Standard Mono-White Servos

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of Magic: the Gathering against our old adversary - The standard constructed metagame.  We will be heading to our local gaming store, OMG! Games, here in Barrie, Ontario with a new weapon sleeved up for tomorrow's Friday NIght Magic event.

If you've been reading MTG Realm for any length of time, then you may know that we do love the primal strategy of creatures turning sideways in the red zone.  Whether it is the achetype of white-weenies, or cheap tokens with a pump spells.  Today's post is the latter.  There is an opportunity here for the budget MTG gamer to get a 'foot in the door' as the expression goes for an opportunity to win some games at FNM with a decklist costing well under $100.

The Game Plan
Play a number of spells to create 1/1 colourless artifact Servos creatures and pump their base power / toughness.

21 Lands:
16 Plains
2 Westvale Abbey
3 Ruins of Oran-Rief

The mana-base is pretty straight forward - 16 Plains and 3 copies of Ruins of Oran-Rief to sneak an extra +1/+1 counter on (one) colourless creature which entered the battlefield that turn.  Two copies of Westvale Abbey is placed in the mix as we do expect to create a healthy number of token creatures which may be sacrificed to create the flip sided Ormendahl, Profane Prince.  A 9/7 demon with flying, lifelink, indestructible and haste seems like a solid plan 'B'.  Always pack a parachute. 

19 Creatures: 
4 Master Trinketeer
4 Chief of the Foundry
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Ornithopter
3 Hope of Ghirapur

Ornithopter is a shoe-in - a 0/2 artifact creature for zero (0!) mana which will get pumped up with other spells we'll yatter about soon.  As for Hope of Ghirapur, we already had these and for similar reasons for Ornithopter, not a bad choice.  The ability to sac this thopter to stymie your opponent's hopes to cast non-creature spells until your next turn seems good.

Metallic Mimic will, in almost all cases get cast while naming Servos so that you can then start piling on those +1/+1 counters on your Servo army.  Chief of the Foundry lends it self naturally as an 'Artifact Lord' to pump up those Servos and Thopters alike. The same holds true for Master Trinketeer, which also provieds a handy 'mana sink', later game to generate more Servo tokens. 

14 Spells: 
4 Sram’s Expertise
4 Servo Exhibition
3 Collective Effort
3 Built to Last

Built to Last may seem to most players not the best choice but we think it is well suited in our local game.  A one-drop for a +2/+2 instant pump and make the creature (if it is an artifact) indestructible is good, but may be side-boarded out for Stasis Snare likely for the second game.  Servo Exhibition is great value generting two 1/1 Servos for two mana.  Collective Effort gives a multi-tool to pump creatures, kill an enchantment or an opponent's creature with power 4 or more.  

Sram's Expertise just shines in this build - 4 mana for 3 Servos is sweet, especially so as this sorcery will also in most cases allow you to play a free card from your hand (with converted mana cost 3 or less).

6 Artifacts: 
4 Cogworker’s Puzzleknot
2 Animation Module

Cogworker's Puzzleknot is really essentially in this build.  We were not sold on this at first given that it basically costs 4 mana to produce only 2 Servos - but- after a good deal of playing, we really need those exra Servos.  Being able to hold back two mana to produce a surprise chump blocker at instant speed is also very good tech.  

At one point we did have a full deckset of Animation Module in an attempt to 'push' the combo of Animation Module and Metallic Mimic (produces a cycle of Servos as long as you have the mana for it).  After a number of games, the shiny just kinda wore off as the Module was a dead card on the Battlefield waiting for the Mimic to come down.

We hope this post encourages you to try this decklist or something similar.  There are two other very good posts online if you should be interested in perusing this :

• Budget Magic: $76 (15 tix) Mono-White Servos (Standard) by SaffronOlive on MTG Goldfish
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-76-15-tix-mono-white-servos-standard

• Mtg Budget Deck Tech: Mono-White Servo Combo in Aether Revolt by Strictly Better MtG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paf9zAv6AQs 
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Standard Budget Red

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

As the temperature outside is dropping and the snow is piling up here at the MTG Realm secret lair, things are heating up on the kitchen table with some very fun 'n' affordable Magic: the Gathering brews we've been making.  We acquired a good chunk of these cards at a very good price from MTG Mint Card but had not got around to build anything we considered quite good enough for a Friday Night Magic event.  That may change however.  The finalised budget deck we settled on is not only very entertaining to play, it has delivered some explosive starts and has already produced some good results against more conventional builds.  This deck may actually see play at our local gaming store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario.

Anywhoos - let's get to the list we decided on . . .

4x Akroan Crusader
4x Coordinated Assault
3x Furious Resistance
3x Shock
4x Titan's Strength
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
3x Madcap Skills
4x Arena Athlete
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Molten Birth
3x Purphoros, God of the Forge
20x Mountain

Slick and simple.  A total of 16 creatures, 8 of which with the new 'heroic' ability available to them with 11 cards.  We were able to generate some mad numbers of tokens through Akroan Crusader and Youg Pyromancer - and, along with Molten Birth can really fill and quickly refill your side of the battlefield.  

Purphoros as a finisher is not here for its 'devotion' ability but rather to keep pinging your opponent for two with each new creature you're dropping.  Oddly enough, with the dozen or so games we've had, the red god was not relyed upon to push the last few points of damage through - but hey, it's always nice to have a parachute should things go sideways.  We were a bit unsure about Furious Resistance at first but were amazed just how much combat shenanigans it delivered with benefits by eliminating an attacking threat as well as usually delivering a soldier or elemental token ready to attack on your next turn.

All in all, this budget brew is certain to deliver a truck load of fun on your game table.
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Flying Goblins

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

In today's post, we wanted to bring to you a fun post - Dark Ascension standard constructed budget deck. We are not sure what to really call it however - budget Red Deck Wins, artifact nerf, or whatever so we decided to go with Flying Goblins as two of the cool cards in this build features something which goblins do best - become little ballistic burn spells on the game table.

The cool cards of which we speak are Goblin Grenade (one-drop gobby sac for a burn of 5), and Artillerize (a four drop gobby or artifact sac for 5 damage). The only creature spells in the build is Goblin Arsonist but the Kuldotha Rebirth sorcery does net you a veritable army of three self-destructive goblin scamps providing more ammunition to be fired out of your big red cannon.

There are of course some nice artifacts to drop into the blend with Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring. Both of these provide a small bonus (a card-draw or land-tutor) upon entering the battlefield and again when then hit the 'yard. The cool new card from Dark Ascension, Faithless Looting, allows a measure of filter to ensure your get some control over cards in your hand. We are a bit unsure of our inclusion of Noxious Revival - perhaps we're just greedy to get those two great burn spells back.


There is also some Shrines of Burning Rage which will accumulate counters and could eventually become a game-ending damage cannon. We've found during some games that our opponents were so distracted by the Shrine, they often did not see an alternate 'coup de grâce' being built. Also included is a card which really cannot be considered budget - Slagstorm. The price of about $7 (locally) reflects this burn spell of choice against current token generating builds. We suggest you replace with a damage spell of your choice (Red Sun's Zenith / Shock / whatever). We already had the Slagstorm and since this deck does not hardly have any creatures, it was the red board wiper of choice.

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Righto - here's the list as it stands now . . .

4x Goblin Arsonist
4x Faithless Looting
4x Kuldotha Rebirth
4x Noxious Revival
4x Goblin Grenade
4x Ichor Wellspring
4x Mycosynth Wellspring
4x Artillierize
3x Slagstorm
3x Shrine of Burning Rage

17x Mountain
3x Rootbound Craig
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There is also something else we want to give a try with - Liquimetal Coating and Ancient Grudge. Now this sounds like a lot of fun - tap to make on of your opponent's permanents (land, creature, planeswalker, ?) an artifact and then blow it up with the very handy artifact hater with flashback. Send in your ideas for a casual build with this please.

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The latest Magic the Gathering set ,Dark Ascension, has now been out since February 3rd. MTG Mint Card, has this list of the top ten selling Dark Ascension cards to date in February.

1. Dungeon Geists
2. Geralf's Messenger
3. Predator Ooze
4. Gravecrawler
5. Vault of the Archangel
6. Lingering Souls
7. Increasing Savagery
8. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
9. Drogskol Reaver
10. Drogskol Captain
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MTG Budget Deck

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Building a Budget Deck - First off . . . Some general rules of thumb.

Rule # 1 : A chase-rare bomb and the most expensive card or deck does not guarantee a match win.

Rule # 2 : Use uncommons and commons as the foundation to your deck and add the rares only as accessories.

Rule # 3 : Think 'outside the box' by developing new or underused synergies and combinations.

The main reason why I develop budget decks is rather obvious . . . I have not yet won the lottery. Priorities are to provide the basic essentials for my three kids. After scrapping together a budget deck soon after a set's release, I continue to evolve it by replacing the less-expensive 'downgraded' cards with the more-expensive rares. I then begin to substitute cards and slowly over the months upgrade my deck.

The second reason I really do not mind playing a budget deck is the fun factor. By using wit, thiftiness, and brilliance (which do not come often enough to me), I am able to 'MacGyver' a deck through to a win much to the noticeable chagrin of my opponent who has a deck sets of rare awesomeness which fizzled.

Pulling a desired rare out of a booster pack is something akin to winning a scratch lottery ticket or perhaps (if you are Canadian), like winning a gas-guzzling SUV on a Tim Horton's roll-up the rim to win.

Here is a bit of a break down on the chances of getting that rare you wanted if you did not want to pay for a single or trade with a fellow player . . .

Booster Pack - $ 5 : This nets you one Rare, three Uncommons, ten Commons, and 1 Basic Land. There is a solid chance of getting a foil card in this mix which may be any card from the set.
Sealed Tournament deck - $ 15 : This will typically give you three Rares, ten Uncommons, thirty-two Commons, 30 basic lands
This means that three Booster Packs are roughly equivalent to one Tournament Pack
Remember that Mythic Rares replace approximately 1 in every 8 Rares.

My EPIC WIN . . .
I was playing at an FNM a few weeks ago, got a booster pack which I promptly opened. I like going through the commons first, and then the uncommons. Just like desert after a dinner, I look at the rare (which was decent) and then saw the foil . . . A foil Elspeth, Knight-Errant ! ! The non-foil versions are going for about $ 28 and the foil ones (if you can find any) for almost $ 60. This indeed was winning the MTG lottery.

Here is a bit of a break-down of the more expensive Shards of Alara cards. Remember that, just like any commodity, the prices of these cards are subject to supply and demand and will change and these are approximate prices only.

Sarkhan Vol - $ 30
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - $ 28 (I actually have two of these!)
Tezzeret the Seeker - $ 25
Rafiq of the Many - $ 13
Hellkite Overlord $ 10
Ajani Vengeant - $ 10
Empyrial Archangel - $ 8 (I have one)
Master of Etherium - $ 8
Sharuum the Hegemon - $8
Stoic Angel - $ 8 (I have one)

Hey - On a side note, if you are a store owner / supplier, I am quite willing to plug your business for any of these cards - -> drop me a line at CopySix (at) gmail dot com.

While we are yattering about prices, here is some interesting facts about the values of sets (from Lorwyn foreward) as pegged by StarCity Games. (Prices in USD)
Set Value:
Lorwyn - $ 174.99
Morningtide - $ 134.99
Shadowmoor - $ 184.99
Eventide - $ 139.99
Shards of Alara - $ 224.99


Further on to this discussion of comparison, here is a quick run-down of the number of rares worth more than $ 5 from each set.
Lorwyn - 16 / 80
Morningtide - 5 / 50
Shadowmoor - 15 / 80
Eventide - 13 / 60
Shards of Alara - 15 / 68 (this includes 11 mythic rares)