Now that we have a consistent Standard scene here at Game Grid, I thought I would share a couple of budget lists to get you into the format. Standard can be super expensive, what with your Sheoldred, the Apocalypses, your The Wandering Emperors, and your Fable of the Mirror-Breakers. But it doesn’t have to be. You can build a competitive, fun deck to play on as little as $40.

Mono Black Aggro

          The nice thing about aggro decks is they have pretty straightforward lines. You play creatures and turn them sideways. The things that change are when to go all out, and when to hold back. This deck has a pretty clean 24 creatures (28 if you count the Okiba Reckoner Raid) with Cult Conscripts and Reckoner Raid being your solid one drop options. Conscripts gives you a decent amount of longevity as it comes back over and over to attack into 1/1 soldiers so your bigger menace threats get through. Speaking of menace, this deck has 14 menace creatures, meaning your opponents will have a headache trying to put blocks together that don’t leave them vulnerable to an all out attack in the coming turns.

          Tenacious Underdog is the most important creature in this deck. It gives you the reach and sustainability to go into the long game with the midrange and control decks that are dominating the format. A two mana 3/2 is already a bear to deal with normally, but making it draw you a card over and over again can be just what you need to get over the finish line. It gets supported nicely by Misery's Shadow, keeping opposing Underdogs and Haughty Djinn’s easier to deal with, plus its pump ability can put it out of range of an opponent’s Cut Down for one mana. 

          Your three mana cards are where things get interesting and a little controversial. Graveyard Trespasser is an incredible threat at all stages of the game, but the mana cost is a little high for what is, ultimately, a replaceable creature. Which is why we are only running the two of them. Shakedown Heavy is a perpetually underrated beatdown card that has been overshadowed by the likes of Sheoldred and Raffine, Scheming Seer. 6 power is a ton for three mana, and the menace means there won't be any profitable blocks for your opponent. Sure they could let you draw a card, but then you’ll have the beefiest blocker in standard and be one card closer to the best card in your deck.

          Invoke Despair is so good that three color standard decks are making sure they play only lands that can tap for black just to cast it. Esper Invoke and Grixis Invoke have been top of the board for almost a year, since Invoke Despair was printed.  It just does everything; games where you cast it you will win easily, games where you don’t draw it will be much harder. Once again WotC has proven that it doesn’t matter how many colored pips of mana you put in something’s cost, if the power is high enough, players will make it work in their two and three color decks.

          Invoke is a clean answer to practically every threat in standard, when backed up with intense aggression and cheap removal, it can be absolutely back breaking. Making sure the slower decks don’t have a creature in play when they cast their Fable of the Mirror-Breaker will make it so Invoke deals with both pieces of that card and draws you an additional card. If you can ever cast Invoke Despair and leave your opponent with an empty board you will usually win on that turn. 

          The sideboard changes based on your local meta, but things like Duress, Reckoner Bankbuster, Whack, and more Graveyard Trespassers will make your life a lot easier. For easy upgrades, you have of course Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. But if you aren't looking to drop $150 on Sheoldreds, other cheaper upgrades would include Phyrexian Fleshgorger and Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor. Liliana of the Veil is a fine addition to this deck but you risk turning into more of a midrange deck if you go too hard on three drops. A one mana card I wouldn’t run more than 2 or 3 of is Evolved Sleeper. Its stats are too small for an all out aggro deck. It is a fine card to draw on turn 5, but less good to have in your opening hand.

          This deck wins quickly and takes over the board in a way that aggro decks don’t typically. I took a very similar version of this deck to Mythic rank on MTG Arena last month (it had Sheoldred in it) and I have nothing bad to say about it.

(Nearly) Mono Green

          The second deck I want to talk about is another aggro deck but this time mono Green (with a teeny tiny splash of red).

          It is very similar to the Black version, with the exception of running no removal. This is pure, play a dude and turn it sideways. Want a bigger dude? Put Audacity on it. Your opponent trying to kill your stuff? Make it indestructible. There’s not a lot to say about this deck, except for the two Copperline Gorge to kick your Yavimaya Iconoclast. If you have the budget, upping that to 4 Copperline Gorges and 4 Karplusan Forests will also give you access to some more sideboard options in red. Where the last deck was all Menace, this deck has 14 creatures with Trample and 5 ways to give trample to anything you control.

          Bloated Contaminator is a fun card in this list, not because of the Toxic win, but because so many of the cards have +1/+1 counters and proliferating to make your dudes into bigger dudes. The last card I want to talk about for this deck is Cankerbloom. It is a two mana 3/2, which is the way to be aggro nowadays. Do not be bashful about sacrificing Cankerbloom to kill a Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or Wedding Announcement. Getting these value engines off the table is how you don’t get buried by your opponents before you can kill them.

          As far as upgrades are concerned, running more than two Defiler of Vigor is a good place to start. Your one and two mana spells are pretty well locked, you’re already playing the best ones in the format (if you're feeling more midrange than straight up aggro, you can run Rootwire Amalgam at two). At three you have a couple other options as upgrades. Primal Adversary is a bulky creature that can explode in the end game for big damage. Briarbridge Tracker gets you a little more sustainability that Simian Simulacrum won't give you, but you lose some of the nut draws that let you really beat down people on turn three.

          The last upgrade you could try is one that I’m not sure about. If you run Clay Champion, you have access to a four mana 8/8. On the surface this feels super powerful, but I expect for most board states Defiler of Vigor nets your more power and toughness for the mana. If someone does the testing on this let me know, I’m curious how this turns out.

          Titania and her respective land is the way to go if you feel like going a little more midrange than straight aggressive. Going more midrange also nets you access to Primal Adversary and Ulvenwald Oddity for the longer games (Oddity would also slot into the aggro version of the deck instead of Defiler of Vigor if you prefer that route). The most expensive upgrade for this list is fortunately a one of Boseiju, Who Endures. Boseiju is a free disenchant in this deck that you should have available. 

          As far as sideboard options you have things like Carnivorous Canopy for some added enchantment control, and on the plus side, you get free proliferate when you deal with some of the more common enchantments in the format. Bouncer's Beatdown is a fine anti-Sheoldred or Raffine card. You also don’t have to worry about Sheoldred’s deathtouch ability since it's a punch and not a fight. The rest of the sideboard is dependent on what you plan on playing against. Whether it’s more protection spells or color specific removal spells you have plenty of options for good sideboard cards.

          If you have any budget decks you’d want me to talk about, for other formats or other colors in standard, let me know. Thanks for reading and we will see you next week.