While many of us use Magic Online for Limited play, it offers a variety of Constructed formats: Standard, Online Extended, Prismatic, Singleton, and Tribal Wars. Many of us would enjoy playing in these formats but lack one crucial element--Money.

My goal in this new series is to present you with decks that can be played in the various Online Constructed formats and will cost you 30 tickets or less. That's right, a whole deck for 30 tickets. They will perhaps not always be the most powerful decks around, but they will provide a fun playing experience and stand a chance in their respective environments. I will also give advice on reasonable substitutions for cards if you want to spend more (or less) on your deck. Sometimes I will take a popular deck and modify it for inexpensive play, sometimes I will present you with something new.

With the much anticipated Worlds Qualifier coming up soon, I want to start by talking about Standard. When considering a Standard deck for the qualifier, I am struck by this conundrum: While there is a relatively clear metagame of Tog and Red-Green, many people who are participating in the Qualifier will not be playing these decks due to a lack of cards. I venture far enough to guess that most people will simply play whatever they are already closest to having completed. This should make for a diverse metagame full of unexpected surprises.

When facing this information with a budget constraint, powerful cards are not always an option. Sure, I would like to throw in 4 Exalted Angels to my Rogue deck, but can I actually find them without burning a hole in my wallet? What can be substituted for power in an uncertain environment? Two things: speed and synergistic combinations of less powerful cards.

There is one deck that combines these elements better than most decks in Magic history, and if I did not discuss it first, I would be missing the point of the entire column.

Without further ado:

When it comes to inexpensive decks that are full of raw power, Blue-Green Threshold takes the cake. Truthfully, nothing really has to be modified with this deck. More expensive cards could be added and it would still be well below the 30 ticket ceiling, and this list costs about 20 tickets. Don't be fooled though, those tickets will buy you close to a Tier 1 deck!

This deck has great game versus Red-Green and Tog because of the interaction of Wonder, medium sized creatures, and a small amount of countermagic. The key to the deck is Breakthrough--use it to achieve threshold very quickly. There are plenty of things that are great to discard, so don't hesitate doing it for one or 2 (or even 0 sometimes, if you need cards to go into the graveyard quickly). If you have a little more money to throw around, you may want to experiment with Ravenous Baloth and possibly Grand Coliseum. The big hang-up for this deck is its mana--it really needs both green and blue mana to operate, so the Coliseum may solve some of these problems. If you really want to shell out some bigger bucks, then go for the Birds of Paradise. They are pricey, but well worth the investment.

Playing The Deck

• Mulligan hands that don't have green and blue mana sources, unless you have blue and a way to draw more cards like Deep Analysis with Aquamoeba or Breakthrough.
• It's almost always wrong to cast Wonder, no matter how right it seems.
• Play the deck to keep your life total high and then start racing when you get Wonder in the graveyard.
• Don't use your Circular Logics idly--you don't have many counters, so make them count!
• Sometimes it is better to have your Rootwalla in the graveyard rather than in play.
• Don't be afraid to bash for 3 with your Aquamoebas.

Sideboarding Suggestions

This deck is reasonably matched versus most of the decks in the field, but here are some interesting cards that can catch your opponent by surprise.

Words of Wind vs. Psychatog
Psychatog must work quickly versus Threshold, getting to Upheaval mana and using Psychatog to hold down the fort if there's no Wonder around. While it is risky, Words of Wind will guarantee that either Psychatog will not be around to block or that your opponent will not get to the crucial eight mana. You can only do this when you have a large enough board advantage (so it is situational), but it will cement your victory.

Beast Attack vs Psychatog
Your opponent Upheavals, you float 5 and play Beast Attack. This is a simple and effective solution to the Upheaval problem.

Quiet Speculation vs. Red-Green and Big Beasties
A few extra 6/6's on your side never hurts in a creature war.

Aether Burst vs. Red-Green
This is good versus Elephant Guide, Call of the Herd, and any unwieldy Mongrels that get a little too large.

Naturalize
Don't leave home without it! You will be sorry! There is any number or reasons to have Naturalize in your sideboard, but Ensnaring Bridge is a big one.

Compost
Compost is a great card versus any black deck, although I'm not actually a big fan.

Moment's Peace
This is a great sideboard card for any deck that you would also put Quiet Speculation in against. Fog is very effective in a race.

Phantom Centaur
This is an excellent card for the format. It's great versus Tog and good versus slower beat down decks, but it may be too slow to come in against Red-Green.

Conclusion

Overall, if you want to do well in Standard but have minimal funds, this is the deck for you. It's fast, fun, and powerful. It's not a new concept--the deck has changed very little since it was played in the Block qualifiers last year--but it remains good enough today and is one of the few decks that doesn't need to be neutered in order to be less than 30 tickets.

Until next week--Good luck!

Nate Heiss
Team CMU
nateheiss on Magic Online
nateheiss@yahoo.com