Budget Decks vs. Not So Much Decks
Standard forum
Posted on Dec. 13, 2012, 11:45 p.m. by strateupjee
I really don't know if the entry to my local FNM would just be a waste of money for me to take my $70 deck and go up against the $700 decks... does anyone know if budget decks (that aren't RDW xD) are winning?
strateupjee says... #3
Well I run a mono-green (deck:its-mean-and-its-green) and it plays really well against a wide variety of decks my friends have, but none of them are running the high ticket cards or the nice planeswalkers I'd be facing, so I just don't know how I would do
December 14, 2012 midnight
Epochalyptik says... #4
How much is the buy-in and what do people play there?
December 14, 2012 12:15 a.m.
Does your local shop only run a competitive-level tournament? If so, try talking to the shop owners and see if they'd be willing to run a free or low-cost, low payout tournament for people that don't want to play competitively.
December 14, 2012 12:22 a.m.
The important thing about budget decks is that they can't just be knock offs of less than budget decks. You can't attempt to use sub par creatures to do what those really expensive cards do. When building budget you have to be a bit more creative if you want to win. You have to come up with a deck type or play style that doesn't need those super expensive cards to win. I have seen a few decks that you could work at a competitive level. Burn at the Stake goblin/token decks might be able to do it. Izzet card:Runechanter's Pike and Guttersnipe could work. It really depends on your opponents at your LGS. You could simply try to play a counter deck. Anti zombies uses that green wall creature that has protection from zombies. Things like that could work.
December 14, 2012 12:24 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
@meecht: If most of the regulars are playing in the FNMs as they are now, it's unlikely that the store will try to run a second FNM event unless they have significant amounts of space and players willing to participate in the other event. Also, a store is extremely unlikely to run a free or reduced rate event because that means prize support has to be either nonexistent or come out of the business's own pocket.
December 14, 2012 12:26 a.m.
Be inspired -- http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/39841
December 14, 2012 12:35 a.m.
I guess I'm lucky that my local shop does run two Standard tournaments. One tournament is for people who play competitively with a buy-in of $12 and a payout of a booster box, and the other is a free (use to be $3) tournament with a 5/3/2 booster pack payout.
December 14, 2012 12:35 a.m.
I think it's worth taking your deck in and expecting to lose for a few weeks. Get to know your meta. Get to know the people who frequent FNM. You can talk to them about your deck, get some opinions/advice.
December 14, 2012 12:46 a.m.
I'm just going to be mirroring user:MR%20H3AT here, but I think it's absolutely worth repeating. The key to budget decks is not trying to do Top8 decks with cheaper cards. At my last FNM, I saw someone trying to force BR Zombies but without a number of the key drops and running things like Bloodthrone Vampire in their places. It just doesn't work.
One potential avenue is to just go all out on high variance strategies, like Fencing Ace with a ton of attached Ethereal Armor . You'll likely get blown out a lot, but sometimes even a $700 will stubble a land drop, keep a slow hand or not have a response.
December 14, 2012 1:47 a.m.
The important thing about budget decks is that they aren't just worse versions of $500 decks, they are strategies that only rely on commons and uncommons and sometimes cheap rares. They can still be very competitive it just takes some work to build the right deck.
December 14, 2012 7:59 a.m.
strateupjee says... #13
Thanks a ton guys! My local buy in is 10 last time I checked, though I havent been since M13 rotation, so it all went from RDW and U/W Delver control to god knows what, and I like to think my deck is my own spin on a mono-green, though some things I can't get around
December 14, 2012 8:44 a.m.
Just look to see what decks have won the recent MTGO, PTQ, and/or StarCity Games tournaments. If your local shop is like mine, about 90% of the people will have copied a deck that won one of those tournaments.
December 14, 2012 9:21 a.m.
Just based on the topic...I've been one of those people who generally doesn't like to spend massive amounts of money, but I am super competitive. Budget decks, if done right, actually keep your opponent not knowing how to react (IF you have a good, consistent core.). I actually have about a 65% win to lose ratio using decks that people COULD call budget decks. If you make changes that fairly consistently will matter (ex. using [card]predatory outrage[/card] I believe is the name, which gives all creatures you control 3/3 and trample, and the opponent has to block. Running this in a deck such as G/R aggro assures that by majority, you will have targets, as well as a game ender. See what's winning, people at tournaments will play decks that are 90-95 percent the same cards as tournament decks that have done well. Prepare for U/W Delver (or control...), RDW, Frites, and G/W Aggro (I prepare for MBC as well, just because all the kill cards screw you in creature decks not prepared for them. Everything else will fall into place for you with what's left. Just my 2 cents
December 14, 2012 11:34 a.m.
One other thing. Ask people's opinions on cards that are different. More importantly, realize that those opinions are opinions, and many times people will tell you a card is bad because it has not been efficiently used yet, or they are spouting out others opinions without having a valid one themselves. I did find that asking opinions on cards brought me to understand the weaknesses of my choices, and therefore, was able to play around those weaknesses to better use said card.
December 14, 2012 11:38 a.m.
I'm gonna try to take a $30 dollar deck to an FNM and see how it does :P.
December 14, 2012 2:14 p.m.
strateupjee says... #19
Im really glad I got so much feedback, thanks a ton guys, I will definitely do what has been suggested :)
December 14, 2012 10:39 p.m.
I know that a lot of emphasis is placed on your Deck vs Meta as a mitigating factor for victory, but don't discount the skill element. Even if someone net-decks "the most face-meltingly awesome deck EVAR!!1!", it won't perform if they don't know what they are doing with it. Pro players have to practice with a deck to make it run properly too.
If you are playing budget, become familiar with your deck, tweak it, make it run smooth. You will have at least an even chance against someone that swaps weekly to "The Best Deck in META".
December 20, 2012 10:59 a.m.
DawnsRayofLight says... #21
I borrowed and tweaked a friends jank zombie build and won every game with it (save one, which prompted the red addition) at a Saturday tournament, List went like this, the most expensive things are the messengers and crawler, and the land, sorry, it needed more reach.List: Jank Zombehs (budget-ish zombies), try it, the land base keeps it a bit pricey(Blood Crypt s, but it is roughly a $90 deck. I am running a slightly higher end version right now, but this list works.
TheOne4221 says... #2
I'm certain once I get some Mizzium Mortars my U/R Burning Vengeance deck will do fairly well.
What I hope to make it into is Talrand's Izzet Adventure!. All I really need is more Guttersnipe and the mortars.
December 13, 2012 11:53 p.m.