MTG Arena Best Budget Standard Decks – What decks have the best value?

Magic: The Gathering Arena can be on the more pricey side when you’re just starting out and it gets progressively easier to create decks for the more you play it. Generally, the best way to start amassing a collection is by playing with budget decks. Budget decks are decks that are light on rare and mythic wildcards, usually only using common and uncommon wildcards as those tend to be plentiful.

Be sure to check out how to important decks on MTG Arena. You can also check out the best MTG Arena Decks.

While budget decks are weaker by nature of not having the archetype’s best cards, they can still hold their own thanks to the powerful commons and uncommons they have available. This list will look at the Standard format, as because of the lower power compared to Arena’s other formats, budget decks perform much better there. These are the nine best budget Standard decks. 

9. Rakdos Burn

Rakos Burn is a deck utilizing burn spells, many of which cost one or two mana. The goal of Rakdos Burn is to win the game as fast as possible using these spells while getting in for damage with creatures like Monastery Swhiftspear and Bloodtithe Harvester. Kumano Faces Kakkazan gives you a creature, burns your opponent, and gives you a creature with an extra +1/+1 counter when it enters the battlefield.

On the burn side of things, the main reason to go a Rakdos route instead of Mono-Red is the ability to play Hopeless Nightmare. For just one mana your opponent loses a card in their hand and two life while giving you a way to control one of your craws later with scrying. Play With Fire and Lightning Strike are two great choices for red burn spells and the black lets you play removal spells to keep blockers off the battlefield with cards like Cut Down and Go For The Throat. As a top-end, Goddric, Cloaked Reveler can easily turn into a 4/4 dragon to close out games if you invest a few rare wildcards.

Potential Upgrades: Graveyard Trespasser, Tenacious Underdog, Braids, Arisen Nightmare

8. Boros Heroic

Heroic is a term used for creatures with effects that trigger when they are targeted with an ability. In Standard, the main creature for this is Illuminator Virtuoso, which connives whenever it becomes the target of a spell you control. Other creatures that benefit from casting spells are Electrostatic Infantry and Monastery Swiftspear. If you want a layer of protection, Ollenbock Escort gives lifelink and indestructible to a creature with a +1/+1 counter. 

While the creature lineup is small, much of its power comes from the instant and sorcery lineup. All of them cost one or two mana, giving your creature with a +1/+1 counter or a stat boost for the turn. Ancestral Anger gives you card draw and trample on a creature for a turn, with an increasing stat boost for every Ancestral Anger in your graveyard. Homestead Courage can be used twice with ease thanks to its flashback, and Flowstone Infusion can be used for either a removal spell giving a creature +2/-2, or a stat boost for your creature if they survive the nerf to their tohughness. The whole deck can be built without a single rare, as all the cards talked about are either common or uncommon. 

Potential Upgrades: Angelfire Ignition, Skrelv, Defector Mite, Lizard Blades

7. Selesnya Enchantments

Selesnya Enchantments is a deck that almost exclusively has enchantment cards. While it can be pricey, the budget version only requires four copies of Kami Of Transience. Jukai Naturalist discounts all of your enchantments and helps you keep your life total up thanks to its lifelink. Spirited Companion gives you draw power and Generous Visitor lets you spread +1/+1 counters any time you cast an enchantment spell.

Michiko’s Reign Of Truth has a big payoff, as the first two chapters of the saga give a creature +1/+1 for each enchantment you control. Since your whole deck is made out of enchantments, this stat boost can be giant, and since Kami Of Transience has trample you can guarantee this damage. Audacity is another way to give trample to any creature as well as a stat boost, and Ossification is a removal spell attached to a land. Commune With Spirits can add consistency to the deck, getting you either an enchantment or land from the top of your deck. 

Potential Upgrades: Calix, Guided By Fate, Weaver Of Harmony, Skrelv, Defector Mite

6. Selesnya Toxic

Toxic is a mechanic where when a creature with the ability deals combat damage, they will get a certain number of poison counters. If an opponent has ten or more poison counters, they automatically lose the game. Selesnya Toxic is an aggro deck that wants to deal as much toxic damage as possible to win the game early. Slaughter Singer helps to turn all your creatures with toxic into threats that are harder to block while having toxic itself. Crawling Chorus and Jawbone Duelist are both other great creatures with toxic that only cost a few mana to cast. Annex Sentry has toxic while removing a creature or artifact with mana value three or left to get rid of pesky blockers keeping your toxic creatures from getting through for damage.

Since the deck needs to ensure it hits for combat damage, Selesnya Toxic runs Audacity to give them trample and Tyrvar’s Stand to protect creatures and give them stat boosts. Ossification can remove another problem creature since the deck primarily has basic lands. So long as just one damage gets through, the toxic effect will trigger which is why ensuring the battlefield is clear is so important. The only rare you absolutely need is Bloated Contaminator as it helps push your opponent’s poison counters up since it has trample and can proliferate to give more. 

Potential Upgrades: Venerated Rotpriest, Skrelv, Defector Mite, Skrelv’s Hive

5. Gruul Aggro

Gruul Aggro has a very low curve, with no card in the entire deck costing more than two mana. The deck is very aggressive, capable of closing out games in just the first few turns. It has plenty of creatures with haste or ones that give themselves special abilities or stat boosts. Monstrous Rage opens the deck up, giving a creature three extra power for a turn along with trample and one of that power sticking around. When mixed in with creatures with prowess or double strike, this can be game-ending if it resolves. 

Audacity gives any creature trample and Ruby, Daring Tracker is a great attacker or mana dork, able to act as whatever you need it as. Picnic Ruiner is a key of the deck, giving itself double strike so long as you have a creature with power four or greater, something the deck can easily accomplish. Gruul Aggro can easily be built without a single rare or mythic wildcard, and even the full-power version hardly runs any card with a rarity of rare or higher. 

Potential Upgrades: Questing Druid, Goddric, Cloaked Reveler, Migloz, Maze Crusher

4. Rakdos Anvil

Rakdos Anvil is built around the namesake card Oni-Cult Anvil. It turns all your artifacts into lifegain and burn, generally sacrificing Blood tokens created by Voldaren Epicure and Bloodtithe Harvester. Since the deck wants to be sacrificing artifacts, Fanatical Offering can turn an artifact into two cards in your hand and leave behind a Map token to sacrifice later and Voltage Surge can power up a removal spell. 

Experimental Synthesizer gives you impulse draw and can be sacrificed to make a 2/2 token and impulse draw once again. You will almost always have an artifact on the battlefield thanks to the artifact creature that Oni-Cult Anvil creates. If you have multiple Oni-Cult Anvils on the battlefield, they can become great chump blockers you can sacrifice with Oni-Cult Anvil’s ability before damage goes through.

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Upgrading to Mardu

If you decide to upgrade Rakdos Anvil and invest more rare and mythic wildcards into it, looking into Mardu is another option. Skrelv’s Hive gives you a constant source of artifact sacrifice fodder, and Bartolome del Presidio can sacrifice creatures and artifacts unconditionally at instant speed to give itself +1/+1 counters.

Potential Upgrades: Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might, Vraan, Executioner Thane, Ob Nixilis, The Adversary 

3. Mono-Blue Tempo

Mono-Blue Tempo only needs one playset of a rare card, that being Haughty Djinn. The deck plays nothing but card draw and counterspells, playing out cheap creatures and controlling the board state with the rest of the cards in your deck. The deck hardly plays creatures at all, with only Haughty Djinn, Tolarian Terror, and Picklock Prankster (though some decks play Delver Of Secrets). 

Thanks to the longer Standard rotation, Mono-Blue Tempo has access to plenty of counterspells such as Make Disappear, Spell Stutter, Negate, and Essence Scatter. Fading Hope can keep a creature you couldn’t counter off the battlefield. For card draw, Mono-Blue Tempo has Flow Of Knowledge to draw a card for each Island you control, which is the only land type the deck plays. There is also Moment Of Truth, Sleight Of Hand, and Impulse to dig through your deck quicker. 

Potential Upgrades: March Of Swirling Mist, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Otawara, Soaring City

2. Azorius Soldiers

Azorius Soldiers is one of the best decks in Standard, so much so that even a budget version is still very viable. The only rare you really need to invest in is Harbin, Vanguard Aviator as it is the main way the deck closes out games. Outside of that, Resolute Reinforcements gives you two soldiers for one spell, Recruitment Officier helps you dig through your deck for more Soldiers, and Zephyr Sentinel can save a creature from removal and come into the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter. 

Outside of the creature lineup, Azorius Soldiers also has counterspells to help keep their battlefield safe. You create a lot of sacrifice fodder for Make Disappear’s casualty cost and Protect The Negotiators can counter a spell almost guaranteed if you have a lot of creatures on the battlefield. The deck puts threats onto the battlefield early, and slowly hits in for damage until you have five Soldiers to attack with to give them all flying with Harbin, Vanguard Aviator. 

Potential Upgrades: Virtue Of Loyalty, Werefox Bodyguard, Knight-Errant Of Eos

1. Mono-Red Aggro

Mono-Red Aggro has been the face of budget decks for as long as the archetype has been around. The decks plays multiple creatures with haste along with burn spells to try and win the game as fast as possible. It either wins fast or loses fast, which makes it perfect for climbing the Arena later where it rewards that kind of playstyle. While you can build it without rare or mythics, Charming Scoundrel is generally worth crafting four of as it helps you fix your hand, ramp with treasure tokens, or give a +1/+1 stat boost to a creature. 

Monastery Swiftspear and Phoenix Chick are the two primary budget creatures with haste, with Kumano Faces Kakkazan eventually flipping into a creature with haste while burning and giving stat boosts. Play With Fire and Lightning Strike are the two main burn spells, with Monstrous Rage a way to deal a ton of damage in one turn and permanently give them trample for as long as they have the Monster Role token. Witchstalker Frenzy can remove a creature, able to deal five damage to a creature for just one mana if you attack with multiple creatures. 

Potential Upgrades: Goddric, Cloaked Reveler, Bloodthirsty Adversary, Feldon, Ronom Excavator

That concludes our list of the nine best budget Standard decks in Magic: The Gathering: Arena. Budget decks are great for beginners and those who are short on wildcards. Thanks to how easy it is to come by common and uncommon wildcards, you can always build budget decks to help you climb the ladder. Most budget decks tend to be aggro, as they have the most options at the lower rarities without having to sacrifice power compared to their full-powered counterparts. With the current Standard, there is a mix of tempo and midrange decks to allow for different playstyles to be played on a budget.

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MTG Arena Best Budget Standard Decks – FAQ

Are budget decks with it in MTG Arena?

Yes! Budget decks are worth it because they often have great commons and uncommons. They can also be upgraded.

Can budget decks be strong in MTG Arena?

Yes. You can make them stronger by adding new cards and upgrading them.