Journey Vega
Added 10-23-09
A few weeks have passed, and I've opened a few packs and traded a few cards since the Zendikar Pre-Release. Test play after test play has only made me realize that I have absolutely have nothing to show up to the castle with. Kyle's article brought up a great point about how the game is turning into a sinkhole for everyone's wallet. Honestly a good deck can and will run up to $500+ and I don't have a spare Black Lotus laying around to trade in.
With all of the high-dollar cards and decks on the waiting list, many local players are forced to take advantage of cheaper combo decks. I say good for them. In fact, I have seen a few good standard decks within the $100 to $200 mark. Many builds coming out of Zendikar are solid. There's everyone's favorite Ally deck, or an old fashioned Red deck wins, although I've been losing more and more faith in the vampire builds that are being played on the local scene.
"But Journey, vampires are so good right now....blah, blah, blah..." Some players might say.
Look, I like to play themed decks just as much as the next person, so when I visit the Castle I expect to see more than just your common mono-'boring' vampire deck.
Here's the most common vampy stampy I see running around.
4x verdant catacombs
2x crypt of agradeem
16x swamps
4x Bloodghast
4x Guul Draz Vampire
4x Malakir Gatekeeper
2x Ob-Nixilis, the Fallen
4x Blood Seeker
4x Hideous End
2x Feast of Blood
4x Duress
4x Disfigure
4x Howling Mines
4x Marsh Casualties
A good aggressive build for the metagame that's around. Still, in a world of Jund aggros and Boros Baneslayers, the vampire build is almost an insult to the power of the necromancer. A better use of the non-creature spells like Sadastic Sacrament will help you take care of those unnecessary Baneslayers before they hit the board, plus the Crypt could help you take advantage of the kicker cost on things like Sacrament or Marsh Casualties. Sign in blood is also a cheaper alternative when matched up with a Bloodchief Ascencion and a first turn Vampire Lacerator. I was also very pleased to see that Noel deCordova was awesome enough to mention the Blood Tribute-Sanguine Bond combo in his recent article, which also had a hint of Malakir Bloodwitch and Vampire Nighthawk.
Back to the dilema at hand, finding a cheaper build that can last against the $500 decks. Remember Alara? I haven't forgotten about the many commons and uncommons that saw very little play in the midst of those 5 CCs and fairies a few months ago. A good aggressive WR budget, and somewhat borderline pauper, deck idea was shown to me by a fellow planeswalker just recently.
4x Arid Mesa
4x Teetering Peaks
6x Plains
6x Mountain
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Kor Skyfisher
4x Plated Geopede
4x Ranger of Eos
4x Goblin Bushwacker
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Journey to Nowhere
4x Burst Lightning
2x Expedition Map
3x Explorer's Scope
This deck is a great abuser of the landfall mechanic, and it has a pretty steady pace with a first to 4th turn follow-up that produces a 6/7 lynx and a 5/5 geopede on third turn. If you'll notice, the most expensive card in the deck is the very popular Arid Mesa, which sells for $18 a pop. The rest of the deck is well under $10 and the Paths will only come by trade due to their high demand. I followed up and may have found some quick changes that might increase the deck a wee bit. A couple of Glory of Warfare enchantments with some Intimidation Bolts will boost the deck's staying power. Another small add-in, would be in the region of Ceradon Yearlings, a 2/2 with haster and vigilance. I'm still a little iffy on adding Emeria, the Sky Ruin, for some creature recovery. And on the plus side of these additions, they are real easy on the pocket book. I'd play it, and would like to see it played in the next tourney or two.
With all these vampire, mono-red, and zoo decks running around it's hard to see any control or interesting combo decks that'll top the qualifiers anytime soon. Some players might wonder if I'm going to be stupid enough to run a mill deck against the aggros. To that I say... Meet the Crabs!!!!
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Magosi, the Waterveil
6x Forest
10x Island
4x Hedron Crab
2x Oracle of Mul-Daya
4x Archive Trap
4x Harrow
2x Jace Beleren
4x Howling Mine
4x Quest for Anctient Secrets
1x Archmage Ascension
3x Cancel
2x Mindbreak Trap
3x Ravenous Trap
4x Fog
3x Into the Roil
Sideboard
4x Lethargy Trap
4x Whiplash Trap
2x Sleep
2x Essence Scatter
3x Spell Pierce
I've played this deck plenty of times against red deck wins, vampire aggro, and various control type decks. Against the control I had the hardest time, but the deck milled my opponent's library within 5th to 6th turn most of the time. Especially against decks with fetch lands and burn decks that like to get trigger happy.
For those of us that are looking forward to the BW ally decks that take advantage of the Bala Ged Thief without having to play the expensive fetch lands can look for Ancient Ziggurats. Those bad boys can boost any ally deck.
Well, I said my piece and look forward to seeing smarter budget decks in the field.
Show me what you got Planeswalkers,
The JV
