To everybody making the argument that JVL isn't really following the definition of budget...you're right. However, as a player who considers himself a budget player (which is extremely difficult when I want to actually compete in even FNM, I generally prefer the version of Building on Budget that is currently being implemented, at least insofar as the budgetness is concerned.
Firstly, as far as budget is concerned, as others have challenged before, try building a deck that the average player can get for less than a set amount (it seems like $50 was the consensus from previous threads) that can be taken to FNM (that's all I'm asking), and actually win said FNM or at least have a decent chance of doing well given a moderate level of competition. Now, do that again next week with a completely different deck. And again the week after. And again. etc. You can't realistically do it, at least not well.
Now, some are arguing that the point of the deck isn't necessarily to create decks at the level that can win FNM's. Well, if that's the case, then I can find you a couple decks that can probably win at least a couple games that if you buy online, you can get for less than $25 easily. They're called event decks. If we're not even talking about that level of competition, but instead talking about kitchen table magic, then buy a theme deck. You can get them for less than $10 online, and if you're lucky, you'll pull a nice card from the pack that comes with it. If you want true budget, there you go. By that argument, there isn't even a real need for a "Building on a Budget" column. In all reality, most true budget players are kids who are working off allowances, and then it can be sometimes difficult to obtain all the cards you want for a deck, even if they're commons and uncommons, since most players don't put stuff like that in their trade binders, and it's a lot easier to just buy an event deck and play with it.
However, if you are a typical competitive human being, it's generally better to have decks that can actually win some games, that you can work on over time to complete, and this is something JVL does well in his articles. No true budget player is going to expect to buy each deck each week. If you can do that, just take a couple weeks off, watch the top decks column, and buy your favorite of those. Otherwise, you wait until he comes up with a deck idea you really like, then start collecting the cards for that deck, and use your budget each week to buy a couple more cards you need. For example, when my brother got me started into magic again at the beginning of the past summer, I was looking for deck ideas, and I found JVL's Soul Sisters deck. Over a month, I went and purchased the cards I needed, playing with an altered UB event deck until I had enough to take soul sisters to FNM. The first week I tried it, I was still missing some cards from the deck, but I had the main pieces, so I was able to go 3-2. The next week, I had almost all my cards, and I managed to get second out of about 30 players, with a 4-0-1 record, with the draw being to my brother who got first with his mono-black control. The week after, I had finally managed to obtain all the cards I needed, and I won, with a perfect 5-0 record, beating 2 caw-blades, valakut, splintertwin, and a UB Tezzeret control, all of which had price tags significantly higher than my deck. Basically, because I had a limited budget, it took time to find all the cards I needed, but a slightly more expensive rogue deck (the kind of thing JVL's article focuses on) fit my budget perfectly, and gave me what I wanted.
The one thing I agree JVL could improve on is the deckbuilding component. Keep going with the competitive rogue decks, and keep them budgeted where possible, but focus more on how you make your card choices, and also focus on common decisions you make with the deck. By doing this, you keep making the competitive decks which are more useful, but the kitchen table players who can't afford decks like these can learn how to build their own decks, or buy an event deck or theme deck and alter it to their desired level of competitiveness with the cards they have available. In addition, this makes each article useful both as the potential deck for a budget player to start building, and as something that everyone can benefit from, even if they aren't necessarily going to build that week's deck.
Lets flashback to the mirrodin block. Besides from being totally broken, this was one of the more popular blocks (it was really a popular block). Take a look at one of the dominating decks 'affinity'. It is build of almost only commons and uncommons. Remember that affinity is still popular in pauper. (For the record, BoaB had a limit of 30 ticks)
Lets move a little forward: Somewhere during the Shards block JVL build a deck and said at the end of his article something like: 'this deck cost between 30 and 40 $ making it one of the more expensive dekcs i build.'
This new order moved complex cards to higher rarity levels. This automaticly moves the tournament worthy cards to higher rarity levels. Since the supply decreases by doing that, the price increases. Not only does this make tournament decks more expensive, it also creates a bigger 'gap' between casual and tournament decks.
Before some wiseguy says: but modern is more expensive then standard: Modern contains cards from 8 years ago, not many people have those cards, you can buy those cards only second hand or trade for making them more expensive as time lasts, and with an expansive standard, modern is even more expansive.
So where in the past there was never really a problem between budget and tournament level, it is now harder to satisfy a goal that contains both.
Firstly, as far as budget is concerned, as others have challenged before, try building a deck that the average player can get for less than a set amount (it seems like $50 was the consensus from previous threads) that can be taken to FNM (that's all I'm asking), and actually win said FNM or at least have a decent chance of doing well given a moderate level of competition. Now, do that again next week with a completely different deck. And again the week after. And again. etc. You can't realistically do it, at least not well.
First of all, i'm not asking to buy one deck a week, i'm asking for a deck that i can buy... you see, im a student, i cant spent 100$ on a deck, not even in a month. secondly, you're asking for FNM, previous authors never focused on FNM.
Now, some are arguing that the point of the deck isn't necessarily to create decks at the level that can win FNM's. Well, if that's the case, then I can find you a couple decks that can probably win at least a couple games that if you buy online, you can get for less than $25 easily. They're called event decks. If we're not even talking about that level of competition, but instead talking about kitchen table magic, then buy a theme deck. You can get them for less than $10 online, and if you're lucky, you'll pull a nice card from the pack that comes with it. If you want true budget, there you go. By that argument, there isn't even a real need for a "Building on a Budget" column. In all reality, most true budget players are kids who are working off allowances, and then it can be sometimes difficult to obtain all the cards you want for a deck, even if they're commons and uncommons, since most players don't put stuff like that in their trade binders, and it's a lot easier to just buy an event deck and play with it.
Let's see, previous authors evolved many precons, this make your argument a little weird since i cant remember a lot of people complaining about, for example, BB's articles.
The point is, this author wants you to be able to win with his decks. That's what makes it different than before. Anyone can put a cheap pile of crap together and call it a deck. Here's my new budget list.
4 Ambush Viper 4 Darkthicket Wolf 4 Naturalize 4 Prey Upon 4 Spidery Grasp 4 Gnaw to the Bone 4 Festerhide Boar 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Kindercatch 24 Forests
There you go. Here's your budget list. Run that at a tournament and see how it does.
He wants you to be able to win games. If there's a few cards you can't get a hold of, do something for yourself and replace them. I use BoaB as a starting point for some decks I build. If I can't get wurmcoils, I'll replace them. Someone before mentioned Blightsteel. There you go. There's your replacement. I was actually surprised Blightsteel wasn't already on the list. Replace Darkslicks with Catacombs. Boom. Much cheaper now. If you want a real "budget" list, dump out your box of commons and throw them together. Or use my mono-green block list above! If you want to build an inexpensive competative deck, these articles are for you.
Well guys, you've convinced me; the BOAB that I used to know and love is dead and there is nothing wrong with that. I guess what the people really want is a tournament focused BOAB with $100+ decks. That is just fine, but it isn't for me. Could anybody point me in the direction of a different resource for looking at new and innovative low cost budget deck building? Everywhere I look I can only seem to find more columns about rogue decks. So please, if anyone could direct mean to a real budget column, it would be much appreciated.
I think I said something like this last week in the discussion thread for JVL's column. If a competitive deck can't be built for less than $150, it's not JVL you should be directing your anger at. It's bad game design.
Well guys, you've convinced me; the BOAB that I used to know and love is dead and there is nothing wrong with that. I guess what the people really want is a tournament focused BOAB with $100+ decks. That is just fine, but it isn't for me. Could anybody point me in the direction of a different resource for looking at new and innovative low cost budget deck building? Everywhere I look I can only seem to find more columns about rogue decks. So please, if anyone could direct mean to a real budget column, it would be much appreciated.
If this is truly the case, then the BoaB column needs to be retired, and replaced with a new column with the appropriate title and mission.
For as long as the column remains "Building on a Budget," then JVL either needs to actually start building decks, and doing so on a budget, or he needs to be replaced with someone who will, because as it stands now, he is not fulfilling the intent of this column.
The point is, this author wants you to be able to win with his decks. That's what makes it different than before. Anyone can put a cheap pile of crap together and call it a deck. Here's my new budget list.
4 Ambush Viper 4 Darkthicket Wolf 4 Naturalize 4 Prey Upon 4 Spidery Grasp 4 Gnaw to the Bone 4 Festerhide Boar 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Kindercatch 24 Forests
There you go. Here's your budget list. Run that at a tournament and see how it does.
He wants you to be able to win games. If there's a few cards you can't get a hold of, do something for yourself and replace them. I use BoaB as a starting point for some decks I build. If I can't get wurmcoils, I'll replace them. Someone before mentioned Blightsteel. There you go. There's your replacement. I was actually surprised Blightsteel wasn't already on the list. Replace Darkslicks with Catacombs. Boom. Much cheaper now. If you want a real "budget" list, dump out your box of commons and throw them together. Or use my mono-green block list above! If you want to build an inexpensive competative deck, these articles are for you.
Boom, go take a look around in TopDecks if you want to win... Your point is: you want some sort of budget and some sort of tournament level. But the whole discussion is how much tournament level and how little budget.
I agree with previous post on Modern Heart... Wurmcoil Engine is quite pricy for a Budget deck. I think running one would potentially keep it on budget and maybe adding Steel Hellkite... maybe..? Maybe even a good old ..."popup("
valign=top align=left class=" tenpxunderlinelink="">Blightsteel Colossus seeming how there is Master Transmutter in the deck..?
Here is a budget deck I designed it is running pretty good, fun, and creative. I previously posted it and I slightly renamed it and added a photo of Slime in the How the deck works part in essentialmagic.com/. Here it is.
So I made some minor changes to the deck and figured out how to use essentialmagic.com's etag and put a picture of Slimer on the deck you should check it out even if that is the only reason to.. R8 4 R8:Necrotic Rock Slimer(Ooze you daddy?, LOL) ..."UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), "cAQHo-wF3", event, bagof({}));">essentialmagic.com/Decks/View.asp?ID=906...
Here is the decklist in case you can not visalize it and look at the deck for whatever reason.
R8 4 R8:Necrotic Rock Slimer(Ooze you daddy?, LOL) (61 cards)
Creatures
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 47926, 'Alabaster Mage', '1W', 'Creature', 'Human Wizard', 2, 1, 84, 'Uncommon', '{1}{W}: Target creature you control gains lifelink until end of turn. (Damage dealt by the creature also causes its controller to gain that much life.)');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Alabaster MageBuy
4
..."showCardPopup(this, 47944, 'Birds of Paradise', 'G', 'Creature', 'Bird', 0, 1, 84, 'Rare', 'Flying\n{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Birds of ParadiseBuy
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 47369, 'Blight Mamba', '1G', 'Creature', 'Snake', 1, 1, 79, 'Common', 'Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)\n{1}{G}: Regenerate Blight Mamba.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Blight MambaBuy
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 47764, 'Blinding Souleater', '3', 'Artifact Creature', 'Cleric', 1, 3, 81, 'Common', '{(w/p)}, {T}: Tap target creature. ({(w/p)} can be paid with either {W} or 2 life.)');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Blinding SouleaterBuy
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 48481, 'Bloodline Keeper', '2BB', 'Creature', 'Vampire', 3, 3, 86, 'Rare', 'Flying\n{T}: Put a 2/2 black Vampire creature token with flying onto the battlefield.\n{B}: Transform Bloodline Keeper. Activate this ability only if you control five or more Vampires.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Bloodline KeeperBuy
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 48513, 'Daybreak Ranger', '2G', 'Creature', 'Human Archer Werewolf', 2, 2, 86, 'Rare', '{T}: Daybreak Ranger deals 2 damage to target creature with flying.\nAt the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Daybreak Ranger.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Daybreak RangerBuy
..."showCardPopup(this, 47484, 'Necrotic Ooze', '2BB', 'Creature', 'Ooze', 4, 3, 79, 'Rare', 'As long as Necrotic Ooze is on the battlefield, it has all activated abilities of all creature cards in all graveyards.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Necrotic OozeBuy
..."showCardPopup(this, 47536, 'Steel Hellkite', '6', 'Artifact Creature', 'Dragon', 5, 5, 79, 'Rare', 'Flying\n{2}: Steel Hellkite gets +1/+0 until end of turn.\n{X}: Destroy each nonland permanent with converted mana cost X whose controller was dealt combat damage by Steel Hellkite this turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Steel HellkiteBuy
Artifacts
4
..."showCardPopup(this, 48130, 'Swiftfoot Boots', '2', 'Artifact', 'Equipment', 0, 0, 84, 'Uncommon', 'Equipped creature has hexproof and haste. (It can\'t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control, and it can attack and {T} as soon as it comes under your control.)\nEquip {1} ({1}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Swiftfoot BootsBuy
..."showCardPopup(this, 48127, 'Sunpetal Grove', '', 'Land', '', 0, 0, 84, 'Rare', 'Sunpetal Grove enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or a Plains.\n{T}: Add {G} or {W} to your mana pool.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Sunpetal GroveBuy
..."showCardPopup(this, 48731, 'Woodland Cemetery', '', 'Land', '', 0, 0, 86, 'Rare', 'Woodland Cemetery enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Swamp or a Forest.\n{T}: Add {B} or {G} to your mana pool.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Woodland CemeteryBuy
4
..."showCardPopup(this, 48471, 'Avacyn\'s Pilgrim', 'G', 'Creature', 'Human Monk', 1, 1, 86, 'Common', '{T}: Add {W} to your mana pool.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Avacyn's PilgrimBuy
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 47601, 'Bladed Sentinel', '4', 'Artifact Creature', 'Construct', 2, 4, 80, 'Common', '{W}: Bladed Sentinel gains vigilance until end of turn.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Bladed SentinelBuy
3
..."showCardPopup(this, 47780, 'Death-Hood Cobra', '1G', 'Creature', 'Snake', 2, 2, 81, 'Common', '{1}{G}: Death-Hood Cobra gains reach until end of turn. (It can block creatures with flying.)\n{1}{G}: Death-Hood Cobra gains deathtouch until end of turn. (Any amount of damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Death-Hood CobraBuy
1
..."showCardPopup(this, 47420, 'Geth, Lord of the Vault', '4BB', 'Legendary Creature', 'Zombie', 5, 5, 79, 'Mythic', 'Intimidate\n{X}{B}: Put target artifact or creature card with converted mana cost X from an opponent\'s graveyard onto the battlefield under your control tapped. Then that player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Geth, Lord of the VaultBuy
4
..."showCardPopup(this, 48074, 'Onyx Mage', '1B', 'Creature', 'Human Wizard', 2, 1, 84, 'Uncommon', '{1}{B}: Target creature you control gains deathtouch until end of turn. (Any amount of damage it deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)');" onmouseout="hidePopup();">Onyx MageBuy
