I am making this deck

I like that you have Steady Progress and Cloud Shift but I think you need either a lot more flicker/bounce effects or more proliferate shenanigans. '

The proliferate cards I think you should look at are: Tezzeret's Gambit(In my opinion this is far better than Steady Progress) and Inexorable Tide(This card plus bounce is amazing. You play the bounce spell to proliferate and return the Teacher to your hand, then play the teacher for more level ups and another proliferate). I suppose you could also add Thrummingbird but that doesn't fit your deck quite as well.

I tried looking for Doubling Season type effects in your colors, but was unable to find anything.

Look into bounce spells though (the obvious being Unsummon and Vapor Snag), especially if you want to add Inexorable Tide.

Cheers

I did have an Inexorable Tide originally, but the mana cost wasn't really worth it. I wouldn't be able to get it out until later in the game (if I get it out at all) and by then I wouldn't have many spells to cast at all.

You're right about getting more bounce and proliferation in there though. Unsummon would be a good one (plus it can be useful against enemy creatures if I don't need more level counters). Tezzeret's Gambit is a really good one, and I think you're right about that replacing Steady Progress. It's technically higher mana cost, but the Phyrexian option helps with that.

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely look into those cards you suggested. My biggest problem, though, is deciding what to swap out, ha ha! But, thank you!

Yeah, the mana cost on Inexorable Tide. It's such a nice synergy/combo piece, but I honestly think it wouldn't see a lot of play even at 1UU. Shame really.

For cutting stuff, I'd say oust Null Champion and Ikiral Outrider. Neither of them are very impressive at max level.

You already have more than enough beaters to say Null Champion is kinda useless, the only nice thing about it being you have less risk of losing those level counter with the regenerate. Even with the regenerate though, it still comes back in tapped, which prevents you from smacking with it, the only thing it is good at :P.

For Ikiral Outrider, it is a decent blocker, but again, you have a lot of good ones already with Hedron-Field Purists and Kabira Vindicator. The vigilance is nice, I guess, but it doesn't do that much damage anyway if you attack with it.

Those are the ones I'd cut at least. If you need a few more cuts, you still have a lot of beaters, so maybe you could take out your least favorite of those.

Yeah, you're right about the Null Champion and Ikiral Outrider. They were the weakest of the bunch. Thanks, again, for your help cleaning up this deck! I appreciate it!

CyborgNate Sure! It's fun for me to do.

Your deck is remarkably cheap/budget, and I was wondering if you could help me out with some budgeting things on my deck. I stink at making compromises, so it's hard for me. With the cards I already have (basic lands, the one Thoughtseize, and few misc) I got it down to ~$60 but that's still more than I'd like to shell out for cardboard XD. General thoughts would be fantastic too :P

The deck is Badadada Bou-disc bada bou-disc (Bounce-Discard)

No huge deal, but I'd appreciate it :D.

Cheers

Darn I wish this card was modern legal. Found it when looking for bounce spells, but man it would be fun: Equilibrium

Eh? See what I'm getting at? You really only have one creature that it would work on synergy-wise, but in general, and ETB-bounce-opponent's-creature is pretty nice.

cheers

That would be really cool with the Venerated Teacher! Anytime a new creature enters the battlefield, bring the teacher back in so you can replay him and give the new creature some counters. That is good. I don't know if I'll use it, but thanks for bringing it to my attention. As for being illegal in Modern, that's not that big of a deal to me. I usually adjust the format to fit my deck, not the other way around. I really only play casually so I don't need a tournament specific deck.

Transcendent Master?

I liked this deck idea when I saw it when I first started to play, but I got the M10 vamp deck instead. This deck looks really solid, loving it. :).

Forgot to add my suggestion of Guul Draz Assassin

I remember looking at Transcendent Master when I first started making this deck. It's a great card, but you need to reach level 6 before he gains any useful abilities; most of the time, 6 levels is on the high end of what can be reached using the Venerated Teacher tactic. His level up is cheap enough that he might still be worth it so I'll keep it in mind. I also intended this deck to be as cheap as possible so a $5 card was a little more than I was willing to add. It's still a cheap deck though so it may be worth the addition.

I also looked at Guul Draz Assassin and passed it by largely for its price. Looking back on it again, it is a very mana-efficient card with a pretty useful ability. I'm hesitant to add too many higher cost cards, but this is on the list if I do. I'm glad you liked this deck; I feel like it came together really well.

I think Cloudshift is such and underrated card. Playing a Venerated Teacher and then Cloudshifting him in a turn probably drops some jaws. +1

Holdout Settlement and Crumbling Vestige may fit the bill for budget mana fixers.

I totally agree: flicker effects are fantastic! Cloudshift + Venerated Teacher really turns the level up mechanic into an actually viable strategy.

As for the lands, I will definitely look into those. They certainly seem like they'd fit, especially considering the amount of generic mana in the level up costs. I'm just hesitant to take out some of my colored lands for them. I'll have to think about that a little longer.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

Champion's Drake?

Kala, I had actually just taken that out of my Maybeboard. I had considered it, but I decided it simply wasn't worth taking anything else out. Even under ideal conditions, Champion's Drake would never be as powerful or useful as a Level Up creature of the same cost. Plus, Time of Heroes gives a similar effect, but to all my creatures (except Venerated Teacher). Thanks for the suggestion, though.

great deck but just to know how does it perform against others?

I don't get many opportunities to play so I've only tried it against other budget decks that I have (which are also on my profile), but it did win fairly consistently. I think it could hold its own against a good variety of decks, although do keep in mind that it is a budget deck.

alright maybe i will try to build this deck because it seems like a lot of fun to play!

I know I certainly enjoy playing it, win or lose!

You could add Deadeye Navigator or Eldrazi Displacer to flicker the Venerated Teachers more.

Deadeye Navigator simply has too high of a mana cost too fit well into this deck. While having a consistent flicker would be nice, that's not worth the extra mana. Eldrazi Displacer is much better in that regard, but I'm worried about trying to balance the colorless with the three colors. If I threw in the Crumbling Vestige and Holdout Settlement, it just might be doable. I'll definitely consider that one. Thanks for the suggestions!

Awesome deck, +1! I tested a few times on Xmage and it really works! Im just building it, just need to buy Guul Draz Assassin, do you have a non-budget list? I would be happy to see this deck at its full potential.

Thanks so much for your feedback and support, Iksar! I don't really have much of a non-budget list, partially due to being a cheapskate and partially due to Level-up and related cards being super cheap as a matter of principal. Changes that I would make if I wasn't worried about money though: I would definitely throw in a Lighthouse Chronologist or two. Extra turns are incredible. I would also consider swapping Caravan Escorts for Student of Warfares. Another Transcendent Master might not be too bad either. Oh, and I would swap the Vivid lands for faster multicolored lands. Even if they're only two-colored, faster lands would still be a big help. Like I said, I don't really have a formal list, but these are the things I would probably do.