Budget Builds and the Fun That Comes With Them

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FoxM1
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Post by FoxM1 » 3 years ago

Recently my playgroup and I have decided to start building decks that are within a certain budget.

We did this several reasons:
1. One of our playgroup's members has a habit of going ham on every deck he builds. He's always got his decks loaded to the brim in ramp and mana rocks that are expensive as hell. This makes it impossible for the rest of the playgroup to keep up or try to experiment, leading to everyone's decks feeling samey and boring because they all would run the same stuff just to keep up.
2. We wanted to have experimentation be a large factor. As stated before, we kept just building the same decks over and over. This has really pushed us to find either alternatives, or just new ways to mess around with our decks.
3. Covid sucks, Money's getting tighter as everyone is hoping to not lose their jobs. We needed a better way to have fun and not lose the enjoyment of building new decks.

Mainly, we chose that no cards in the deck should be over $1 at the time of building the deck (Pricing determined by Scryfall). I have to say, this is the most fun I have had building decks in a long time, as for me the money is a big deal as I could only get 1 deck built every 6 months (if that). Now I've gotten about 5 decks built and purchased within 2 months and it has been a blast. I've recently built a Grismold, the Dreadsower deck. For only $25, That decks goes quick. I'll be on turn 6 and Grismold is usually up around 30+ power.

Has anyone else done something like this? Any cards you guys have found to be extremely effective in such a lost cost form?

I think one of my favorite cards I have found and started playing with is Tragic Slip. Also, why is Reconnaissance Mission so much cheaper than Coastal Piracy? It's so good!

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

FoxM1 wrote:
3 years ago
Also, why is Reconnaissance Mission so much cheaper than Coastal Piracy? It's so good!
Recon was printed in a recent limited set and a recent commander product while Piracy is a much older card that has only seen a recent reprint in a supplemental product.

As far as building on a budget, check out some of @bobthefunny's recent posts on this board and the Decklists sub forum. He has one thread that is a start on a master list of budget cards for new commander players and some cool budget decklists.
FoxM1 wrote:
3 years ago
Any cards you guys have found to be extremely effective in such a lost cost form?
This is a big, big subject here. If you're sticking to less than $1 per card it certainly limits the scope, but I'll tell ya there are a LOT of hidden gems at .99 or less out there. I'll just share a few that I I love personally and have had a blast with recently:
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 3 years ago

I used to love brewing PDH decks (uncommon commander, all commons).

I once made a 2DH version of Phelddagrif, which is everything sub $2.

Building within restrictions is great...but I don't love budget. Partly because I don't think it's a great metric for constraining power. Lots of cool fun cards are > $1, bad fixing isn't fun and you have pretty bad fixing on a tight budget. And it doesn't necessarily keep gross stuff out either. Plus prices fluctuate and they're different in different places, so that's potentially annoying.

Personally I keep my budgets from spiraling out of control by keeping a singleton collection, and just disassembling the decks I get bored of to make new things. Then I only need one of each of my expensive cards, but I can still use them in every deck.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
3 years ago
Personally I keep my budgets from spiraling out of control by keeping a singleton collection, and just disassembling the decks I get bored of to make new things. Then I only need one of each of my expensive cards, but I can still use them in every deck.
This was one of my biggest Magic "level ups". I have a bunch of decklists and they share cards so I don't have to keep multiples of any given card and every format staple. The only real "downside" is that it's tougher to have multiple decks ready to play at a moment's notice, but since I keep everything in the same sleeves it's really no big deal to refer to my lists and switch cards around when I want to play a different deck. An organized collection makes it trivial tbh. Like, 5 minutes of semi-hassle but a cost savings of hundreds - and probably thousands for bigger collections and more decks. Worth it for me personally, but I understand why some folks don't like it.

In OP's case playing vs other budget decks, I don't think the pain of suboptimal fixing will be felt as much. Though it is true budget doesn't necessarily keep gross stuff out. I'm sure a budget discard deck could be made and ruin some fun for others.
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

I have a personal policy of trying to never spend more than $2/card. There are certainly some significant deck improvements that can be gained by increasing that budget, but I haven't encountered any issues with getting decks into the 7-8 range at that budget. It also means that I feel less bad about how much I spend on cardboard.

....the manabases can feel a bit slow / clunky at times though. It's possible to get a functional manabase over time by picking up dual lands when they get printed into standard, but most of my new decks start with a lot of taplands because I don't have many spare lands lying around.

I'll also call out that a lower base power level makes decks much easier to upgrade over time as new cards get released and old cards get reprinted. If you're running a fully optimized decklist, it's pretty hard to make cuts.... but if you leave room for improvement, it's a lot easier to slot in new cards. This can give decks a lot more longevity.

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Post by WizardMN » 3 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
3 years ago
Building within restrictions is great...but I don't love budget. Partly because I don't think it's a great metric for constraining power. Lots of cool fun cards are > $1, bad fixing isn't fun and you have pretty bad fixing on a tight budget. And it doesn't necessarily keep gross stuff out either. Plus prices fluctuate and they're different in different places, so that's potentially annoying.
I have tried this because I feel that I fall into category 1 in the main post and I thought it would be more fun for others when I wasn't running duals, and Mana Drain, and Mana Crypt.

But then one of two things happened with those decks: they either sucked or were just as unfun to play against. The first deck was a Tolsimir Wolfblood deck that I made into Trostani after a while. Looking it up, it is still only about $115 and it was under $100 when I built it two years ago.

But it just didn't have any "pop" to it. I chose the colors because I really liked my Karametra deck and felt it was a good deck to build on a budget. But because of certain exclusions, I just didn't have fun playing it.

The next few were either comborific or just a ton of control. Sygg started off as budget and was probably the most fun for everyone since it wasn't overpowered control but it was still a bunch of control. And my original Queen Marchesa ended up using a bunch of cheap combos to even stand a chance and then went so far into combo that it wasn't fun for anyone.

So, I don't think budget alone is enough to reign in decks. I play what I want now which omits combos and tries to go light on control (for the most part; Sygg has been rebuilt and goes far heavier into it).

I don't go as far as to only have single versions of cards but I do try to build my decks with the fun of the table in mind. I am currently doing a league and it is filled with tutors which I normally wouldn't do. And I can tell it is not fun to play against Expropriate and Blatant Thievery every game. So I think there is more to making the games fun, even if the deck is a bit more powerful, than just limiting the budget.

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Post by pokken » 3 years ago

The ultimate deal breaker for me in a commander deck is awkward Mana. So that pretty much puts me off any budget deck of more than one color. And I'm really particular about mono decks. I'm usually playing them because I like the absurdly expensive lands that benefit from being mono.

I think ultimately that people who need a budget limitation to make decks appropriate to the group power level are going to have failings in other areas that make them kinda tedious to deal with so I don't really see the point. I'm more prone to just have the hard conversations.

I find themes and restrictions like "don't play more than one copy of a nonland card across your decks" make more sense to breed creativity. Avoiding picking an overpowered general is probably the single best thing you can do before that.

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Post by folding_music » 3 years ago

I like the feel of underpowered decks, one land a turn, blocking, getting into topdeck wars etc. I'm all in on budget commander but can only every find opponents who wanna play ramp and commanders with ridiculous abilities and the yearly official Commander decks just keep encouraging ramp ramp ramp ramp

I just wanna get out of the format of Commander entirely but it's got all the real estate and there's nowhere to go except to a different game entirely. i really empathize with the first post but that IS Wizards's vision of the game.

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Post by NZB2323 » 3 years ago

I built an Edric deck that only has commons in it that's pretty fun.
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rg Morophon, the infinite Kavu Eowyn, human tribal Legolas, voltron control Wb Tymna/Ravos cleric tribal Neheb, Chicago Bulls tribal Ug Edric pauper

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 3 years ago

NZB2323 wrote:
3 years ago
I built an Edric deck that only has commons in it that's pretty fun.
I think the all-commons restriction works a lot better than budget. There's a lot of effects that don't really exist at lower rarities so you can't do the same things you always do in EDH. With a budget you can still do the same stuff, you just have to play the worse version of those effects.

All commons is rough on the manabase though.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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duducrash
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Post by duducrash » 3 years ago

Yeah, I build mostly on a budget and it's really funny what cards you get attached to. Even though I build on a budget I have a large enough previous collection that I'll run some cards that "break the budget" because I had them arround.

I have this Chulane deck that plays most of the mana dorks I had arround, I opened a Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and thought "hmm... I think I can dump my whole deck on the battlefield if things work out" So I decided to build it. as I said before, not all cards are budget, but I didnt shell out for new cards, and that made me look into ... different cards. I somehow ended up with a planeswalker deck Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage in the build and its a HOUSE. I mean, as good as a worse Dramatic Reversal Can be, but you see what I mean?

I guess the fun things in budget is that we go towards stuff that arent mainstream and end up having unique fun

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Post by Peterhausenn » 3 years ago

i think my biggest issue with budget builds is pricing the cards. i have had many of the cards in my collection for years and i have no idea what their value is anymore. some cards i expect to be budget turn out to be relatively expensive. most versions of command tower are above the dollar mark even though it has been printed many times. pongify used to sit under the dollar mark and now its well over five. i wouldnt consider that budget, but what if i put it my deck back when it was still $.75. do i need to take it out because its no longer budget? just way too much book keeping for my taste. also as someone who lives in another country where edh isnt that popular i can usually find cards for half the price that you might find on tcgplayer or some other popular card sites. sure the site says its a two dollar card but i picked it up for half that or even less (to give an example of how the pricing is different here its not uncommon to find sol rings for less than a dollar). so which price do i use for the budget? again, i just want to build the deck with out contacting an accountant to figure out the numbers.

another issue with budget builds is that it can be difficult to compete with decks not restrained with budgetary options. now in a perfect world the people at your table are all playing decks similar in power to yours but as this year has shown us, the world isnt perfect. depending on who shows up to play each week my budget deck can be severely under powered or in some cases even overpowered. sure i am going to get trashed by atraxa guy and not have much fun, but i dont really enjoy smacking around crab tribal either.

as far as budget/pauper land bases, i have never really noticed an issue. that said i typically stayed with two color decks and there are many budget friendly options if you want to play a three colored deck. yes many will come into play tapped, but ive found that i can usually limit that to five or less and just run more basics than normal.

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FoxM1
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Post by FoxM1 » 3 years ago

Peterhausenn wrote:
3 years ago
i think my biggest issue with budget builds is pricing the cards. i have had many of the cards in my collection for years and i have no idea what their value is anymore. some cards i expect to be budget turn out to be relatively expensive.
We use scryfall as our price guideline. If you can look up the card with the 1.00 or less query, it is budget.
Peterhausenn wrote:
3 years ago
but what if i put it my deck back when it was still $.75. do i need to take it out because its no longer budget?
The rule for us is: If you put it in when it was budget, it can stay in the deck when it isn't.
folding_music wrote:
3 years ago
I like the feel of underpowered decks, one land a turn, blocking, getting into topdeck wars etc. I'm all in on budget commander but can only every find opponents who wanna play ramp and commanders with ridiculous abilities and the yearly official Commander decks just keep encouraging ramp ramp ramp ramp
I completely agree with you. I really like steady as she goes decks where you slowly play it out and you compete for combat and not just combo. Our playgroup has kind of agreed to not try and use busted commanders. We want to use the cool ones, but purely broken commanders are kind of a no. We had one person put together a Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis deck, and even in budget he just overwhelms the board. Turn 3 and he is out and ready to pummel. He is surprisingly busted. So we ended up kind of agreeing not to use the harshest of commanders.

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 3 years ago

Have you considered playing Pauper EDH? Its great on the budget as even someone trying to min max can really only spend so much. Its nice in that you can usually build a fairly optima deck and it often only costs like $30 for the whole deck and thats assuming you need to order everything. There are a few cards out there that can push that cost up but they are usually few and far between.

There tend to be two versions of pauper EDH. One of which uses any legend legal as a commander then the rest of the deck is commons but the one I actually prefer uses any uncommon creature as the legend. The reason I prefer the second is that it opens up new commander options and it helps it feel less of a low power EDH.
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FoxM1
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Post by FoxM1 » 3 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
3 years ago
Have you considered playing Pauper EDH? Its great on the budget as even someone trying to min max can really only spend so much. Its nice in that you can usually build a fairly optima deck and it often only costs like $30 for the whole deck and thats assuming you need to order everything. There are a few cards out there that can push that cost up but they are usually few and far between.

There tend to be two versions of pauper EDH. One of which uses any legend legal as a commander then the rest of the deck is commons but the one I actually prefer uses any uncommon creature as the legend. The reason I prefer the second is that it opens up new commander options and it helps it feel less of a low power EDH.
We discussed that way long ago but that never came back up. I actually might bring that up to my pod. I immediately know who I would want to play: Drogskol Captain

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Post by rogerandover » 3 years ago

PDH is really a great format, and still relatively unexplored. It's mostly straight up casual, but you can actaully build some really nasty combo-decks that go off at turn 5-ish.

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