This is my article on budget decks in the new vintage. Ta...

[thefram]

This is my article on budget decks in the new vintage. Take it for what it is, a decent attempt at the least.

Quote Long before the release of Chalice of the Void, Vintage players heralded the death of budget decks. There has, over the last few years, been a general consensus that decks without the Power Nine are simply not as good as ones with it. This was only exacerbated by the release of Chalice of the Void, which punishes low, linear, efficient mana-curves through bulk countering. Against traditional budget decks like Sligh or Stompy, a first turn Chalice of the Void for one is as good as game over. Their mana curves do not offer enough variation to compete with the power of chalice. And with this newfound tempo advantage the powered player will now be able to seal the game fairly easily.

The “chalice conundrum” now forces us to look at budget decks in a new light. To build reasonably competitive budget decks have to do one of two things with our listings. We need either to make a budget deck with varied enough of a mana curve to deal with Chalice or to make a budget deck that is so fast or resilient that chalice becomes irrelevant. In this article I will be discussing two such possibilities, two very different aggressive decks. In the future I also hope to discuss budget blue-based and artifact-based control strategies.

Budget in the New Vintage: Part 1

[the walrus]

Excellent article. I hope to see more like it in the future, maybe a new variation of sligh, stompy, ww, etc. because honestly these decks have very few ways to deal with chalice. The problem with chalice is, like many before me have stated, it punishes players with no diversity in the CC. If you take a deck like sligh and say "ok i'll just run ball lightning and carbonize" for example, you do get around chalice but mana drain will kill you in the end, which is the original reason people are afraid of running ball lightning in sligh. So essentially chalice hurts the low part of the curve and mana drain kills you if you run diverse CC spells. What do you think the "old" aggro decks can do to avoid being hosed by these cards (besides hoping for chalice's restriction)?

[Ric_Flair]

Good stuff, but I think you missed a few things.

First where is Sui?  Sui has been the quintessential budget deck for a long time.  The deck does quite well in a control heavy meta, like we have here in NE.  It is cheap to build as well, with only Sinkhole being more than a $12 card.

Second, where is Mychoda?  The deck has done well in an very high powered meta.  Give that deck a look it is very interesting.  

Third, where is Fish?  Fish is probably the best budget deck out there right now.  It has evolved quite a bit in the past three months and I think it definitely fits the bill for budget decks.

Fourth, where is Gro?  I know that the deck is not exact budget, but it is not terribly expensive either.  Power is certainly helpful, but definitely not necessary.

I think the idea behind the article is good, but you need to do more research.

[g0dzillA]

Good read, Avi. I agree with Ric that Fish and Sui/Chalice Black especially deserve mentioning, as both are still plenty competitive in the current meta. Food Chain Goblins and/or GobVantage might deserve mention as well, as they appear to be the logical evolution for Sligh's answer to Chalice.

Are you going to be delving into more archetypes in later articles?

[thefram]

@Ric & Godzilla

Quote
First where is Sui?  Sui has been the quintessential budget deck for a long time.  The deck does quite well in a control heavy meta, like we have here in NE.  It is cheap to build as well, with only Sinkhole being more than a $12 card.

Second, where is Mychoda?  The deck has done well in an very high powered meta.  Give that deck a look it is very interesting.  

Third, where is Fish?  Fish is probably the best budget deck out there right now.  It has evolved quite a bit in the past three months and I think it definitely fits the bill for budget decks.

Fourth, where is Gro?  I know that the deck is not exact budget, but it is not terribly expensive either.  Power is certainly helpful, but definitely not necessary.

I by no means meant that these were the only decent budget decks in the format. I happen to personally like these two, and they are slightly less common than Fish and SuiB. I dont know that i had to introduce a fish list or a SuiB list. Madness and Red Rock are less prevalent as budget decks, and therefor need more introduction.

also, in the preface to part 2 (which i already wrote and submitted) I comment that i did not mean to say that the lists i gave are the only viable ones, nor was i trying to compile a list of all viable aggro budget decks, i just wanted to give examples to the budget community so that they can build for themselves.

I hope to possibly come full circle, after covering budget combo and control and recover aggro, then i may include Fish and Co. This article's premise, as you can see from the quote, was how to help Budget Aggro get around Chalice. These 2 decks are build for that purpose. Also, I would prefer to let the creator of MyChoda(which i have 0 experience with) write about it for himself.

Oh, and I am doing hybrid archetypes (like gro) in a seperate article.

Again, i was not trying to make a complete list of all viable budget decks, so i see no problem with my omission of lists for Fish. In a later article i may provide prototypes lists for about 20 budget decks i have tested in my testing for this series, but these upcoming articles are introduction for the site's readership to budget deck-building in vintage.

Thanks for all the positive comments.
-Thefram

[thefram]

Also, i would really like to thank many of the newbie forum's members for being a really excellent resource for deck ideas for my "budget arsenal," which I will be releasing in the next few weeks.

I would especially thank Lockdown for the [Budget Decks] Sticky and the revolution in budget deck-building it brought about.

-Thefram

[waSP]

That deck most certainly does not look like the Red Rock deck I built about 8 months ago to fight the "artifact invasion" into Vintage.  It also looks like a weak deck.  Birds of paradise are terrible, you never need that much acceleration (although if you REALLY want them they could replace the power from my list).  With that said you are running EXTREMELY land light.  Unbelievably mana light.  I don't think I've ever gone below 27 sources of mana in my builds.

Here's the article I wrote in July on the REAL vintage Red Rock  
Red Rock

4 Pernicious Deed are absolutely necessary.  You are unexplicably running 0 manlands and 4 Troll Ascetics.  And by the way Ravenous Baloths are absolutely better than Spiritmongers in the current metagame (in nearly any metagame).

[Luk5000]

To back up waSP...

The deck isn't Red Rock without 4 Deed.  They change so much and with today's vintage why aren't you jumping on 4?  They also have super synergy with the manlands.  They can surprise you.

Have you tested this deck?  Becuase if you have I would like to know how Living Wish has treated you.  I have considered it before, but never gave it a go.  One thing I really like that wasn't in Steves old build was the inclusion of therapy...it's awesome.  I also think that monger has no place.  Replace him with Baloth or something, he's just slow as hell and you'll end up killing with other stuff a bit faster.

Word,
Luk5000

[thefram]

I considered Manlands, and it seems i should reconsider them.

@ Wasp. Without manlands you need less mana since fewer of them are pulling double duty.

Living Wish for DustBowl/Maze of Ith/Xantid Swam has been game breaking. I agree about the mongers, but all these people email me about the articles get really pissed when they see B/G without mongers. I wrote an article about BG sui a few months ago, and all these newbs pounce on me for the lack of mongers. I know its no excuse, but hey. People are attched to their mongers, so i let them have them in t1 as well.

@ manlands - i felt that Treetop Villages are similar to Faerie Conclaves, however, fish has force and misd while i do not. In an unpowered list it makes for a real poor turn 1. I much prefer Duress Therapy or Shaman on that turn. Mishra's Factories might warrant a slot, but the colored mana needs in here are high. I may drop the Bops for factories, but i liked the acceleration. I want to play at least 2 troll ascetic for immunity to plow.

When i come back around i will post a revised list in the second aggro article with your suggestions. Thanks.

I also went to 3 deeds to accomodate a second naturalize, because CC diversity seems pretty key here.

[waSP]

The best thing to do in regards to Spiritmonger is to mention that you could play it over the two Ravenous Baloths, especially if they are uncomfortable without the 6/6 beater.  I think after about 1 game with the Baloth, you can be certain that he is better.

3 Wastelands? *Gasp*

Troll Ascetic seems like a crutch for you.  Call of the Herd does enough against Swords to Plowshares, (netting you the same creature.  I think Troll Ascetic's function is about 1 turn too slow.  If you need him as a blocker, he's one turn too late.  He doesn't have evasion like river boa, and his regenerating ability is costly and difficult to maintain.  I know you're already running calls, but you could easily cut the Ascetics for Treetop Village.  You won't ALWAYS have a first turn play, nor do you need to.  It's tougher to play with fewer threats, but it's not necessary to overload your curve.

Definitely test the Factories over birds, they make good blockers and increase your threat and land base at the same time.

It seems you have no plan against combo other than your 8 discard spells.  With Living Wish, you have to devote sideboard space to some things that don't help you after boarding.  You could easily move one Maze of Ith to the main.  Artifact Mutation is amazing, why aren't you running it?  Tormod's Crypt?  If you have manlands, the Xantid Swarm slots can be replaced with something more useful against control.  I don't think it was particularly wise to post a definite sideboard for the deck.  It just leaves you open for scrutiny.  You definitely need some dragon and long protection.  Also, what is this deck attacking?  An aggro meta with some tubbies decks and a lot of blue based control?

And also, if you want a simpler aggro deck to post (Red Rock is harder to play than most, takes balls) you might have considered a stable R/G Beatz deck.  Aggro and manlands fit together amazingly well.  It gives you a good matchup againts control while improving your mana base.  If you want to see my build for R/G Beatz pm me and I"ll get it to you.  I don't think it is appropriate to post in this thread.

Luke, I couldn't fit the Therapies main when I wrote that article, because the disruption element wasn't key to the deck's functioning at the time.  Rector Trix was the only potent deck, then, that Therapy could harm.  Therapy has cycled in and out of the main as the metagame shifts.  Right now, I believe it is currently out in an attempt to expand the threat base.