Brewing. Project: Zer0 Style.

Brewing: Mono-White Prison
Deck is inspired by: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28052_Prison-Hate-Modern.html

Mono-white Prison. Bye bye Aggro / Combo decks...

If you noticed in one of my earlier post, I did mention about my attempt to embark on a project about a month back. Well, I'm close to finishing it once I have acquired a few more pieces and I'm looking forward to play it in Modern events.

With regards to budget, I have almost close to none. I cannot afford to click away on SCG or TrollandToad and pay up the full sum. It's just too expensive for me to do that. Okay, it's not exactly that expensive... The entire decklist above is about USD$315 to check out at TCGplayer. But, note that the prices are based on the cheapest prices available, aka, TCG Low. If I'm particular about the condition, It's most likely that I'll be following the TCG Mid prices, which is about 25% more expensive. Then, let's say we factor in a generous $10 for the most basic shipping cost. (a lot of cards!)

Plus, since I am in Singapore, the conversion of USD to SGD is x1.33 multiplier at the point of writing this article. Factoring that into the calculation, I'm looking at about $500 as the overall price tag. 

Okay, considering that if I buy all my cards locally, it's still going to be roughly $375. It's still a hefty price tag. But, it's considered mid-range prices for modern. The most expensive ones are going for $1200 - $1500 as a whole deck. That's not considering pimps like alternate language or foils. So to me, that price isn't that bad for a second modern deck to play with. Also, I don't have immediate intentions to foil my decks out. I'm only intending to do that for my EDH.

Well, on the bright side, I own some of the pieces already, so we can factor off those cards. Also, the bulk rares serves their purpose here as alternative currency to discount the prices for some of the cards. Also, since I'm on trading platforms like PucaTrade and Deckbox.org, it's a good way to move cards for the points and cards I require. So, for the past month or so, I'm actively moving my bulk rares, miscellaneous rares, and unused staples for the pieces in the new deck. Below is a breakdown in what I have accomplished so far.

Breakdown of the cards owned, traded for and rough quote prices

As stated, if everything goes accordingly, it's still going to be another ~$190 to spend! Yes, the price has definitely been reduced to almost half, but I believe I can still reduce the required expenditure to even lower! 

If we actually take a look, Leyline of Sanctity will be the most expensive playset of cards which I have to acquire. These cards are nearing $30 each! And, they are not going to go down soon unless the Modern Masters 2015 reprint. 

So what's the next plan? I've bulked most of my bulk rares for other cards as long-term speculation in anticipation of the release of Fate Reforged. If the spec is right, I have some profit to roll into buying the cards. But, that is only if I get the specs right. It's not going to help if I bulk them after buying them in, so that's going to be a long wait out. Speaking of bulk, I am awaiting to receive another stash of bulk rares. That one is long overdue because of the external commitments I have past 2 months. I should be getting about 200 pieces. So I'll restart the project by end of the month to see if I can get more bulk coming in.

Alternative is trading out more staples like Shocklands, and other miscellaneous cards like Snapcaster Mage and Abrupt Decay. I'm not in favor of doing that, though this option will be the fastest way. I'd rather hold out those cards until the right time. The point here is to hold the staples until I see profit or a lucrative trading options to trade up. That means that I either trade them for better staples or Cards that will potentially see good growth over the time. So in short, that's the last resort.

So, it means that the other stuff will voice down to actively trading on PucaTrade and Deckbox.

Cards coming in via PucaTrade 

And next, Trades from Deckbox.org

Lastly, I'm saving up the budget. I'd reckon that ideally, I can shave off another $100 from the list. But, if not, I have to be prepared to buy the cards. Financially, this is really really the last resort. The idea of doing it in line with the Project: Zer0 is to minimize the expenditure needed for the deck. As much as possible, I really want to keep the deck under $100 in expenditure.

But, try as I may, some factors will not be controllable. For instance, the delivery of cards and the earning of required points for the cards is not something I can control. I can do my best to push out the trades out as fast as possible on my side, but it will depend on the receiving end to determine how long the trades will take. Hopefully as the time pass, the cards can make it in time before the due date and I am able to acquire the other cards in time too. 

Cards are coming in... But they will take time. And, I plan to complete these by March so that I will have some time to play around with the deck before GP Singapore. The proxied deck that I had testing this deck without sideboard is showing some good results against aggro decks. In fact, against combo decks is also a pain to deal with. The idea of the deck came from this website, http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28052_Prison-Hate-Modern.html; which I then took the list and modify to suit the meta and my liking. That being said, the above list is my 2nd rendition of it. The updates to the deck later on will not be included to the costing of the deck. Mainly, this will cover the core of the deck, which will not change much. But, the supporting roles of the deck will change over time as I progress in the playing field with it.

So far, I'm rather pleased with the outcome of the project. I'm spending lesser than the said projected cost. Of course, time is quite negligible in terms that I can actually wait out, but giving a self time restriction only to be able to play the deck. If disregarding that, I'm only considering cash terms. Even the shipping for the cards to get the points and cards are much lesser than the said costs. I'm spending about $20-$30 in shipping so far in total to gain about $80 worth of points in PucaTrade. I'm saving directly from the conversion costs on Deckbox. Even with shipping factored, the cards I ship out are priced higher than what I can sell here due to the currency conversion and what I am receiving are often much better deals than what I can ask for here.

I'm almost half-way there once the pending cards arrives. I'm looking forward to start playing more and post the results once I have the deck and free time.

Oh, small update, my 5C Ally Reanimator deck is given a slight tweak to the 75 too!