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If you’re new to Magic: The Gathering or MTG Arena, building a cheap budget competitive deck can be challenging; especially if you’re looking to spend as little real-world gold as you can!
Magic’s myriad of different cards can be overwhelming, and Wildcards are a precious resource that you can’t always afford to waste on the wrong decks. Placing small bets on crafting and gradually opening cards until you find an expensive deck you’re sure you’ll love is the best way to go, at least while your resources are so limited.
Soon Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and Streets of New Capenna are going to rotate from Standard when Bloomburrow releases on July 30, 2024. Crafting rares and mythic from those sets can throw your resources to the well unless some of them can be used in eternal formats.
In this guide, you’ll find our exclusive curated list of some fantastic budget Standard decks from various archetypes, with a brief explanation of the deck, an upgrade guide, and sample decklists for each one. These decks will not have any rare or mythic, and every rare or mythic for the upgraded version will not rotate.
Visit our standard deck page if you’d like to see what some of the finished products look like. You can also go straight to the budget deck section for more inspiration.
Historic and Explorer are formats where your cards never rotate out, but has a much wider card pool and can be intimidating for players who wish to start. Click here for our dedicated guide to Historic budget decks and Explorer decks.
Budget Deck Aims
Here’s a set of parameters we build our budget Standard decks around, to ensure they’re at their most useful to you:
- The base deck will aim to have no rares or mythics. For each deck, we provide pathways or a link to upgrade to more competitive versions. Upgrades depend on your collection and wildcard availability, so we’ll provide different options to tailor to your specific needs.
- Each deck is geared towards best-of-one, and players can now have up to seven cards in their sideboard. For Bo3, check out our budget sideboard guide at the end to help you build a sideboard.
How Do I Decide What to Craft?
This is a great question that doesn’t have a concrete answer, but there’s a suggested order you should upgrade your decks. In totality, you should look to craft the most ubiquitous cards first and then keep going until you’re crafting highly specific cards to finish your particular deck. With that in mind, we can go even more specific.
1. Lands
Lands should always be your priority as those are generally going to be the most ubiquitous cards in Standard.
Utility lands such as Mirrex, Cavern of Souls, or Mishra's Foundry are safe crafts. However, these don’t always go in every deck and you don’t need 4 depending on what deck you’re building, so keep that in mind.
2. Ubiquitous Rares
This is a pretty general category, but here we find the rares you see in multiple decklists. Examples of this could include
3. Ubiquitous Mythics
Although you generally want to avoid crafting Mythics if you’re just upgrading budget decks, there are plenty of Mythics that see so much play they are very safe crafts. The most popular one that comes to mind is Sheoldred, the Apocalypse as it has no replacement.
4. Specific Rares
These are Rares that may see minimal play or only see play in one to two strategies. They can be good cards, just narrow, such as Knight-Errant of Eos or Slogurk, the Overslime.
5. Specific Mythic Rares
These are Mythics that see small amounts of play. These are the last things you want to craft as these will be hard to use in other strategies with cards like Tinybones, the Pickpocket or Virtue of Strength.
This is the strategy to go by. If you’re unsure where something lies, you can check out lists here to get an idea of what cards see the most play, but I’ll also give you my opinions as well. With that, let’s get into the decks.
Gruul Prowess
Gruul Prowess – Budget OTJ Standard Bo1
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
34 uncommon
26 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (18)
Instants (12)
Sorceries (4)
60 Cards
$45.96
Let’s start with one of my favorite archetypes. I have been a fan of playing aggressive Gruul strategies since my first days as a wizard. Thanks to the release of Slickshot Show-Off, this deck becomes a force to be reckoned with in Standard and also in Pioneer/Explorer.
This means that crafting the rares from this deck will not only help you have a Standard deck but also an Explorer one.
If we look down below at the upgraded list, from the main deck only Boseiju, Who Endures, and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance rotates. Both are easily replaceable for 2 basic lands.
Gruul Prowess – Machida Takatoshi Champions Cup 1st Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
25 rare
23 uncommon
12 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (20)
Instants (11)
Sorceries (1)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$238.52
Sideboard
15 Cards
$39.17
- Lands: Copperline Gorge, Karplusan Forest
- Ubiquitous Rares: Slickshot Show-Off, Fugitive Codebreaker
- Specific Rares: Questing Druid, Case of the Crimson Pulse
- Last crafts: Boseiju, Who Endures, Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance + Sideboard if you go for Bo3.
Mono-Blue Tempo
Budget Mono-Blue Tempo – OTJ Standard
by Bohe
Standard
Tempo
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
16 uncommon
44 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (22)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$32.72
Mono-Blue has always been a good place to start in Standard. Its upgraded version plays a low number of rares and despite this, it can be highly competitive.
The style is completely different from Gruul Prowess. You want to play one creature when you can protect it. From there, you want to control your opponent’s plays with counterspells and bounce effects.
Consider and Fading Hope are important tools that will rotate. However, finding good replacements is surely going to be possible.
Mono-Blue Tempo – Harper Wilson MagicCon Chicago 15th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Tempo
best of 3
0 mythic
9 rare
10 uncommon
41 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (10)
Instants (23)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$44.46
Sideboard
15 Cards
$88.23
- Specific Rares: Haughty Djinn, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel,
- Last Crafts: March of Swirling Mist, Cryptic Coat + Sideboard if you go for Bo3; Ledger Shredder for last, it will rotate.
Simic Artifacts
Budget Simic Artifacts – OTJ Standard
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
26 uncommon
34 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (26)
Sorceries (2)
Enchantments (10)
60 Cards
$30.04
I think this archetype is underrated. It’s not popular enough, however, many good players have taken this deck to incredible win streaks on Arena or good tournament finishes.
It plans to use artifacts like Gingerbrute and Tough Cookie+ food and map tokens to exert fast pressure thanks to Zoetic Glyph.
The upgraded list has Sentinel of the Nameless City, an amazing rare that sees play in different archetypes in the format. Only Boseiju, Who Endures and Dreamroot Cascade will rotate, both being replaceable; every other rare will stay on the format making this deck rotation-proof.
Simic Artifacts – Brian Flynn RCQ @ NY 8th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
6 mythic
31 rare
14 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (24)
Sorceries (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$369.2
Sideboard
15 Cards
$46.13
- Lands: Yavimaya Coast, Restless Vinestalk
- Ubiquitous Rare: Sentinel of the Nameless City, Subterranean Schooner
- Specific Mythic: Agatha's Soul Cauldron
- Specific Rare: Kitsail Larcenist, Surge Engine, Teething Wurmlet
- Last crafts: Boseiju, Who Endures, Dreamroot Cascade + Sideboard if you go for Bo3.
Selesnya Toxic
Budget Selesnya Toxic – OTJ Standard
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
24 uncommon
36 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (22)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (4)
60 Cards
$35.4
This is an aggressive deck that is looking to win via poison rather than direct damage, and has a lot of good tools to set this up including combat tricks and protection spells to ensure you can connect with your toxic creatures.
I choose this deck for two reasons. First; it’s an archetype designed for destroying 5-Color Domain, and even if that archetype will probably disappear after rotation, if any other deck tries to emulate what Domain does, Toxic will be ready to crush them.
In the second place, just like my other recommendations, most rares and mythic cards will remain legal on the format after Bloomborrow’s release.
You have two options for upgrading. Keep the Selesnya route of going aggro, or Bant, an iteration of the archetype that plays Blue for Venerated Rotpriest + March of the Swirling Mist combo. Just keep in mind that this combo will rotate.
Selesnya Toxic – Latke MTGO Challenge 8th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
37 rare
15 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (23)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$276.98
Sideboard
15 Cards
$59.11
- Lands: Brushland, Razorverge Thicket
- Specific Rares: The Seedcore Bloated Contaminator, Skrelv, Defector Mite, Venerated Rotpriest, Skrelv's Hive
- Last crafts: Mirrex, Boseiju, Who Endures, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Overgrown Farmland + Sideboard if you go for Bo3.
Bant Toxic – Kasai Takahide Champions Cup 6th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
37 rare
13 uncommon
10 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (18)
Instants (16)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$207.14
Sideboard
15 Cards
$14.89
- Lands: Adarkar Wastes Razorverge Thicket, Seachrome Coast, Yavimaya Coast
- Ubiquitous Rare: Three Steps Ahead
- Specific Rares: The Seedcore Skrelv, Defector Mite, Venerated Rotpriest, Skrelv's Hive,
March of the Swirling Mist . - Last crafts: Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Mirrex, Otawara, Soaring City, + Sideboard if you go for Bo3.
Boros Convoke
Budget Boros Convoke – OTJ Standard
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
24 uncommon
36 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (22)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (4)
60 Cards
$34.52
When Gleeful Demolition was released, this archetype start being relevant. However, it was Novice Inspector who put this archetype on a new level.
Just as Gruul Prowess, aiming for Boros Heroic will also give you a new deck to play with on Explorer. In both formats, this archetype is explosive and the true form of aggressiveness going wide. If your opponent doesn’t interfere with your plan before turn 3, they will surely be dead on turn 4.
Also, even if Voldaren Epicure, a key card of the deck will rotate, replace it seems not impossible. Also, the low number of specific rares make this deck less expensive.
Boros Convoke – Sapoa MTGO Super Qualifier 1st Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
2 mythic
27 rare
17 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (28)
Instants (2)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$229.8
Sideboard
15 Cards
$45.67
- Lands: Battlefield Forge Inspiring Vantage
- Ubiquitous Rares: Cavern of Souls, Get Lost, Sanguine Evangelist
- Specific Rares: Knight-Errant of Eos, Warden of the Inner Sky, Warleader's Call
- Last Crafts: Thran Portal Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Mirrex, Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance + Sideboard if you go for Bo3.
Orzhov Aggro
Budget Orzhov Aggro – OTJ Standard
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
0 rare
21 uncommon
39 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (29)
60 Cards
$32.02
One of the new archetypes in the format is Orzhov Aggro. Caustic Bronco was one of the best performing cards of Outlaws of Thunder Junction Pro Tour, and without a doubt, this archetype is going to stay for a while around Standard.
Is true that many of they key cards are rares or mythics. However, many of them are great crafts that will not rotate, and many of the commons and uncommons you will craft for this budget variant are cards you will be using for a long time like Deep-Cavern Bat, Novice Inspector, Cut Down, or Go for the Throat.
Orzhov Aggro – EiJunCHN MTGO Super Qualifier 6th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
9 mythic
32 rare
9 uncommon
10 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (23)
Enchantments (3)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$430.66
Sideboard
15 Cards
$65.25
- Lands: Caves of Koilos, Concealed Courtyard, Restless Fortress
- Ubiquitous Mythic: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
- Ubiquitous Rares: Lord Skitter, Sewer King, Liliana of the Veil, Virtue of Loyalty, Sanguine Evangelist + Preacher of the Schism it’s on the sideboard, but can be played on the main deck and it’s an amazing creature.
- Specific Mythics: Hostile Investigator
- Specific Rares: Caustic Bronco
- Last crafts: Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Mirrex, Shattered Sanctum, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire + Sideboard for Bo3
End Step
Standard became a three years format not long ago. Thanks to this change, crafting rares and mythics for playing the archetype is less painful and you can enjoy your new deck more time. If you go for archetypes like Gruul Prowess or Boros Heroic, you will also have Explorer decks almost ready for action.
Don’t be afraid of playing Standard with budget decks. Enjoy MTG Arena don’t have to be an expensive experience. With this archetypes you will have tons of fun and even with the budget versions, climbing to high ranks is possible.
Let us know your thoughts on this and any other MTG-related topics in the MTG Arena Community Discord, on my Twitter, and in the comment section of this article. I will gladly answer any of your questions about what to craft first, other budget options, etc.
Don’t forget that I have started providing personal coaching services for Magic the Gathering and Marvel Snap. If you want to contact me, look for me:
- On Discord as bohettv
- On my Twitter
- Via email at [email protected]
- On Twitch
Thank you so much for reaching this last paragraph and remember; don’t forget to smile every day; it surely makes a difference.
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Bohe
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