The current Standard format is incredibly expensive. It seems like everywhere you look there are Jaces and Primeval Titans squaring off to see who's the best $40+ card. Even the decks that don't use either often require 4-8 fetchlands. Yet even in this format, building a strong deck on a budget isn't impossible. Over the past few months, I've been taking a crack at it with the help of my new friend Tempered Steel. This is the list I started out with:

[cardlist]

[Lands]

4 Razorverge Thicket

4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Forest

10 Plains

[/Lands]

[Creatures]

4 Steel Overseer

4 Memnite

4 Ornithopter

4 Vector Asp

4 Runed Servitor

4 Etched Champion

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Tempered Steel

4 Journey to Nowhere

4 Ancient Stirrings

2 Trusty Machete

[/Spells]

[/cardlist]

Steel Overseer – Not quite as good as Tempered Steel, but pretty close.

Memnite – Tempered Steel needs something to pump up. This is the most obvious choice.

Ornithopter – Not quite as good as Memnite, but I'll take all the free creatures I can get. Also helps when you need to block some little guys.

Vector Asp – Building on a budget is all about making bad cards good. Vector Asp is a prime example of that.

Runed Servitor – Another unimpressive card made infinitely better by Tempered Steel.

Etched Champion – An absolute beast when getting metalcraft is so easy. Pro-colors is insanely powerful, and this guy will sometimes end up taking down an opponent single-handedly.

Tempered Steel – The centerpiece of the deck. +2/+2 is a lot, especially when you have four or five guys on the field.

Journey to Nowhere – With all the titans running around, I felt like having some removal would definitely be a good thing.

Ancient Stirrings – The strangest inclusion in the deck, this card's main purpose is to grab a Steel Overseer. It can also get a Memnite for the price of a Vector Asp if you miss.

Trusty Machete – I had two slots left to fill, and this card seemed like a good fit. It makes an un-pumped Ornithopter relevant, and can be played and equipped by turn two provided you have a 0-drop in hand.

After a fair bit of testing, I made some discoveries about the deck:

• Tempered Steel is just as insane as I thought it would be.
• Steel Overseer is good, but nowhere near as good as Tempered Steel.
• Trusty Machete is just filler, and was almost never fun to draw.
• Runed Servitor was by far the weakest creature in the deck. The extra P/T wasn't really worth the extra mana, and the graveyard trigger seemed to help my opponents more than me.
• It was fun to mess around with Ancient Stirrings, but having to put a Tempered Steel on the bottom really hurts.

The most glaring problem in testing was Ancient Stirrings. I decided it was time to stop being cute and just switch to Preordain. I got playsets of the U/W dual lands, and made the swap. After a bit more testing to make sure things were working like they were supposed to, I set out to fix the other problems.

Since I was in blue now anyway, I decided to take out two Runed Servitors for a pair of Trinket Mages, swapping out a plains for an island to support the extra blue.

Trinket Mage – Three power for three is alright, but with a Tempered Steel out, that becomes five power for three. Pretty good if you ask me.

After some more testing, this is what I learned:

• Trinket Mage was almost always better than Runed Servitor.
• Although I needed a Journey to Nowhere when my opponent plopped down an early titan, much of the time I would win the game without it ever being relevant. Additionally, drawing two of them was never fun, and they really felt like they were clogging up my hand sometimes.

With this in mind, I went down to three copies of Journey to Nowhere, and removed another Runed Servitor, going up to the full four Trinket Mages. Then, a thought occurred to me: I'm playing Trinket Mage anyway, why not have something other than Memnite to search up? Taking out the mediocre Machetes, I added a Voltaic Key and a Brittle Effigy.

Voltaic Key – Getting double out of a Steel Overseer is really good, and if you make it to five mana, it can be a deadly surprise for your opponent.

Brittle Effigy – It's always nice to be able to search up removal on demand, especially with those pesky titans running around.

I played the deck like this for a while, with pretty good results. I still felt there was room for improvement, though. That's when inspiration struck:

Myrsmith – Not a lot of fun to draw late, but in your opening hand, this guy can make for an absolutely ridiculous start. With a couple 0-drops in hand, Myrsmith virtually guarantees that you'll be able to do 20 by turn four or five.

After testing out different numbers, I decided that two of them was probably all I wanted. Then I had to settle on what to take out. Here are my choices:

Runed Servitor – This guy was never as good as I had hoped, and the last copy needed to go.

Brittle Effigy – While being able to search up removal can be good, getting enough mana to activate it is by no means a guarantee in this deck. I thought that this might be better in the sideboard, where I could bring it in when I really needed it.

Speaking of the sideboard, here's the list I've been working with. It's still experimental, and somewhat tuned to my local environment, so take this with a grain of salt:

[cardlist]

[Sideboard]

1 Journey to Nowhere

1 Brittle Effigy

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Revoke Existence

2 Leyline of Sanctity

4 Spell Pierce

1 Infiltration Lens

2 Condemn

[/Sideboard]

[/cardlist]

Journey to Nowhere – Sometimes you just need a bit more removal.

Brittle Effigy – See above.

Elixir of Immortality – Another silver bullet for Trinket Mage, this can save the day when another fast deck gets a really strong start.

Revoke Existence – Deals with Pyromancer Ascension, Argentum Armor, and any other artifacts or enchantments you might run across.

Leyline of Sanctity – Can be a gamebreaker against Pyromancer Ascension decks, even when played out late in the game.

Spell Pierce – Your best defense against Pyroclasm. You might even catch a Genesis Wave here and there.

Infiltration Lens – Decks like Vampires are often forced to leave back blockers just to stay alive against you. This makes that a lot more painful for them. Can also be searched up with Trinket Mage.

Condemn – These last few slots I've been messing around with a lot, and this is my latest contender. Condemn could sometimes be necessary against decks like Boros, and might even take out a Demon of Death's Gate every once in a while.

And here's the final list:

[cardlist]

[Lands]

4 Seachrome Coast

4 Glacial Fortress

9 Plains

5 Island

[/Lands]

[Creatures]

4 Steel Overseer

4 Memnite

4 Ornithopter

4 Etched Champion

4 Vector Asp

4 Trinket Mage

2 Myrsmith

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

4 Tempered Steel

3 Journey to Nowhere

4 Preordain

1 Voltaic Key

1 Journey to Nowhere

1 Brittle Effigy

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Revoke Existence

2 Leyline of Sanctity

4 Spell Pierce

1 Infiltration Lens

2 Condemn

[/Spells]

[/cardlist]

I felt pretty confident that the deck had some potential, so I decided to take it for a spin.

Vs. Valakut Ramp

Game 1

I won the roll and kept a hand of 2 Plains, 2 Vector Asp, Ornithopter, Myrsmith, Journey to Nowhere. Although I didn't have any blue mana, this hand seemed too explosive to pass up. My opponent took one mulligan.

I opened with a plains, and passed the turn, saving my Vector Asp to get more value out of the Myrsmith. My opponent plays Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, and passes back. I draw a Seachrome Coast, play it, and cast my Myrsmith. My opponent drops a forest and a Khalni Heart Expedition before passing the turn.

I draw a third Vector Asp. I lay down my Plains, then cast Ornithopter and a Vector Asp, getting a Myr token from each. Then I attack with my Myrsmith, [18] and pass the turn. My opponent plays another Valakut, putting the first charge counter on the expedition. He then casts Lightning Bolt on my Myrsmith, and passes the turn.

I draw a second Journey to Nowhere, and attack with my trio of 1/1s. [15] I then cast the other two Vector Asps and pass the turn. My opponent plays a Mountain, getting a second counter on the Expedition, before passing the turn again. He seems to have a pretty bad draw this game.

I draw a Steel Overseer, and cast it after attacking with my 1/1 army. [10] My opponent draws his card and concedes.

1-0

I'm pretty sure he'll side in some Pyroclasms here, so I take out my Trinket Mages for Spell Pierces. I also want to be sure I can remove the titan, so I swap in the fourth Journey to Nowhere for the Voltaic Key.

Game 2

Neither of us mulligan, and I keep a hand of Island, Plains, Glacial Fortress, Memnite, Preordain, Myrsmith, Etched Champion. He opens up with a Raging Ravine, then passes the turn. I draw an Ornithopter, and play my island. Casting Preordain, I see Memnite and Glacial Fortress, putting the latter on bottom.

My opponent plays a forest, and casts Khalni Heart Expedition before passing the turn. I play a Plains and cast my Myrsmith, hoping it won't meet an early death at the hands of a Bolt.

My opponent plays a Valakut, puts a counter on the expedition, then casts Lightning Bolt on my Myrsmith before passing. With no hope of myr tokens, I cast Memnite, Memnite, Ornithopter, Etched Champion. Then I pass the turn.

My opponent plays a mountain, getting a second counter on the expedition, then passes back. I draw a Steel Overseer, and attack with my Champion and the Memnite pair. [16] Then I cast the Steel Overseer, which gets Naturalized at the end of my turn.

My opponent plays another mountain, and sacrifices the Expedition for two more. He then passes the turn, leaving enough mana open to activate the Raging Ravine. I cast another Etched Champion, attack with the first, [14] and pass the turn.

My opponent casts Pyroclasm, leaving only my two Etched Champions on the field, then passes. He has 6 mana open, so I'm thinking there might be a Summoning Trap in my future. I draw a Plains, play it, and then cast Vector Asp to get Metalcraft back online. Then I attack with my champions. [10] At the end of my turn, my opponent casts his Summoning Trap, grabbing a Primeval Titan. The Titan in turn grabs a pair of Valakuts.

My opponent attacks with his titan, grabbing two mountains. The 6 triggers kill my champions and deal 12 to me, (8) before the titan deals another 6. (2) I draw a Glacial Fortress, play it, and cast Journey to Nowhere on the titan before attacking for one with my Asp. [9] My opponent plays another Summoning Trap at the end of my turn, gets another Primeval Titan, and deals more than enough damage to kill me with his plethora of triggers.

1-1

Game 3

I keep a hand of Island, Plains, Memnite, Ornithopter, Preordain, 2 Steel Overseer. My opponent mulligans down to five. I play my Island and cast Preordain, revealing another Preordain and a Myrsmith. Putting the Preordain on bottom, I draw the Myrsmith and pass the turn. My opponent opens up with a Valakut before passing back.

I draw a Spell Pierce, play a plains, and lay down my Myrsmith before passing the turn. My opponent plays a Forest and passes back.

I draw a Seachrome Coast and play it. I cast a Memnite and an Ornithopter, getting a Myr token from each. Then I attack with my Myrsmith, [18] and pass the turn, leaving an island untapped for Spell Pierce. My opponent plays a forest and casts Pyroclasm. With a bit of a grin, I Spell Pierce it, and he passes the turn.

I draw a Seachrome Coast, play it (tapped), and attack with my team. [13] Then I cast Steel Overseer, grabbing another myr token in the process, before passing. My opponent misses his land drop, but casts another Pyroclasm. I don't have the Spell Pierce this time, and my board gets annihilated. He then passes the turn.

I draw a Memnite, and play that along with my Steel Overseer. Then I pass the turn. My opponent casts Harrow, sacrificing a forest for another forest and a mountain, and Naturalizes my Steel Overseer. Things are not looking good.

I untap and draw a Spell Pierce. After hitting my head against the table several times, I attack for one [12] and pass the turn. My opponent plays a Mountain, then casts Cultivate, getting two more. He passes the turn.

I finally draw a Tempered Steel, play it, and attack for three with my Memnite [9] before passing. My opponent plays a Mountain, then casts Primeval Titan, fetching two Valakuts. He passes the turn.

I draw a Glacial Fortress, play it, and pass the turn back. My opponent casts Harrow, sacrificing a Forest for two Mountains, and aiming all 6 triggers at my head. (2) Then he plays another mountain from his hand, and I lose.

1-2

Lessons: Valakut Ramp is a tough matchup for this deck. Valakut is one of the few ways to kill an active Etched Champion, and after sideboard, things get really bad. Post-sideboard matches often just come down to Pyroclasm vs. Spell Pierce, so make sure to leave a blue open if you have one. Besides Pyroclams, Valakut often has Bolts, Naturalizes, and Arc Trails after sideboard, so things are going to be tough for you. Just make sure to save any Spell Pierces you get for when you really need them. It's also worth noting that in this match I never managed to draw Tempered Steel in a timely fashion. Although by no means a guaranteed game-winner, Tempered Steel will definitely give your chances a huge boost when you have it. Most of your wins against Valakut will be on the back of this card.

Vs. UB Control

Game 1

I win the roll and keep a hand of 2 Island, Preordain, Memnite, Ornithopter, Trinket Mage, Steel Overseer. I play my Island, then cast preordain, seeing Seachrome Coast and Steel Overseer. I need some white mana, so I decide to put Seachrome Coast on top. Steel Overseer seems a little redundant right now, but it'll help me out if my first one falls to a Doom Blade. It stays as well. After drawing the Coast, I cast my Memnite and pass the turn. My opponent opens up with a Creeping Tar Pit.

I draw the Steel Overseer and play my Seachrome Coast. After attacking with my Memnite [19], I cast Steel Overseer, followed by an Ornithopter. I pass the turn. My opponent plays Darkslick Shores and passes. I'll be sure to watch out for a Mana Leak on my turn.

I draw and Island, play it, and tap my Overseer to give my guys +1/+1 counters. I then attack with my newly pumped 0-drops. [16] I decide to pass the turn. I don't think I have enough gas to risk throwing something away to a Mana Leak right now. My opponent plays an Island, and casts Jace Beleren, drawing a card before ending his turn.

I draw another Seachrome Coast, play it, and cast Steel Overseer, saving the Trinket Mage for a surprise Voltaic Key next turn. After tapping the first Overseer, I attack with my 0-drops again, sending the Ornithopter at Jace. [13] My opponent plays a Drowned Catacomb, then casts Trinket Mage, searching for an Elixir of Immortality and casting it. He passes the turn.

I draw a Vector Asp and play my Island. I cast Trinket Mage, searching up Voltaic Key and casting it. After tapping the smaller Steel Overseer twice, I attack with Steel Overseer, Memnite, and Ornithopter. He blocks my Overseer with Trinket Mage, and goes down to [4]. Then I pass the turn. My opponent draws his card and concedes

1-0

I'm a bit worried about Ratchet Bombs out of the sideboard, (And Consume the Meek, although most UB Control decks don't have it) but nothing in my deck seems bad enough to take out. I decide to leave things how they are for now.

Game 2

We each take a mulligan, and I'm left with Glacial Fortress, Plains, Memnite, Trinket Mage, Tempered Steel, and Myrsmith. He opens with a Drowned Catacomb and passes the turn. I draw a Vector Asp, play my Plains, and pass back, saving my cheap creatures to get some value out of Myrsmith.

My opponent plays another Drowned Catacomb before ending his turn. I draw a Plains, and am able to cast my Myrsmith without fear of a Mana Leak. Now I just have to hope it doesn't meet a Doom Blade or Disfigure.

My opponent plays a Darkslick Shores and passes the turn. I draw a Seachrome Coast and play it. Even if for some reason he decides to counter my Memnite or my Vector Asp, I still get value from the Myrsmith, so I decide to go ahead and play them out. He does nothing, and I get four 1/1s on the field. I then attack with my Myrsmith [18] before passing the turn.

My opponent plays a Creeping Tar Pit and passes the turn again. A draw a Memnite and cast it, paying one for the Myr token. After playing my Plains, I cast Trinket Mage, hoping to draw a counterspell if he has one. He takes the bait and casts Stoic Rebuttal. I attack with my team [12] and pass the turn.

My opponent casts a Trinket Mage, getting an Elixir of Immortality and casting that as well. He then passes the turn. I draw a Glacial Fortress and play it. He only has one mana open, and I have enough to pay for a Spell Pierce, so I cast my Tempered Steel and attack for lethal.

2-0

Lessons: UB Control is pretty popular after winning Worlds, and is one of the major reasons to play this deck. Although not all your matches will be as easy as this, you can generally win with any sort of decent draw. There are two main ways you will lose this matchup: Either you'll have some bad luck and get a really slow draw, or they'll draw a flood of removal spells. Generally they don't have enough removal too keep up with you, even after sideboarding, but sometimes they'll be able to stall the game long enough to play their big threats. You usually want to keep Journey to Nowhere in just in case this happens. One major card you need to watch out for is Consume the Meek. I haven't seen many UB Control decks running this, even in the sideboard, but if you have reason to believe your opponent has it, make sure to put in your Spell Pierces, and leave a blue open once they get to four mana. Wrath effects are devastating against this type of deck, and you can't risk getting blown out by one. Although Ratchet Bomb is much more common, it's also much less effective. Ideally, you'll have a mix of zeros, ones, and twos on the field, and the best it can do is take out a Steel Overseer or two. The one time it can be devastating is when you've gotten an explosive Myrsmith draw, but even then, the Myrsmith will survive and you can go right back to making tokens.

All in all, this is a pretty good deck, and it's definitely capable of winning at your local FNM. Although you'll definitely have a hard time against certain decks, sometimes your draws will be so explosive that it's almost a free win.

Though the recent success of Tempered Steel decks in Extended has raised the price of this deck significantly, it's still far cheaper than most of the other decks in Standard. Most of the cards should be pretty easy to trade for as well. Etched Champions are usually considered bulk rares, and will often be traded away for almost nothing, and cards like Myrsmith and Vector Asp can often be found in piles of unwanted cards after a draft.

Even as competing in Standard gets more and more expensive, a good budget deck is still possible. Hidden gems are lying in piles of discarded junk everywhere, you just have to be willing to look for them. Until next week, keep your mind open and your wallet shut.

--Mike Cannon