Cheap Standard Decks

Standard forum

Posted on Dec. 25, 2012, 8:33 p.m. by ikethammond

Looking for creative Standard decks that won't hit the wallet too hard. Always open to anything, really. If you've got some suggestions, just let me know. Even anything you're working on or have seen. Just trying not to break the bank with cards like Thundermaw Hellkite and Thragtusk .

DaCeltics says... #2

December 25, 2012 9:08 p.m.

Jimhawk says... #3

If you want creative and cheap, then go with any of the infinite mana defender combo decks. If you just want cheap, pick a good aggro shell like Mono-Red or Zombies (UB or Mono-Black are cheaper than RB or GB) and adapt it to your liking.

Or you could build something of your own revolving around a theme; there are a lot of things you can do with the Izzet Staticaster + Nightshade Peddler combo, for example.

December 25, 2012 9:17 p.m.

acbooster says... #4

I'm currently running a pretty good Izzet Burn deck that only costs about $30 or so dollars. If that's not cheap, I don't know what is. Give me a bit to put it up.

December 25, 2012 9:20 p.m.

acbooster says... #5

Here it is: deck:izzet-burn-25-12-12-2. Just barely breaks $31, plenty of room to tweak what you want and what you don't want. I got a RtR fat pack and 2 Deck Builder kits for Christmas, so I built with what I got from those.

December 25, 2012 9:31 p.m.

Fleetfiend says... #6

You can also make some relatively cheap Azorius control decks if you skimp out on Detention Sphere .

December 26, 2012 12:16 a.m.

tnath83 says... #7

Mono black has been a lot of fun and competitive for me and its right around $40. Here's my build. Touch of Death

December 26, 2012 12:26 a.m.

ChiefBell says... #8

Zombies, in my experience, aren't cheap once you try and grab the more competitive cards like Gravecrawler , card:Geralf's Messenger, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born etc. Mono red can be cheap but everyone always runs something like Ash Zealot or Vexing Devil which are both expensive cards. Red gets very expensive when you factor in Bonfire of the Damned .

Azorius is quite cheap (but again there are cards that are expensive), mono-black but not zombies is cheap-ish (but again cards like Liliana and Desecration demon are slightly expensive). I made a mono-black deck for $40 that was rated really highly quite a while ago (but is still standard legal) here - deck:no-hand-for-you-22-11-12-1

December 26, 2012 7:42 a.m.

wreckedd says... #9

Wild defiance/Fencing ace decks are usually quite cheap, mine is coming up at $50 but I have special land and a few expensive cards, so I'm sure something just as effective could be made for $20. deck:defy-the-wild

December 26, 2012 8:06 a.m.

DaShPrime says... #10

I have an enchantment deck that's around $44, but easily reducible to $20 or even $14 if you replace the Angel of Serenity and Detention Spheres. The only reason the Angel is in there is because I happened to get one in a booster. Here's the link Enchanting Stalkers. Basically try to win as quickly as possible.

December 26, 2012 8:46 a.m.

Nephilim says... #11

there's a monogreen door to nothingness deck i saw a while back, was only $30 and was insanely effective

December 26, 2012 10 a.m.

joshwise7 says... #12

go check out my discard deck on my profile its very cheap and its had lots of success. it cost about $28

December 26, 2012 1:17 p.m.

hthi1801 says... #13

If you dont care too much about wether the dack is standard or not, try using my Pumped infection. It is very effective, yet sadly not modern. it is very cheap, around $12 on average. thats as cheap as some intro decks, yet this deck is sure to pwn. Feel free to change up the deck! :)

April 1, 2013 9:11 p.m.

sylvannos says... #14

Red Deck Wins without the Hellrider s or Thundermaw Hellkite s is really cheap to make and doesn't need shock lands.

There's also B/G aggro with Predator Ooze , Ulvenwald Tracker , and Rancor that's really freakin' good but most people aren't aware it exists, so the cards can be found for $1 or less.

April 2, 2013 1:33 a.m.

Cyrrus says... #15

Most of my decks are made for budget. have a look at 2/3 that appear on my profile wall

April 2, 2013 1:47 a.m.

l33tpwnage says... #16

Just thought I'd mention a deck I've made: Cheap Mono-Red

I've been looking into building a super-cheap deck and so I made this mono-red deck that is around $10. It performs pretty well and there's plenty of room to make your own changes.

June 19, 2013 4:50 a.m.

WovenNebula says... #17

Hopefully M14 reprints some elves to make those good old fashion 10 dollar deck I remember from 15 years ago

June 19, 2013 5:09 a.m.

Dallie says... #18

Red light indicates the doors are secured. is an idea of how a full-out RDW deck could look. And that "only" clocks in around 125 $. Something some people would consider budget.

June 19, 2013 7:39 a.m.

Barandis says... #19

I second the suggestion from sylvannos above. GB Predator Ooze decks tend to be both cheap and effective, and they're actually really fun to play. About the only downside is that the triple-green from the Ooze sort of requires dual lands, but even if you decide to spring for both Woodland Cemetery and Overgrown Tomb , that's only eight cards (where three-color decks require a lot more). You could get by with Golgari Guildgate in some of those slots if you're really concerned about budget.

You could probably put together a very passable deck for even cheaper than that RDW deck mentioned above, even if you spring for a few dual lands.

Another possibility is some sort of GW Tokens deck. This is the direction that I went a couple months back when I got back into the cardboard rather than playing online and wanted to put together a decent deck without laying out hundreds of dollars right off the bat. This is a tougher proposition because that deck really wants to play a very expensive card in Voice of Resurgence , though it's far from necessary if you're on a budget.

June 19, 2013 8:58 a.m.

Dallie says... #20

@Barandis Predator Ooze decks are good, and yeah, you can definitely make the RDW deck cheaper, though that was just to give some perspective as to how an "uncomprimising" cheap standard deck could be built.

June 19, 2013 9:04 a.m.

Barandis says... #21

Oh, I wasn't being terribly competitive with it. I just took the $125 number and thought about that. In reality, if you're going mono-red, you could probably put together something that's pretty good for even less since you don't have to worry about any dual lands at all, and since a deck whose most expensive creature (mana-wise and dollar-wise) is Hellrider can still be very good.

June 19, 2013 9:29 a.m.

This discussion has been closed