Thirty Casual Decks under $20 for Magic: the Gathering Throne of Eldraine

by SaffronOlive // Sep 30, 2019

For the past few sets, we've been publishing a bunch of cheap, casual deck lists after every set release. Today, we have a very special installment of the Thirty under $20 series with a bunch of cheap, fun decks featuring cards from Magic's newest set: Throne of Eldraine!

Why is this edition of Thirty under $20 so important? Because along with the release of Throne of Eldraine, we had rotation (or renewal, in Magic Arena terms), which means four sets that had been legal in Standard (Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and Core Set 2019) are no longer legal to play in Standard. As a result, a lot of our past Thirty under $20 decks are no longer playable in Magic's most popular format, which means we need some new, cheap, fun decks!

Like in the past, with today's decks, we tried to minimize the number of rares that show up in decks, to make them easier to acquire. For the Throne of Eldraine–only decks specifically, none of the decks has more than one of each rare since those are the numbers you're likely to open if you crack a couple of boxes. These decks are appropriate for fun, casual play and for new players. If you're looking for higher-powered decks (more appropriate for FNM), we play budget decks every week on the Budget Magic series, with a typical budget of $100. If you want to go all-out, you can check out fully powered decks used in tournaments and by pro players.

Standard Decks

First, we have Standard decks, which take advantage of all of the cards currently legal in Standard. Here, it is important to remember that along with the release of Throne of Eldraine, we had a rotation (called renewal on Magic Arena), which made Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, Dominaria, and Core Set 2019 illegal for Standard play. As such, all of our Standard decks only feature cards from Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, Core Set 2020, and of course, Throne of Eldraine.

Throne of Eldraine–Only Decks

Next, we have some decks made only with Throne of Eldraine cards. If you're brand new to Magic, Throne of Eldraine is the newest Magic set, featuring a fun mashup of fairy tale references, Knights, and Trolls. While limiting the decks to just one set makes them less powerful than Standard decks, the upside is simple: you should (on average) get the cards you need to build all of these decks by cracking a couple of boxes of Throne of Eldraine. While these decks won't compete at the FNM level, they will be great starting points if you're looking for a way to stretch the amount of fun you get from your booster boxes! They are also perfect for Magic Arena, especially if you are just starting out and don't have many cards in your collection, since they don't require many rare (or any mythic) wildcards to build. One last thing before the decks: unlike the Standard decks, each rare only shows up as a one-of in the Throne of Eldraine decks, no matter how good it might be in the deck. This is not only to keep the price down but because if you crack two boxes, you'll get about one of each rare, on average. If you happen to open multiple copies of one of the rares in the decks, don't be afraid to upgrade by sticking it in over one of the less powerful cards!

Past Thirty under $20s

While rotating means that the Standard decks from past Thirty under $20 articles will likely no longer be legal for Standard, all of the past decks built around one set only will still be legal, and some of the other decks might at least give you some inspiration for decks to build for Throne of Eldraine Standard. If you want to check out the past editions of Thirty under $20, you can find them here!

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. A quick reminder on the way out the door: all of the decks we talked about today are designed to be for casual play, like having fun with a friend on your kitchen table, and aren't really designed for competitive play. If you're looking for more powerful (but still budget-friendly) decks that are perfect for Friday Night Magic, make sure to check out our Budget Magic series. If you are looking for competitive tournament-worthy decks, you can find them on the metagame page. Hopefully, these super-cheap decklists for Throne of Eldraine Standard will be helpful and fun! If you have any questions, make sure to let me know in the comments. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and suggestions, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.