[Order/---] "I've got no Cesare Blues" budget deck

[Ringel]

The deck is [Order/Media] but the Media is optional.

This is my favorite budget deck. I’ve played around with the numbers below so they aren’t set. This deck will not win any tournaments, but it is pretty scrappy. It can win some powerful match ups with a little draw luck (I’ve won draw control, discard control, combos, lanz decks, and site decks). I’ve won most of the posters here with this deck. It won’t go 50/50 but unlike most of my decks, it has a fighting chance.

Commons:

[Blue]
5 Arquebusier
5 Beautiful Heiress
5 Donato Mancini
5 Untimely End (Probably too many. See discussion)
4 Teodor Viscardi

Uncommons:

[Blue]
3 Dante Moro (All I have. I would certainly experiment with more)
2 By Order of the King
3 Court Order (All I have. I definitely would include 5 if I could)
2 Radical Demotion
1 Borgia Tower (Only one I own)

[Gold]
5 Tactical Upheaval
5 Sudden Exhaustion (I am fortunate enough to have playsets of these.)

[Purple]
3 Role Reversal

Rare:

[Blue]
2 Octavian De Valois
-----

Comments:
The name comes from the fact I have yet to open a Cesare in any pack. The guy is a beast, but a well, ce la vie. This deck is very light on rares, and the ones I use aren’t critical (If you do use Octavian, be cautious). The challenge for budget players is coming up with enough uncommons.

With their evasive abilities, high attack/cost ratio and ability to block Cesare, Arque and Donato are must plays in large numbers. If your opponent will let you keep a Dante on the board, that combined with removal means you have a fighting chance against most ally decks.

With a curve topping out at 4, acceleration isn’t needed, but you want to open with at least one Dante, Teodor, or By Order. Two is better. After that you wont hurt for resources very often.

My control mix was guided by my desire to fight Lanz decks and by my mix of cards. I do own a couple of Marcos which have gone in and out of the deck. I put in Radical Demotion as a place holder for my missing Court Order, but they have proven really effective vs discard decks, as all discard cards are Assassin, and that extra low cost means you can get one in before they expect it. I have 5 Untimely End, which good players rarely play. I might lower it, but I want a few.

The splash of purple has been in the deck since the start (I think I began with 2 purple, 1 gold site hate). It has won me many a game vs. site decks as one is usually enough to win a race, and it times better than the gold. The question is, how many games have I lost because of a dead draw and is there something else that would win me more games? Honestly trade those out as you see fit.

With Cesare everywhere, you need sudden Exhaustion, though Dante + Official can usually take one down too.

Tactical Upheaval is just plain awesome. It kills Dantes, combos with Exhaustion to kill Lanz or just clear off a blocker, kills that nasty green blocker, pumps up your own safe exhausted guys and so on.

Beautiful Heiress is widely underrated, in my opinion. I first added her to the deck as a cheap noble, but she performs much better than expected. Of course she boosts your evasive nobles, but she also shields Dante and Teodor from Tactical Upheaval, gets Teodor working early, and with the heavy Exhaustion meta, gets 0 attack allies back into the game.

I’m sure there are deck crafters here who can improve on this deck, but if you are a cheap-assassin like myself, this is a good place to start.

[Brontobeuf]

I lost to this deck more times than I should admit.

Good building with low budget.

[Zed]

if you did have some cesars, would you replace your two blue agents or is the 10 cost for a cesare a bit steep for this deck?

[Ringel]

I can't really predict how well something would play until I try it. I'd certainly give it a shot and see how it worked out.

[Ringel]

If you find you are short on resources for Cesare, increase the number of Teodor, Dante, By Order (especially good to find you Cesare), and Court Order and decrease the number of non-resource producing common cards.

[Ringel]

I think I played Tortimer in something like a mirror match this morning. Is that right Tortimer? (This was after losing 3 times badly with another deck of mine to other decks of his.)

[tortimer]

Yeah, we did play a few matches this morning. I was trying out a few different decks and played 3-4 people from this site. One of the decks was a copy of this deck with maybe 1-2 cards different. I really liked this deck and won more times then I lost. I don't have any Cesare's either. I have spent $200+ and get the 3 packs per day from grinding with no luck. I also only have one Lanz. I would maybe spend more money but I told myself I won't spend anymore money until the AH comes out.

[Ringel]

I'm glad to hear it. I'd love to hear about anything that improves the deck, esp. if it is affordable.