The coming of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths has opened new deck possibilities with the new mechanics (Companion, Mutate, Cycling) and cards to work around and explore. The Standard format, in particular, is the front line beneficiary of these deck ideas. That does not mean though that we will go all out with the Rares and Mythics and other expensive cards in the set. Playing in the format on a strict budget is still very viable.

First of is we choose what deck strategy would be our goal. Is it fast aggro and deal much damage as possible? Or is it curving out with cheap creatures and then later on power them up with Mutate? Or have cards or permanents that gain your advantage when you Cycle cards? Thus, it is needed to be identified.

Next, we check if there are already existing deck list using that strategy that we wanted. In that way, we can lessen the time brewing the possible components and cards from the recent Magic: the Gathering sets. You get to the needed cards and possible substitute options for the build that contains expensive cards.

The good thing I have observed on the recent Magic sets is that most of the playable cards ended in affordable prices after the first month of release. The demand probably stabilizes with the supply of opening sealed products. You can later on do the purchase and deck upgrade.

Let us have one example deck archetype. Here is a sample Mono Black Devotion deck in the current Standard pre-Ikoria.

Creatures
3 Ayara, First of Locthwain
4 Cauldron Familiar
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Murderous Rider
4 Nightmare Shepherd
2 Tymaret, Chosen from Death
2 Woe Strider
4 Yarok’s Fenlurker

Spells
2 Drag to the Underworld
2 Bolas’s Citadel
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
4 Witch’s Oven

Lands
3 Castle Locthwain
21 Swamp

Source: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=24978&d=374790&f=ST

You will notice a few of the Rares and Mythics in the deck are of high value. For instance, we have Liliana, Dreadhorde General at 19.99 usd. As a starting player, that is a quite expensive purchase for one card. The same thing with Murderous Rider (10.25 usd) and Bolas’s Citadel (3.59 usd average). What you will do here is to set your budget limit on each card or a playset. In that way, you can cut off the expensive ones and then do the card substitution.

In the deck build above, we cut off Liliana, the Rider, Citadel, and Nightmare Shepherd. What will Ikoria, Lair of Behemoths offer, or the sets before it? Also take note that we also consider cards that are not prone to the Standard rotation this year.

We have an ideal example of a budget Mono Black Devotion here from this website MTG Arena Zone:
https://mtgazone.com/deck/mono-black-devotion-budget-ikoria-lair-of-behemoths-standard-deck/

The list are as follows:

4 Bloodthirsty Aerialist
4 Cauldron Familiar
4 Deathless Knight
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
2 Tymaret, Chosen from Death
4 Yarok’s Fenlurker
4 Grimdancer
4 Whisper Squad

2 Drag to the Underworld
4 Witch’s Oven

22 Swamp
2 Witch’s Cottage

In their build, they also took out Ayara and placed in Grimdancer to further lessen the total deck cost. This is reasonable though I personally think that her current price is already budgeted.

In conclusion, building a budget Standard deck goes with what your target strategy and then base it on the current deck brews going around the internet while setting a budget limit.

Until the next blog post.