[Standard] VW BUG Budget (Standard)

Wow really great value and a really fun combo deck!

Leave a comment in the discussion page if you have any advice or criticism! I know, I just invited negative feedback on the internet, but I don't live in a glass house, do your worst trolls!

Control oriented VW combo deck

8 Counterspells, 4 Dissolve with scry for the card selection, and 4 Negates to help handle anything non-creature related

A total of 16 cards that can control creature threats in some way or another:

11 Creatures:
3 Monastery Flock for good early to midgame blocking. If you end up mana dry or you have an extra one, play it face down for 3 for a 2/2 that can attack until you need it in a defensive role.

4 Jeskai Elder. They combo with the card selection engine to provide additional ways to draw and fill the graveyard, and if you fire off Villainous Wealth with one on the board, the Prowess is going to go sky high.

4 Kiora's Follower. Can block and kill Goblins, can untap lands, combos well with Dictate of Karametra

8 Creature Removal - 4 Murderous Cut for the Delve-ability and 4 Sultai Charm, all three options of which combo well with other cards or abilities in this deck.

11 cards dedicated to getting to a good VW state:

Sultai Ascendancy will give you good card selection and help you selectively fill the graveyard too. I started with a playset but there were too many times I had an Ascendancy in my hand I couldn't effectively play; even without it, there are 11 spells and 4 permaments that let you rummage, loot, or scry in some way in this deck; and on turn 3 when you'd most want to play this, I find myself playing Monastery Flock or holding out for a Dissolve more often.

Treasure Cruise combos great with Sultai Ascendancy to let you pick up speed - if you draw it and you have a Sultai Ascendancy out, it can be advantageous to fill the graveyard for a turn or two and wait until you have a definite two you want to pick up simultaneously (thanks to the Sultai Ascendancy peek)

Dictate of Karametra combos great with VW or a shallow graveyard for Treasure Cruise. Flash helps you play the counterspell game and selectively play it when it would be most valuable to you foremost... always play this at the end of the opponent's turn or if they've just tapped out and you've elected not to counter their play.

Villainous Wealth with a Dictate of Karametra is an automatic x=7 with this deck, and hopefully the Ascendancy and Cruise help you dig down to find the two and the 5 lands you need to fire it off quickly.

Sideboard strategies:

Sultai Scavenger and Shambling Attendants are meant to take advantage of the graveyard filling potential of this deck to come out quick. Against creature Aggro decks like some red builds like Boss Sligh or Rabblemaster, Jeskai, or Abzan Aggro or Abzan Midrange, you'll want the Attendants or Scavengers (depending on power, flying and cost matchups) over Negate. In most of the above situations, you might want 1 less VW, Sultai Ascendancy, or Treasure Cruise over including even more creatures.

Jeskai Windscouts give you options for more flying and more Prowess while losing the Delve.

Evolving Wilds helps you fill the graveyard for Delve. Replace 2 Islands and 2 Swamp against non-creature control decks for the Evolving Wilds, or if you subbed in the creature block for the control block as outlined above.

If you run into Gods or Walkers, this deck is probably not counterspell heavy enough to reliably interfere with them, and without creatures to attack them, your main goal becomes to sprint to the Villainous Wealth and hope to pick up the creatures you need in it, or even a walker of your own to put them on a clock with you. Ramp / Card Selection becomes more important than blockers, so you can abandon the Ancestors and the Walls for Kiora's Follower and 3 Evolving Wilds in this situation.

Cards I'm still pondering:
Is there a place for Jeskai Elder in here? Do I put him in in place of the Disowned Ancestor or some other card?

What about Scout the Borders and/or Seek the Horizon? The first version of this deck I built just with cards on hand had 2 copies of each... I love the idea of land thinning with all the scry / Sultai Ascendancy's pseudo-perma-scry / Treasure Cruising, I feel like there's some synergy there... and I really do want to get to 5 as soon as possible... but do I need it over, say, counterspells or creature tempo? Scout the Border also feels nice in that it will seldom turn up a creature but with the Necropolis Fiend lurking in there, it's a potentially brutal surprise for the opponent

More copies of Necropolis Fiend? Get rid of him altogether?

And finally what about Swan Song? Most of the creatures in the meta this deck is going to have a problem with are enchantment creatures. I don't have a ton of flying or creature removal so putting out 2/2 flying tokens might suck. But if the alternative is letting a Keranos, God of Storms hit the table, I'll take the 2/2 any day of the week...