Hi reader! If you are looking to get into modern, this might be a nice way to start.
Right now, modern is a very fun format, most games are dynamic and the metagame is very diverse.
Unfortunately, it is not an easy format for the budget player, some staples and top decks are extremely expensive.
When I started playing modern I tried Monogreen Aggro (MGA). It is a nice deck, sometimes it is lightning fast. Overall I didn't like it so much, the deck felt a bit fragile and uninteractive. While I did win some games, I always felt there wasn't much I could do against well timed mass removal, "hold&win" combo decks like scapeshift or unfair ramp decks, like green tron.
I was looking for something that could interact more, disrupting the opponent's game plan if necessary, also some modern's creatures are very strong, so being able to removal some is very desirable.
I tested a couple budget decks, and this deck ended up being my favourite, there are some cons, but there are also a lot of pros:
Pros:
-> Fun to play, swarmy, tribal, can keep gas for a while but it is not a slow deck.
-> Very simple game plan, very consistent, doesn't mulligan a lot.
-> Interactive, value cards that rip opponent's hand while adding value to the table.
-> Good sideboard vs combo and control decks.
-> Some of the interactions aren't very well known and some opponents make mistakes on that.
-> Great options for creature removal.
-> Pack rat is very strong and benefit from swarmyard.
Cons:
-> Not versatile, only general removal is ratchet bomb and that can be dealt with.
-> A lot of nonbasic lands can be a liability
-> Not slow, but not a very fast in defense deck either, sometimes it can lose to insane "red deck win" or "infect" starts. (MGA had a pretty good game against RDW, but had a hard time vs infect also).
-> Vulnerable to protection from black and hexproof. (it is possible to tune if needed)
-> Current list is not very good vs affinity (it is possible to tune if needed)
-> Obstinate Baloth is annoying.
Overall I think it is a well positioned and fun deck to play, even more considering it is a budget deck.
Here is the current list:
24 lands:
13 swamp
2 howltooth hollow
1 urborg, tomb of Y
4 mutavault
4 swarmyard
1cc: (10)
3 disfigure
3 typhoid rats
4 blackmail
2cc: (17)
4 ravenous rats
4 pack rat
3 nantuko shade
3 ratchet bomb
3 Go for the Throat
Other: (9)
4 chittering rats
4 Throat Slitter
1 Okiba, Gang Shinobi
Sideboard:
4 duress
4 wrench mind
4 relic of progenitus
3 Devour Flesh
Here you can check some videos of a 2man against a Temur deck abusing training grounds and some creatures with strong abilities.
It felt like I was playing against a very strong deck, still I managed to win 2-1. Can't say the games were easy but the deck did perform.
I sideboarded out some of the throat slitters because opponent had a lot of black creatures, sided out typhoid rats (he is there mostly for fast defense) and put in wrench mind (no artifacts there and the opponent's deck needed 4 more lands to perform well, I felt I could get lucky with wrench and slow him down), some devour flesh and a couple relic of progenitus (against delve and life from the loam).
Game 1: (I lose)
https://youtu.be/QrmAliNipvA
Game 2 (I win)
https://youtu.be/n9e9uOpqI9o
Game 3 (I win)
https://youtu.be/VgjJcVDCWVY
Another video, this time against Abzan:
Games 1 & 2:
https://youtu.be/H_0xFIPfawI
If you are looking for a budget deck in modern that can interact and perform decently, try this one, it is not explosive but it is consistent and I am having a good time playing it. Feels like the deck has no auto-wins but it has no auto-losses either (with very specific exceptions).
The most expensive card there is probably mutavault, but I feel it is very important for the deck, at the moment, this deck costs 45tix to build in MTGO. This is a very low budget for modern.
You can check the tappedout.net list (with current price) here:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ratsbugs/
Oh, one more thing, I really tried to abuse aether vial in this deck but it didn't work so well. If you manage to build a strong rats list with vial please send me! =)
Have fun!
