Budget Suggestion
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Dec. 20, 2017, 12:40 p.m. by BlueMageBrandon
My friends and I want to implement a budget for when we play Commander online (untap.in). We want to keep the decks slightly powerful and also keep it kinda janky. Do you think a $100 budget or 20-30 tix (not sure on exact numbers yet) budget? Or do you think a different amount would be better? Thank you for your input!!
ZendikariWol says... #3
If you want to implement a budget, make your spells 100$ to 150$ and your mana base any amount.
December 20, 2017 1:53 p.m.
ZendikariWol says... #4
Also Boza, your example is very specific and applies only to lands. For example Force of Will and Cancel are leagues apart in price and competitiveness. Mana Drain and Counterspell are the same. Building on a budget makes sure your decks have a power level relative to your skill as a deck builder, rather than your wallet.
December 20, 2017 2:22 p.m.
ZendikariWol but they're playing online where money doesn't matter. Adding a budget just limits what cards you can play and doesn't actually have much of an impact on skill. If everyone plays with the best, most efficient cards than the person who wins either got lucky, or is the most capable player.
December 20, 2017 8:18 p.m.
ZendikariWol, since we are talking counterspells, how about Flusterstorm - is it better than dirt cheap Negate? Or spells - Imperial Seal vs Vampiric Tutor. Or maybe this is too old of a comparison - Aether Vial versus something like Dragon Arch.
Budget is rarely the best thing to limit deck's competitiveness. Just ban within your playgroup what you deem powerful and do not worry about budget.
December 21, 2017 2:49 a.m.
ZendikariWol says... #7
Well 1) banning a bunch of sh-- would only result in a stupidly long list. You'd have to have it in front of you while building and check it constantly. Ugh.
2) the Vampiric Tutor argument did ring true in that instance, since imperial seal is banned in other formats it doesn't cost much. However Aether Vial is leagues ahead of Dragon Arch and in many builds Flusterstorm is a step above Negate. Still, restricting yourself to a budget makes things less one-sided; stopping the one player with money from just winning every game (yes, I speak from experience, yes I am salty).
December 21, 2017 8:42 a.m.
I'm assuming this is a program where you don't have to pay so that is why you are asking. So don't worry about your lands everyone should play the best manabase they can if you don't have to pay money. For the spells in your deck you can build a pretty decent for $400 but given what I said about the lands maybe $250-$300 would be better.
Boza says... #2
Budget is not really a thing that influences power level. If you play Volcanic Island over Steam Vents in your deck, Budget is 300 dollars up, but competitiveness is not impacted.
Honestly, you are playing online, the only place where budget is not a problem. I have no clue why you are trying to get rid of the only advantage of untap.in over eevry other way to play magic, but why not.
But, if you want a challenge on a budget - play penny dreadful commander. All cards, except the commander, have to be under 1 tix total. Check out some penny dreadful online lists for what cards are legal.
December 20, 2017 12:48 p.m. Edited.