Today's deck will be budget blue/white control. I wont use any card that costs more than $1, and i will guarantee you this deck will easily be up to par with alot of decks that sling rares and such. Why can i guarantee it? Because the deck will be synergistic, coherent, and full of effective cards. A card doesn't need to be $100 to be super powerful and effective.
Part 1: Designing the mana base.
The first thing i do before i ever start choosing cards is set up the mana base. Typically a deck runs 24-26 mana, depending how color intensive the deck is, and how vital it is to have a lot of mana in your opening hand. Control decks typically curve out really easily, so 25 is fine.
Being a dual colored 25 card mana base, i know the following immediately:
1. I need to have access to both my colors on demand
2. I cant stall on lands to play dual colored spells, or i will suffer.
with that in mind, i would first look for dual-colored lands that provide both my colors.
In this respect, a quick land search comes up with the following in blue white:
1. Glacial Fortress - .80
2. Seachrome Coast - 1.15
3. Sejiri Refuge - .15
4. Celestial Colonnade - 4.50
Glacial Fortress is pretty much the best option here. However in a blue white control deck, I would recommend running 8-10 dual lands, so i will be running a full boat of glacial fortresses and sejiri refuges. Seachrome coast is just out of our budget range and colonnade is far above. Sejiri Refuge comes in tapped which can suck, but typically wont be a problem.
Mana base thus far:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge.
So, at the moment we have 8 land out of our 25. I want to be able to access my mana easily, lets say i start with a hand full of one or the other color, well that's no good is it? To lessen the possibility of that happening, I will be running fetch lands to allow me to choose what color i have:
4 Evolving Wilds - .20
Which brings us up to 12 mana out of 25, 8 of which comes into play tapped. I don't recommend going over 8 comes in tapped mana or you risk being too slow.
To note, if you have the money you can get fetch-lands that do not come into play tapped, but those are $6.75 a pop, so i wont be including those in our land search.
At this point its pretty easy to just spread out the rest of your land in basics.
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Plains
7 Island
Theres a solid 25 land mana base right there. Nothing fancy, gets the job done perfectly in our budget deck.
Part 2 - Deciding our ratios:
Control Decks commonly have more spells than creatures. The idea is generally to get out a couple solid threats while stopping your opponents from manifesting.
In a control deck you commonly have 8-12 solid creatures backed up with 20+ spells. This isn't always the case, but that is the route i will be pursuing in our deck here.
In the spell range, a control deck will commonly be broken up with the following:
1. Counter-spells
2. Removal spells
3. Sweepers
4. Utility
5. Card Draw
With the creatures typically being the following:
1. High power/toughness
2. Evasive (aka flying or shrouded)
3. Multi-purpose (such as a lifelinker)
With that in mind, lets start choosing some cards.
Part 3 - Choosing our creatures
In a control deck its completely unnecessary to have early creatures. We are too busy countering spells and killing things to play small creatures. With this respect in mind, i will be starting my search at 4 mana for a creature, and wont play anything higher than 6 mana, because then it gets too slow.
A search for creatures in the 4 mana range reveals the following:
click here to see all cards in blue white at 4 mana
Out of those cards, a few are stronger than the others.
1.
Lets evaluate this card. Its a 4/4 Flier for 4, which is great! Efficient and cheap. It also has a strange ability on it, that will potentially allow it to draw you some cards every time you swing. Problem is, it can also help your opponent out.
Card cost: 0.08
2.
This card is definitely interesting. It can potentially make you lots of fliers to attack or block with, a great card by any stretch. What is its weakness? 3 toughness means it dies to lightning bolt, the most common kill spell in magic. Can be awesome or fail miserably.
Card cost: 0.40
3.
We are ignoring this guys special abiltiy and focusing on the fact that its a 4/4 flier for 4. Perfectly acceptable beater, but nothing special of note.
Card cost: 2.25 - out of budget!
So, based on the 3 cards in that range, im going to stick to the consistency and our budget, and go with the conundrum sphinx.
Creatures So Far: 4 Conundrum Sphinx
Now lets check out what we can get in the 5 mana slot:
click here to see all cards in blue white at 4 mana
The ones that stand out as powerful are:
1.
This guy is Ok. he doesnt hit as hard as our conundrum sphinx which drops points off its ranking, but he can gain life frequently, which can be handy. Overall not very impressive.
Card Cost: 0.08
2.
I dont think i need to explain why this is one of the best 5 mana cost creatures ever printed, but she is sadly out of our budget at a price of 9.95
3.
A budget beater, This guy is similar to our conundrum sphinx with the added benefit of being vigilant, which means he is offensive and defensive at the same time. Perfectly acceptable budget flier.
Card Cost: 0.04
4.
Now this is more impressive. The 3 power isnt great, but 5 toughness is a solid body to get on the table. Add in the fact that he has a built-in draw function makes this a great option in a deck like ours, where you can play him at 5, draw a bunch of cards and pitch anything useless in your hand.
Card Cost: 0.08
In this instance im going to be going with a split, because you dont always want the draw engine of the sphinx to be in your hand. I will be using 2 Sphinx of Lost Truths and 3 Serra Angel for our 5 mana slot.
Now for the 6 mana slot. This is when titans enter the picture, so you need to be very careful when picking your 6 mana creature:
Click here to see all the options at the 6 mana slot
Holy options batman! the 6 mana slot is definately where our end game is going to be. We need to make this pick count.
1.
This angel is incredible. A massive 6/6 body for 6 mana that exiles something every time you play a land. Very powerful. The only downside is the 3 white mana requirement in the casting cost.
Card cost: 2.50 - out of budget!
2.
Another massive angel, this one can grant your squad indestructability which is pretty solid. Problem is she cant kill a titan, which subtracts her playability a little bit, but shes still perfectly usable.
Card Cost: 0.08
3.
Currently ranking as the 2nd best titan in the game, I would go into great detail as to what makes this guy the best 6 drop we could ever want, but hes severely out of budget at a price of 15.75
4.
A staple control creature, this guy is perfect for any blue based control deck. Having shroud effectively means this guy will only die to a mass removal or untargeted kill spells such as gatekeeper of malakir, which is very rare. Once he hits the board hes pretty much there to stay.
Card Cost: 0.15
5.
Essentially a flying titan, this 6/6 monster grows and draws you cards at the same time! Great! Unfortunately unlike our other friends, his abilities aren't inherent and require a mana investment to use, which lowers his playability level.
Card Cost: 0.10
6.
Great card... for non-control white decks. We cant recur anything with his ability, and he is over budget.
Card Cost: 4.00
7.
A 4/5 flyer with a built in day of judgment. Not bad, not great.
Card cost: 0.25
In this deck i will be going Sphinx of Jwar Isle for its powerful shroud ability. However due to costing 6 mana, i will only be running 2 in our deck. Having shroud essentially means most decks cannot touch him, and our deck can simply ride him to victory unimpeded as you laugh maniacally.
To tally, our creature base is as such:
4 Conundrum Sphinx
3 Serra Angel
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
= 11 slots.
This leaves us with a total cardbase of 36, which allows for 24 spells to fill out the rest of the deck.
Part 4: Choosing our Spells
With our creature choices made, its time to support the cast with a variety of spells. To reiterate from earlier, we will be looking for the following functions to flesh our deck out:
1. Counter-spells
2. Removal spells
3. Sweepers
4. Utility
5. Card Draw
How many of each do you want to run in a deck, you might ask? That typically requires testing to fine tune, however the general consensus is 5-8 counter spells, 4-10 removal spells, 2-4 sweepers, 2-4 utility spells, and 4-8 draw spells.
To start, lets examine our 1 mana cost options:
Click here to see 1 mana cost instants
Click here to see 1 mana cost sorcery
I have selected the following cards based on their playability level for our consideration:
1.
This spell doesnt technically kill a creature, but its pretty close. The major problem is the creature has to be attacking, which means its application is somewhat limited. Still an excellent efficient card. The life gain they get is usually negligible.
Card Cost: 0.12
2.
This is a misers counterspell. It can work amazingly well or fall flat if you draw it too late. Its usually worth running 1 or 2 because it can be used to great effect if you manage to tap out with 1 island open, and catch your opponent off guard.
Card Cost: 0.03
3.
Now thats what im talking about! Filter through your cards, find what you need, and replace itself after! This card is an automatic include in any blue deck, its value is amazing and its never a dead draw.
Card Cost: 0.25
4.
This is an acceptable temporary problem solver, but overall is a niche card that is only effective against certain styles of decks.
Card cost: 0.25
In our 1 mana slot, i will be going with the following:
4 pre-ordain
1 spell pierce
3 condemn
2 spell pierce in side board
Which leaves us at 44 cards selected thus far.
The 2 mana card slot is going to be our most important spell slot, for reasons i will show below.
Click here to see 2 mana cost instant spells
Click here to see 2 mana sorcery spells
Click here to see 2 mana enchantments
And as usual, i will be selecting what i find to be the most playable ones.
1.
Role player card. Great sideboard card, possibly maindeckable.
Card Cost: 0.02
2.
One of the best counterspells ever printed, this is one of the best blue cards you can ever put in a deck. Easy to cast, powerful effect, can really keep your opponent off their game. automatic include.
Card Cost: 0.15
3.
The effect of this card is strictly superior to mana leak, but the fact that you have to return a land to your hand makes it dangerous to draw early. Playable to be sure, but not recommended.
Card Cost: 0.20
4.
A fantastic utility spell, This card is great to either slow down your opponent, or you can even slow down an opponent and draw a new card, thus giving you a solid 2 for one! Great utility card, but you dont need an abundance of them in your deck.
Card Cost: 0.05
5.
At first glance this card seems severely powerful. The ability to make a 4/4 angel for 2 mana is off the charts powerful, but the problem is you have to go a full 4 turns of taking no damage before that is an option. However against control decks this guy will simply wreck them, making it an excellent sideboard card.
Card Cost: 2.00 - over budget!
6.
A fantastic removal enchantment that is easy to throw in the deck. The only problem is it lacks instant-speed, making it slightly worse than it should be. but its still 100% playable and an auto-include.
Card Cost: 0.08
Based on the above cards, i have chosen the following to go in our remaining 16 slots:
4 mana leak
4 journey to nowhere
2 into the roil
with the following going into our sideboard:
2 into the roil
3 negate
this leaves us with 6 empty card slots left in our deck.
The 3 mana card slot is notoriously dull and only has a few options for solid play. However this does introduce us to our first planeswalker option!
Click here to see the 3 mana sorcery cards
Click here to see the 3 mana instant cards
There are only a couple cards here:
1.
Dull as dishwater, but you cant deny its efficiency and simplistic nature. Playable to be sure, but 3 mana cost is steep.
Card Cost: 0.02
2.
Does the same exact thing as cancel, with a bonus of potentially being cheaper than cancel, but that wont come up in our deck.
Card Cost: 0.12
3.
Our first planeswalker option! Jace is a fantastic draw engine. The common way to use him is to throw him down, and use it to draw an additional card every turn for 3 turns, thats a huge amount of value!
Card Cost: 7.75 - Over budget!
The 3 mana slot is dull and boring. Jace is fantastic but not in our budget range. I will be going with 1 cancel, which will leave us with 5 empty card slots to pick from.
Cards chosen: 1 cancel, and 2 cancel sideboard.
Lastly we will be ending at the 4 mana card cost slot. If a spell costs more than 4 mana it needs to be pretty incredible, and theres not much of those in existance worth noting, so i will be stopping at 4.
Click here for 4 mana cost sorcery spells
Click here for 4 mana cost instants
Click here for 4 mana cost enchantments
The cards chosen in this particular batch for our inspection are:
1.
A niche role player, but potentially absurdly strong. This has a face value of making a copy of any creature on the table, which isnt bad, but isnt amazing.
Card Cost: .50
2.
This is an excellent filter/draw spell, and completely playable in our deck.
Card Cost: 0.05
3.
A must-have in any white control deck, this is your catch-all answer-all card that will reset the board to keep you alive.
Card Cost: 0.80
4.
The 2nd most powerful card in all of standard, big daddy Jace is a monster in any blue based control deck. If you are fortunate enough to own them, use them at all costs! However he is significantly out of our price range at a whopping 77.00 price tag.
Cards chosen in this batch:
2 Foresee
3 Day of Judgment
1 day of judgment sideboard
This brings our total up to our 60, and now its time to get that sideboard going.
Lets recap our final deck!
Land:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Evolving Wilds
7 Island
6 Plains
Creatures:
4 Conundrum Sphinx
3 Serra Angel
2 Sphinx of Lost Truth
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Spells:
3 Condemn
1 Spell Pierce
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
2 Into the Roil
4 Journey to Nowhere
1 Cancel
2 Foresee
3 Day of Judgment
And our Sideboard thus far:
2 Spell Pierce
3 Negate
2 Into the Roil
2 Cancel
1 Day of judgment
which leaves us with 5 cards in the sideboard. I typically focus on something that i know is a deck weakness for sideboard, the obvious being red decks. because of this i will be putting in the following:
3 Flashfreeze - 0.04
2 Kor Firewalker - 0.40
which brings the sideboard to:
2 Spell Pierce
3 Negate
2 Into the Roil
2 Cancel
1 Day of judgment
3 Flashfreeze
2 Kor Firewalker
And to recap our total expenses:
Land:
4 Glacial Fortress - $3.20
4 Sejiri Refuge - $0.60
4 Evolving Wilds - $0.80
7 Island - free
6 Plains - free
Creatures:
4 Conundrum Sphinx - $0.32
3 Serra Angel - $0.12
2 Sphinx of Lost Truth - $0.16
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle - $0.30
Spells:
3 Condemn - $0.36
1 Spell Pierce - $0.03
4 Preordain - $1.00
4 Mana Leak - $0.60
2 Into the Roil - $0.10
4 Journey to Nowhere - $0.32
1 Cancel - $0.02
2 Foresee - $0.10
3 Day of Judgment - $2.40
2 Spell Pierce - $0.06
3 Negate - $0.06
2 Into the Roil $ 0.10
2 Cancel - $0.04
1 Day of judgment -$0.80
3 Flashfreeze - $0.12
2 Kor Firewalker $0.80
TOTAL DECK COST: $12.41
Thats roughly the price of 3 booster packs. This deck is fully playable in the casual deck rooms and can easily compete with most non-top tier decks.
Well there you have it folks, Hopefully this has been informative and will help you make good decisions when building your deck! Thanks for reading!
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