Hi everyone ! Let me present you one of the few decks I've built.
This modern deck is a Budget Aggro-Control Illusion deck !
Magic is a great game but it can be really expensive if you go all-in into the best cards ever printed. Building budget decks is interesting because you learn to know the strengths and weaknesses between similar cards and find the most efficient (and cheap) among them. I raised the bar a little because I wanted my deck to be right into the theme (which is "Illusions"), and really good-looking as well :D. But this is a question of taste I guess.
Here is why this is my favourite deck :
-It is extremely efficient (I've defeat many wealthy decks on simulators)
-It is cheap (30$, i've bought it for myself with a nice box and all)
-It is gorgeous (look at these pictures :D)
-Illusions are awesome (really beefy), their lord too (hexproof on everyone)
-Blue aggro deck ?!
Further explanation in the next section about how to play it and some subtleties.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to like or comment !
How to play the deck is pretty easy actually, however there is some useful information you need to know about the deck.
About the mana curve : yeah, there's a huge peak on the 2 CMC, but if you look closer, you'll see that Muddle the Mixture, Cyclonic Rift and Into the Roil can be cast for a higher cost with more powerful effects. So you can be pretty flexible with these cards ; if you put them with their max cost into the mana curve, it'll look better :)
The main combo is well known :
-Set some Illusions like the Phantasmal Bear
-Protect them with your beloved Lord of the Unreal
-Now that your Lord is the N°1 target, copy it with your Phantasmal Image so his copy gets hexproof too !
Alongside these main creatures you have the Krovikan Mist which becomes as powerful as your army grows, the Æther Figment which is a nice unblockable, and your very threatening Phantasmal Dragons (6/6 hexproof flying creature for 4 !).
As you can see, there is only one Phantasmal Image : they are very expensive, that's the reason. Instead, I've put some Fated Infatuations. They're not as good but they can do wonders :
-You can instant copy your Lord as it is being targeted, so a fresh new Lord arises when the old ones dies
-This deck is powerful when many creatures of the same kind are on the board : many Krovikan Mists, or many Æther Figments, or many Lord of the Unreal together are really powerful. If you copy your Æther Figment kicked, its copy comes into play kicked as well.
-Scry 2 !
How do I find my unique Phantasmal Image then ? With Muddle the Mixture. It can tutor creatures with a cost of 2. How lovely :) If you already have your Image, you can still use it to tutor your Krovikan Mists or Æther Figments or another Lord, or a Cyclonic Rift if you're in trouble for example.
And if you don't wanna tutor anything you can counter a Instant/Sorcery instead.
Card draw is provided by Divination (the picture from Born of the Gods is gorgeous) and Into the Roil kicked. Add Treasure Cruise from the sideboard if you want some more. Halimar Depths gives a nice control of the draw and synergizes well with Deprive and Meloku the Clouded Mirror. Fated Infatuation gives a Scry 2 if you play it on your turn.
Important point about your Phantasmal Bear/Dragon/Image : once they're targeted, the spell can't be countered. The spell targets the Phantasmal Creature as it is casted, before it goes on the stack. The sacrifice ability goes on top on the stack, so even if you counter the spell, the Phantasmal Creature will be sacrified after anyway.
So you need to keep your counterspells for saving your Lords cause they won't work on your Phantasmal stuff. You can adapt their number with your sideboard depending on whether you're facing an aggro deck or anything.
Another important point : hexproof don't mean that the creature is immune to everything. It just can't be targeted by your opponent. So if you're facing a spell which destroy everyone without targeting them, they'll die. Board wipes are a big threat to this deck. If you're facing a potential board wipe, you can put the Treasure Cruises from your sideboard to the deck. It will help you getting a nice 3-card draw for only 1 mana (and 7 exiled cards from your graveyard, easily obtained after a board wipe).
You can still target your Illusion with hexproof (e.g with Fated Infatuation) if it doesn't have the sacrifice ability (actually you still can but he will be sacrificed). The opponent cannot target it at all.
Don't underestimate Summoner's Bane. It feels like it should have cost 1 less mana, but it really turns the tide. Use your bounce spells to cast it properly on a big creature and you'll see how strong it is.
The other spells are counters and bounces and stuff !
If the game drags out, you have some finishers :
-Meloku the Clouded Mirror can spawn many flying Illusion Token and boost your Krovikan Mists as well.
-Overloaded Cyclonic Rift can wipe out the opposite board
-(Sideboard) Dismiss into Dream can paralyze your opponent while boosting your Krovikan Mists ten fold.