Budget Magic: $52 (22 tix) Modern Mono-Red Creature Storm
Hey everybody, it's Budget Magic time once again. This week we are heading back to Modern with a deck that is ultra-budget, can win as early as turn two or three, but it extremely inconsistent: Mono-Red Creature Storm. Back in February we had a Modern Pro Tour. As I was browsing through the 300 decks in the field, way down at the bottom, I stumbled across one player who was on something called "Creature Storm." I asked around if anyone had a list and ended up with nothing (the deck didn't perform well enough at the PT to have the actual list published). I sort of forgot about the deck until I was searching for budget modern decks and stumbled across the mythical "creature storm" in one of the forums. I knew I had to give it a try, and the Budget Magic series was the perfect opportunity! Anyway, let's get to the videos and then we'll talk a bit more about the deck. Just a quick reminder — if you enjoy the Budget Magic series and the other video content here on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to catch all the latest videos.
Mono-Red Creature Storm Deck Tech
Mono-Red Creature Storm vs. Jeskai Delver
Mono-Red Creature Storm vs. GW Tron
Mono-Red Creature Storm vs. UG Infect
Mono-Red Creature Storm vs. BW Tokens
Bonus: Scaring Soul-Sisters into a Turn Two Match Concession
First, and most importantly, this deck is super cheap. You really can't do much better than $50 for a Modern deck. So what do you get for a $50 investment? A deck that is super powerful, but as you can see in the videos, also super inconsistent. Sometimes we just wreck people on turn two, other times we do literally nothing. Like play some lands, draw a bunch of rituals, and scoop nothing. This pattern isn't really dependent on the matchup. We don't especially care what our opponent is doing; we are just hoping to draw the right combinations of cards to do our thing and hope that our thing is good enough.
The lack of consistency is, at least in part, because we are a mono-red storm deck. Blue-Red Storm in Modern (or a deck like ANT in Legacy) get to play a ton of cantrips; we do not get this luxury. How exactly we can improve this without making the deck cost significantly more (with things like Steam Vents, Scalding Tarn and Serum Visions), I'm not sure, although I'm going to try some Faithless Lootings and maybe a Wild Guess to see if they help. Hopefully all of you can offer some more suggestions in the comments. This deck has potential as a playable ultra-budget option, but it is very much a work in progress.
Things I Like
Pretty much every match I found myself wishing to draw an Empty the Warrens and since the list I built from only contained two copies (which, in retrospect, seems absurd) this wish rarely comes true. Resolving an Empty the Warrens and a Goblin Bushwhacker is our best way to pick up free wins. It's our best way to win though whatever problematic creatures our opponent has on board. It's our best way to beat a Pyroclasm. Basically, it's our best way to win period and we need to take full advantage by playing four copies of Empty the Warrens.
While neither Burning-Tree Emissary or Priest of Urabrask actually add additional mana to our pool, they are "free" and have more synergy with Goblin Bushwhacker than an actual ritual. Plus, most of the good rituals in Modern have already been banned, which makes it difficult to play a traditional "epic turn" storm deck. Having all eight of these guys in the deck is essential to the strategy — it wouldn't be "creature storm" without them.
Things I Don't Like
When I looked over the list, I thought that Myr Surperion was a pretty nifty addition. We have a bunch of creatures that create mana, so why not play the big two-drop? We'll, this is one of those too cute ideas that work out better in theory than in practice. Actually, if you run the numbers, the odds of having one of our eight mana producing creatures and one of our three Myr Superions on turn two or three really isn't that high, so it doesn't even work out that well in theory either. The biggest problem is that even when we land a turn-two Myr Superion, it typically just dies to a Path to Exile or Abrupt Decay (cards that otherwise would be horrible against our deck) without generating any value. Storm Entity at least has haste, so it is often a Grapeshot that can only hit your opponent.
Yes, that's the entire sideboard (except for Electrickery, which is actually pretty sweet in Modern at the moment). Not only do I not like the cards currently in the board, but I have no realistic idea of how to fix it. Part of the problem is there just isn't very much wiggle room in the deck. You can cut Lightning Bolts in some matchups, but that's really it (considering Myr Superion will be gone form the deck all together soon enough). Everything else needs to be in the deck at all times or our already inconsistent build becomes even more inconsistent.
I do think we need some type of artifact removal because something like a turn two Torpor Orb is surprisingly hard to beat. Ricochet Trap has some potential, but I rarely bring it in. So, if you have any suggestions for the board (or any other ways of making the deck more consistent, preferably while staying mono-red) make sure to leave them in the comments. I could use the help.
Updated List
Some people mentioned last week that they would rather have an updated list (with changes based on how the deck performed while making the videos) instead of the actual list from the videos. Well, I figured the best way of doing this was just to include both. While there were not a ton of changes this week (and, like I said, I'm clueless about building this sideboard), here is the list as I would play it today:
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. Make sure to leave any suggestions or thoughts in the comments and, as always, you can reach me on Twitter (or MTGO) @SaffronOlive.
