Hello all and welcome to this weeks Budget Brews! Winning is nice, but it isn’t our main goal here at Budget Brews, instead we just try and have some fun! We tackle a few different ways to build here at Budget Brews, we either look at trying to make the more competitive decks cheaper on the wallet, or we just come up with something new that’s easy on the wallet!
Those of you who read my articles know that there are two kinds of decks I move towards: Control and Janky Combo's.
Control is something that I always go back to, no matter what else I try to do for a week or two, I can never stay away for long. It's my home. Janky combo's? Those are just fun to play. Whether it's Jeskai Ascendancy combo, or something like Ad Nauseam / Angel's Grace, sometimes I just want zero interaction and to play a game of solitaire.
What are we going to look at this week? The jankiest pile of jank that Kaladesh standard has to offer...
Some of you may already see where I'm going with this. These are only three pieces of a 60 card puzzle that plays some sealed pool all stars (maybe, I'm bad at sealed they may suck, even in sealed). These three cards are just what really keeps the deck ticking.
Lately in Modern I've been playing around with the old classic deck Eggs and goofing off with it, so when I heard there was a chance of making a similar deck in standard, that was mad cheap, I was all over it. I'm so excited, this might be the pile of cardboard I bring to GP Providence (shout out to the winner of the GPT the Tower held this weekend – see you there?).
Admittedly, even among the pro's there hasn't been a concrete 75 deemed the “best” version of the deck yet, there are some lists running Mono-U, U/R, some are 4 color with Sigarda's Aid for instant speed tricks.
Some lists are running cards like Hedron Archive, Filigree Familiar and Foundry Inspector. I admit that running Filigree Familiar does sound like a good idea. It can draw you a card, which is what you always need to be doing with the deck and it can gain you a few precious life points that can lead to winning the game, or not. I don't think I'm personally quite sold though, especially on Hedron Archive. On the surface it seems to cost too much mana. It does pair nicely with Prophetic Prism and it can draw you cards.
When I first started looking at Herald of Kozilek in the deck I came across Foundry Inspector as well, they both essentially do the same thing for the deck and make our artifacts cheaper, but the 4 toughness on Herald gives it a bigger body which means red will have a tougher time to deal with it.
The thing is, Bone Saw and Cathar's Shield just don't do anything. When you play the deck, you keep them in your hand until the turn after you play Aetherflux Reservoir when you're going off so you get some extra free triggers.
What if we split the difference, and just played all the things?
One thing I know I don't want to cut down is Crush of Tentacles. It helps us against decks that commit a lot to the board and it also bounces our things. I tried to put Engulf the Shore in it's spot, but it just didn't fare as well. We don't play enough Islands and the fact that Crush leaves behind an 8/8 is all fire.
Through testing both of these versions of the deck, I'm really not sure which I like more or even how to fine tune it to be better than what it currently is.
At the Core
Aetherflux Reservoir is a sweet build around card that, while being 4 mana can do a lot in a game, including end it. Versus aggro decks it can stall your own demise while you work furiously to put together the win, and versus combo, once it's on the board all the opponent can really do is use the bad Remand known as Unsubstantiate
Paradoxical Outcome is all gas. In a deck with nothing but cheap or free artifacts I have no problem bringing them all back to my hand and drawing a bunch of cards. This is the card that lets us really get our “Storm” count up and helps us gain all that sweet sweet life in order for us to win the game.
Herald of Kozilek can also be Foundry Inspector here since, as mentioned they both fill similar roles. So either you're playing one, both, or all. They are going to make our already cheap artifacts even cheaper or free. If we're playing both, they let us play addition four drops like Hedron Archive which can both ramp us a little, or draw us a cards.
Stay tuned to my YouTube video's to see how the different decks do and what I end up settling on.
Thanks for joining me while I try to Untap the Multiverse!
Have an idea for something you'd like me to brew up? Give me a shout in the comments!
Or in the usual social media ways -
Twitter - @maibuddha
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCii1H4HLwrHDWT4JGVlVajQ
Personal Blog - Untapping the Multiverse (https://untapthemultiverse.wordpress.com/)
