Budget deck price and philosophy?

[RowanKeltizar]

What is your price point for your budget decks and what philosophies do you use when building? Uncommons and commons only? 50$ decks, 100$ decks? Do you tend to lean into your commander more for card advantage and consistency?

I've got an itch to build some inexpensive but fun and somewhat powerful decks and I think my playgroup shares that interest. It seems like choice of commander is pretty important. I would go for 4cmc or less commanders with card advantage. Massacre Girl, Known Killer or Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres are good candidates. Lots of deck design space opens up when you can't include the usual staples.

I've put together a couple of lists here on Nexus, but when I go to add them to my TCGplayer cart it ends up being quite a bit more. I think it's mostly shipping cost. TCGplayer has to choose higher priced singles to put them all into the Direct package to save on shipping otherwise you are adding $1 onto a 0.15 cent card for shipping individually. So, even though the singles prices might really be 50$, by the time all is said and done and you have the cards in hand, you might have spent 75 to 100! Seems like the ideal scenario would be to trade or purchase locally for the singles you are after since most of them are under $1 but I don't really have that option where I live.

[TheGildedGoose]

It depends. I have different budgets for different decks. $1DH, $50, and $100. No real rhyme or reason, but each price point has its challenges.

As for shipping, I never calculate that for price, considering you can get most of the cards from a FLGS bulk bin.

You do tend to lean into your commander more due to a large lack of staple card draw, tutors, or ramp, but more than that synergy really matters. I would also stick to two colored decks. Three colors and up are going to have the sketchiest of manabases, while monocolored decks without powerful staples tend to be underwhelming (commander depending, of course). Card advantage commanders are always good, of course, but I wouldn't discount value, synergy-oriented commanders as well. Two examples that come to mind for me are Old Rutstein and Balmor, Battlemage Captain. Balmor is pretty obviously a go-wide tokens commander, whereas Rutstein is a little more reliant on how it interacts with the rest of the deck to generate incremental value over time.

It's fun. Restrictions breed creativity, right?

[darrenhabib]

I literally just posted a budget list for Anzrag, the Quake-Mole in the deck list section now and comes in around $100.
As you say on Nexus here the price says $70, but when it actually comes to buying from a single source you are going to end up spending more, rather than shopping around for every single cheapest price.
Sure "technically" I could maybe buy it for $50, if I had an LGS that stocked cards. But yeah I buy online.

Most of my budget lists come in around $100 because of this. I sort of have a bunch of budget staples I have for each color, but make the brews because I feel that the unique cards to the deck are all relatively cheap. I find there are about 4 cards each time I'm drafting that are around the $8-$12 range that are custom for the theme but don't include because of price.

[NZB2323]

I have a commons only list for Edric, Spymaster of Trest that cost about $30. The point is most of the cards in Edric are commons anyway, so I wanted to see how good a commons only list could be while saving money. There's just no Beastmaster Ascension, extra turns, Force of Will, or Cyclonic Rift, and no rare lands.

[Treamayne]

what philosophies do you use when building?

My version of "budget" is build with what I already own.
I don't track prices enough to care about building by total value - and I don't track rarity changes enough to care about building by rarity.

My deck "price" is $0 if I didn't buy anything to make it . . .
(It helps that, in paper, I don't own most egregious offenders anyway)

[3drinks]

When I get "the itch", I take the deck I'm looking at and run it through edhrec < average deck < budget filter. I look at it and it's "oh, okay, I see that" or "eww, gross why?" And then I'll see the price on TCGPlayer and decide if that's too much or not for the concept. Often it'll be $35 at the low end to $90 for certain archetypes. There's some outliers, such as when I perused Otharri, Suns' Glory + Zirda, the Dawnwaker rebels it was even cheaper...y'know, because those MMQ rebels are trash lol.

Alesha Birdsh*t was entertaining and unique because Skies is usually a wu archetype and rakdos doesn't typically add a lot to it.

Kei Takahashi slivers because 1) slivers are conventionally 5c, 2) Kei is the Null Rod of commanders because it doesn't do anything and I was challenged to do something with it beyond just being there for the colours.

I guess, my point here is that budget is such an arbitrary metric because prices move a lot and you never know what random card in the next couple weeks of releases will spike because it has some interaction with the new hotness. So just find something you find interesting, add some decent interaction, and don't spend a mortgage payment on cardboard and just have fun. Though I have been known to build to a rarity cap, famously my "Silverblack" Kaalia lists where I'm only using commons and uncommons. That was a lot of fun turning Hoarding Dragon into my toolbox card with the bullets it could get for me.

[PrimevalCommander]

My only budget deck had a goal of $100. That is about as low as I would probably want to go and still get a fully functional deck (with 3 colors at least) without severe limitations on play-ability. It is very commander centric, Sefris of the Hidden Ways, but is very fun to play. I play a bunch of over costed battle cruiser fatties that I can reanimate for minimal investment and beat face with big flyers. Much of the deck is about $0.25 ea, but there are a few high synergy cards above $5.00. Removing all the higher priced cards gets the deck down to about $56, but I would really struggle to get it under $50 because there goes all my check lands and pain lands which enter untapped and fix colors. A $50 deck just sounds like more of a chore when $100 gives me room for a few high synergy pieces that may cost a little more. And a few budget fixing lands that don't suck.

I want to start brewing another budget deck because this one was a big success. My budget will be $100. I won't spend that much, probably like $30-$50 in singles depending on how niche the theme is. The rest comes from my existing collection, primarily the land base.

My first draft at Sefris budget was a big failure. I was playing budget + heavy dungeon theme, which left the power level very low. Probably precon level power. My buddy who was building budget deck along with me built a pretty good +1/+1 counter deck and wiped the floor with me 3 games straight. I was pretty salty because we didn't discuss power level, only budget. I retooled the deck, stripping out the draft chaff dungeon cards and added a ton more looting and value creatures and how it is one of my favorite decks. So sometimes playing at these lower cost brackets require some trial and error to determine what the deck needs when we venture away from the format staples.

[3drinks]

My only budget deck had a goal of $100. That is about as low as I would probably want to go and still get a fully functional deck (with 3 colors at least) without severe limitations on play-ability. It is very commander centric, Sefris of the Hidden Ways, but is very fun to play. I play a bunch of over costed battle cruiser fatties that I can reanimate for minimal investment and beat face with big flyers. Much of the deck is about $0.25 ea, but there are a few high synergy cards above $5.00. Removing all the higher priced cards gets the deck down to about $56, but I would really struggle to get it under $50 because there goes all my check lands and pain lands which enter untapped and fix colors. A $50 deck just sounds like more of a chore when $100 gives me room for a few high synergy pieces that may cost a little more. And a few budget fixing lands that don't suck.

This reminds me, stock in box decks are actually really playable with no changes these days, if you can get them with minimal markup, that's the best budget I'd think. The LotR and Lost Caverns decks are especially good (avoid the big markup on the dinos though).

$45 - $55 for a hundred card list without the memtal calories to put it together or shop online for single parts I'd say is a pretty good spot.

[PrimevalCommander]

Precons are definitely a good start to budget decks. Especially because the are now building them like functioning decks nowadays. I picked up a new capenna naya precon for $35 and it is super playable OOB. If anyone wants to dabble in sub-$50 budget, I'll just pull out the precon and say "I only spent $35 on this". I was also really impressed by the Urza, Chief Artificer deck which was performing very well OOB when someone played it in a pod. The new Caverns of Ixilan Merfolk deck looks very powerful due to the commanders powerful explore ability.

I also have a plan to turn my Radiant, Serra Archangel + Esior, Wardwing Familiar pauper deck into Peasant commons/uncommons only, but I don't really get enough play time to bother with doing that right now. That deck would likely be sub-$50, but only due to the additional restriction placed on it.

[PrimevalCommander]

I think the reason I'm so down on the $50 deck budget is because, while the game is flooded with playable cards under $0.50 due to the flood of products released, there are so many highly synergistic niche cards that hover in the $3.00-$6.00 range that get excluded on such a limited budget. Also mana fixing of anything over 2 colors without green becomes painful at such a tight budget. I think if someone really couldn't spend more than $50 and a group wanted to play at that level, a pre-con game would be a good experience, and extremely easy to start up.

Also I am completely out of my element building at such a low budget. With some trial and error I could certainly get there, but I just don't have enough time to play my other decks to champion a $50 budget meta. If I played a lot more I would be much more accepting of various deck building limitations to breed creativity in my playgroup. I just like the $100 cap as a round number that allows for more flexibility on the high synergy cards that might be a few $$ more than average.

[krakked]

I generally try my best to steer clear from cards that are ten dollars or more, and try to find cheaper versions that do the same but are different way to achieve it
For example, I'm debating if I should buy Bitter Ordeal for an infinite combo or look for a cheaper version, since manabox says that it's eleven dollars. My decks typically come in at 80-100 dollars, so I think I'm doing something right.

[Hermes_]

Kei Takahashi slivers because 1) slivers are conventionally 5c, 2) Kei is the Null Rod of commanders because it doesn't do anything and I was challenged to do something with it beyond just being there for the colours.

Got a deck list?

[3drinks]

I generally try my best to steer clear from cards that are ten dollars or more, and try to find cheaper versions that do the same but are different way to achieve it
For example, I'm debating if I should buy Bitter Ordeal for an infinite combo or look for a cheaper version, since manabox says that it's eleven dollars. My decks typically come in at 80-100 dollars, so I think I'm doing something right.

Consider foreign. I got mine as simplified Chinese from FUT for $3.

Kei Takahashi slivers because 1) slivers are conventionally 5c, 2) Kei is the Null Rod of commanders because it doesn't do anything and I was challenged to do something with it beyond just being there for the colours.

Got a deck list?

Dang, I thought I had it posted. I've got it together at least so I'll have to upload it tomorrow or so.

[3drinks]

Kei Takahashi slivers because 1) slivers are conventionally 5c, 2) Kei is the Null Rod of commanders because it doesn't do anything and I was challenged to do something with it beyond just being there for the colours.

Got a deck list?

I finally got around to it. This is a theory build that was conceived pre CMM so I suppose there's room for some of the new slivers to replace the very mediocre crop of the last batch. Hope it helps you for whatever you wanted it for. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/sspjr4IE2keng76gpnqbfA

[Hermes_]

Kei Takahashi slivers because 1) slivers are conventionally 5c, 2) Kei is the Null Rod of commanders because it doesn't do anything and I was challenged to do something with it beyond just being there for the colours.

Got a deck list?

I finally got around to it. This is a theory build that was conceived pre CMM so I suppose there's room for some of the new slivers to replace the very mediocre crop of the last batch. Hope it helps you for whatever you wanted it for. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/sspjr4IE2keng76gpnqbfA

Nice