So I'm returning to Magic on a fairly tight budget. I plan to draft for the majority of my collection, and will hopefully build up things that way. However, I do want to play in local FNM's and the like. For the time being, while I go through the process of rebuilding my collection, I can borrow some decks from friends. I do, however, want to work on my own deck to play with.

I don't have the time to develop a rogue deck from scratch, designed to my meta, etc that will survive on a budget. I'm not too familiar with current decks, though everybody tells me Standard is far different now than it was when I stopped playing Standard (Time Spiral block).

Are there any recommendations on a deck I could start building? Qualifications are below
1 - Not Red Deck Wins. I've never enjoyed playing it.
2 - Cheap; like I mentioned I'm on a tight budget, as I had a sudden drop in income recently and my mortgage payment is far more important than dropping $50 each on a set of Jaces. Not to say I can't find the money / trade for some spendier cards, but the deck can't have a huge price tag.
3 - Cards must have survivability. What I mean by that is I don't want every money card in the deck to be Extended-legal-only come September. Commons/uncommons, whatever, they can rotate out as long as they're not receiving the stupid $5-10 per card price some uncommons see.

My best suggestion would be to look at T8 decklists from major events.

Worlds
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/w orlds10/decks/top8

SCG open series (decks in the right margin down a bit)
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic.php

You can also check out "decks of the week" each Thursday on the wotc site.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/activity/634

Check those out and see what might fit in your budget.

If you want something that will survive the rotation (next fall), look at some of the block constructed decks. Those can be mixed in with stuff that's currently in T2, but block is usually where people look first for post rotation ideas. Granted, block only represents 1/3 of the sets so far, so you might want to wait until MBS is on magic online before taking those results seriously.

Side note on that - it's really way too far from any rotation to actually be building with that in mind. That kind of criteria basically knocks out a lot of viable strategies because of something that impacts your deck almost 8 months from now.

EDIT: Like Volcanon says, T2 and budget don't really go together anymore. Pretty much any deck is going to need a set of some pricey mythic.

quote:

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Originally posted by ScottyStyles:
I understand it's normally way too early to think about what survives the rotation, but like I mentioned... I am on a VERY tight budget. I got laid off mid-December, and while things are stable for me I don't have the expendable income to be able to afford spending hundreds now on cards that won't be usable in 8 months.

Iccarus - thanks for the links. I'll look into them for some ideas.

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quote:

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Originally posted by ScottyStyles:
I understand it's normally way too early to think about what survives the rotation, but like I mentioned... I am on a VERY tight budget. I got laid off mid-December, and while things are stable for me I don't have the expendable income to be able to afford spending hundreds now on cards that won't be usable in 8 months.

Iccarus - thanks for the links. I'll look into them for some ideas.

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Honestly, if you don't have the cash to be wasting, then don't bother with standard. See if any locals play EDH/Commander or cube or T4 or just play casual decks.

I'm done with standard. There are enough ways to play magic on a casual level that I have no longer have any desire to drop hundreds on a deck that has a shelf life of a few months at best. Every time a new set comes out there's usually a better deck popping up or another $50+ I'd need to spend on my current one.

quote:

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Originally posted by ScottyStyles:
I'm competitive at heart, I like the tournaments, etc. People DO play EDH around here, but there's no tournaments for it. Stores around here only support Standard - it is generally the most lucrative format for them to support after all. I'm not looking for a deck to go 4-0 with every week, just something that gives me the options and tools to do decent (2-2, 3-1) for fairly cheap.

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Then it depends on your meta. I mean, you could build a mono green poison deck and there's some FNM it would probably 4-0 at least once.

quote:

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Originally posted by ScottyStyles:
I'm competitive at heart, I like the tournaments, etc. People DO play EDH around here, but there's no tournaments for it. Stores around here only support Standard - it is generally the most lucrative format for them to support after all. I'm not looking for a deck to go 4-0 with every week, just something that gives me the options and tools to do decent (2-2, 3-1) for fairly cheap.

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Here's a decklist my friend threw together real quick, it's kinda based around lots of 2-for-1s. It hasn't been tested yet but I'm bringing it to FNM this friday.

5 swamp
4 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Lavaclaw Reaches (Can be akoum refuge if need be)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Sign in Blood
4 Doom blade
3 Grasp of Darkness
4 Arc Trail
2 Burst Lightning
4 Goblin Arsonist
4 Perilous Myr
4 Ember Hauler
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Wurmcoil Engine or Some other appropiate finsher.

You probably should drop the Goblin Arsonist for Goblin Guide if you have them (my playgroup only has 4 and they're in Boros atm).

Also, LOL at the idea of a deck having "survivability" in standard right now

EDIT: if it's just for fnm, monowhite knights or quest for the Holy Relic-based WW might work for you too.

EDIT 2: terrible iPod spelling

__________________
(Humans) are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just self-congratulatory delusion. Next Question."
-- Michael Crichton, The Lost World

Land 20
20x plains

Creature 31
Squadron Hawk x4
Glint Hawk x4
Kor Skyfisher x4
Ornithopter x4
Memnite x4
Kor Outfitter x4
Kor Duelist x4
Stoneforge Mystic x3

Spell 9
Argentum Armor x2
Sword of Vengeance x1
Strata Scythe x1
Sword of Body and Mind x1
Quest for the Holy Relic x4

SB: 15
3 Revoke Existence
2 Celestial Purge
3 Kor Firewalker
3 War Priest of Thune
4 Journey to Nowhere

quote:

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Originally posted by hyc682:
If you want, WW quest is also viable and I helped my friend put this together for $60. The only thing that is expensive are the stoneforge mystics and the rest is almost common/uncommon.

Land 20
20x plains

Creature 31
Squadron Hawk x4
Glint Hawk x4
Kor Skyfisher x4
Ornithopter x4
Memnite x4
Kor Outfitter x4
Kor Duelist x4
Stoneforge Mystic x3

Spell 9
Argentum Armor x2
Sword of Vengeance x1
Strata Scythe x1
Sword of Body and Mind x1
Quest for the Holy Relic x4

SB: 15
3 Revoke Existence
2 Celestial Purge
3 Kor Firewalker
3 War Priest of Thune
4 Journey to Nowhere

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quote:

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Originally posted by ScottyStyles:
I'm competitive at heart, I like the tournaments, etc. People DO play EDH around here, but there's no tournaments for it. Stores around here only support Standard - it is generally the most lucrative format for them to support after all. I'm not looking for a deck to go 4-0 with every week, just something that gives me the options and tools to do decent (2-2, 3-1) for fairly cheap.

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Something my friends and I do is go to a pub with our decks (casual, anything goes) and a pack of cards. We play off against each other, afterwards opening the packs and laying them out. Overall winner = first pick, second place = second and so on. So everyone gets something.

The power level is kept in check as none of us can or want to spend much money on cards anymore. I usually do better because I had a deep extended pool for the FNM / weekend tournaments around Prague. Now that extended is simply standard+ I don't play in those 'organized' tournaments anymore.