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To begin, I’d like to say welcome to my column, Raiding the Dollar Bins. Every week, I’ll be working with decks designed for casual play around cards from your local store’s $1 bin. I’m going to make combos and aggros and controls, whatever floats your boat.
Remember, these decks are supposed to be fun, and maybe a little competitive at times. If you’re looking to win a FNM with them, you may be disappointed. That being said, if you’re just looking for a fun time with friends, you’re going to have a blast with these decks! So go on, grab a couple of bucks, and let’s get cooking! We’ve got a deck to build! Everyone knows the power of Affinity. I mean, look at it, it got itself banned in the form of Raffinity in Standard (T2). It’s that good. Well, this is casual, and if there is one thing that casual hates is for an all metagamed-out beast deck to come in and tear up things, but we don’t mind using some of those über cards that those decks like to use. We’re going to use the most impressive part of the Affinity deck to work out the magic in this dollar bin deck; the artifact lands. Artifact lands are wonderful in the sense that any spell or creature with affinity gets 2 mana (basically) from each artifact land. We’re going to use that advantage of the extra one mana in a different form. Ladies and gentlemen, may I please present Raiding the Dollar Bins’ first dollar rare; Blinkmoth Urn!
So, obviously to get the whole effect from the Blinkmoth Urn, you’re going to have to have a lot of artifacts in play right? Right! You’re getting there! This is an artifact heavy deck, so if your friends like to play Pulverize in their main deck, you might not want to play this one. It may be bad for your winning streak. Next up: Your totally awesome kill condition. She’s taking the form of another 5 cost artifact. Lord of the little critters of Mirrodin, I present Myr Matrix. All that extra mana? Yeah, you’re going to be pumping it into the Myr Matrix for tokens. Lots, and lots, and lots of tokens. The last piece? Vedalken Archmage. Every time you play an artifact spell, you’ll be netting a card. And if you have more than one copy of this guy in play, and each artifact nets at least one other artifact, you can play through your deck in about 2 turns. Here’s the deck.
In the casual format I play in, this deck is rock solid. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be great for you and your friends. You may want to put in different cards, or substitute cards in if you don’t have enough. After all, this is casual, and it’s a Burger King thing: You’re going to have it your way. You have to be careful as to which hand you keep and which hand you mulligan, though. Normally, a hand with Spellbombs, 2-3 land, a Steel Wall, and an Archmage is a decent starting hand. Using the Archmage, and your Thoughtcasts and Thirst For Knowledges, you’re going to be searching out all those other pieces for your kill, while hiding behind your Steel Walls and picking off early creatures with your Pyrite Spellbombs. Alternately, if you are having trouble finding your pieces, you can always get out a Blinkmoth Urn and Fireball for kill damage when the time is right.
Things to Remember
2) Protect your Archmages at all cost! Archmages are not blockers, they are what make your deck run so well. If they get targeted for damage or removal, bounce them back to your hand with a Spellbomb. 3) Steel Walls and Pyrite Spellbombs are your friends. These two cards keep down the damage dealt to you by early attackers. Plus, the Spellbomb, and it’s brother, can net you some cards if you really are searching for something. It’s a double utility thing. Me likey! 4) An Urn is good, but it doesn’t love you back. Blinkmoth Urns without a mana outlet can hurt you pretty bad. Don’t play the Urn unless you are sure you have all the pieces of the combo. The damage of unused mana racks up pretty quick.
Suggestions for Card Additions If you are looking for another kill condition, I might suggest one in the form of Myr Incubator. Now that Krark-Clan Ironworks has basically been killed in T2, these Incubators should be showing up a little bit more in the dollar bins. If you can’t find your pieces early game and have a tough opponent, you can play out the Incubator to remove all the artifacts in your deck to make little 1/1 guys. It gets even better when you have a Myr Matrix out (Watch out for Hideous Laughter and Engineered Plague, though). Another card, or rather a card type, that comes to mind might be some equipment. 3-4 Mask of Memory would be a natural choice, because it helps you draw for the combo, as well as use up extra Urn mana if you don’t have a Matrix or Fireball. Well, that’s it for me this week. Don’t ever forget; Casual Magic bliss is only a few dollars away. Death_By_Beebles If you have a supposed junk or dollar rare that you would like Death_By_Beebles to cover in Raiding the Dollar Bins, contact him at : deathbybeebles@yahoo.com You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here. Most Popular
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As a budget Magic
player, you don’t have 25 dollars to spend on a card. You have to conserve your
money and still make fun decks to play, fun decks that win. That’s where the
rare bin comes into play. Rare cards that have been relegated to the rare bin
are too expensive, or perhaps just too narrow to be of any use. Most however,
have some secret deck waiting to be built for your casual Magic group. That’s
where I come in.
That’s right,
Blinkmoth Urn is the first part of this deck. It’s your first dollar rare, and
so you’ll probably be paying 2-4 dollars for the set in your deck, depending how
much the cards in the rare box cost. One of the best thing about these 1 dollar
rares is that they’re easy to obtain through trade, so if your store doesn’t
have them, don’t fret. Plus, Mirrodin is about to phase out of T2 in about 6
months, so people will be more willing to trade you for Mirrodin cards. Still
confused? Don’t worry, things are going to clear up really quickly.
Yearn
to Urn. 
1)
Your opponent gets mana out of the Blinkmoth Urn too, but don’t remind him.
When he attacks you without realizing he has 4 colorless mana in his pool,
you’ll be able to deal him a sly 4 damage through mana burn. Remember that you
burn every time you change phases, so when you move from Main Phase 1 to Attack
Phase, he’ll mana burn. This trick will probably only work once, but once may be
all you need for him to go down.