Melek izz on a Budget - An Epic Experiment

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

So, I've been writing up some budget lists lately because I wanted to throw something out there into the void in case a newer player or lurker came across one of them, liked it, and is happy to find a commander list they can play on the cheap with a little mini-primer to go along with it. That, and I am a deckbuilding junkie like many others round these parts and it's a lot of fun.

Then today, @bobthefunny posted this thread over in the main Commander forum about newer players getting into the format on a budget. I find the topic interesting in general and wish I would have had some guidance with regard to MtG finance when I first started playing, so I chimed in. At the risk of sounding self-important, I'm going to quote myself from that thread:
MeowZeDung wrote:
3 years ago
If a player is brand new and just starting their collection there are a lot of great ways to build that first budget deck and still have it be powerful. Inevitably they'll want to build more, and they they get sucked into all the sweet powerful options for various color combos when really they just need to focus on good ramp, draw, and efficient interaction. Seriously.

Dear new player: you don't need 17 wincons, haymakers, and battlecruiser spells. 2-3 ways to win is enough. Really. Spend your magic budget on cards that smooth out your gameplay: ramp, draw, efficient removal.

Honestly, a big part of good budgeting with a new collection is consistency with one deck instead of changing decks every five minutes while your card pool is small and indulging by getting new toys for a dozen different archetypes. Pick one, maybe two for variety. Stick with it for a while, upgrading as you can.
Now the reason I quote myself is because shortly after I clicked submit I realized how hypocritical my statement was: "consistency with one deck instead of changing decks every five minutes" is pretty much the opposite of my approach to Commander since deck-building is half the fun in my book. Regardless of my own lack of impulse control, the advice rings true and many newer players would do their wallets and fun factor a favor by sticking with 1-2 budget decks and slowly building up their collection with regular updates. It occurred to me that there is a ton of Budget Commander content out there in terms of lists and deck techs, but very little that outlines the best methods of incrementally upgrading a budget deck until it's much more focused/optimized.

All that said, I couldn't think of a good reason to not put something out there myself that tries to outline the process of upgrading and optimizing a deck on a budget. I've not been thrilled with my Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer / Seven Dwarves deck lately as that gameplan's novelty has worn off and gotten a bit stale, so I'm going to retire it and replace it with a new Izzet build. Enter $50 Melek, Izzet Paragon:

Melek izz on a Budget

Commander (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

The plan is simple: ramp up and sculpt my hand and top of library, then put Melek out there for some copy-for-value spellslinging, or once I'm ready to go ham and try for the win. How will I win? By copying big draw spells as many times as possible with Psychosis Crawler and/or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind (the deck's only two creatures) in play. There are several ways to spit out a token scattered throughout the deck, and I'm using Polymorph effects to turn a token into one of the two wincon creatures, so I functionally have 5 copies of the kill creatures. Then there's always the more traditional route of winning via combat damage if I manage to resolve many, many, MANY copies of Empty the Warrens or Rise from the Tides.

That's just the beginning of course, and the deck will naturally change as the cash flows. I started with $50 under the guise of Grandma sending some birthday money or some such, and I will be working with a budget going forward of $20/month in September. That's $70 at the outset in August, which will be $50 for the cards, and $20 for sleeves, dice, tokens, taxes, and shipping. (Note: this is all hypothetical since I own most of the cards in the list and most that I'll be updating with as well as sleeves, etc, but the thought experiment will proceed using the actual price points from the marketplace and within the constraints of a $20/month budget.)

I hope this thread will prove useful to some new players that are looking for the best way to build and upgrade on a budget as I post game reports, discuss cards, and update with newly acquired goodies monthly. If that is you, feel free to ask any budget or magic related questions at all here without being concerned that everyone is snickering at you since you don't own a Mana Crypt. I will probably post a follow up sometime soon (before the September update for sure) detailing some of my spending decisions for the original budget build.

As far as the monthly updates, I will plan them out and explain my reasoning, but I'd be thrilled to crowd-source a bunch of this thought process. So, feel free to chime in with what updates you would prioritize and why (ie: it's a staple the new mage on a budget will use in many decks for years to come, or it's absolutely perfect for the deck's strategy, or it's a massive boon for smooth mana or efficient ramp/draw/removal).
Last edited by MeowZeDung 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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ISBPathfinder
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 3 years ago

  • Kher Keep is fairly affordable and it seems like it could help with the Polymorph effects. Its always hard justifying money on the lands in a budget list though so I get it if this isn't where you want to spend the money.
  • Immolating Gyre would be a nice fit for a spell heavy deck but I don't know if you want to spring for the $8 it seems to be running as of right now.
  • Pore Over the Pages is an amazing card if you can ever copy it. It actually makes mana and draws you cards which is crazy. Even without copying it I have felt that it is a very reasonable effect in a spellslinger deck.
  • Primal Amulet with so many spells in deck it should be fairly easy to flip it. I think that both sides of it are fairly reasonable and its not even legendary on the other side so I guess it brings up the question of Thespian's Stage which is looking quite reasonably priced these days.
  • The Locust God - he just got a reprint so he is fairly affordable. What I like though is that he is somewhat robust as a threat and his trigger is very doable. His tokens are good and he can take over a board. I think he is somewhat similar in nature to some of your current wincons as well which is why I thought it might be worth mentioning him.
  • Crystal Ball - I am going to mention this because it is cheap and honestly, a lot of your topdeck manipulation cards do kind of suck. I would love to see this over something like Write Into Being. Crystal Ball is a bit slow but I think its very reasonable for cheap.
  • Thaumatic Compass - I keep asking myself how you will not die with no creatures in a spellslinger list. Well, this is ramp and a maze at least.
Just some quick thoughts on your list:

Bounce - Generally speaking bounce is a tempo play. My concern with a budget list is that you might not get the same advantages out of bounce as a lot of less budget friendly blue decks. I see a few mass bounce and a few targeted bounce effects and I guess I would maybe second guess some of that just from the question of if you can put appropriate pressure on players that bouncing their board will be something you can capitalize on. Where bounce is still quite relivant tends to be against tokens so I would say something like Echoing Truth might still be a good consideration but I think a lot of the spells you are running might have been a bit of a slave to the price tag and or concept of having a control effect in that position. Something like Mizzium Mortars or Chain Reaction might serve you better. I have always been a big fan of Boompile too even though its not a spell usually casting a sweeper twice is irrelivant. Aetherspouts would be another I would consider as forcing an opponent to redraw all their attacking creatures is also punishing them even if they have mana up.
High Tide - I question this from the standpoint of 12 islands with no fetches. I think it will be ambitious to have more than 4 to 6 of them given that will probably be close to half of your deck you will have gone through by that time. I think that there will be a large portion of the game where this card is going to be a letdown. Assuming you have less than half of your islands in play its barely going to make any mana and even then its not even making that much. While we are at it lets talk about Seething Song. I am not really sure if this does enough for you. You will have card draw here but I don't know if it does enough being one shot ramp. I also think that its going to be a lot worse when you draw these effects than if you get to cast them off the top. Your commander is going to be sitting in play by himself a lot and there are a lot of people who wan't want to see you free casting a bunch of stuff.
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

Thanks for the feedback @ISBPathfinder! You definitely hit on some of the deck's glaring holes (and thus some of the first areas to upgrade), I've started a "wishlist" for the deck, but you came up with a couple I hadn't considered, like Pore Over the Pages which is very budget friendly.

I am inclined to disagree re: High Tide though. I'm looking to copy it multiple times, untap islands with Frantic Search, Snap, and eventually Turnabout. It's not as good here as a mono blue deck, but it will get better as the rest of the deck smooths out too imo.

Re: bounce as removal - I agree! Blasphemous Act and some other removal upgrades will be high priority for sure.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 3 years ago

I also still don't know that having so creature light to start is a good plan. Even just adding some things like Talrand, Sky Summoner or Murmuring Mystic would be very budget friendly and in my opinion still fine things to hit with a polymorph not to mention they help set up the next polymorph.

I don't know that making polymorph better is as good as having a better defense game. Those two are extremely budget friendly and can serve both offense and defense plans.
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
3 years ago
I also still don't know that having so creature light to start is a good plan. Even just adding some things like Talrand, Sky Summoner or Murmuring Mystic would be very budget friendly and in my opinion still fine things to hit with a polymorph not to mention they help set up the next polymorph.

I don't know that making polymorph better is as good as having a better defense game. Those two are extremely budget friendly and can serve both offense and defense plans.
I've goldfished a bit and tend to agree, so Talrand and the Locust god are likely upgrades early on since they are fine polymorph targets and give some defense. The alternative is to replace the polymorphs with stuff like Sprite Dragon, Crackling Drake, Enigma Drake, Spellheart Chimera, etc and I don't think that's as good.
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

Here's that wishlist I put together. It's by no means comprehensive, and I'm sure I've missed some good cards. Nor is it mean to be a "list of cards this deck MUST acquire". It's just all I could think of right off hand that someone building a collection while simultaneously upgrading a budget Melek deck might want to get their hands on, from the lowly See the Truth to the "maybe someday when I don't have any financial obligations" Scroll Rack. I'll keep updating it as folks throw suggestions out there and it should be a handy reference when planning how to spend the monthly $20 budget.

I've grouped the cards into 3 categories: Collection Pieces, Melek Goodies, and Goodstuff. Collection Pieces are cards that are format all-stars, or close to being shoe-ins in most decks that can run them and thus prime acquisitions for a growing collection. Melek Goodies are cards that are more narrow and are most at home in this deck or similar spellslinger decks. They are worth getting a copy of, but probably shouldn't be prioritized too often over the other categories for someone looking to build a solid collection and not just cards to live in this specific deck permanently. Last is the Goodstuff, which are really just good cards that aren't quite Collection Pieces. They're most certainly playable in a lot of decks, but they are slightly narrower and aren't necessarily auto-includes in lots of decks that could run them. Obviously there's overlap between these categories, but I thought it would be helpful to have some sort of rough distinction.


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Post by bobthefunny » 3 years ago

I like it! Storm is definitely interesting to see done on a budget. Don't forget that there are other avenues to victory as well with card draw, such as Diviner's Wand or empyrial plate.

For additional wincons, you can look into the cards that turn spellcasts into damage. I found these rather quickly: Sphinx-Bone Wand, Electrostatic Field, Firebrand Archer, Firemind's Research, Guttersnipe, Imminent Doom, Ral, Storm Conduit, Sentinel Tower, and Thermo-Alchemist.

Metallurgic Summonings is a bit pricey for budget decks, but could be a powerful inclusion for the higher price range cards.

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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

bobthefunny wrote:
3 years ago
I like it! Storm is definitely interesting to see done on a budget. Don't forget that there are other avenues to victory as well with card draw, such as Diviner's Wand or empyrial plate.

For additional wincons, you can look into the cards that turn spellcasts into damage. I found these rather quickly: Sphinx-Bone Wand, Electrostatic Field, Firebrand Archer, Firemind's Research, Guttersnipe, Imminent Doom, Ral, Storm Conduit, Sentinel Tower, and Thermo-Alchemist.

Metallurgic Summonings is a bit pricey for budget decks, but could be a powerful inclusion for the higher price range cards.
Thanks for the feedback! I hadn't thought of Diviner's Wand or Empyrial Plate as a possibility.

I did consider Guttersnipe since it's two damage a pop to each opponent, but the plan is to eventually have the Polymorph plan working real smooth and getting Psychosis Crawler or, eventually, Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Ideally, I'd like to stay fairly creature light. On the other hand I do need some blockers as noted in earlier posts and will be adding The Locust God and Talrand, Sky Summoner to spit dudes out. Unfortunately, a lot of the izzet utility creatures are stuff you really don't want to be chump blocking with for the most part: Goblin Electromancer, Curious Homunculus // Voracious Reader, Magus of the Wheel, Rielle, the Everwise, etc. Several of the cards you mentioned kind of live in that same space. I think Ral, Storm Conduit will make his way in the deck eventually though, and Sentinel Tower as a nicer Aetherflux Reservoir is a possibility.

That said, part of my point in the bit I quoted from your thread was that newer players building a collection would be better off focusing on ramp/draw/removal with their budget rather than wincons, so I want to keep the first several updates focused on board wipes, draw spells, and ramp/fixing rather than storm/Melek goodies outside of a few select budget silver bullets.

On that note, my current thoughts for the first update:

Melek's first update???
Approximate Total Cost:



Knock off a couple bucks from the price since I can't figure out how to have it show the "regular" version of M21 Fabled Passage and See the Truth. I think a mix of upgrades similar to this would be a good start because the hypothetical new player/collector would be acquiring some sweet collection pieces, like Fabled Passage and Blasphemous Act, that will go in tons of decks for years while also getting some storm/Melek specific goodies on the cheap.

Thoughts?
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Post by bobthefunny » 3 years ago

That's a good method to start with. I would look into Chain Reaction for a mass boardwipe. It's cheaper to cast, and was the staple removal before Blasphemous Act upseated it, but remains a very good option.

I would also look at Curse of the Swine - it's a bit over a dollar, but remains good as both single and multi-target removal.

Feyd is working on a fix to default to the lowest value printing, but in the meantime you can force the card link to a specific version as a fix. In card tags or decklist, you can add "|set name" or "|set code" to get a specific card version. For example:

Wood Elves|7ED = Wood Elves|7ED
Mountain|Magic Origins = Mountain|Magic Origins

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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

bobthefunny wrote:
3 years ago
Feyd is working on a fix to default to the lowest value printing, but in the meantime you can force the card link to a specific version as a fix. In card tags or decklist, you can add "|set name" or "|set code" to get a specific card version. For example:

Wood Elves|7ED = Wood Elves
Mountain|Magic Origins = Mountain
The problem with this is specific for the recent sets with the fancy art.

See the Truth|M21 = See the Truth|M21
Fabled Passage|M21 = Fabled Passage|M21
Fabled Passage|ELD = Fabled Passage|ELD

cc @Feyd_Ruin in case this info is helpful in any way.
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Post by bobthefunny » 3 years ago

Feyd just remind me that |ID also works.

You can get the id from the url: https://www.mtgnexus.com/cards/core-set-2021/58517-see-the-truth
See the Truth|58517 = See the Truth|58517

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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

Nice! so. . .

Fabled Passage|58590

Boom. Well, that's good to know. Still, a fix that shows the most affordable option by default would be nice.
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Post by Feyd_Ruin » 3 years ago

MeowZeDung wrote:
3 years ago
a fix that shows the most affordable option by default would be nice.
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