What Budget decks are viable in T1?

[Shade]

I have spent time searching this and other T1 forums, and have yet to find anything comprehensive, so I'm going to just come out and ask...

What budget decks are viable in T1?

By "budget," I mean, preferably, about $200 or less.  I know of FCG but am not a big fan of goblins, or aggro in general, actually.  Are decks like Oath and Gro viable under these restrictions?

Basically, I want to build a 60-card deck (don't need a SB, at least for the moment) and want to make something with a fighting chance.  Any suggestions?

[atwa2002]

I played budged Oath for a while, that is a very strong budgetdeck indeed. Fish is also a cool deck to play.

[Rastadon]

Fish can only take on T1 powered decks. Null Rod does nothing against rogue decks. No pun intended. But if you play against powered Dragon and 'Tog, then sure.

I'm trying out Kobold Clamp right now. From what I've heard it's great and really cheap to make. It's a bit tough knowing how to utilize it, but that's nothing that a few hours of MWS couldn't fix.

I've also made a grave mistake in making budget Dragon. Just don't. It sucks, and can't compete with anything T1.

Many decks out there lose their umph when they get bugetified. These are the only decks that perform as well without the P-9.

Kobold Clamp
Salvager
FCG!!!

FCG is an absolute bomb. It's a mean goblin deck that's ridiculously quick, whether it gets the combo or not.

[nataz]

This may be a good place to start you search

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/8967.html

[crazynlazy]

I would have to go with oath too it is the easiest deck to budgetize without making it complete crap. Although if they allow enough proxies to play a set of power most combo decks are less than 100 dollars (with the exception of d-day but d-day can still be made under five proxy for under 200)

[pox_reborn]

Really birdcrap is the ideal choice now. All staple cards are used in other decks and everything else is commonly obtained. Everything except for moxes ect. are not proxified and everything is around 20-30 maximum (per card like duals and forces)

The loss of trinisphere makes this a very good choice and can combat the tide of control.(At least for me since I'm in norcal and the eudomias have control everywhere.)

[TheAlpha]

What budget decks are viable in T1?

By "budget," I mean, preferably, about $200 or less.  I know of FCG but am not a big fan of goblins, or aggro in general, actually. Are decks like Oath and Gro viable under these restrictions?

Oath is not playable with a 200 dollar budget since you can't play drains. Because of the lack of drains, pure control decks are not playable on this budget.

Like you, I'm not a big fan of FCG. The deck is not fun to play with imo and I don't think it's that good, I think people overrate FCG. I have no info on Gro decks, I never tested a budget version.

If you're going to play at a tournament with lots of power, I think Fish is a good option. Both the U/R version and the U/W (with meddling mages / STP's etc.) are quite good. The Fish decks are quite fun to play with and they contain quite a lot solid T1 cards that you want anyway (blue fetch / FoW etc.).

Good luck!
- TheAlpha

[Kowal]

You don't need drains to play oath.  If you play with black to run tutors over Intuition, there's usually nothing spectacular to drain in to anyway.  The hurt comes from not having off color moxes to drop turn one oaths on peoples faces all day.

[Mark_Story]

I've found FCG somewhat frustrating to play.  If you get the nuts it's great.  If your meta is underpowered, its a great deck.  It steam rolls random aggro, burn, fish, has excellent game against madness too.  If you are in a highly powered meta, it's not so great.  It has no way to combat your opponents stratrgy.  It can only hope for the nuts and lose if it hiccups.  I've found that it has a really narrow strategy, and there are many times when you just can't do anything about what your opponent is doing, which can be frustrating.  

Gro can be budgetized, I've only done minimal testing but it looks reasonably competitive, as does bird shit, and fish.  If you are looking at getting cards to build up an inventory of T1 cards I would look at fish or other budget blue decks.  At least the money you put into those cards can be used in other decks as well.

[jpmeyer]

What does "budget" even mean any more?  Is it like a set amount of money or a set amount of proxies?

[E Face]

Doomsday is a really cheap five proxy deck to make. The most expensive cards are the lands. It's a neat deck to play and is rather strong, but if you are new to the format (sorry if you aren't) it may not be the best deck to pilot at first. FCG is probably your best bet if you want to win games the most, but Salvagers is also a good deck if there is a lack of Null Rod in your enviroment.

[Mark_Story]

I've always thought of budget as a deck that has no power, and no drains/shops/bazaars, as there are still areas with few proxy events. If you are too cheap to spring for duals/forces, then I don't know how you play any format, even kokusho is like $20, and it will rotate out, duals are always good.

[atwa2002]

Oath is indeed a very strong deck to play budget (even when no proxies are allowed).

If you play a UBG version, you simpley don't need drains or intuitions. I'll post a list here of a deck I played for a while. (may not be too acurate).

Maindeck:      
5x Island  
4x Forbidden Orchard  
4x Polluted Dealta  
2x Underground Sea  
2x Tropical Island  
2x Faerie Coclave  
1x Strip Mine  
1x Mox Diamond  
1x Chrome Mox  
1x Lotus Petal  

1x Akroma, angel of wrath  
1x Darksteel Colossus

4x Force of Will
4x Counterspell  
4x Duress  
4x Accumulated Knowledge
4x Impulse  
4x Oath of Druids  
4x Brainstorm  
2x Daze  
1x Fastbond  
1x Lim-Dul's Vault  
1x Vampirc Tutor    
1x Demonic Tutor    

You can replace the intuition/mana drain for 4 counterspells, demonic/vampiric tutor, lim-dul's vault and some extra impulses. It will never be as strong as a full powered meandeck oath build, but this is also a very fast and strong build.

most people play mana leak, which is a very good card, but I prefer the counterspells, every mana source in the deck (except the strip mine) provides blue mana, so the castingcost will never be a problem.

The fastbond can easely be replaced, I didn't test it very well, but it wasn't that good, maybe you can replace it with a wasteland.

[Shade]

Thanks to everyone for all the help so far.  I think I'm going to go with Oath, as I played some Oath back in the day and it's really the kind of deck I like (controllish, with some combo elements).  I do have a couple questions about the budget format of the deck, though...

- Why no Intuitions?  Because they're too expensive to cast w/o Drains?
- Why so many basic Islands?  Land destruction?  Wastelands?
- Should I start a new thread exclusively devoted to budget Oath?

Thanks.

[Jacob Orlove]

- Should I start a new thread exclusively devoted to budget Oath?

Yes. Closed.