More Deck Garage on a Budget

Hello loyal readers and first timers coming to Jason’s deck garage. I am running on fumes this week as it has been a very long week. This weeks deck garage challenge is another readers deck that is on a budget. I have always believed that the people who read my articles should dictate the direction that my articles take. I received a total of eight separate emails that mentioned an exact amount of money that each sender had to spend. That to me is a trend in what you would like to read about. So for those of you that liked last weeks Deck garage you will get a second helping of deck building on a specific budget. This week I have been brought a deck list and given a budget of seventy dollars in U.S. currency to make some changes. Now I know some of you are saying to yourself “Jason don’t start the deck fix without giving us your weekly rant”. Now do you readers think that I would let you go without the rant? Of course I have a rant and you can as always skip it and go straight to the deck fix. This rant has me explaining some of the dumber acts I committed from this regionals weekend. So skip to the deck fix or prepare to read my acts of dumbness. Don’t forget to also send your magic questions, deck fixes, or just correspond with me thru pojojason@hotmail.com and I will get back with you as soon as humanly possible. On to the rant.

Dumb Incident Number One

Running a Friday Night Magic tournament the night before regionals. Okay this is one of those things that I hate to see happen. I told several dozen people that they should get a good nights sleep before going to regionals. So of course I stayed up running a tournament and then continued the trend of staying up late by reading emails from readers and playing an online game of Scrabble. This was a dumb mistake considering that I had to be up at 5am to drive to Dallas Texas. I was less than a golden ray of sunshine when I woke up the next morning.

Dumb Incident Number Two

Did you kids out there know that if you don’t eat something other than a donut in a twenty hour period it’s a bad thing? Well yours truly does know that but I ignored that fact and developed one heck of headache at the end of the day. Funny thing is that I have also told several dozen people that they should eat a good breakfast and snack during the day to prevent such results. Oh well what do I know anyway?

Dumb Incident Number Three

Giving your friend a “wet willy” although fun is not the most mature thing to do during a tournament. Instructions for committing a “wet willy” are easy. Wet you finger by putting it in your mouth, find a suitable friend who isn’t paying attention, and wiggle you finger in his ear hole. Voila you now have committed a “wet willy”. Okay maybe its not the most mature thing to do but it sure was fun and yes it was dumb.

That’s enough dumb things from this weekend and a small preview of next weeks report about my adventure at the Texas Regionals tournament. I will regale you with how I did, what the tournament was like and my general impression of the tournament. Now lets leave this section of dumbness and get to the deck fix.

Here is the email that I received from Nick about his deck and needs.

I just saw an article where you helped a new player build a mono red control deck out of a master blaster precon deck on a limited budget and i was very intrigued. I have been playing magic for nearly two years and I will be the first to admit that I am not the best at building decks. I have been toying with a mono white aggro deck that is designed to give me life off of the countless artifacts that my friends run. I would really like to keep this strategy in the deck but i feel that it lacks the versatility and speed that a good deck should have so I am not really attached to any of the cards in this deck. I have a budget of around $70, so if you could help me out I would greatly appreciate it. The current list is as follows:

23x Plains

1x Shield of Kaldra

1x Sword of Kaldra

1x Jandor's Saddlebags

CREATURES:

1x Blinding Angel

1x Blinding Angel

1x Luminous Angel

1x Intrepid Hero

4x Razor Golem

4x Diving Griffin

4x Suntail Hawk

4x Emissary of Hope

4x Leonin Elder

3x Slith Ascendant

OTHERS:

1x Second Sunrise

3x Spirit Link

3x Razor Barrier

3x Soul Nova

SIDEBOARD:

3x COP-White

2x COP-Black

2x Karma

3x COP-Blue

3x COP-Green

2x COP-Red

Any help you can give me is appreciated Jason.

Nick

 

Here are the cards needed for the changes I have decided to make.

3 Loxodon War hammer ($2.25)

4 Bone splitter ($1.00)

4 Leonin Skyhunter (2.25)

2 Exalted Angel ($22.00)

4 Glorius Anthem ($12.00)

4 Story Circle ($8.00)

1 Second Sunrise ($3.00)

3 Pulse of the Fields ($18.00)

Total with Sideboard Changes $68.50 in U.S. Currency

Here is my build of the deck. I tried to keep the life gain mechanic together and also added a little bit of speed as requested. These changes increase you damage potential in the early game and also allow you for some late game recovery. Although he didn’t ask for sideboard help I did a few minor changes. By spending a little extra money on Story Circle he can take out all of those extra Circle of Protections and free up some more space in sideboard for more options.

22 Plains

3 Loxodon Warhammer

4 Bonesplitter

4 Leonin Skyhunter

4 Emissary of Hope

4 Leonin Elder

4 Suntail Hawk

2 Blinding Angel

2 Exalted Angel

1 Second Sunrise

2 Soul Nova

3 Spirit Link

4 Glorious Anthem

Sideboard

4 Story Circle

2 Karma

1 Second Sunrise

3 Pulse of the Fields

4 Altars Light

1 Soul Nova

 

The main deck changes were relatively simple and helped to get a faster start on the creatures. The changes to the sideboard are much more interesting to discuss. Adding in four Story Circle allowed me to replace thirteen cards at one time instead of using the Circles of Protection. I left in the two Karma because it must be there do to what your friends are playing. I added an additional Second Sunrise so that you would have a better chance to draw the card if you are in a red burn match or white control match. The four Altars Light are in the board to remove those random artifacts or enchantments that can cause you problems. The one Soul Nova is simple there as one more option to increase you chances of dealing with creatures and equipment. Well there you have it, more changes to a deck on a budget. If you would like to discuss this deck, ask me some Magic questions, or just have me take a look at your deck contact me at my email address pojojason@hotmail.com and I will do my best to help you.

Jason Matthews

Jason’s Deck Garage