It doesn't have to be, but Modern certainly can be an expensive format. Even if you're a spike with a reasonably large budget, after dropping $1,800 on Junk, you maybe don't want to drop another $1,200 on Twin. Or maybe you get sick of Affinity, but don't want to start from scratch to play something else.

There's a way to avoid this: buy into decks that lend themselves well to card sharing and inexpensive transformation(s).

Note that if you're sharing cards between decks, you should be using the same sleeves for those decks so you don't have to remove cards from sleeves. Just be sure to keep track of what goes where to prevent game losses and suboptimal lists.

Today I'm going to discuss two decks that lend themselves well to sharing and transformation, both in blue. But first, I'd like to talk a little about investment criteria.

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Identifying Good Investments

The first step in finding a deck that qualifies as a good investment (in a non-speculative sense) is determining whether or not it's linear. If it is, chances are it's a very singular strategy fueled by lots of cards that don't fit into any other decks. Strong, popular examples of this are Burn, Affinity, Merfolk, Amulet, and Infect (notice they're all primarily one colour). Sure, there are cards in these decks that can be played in other decks, but they are few, and many of them are inexpensive, thus saving us very little money long-term.

Conversely, if the deck is considered "goodstuff" (that is, little or no synergy or dependency between cards, but a lot of power in each card), or is non-linear (has at least two win conditions and/or falls under two archetypes e.g. Combo/Control), there's a high chance it has many pricey cards we can use in other decks. Strong, popular examples include Junk, Twin, and Scapeshift.

Despite these criteria, virtually any deck that runs fetchlands and shocklands is almost definitely a decent investment at worst. Fetch prices will probably drop dramatically after Battle for Zendikar releases in October, so this becomes even more true then; shocklands should be picked up as soon as possible, particularly Steam Vents, and to a lesser extent, Overgrown Tomb, as they go into the most amount of Modern decks. Prices are low on shocks now, but they will increase hugely over the next few years.

The Blue Card Pool

Blue decks in Modern almost all run a lot of Remand and Snapcaster Mage (which by no coincidence are stupid good together). Each of them is quite expensive, so buying into any deck that runs them will get you a lot of usage long-term. Keep in mind Remand will almost definitely be reprinted in Modern Masters 2015 in May, so it's strongly recommended you wait until then to invest in it.

Also extremely common among these decks is Batterskull and Spellskite. While they aren't run in high numbers within each of the decks, they are very costly unto themselves, and also slot nicely into some non-blue decks. These are likely going to be staples for as long as Modern exists, or at least through the far-off future, so they're great incidental acquisitions.

Batterskull was recently reprinted as a MOCS promo and Spellskite is plane-specific, and with a Zendikar theme incoming, a Phyrexia theme may well follow. As such, I'm inclined to Skull won't be reprinted anytime soon, and Skite won't be reprinted in May, but could be sometime next year. If you don't want to wait, it's smart to pick decks with these cards up now or soon.

Less expensive and/or common cards in blue decks include Lightning Bolt, Electrolyze, Blood Moon, and Path to Exile, among others, so anything with them will lend itself to conversion or sharing.

Beware the Bans

Something to keep in mind in debating which deck to invest in is the possibility of bans. The format is pretty stable right now, but Modern is young and has seen a lot of cards put on the chopping block, most recently Birthing Pod, which at least temporarily, axed an entire deck (I'm looking forward to seeing if a new brew with Collected Company and Congregation at Dawnis viable).

Our recent banlist article gives a good rundown on Wizards' banning criteria, so anything there that might apply to a deck you're considering building might be a poor idea, at least if the deck doesn't contain a ton of format staples. The main one is format domination -- if our stats say a deck is about 15% or more of the meta for a prolonged period of time, there's a strong chance it will see a ban. That's not to necessarily say the deck will die or become bad, just that it's a less strong investment. Fortunately the meta is fairly balanced right now, and should stay put until the next round of bans and unbans.

Twin: The Complete Package

Your best bet then, particularly when considering deck effectiveness in this meta, is Twin, by far. Our internal data shows a very strong 12.4% meta share and the second highest day 2 tournament presence in the format at 12.5%, and it includes pretty well the full array of blue control cards: Remand, Snapcaster, Vendilion Clique, Serum Visions, Batterskull, Spellskite, and many more. If you buy into Twin, you buy into results, which can earn you your money back, and you buy into the foundation for almost every blue deck in the format.

Once you have the deck, you can share many of the cards between other decks, or transform it into all kinds of things, usually for a relatively low cost (which is great if it sees a ban, as it might). Your most viable choice is Scapeshift, but other reasonable selections include Jeskai Control, Jeskai Midrange, Delver (Izzet or Grixis), Blue Moon, Sultai Control, and Faeries. There are other decks which share some of the cards, but not enough to save you much dough.

The only problem with buying into Twin is the hefty price tag (sourced here from TCGPlayer and MTGOTraders). A lot of that comes from Scalding Tarn, so if you're fortunate enough to have those, that sweets the sting some. If you don't, you can pick them up in October and save a huge chunk of change then instead. Nearly as expensive are the Snapcasters, Cryptic Commands, and Splinter Twins. Again, Snaps should be reprinted, but you'll have to bite the bullet on Commands and probably Twins. If you're starting from scratch after BFZ, expect to drop about $900 (paper) / $350 (MTGO) total. Alternately, you can just invest in the second option (see below).

Scapeshift: True Control, Sort Of

Twin is not every blue player's cup of tea, as it often plays like a tempo deck as opposed to a "true" control deck. If you're looking for a modular blue deck that plays more in that vein, Scapeshift is your ticket. It has an okay meta share of 1.7% right now, which may well increase with the sorely needed Anticipate entering the meta.

Buying into Scapeshift now will run you roughly $900, which is a little easier to swallow. By October, that could be up to about 30% less (even easier). Below is a rundown of the costly cards in the deck.

Scapeshift's card pool gives you a good start on Twin, Delver, Jeskai Control, and Jeskai Midrange, and to a lesser extent Blue Moon. And of course, a large number of decks use a minimum of two of these cards (Blue Tron with Remand and Skite, Gifts with Snapcaster, Remand, Skite, etc), so you get a little help there, too.

I don't see this deck getting a ban anytime soon, if ever. It's powerful but not too much so, and anything that busts it (typically blue spells like Dig Through Time) is probably busted in other decks too, and will just be banned instead of anything else in the list. The previous unbanning of Valakut gives me more confidence Wizards wants this deck to stick around.

Twin and Scapeshift Shared Card Pool

Below is a rundown of the shared cards between Twin and Scapeshift. Crunching the numbers, you can see buying into Scapeshift lets you play Twin at an added $607.24 / $332. 80 cost (a lot less if you just use the full set of Mistys and a couple extra basics instead of Tarns); buying into Twin lets you play Scapeshift for an added $307.13 / $120.60 cost. Buying into other decks from either of these will cost you roughly the same.

Honorable Mentions

There are three main other blue decks in Modern that carry a heap of staples. If you don't mind sacrificing some viability, check out Izzet Delver (which carries a lot of high-end staples unlike its Grixis cousin), Jeskai Control, and Jeskai Midrange. With these, you'll net Snapcaster, Bolt, Electrolyze, and Remand, among others. While they're not great now, the meta will forever ebb and flow and new cards will be introduced, which could well bring them to top tier status.

Until Next Time

If blue decks aren't your thing, or you love a little black in your Magic collection too, join me next time when I break the black decks of the format down to see which are the smartest investments. Naturally, you can expect the same kinds of cost rundowns and analysis.