At what point is a deck no longer budget?

Commander (EDH) forum

Posted on Nov. 4, 2022, 8:32 a.m. by Redacted_DJ

Just wanting to keep my deck tags accurate. I generally say 800+, but curious what others think?

TypicalTimmy says... #2

When you can't afford it, lol

November 4, 2022 8:39 a.m.

My general rule is above $300 isn't budget, but that's for me as a person without much disposable income, so it doesn't hold up to a lot of people's standards.

November 4, 2022 8:40 a.m.

TypicalTimmy says... #4

It's the truth though. A fixed low income player can't afford a $1,200 deck.

An attorney could.

A good rule of thumb is if you can't buy three of them in cash, you can't afford one - even on credit. So the term "budget" becomes subjective.

November 4, 2022 8:41 a.m. Edited.

Icbrgr says... #5

Budget is just about as subjective as "Fun/Cool"

My suggestion is to give your own explanation/definition of "Budget" in your deck description either indicating your price celling or intentional card choices like using Mutilate over Damnation and so on.

November 4, 2022 9:03 a.m.

Max_Hammer says... #6

I'm right there with the Creator. I say up to 350$ is budget (for Commander only), but like, I'm pretty broke.

That said, big nope to ever spending 300$ on a deck. Proxies, babyyy! Well, that and free online clients like Mage or Untap.

One other point is that it's no longer budget if you're choosing to use a more expensive version of a card. If you're using the foiled // alt art // full art // alt language that you didn't just have, then calling it budget is probably a no-go. That's just me personally, though.

Like, I got lucky and opened one of Kami's alt art lands, so I just threw it into a deck and replaced a plains. That was like 11$ tacked onto that deck's cost, but everything else about it is still budget.

November 4, 2022 9:13 a.m.

Redacted_DJ says... #7

Solid points all around! I am coming from modern where 90% of the field is 1000 or so.

I feel my elfball at this point may have to loose the budget tag.

November 4, 2022 9:16 a.m.

I tend to buy the alt arts and stuff for my decks if they aren't too much more expensive (at one point, I actually picked up the special-frame Lotus Cobra for cheaper than I could have bought any other version somehow)... but in general I agree XD

November 4, 2022 9:25 a.m. Edited.

Caerwyn says... #9

While the above answers discuss personal budget, that is not exactly what OP is looking for - since OP is asking about tags, the relevant answer would be “what would most players consider to be a budget deck worthy of being tagged as such?” That is a much harder question to answer than “what do you find affordable?” though that second question provides anecdotal data which can be used to derive a consensus on “budget”.

Doing a quick look at other Commander decks tagged with “budget” on TappedOut, I think the most reasonable use of the “budget” tag for Commander would be a deck under $150.00 - the majority of surveyed budget-tagged decks fell under that price point. This puts the average card price for the deck at $1.50, which probably works fine. With the current trend of Magic becoming more expensive, I might consider the budget tag as going as high as $200.00, but not much further beyond that.

November 4, 2022 9:55 a.m.

Max_Hammer says... #10

Haha, nice. Yeah, I use TCG Player, and since they have the auto-shopper thing that finds the cheapest version, sometimes I'll get foils or alt arts or whatever, just since it's cheaper.

But yeah, that's not to say alt-art or foils or anything are bad if you like shiny stuff. Hell, I have this Little CutieJA in my equipment deck because of course I do, I love him so much.

But Caerwyn is right I think the 300-350$ is stretching it a little, but still pretty reasonable if you use it.

November 4, 2022 9:58 a.m.

EnbyGolem says... #11

I would say $100 is the around the cap - it’s not necessarily about a deck builder’s affordability or income but rather a specific axis for which a deck is built around, like any other tag. If you're not specifically designing your deck around a budget theme (generally using lower powered but cheap cards) then your deck is simply not budget, in my opinion.

November 4, 2022 10:55 a.m.

legendofa says... #12

"Budget" is highly dependent on format. I know this question was put into the Commander forum, but a budget Commander deck (using the $150 mark) might be comparable to a budget Modern deck, while still being several times the value of a budget Standard deck and equivalent to a competitive Pauper deck.

Because of this, I'm not comfortable tying the "budget" hub tag to a specific dollar value.

November 4, 2022 11:18 a.m.

Game_of_Cones says... #13

Pretty soon after I joined T/O, I started a tag called “Ultra-Budget” for decks that can shimmy under the 40 dollar “limbo stick”. 40 was a pretty arbitrary #, but maybe regular Budget would start at around 4 or 5 times that amount??

Btw, a show of hands for all the people who spent at least some fraction of pandemic stimulus $ on MtG : D

November 4, 2022 11:19 a.m.

I have a Legacy Mono- Burn deck that doesn't use any Fetch-lands. Because of which, despite being completely foiled-out, all 75 cards cost less than a single copy of Underground Sea..

I call that "budget"..

November 4, 2022 1:11 p.m.

griffstick says... #15

I think a budget deck is 100 or less according to some youtube channels. However I've got a few decks tagged as budget because 5 yrs ago it was 350 but today it's 600. So today I would say budget it subjective to the creators spending limit . With that being said I think for me, my budget deck is 500 and under.

I hope that helps anyone

November 4, 2022 2:29 p.m. Edited.

100 or less appears to be the general consensus for Commander, which makes good sense considering a Commander deck has 100 cards, meaning a budget commander deck must have an average cost of $1 or less per card. So it's a useful starting point. What others consider budget will vary, but 100 or less will nearly always fall within someone's parameters for "budget", making it a useful tool.

November 4, 2022 2:31 p.m.

griffstick says... #17

What EnbyGolem said in comment #11 I think is the most accurate. Because we are talking about the budget tag

November 4, 2022 2:41 p.m.

Gidgetimer says... #18

I'm completely onboard with "it’s not necessarily about a deck builder’s affordability or income but rather a specific axis for which a deck is built around." However; I don't agree that $100 is "pretty much the cap" or even that there is a cap. If budget considerations had a significant impact on what the finished deck looks like, then the deck is a budget deck to me.

I have a $300 vehicle deck. The whole purpose of the deck was to tone down my normally too-strong-for-my-shop's-meta decks. Budget was a major consideration, but I had some high price cards in the colors already and so through them in. The deck isn't highly tuned or resilient. I feel like it would be unfair to say it isn't a budget deck because I had shocks and fetches sitting in my binder and they pushed the land base alone over $100. Could someone with no cards build the deck on a budget? No. Was budget a defining characteristic of deck building? Yes.

November 5, 2022 3:12 a.m.

metalflame says... #19

I used to standardize a rough limit of $150 for building a new deck, now I can reasonably get decks for less than a hundred with more punching power. My most recent build is less than $70 and kicks way above its peers. Kyler, the ULTIMATE HYPE MAN!!!

Most several hundred dollar builds can be brought way down without losing much as the total price is majorly from a few cards, or a land setup that doesnt have to include $30 land cards.

November 6, 2022 3:47 a.m.

rshistorysmuf says... #20

My Decks got expensive over time. They had piecemeal upgrades with more expensive cards and or the card value has increased.

Then I traded a bunch of cards for a more expensive one.

November 9, 2022 7:26 a.m.

hejtmane says... #21

My issue with budget is this I bought Retrofitter Foundry for a $1.20 had a deck for years then the card shot to $40 dollars x40 times the cost now my deck did not grow more powerfull the card was being used in legacy so the card price shout up until a reprint and it is still a $15 card but it is not a game altering card in edh it works for the deck I have it in for incremental value.

Budget to me is these cards were cheap when I built the deck

January 1, 2023 3:43 p.m.

KenKenrith says... #22

I would say $300 is the cut off for me.

January 11, 2023 1:16 p.m.

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