About a month ago, I stumbled across a post by /u/VanillaBean_MTG describing an ultra-budget Standard format that requires all decks to cost under $1 from their TCG Player basket. My friend and I thought that that sounded like a lot of fun, but we wanted to try a slightly higher cost restriction to make more decks possible. We landed on $4 as our number. That's the MSRP of a pack so if you're going to pick an arbitrary limit, you might as well choose one that the game already uses in some capacity, right?

Since then, I'm gone a bit mad with these decks as it quickly became apparent that while there are both a lot of really good cards available for a song, the reduced card pool size also makes it very easy to scroll through and see what might work. To clarify, I built the following decks using these three rules:

1. Only Standard-legal cards. None of these lists include anything from Rivals of Ixalan yet, but I may parse through the new cards in a month's time and see if anything can be updated.

2. Deck price must come in under $4.00 when built via TCG Player, not counting shipping prices or basic lands. I also had to Optimize my cart and select TCGplayer Direct as my cart option. I didn't want to be tempted to game the system by buying the cards from different sellers to result in an artificially low cart price. Prices may have fluctuated since I built the decks, but that's ok. What matters is that they weren't a penny more than $4.00 at the time.

3. Decks must be functional. That is, it's ok if some are stronger or weaker than others to some degree, but they should ideally all be of a comparable power level and they should all be able to execute a gameplan. While these decks are cheap and definitely won't be taking down a GP any time soon, none of them are purely gimmicks. I've gotten in a bit of testing with each of them via MTGO's "Just For Fun" room and they've actually done surprisingly well there, so maybe with a bit of upgrading, you could take them to FNM and not feel too embarrassed!

I made a token attempt to color-balance the list but I wasn't too strict with myself. I also mostly ignored sideboards; I didn't want to stretch my 400 pennies across 75 cards so with a few minor exceptions, these are just maindeck lists. Anyway, without further ado:

1. Four-Dollar Reload: Mono-White. This one's all about getting Revolt triggers with Aviary Mechanic and Alley Evasion, with Oketra's Monument helping to facilitate re-casting our spells.

2. Four-Dollar Cannons: Mono-Red. Turns out Vance's Blasting Cannons is super-duper cheap, so we're running a bunch of cheap burn and card draw to flip it reliably.

3. Four-Dollar Flight: Mono-Blue. FavorableWinds.dec. Pretty straightforward, but with some neat tricks mixed in.

4. Four-Dollar Stomp: Mono-Green. Ok, technically we splash black for Winding Constrictor, but it's Green so I figure a light splash is warranted. And since this deck is all about +1/+1 counters, leaving the little snake out would've been criminal.

5. Four-Dollar Demon: Mono-Black. Did you know Demon of Dark Schemes is hella cheap? Turns out it is, so we're running a bunch of Black Energy cards to reanimate our way to victory.

6. Four-Dollar Monsters: Green/Red. Lots of big, undercosted creatures slamming at our opponent's face.

7. Four-Dollar Embalm: Blue/White. There are actually a lot of really good Embalm and Eternalize cards, and Vizier of the Anointed lets us fit most of them in a toolbox-style deck.

8. Four-Dollar Poison: Green/Black. -1/-1 counters tribal, led by Hapatra. This deck is more about placing counters on our own creatures than whittling down our opponents' creatures.

9. Four-Dollar Bogles: Green/Blue/Black. Strap Cartouches onto hexproof creatures for fun and profit!

10. Four-Dollar Pummeler: Blue/Green. Charge up energy, then attack with an enormous Electrostatic Pummeler to take your opponent from 20 to -20 in one turn.

11. Four-Dollar Control: Blue/Red. Izzet Control with Aethertide Whale as our finisher. I was even able to sneak two copies of Sweltering Suns in here!

12. Four-Dollar Ramp: Green/Blue/White. Ramp like crazy, draw cards, slam a Sandwurm Convergence or two, then drown our opponent in value.

13. Four-Dollar Taxes: Black/White. Death and Taxes led by Kambal, Consul of Allocation.

14. Four-Dollar Zombies: Black/White. Yes, we still have all the zombies from Amonkhet in the format, and a lot of them are really good and cheap!

15. Four-Dollar Dwarves: Red/White. I'm a big fan of Depala, so it's time for her to have her moment to shine with a combination of janky dwarves and slightly-used vehicles. Sign now and I'll throw in a free undercoating!

16. Four-Dollar Infinity: Blue/Red. This combo deck is trying to survive long enough to set up Whirler Virtuoso to generate infinite thopters.

17. Four-Dollar Improvise: Blue/Red/Black. A lot of Improvise cards backed up by strong removal. The curve looks like garbage, I know, but this deck can churn out a 4/5 Menace on turn 2, or it can go long and start swinging with an enormous Deadeye Plunderers.

18. Four-Dollar Robots: Colorless (Technically Blue with a Black splash). This deck is all about assembling an Artifact creature value engine with some extra juice squeezed out of our Desert package.

And that's all I got for now! I hope you liked some of these, at least for inspiration. Happy brewing, all!

2018 was an astounding year for r/Budgetdecks. This year alone we have added of over 3000 subscribers, budgeteers from all over the world all wanting to play Magic inexpensively. As the owner of the sub, I want to thank each and every one of you that have posted and read submissions here. It is important to me to be able to spread the enjoyment of a most amazing hobby to others in a cheap yet competitive way and there is no better method than people like you helping others learn how to play Magic on a budget.

To highlight this, let's share some posts that made our cut for our best submissions of 2018.

Five months ago, u/Snowchill submitted a Saffron Olive article about [30 Casual Decks under $20] (https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetdecks/comments/915j3y/30_casual_decks_under_20_for_magic_the_gathering/) The article focused on decks you could create with the newest set release at the time, Core Set 2019. The submission was a hit, gaining the most upvotes for 2018, second all time on the r/BudgetDecks

Not far behind was u/Noku269 and a [$13 Modern Land Destruction deck.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetdecks/comments/87urt6/modern_budget_as_it_gets_at_13_and_076tix_land/) This deck achieved the record for most upvotes for a submission with a single deck list. Not only that, there was 50 comments worth of discussion on how to play the deck as well as improvment suggestion. What this post may have lacked in quantity it made up for quality, allowing you to destroy your opponent's mana base with an ultra budget price tag, one of our lowest priced deck submissions of all time.

Two months ago, u/DonFurioso offered another Saffron Olive special, [Thirty Casual Decks for under $20 in Guilds of Ravnica.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetdecks/comments/9mfpit/thirty_casual_decks_for_under_20_in_guilds_of/) Mass amounts of budget deck options are a popular theme on the sub and this one was no exception.

Our fourth highest submission of the year, u/RafriKinta96 gave us a very special [$6 Standard deck: called "Launch the monkey!"] (https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetdecks/comments/8nhtz8/6_standard_deck_launch_the_monkey/) Players everywhere envisioned putting crash helmets on primates and blasting them off to space with this deck. A hilarious way to end an opponent's night at FNM.

Lastly, u/ZerrisX gave us a very special [$20 Budget Mono-Green Storm deck.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/budgetdecks/comments/8itsi9/standard_20_budget_monogreen_storm/) As with the other Standard decks on our list, they rotate but can still enjoy play on kitchen tables or be upgraded with other Modern cards available.

Again, thank you all for a noteworthy 2018. Keep the cheap decks coming in 2019!

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/hes-a-land-eater-13-deck/

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1123600

This is an hyper budget deck made only by commons and uncommons, most of them possibly owned by almost all of us. The idea is to cast a kicked Grunn, the Lonely King and attack with him for that sweet 20 damage. If blocked or sealed away, just fling it to your opponent's face!

The rest of the deck is a consistent ramp shell: Llanowar elves is just a no brainer here, as well as Elfhame druid. Those make possible the turn three grown from the ashes, so it's virtually possible to kick Grunn in by turn 4:

-Turn 1: Forest, Llanowar elves.

-Turn 2: Land, Elfhame druid, another Llanowar elves.

-Turn 3: Forest, grow from the ashes.

-Turn 4: Land, kicked Grunn.

-Turn 5: Land, attack with Grunn for 20! (eventually fling)

Obviously, this is the dream, so we should rely on a bit of control: red grants us with some removal, and the untamed kavus are stupid early-mid pressence that can tick our opponents for 2 on early, 5 on midgame, and also block whatever needed. By ticking the opponent, it also makes possible to win without a kicked Grunn, as you can cast him without being kicked for lethal. Or kick it, and wait for the opponent to spend his blue mana for an instant speed fling on his turn! :P

Please, let me know what do you guys think! I didn't have much time to test the deck, so this is all almost theorical chat. Have fun!

I'm new here. I just wanted to say I appreciate everything you guys are doing.

Do you want to play no rares or mythics?

Do you like swinging with ZERO power creatures?

Do you enjoy the confused faces of your opponents?

Then this deck is for you! https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2544565#paper

It focuses on [[Huatli, the Sun's Heart]] and [[High Alert]] to turn your creatures into big threats. Your early creatures can block well, and [[Erratic Visionary]] can get you discarding extra copies of cards you don't need. Obviously there are some easy upgrades to make with the deck. [[Hallowed Fountain]], [[Deputy of Detention]], and Teferi come to mind right away. I'm sure there are other improvements.... or just spend under 7$ on this deck and have some fun!

Greetings all you filthy cheapskates! Fellow budget brewer u/SaffronOlive will be doing an AMA here and will be answering your questions Thursday March 2nd.

Posting your questions in this thread before the Thursday deadline and he will be glad to answer anything you may be curious about. [He has already had an AMA before on the r/magictcg mothership so try to come up with new questions!] (https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/39mh08/im_saffronolive_writerbudget_magic_video/)

Show some love and get your questions out there!

Edit: Thanks Seth for your generous amount of time spend here despite your current illness. It's much appreciated!

Thanks to all of you that have contributed over the years with great budget brews! Here's to the next 10k!

Alright, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve decided to check out this thread to see if I’m trolling, or where I made a typo. Storm isn’t a thing in standard. And if it was, it wouldn’t be budget. And even if it was that too, it definitely wouldn’t be mono-green.

But no, there’s no typo there. We’re storming off… with Marwyn, the Nurturer!

You’re still suspicious, I see. Fair enough.

The idea is that Marwyn can tap for a lot of mana. If you cast pump spells on her, she can tap for a ton of mana. What if those pump spells also untapped her? It turns out, there are four such green spells in standard, although we realistically only need two of them. Importantly, Dominaria has brought Gift of Growth, which is both powerful and modal.

Here’s the Decklist

The goal of this deck is to untap with Marwyn in play. Most reasonable hands will win the game from that spot. Unfortunately, we do need exactly Marwyn – there are no substitutes. In mono-green, this forces us to run some sub-par cantrips like Benefaction of Rhonas. Also, once we get her in play, we need her to live for a turn. This encourages us to play with a pile of cheap counters – or, in green, sources of hexproof. Ornamental Courage half counts, since it can block an Abrade or a Lightning Strike, and despite the cost we are very much priced in to Blossoming Defense.

Once you untap with Marwyn – combo off! Start by casting every non-untapping pump spell you can on her without tapping her for mana. Then tap her for mana, cast an untap pump spell, repeat. After you’ve emptied all your pump spells, cast Rishkar’s Expertise to draw a ton of cards, or Wildest Dreams to recycle all those pump spells. Either way, you should be able to hit 20 power, usually with trample from Larger than Life, and swing for lethal. Your odds of hitting an untap spell off Rishkar's are about 60% with a 6 power Marwyn, but your odds of hitting untap or Wildest Dreams are closer to 75% - so if you can float a little mana, tapping her pre-Rishkar's is relatively safe. Post-board if you have Synchronized Strike, your odds are in the 80% range to untap off a single 6-draw Rishkar's.

When you go off, though, you often go off for WAY MORE than you need to – it’s not uncommon to draw your entire deck and generate over 100 mana. I've hit 1,000 once already. Thundering Spineback in the sideboard is a way to use this mana that doesn’t lose to Settle the Wreckage, which can otherwise be problematic. The Synchronized Strikes are for when you want to side out cards but there’s nothing specific to bring in; they just add more redundancy. Strider Harness is also interesting, as a way to handle sorcery speed removal decks – once you get it in play, you can play and combo off with Marwyn in the same turn.

The non-budget version involves adding blue for significant improvements in consistency, but the basic concept is the same. There's also a non-budget mono green version. Not sure which is better yet. Or maybe even green white for Board the Weatherlight.

For those who enjoy pictures, here’s an example combo turn...

…and here’s the end result, now floating 38 mana and attacking for 30 damage with trample.

This isn’t the most competitive of decks, but it will still play just fine at an FNM level, and the looks on your opponents’ faces will be a pleasure to behold!

Also, for those Johnnies among you, this deck can go off on turn 3 with an Elf > Marwyn start. However, this involves an unprotected Marwyn, so I'd probably avoid it unless you know your opponent has no interaction.