Standard: 5 Budget Best-of-One Decks for Post-Rotation Season

A new Standard season has begun, and with it, it's natural for a new influx of players to become interested in the format and start searching for lists and options to play on digital platforms, especially Magic Arena, where most of the format's matches take place daily.

Despite some improvements in recent years, MTG Arena still suffers from a major economy issue: without a dusting system, the best way for players to acquire new cards is through the booster and currency rewards the platform offers to obtain rare and mythic wildcards, or by playing multiple draft matches to add cards to their collection.

As a result, many players don't usually have many wildcards to spare, and budget decks are an option for those looking to get started or try something new on the platform.

In this article, we present five Standard decks with low wildcard costs to build on Magic Arena, along with tips for improving them to their full versions!

Mono Red Burn (4 Rares)

Rotation and bans haven't been kind to Mono Red Aggro when it comes to budget lists. The archetype lost Heartfire Hero and Monastery Swiftspear, and Edge of Eternities didn't bring any relevant common and uncommon replacements for the archetype. To maintain the low amount of rares on in at least one list, we tried this Burn archetype with Slickshot Show-Off.

The plan for this list is as simple and straightforward as possible: cast creatures, attack with them, deal damage to the opponent with damage spells and pumps to end the game in as few turns as possible. Ghitu Lavarunner easily becomes a 2/2 for with Haste and helps complement the immediate impact, while Viashino Pyromancer grants two more damage when entering and Coruscation Mage amplifies the potential of all non-creature spells in the list.

We also have the classic combinations with Slickshot Show-Off and Dreadmaw's Ire to replicate what this archetype previously did with Monstrous Rage, albeit with less explosive potential and perhaps with a more telegraphed pattern.

Improvements to this version include Emberheart Challenger, a 2/2 with Prowess whose interaction with pumps like Dreadmaw's Ire and Opera Love Song provides more card advantage, as well as Screaming Nemesis, which punishes blockers and prevents the opponent from gaining life with Beza, the Bounding Spring and similar cards.

One-Punch Tifa (8 Rares, 4 Mythics)

One-Punch Tifa is a cheaper variant of Mono Green Landfall that has been performing well in Standard since last season. In it, we use Tifa Lockhart with Titanic Growth to, along with a "Fetch Land" (Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Escape Tunnel) to deal 20 damage with Trample in a single attack.

To complement this plan, we have the Landfall package with Mossborn Hydra and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower—our choice of mythic over Traveling Chocobo as it offers more permanent power on the board and interacts better with Mossborn Hydra. We also included cards like Snakeskin Veil and Overprotect against removal, both of which can also be used proactively in our game plan.

Improvements certainly involve Traveling Chocobo and at least two copies of the new Icetill Explorer, which integrates perfectly with our game plan and allows us to trade pumps for more consistency, thus reducing the number of bad topdecks.

We can also include Fabled Passage to complement the fetch lands with a card that enters untapped starting on turn four. Their addition allows for some splashes with a copy of a basic land in addition to Forests, with red for Worldsoul's Rage or green for Dyadrine, Synthesis Amalgam, which interacts with the +1/+1 counter theme.

Mono Black Slasher (12 Rares, 4 Mythics)

The combo of Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz, in which if both are in play, the damage dealt by Slasher takes all the opponent's life, remains in Standard and is still one of the best options for Best-of-One, especially if we want a cheap and consistent archetype.

This deck is a Midrange deck, aiming to execute one-for-one trades between creatures, discards, and removal, while Unholy Annex provides card advantage and a win condition in addition to the combo. To complement the enchantment, we use Demon Wall as a cheap threat that also becomes a threat in longer games.

Improvements involve further removing the reliance on winning with the combo to add complementary threats like Cecil, Dark Knight and Soulstone Sanctuary, which interact with Unholy Annex. Too many copies of it can hinder spells like Archenemy's Charm, which acts as an interaction and a way to recur the combo if parts of it are destroyed.

Azorius Bounce (4 to 12 Rares, 4 Mythics)

Cosmogrand Zenith has been dominating Bounce decks over the past week, and we can take advantage of this same interaction in a list that's more Tempo-oriented and features more proactive play, using Cryogen Relic as the main source of card advantage alongside Sunpearl Kirin and Nurturing Pixie.

The spell core runs only four rare and mythic cards, so we can invest more in the mana base: Starting Town is probably the best rare land you can trade wildcards into right now because it will work as an option for literally any list once you have a set of them, while Floodfarm Verge further improves our odds of having easy access to both mana colors on untapped duals.

The obvious improvement from this point on is to invest in the dual-base with to include Nowhere to Run, Tragic Trajectory, and perhaps even cards like Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, which, despite making the archetype less proactive, make it much more consistent in responding to the Metagame.

Azorius Control (12 Rares, 4 Mythics)

If you prefer a more reactive strategy, Azorius Control is a viable option. While we lose some consistency in the mana base, it's an easy archetype to adapt with a few tapped lands, and Stock Up, the deck's main source of card advantage today, is uncommon.

A challenge for Control lists is predicting the Metagame and considering the most appropriate responses. Therefore, consider that all 12 rares included in the list are flexible and can change according to the player's needs and/or preferences.

For example, if there's a lot of Aggro in Best-of-One ranked matches with small creatures, a Pinnacle Starcage set is preferable, while if there are more Planeswalkers, cards like Get Lost gain more space. The slots I wouldn't trade, however, are two copies of both Day of Judgment and Marang River Regent, which are more comprehensive or have other functions besides the win condition.

The mana base also needs improvement in Azorius Control, and I recommend prioritizing it since we can transfer most of the cards to other decks while most rares or mythics we can invest on won't have the same benefit. Next, we can include Consult the Star Charts and Three Steps Ahead as additional sources of card advantage and flexible answers, although these may change soon with each new set.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!