You play MTG Arena with a fresh account and grind it out to spend as little as possible.
For paper? I hope you like 'L's in your daily diet as you are going to be eating them unless you fork over all that cash. Even the supposed "budget" decks are still a $35-95 price tag, but those have no presence in the meta and for good reason.
It really depends on your definition of budget and... well, how skillful you are.
There are decks in the Meta that are both cheap and strong enough to win an event like FNM with. Here are two mono red decks that have won competitive standard events in the last week (links to mtggoldfish.com): Link1 and Link2.
On the same site there is a budget deck section with decks on the cheaper side that one of the site's host brews up and plays for testing. Some of those turn out to be quite well placed in the meta.
You have to remember that the top Meta decks are not decks that win 100% of the time, but rather sometning like 55% of the time, so as long as you are happy to win some and lose some, you can have a lot of fun with budget decks.
Historically a mono-coloured aggro deck is one of the better bets for winning on a budget. Been a ton of effective red decks in the recent past but don't know how cheap they were. Can personally vouch for how good mono-blue tempo was last standard and that was pretty damn cheap too
I've done fairly well with budget decks against the "top tier decks". Mono black control is cheap and kicks butt. Budget eldrazi arent bad, same for budget infect (mono green). Like others have said , your skill level plays into it a bunch as well.
The short answer is yes but typically there will be some individual decks you can't beat while meta decks have game against everything.
I played a lot of UR Drakes over the last few years and at times the lands were the only rares in my deck and I was smashing people. Cackling drake/ pteramander decks
In my opinion Generally a Budget Deck is never going to Win against a competetive Deck, if equally skilled players meet on nobody gets extremely Lucky.
However a Veteran player can easily outmaneuver a Newbie playing budget against competetive. It also really depends on the Format.
However if a Budget Deck stood a chance playing against the "big boys" then it wouldn't be budget no longer, as everybody would go and buy the cards to build it themselves.
Depends, on what platform you play, where you play, what deck/s you play against metawise...so on so forth.
Arena...not very often. I'm aware there is a budget mono red that will pull in wins. Gates CAN pull in wins also...but otherwise you're pushing it. And if you end up being matched up all the time like me..
Paper? Somehow I went 4-1 FNM (at a proper place, not some back alley LGS full of noobs)with a Gruul deck and the only rares were 4x Gruul Spellbreaker. This included decks like Sultai Uro, Top 8 Gruul with Questing Beasts, and even UG Flash.
if your opponent gets mana screwed, you can win against him with anything.
that said, even in regular situations, if you're a very good deck builded and very good at making metagame analysis, you can indeed build a rogue deck that does well because it will be tailored to beat the strongest decks in that particular meta and nothing else.
but that's more likely in larger formats like Pioneer, Modern and even Legacy.
building a full rogue that's strong enough in a format as limited as standard will be pretty hard.
I started playing MtG again about 2 weeks ago, after like 20 year break. Saw and ad for Arena, saying could play for free, so decided to check it out.
I'm very glad I checked it out!
Up until a couple days ago, it was SOOOO frustrating though. Teferi and Uro almost made me quit.
I realized I was gonna have to put some money into it, to get cards... or wait a very long time, earning the gold, and getting a decent amount of cards.
Well, I spent $100 on gems, and played a bunch of drafts. Core 21 sealed, and Ikoria quick drafts, and wasn't doing very well at all... Planeswalkers seemed crazy, crazy overpowered.
So, started watching some videos of streamers, drafting, tips, etc...
Looked up a bunch of Arena budget decks. I don't like playing control, and I absolutely hated every Teferi and Uro deck I kept coming up against. The first mill deck I came up against was eye opening though, LOL.
My first attempt was at a lifelink Vito deck. Spent all the rare and Mythic wildcards on appropriate white weenie type planeswalkers and Vito.
Played it for a couple days, but it just wasn't fast enough with an average draw to beat Uro or Teferi, and just a slight bit of disruption really shut it down.
Two days ago, finally assembled a ghetto version of the Boros cycling deck, one without the shock lands (because I didn't have the wildcard rares available).
But, I was still winning higher percentage than my lifegain deck was. A lot higher.
I am still missing 1 shock land. But, I am still over 60% win rate at Gold, about 2 weeks after beginning to play again, and a super limited card set.
This deck should be fairly easy to assemble in Arena, with just a few Ikoria drafts and the noob promo codes and redeeming the packs, and spending the uncommon and rare wildcards wisely.
So far, really enjoying beating Uro, Teferi, and cat oven decks with this budget 'cheese' deck (IMO, though, there is NO greater cheese than Teferi and Uro)...
Lurrus Cycle
1 Lurrus (as companion, rare)
4 Flourishing Fox (uncommon)
4 Footfall Crater (uncommon, can cast to push a Fox thru past tokens/weenies, will usually cycle though)
4 Valiant Rescuer (uncommon)
4 Startling Development
4 Drannith Healing
4 Drannith Stinger
4 Go for Blood
4 Shredded Sails
4 Memory Leak
4 Frostveil Ambush
3 Zenith Flare (uncommon, some run 4... 4 was getting me 2 too quickly, stopping the cycling too soon often)
4 Sacred Foundry (rare, but very important... don't want lands coming into play tapped, but, I started with zero, and was still winning. 1 turn slower, using lands that come into play tapped, often too slow versus control decks)
9 Plains
5 Mountain
This is what I'm currently running.
Essentially, my process has been to try and drop about any 2 threats... 2 fox, a fox and a rescuer, stinger and fox, whatever...
Cycle half a dozen times (cycle on your turn, AND opponents turn, when have Rescuer up... it only makes 1 token per turn).
Attack every chance can.
Cast a Zenith Flare (or 2) to the head for the win.
Drop a healer when going up against mono color agro decks.
Keep threats in hand, if mass removal likely. Lurrus after a shatter is amazing.
Uro has a hard time dealing with this deck, because it comes back so quick after a Shatter. Zenith Flare to the head, when they tap out to cast Uro or Typhoon, or whatever.
Cat oven has hard time dealing with Rescuer tokens. Can make far more tokens than they can deal with.
Creature decks have hard time dealing with all
By no means unbeatable... Merfolk have actually beaten me several times, and still get beat by Uro and Teferi sometimes. But, for only 5 rare cards (and able to play it with zero, honestly, to decent degree of win rate) it's got a decent shot.
Looking for suggestions on Standard Budget decks (leaning towards anything Black or Black/Blue).I am looking to put one together and start playing Standard ASAP. Feel free to share, I would appreciate the help!
thanks guys!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
For paper? I hope you like 'L's in your daily diet as you are going to be eating them unless you fork over all that cash. Even the supposed "budget" decks are still a $35-95 price tag, but those have no presence in the meta and for good reason.
There are decks in the Meta that are both cheap and strong enough to win an event like FNM with. Here are two mono red decks that have won competitive standard events in the last week (links to mtggoldfish.com): Link1 and Link2.
On the same site there is a budget deck section with decks on the cheaper side that one of the site's host brews up and plays for testing. Some of those turn out to be quite well placed in the meta.
You have to remember that the top Meta decks are not decks that win 100% of the time, but rather sometning like 55% of the time, so as long as you are happy to win some and lose some, you can have a lot of fun with budget decks.
UR Mizzix of the Izmagnus ~~~ Build your own win-condition: Finite Spellslinging
UR Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer ~~~ We are the Borg. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
WUB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic ~~~ A Guide to dying slowly
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose ~~~ Marchesa's undying Marionettes
RGW Mayael the Anima ~~~ All Hail the Big Chungus
GWU Chulane, Teller of Tales ~~~ Permanents Only ETB Shenanigans
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant ~~~ Sidisi's Restless Servants
WUBRG The Ur-Dragon ~~~ Dragons eat your face
in modern for less than $200
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-mono-red-blitz-96137#paper
and i pretty much think that with $300 you get both a pioneer and a modern deck (since many cards overlap in red deck wins/burns deck)
I played a lot of UR Drakes over the last few years and at times the lands were the only rares in my deck and I was smashing people. Cackling drake/ pteramander decks
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
However a Veteran player can easily outmaneuver a Newbie playing budget against competetive. It also really depends on the Format.
However if a Budget Deck stood a chance playing against the "big boys" then it wouldn't be budget no longer, as everybody would go and buy the cards to build it themselves.
Arena...not very often. I'm aware there is a budget mono red that will pull in wins. Gates CAN pull in wins also...but otherwise you're pushing it. And if you end up being matched up all the time like me..
Paper? Somehow I went 4-1 FNM (at a proper place, not some back alley LGS full of noobs)with a Gruul deck and the only rares were 4x Gruul Spellbreaker. This included decks like Sultai Uro, Top 8 Gruul with Questing Beasts, and even UG Flash.
that said, even in regular situations, if you're a very good deck builded and very good at making metagame analysis, you can indeed build a rogue deck that does well because it will be tailored to beat the strongest decks in that particular meta and nothing else.
but that's more likely in larger formats like Pioneer, Modern and even Legacy.
building a full rogue that's strong enough in a format as limited as standard will be pretty hard.
I'm very glad I checked it out!
Up until a couple days ago, it was SOOOO frustrating though. Teferi and Uro almost made me quit.
I realized I was gonna have to put some money into it, to get cards... or wait a very long time, earning the gold, and getting a decent amount of cards.
Well, I spent $100 on gems, and played a bunch of drafts. Core 21 sealed, and Ikoria quick drafts, and wasn't doing very well at all... Planeswalkers seemed crazy, crazy overpowered.
So, started watching some videos of streamers, drafting, tips, etc...
Looked up a bunch of Arena budget decks. I don't like playing control, and I absolutely hated every Teferi and Uro deck I kept coming up against. The first mill deck I came up against was eye opening though, LOL.
My first attempt was at a lifelink Vito deck. Spent all the rare and Mythic wildcards on appropriate white weenie type planeswalkers and Vito.
Played it for a couple days, but it just wasn't fast enough with an average draw to beat Uro or Teferi, and just a slight bit of disruption really shut it down.
Two days ago, finally assembled a ghetto version of the Boros cycling deck, one without the shock lands (because I didn't have the wildcard rares available).
But, I was still winning higher percentage than my lifegain deck was. A lot higher.
I am still missing 1 shock land. But, I am still over 60% win rate at Gold, about 2 weeks after beginning to play again, and a super limited card set.
This deck should be fairly easy to assemble in Arena, with just a few Ikoria drafts and the noob promo codes and redeeming the packs, and spending the uncommon and rare wildcards wisely.
So far, really enjoying beating Uro, Teferi, and cat oven decks with this budget 'cheese' deck (IMO, though, there is NO greater cheese than Teferi and Uro)...
Lurrus Cycle
1 Lurrus (as companion, rare)
4 Flourishing Fox (uncommon)
4 Footfall Crater (uncommon, can cast to push a Fox thru past tokens/weenies, will usually cycle though)
4 Valiant Rescuer (uncommon)
4 Startling Development
4 Drannith Healing
4 Drannith Stinger
4 Go for Blood
4 Shredded Sails
4 Memory Leak
4 Frostveil Ambush
3 Zenith Flare (uncommon, some run 4... 4 was getting me 2 too quickly, stopping the cycling too soon often)
4 Sacred Foundry (rare, but very important... don't want lands coming into play tapped, but, I started with zero, and was still winning. 1 turn slower, using lands that come into play tapped, often too slow versus control decks)
9 Plains
5 Mountain
This is what I'm currently running.
Essentially, my process has been to try and drop about any 2 threats... 2 fox, a fox and a rescuer, stinger and fox, whatever...
Cycle half a dozen times (cycle on your turn, AND opponents turn, when have Rescuer up... it only makes 1 token per turn).
Attack every chance can.
Cast a Zenith Flare (or 2) to the head for the win.
Drop a healer when going up against mono color agro decks.
Keep threats in hand, if mass removal likely. Lurrus after a shatter is amazing.
Uro has a hard time dealing with this deck, because it comes back so quick after a Shatter. Zenith Flare to the head, when they tap out to cast Uro or Typhoon, or whatever.
Cat oven has hard time dealing with Rescuer tokens. Can make far more tokens than they can deal with.
Creature decks have hard time dealing with all
By no means unbeatable... Merfolk have actually beaten me several times, and still get beat by Uro and Teferi sometimes. But, for only 5 rare cards (and able to play it with zero, honestly, to decent degree of win rate) it's got a decent shot.
BTW, I really really hate Teferi and Uro...
thanks guys!