dknight27

I'm very disappointed at the selection of 3-drop walkers available in naya. I'm not a huge fan of four-color decks, even with the dorks, but it sure would be nice to have access to another 3-drop.

My thoughts on Nissa were that it either throws out chump blockers, builds to a really slow win con, or refills the hand once you're tapped if you field it early and don't have any interference. All that and it's the 3-drop that makes me the least sick of the available options that were left.

I'd love to run [[Teferi, Time Raveler]] with High Noon (which I'll be working on), cause that's pretty much the ballgame, but those four-color decks are just too risky for me.

I love how Grist works with Unearth, that's some fun synergy.

That's all fair. My mind went right to [[Insidious Roots]] and all the drainocrats.

It is indeed a daunting combo for how cheap and available it is. I wanted to stay away from it for the beginner-friendly version though, both because it technically costs more than I'm allowing for the budget (cards under a buck to keep the whole build around 20 bucks), and because it's so self-contained and in-game cheap that it doesn't really teach anything beyond 'wow, there are 2 card combos that are silly broken'.

Aegis of the Gods is nice, but doesn't really fit. Swap it out for [[Akroan Skyguard]].

Daybreak Coronet is too risky twice over. It's a horrible topdeck and in the opening hand, as it's conditional on you already having an enchanted creature (meaning you need a fielded creature (shouldn't be a problem) and another enchantment (there are only 8 more)). On top of that, it's a triple investment, as you've got 3 cards stacked (critter, first enchantment, Coronet), all of which can be taken out by a single murder spell, putting you at -2 material, which is VERY bad. Its 2-drop cost is also sort of annoying, as you want this build to be faster rather than slower, and 1-drop auras/targets get that done much better (you've gotta field a critter(s) first. Swap it out for either [[Hyena Umbra]], which keeps the aura count for Ethereal Armor (as well as being a great investment against everything but exile spells), or [[Defiant Strike]] which does something similar but thins the deck with tempo.

I'm also not that into Archetype of Courage in here, as you've already got plenty of first strike/double strike on the board already, and your boys will be nice and fat and won't really need the first strike (which works best on things with no ass). I'd probably swap it out for more Fabled Hero.

As usual, all suggestions are budget friendly.

Oh sure, there are whole formats I've never played (pauper/pioneer/etc). I've just been playing a long time and spend too much time on games in general.

I'm absolutely in love with Hard Evidence, it does what blue has had a hard time with for the entire history of the game: protect itself while not losing tempo or material. I have no idea why it doesn't see more play in pure control decks, but that's me.

Some self-mill cards would help Psychatog: [[Mental Note]] and [[Thought Scour]] are both perfect fits for extra fodder. But the big combo with Psychatog is [[Upheaval]]. You float 3 mana, bounce everything, replay the Psychatog, then next turn ditch your hand and grave for lethal damage.

I can't recommend [[Deafening Silence]] enough in a build like this. I'd consider cutting a land and 3 of the recursion cards for 4 copies, cause Silence does nothing to you and stops a good chunk of decks cold for 1 mana.

Unfortuantely Might of Alara and Gaea's Might do the opposite of what you want in here. Since you only have forests, each will give you +1/+1. They don't check the amount of a basic land you control (how many forests), they check how many types of lands you control (forests, mountains, etc).

You're better off with an oldschool [[Giant Growth]] or a cantrip like [[Audacity]].

Builds like this are all about speed. You've got weenies that get pumped by equipments, so you need the mana to cast the critters, cast the equipments, and equip the equipments. So you want cheap equipments that equip cheaply so you've got something going by turn 3, otherwise you're a step behind the whole game. Remember, you're investing time in equipping the critters, so if the critters get killed, you're further behind, it's the primary weakness of builds like this. You don't care what the equipments actually do as much as you care that they're on the field and equipped as fast as possible.

Check out (all budget):

[[Lavaspur Boots]]
[[Bonesplitter]]
[[Eater of Virtue]]
[[Open the Armory]]

Both banned in modern unfortunately

[[Glissa, the Traitor]] has several budget builds that can be built around her. Seems right up your alley.

Decks like this really, really need 'cantrips', meaning cards that replace themselves. As they ping for damage, thin the deck, and get you what you need without losing material.

[[Opt]]
[[Consider]]
[[Sleight of Hand]]

All under a buck.

That's what my mother always told me.

I'd also advise swapping out Midnight Charm for [[Vampire Lacerator]] to get that damage clock going, keep the curve low, and because you'll have plenty of life and won't care about his bleeding basically at all. And he's worth about 10 cents.

Nocturnus is 5 bucks, but the other 2 are extremely cheap and fit perfectly

There's some newer ideas that can be implemented in a build like this if you're interested in modernizing it a bit. I do miss the old Stuffy days.

I kinda like it, cause it fetches all the other critters. So if he needs land hate, he gets it. If he needs a ball, he gets it, and if he needs the awakener, he gets it. Plus it's turn 1, so between that and kozilek, you've got an almost guaranteed turn 1 positive thing to do that doesn't require anything from opponent's opening. But hey, that's me.

I'd suggest checking out:

[[Drana, Liberator of Malakir]], [[Vampire Nocturnus]], [[Defile]], assuming the deck is on a budget.

I had the beautiful dream of slapping Lashwrithe on him and swinging for a bunch of unblockable damage, but it was not to be