Howdy Budget Brewers! It's that time of the week for us to take a gander at some of the more budget options we can play at our local FNM's. While our main goal is ultimately to just have some fun, it's all gravy if we're able to win some matches as well. It's true, janky combo's are my bread and butter but I've been known to sprinkle in a dash of control or a smidgen of aggro. Then, sometimes a smattering of something in between the two. We tackle new and exciting ways to play that's easy on our wallet, and can have some fun at the local level!
Alright, alright... It's that time. Following the first big event of the new Standard, we're going to brew with it! I noticed one thing this past weekend; control might be in a pretty good spot. When we weren't watching someone trying to Combo, we were watching someone trying to control the board.
I immediately went to either Esper or U/B ala Jim Davis. Finally, after playing around a bit and losing miserably on Xmage, I realized what I was missing...
Metallurgic Summonings was one of those sweet brew around cards that Kaladesh brought to us rogue deck builders. While it hasn't seen much play in paper, Metallurgic Summonings has seen a little splash here and there on MTGO.
The card solves some problems control can have, and that's finishing the game. It sits there, and makes us creatures every time we deal with something our opponent is doing, which is what we want to be doing anyway! It's an easy slot into any control deck.
The deck comes in right around $90 at TCG Player Market price, and it's mostly cards you probably already have laying around in that box of uncommons and commons you never look at.
The game plan is the same thing we always have when you're playing control: Make your opponent's life miserable. They play a creature? We kill it. They try to land Saheeli Rai so they can Copy Cat? We counter that.
Combo
We're going for the long game here folks. Our namesake card Metallurgic Summonings can be thrown down on Turn 5, depending on how good of a job you've done controlling the board and what you're playing against. It might be correct to wait a turn or two to do it until you can play a spell with it on the board and get some instant value with the enchantment.
Part the Waterveil is our beater in the deck. Making us a 6/6 and giving us that extra turn to punch our opponent in the face with his smaller value token friends. If we're able to chain a couple of them together, then the game is ours.
Removal
Our cheap removal spells are not only going to deal with most of the format, but they're also going to give us an endless amount of chump blockers until we're able to start chaining together our combo. There's 8 of these backed up by a few Ruinous Path's to help us deal with planeswalkers, and giving us a hard answer to the things that Fatal Push may not be able to deal with.
Drawing and Filtering
Anticipate may not be “card advantage” in the traditional sense of the word, it can be good for card quality. Giving us the card we need at the time, and a 2/2 blocker surprise blocker if we need it. It'll help us find our combo pieces so we can get the Win.
Glimmer of Genius is more expensive, but it let's us see 4 cards. Which, with a control deck, can never be a bad thing. It's also a 4/4 curb stomper that can stop some of our opponent's attackers dead in their tracks.
Counter Package
Disallow is a great card, I dare say it might be better than Dissolve was at the 3 mana counter spot. That extra bit of reach giving us power over abilties is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Negate deals with troublesome non creature spells our opponent might be playing, like if they're going to try and deal with the way we win, or if they're trying to land a troublesome planeswalker.
Confirm Suspicions is a 5 mana counterspell, that I almost didn't want to include. The only real reason why I did is because I felt like we needed another big spell for a big token. The fact that it can draw us 3 cards later, is all gravy.
He's the only creature we're going to play in the deck. He's the sort of creature a control deck wants to be playing. He's big, he has evasion, and he's really hard to deal with on a stable board. He could maybe the 4th Part the Waterveil but, I have a feeling Control is going to be a steady thing in the format, so we're going to be ready for it.
Upgrades
There really isn't too much to upgrade with the deck, it's right about where I'd want it. The only thing is Torrential Gearhulk which seems to have spiked over the weekend. I'd probably play 2 or 3 of them, and move Sphinx of the Final Word to the Sideboard for control mirrors.
That's all I have this week. Thanks for joining me while I try to Untap the Multiverse!
Have an idea for something you'd like me to brew up? Give me a shout in the comments!
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Twitter - @maibuddha
