Cheap Standard Deck, needs some advice

[Dringdar]

I'm currently in the process of trying to learn the more competitive side of Magic; namely Standard. I refuse to dump a large amount of money into a format which is going to change every three months, and as such have managed to put together a deck which is decent enough on paper. It'll eventually be replaced with a more competitive deck if I decide Standard is worth the investment, and I end up playing enough.

The intent of my deck was learned in various Theros drafts; I learned how powerful the Heroic mechanic could be if abused. I also learned how weak it can be mid game, and how pathetic it becomes late game. This led to the inclusion of the Boros Elites, and the Celestial Archons, both of which are reliant only on attacking to kill my foes. The Hundred-Handed Ones act as a defensive card as much as an offensive one; at worst, they will block every monster my opponent sends at me. At best, they swing every turn. Ordeal of Heliod is awesome because it lets me gain massive amounts of life, enough to allow me to take a bit of damage now and again. Here is my deck.

Main deck

4x Boros Elite
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Akroan Skyguard
4x Wingsteed Rider
3x Hundred Handed One
3x Celestial Archon
4x Swift Justice
4x Mortal Ardor
4x Battlewise Valor
4x Ordeal of Heliod
22x Plains

The Sideboard is where I'm having a bit of trouble. I plan on having 4 Revoke Existence here in case my opponents toss out any evil enchantments or artifacts; no doubt Standard has at least a few such cards worthy of exile, but if nothing else, I can laugh as I make people send their precious God cards away. I also have God's Willing as another defensive type option, in the event I'm being pummeled by Doom Blades or other single target spells/abilities. The added effect of Scrying 1 and giving a heroic monster a +1/+1 counter doesn't hurt either. 3 Dauntless Onslaughts sit in here as well, adding even more combat tricks and Heroic power. My last 4 cards are Phalanx Leaders; their ability is extremely useful on paper, and I see myself switching them in if my opponent is playing cards like Mizzium Mortars and Anger of the Gods.

4x Gods Willing
4x Revoke Existance
4x Phalanx Leader
3x Dauntless Onslaught

What I'm looking for here is constructive criticism, and advice on how to improve this deck, while keeping it cheap. Please don't suggest I add and Elspeth's or Brimaz or other such expensive cards. I'm willing to make the deck a multi-color deck, provided such a deck can be competitive with only the guild gate double lands.

Summed up Goals
*Deck total price under 30 dollars
*Deck able to hold its own
*Learn the format without breaking the bank
*Have a fun to play deck

[Dringdar]

bump

[Toltirr]

A Few Things.

1: DO NOT BUMP. Unless your thread is about to fall off the page. There is no need to bump, until usually after 24 hours. Tabletop is a slow forum. Days can go by before a thread falls off the page. Also this is the weekend. A lot of gamers game, so there will be delays in answers and responses some time. So patience, post.. come back tomorrow or hours later.

2: As to your deck. There are several budget decks. Some can come in under 20 dollars and handle most of the competitive ones decently. And they are a mix of things in the current block. [Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon's Maze, M14, Theros, and Born of the Gods] as there are some interesting combos and potent synergies.

3: Heroic mechanic. Benefits if you have a lot of things to trigger them with. Enchantments and instances. With the Bestow Mechanic.. and the rather cheap bestowers in BOTG.. you can squeak in some early triggering. .or have more creatures to drop. [Depending on the field or hand]

I see you're aiming for Mono White? As from what I recall everything there.. save maybe Elite is White. There are more potent and varied strategies you may get if you go two colors. [Red/White. Green/White. Black/White] that can play to the heroics better. There are plenty of cheap CMC instant in Red that can lead to combat tricks. Weapon's Surge, Titan's Strength, Madcap Skill, etc. Same in Green. Of course if it's mono white. I'd look at using some of those sideboards as mainboards. Dauntless for one should likely be mained. It's another targeting spell that can hit two heroics at once even. Triggering both. And Phalanx Leader should be mained as well. He's just all around good to every one else. Also consider Devotion based cards. That may be useful given all the white. And things like Pacifism, Sphere of Safety, Ethereal Armor and such. You can easily make some white weenies big bad monsters on the cheap. While triggering them in the process.

Side decking is an advanced skill. It needs to a combination of things. What you'll see at local, that may be a problem for the deck and thus gives you counters to likely used cards and strategies, as well as potential bad matchups where things just won't work for you. I'd not worry about side decking until you settle more into the game and after you get a feel for what you'll most likely encounter in playing others.


Edit: Misread the time stamps there.. looking at it briefly it looked like it was a short time not nearly 12 hours.. my bad there.. still the rest stands. Especially it's the weekend and gaming.

[Dringdar]

Sorry, my bad. I'm new here. xd Anyways, your advice is well received, and I'm now in the process of editing my deck with the intent of trying red and green mixtures.

[Liquidor]

Dringdar

I'm currently in the process of trying to learn the more competitive side of Magic; namely Standard. I refuse to dump a large amount of money into a format which is going to change every three months, and as such have managed to put together a deck which is decent enough on paper. It'll eventually be replaced with a more competitive deck if I decide Standard is worth the investment, and I end up playing enough.

Standard (or any format for that matter) is only as expensive as you let it be. If you were flat out buying a new deck every 3 months, yes, it would be incredibly expensive. The thing is though that you're most likely just shuffling around your deck a bit (let's say like 3-10 cards) in response to "new" decks every 3 months due to that. Truth is, however, that the more competitive you are, the more likely you're actually going to be changing your deck every week as you pay attention to the "Pro's". Again, mostly just shuffling the deck around.

Myself, I have 3 basic rules for Competitive Play:

#1) Do your own research

Browse the web for decks, articles, etc. Gather information from friends, opponents, overheard conversations. Follow trends on pricing, metas, etc.

Devoting like an hour per day is sort of baseline.

#2) Play

Build decks, Play decks. Keep your mind thinking. Don't worry about format, card choices or anything.

Again like an hour per day is sort of baseline. Even if it's just like stopping at your local game store and teaching a few new players the game.

#3) Don't listen to anyone else

Kinda simple and straight forward. Especially if you've done the previous two and are fully prepared.

[Toltirr]

Liquidor

Dringdar

I'm currently in the process of trying to learn the more competitive side of Magic; namely Standard. I refuse to dump a large amount of money into a format which is going to change every three months, and as such have managed to put together a deck which is decent enough on paper. It'll eventually be replaced with a more competitive deck if I decide Standard is worth the investment, and I end up playing enough.

Standard (or any format for that matter) is only as expensive as you let it be. If you were flat out buying a new deck every 3 months, yes, it would be incredibly expensive. The thing is though that you're most likely just shuffling around your deck a bit (let's say like 3-10 cards) in response to "new" decks every 3 months due to that. Truth is, however, that the more competitive you are, the more likely you're actually going to be changing your deck every week as you pay attention to the "Pro's". Again, mostly just shuffling the deck around.

Myself, I have 3 basic rules for Competitive Play:

#1) Do your own research

Browse the web for decks, articles, etc. Gather information from friends, opponents, overheard conversations. Follow trends on pricing, metas, etc.

Devoting like an hour per day is sort of baseline.

#2) Play

Build decks, Play decks. Keep your mind thinking. Don't worry about format, card choices or anything.

Again like an hour per day is sort of baseline. Even if it's just like stopping at your local game store and teaching a few new players the game.

#3) Don't listen to anyone else

Kinda simple and straight forward. Especially if you've done the previous two and are fully prepared.

All of this.

The game is only as expensive as you want it to be. If you want to be on top of the latest and hottest things.. then you're going to be putting in more money then someone playing more casually.

#1 Is fairly easy to do. Plenty of forums, wiki, webpages, youtube videos, as well as LGS and the like you can hang out at and talk Magic with people. Hear what they speculate on, talk about potential card uses. And etc. I've learned a fair bit just listening in on conversations and joining in asking for clarification of points. Most MTG players enjoy talking 'shop' so it should be a easy to get something started.

#2 Is especially important if you're just getting into Magic again or starting up. It's a good way to learn the basic plays, order to play things in, phases of a turn, etc. That you should memorize and learn till they're automatic. As well as experience various deck and playstyles and types.

Though #3 doesn't mean you should ignore advice. Or suggestions other may make. Just listen, consider and make your own mind up on it. See if you can understand why they say what they say, or ask why this over that.. or such. As Liq said, in number 1 listen in, talk, research things on your own, as well as see what others come up with.

The whole shuffling cards in and out every week is less following the 'Pros' at time and more adjusting your deck to handle whatever is locally prevalent. If one week is heavy in control decks, you're likely going to adjust your deck to counter that next week. Or build something different if you think everyone is going to switch decks up.

It's not uncommon for one kind of deck/playstyle to dominate at a game night one week. And then the following week is filled with others using the same thing, or running counter-decks to that one. Leaving them open to some other deck type to dominate.

It's a weird sorta paper-rock-scissors cycle. Where Paper beats Rock.. and then everyone is running paper.. so then less play rock and more play scissors.. which shifts things to less Paper and more Rock players.. and etc.. Over and Over...

[GamerAce91]

Well, the good news is I like one card in the deck, bad news is I dislike most of the other cards in here. Most of the rares I have listed are very cheap. The goal of the deck as aggro, kill the opponent as quickly as possible.
Here is my take on a budget white weenies decklist.
Creatures 27
4x Boros Elite
4x Dryad Militant
4x Soldier of the Pantheon($4 on Starcitygames)
4x Precinct Captain
4x Daring Skyjek
3x Banisher Priest
4x Frontline Medic
Other Spells 11
4x Brave the Elements
3x Spear of Heliod
4x God's Willing
Lands
22x Plains

Rootborn Defenses, Revoke Existence, and Glare of Hersey are cards you bring in against control. Renounce the Guilds is good against anything multicolor, and this list only runs one hybrid card. Imposing Sovereign you bring in against aggro decks.
Sideboard
4x Rootborn Defenses
3x Imposing Sovereign
3x Revoke Existence
3x Renounce the Guilds
2x Glare of Hersey

[Dringdar]

I've taken some of the advice listed, done a bit of research, and now have a deck that looks like this.

Creatures:
Soldier of the Pantheon x4
Boros Elite x4
Phalanx Leader x4
Fabled Hero x4
Banisher Priest x4
Heliod, God of the Sun x2
Other Spells:
Swift Justice x4
Battlewise Valor x4
Dauntless Onslaught x4
Gift of Orzhova x4
Lands:
Plains x22
Sideboard:
God's Willing x3
Revoke Existence x3
Glare of Heresy x3
Imposing Sovereign x3
Rootborn Defenses x3

The basic plan of this deck is to either spam buff spells on my Phalanx Leader while swinging with the my creatures, or slap a Gift of Orzhova on my Fabled Hero, and let him abuse Double Strike mechanics.

I never looked at Glare as worth anything until I played a control deck. God do I hate Elspeth. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make a Planeswalker who's +1 was three tokens should be scolded. With Magma Jets.

[Schizophrenic Pancake]

I love Elspeth. She's great in Boros. =D Elspeth+Purphoros= Match made in heaven. <3

[forgetremembering]

I've played Boros aggro before in standard and while Daring Skybro doesn't look like the best creature he does much more work than you would believe. I would prefer him over wingsteed rider. Both might be powerful, but the Skybro has a much higher power level in my opinion with the resources in the deck.

Dauntless Onslaught is Overpowered. You'll agree with me when you move it to the mainboard and win plenty of games because of it.

Precinct captian and one Spear of Heliod (spear is good in EDH and other casual formats so good eternal value) would bump this deck up a notch.

But as a must you NEED Brave the Elephants.


You don't need the toughness from mortal ardor, so cut it for a more powerful pump spell. You don't need to block 100 creatures. Hundred Handed One is better off as a creature your opponent should have trouble blocking or killing. The expensive answer to this is Boros Reckoner, but a less expensive alternative is Fabled Hero.

I would consider 1 or 2 God's willing in the main.
Also Rootborn defenses is a must in the sideboard.
Lifelink cards like Gift of Orzhova are really strong against aggro for sideboard. So are toughness boosting cards like That one white enchantment that lets you draw a card and gives enchanted creature +0/+2.
Final piece of advice, your deck is aggro archetype. If you are losing against midrange then plz don't be angry. Midrange is the counter to aggro. If you want to counter midrange you play a combo deck. If your meta is mostly aggro/control an aggro deck tends to do quite well, but as soon as you fight a midrange deck you are paddling upriver and there isn't much you can do without the money aggro cards to improve that matchup.

But best of luck. Draw land and mulligan when you don't feel the 6 turn win.

[Blue Mage Ryu]

Gods Willing its a nice heroic trigger/creature save. Also consider Glimpse the Sun God if played after you declare attackers but before your opponent declares blockers, you can use this to tap your opponents creatures and trigger your own creature's heroics (after all, they're already tapped. What do you have to lose?).