Kaladesh Standard Budget Magic Deck: Mono-Black Foundry (Only 3 Tix!), Video Article by Joseph Dunlap

Welcome back, readers! It’s been awhile since my first budget deck article, a mono-red aggro deck worth 5 tix on MTGO. It went over so well, I’m here this week with a new deck worth 3 tix.

That’s right, 3 tix!

As I’ve said before, as an ultra-budget deck you won’t be taking down any large tournaments, but if you’re looking for a fun deck to bring to FNM before Aether Revolt hits the shelves, or help you get started on MTGO, you should check out this deck: Mono-Black Foundry.

Match 1 (and deck tech): VS Naya Tokens

Match 2: VS Aetherflux Reservoir

Match 3: VS RG Energy

Match 4: VS WB Fabricate

Match 5: VS RG Werewolves

Decklist: Mono-Black Foundry

Maindeck ($3.10 MTGO, $24 paper)

On MTGO, the sideboard barely adds to the total value of the deck, though the cards are a little overpriced on paper. Still, $36 for all 75 cards is pretty reasonable. The cards I chose were intended to counter all expected archetypes, though with mono-black, the biggest weakness is artifacts. Transgress will help a little, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Now let’s take a look at the different parts of the deck.

Creatures and Vehicles

Originally, through attempting to work on another deck idea, I started to become interested in a deck that used the combination of Foundry Inspector and Chief of the Foundry. I knew a few people who had tried it early on in Kaladesh Standard, but it hadn’t ultimately gone anywhere. With both build-arounds at uncommon rarity, there was a lot of potential for an explosive budget build. Self-Assembler was a quick addition to the deck idea, as it becomes a 5/5 for 4 mana (that self-replicates) with the aforementioned combo.

As I looked over other artifact creature options, Filigree Familiar stuck out as a great value card. In addition to the reasons most players enjoy its company – it gains you 2 life and helps you dig deeper into your deck – it fits exceptionally well into Mono-Black Foundry’s synergy, and also has the ability to be recast multiple times per game (see Spells and Lands).

After I chose mono-black for the deck, Noxious Gearhulk was quickly added as a solid removal card, evasive threat, and oh yeah, Foundry Inspector reduces its cost as well. Hedron Crawler was added in to aid in explosive starts, and it earned its spot in testing.

Finally, the vehicles. As you saw in the videos above, Fleetwheel Cruiser is potentially game ending and does some crazy things in this deck in particular. From having a reduced cost, to being buffed by Chief and Ruins (see below), to simply having trample, it does everything you want it to do.

Aradara Express was added as an afterthought, as it presents a huge body with Menace and can quickly put games away. Unfortunately it didn’t make an appearance when I was recording the deck tech videos, but it accomplishes a lot for a budget deck.

Spells

One of the primary reasons I chose black for this deck was Fortuitous Find. With a high density of artifact creatures and vehicles, this plays as a double tutor that can really turn the tide in some match-ups. Underhanded Designs made a lot of sense as a playset, as Mono-Black Foundry simultaneously reduces the cost of artifacts while also providing multiple mana sinks. In creature-heavy match-ups, you’re more likely to sac it early to deal with a threat, while you want multiple copies in play against control so you can win through steady life drain.

Finally, Spatial Contortion fits perfectly with the land base and deals with most, if not all, early threats that get in the way.

Lands

The obvious choices for utility lands were Ruins of Oran-Rief and Inventors’ Fair. While Fair’s incidental life gain is its main appeal for this deck and the tutor ability is rarely used (and mostly for Noxious Gearhulk), Ruins is an absolute all-star. As mentioned before, reducing the cost of artifacts with Foundry Inspector leaves a lot of room for mana sinks, and Ruins effectively acts as additional copies of Chief of the Foundry.

Finally, when I chose black for this deck and quickly threw in Fortuitous Find, Mortuary Mire was not far behind. It’s not quite the same as its sorcery counterpart, but I love being able to utilise all the unique and underplayed utility lands Standard has to offer – lands that fall by the wayside in a sea of 2-3 colour decks, but overperform in mono-coloured budget decks. The same can be said for Blighted Fen, which is often just another colourless source, but can really come in handy in certain situations.

Non-Budget Foundry

The earliest iterations of Mono-Black Foundry were not nearly as budget as the one shown above. The most noteworthy cards that had to be struck from the list were Smuggler’s Copter, which combos nicely with the graveyard recursion, and Scrapheap Scrounger, which has its own recursion ability. In my opinion, Scrounger is an optional addition to the deck and you may find you prefer to stick closer to the original list.

Decklist: Non-Budget Mono-Black Foundry

Maindeck ($15.20 MTGO, $44.68 paper)

This was pretty close to the original iteration of the deck, back in October before I decided to make it ultra-budget. Unfortunately, the original build prominently featured a playset of Smuggler’s Copter, which fit in perfectly with the artifact and graveyard recurrence theme. (Well, this is awkward…)

From the original budget build, Aradara Express and Hedron Crawler have been removed (the most obvious budget cards in the deck), and replaced with three copies of Scrapheap Scrounger, two copies of Skysovereign, and an additional copy of Noxious Gearhulk. The sideboard is still pretty much the same as the budget version.

However, simply adding Scroungers and Skysovereign does not fix the main problem Mono-Black Foundry has, which is a limited scope of interactive cards. Let’s see what this list would look like if we splash red…

Decklist: Non-Budget BR Foundry

Maindeck ($26.40 MTGO, $75.25 paper)

With the addition of red, I made this build much more aggressive, cutting most of the attrition cards and opting for direct damage and three copies of Combustible Gearhulk. Since I already added an additional copy of Noxious Gearhulk, there was no more need for Self-Assembler. Overall, I tried to increase the deck’s threat density even further and shift the focus from graveyard recursion to madness and Combustible Gearhulk triggers. With six total copies of Gearhulks in the deck, Inventors’ Fair has more tutor targets as well.

In the sideboard, we’ll focus on the red cards that have been added. Bombardment is included as the anti-aggro card, and Structural Distortion is brought in as a strong answer to artifacts.

Personally, I prefer the grindy attrition and recursion of Mono-Black Foundry, but I’m confident many of you will enjoy the explosive power of non-budget BR Foundry and will have loads of fun casting 5-mana Gearhulks to your heart’s content.

With spoiler season already underway for Aether Revolt, there are some cards I’m excited to try out with Mono-Black Foundry. Check back in a few weeks for the updated list as well! In the meantime, enjoy trying out this list for your casual FNMs if you’re looking for a change of pace. If you’re holding onto your copies of Smuggler’s Copters and want to have a last hurrah with them, why not try out the non-budget version and throw in your Copters?

Now then, what improvements would you make to Mono-Black Foundry? What cards would you add to make it non-budget? I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading,

Joseph Dunlap

Kaladesh Standard Budget Magic Deck: Mono-Black Foundry (Only 3 Tix!), Video Article by Joseph Dunlap Welcome back, readers! It's been awhile since my first budget deck article, a mono-red aggro deck worth 5 tix on MTGO. It went over so well, I'm here this week with a new deck worth 3 tix. That's right, 3 tix! Joseph Dunlap

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