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no no, that's fine... it's not my deck

I found a list that placed well from MTGO top 8 and put in deckbox to extract a price.  I was trying to make a point...

I have modern affinity together and I'm heading towards moden UWR control.   Dem fetches though.  I'll be dropping $100s around christmas/income tax time to finish it.

which isn't much.  $30 is like 1-3 important cards cards in most modern decks.  Magic like a lot of hobbies takes some $$ to get started.  Think of being serious about magic like getting into a new game system.  If you asked what kind of game system you could get for $30 what would you think the response would be? 

Here's the truth of the matter...

If you went and bought an xbox one right now you'd spend $500 for the system, $50 on xbox life, $100 on games, $150 more on accessories... by the time you're out of the store you're $800-$900 deep.   And that's what you need to spend to "get into" an xbox...

That's about what you need to "get into" magic imo.  That amount would get you a good modern and standard deck and then you can just start maintaining your collection.

I'm not saying you can't do it cheaper, but you will get exactly what you pay for.  And if your okay gaming on a beat up  sega gensis from the flee market down the road and Altered Beast is your only game then go for it.

To get into standard is cheaper and maybe that's where you should set you sites for now... nothing like playing limited events to get your collection going either...

Such detail, many sentence, much describe... wow.

Seriously though seems like people want to help , but I think we still need a bit more info.  Budget being a big one.  "aggro" covers a lot of decks.

where's the like button?

I agree there are many "budget" modern decks that while dont require the expensive landbase aren't exactly cheap and the cards aren't as flexible.  I think affinity would still be considered "budget" to midrange priced and it's still $600.

if you go too cheap it's not competitive and if you go for something expensive and can't afford all the cards then you're left with something that is also not competitive.  Some of the prices and cards have changed in this list, but it gives you an idea.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/show … -1st-2013!

Check out the modern hero blog.  The guy takes the 75$ event deck and on a budget modifies it slowly over a period of weeks.  You can see his matchups his strategies, etc... it provides a good road map to get into the modern format on a budget. 

http://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/author/alamoth/
http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/search … rict_sr=on
http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisp … uct=551728

First, I'll try to help with your deck.  Questions - What format do you play? Does it matter?  Obviously you're just starting out, where do you play?  Do you have a budget?  How much do you spend on magic?

Mill isn't the best strategy, but it requires a specific kind of build.  Unlike burn spells where you can burn off threats and the spells have more than once use mill spells only attack the opposing players health.  And they start at 53 instead of 20 because you're treating their deck like hit points.  Yes they lose 1 life a turn by drawing etc... but in order to get be able to mill them out you need to deny them the right to kill you. Which is why control is best for the mill strategy.  UWB (Blue white black) is probably optimal for this strategy.

Lands - 15? that's way to low not going to cut it.  You will never cast mindseeker or adept reliably until turn 20 or so. You need a minimum of 24 for a deck like this and possibly more, and if you're going to be 2 color, picking up some more dual lands are the way to go. More guild gates, shocks lands (Hallowed Fountain), there are other lands that are not in standard if you don't care about format. Also utility lands like Nephalia Drownyard are extremely valuable here.

Creatures - you should really be running a minimum number of creatures, you're goal isn't to kill them with damage, and you need room for the control aspect i mentioned. You need answers not threats.  Creatures are threats. A backup win condition might be advisable a big creature like Ætherling

Spells - these are your answers to your opponents threats.  Milling him isn't enough they're still drawing cards every turn and due to the randomized nature of the deck you can't control what they're drawing.  You need removal spells like DuressThoughtseizeDoom Blade Oblivion Ring Detention Sphere, sweepers like Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict and last and maybe most important counter magic like CounterspellDissolveSyncopate.  Obviously these are just examples.  Also in this cateogory are your planeswalkers.  These are also part of your win condition.  Ashiok and jace are good here the liliana variants can also help.

deck examples.

http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=6096&d=235254
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/cov … _joe_.html

Now that is said... i would advise against milling.  It's a poor strategy for winning.  While it can be fun and make your opponent frustrated and angry it's not particularly effective.  Lets say you play a 20 turn game and they're on the play and your on the draw  SO they do 19 "damage" to themselves through drawing.  I'll just use tomb scour as an example vs shock.  Lets also say you mill 5% of their deck every 4 turns vs 5% of their life every 4 turns rounded down in both cases.

So you still have 16 life or 29 cards to get through at this point before you win.  If you notice the average effectiveness for "killing" your opponent is 2% in favor of tomb scour, but what if your opponent has 3/2 intimidate on the board and you draw no other cards except mill and tomb scour?  what do you do?   Shock can kill this creature the turn it comes into play, sure you lose some damage to their face, but you save lots of damage that you would have taken if you just stocked mill cards.   Bottom line, milling is bad, it's bad math, it's narrow and doesn't provide you with flexible options.  Any other single card is better than any mill card for the same CMC with very few exceptions.

• Turn    Life    Library    Tome Scour    Shock
        1    20    53    9%    10%
        2    20    52    10%    10%
        3    20    51    10%    10%
        4    19    48    10%    11%
        5    19    47    11%    11%
        6    19    46    11%    11%
        7    19    45    11%    11%
        8    18    42    12%    11%
        9    18    41    12%    11%
        10    18    40    13%    11%
        11    18    39    13%    11%
        12    17    37    14%    12%
       13    17    36    14%    12%
       14    17    35    14%    12%
       15    17    34    15%    12%
       16    16    32    16%    13%
       17    16    31    16%    13%
       18    16    30    17%    13%
      19    16    29    17%    13%
      average          13%    11%

* tried to edit to improve the list, but formatting blah.

Better imo, but drainpipe vermin and both sirens. Should probably be something else.  The brain maggot is okay. I get not wanting to pick up packrat at this time.  It is a good card though.

Here's my reasoning.  Controlling siren is too expensive to be useful and discarding siren competes with ashiok, master of the feast, and night veil as a 3 drop (not to mention downfall which is a must include) which means if you have one of them you probably won't be casting the sirens.   Also,  flying gives them a slight edge , but the 1 health just doesn't cut it. 

dissolve is not where you want to be in this type of deck.  Some hard removal like doomblade/ultimate price would be much more useful.

I think 2-4 gary would be good.  you have enough black permanets to support him.

mystcutter is sideboard for sure, but a good card none the less and gives you a decided edge in the mono blue or control match up.  And it's not that expensive.  Remember an FNM/tournament deck is a 75 card deck.  You just don't get to include 15 the first game of the match.  In over half your games your sideboard will get to be included in your deck so it's good to have a strong one.  IE: what good is winning game 1 if you get crushed by opposing sideboards and don't have one to match?

Also having a sideboard plan helps a lot, even if it's just a rough one, knowing exactly what to take out and put in for a given match up.

well the foil mana confluence isn't doing much for you by itself and it's worth $40.  Straight trade value could get you a set of  more than a few staples for the deck, plus the temples you have that are not in your colors you could pick up more. Even then I'd almost suggest just going mono green devotion and picking up the nykthos, and ramp that way.  Nylea isn't that much either, 4-5 bucks tops.  I think you should hedge towards that.   You might hang onto ajani though and possible consider GW aggro at some point.

There are a number of commons and uncommons that can help you.  A set of elvish mystic, voyaging satyr, Burning Tree Emissary kalonian tusker, disciple of nylea.  Arbor colossus is a powerful card that is only $.50, same for Reverent Hunter

Just a thought on "pay to win" it gets thrown around a lot but if you spend any money on your collection at all, you're paying to win.  It's really a bad way to view the game.  Magic is not a free hobby and it has a very healthy 2ndary market for singles.  Most hobbies aren't free, golfers must pay for expensive clubs, balls and course fees.  Wood workers need saws, lumber, work benches and other tools.  So the question is really where does magic fit in your budget?

It's 10x more effeicient to just by the cards you want instead of buying boxes or boosters. I've given up buying boosters and boxes in favor of just buying the cards I want online because it's just cheaper in the long run.

For instance the cost of 1 nylea is about the same prices as 1 booster, but how many boosters of theros would you have to open to crack 1 nylea? 

That being said you can play a consistent "budget" deck but you should probably lose the "combo" all together and go more towards a 4x9 rule.  Find the best 9 cards in your colors and include four copies of them.  I guarantee you'll win more games by just having  a more consistent deck.  You want to look for creatures that have good stats for their CMC something like kalonian tusker 6 stat points for 2 mana?  that's value.  Also, try to stay away from enchants and things that might get you 2 for 1'd.  Bestow creatures from theros block and provide good value like boon satyr.

well, right now it's a bit random and all over the place. 

here's some general advice that could help. 

Consistency in magic is king - 1 of this and 1 of that, just doesn't make a cohesive deck that will work in anything but the most casual of settings where your opponent is as equally inconsistent. 

You've got yourself started on a pretty aggressive curve and then you try to top out at 5-6 mana creatures and spells.  You need to decide what kind of deck you want to build.  Do you want an aggressive deck that comes out swinging or do you want to control the early game with removal and play big fat guys?  either is equally valid. 

My vote is to go low and fast.  Get some more 1/2 drop creatures like Daring Skyjek and Boros Elite. Then back them up with some xathrid necromancers You want to top out at 3-4 cost cards and cut everything else.  You'd also need a lot more creatures than just 21 you'd be looking at 26-30 creatures in an aggro deck that do various things

here's a few decks to look at for ideas.

http://www.mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=366& … 2&f=ST

Your lands while 25 mana sources can support 5-6 cost, transguild pramenade is pretty awful at mana fixing.  You'd be better served with more gates.  Transguild sets you back almost 2 turns in mana production, it's just bad, cut it for more basics at the least.

Looking at the list I spoted a couple of pretty basic issues.

First, you can't support cards that cost 5 or more with 20 lands and expect to cast them on curve.  Even with ramp.  Drop the 2 revel of the fallen god and put a lands in their place and also take out the defend the hearth and get a couple more lands in there and at least 1 more elvish mystic.  That should give you 24 lands and 4 ramp cards.  Keep in mind rootbound crag is not standard legal so if you went to an FNM or something you'd have to replace those with other lands.

This is a GR devotion list I have together.  It's not the "ideal" list for these colors these days, but it does okay.

http://deckbox.org/sets/529877

As you can see I have far more ramp than you do and I still felt I needed 24 lands.  There would be several times I'd get stuck on 1 land and playing against supreme verdict or other removal means your mana dorks might not be enough to get there.  Courser domri and the other cards like garruk help make sure you stay on live draws when you need them though.  You probably don't have access to all these cards so i'll make some more simple suggestions.

Swordwise Centaur  is strictly worse than kalonian tusker  no reason not to have a set of these in the deck.

EXperiment 1 is an awesome card in this deck, can't fathom why it's not in your list.  Remove the scorpion for it asap.

ARbor colossus is also great,  put that guy in there. get rid of the seering bloods. All 4 ghor clans should go in as well... Maybe over mortals resolve.  Resolve is really kind of a sideboard card against heavy removal decks.

if you have xenagod out and attack with something then ghor clan it you can do some serous damage.