A lot of most Modern decks' price rags are because of fetch lands and the Ravnica duels. That combo of lands can be done without in a lot of Modern decks, but there are a few that rely on it. Storm needs the lands out of the deck so as to draw into more nonlands when attempting to storm; and any deck with Tarmogoyf loves the land in the graveyard. The poor man's fetch lands are Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse. Sadly, this sets you back about 1 turn because it puts the land onto the battlefield tapped. I agree that defeating $500+ decks with a $20 is awesome. I do it quite often :P The elf deck I run in Modern costs about $100, but I only really payed for about 12 cards in it, and traded for the rest. Does that count as a 'cheap' deck? But look at me, I'm getting off topic. I got a question about Mentor of the Meek. I currently don't own any, so I can't test for myself, but is it really any help in here? Normally I'm sceptical about adding extra mana to an effect, even if the bonus is good. What I'm trying to ask is, is the extra 1 mana worth it? Doesn't it slow down the deck?
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I'll address the land thing first. I'm using Evolving Wilds to thin the deck a bit by removing lands, much like Modern deck use the fetch lands, only I'm limited to commons only because my deck is for Pauper. The Modern build was just a mod of my pauper deck. I don't own any fetch lands :( Most people seem confused by Sprout Swarm's buyback cost, they don't realise that the convoke can be used on the buyback. Swarm is a little difficult to get an infinite combo off of, but the sheer number of times I cast it at the end of the opponent's turn is nothing to sneeze at. To go infinite with it, you need at least 4 creatures that untap as the Saproling it puts out can be used as the fifth creature for the convoke. Caution with the Gods Willing; if you choose the colour of the enchantment on the creature, it'll remove the enchantment from that creature.
It's out of colour here, but I've often lost to Somber Hoverguard in Pauper. Dude runs the Hoverguards and Auriok Sunchaser. I have NO flying defence and have to race him on damage, but then he just blocks with Frogmite and Carapace Forger :( [his deck is GWU with a splash of R for Galvanic Blast]
I'd say 17 is medium (can't activate it for itself). It's not a bad card, it just doesn't seem reliable enough in this type of deck (imo).
I use Sigil of the Nayan Gods instead of Ivy Lane Denizen in my paper deck that runs this combo (wanting to test Conclave's Blessing in place of the Sigil). I also run Sprout Swarm in my pauper build, The target of Gond often gets killed before Gond resolves, so the Swarm is a nice backup. In fact, I've geared my deck more for Sprout Swarm than Gond, and I've included Nettle Sentinel because Swarm untaps her :P Sadly, for the Karametra's Favor combo idea, you'd need another constant source of tokens, and that makes the combo have too many pieces to be viable.
Frogmite was just the first one that came to mind when I commented. There are obviously better affinity cards, Frogmite is still good for coming out early (turn 1 in the correct deck) and helping keep your metalcraft count up.
Two cards that may interest you: Intangible Virtue Essence Warden
You're not going to get much out of Goblinslide. You only have 18 noncreature spell (17 excluding the one that needs to be out beforehand). I'd replace them with Foundry Street Denizen.
Only 2 Tree of Tales? Also, you should take a look at adding some affinity for artifact creatures like Frogmite.
The thing that's going to make it struggle against soldiers is most warrior love isn't in BW, but rather in GR. I'm actually surprised to see that this much warrior tribal is in BW from one block.
I like. kind of what I'd like to build as a starter. One question though, Tormented Hero is in here just because he's a 2/1 warrior, rite? Because I don't see his heroic triggering in this deck.
Biggest problem I see is you'll have nothing on the board until turn 3 or 4. Mardu Hateblade is, imo, a good one drop.
Two words: Sprout Swarm This awesome instant is my answer to all the enchantment hate that screws with the main combo. It may not go infinite like with Presence of Gond, but because of the untap, you get to pop out a lot more than normal.
The Splinter Twin combos are awesome. :P I've played against another similar combo of Kiki Jiki and Restoration Angel in a Birthing Pod deck. Kiki Jiki might be a good 5th and 6th Splinter Twin, if you think you'll need it.
I think Mesmeric Orb will hurt a lot more than be useful here. Also, Lingering Souls might be better main deck. Maybe replace the orb with Lingering Souls. You could do what I do in my "mono white" modern token deck. I run a set of Isolated Chapel (lik you); a set of Fetid Heath; and 1 Godless Shrine (I only own 1) as my only sources of black mana fo Lingering Souls.
You have white in here mostly for the board wipes? You could just replace them with black ones like Mutilate. That way it'll be mono black and Modern legal.
A card that might interest you: Liquimetal Coating
The Splinter Twin combos are awesome, but I've often seen the addition of Kiki Jiki to increase the chance of making copies. Deceiver Exarch is also often added for increased untapping.
Brothers Yamazaki are one of the few legends I'd run a full set of in a deck. You definitely want to make sure you get 2 brothers out as often as possible. (Kokusho and Korlash are the others I'd run 4 of in a deck). Have you thought about using Mirror Gallery in here?
I love Heartless Summoning :P I have a mono black Modern Heartless Summoning deck, but my creature choices are very different. I have a set of Kokusho, the Evening Star; set of Grave Titan; set of Phyrexian Metamorph; and 2 Massacre Wurm as creatures in my deck. I also run a set of Wayfarers Bauble in case I don't draw Heartless Summoning.
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