I excitedly showed my wife Moneyball the first day it was Redboxed. It was the only movie I had seen in a theater for about two years because I hate movies and theaters about equally. But my love for the movie isn’t simply about the movie. It’s about my childhood idolization of Bill James, whose writings taught me about finding value where others weren’t looking, how to question orthodoxy, and so on. All of these ideas informed the movie, but they also informed me. Through my baseball writing, I wound up in this book with Bill James, and the friends I made in that era made Moneyball personal for me. The fight for clarity of ideas and winning with less, the triumph over incorrect ideas, and so on was the fight I started to understand as a kid and the fight my later friends and companions would wage.

Now that I’ve seen the movie twice, I know why I’m obsessed with rogue decks, junk rares, and writing articles like this one. I analyze baseball and Magic the same way, and that’s how I like it. (Also, this lets me compare myself favorably with Brad Pitt, although my wife’s distaste for the man means I gain no advantage.) I’m not just a Johnny–Melvin; I’m a Moneyball Johnny–Melvin, treating Magic like it’s baseball analysis. Similar to Moneyball, multiplayer savvy is the art of winning an unfair game, and understanding value brings you much closer to winning.

Which Brings Me to Today’s Topic

Buddy is the organizer–leader of my recent playgroup. (I say “recent” because I moved across the country in between this article’s writing and publication. Time waits for no man. Also, Tim waits for Norman.) He’s a social worker and an adjunct college professor with kids in college, and he has a very tight Magic budget. We twenty-somethings who comprise the majority of the group outspend him quickly, so I give sweat equity and the occasional card to optimize his decks.

Over the holidays, he came into some Magic money and was interested in some online deals on an entire set’s preconstructs. He wanted some new experiences (he’s normally B/R with some green in him) and thought acquiring preconstructs from unfamiliar eras would give him that variety. So, he texted me to ask which decks were the best out of the box or with minimal tweaking.

If you’ve ever inspected old preconstructed decks, you know they don’t usually work very well. They’re clunky, the rares are normally meh, and good luck finding a multiplayer win condition in there. I advised him to build some decks together from scratch out of concepts he liked, spending the same amount of money but having coherent game plans.

After some discussion and his willingness to move his Privileged Positions out of another deck to cut costs, I came up with the following three decks to stick to his budget while giving him some color combinations and sets he wasn’t used to playing. I love a good deck-building challenge, and this one taught me plenty of Moneyball-type value tricks.

Buddy’s Cue #1: I like Jareth. What can we do with him?

"Grandeur Green"

• Creatures (23)
• 4 Hedge Troll
• 4 Pale Recluse
• 4 Saber Ants
• 1 Tolsimir Wolfblood
• 2 Jareth, Leonine Titan
• 4 Baru, Fist of Krosa
• 4 Oriss, Samite Guardian

• Spells (13)
• 2 Creeping Renaissance
• 4 Rampant Growth
• 4 Time of Need
• 3 Privileged Position

• Lands (24)
• 13 Forest
• 7 Plains
• 4 Selesnya Sanctuary

Buy This Deck

There are a few overlapping synergies that give high replay value. Time of Need is fine by itself—a toolbox enabler that also allows us to reduce the deck’s curve and price. Here, it can find extra copies of grandeur legends—the Future Sight cycle of legends that, with one on the battlefield, let you pitch duplicates for free, instant benefit. Time of Need can find you your initial Baru, Fist of Krosa or you can turn it into Baru’s Molimo-esque Wurm token by finding a second Baru. Oriss functions similarly, turning duplicates into Orim's Chant, and there’s no shame in spending for that.

The other creatures fill the curve and buy time. Pale Recluse has the most useful body of the Alara Reborn landcyclers. Hedge Troll is both large and resilient for its mana cost, while Saber Ants can net you a score of green creatures for Baru’s mini Overrun.

I’m a massive fan of Creeping Renaissance, and not just because I helped preview it. Renaissance is at its best in attrition wars, refreshing your hand after your opponents have exhausted their resources. Here, you can turn it into a grandeur type of Snapcaster Mage by discarding the returned duplicates quickly. The Renaissance’s own flashback means you’ll repeat the effect soon, and after that many Wurms or Chants, you’ve probably swung the board in your favor.

Jareth isn’t the focus of the deck, but Time of Need and/or Creeping Renaissance bring him back in the odd event he should die, he’s an evasive attacker when your other creatures hold the ground, and he’s among the best blockers ever printed. It’s ridiculous when he and the others are hexproof because of Privileged Position. Tolsimir Wolfblood is a utility singleton. I’m just a sucker for legendary tokens (a Voja token from a Ravnica booster would have been sweet), but Tolsimir’s a fine include here.

Depending on how well Saber Ants with Baru works out, this deck might have to conserve resources to win a free-for-all, but I’d be frightened to face this in any team format, in which Oriss’s grandeur ability becomes more relevant. With enough tutors and Creeping Renaissances, you can lock a single opponent out of spells and attacks for several turns in a row, opening a huge window for whatever your team wants to do with it.

Buddy’s Cue #2: I don’t have a U/B deck, and I like the flexibility of River's Grasp. Got any ideas?

"Specter Strike"

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Bane of the Living
• 4 Doomsday Specter
• 4 Scalpelexis
• 4 Silent Specter
• 4 Wall of Deceit
• 4 Blizzard Specter

• Spells (14)
• 3 Confound
• 3 Spinal Embrace
• 4 Distortion Strike
• 4 Dimir Signet

• Lands (24)
• 11 Island
• 9 Swamp
• 4 Dimir Aqueduct

Buy This Deck

This one was tricky to put together—looking back, three Doomsday Specters might have been better—but disruption and flying pair well, and these are some great creatures for that pairing. U/B often has trouble in multiplayer for having great spot removal but few natural defenses. Here, you can get a read on players’ hands, hit them with Distortion Strike frequently, and have an idea who’s the upcoming threat as you fly in at that player. This deck wouldn’t work at all without Distortion Strike, but with each card representing two swings, you can cripple a life total and a hand simultaneously. Blizzard Specter is the closest creature to River's Grasp; the flexibility to bounce or discard is nice. Scalpelexis isn’t that useful in Commander, so its reputation hasn’t been strong over the last couple of years, but its library exile can get serious—especially around a kitchen table where most lands are basic.

Silent Specter begged for a morph package, so I included Wall of Deceit and Bane of the Living. Wall is among the best cheap, blue defenders, while Bane can either wipe the board completely or serve as an Infest since all your creatures are at least 2/3s. Most early defenses against your Specters will be small flyers, and Infest effects can clear them quickly. Bane also makes sense to bounce with Doomsday Specter if that comes up.

With so much need for and for Specters to hit quickly, Dimir Signet with twenty-four lands seemed to be a necessity. Confound’s a serviceable tempo counterspell for this deck’s objectives. Spinal Embrace is for the large creatures the opponents didn’t discard; the life-gain is useful as well.

Distortion Strike’s too easily associated with infect from its era, but there are plenty of old blue and black flyers that crave the reliable damage it promises. You can dish out some harsh punishment with all these flyers, and it should be more resilient than the typical U/B multiplayer deck. Huzzahs all around.

Buddy’s Cue #3: I don’t have a wedge deck. Something in R/W/U maybe?

"American Cockroach"

• Creatures (19)
• 4 Flametongue Kavu
• 4 Lightning Angel
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Rakavolver
• 3 Numot, the Devastator

• Spells (17)
• 3 Retether
• 3 False Demise
• 3 Squee's Embrace
• 4 Fool's Demise
• 4 Prismatic Lens

• Lands (24)
• 5 Plains
• 7 Mountain
• 8 Island
• 4 Terramorphic Expanse

Buy This Deck

The list started with Numot and Lightning Angel; why wouldn’t it? Both are fantastic beaters and strong pulls into the wedge. The rest of the list builds off the Aura package, as Squee's Embrace, False Demise, and Fool's Demise do similar things spread among three colors. False Demise and Fool's Demise can either time-delay your theft of an opponent’s creature or return your own creatures to life when they die; the versatility allows these Auras to work in most board states. Squee's Embrace is only worthwhile on your creatures, but reusability and a +2/+2 bonus can make a world of difference. Embracing a Lightning Angel is a tough hurdle for most decks—you can smack for 5 every turn while having a blocker that takes forever to eliminate. With all the recursion, this is a R/W/U deck that plays like it’s G/B, and that has to be fun.

Mulldrifter and Flametongue Kavu are at the top of the heap for replayable blue and red utility creatures. Both look good with a +2/+2 Embrace, but they look just as good with a Fool's Demise, netting you card advantage for little effort. Rakavolver’s intended to fill any slot in the curve rather than just being something you want to kick every time. The option of a 2/2 for , a 3/3 flyer for , a 4/4 with old lifelink for , or a 5/5 flyer with old lifelink for Numot’s cost lets you sculpt your play around your hand. With Mulldrifter’s evoke and Rakavolver’s kicker, you should curve out fine even with so many Auras.

Retether allows you to play your Auras more aggressively and give your creatures yet another go-round on the board. The deck’s color-friendly for being a three-color deck—there are no double-costs of any one color—so Prismatic Lens is the right call for mana-fixing. You’ll only occasionally need it for fixing, but you’ll always appreciate the ramp.

Early Returns

The decks have been together for one play night, but by Buddy’s testimony, they accomplished their objectives. Since I didn’t have the Moneyball goal of winning the World Series, I feel okay saying we got more value in these three decks than preconstructs would have given.

Crucially, all three decks are off a paradigm. Find a cheap engine or toolbox (toolboxes reduce the needed amount of a specific pricey card), and fill it out with a little ramp, good utility creatures, and a couple cards to get your best pieces back. The pieces to find and reuse expensive cards are normally cheaper than the cards they find and reuse. It’s to the Moneyballer’s advantage to keep it in mind while deck-building.

It also doesn’t hurt when building decks for other people to move across the country right afterward; that way, you don’t have to face them. No consequences for me! It’s everyone else who has to suffer if the decks are awesome! A third exclamation mark!

I might have gotten carried away there. (But not with Carry Away. I’m not Equipment.) Regardless, if you find yourself with a spot of rare cash and want to build decks with it, plan the decks out. Put some work into finding the value. Not only will that keep you from impulse spending, it will get you better decks. And if that improves things the way this grocery store aisle or this road sign were improved, so much the better.