain you even more card advantage. (Tip: Don't be afraid to nail your own Archon of Justice with this spell if there's something on the board you really need to get rid of!)
Careful Consideration
is the only hard drawspell in this deck, but it does its job well. Enemy didn't play anything worth removing last turn? No problem, use that mana to sculpt your hand instead! Instant speed is a beautiful thing, and if you find the right moment, you can cast Careful Consideration on your own turn to generate even more card advantage. Discarding a Divine Reckoning to Careful Consideration is a great way to sneak the biggest advantage out of this card, and it's one of my favourite synergies in this entire deck.
Oblivion Ring rounds out your removal package here, allowing you to deal with any pesky nonland permanents that your countermagic might have missed. Journey to Nowhere is in the maindeck replacing the fourth Oblivion Ring simply because you'll often find yourself ringing creatures anyway, and the Journey does it a turn sooner.
Elixir of Immortality is a one-of here. If the game is going long for some reason, and the enemy is keeping your threats at bay, you'll be glad that you brought this card along. The recursion will allow you to win any game that might end in a player milling out, and the lifegain is still very useful in a faster match.
Our landbase here is pretty simple. Faerie Conclave provides another four threats to finish the game with, and Ghost Quarter allows the deck to handle what your other removal spells could never hope to touch: Utility Lands. Just be patient when you see a land that you might want to quarter; oftentimes you'll want to keep your Ghost Quarter for mana until that enemy land really starts causing you trouble.
The sideboard here is pretty straightforward as well. It's mostly composed of spare parts for each component of the deck, which you might want to side in, depending on the matchup. 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 GW Midrange decks. It has poor matchups against my BR Aggro 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/bVFfZJ1Y
- (Note that these prices may have fluctuated since this deck was created)
