Being a budget brewer is usually a tough proposition. The mana base for most decks is usually so prohibitively expensive that it is very difficult to make a deck for a reasonable cost. However, the beauty part with Khans of Tarkir is the inclusion of the Refuge Lands. These inexpensive, common lands are super important to helping to keep the cost of your deck in line. Since they are also in all 10 colour pairs, it makes for an opportunity to really build some interesting decks without breaking the bank.
One of the most interesting mechanics that came out of Khans has been Delve. It has allowed Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time to see play in virtually every format because the reduction in cost created by the Delve mechanic is hilarious and disgusting all at once. I wanted to take my own stab at a Sultai deck powered by Delve and the common cycle of Refuge lands to provide a budget conscious deck that is capable of some ridiculous game states and power. Let’s see what I’ve got cooking.
The lands cover off your bases as well as possible. Opulent Palace ensures access to all three colours and run about a $1 a card. The other Refuge lands are all pretty inexpensive additions as well and the basics fill out the land requirements for this deck relatively effectively and cheaply. Nice deal. This land base runs you under $10 bucks but still gives you access to the colours you need!
The creature package isn’t as large as I usually run, but the ones that I do run are important.
Let’s start with the 3 Satyr Wayfinders in this list. These little guys are ridiculously useful because they fill your yard for your Delve spells and fetch you land. The best part with the Wayfinder is that if you hit ANY land card you can pick it, not just basics. In a deck running so few basics and so many dual and tri coloured land that distinction is huge. At roughly a dime a card these are cheap, effective, and very useful.
Nyx Weaver is a vital part of the deck because it also helps to fill your yard, and by consequence power out those Delve spells even faster. However, sac this little guy and regrow that important resource you just milled away. Nothing is funnier than recasting that Villainous Wealth you just burned, getting your Kiora or Jace back, or finding that blocker you need to try and stem the tide. Also, at a mere $0.40 a card they are a bargain for something so useful.
Sagu Mauler: Why not? He’s huge, hard to handle, and requires an immediate answer or you die to the ridiculous 6/6 trampler with Hexproof. Also, at $0.50 a card he’s a steal.
Chasm Skulker: This is legitimately an experiment. I feel like this card could be very good, particularly with the amount of cards I can draw off things like Treasure Cruise, Dig and Interpret the Signs. He produces value if he gets killed and is otherwise just a growing bomb to dismantle your opponent. He’s also very cheap, meaning he also helps keep the cost of the deck down.
Rakshasa Vizier: Honestly, a pair of feels fine in this deck to reap the ridiculous benefits of Delving away loads of cards and making a huge behemoth. Also, a 4/4 for 5 is just fine base stats anyway. Oh, and it’s cheap…so…Budget Brew away.
Necropolis Fiend: This is the big finisher in this deck. A 4/5 with Flying is pretty awesome…but the ability to repeatedly take care of creatures with its tap ability is huge. The casting cost has no real bearing because of the ridiculous Delve potential with this deck meaning it can hit the table without much trouble and at $0.30 a card you can’t go wrong.
With all the budget cards we’ve played in the lands and creatures there is lots of room to splash around with fancy spells.
Jace, the Living Guildpact: Did anyone notice that Jace’s new first ability jives with Delve incredibly well? I haven’t seen him in any lists at all so far and I’m wondering why not? His second ability is very relevant as well and totally protects you or him if used properly. Yes, his ultimate might curtail your plan somewhat, but wrecking your opponent’s hand and you drawing 7 is ridiculous. This could be the best $4 card in the deck.
Kiora, The Crashing Wave: Wow, has the value of Kiora plummeted recently. What was once a $20 card is now $8.50…and she’s amazing for this deck. Her first ability is very useful because she nullifies their best creature every turn. The second ability is amazing to draw yet MORE cards and then dump extra land to ramp to Dig, Villainous Wealth, or Necropolis Fiend. Her ultimate is an inevitable win condition. She’s pretty sweet.
Villainous Wealth: I want a full playset of these guys because I think this card could be the real deal. It’s an absolute game breaking spell. Yes, it’s greedy, yes it’s expensive…but you only need to hit one and the game just about ends on the spot because it attacks them on an axis that they likely aren’t expecting. Look at the deck…it looks like it wants to beat down with the Vizier, the Mauler, or the Fiends, but one of these for 6 or 7 totally changes the perception of the game. Add in the fact that it is about $0.50 a card as well and you have a budget all-star.
Throttle: Cheapest removal going. Murderous Cut would be better…but there are only so many cards in the yard to Delve away…so Throttle seems just fine in the interim.
Dig Through Time: Well, this let’s you assemble EXACTLY that piece you were missing. What more needs to be said. It is an awesome card. It is not cheap at $7.50 to $15 a card…but it is well worth it.
Treasure Cruise: Don’t have a Dig but need to refill your grip of cards? Yup. Lean on everyone’s favorite busted Blue common. Need I really say more?
Interpret the Signs: I have to admit, I stumbled across this and love it. With all the very high casting costs in this deck you can hit this for 6, 7, 8 or even 9 cards without much trouble! That’s bonkers. And at a mere $0.15 a card is just perfect mass card draw for this sort of deck.
Sultai Charm: Ummm…Removal. Nuff said.
Scout the Borders: This acts as card filtering AND as a ritual type effect because it dumps itself and 4 more cards in your yard…meaning that you are most of the way to casting Treasure Cruise by turn 3 and turning things up to high gear. You don’t need too many of them, but a pair seems like the right number.
Substitutions
If you are really keen on playing this deck it would be mighty easy to get a few more pricey treats for this deck. Currently the price tag for this deck is running somewhere shy of $75…but there are lots of pricey treats to sub in that will drive the price tag way up.
The obvious place to start is with 4 Polluted Delta. That’s $80 in Delta’s. Sure, they thin your deck, feed your Delve and are generally pretty useful, they are hardly key lynch pins in the strategy. That said, I would love to have a playset of these guys to rock in the deck.
Yavimaya Coast and some more Scry Temples might also be considerations for this deck help improve the mana situation. I’m less convinced on these guys, but the added value of the free scry or more untapped lands might be really helpful.
I would be prepared to entertain a discussion about NOT running the Dig Through Time, not because it is a bad card, but because Interpret the Signs might be the better spell. This deck is usually looking for just mass card draw and Interpret the Signs is a sleeper pickup that could be insane. I would need to test both options.
I could TOTALLY make a case to sub out the Viziers for a pair of Sidisi…and with her bring in a couple of Whip of Erebos as well and emulate the Sidisi Whip decks out there. There is no doubt that it would be a powered down version, because it lacks the Hornet Queen or the Soul of Innistrad, but it could be pretty potent.
There are a number of treats from Fate Reforged that I might be prepared to try out in this deck but there aren’t an over-abundance of them. I would be willing to splash around with Temporal Trespass because any time you can grab an extra turn it seems busted. Also, Torrent Elemental can totally be game breaking because of its ridiculous ability AND the fact that it can be cast from exile if you Delved it away. While the rest of the Sultai cards look interesting they don’t really do what this deck wants to do and so these will be about the only things I would be looking to experiment with.
You can’t afford to be too cautious with this deck. As much as this deck wants to get to the later stages of the game to try and use more of its resources, you are in a race, not with your opponent, but with yourself. The fact remains that you could be in real danger of decking yourself without much effort, so once you get a foothold and can leverage out some heavy hitters you need to make good and close out the game. Your graveyard is absolutely a resource that is there to be utilized so don’t hesitate, but you need to be mindful of how quickly you burn through your cards. Otherwise, the deck is super fun and able to do some truly ridiculous things and accelerate to get to some mighty powerful spells.
So, if you are looking for something pretty fringe to try at a FNM, or just kicking around with your buddies around the Kitchen table, this sort of Budget Sultai brew might be right down your alley.
Thanks for reading…and as always keep it fun, keep it safe…keep it casual.
By Bruce Gray – Casual Encounters @bgray8791 on Twitter
Day 4 of spoilers and we got some sweet new goodies. Let’s check them out.
Eidolon of the Great Revel- Ok, so earlier this week I may have been a tad mistaken about Keranos. He’s an awesome bomb for an emerging R/W/U control deck that seems to be taking shape. Once I considered him from that angle, this card becomes an unbelievable bomb to pair with Keranos. Once you have taken control of the board state, this 2 mana 2/2 will start to lock things down with Keranos to simply crush your opponent. His ability punishes players who play spells with a converted mana cost of 3 or less and deals 2 damage to them. Ok, so it is a sysmetrical ability, but once you’ve set up the board state with an indestructible Keranos, wipe the board state clean with a supreme verdict and then follow up with this guy. You won’t need to cast spells because Keranos will reveal cards and deal damage without the need for a spell, and this guy will punish your opponent for having to play spells to try and get back into the game. Also add in the fact that the Eidolon is a Devotion generating field day and you have a real winner here. I’ll give him an A for an efficient body, and devastating ability, and the potential to help re-shape standard as Keranos’ sidekick.
Interpret the signs- This is a fun looking draw spell where for 6 mana you get to Scry 3, then reveal your top card and draw cards equal to the converted mana cost of the card revealed. I love the ability and the Scry 3 almost assuredly allows you to find something with an expensive casting cost to draw a bunch of cards, but I wonder if 6 is too high to pay for this. I suppose if Opportunity can see play in a G/U flash deck like it did in the fall, this could see play, but I get the sense this is a card that EDH players will love. I think it is extremely flavourful, and I love to scry, so I’ll give it a try, but it may not see a whole of competitive play. I’ll give a B because I like the card more than I probably should.
Kruphix, God of Horizons- Ok, another of minor Gods is revealed and this one leaves me scratching my head. For 5 mana (1 green, 1 blue, and 3 colourless) you get a 4/7 indestructible legendary enchantment creature God with the same devotion mechanic we have come to know. His pair of abilities are interesting and while one I really like, the other leaves me confused. The first one is that you have no maximum hand size, which I always appreciate, so if you fire off a huge Sphinx’s Revelation you get to keep all your cards and not concern yourself with discarding. The second ability is what leaves me shaking my head because if you have unused mana in your mana pool, that mana becomes colourless. It’s extremely interesting, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that colourless mana. I love the card…but I’m a little baffled what I’m doing with the second ability. I’ll pass on giving him a grade because I just don’t know what to do with him.
Setessan Tactics- Another example of Strive, as it has been pointed out elsewhere looks and feels alot like multi-kicker, Setessan Tactics is a 1 mana instant that gives target creature +1/+1 and the ability to tap it and fight target creature. The Strive cost lets you pay one mana for each additional target and each new target is granted the same ability. This is super cheap to play, triggers Heroic on potentially numerous targets for an equally inexpensive amount, and then is as close to mass removal as I’ve ever seen in Green. With this being at instant speed it could prove to be a back breaking combat trick in any limited game. I’ll hold off on Constructed formats, but perhaps it could be sided into a monsters deck as a sideboard card to clear the road to bring the pain. All in all, this is a sweet removal card and an excellent and inexpensive example of Strive. I’ll give this a B+.
Silence the Believers- Wow…Black got MORE removal…and this time things don’t even die, they get EXILED instead. Oh, and the spell has Strive just in case one target wasn’t enough. OH MY GOD! So for 4 mana you get to exile a creature and all Auras attached to it and you can spend another 3 mana to target additional creatures. This is yet more awesome removal for Black, and the fact that it exiles creatures means that even indestructible cards aren’t immune. I can assure you that this will be played in Constructed, even if only in the side board as a one or two of, but there is no doubt that this is very powerful. Watch out, Black got more toys to take for a spin. This has got to be an easy A even if it could be a tad expensive to cast.
Spite of Mogis- A 1 mana sorcery that deals damage to target creature equal to the number of instants and sorceries in your graveyard. This is going to be fine removal and is very reasonably costed provided you set your deck up to play enough other spells to make it truly relevant. My only issue with this card is that I don’t feel like this is a Mogis-like ability. Mogis is B/R, but this ability is very reminiscent of abilities attributed to R/U (like Spellheart Chimera), so while I like the card, I feel like it’s a little off in terms of where it fits from a flavour perspective. So, if my only real quibble is with the flavour this guy is packing, I have no doubt that the card will be just fine. It’ll get a B- because it’s a tad narrow in the sense that it needs the right deck, but once it finds a home will be a very solid addition and pull its own weight for sure.
