Hello everyone,
I am trying to put together a decent ~$50 budget discard deck. I built it around the popular The Rack concept.
I prefer this to using discard creatures. One of the objectives for this deck is extreme board control. Opponent should be really struggling to get any form of board presence at all times, allowing you to set up your "racks".
Suggestions and discussion is welcome, let me know what you think!
Wincon and Damage
The Rack: as mentioned, this is the core concept and it's an incredibly solid discard card, while also not breaking your bank.
Necrogen Mists: this is a great card. Ideally, you'd want to play Liliana Vess or (Gods be good...) Liliana of the Veil which unfortunately are out of the budget. Even though it makes you discard cards too, you are prepared for that, and you decide when this comes into play so you will be "ready" for it.
Shrieking Affliction: acts as your second set of "racks". While maybe not as good as The Rack itself, it does the advantage of affecting all opponents.
Pack Rat: is the only crature I found worth playing given its amazing capacity to take a game over when needed and the duplication mechanic which allows to leave more space in your library for pure discard and control.
Discard
Wrench Mind, Duress, Blackmail, and Raven's Crime are your bread and butter. Use them to shrink an opponent's hand early on and keep them there. There are better, more expensive cards, but I feel these get the job done quite well at this price point.
Control
Bile Blight: fantastic spot removal an annihilator of token or weeny decks. Just an amazing card.
Doom Blade/Dark Betrayal: first one against most decks, second one is sideboarded when you face mono-black or black-creature-heavy decks. Fantastic spot removal, in my opinion.
Smallpox: a beast of a control card. Sure, it has downsides to it, but the fact that you know when it's coming, and you choose when/if to cast it will give you the competitive edge. Also, you come equipped to deal with some of its drawbacks. Single-handedly locks down the early game for you against fast decks.
Dredge and Graveyard
To mitigate some of the drawbacks from Necrogen Mists and Smallpox, you can take advantage of two cards.
Dakmor Salvage: this will give you that one extra mana, albeit slowly, should you find yourself in a pinch. Remember, you should have control of the board so waiting a bit for an extra mana should not be a problem.
Raven's Crime: you will find that sometimes you just don't need that extra mana, and using retrace will give you that extra discard you might need. This can combo well with Dakmor Salvage.
Sideboard and Maybes
Liliana Vess and (Seven Hells!) Liliana of the Veil are pretty good choices. I would personally swap either of them in place of Duress.
Geth's Verdict or any kind of sacrifice removal is good to keep around in case of pesky hexproof decks (I play one myself) and "protection from color" decks which can really put a damper on your direct removal.
Concerns
This might be a little slow for fast decks, and most of all I need suggestions on how to make it better for multiplayer. I have a feeling that that's where this deck will come undone.
If you have any suggestions that fit the "spirit of the deck", they are more than welcome!
