And the Lord said, “Let there be budget decks.”

Or at least I’m pretty sure he said that, since it seems that in the past few years, Magic websites have seen a rise in the number of articles that address this very issue.

Budget decks are a funny thing, since they run counter-intuitive to the goal of creating the “best deck” out there. After all, if you apply a monetary limit, you also have limited your means of acquiring the best cards outside of trading, borrowing, and pilfering. Budget decks exist because so many of us have our priorities set for other things — like food, clothes, and the occasional Swedish massage.

I try to live a little when I can.

To gauge budget decks against the Tier One rare-packed netdecks is like asking welterweight champion Zab Judah to take on heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko. Sure, Zab may land a decent punch or two, but I certainly wouldn’t bet more than my pocket lint on his chances to win.

(He could be making those names up, for all I know — The Ferrett, sports clueless)

In that light, would it not be fairer to have two budget decks go against each other?

Perhaps.

Would not the result provide a more accurate representation of the caliber of these decks?

I dunno about that, but it sure would be fun to pit them against each other “boxing” style.

With a rudimentary idea in place, I reviewed all the decks published in the month of January, 2005 from the major Magic websites.* After an exhaustive study (which consisted of lining them up and using the “one potato, two potato” and “eenie, meenie” selection processes), I settled on two that were created by well-known authors in the Magic community.

They are closely matched in terms of their dollar value, but are significantly different in concept. It will be interesting to see just how they match up.

Let the Friday Night Fights Begin
The lights go up and the ring ropes have been adjusted. The crowd has filled the seats and they are waiting for the main event. Before we get to the action, let’s go to our ringside judge to get the particulars of the how this match will be scored.

“This fight will be conducted using the ten-round system. Ten games will be played with no substitutions (i.e. sideboarding) allowed. After the tenth and final round, the scores will be tallied and a winner declared. The level of victory will be determined by the number of games won.”

Knockout: 9 or 10 victories
This is a show of total domination of one deck over another. The winner will be showered in money, adulation, and affection (but not necessarily in that order) and the loser will be ridden out of town on a rail, just like the good ol’ days.

Unanimous Decision: 7 or 8 victories
One deck possesses a clear, though not decisive, advantage over the other.

Majority Draw: 5 or 6 victories
The decks are closely matched and the decision is too close to call.

The scoring system takes into account the variables of the game and for the occasional incidents of bad luck. Thus, the result of six victories is not enough to declare victory, since one or two games may have been decided by means outside the player’s control.

(And for your information, yes, I did rip this idea off from Mike Flores. Thanks for asking.)

The announcer has just entered the ring, so let’s introduce the contestants;

“In this corner, wearing the black trunks and sporting a handlebar mustache. His deck weighs in at a lean $19.50.** All the way from Tennessee, he’s the master of cheesecake, the sultan of cheapskates. He’s the one, the only.... Chris Rooooomeo!!!!”

Chris Romeo’s
Pest-icide V.2.0
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Ashen-skin Zubera
3 Phyrexian Plaguelord
4 Abyssal Specter
2 Kiku, Night’s Flower
3 Nekrataal

4 Lose Hope
3 Echoing Decay
2 Soulless Revival
4 Rend Flesh
3 Consume Spirit

22 Swamp
2 Stalking Stones

With his “From Right Field” series, Chris Romeo provides his readers with interesting decks that are light on the wallet. This particular version appeared here two weeks after his article that described the basic mechanics of “Pest-icide."

“Pest-icide V2.0” will be piloted by Clay Matlock, the highest rated player in the Muskogee area. While he hasn’t made the Pro Tour, he did finish 10th in the 2004 South Regionals... So he’s pretty good. Before the fight, Clay made this prediction:

“The deck looks very solid from the get-go, with plenty of ways to do what black does best: Kill stuff and force things out of the opponent’s hand. It impressed me to see the power and control it could manage with the cards it has. At a glace, this deck looks like a low-cost killing machine.”

We go back to the ring announcer to introduce our second contestant.

“And in this corner, hiding behind a retro-90s goatee and donning the green ‘n red trunks. His deck weighs in at $20.50. Let’s hear it for the Mafia’s favorite kingpin of Magic - he’s that prolific pontificator for the monetarily challenged... Nate Heiss!!!!”

Nate Heiss’
Soilcraft
4 Hana Kami
4 Hearth Kami
4 Kami of the Hunt
3 Kodama of the South Tree
4 Soilshaper
2 Rootrunner

4 Lava Spike
4 Glacial Ray
3 Blind with Anger
4 Kodama’s Might

11 Mountain
13 Forest

Nate is the current standard-bearer of budget decks for Magic Online players. This particular creation has been the subject of a lot of internet buzz, and has the potential to be a powerful Kamigawa Block deck.

Now, before the forum gets filled with “I or (insert favorite player here) created this deck before Nate Heiss did, dammit!” I’m not claiming that Nate was the inventor, but he did write the article that’s been subsequently used by other authors as source material for their versions of this same deck.

David “Deadman” Ward takes the helm of this creation. His skills may not be quite to the level of Clay’s, but he does have a cool nickname — and in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, that counts for a lot. Before the match, David had this to say about the deck;

“Interesting. The way the cards could work together could be powerful — but if the combos don't go off, the deck looks weak and ineffective. We’ll see what happens.”

(Okay, I don’t like interjecting “reality” much in my articles, but I must state for the record that this ten game series was played out after a FNM tourney in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA on the crisp night of February 8, 2005.)

Pre-Fight Predictions
Both decks are evenly matched in weight (i.e. how much they cost at the StarCityGames.com store). “Soilcraft” is purely a Champions of Kamigawa deck that combines the inherent ability of Soilshaper and with the splice mechanic to generate massive damage early in the game. It’s really a one-trick pony — for if the right combinations of cards are not available, the individual creatures and occasional burn spells are not enough to fight off the coordinated hand disruption and creature kill spells that his opponent can deliver.

“Pest-icide V2.0” is classic black. It utilizes a healthy combo of hand disruption, creature kill, and reanimation that flow together quite nicely. Having said that, Rend Flesh will be completely useless and the important critter spells (namely, Abyssal Specter and Phyrexian Plaguelord) cost four and five mana each. By the time they hit the board, Clay may be shuffling up for the next game. Since burn and big critters are usually bad news for black, I’m giving the edge to “Soilcraft."

Our referee for the fight gives his final instructions to the competitors:

“All right, I want a good clean fight. No hitting below the belt and no inserting superior rare cards into the decks. Understand? Good. Come out swinging when the bell rings.”

“Deadman” and Clay tap gloves and return to their respective corners.

Ding!

Round One
The “Deadman” comes out strong, bringing a Kami of the Hunt into play... But he quickly gets stuck at three land and watches the Kami and his other creatures get knocked off by Lose Hope and Nekrataal. Clay accelerates to an Abyssal Specter, whose nipping keeps the “Deadman’s” hand rather skimpy. Before he can stabilize the board, a late Consume Spirit finishes him off.

Things are not boding well for the “Deadman."

Rounds Two, Three, and Four
His prospects go from bad to worse as the “Deadman” mulligans to keep a one-land hand. He does hit with a piddly Hana Kami, but Clay counters with a Ravenous Rat, followed by a Nekrataal that sends a freshly-cast Soilshaper to its maker. The “Deadman” seems truly dead as he’s stuck at two lands... and that’s how he finishes the round as a Phyrexian Plaguelord applies the final blow.

Round Three turns even more nightmarish as the “Deadman” gets manascrewed again. Two lands are all he can muster against Clay’s double hits of Abyssal Specters. Needless to say, the end comes soon.

Round Four starts off more promising when an early Hana Kami and Soilshaper instigate a nasty beatdown to bring Clay to eight life... But he responds with Zubera, Specter, and finally two Plaguelords that wipe out the “Deadman’s” critters and put him down for the count.

Round Five
The “Deadman” rallies by landing with not one, but two Kami of the Hunts and starts chopping away. Clay cannot draw much of anything, including critters to block the incoming beats. At seven life, a Phyrexian Plaguelord arrives but is quickly sacrificed to avoid a Blind with Anger. Three turns later, the Kami beatdown allows the “Deadman” to win his first round of the fight.

Round Six
A double-mulligan does nothing to deter the “Deadman”'s spirits. And while a turn 2 Soilshaper gets knocked off by a Nekrataal, a second one manages to stick. Clay offers little more than a lone Zubera as blocker until an Abyssal Specter finds its way onto the board. Although he is once again stuck at two lands, the “Deadman” manages to produce not one, not two, but three Hearth Kamis, who proceed to smack Clay down to four life. A topdecked Echoing Decay offers a respite, but a wicked smile and the play of a Kodama’s Might in response to save a Hearth Kami wins the “Deadman” the most exciting round of the fight so far.

Round Seven
The mini-rally quickly turns south as Clay re-establishes his dominance. Kiku, Night’s Flower makes her first and only appearance in the fight, killing off a Kami of the Hunt and leading a beatdown combo with Nekrataal, and Abyssal Specter. A Glacial Ray puts the Kiku out, but once again Clay finds a Plaguelord and the end comes quickly.

Round Eight
A hard jab in the form of Lava Spike gets Clay’s attention, followed by a turn 2 Hearth Kami. A Lose Hope sends the Kami packing and a newly cast Abyssal Specter begins to whittle away the life and cards from the “Deadman." Clay adds to the fun with a Plaguelord, but he is disposed with a double left hook courtesy of a Glacial Ray with a spliced Ray added on. Whatever hope the “Deadman” may have for this round is embodied in a Kodama of the South Tree, which gets KO’d by a Nekrataal.

Round Nine
No forests arrive, but the mountains provide the fuel for a couple of one-two combos of Lava Spike and a spliced Glacial Ray that cuts Clay’s life total in half. A Ravenous Rat and Plaguelord hit the table, but the “Deadman” counterpunches with a third Lava Spike. Of course, that is not enough as the black beatdown continues. The end is an instant replay of the eighth round as a late Kodama gets Nekrataaled.

Round Ten
Trying to salvage some respect, the “Deadman” gets out a turn 2 Soilshaper, turn 3 Hearth Kami. But Clay counterpunches with a timely Nekrataal to take out the Soilshaper. The tide continues in the Deadman’s favor, however, as the beefy Kodama of the South Tree hits the board, followed by a nasty Lava Spike to the face.

Clay’s hopes dim as a Blind with Anger takes over his newly cast Specter and smacks him down to three life. In a surprising reversal, the “Deadman” suffers from being mana flooded as he cannot find a finishing spell. A Glacial Ray brings Clay down to one, but it’s not enough as the Specter stays alive and goes all the way.

Final Result
Chris Romeo’s “Pest-icide V2.0” wins a unanimous decision over Nate Heiss’ “Soilcraft” by a score of 8 to 2.

Full of vim, vigor, and vitality, Clay grabs the microphone from the interviewer’s hands and declares:

“Pest-icide was very impressive, to say the least. The matchup was definitely in my favor, but I’m very confident it could hold its own against any deck, even perhaps Affinity.”

Gee, Clay.... Affinity? Well, he did achieve his tenth-place finish at Regionals last year with Affinity, so I suppose he knows something about the match up. But I wonder if he took a couple of more head shots than at first appeared.

Bruised, battered, and dejected, the “Deadman” lumbers to the interviewer and solemnly says:

“I was overmatched — a creature-heavy deck against so many removal spells — and the results were pretty bad. Also, the hand disruption of Ravenous Rats, Ashen-skin Zubera, and Abyssal Specter really hindered me.”

No kiddin’!

Post-Fight Analysis
“Pest-icide V2.0” proved to be very well balanced and was too much for an aggro-based deck like “Soilcraft” to deal with. One obvious improvement can be made with this simple change;

-4 Rend Flesh
+4 Dark Banishing

And even that is debatable — although with more spirit creatures finding their way into Standard decks, Dark Banishing becomes a more versatile choice. Rend Flesh could still find its way into the sideboard. Clay was kind enough to add in his post-fight conclusions that Night’s Whisper might make a more effective spell than Soulless Revival, but overall the deck is quite fun and powerful.

“Soilcraft” suffered from being “one mana away." Often, he needed one more land to get the splice engine going or cast a Kodama of the South Tree. The Rootrunner never made an appearance, so with that in mind (along with further testing) I made this change;

- 2 Rootrunner
+1 Forest
+1 Kodama of the South Tree

That extra land greatly improves the chances of not being manascrewed early on and helps get that splice engine into gear. Could this have turned the fight around for “Soilcraft”? I kinda doubt it myself, but it is a change for the better.

Epilogue
With this victory, “Pest-icide V2.0” becomes a serious contender for best “budget” deck out there in the current field of Standard. Although “Soilcraft” showed occasional signs of greatness, for now it seems more suited for Kamigawa Block Constructed play rather than tangling with the Standard big boys.

I’d like to thank Clay Matlock and David “Deadman” Ward for their contributions to this endeavor, which included their pre and post fight comments.

Until next time, keep your head on a swivel and watch out for the sucker punch.

Ken McElhaney

* - A “major” Magic website is defined as:
a) It publishes daily material.
b) Has a well-established core of respectable contributors.
c) I’ve heard of it.

** - The “Dollar” amount is based on the price that StarCityGames.com charged for the cards at the time I wrote this.