Want to play modern for under 200$ what should i build
Modern forum
Posted on May 16, 2020, 4:08 p.m. by squinney1718
hey all I'm looking to build my first modern deck, i'm a casual commander playing looking to try something new but I don't want to spend over 200$ and I don't want to play burn
Flooremoji says... #3
abby315 makes some really good points.
Aggro decks are probably the cheapest decks you can find.
Try to stay away from tricolor deck, and midrange decks in general.
Are you looking online or paper? That really skews prices. I will assume online with the state of the world.
Infect could be a good option online, I also recently built U-tron for MTGo with a similar budget. (full of regret when I learned I could have gotten infect lol.)
I don't really like Neoform combo for online, I have the deck built in paper and it's probably my favorite. However I don't think I could have fun playing it online. It's so much eaiser to get tilted online and you can feel like your just going through the motions when comboing. I'm probably biased but it's not overly complicated imo :).
Soul sisters can be a fun off tier deck that can win some games, the price range is probably customizable nd you can pick up some good white staples.
May 16, 2020 4:54 p.m.
Flooremoji says... #4
Also, MTGgoldfish has a budget magic series where you can find many modern decks with a really good budget.
May 16, 2020 4:55 p.m.
Thanks! Also, since it came up in a different conversation, you could invest in the Ponza/"Gruul Utopia" shell. It's been extremely consistent for the last 4-5 years, always having a decent build. This is one you could cut the Wrenn and Six from, invest some trades or extra $ in the manabase, and then have a deck shell that you can always update. The core of the deck is the manabase, Arbor Elf, Lightning Bolt, and some kind of land hate e.g. Pillage, Stone Rain, Magus of the Moon, or Blood Moon. There's a cool Obosh version going around now, too, to give you an idea of how flexible that base ends up being.
May 16, 2020 5:09 p.m.
GoblinElectromancer says... #6
Two competitive modern decks in that price range are mono-red prowess deck wins and storm.
Good Luck!
May 16, 2020 5:25 p.m.
Haven't seen these mentiond, but burn and infect are both pretty decent and can meet your budget if built correctly.
May 16, 2020 8:41 p.m.
I don't know how it's situated in the meta right now, but Death & Taxes has a bunch of variants to build into and is pretty cheap in its most basic form. Generally fun to play too.
May 17, 2020 12:28 a.m.
TriusMalarky says... #9
Dedicated Budget Player here.
First, no fetches. Those are far too pricey. However, there are a variety of lands that you can use to play a budget deck, including and up to many 3-color combinations. I've even brewed some 4-color budget decks, although the mana starts getting weird around that many colors.
Second, you have to look for archetypes that don't rest on specific unique cards. For instance, go ahead and buy Pushes, Bolts and Paths, but you never want to buy cards like Thought-Knot Seer unless you absolutely want to use them for quite a while.
Third, many cards have budget alternatives that are 90% as good. For instance, Duress or Inquisition of Kozilek are great replacements for Thoughtseize. Now, this means you won't be using the absolute best cards in the format, but that opens you up for many solid homebrews.
I recommend running a homebrew 100%. While building an already meta-proven deck can get you wins, I find that it's easier to do well if you yourself go through the process of building the deck. You have to know what you're doing, but if you do, it's worth it.
Now, a quick glance at the metagame tells me a couple things:
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Any form of stompy is great. Brew with Obosh, the Preypiercer in mind. Smash face hard, and do it fast.
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Maindecking combo hate is solid. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben isn't too pricey but it stomps on a handful of meta decks, from Burn to Bogles to Storm.
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Effective removal is pretty good, but make sure it hits a solid amount of meta cards.
abby315 says... #2
Unless you also have a collection of fetches and shocks, a $200 budget basically forces you into some aggro build. Budget multicolor manabases just can't cut it in Modern. Snow decks are also very popular right now, which are tough on a budget. And you should avoid aany Lurrus of the Dream-Den deck, as if it gets banned you'll be out of a deck.
You might like the Eldrazi/Tron aggro list that's popular now. You'd probably be able to get the above list for around $200 if you cut the Chalices and Cavern of Souls. You could go up on Warping Wails and put Spatial Contortions in the main, or throw in a few MB Grafdigger's Cage if you'll be playing the deck soon. However, Chalice is definitely a strength of the deck, so you should build this with the plan to work towards 4x Chalice in the long run. (It's not a bad investment card.)
The only exception to a Lurrus deck might be this Bogles list, since Bogles is generally a solid Tier-two strategy no matter what's going on in the meta. You could cut the Horizon Canopys and have a pretty decent Bogles shell going. You could even hold off on buying your Lurrus.
Finally, if you want to try a combo deck, the Neoform combo deck is fairly budget. I'm not sure you can get it under $200, but it's close. However, it's an extremely technical deck to play, so I'm not sure it's a great place to start out.
Good luck!
May 16, 2020 4:27 p.m. Edited.