Most players choose archetypes or card designs they really like for their decks. I know players who have decks based around the likes of Crystal Beasts, generic Warriors and there’s even a Kuriboh deck. Of course, this results in quite a few heavy defeats when they come up against real viable decks. A big problem is a player’s budget, most of us simply can’t afford to splash out huge amounts of cash on the latest and greatest cards.

This is where budget decks come in, they can provide you with a powerful deck for a very small price. It’s actually crazy just how many decks there are, it seems Yugioh is in the most fun state its ever been!

Take a look at the ultimate list of budget decks in 2018, see below each entry for a recommended deck-list and price average!

Structure decks are also an awesome way of obtaining good archetypes and useful generic cards.

Starter decks are much cheaper but they don’t really contain anything too great, only worth getting if you’re brand new to Yugioh!

Competitive decks are relatively difficult to use and expensive. They can however, top locals with ease.

Prices only includes the deck/archetype core, so prices of cards like Monster Reborn/Foolish Burial are left out as well as generic extra deck cards such as Decode Talker.

PLEASE READ: You’ll notice most of the deck lists contain expensive cards such as Link boss monsters, Raigeki and Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. See this list of generic staples to replace them with budget options. Same goes for banned cards like Maxx “C”.

Cubic

You’re looking at one of, if not the most fun Yugioh deck in existence. Obviously it all comes down to preference, Cubics seem to be loved by everyone, though. Very little in the way of negations, Crimson Nova the Dark Cubic Lord (pictured) is an epic boss monster and so easy to summon. In fact, summoning 2 copies isn’t unheard of.

Your plan is to go second, clear back-row and OTK. Crimson Nova boosted with Cubic Wave can have 6000 ATK, and deal 3000 damage at the end of the turn. If your opponent has left a small monster in attack position, with no back-row left to protect it, that’s an instant win.

Since Cubics barely use the extra deck, cards like Eater of Millions fit well. Removing any potential threats and providing some extra cheese.

All of this for an extremely small price. You could literally pick a Cubic deck up for far less than a booster box. So worth it. Also, it’s a future investment. More Cubic support is coming in the 20th Anniversary Pack!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $44/£33

Nekroz

For a long while, Nekroz were an extremely expensive Ritual deck that dominated the competitive scene. The Forbidden List destroyed their viability though, seeing most of their main cards be banned or limited. However, many changes have come about in the past couple of months..

The release of the Impcantation archetype have given Rituals in general a new lease of life. Nekroz of Brionac (pictured) went from limited to 1 copy per deck, to unlimited. Shurit was finally unbanned. And re-prints of previously rare Ritual Nekroz monsters make this entry a budget friendly option!

Appearance wise, Nekroz feature some amazing art, optimised by high rarities. You might recognise some of their names, as Nekroz Ritual monsters tend to be counter-parts of powerful Synchro monsters. In addition to being powerful foes while on the field, especially against Extra Deck based monsters, they have some awesome effects when discarding them from your hand!

As an archetype core, Nekroz are an excellent casual budget deck. If you want to get more competitive, adding Pot of Extravagance gives you a major boost!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $104/£80

Rank 10 Trains

Based around the dreadnoughts that are Rank 10 Trains, this deck seeks to spam level 10 monsters on the field, to overlay for powerful XYZ bosses. As you can see, they tend to have incredible ATK/DEF stats, as well as some nice beat-down effects.

Please be aware that rank 10 trains are a way of life rather than a deck choice. Playing them will significantly increase your testosterone levels, you may end up with an addiction to oil too.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $95/£75

Blackwing

Blackwing Full Armor Master (pictured) is a remarkable boss monster, completely unaffected by other cards’ effects and capable of ridding the field of almost any monster. Summoning this boss monster is easy, utilising the multitude of swarming capabilities the Blackwings have at their disposal.

Loved by the Yugioh community for many years, Blackwings finally have a place in tournaments. Auster the South Wind is another good new card, synergising well with Full Armor Master to offer a free Lightning Vortex at the end of your turn.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $89/£70

Generic Zombie

Since the release of the Zombie Horde structure deck, generic zombies have risen once again. Doomking Balerdroch is insane, being easy to summon and capable of disrupting your opponent’s strategies. You can have up to 3 copies so consistency wise, you’ll see it often.

Glow-Up Bloom allows you to summon literally any level 5 or higher Zombie type monster from your deck. On their own, a purchase of 3 structure decks will be casually viable. All it takes is a few extra cards such as Vampire Sucker to be a competitive force!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $51/£40

Metaphys

All Metaphys monsters other than their Normal monster and Executor (pictured) are happy to be banished. As they return back to the deck during the next standby phase, only to have another effect such as recycling or searching other Metaphys monsters.

Thematically, Metaphys are Wyrm type versions of some classic Dragon type monsters. Such as Metaphys Nephthys being the re-make of Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $70/£55

Superheavy Samurai

One of the most unique archetypes in the entire game, Superheavy Samurais aim to summon their ace Synchro monsters. With huge DEF stats, these Synchro monsters can attack while in defense position, using their DEF stat during damage calculation.

With 4 different Tuner monsters available, as well as their own Pendulum monsters, this archetype has a lot to offer. It’s not uncommon to build this deck without any Spells/Traps at all, so making it doesn’t require expensive staples!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $38/£30

Magical Musket

With possibly one of the best armories of any archetype in the game, Magical Musketeers offer a ton of fun ways to play Yugioh. Cross-Domination is an awesome spell card, Magical Musket traps allow you to negate activations, destroy cards and even banish cards from the graveyards.

Just 1 Magical Musket boss monster exists though, in the form of Mastermind Zakiel. They’re definitely fun to play though and can perform well in local tournaments. Not to mention they’ll likely get support in the future!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $102/£80

Zefra

If you enjoy variety and the ability to tweak a deck constantly, the Zefra archetype is for you. Capable of being built around any card type such as Synchro, XYZ or even Ritual, you can even choose to incorporate all monsters types.

Zefraath is a bizarre but powerful boss monster, although I wouldn’t recommend this deck to new players.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $64/£50

Pendulum Magicians

A staple of Yugioh since the release of the XYZ era, Pendulum Magicians are a deck every player should try at least once. No other set of cards can teach you how to swarm via Pendulum monsters anywhere near as much!

Even with Astrograph Sorceror being banned, Pendulum Magicians are still going strong as a rogue competitive deck, or as a fun casual deck. Sporting a great combination of competence, thematic and mechanics, new players in particular should keep their eye out for Pendulum Magicians!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $70/£55

Mayakashi

So many Synchro monsters, it’s hard for me to get a grasp of this deck, hopefully you can understand the effects a bit more.

Spamming Synchro monsters seems to be the aim of the game with this deck. When they’re in the graveyard, even high level Synchro monsters can special summon themselves if another is destroyed.

In practice this sounds amazing but as far as I can tell, cards like Necrovalley and Called by the Grave completely counter this deck. It does look really fun though, and it’s cheaper than you’d think!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $57/£45

Prank-Kids

A much larger archetype in the OCG, Prank-Kids have finally come to the TCG, albeit with some members missing. Even then, they’re arguably one of the most fun decks in the entire game right now!

Each Prank-Kids main deck monster have “floating” effects, meaning they have recycling powers upon being send to the graveyard when used to summon a Prank-Kids Fusion/Link monster. Those extra deck monsters have effects themselves to bring back main deck monsters. They can seem daunting at first but overall, they’re an extremely fun budget deck.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $76/£60

Orcust

Lore-wise, the Orcust archetype is linked to Crusadias (see further down the list). You have to appreciate Konami’s attempts at actual lore. Gameplay wise, Orcusts fit well with World Legacy cards. There’s quite a few ways you can build them, it’s entirely up to you, making them an awesome archetype for customising.

Their main boss monster Orcustrion is actually quite insane, countering a ton of meta decks today. For local tournaments, this budget deck is a good choice!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $38/£30

Dinowrestler

Dinowrestlers go back to the older days of Yugioh, when a duel was decided by the battle phase instead of ending before you get to play your own cards. Slightly lock-down based too, Dinowresters seek to let your opponent build their monsters up, only to kill 1 each turn and inflict big damage.

Of course, this deck has a ton of weaknesses but in casual duels or even local tournaments, they’re a fun and effective option.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $25/£20

Crusadia

Recently released in the Cybernetic Horizon set, the Crusadia archetype has surprised the entire Yugioh community. Providing a great budget option for new or returning players, this archetype can OTK for a small price. As with all archetypes that are semi-viable today, Crusadia contains a bountiful amount of searching, swarming and recycling capabilities.

You only need the Crusadia core itself, including Crusadia Equimax which is the only expensive card in the set. If you really enjoy them, you can add competitive hand-traps and Extra Deck monsters, such as those on the recommended decklist below that reached top 8 in a regional tournament!

Recommended decklist

Average price: $65/£50

Salamangreat

As of the release of Soul Fusion, the Salamangreat archetype is a decent set of low rarity cards. Focused on swarming the field, utilising their effects to clear your opponent’s board and tribute themselves for cards with the same name.

With the Soulburner structure deck being readily available, a pure Salamangreat is actually competitively viable. So much so it’s currently ranked as the best competitive deck in the game.

Sometimes an archetype gets support and goes from bad to decent. This archetype went from useless to god-like. Not only are their monsters full of strong effects and high ATK/DEF stats, their Spell/Trap support can negate anything your opponent tries to do!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $120/£90

Vampire

Vampires have always been a pretty awesome Zombie archetype but now, after the release of Dark Saviors, they’re even better. The release of Vampire Sucker gave them a great Link monster, making full of its link arrows by releasing some incredible XYZ monsters in the form of Dhampir Vampire Sheridan and Crimson Knight Vampire Bram.

Continuing the unique theme of Zombie cards is their ability to resurrect themselves, as well as steal monsters from your opponent. Vampires are a blast to play while remaining powerful, high rarity & relatively cheap!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $40/£30

Gravekeeper

Gravekeeper’s are held in high regard by the majority of Yugioh players, mostly because they were the first real archetype to take off competitvely. I remember way back in 2010, my friend had a Gravekeeper’s deck and it was nigh unstoppable. Of course, this archetype’s power has waned throughout the years.

Konami recently released even more support in the form of Gravekeeper’s Supernaturalist, a resurgence can be made. Such a new monster adds even more depth, giving you some incredible searching power.

A mix of anti-meta, swarming and beat-down make Gravekeeper’s a viable, fun budget deck in casual duels. A lack of Link support does plague them but as I mentioned before, it’s just a case of waiting for Konami to fix this glaring issue!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $73/£56

Graydle

Graydles are a bit bizarre, if you enjoy unique aesthetics and plenty of weird effects, this archetype is for you. While they’re a Water attribute with an Aqua type, they can be considered a mix of alien and normal animals as we know, such as the Graydle Alligator. Synchro summoning, taking control of opponent’s monsters and swarming make Graydle’s a weird combination that actually works.

Mistar Boy will be required to get the most out of your synchro summoning, they can get multiple boss monsters on really easily. A lack of self-protection is a problem for the Graydle archetype though, so make sure you include plenty of hand-traps, spells and traps to back them up!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $33/£24

Fire King

No other deck can destroy as much as the Fire Kings, with their support cards constantly destroying your own monsters from the hand, field or even the deck. That doesn’t sound too good but it’s worth it, as they come back to devastate the field a turn later.

However, if they get banished (which is quite common in Yugioh), you’ll pretty much have to scoop. Imperial Iron Wall offers a way around this, though. Honestly, there’s quite a few ways you can build Fire Kings, they’ll always be extremely powerful against a majority of non-competitive decks.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $92/£70

Mecha Phantom Beast

Personally I’ve never used Mecha Phantom Beasts, I’ve only ever played against them and being honest, it’s boring. On the other hand, my friend who uses them has described Mecha Phantom Beasts as being insanely fun, as their interaction with tokens cannot be found with any other archetype.

Not only this, their boss monsters are remarkable. Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack (pictured) is one of the best rank 7 XYZ monsters in the game, although its price reflects that. Capable of stalling, OTK’ing or controlling a duel from start to finish, this archetype is a great choice overall.

In Link format, Qliphort Genius and Bellcat Fighter (not released yet) are mandatory!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $60/£45

Flower Cardian

Lots of swarming, lots of recycling and lots of synchro summoning. Flower Cardian’s are one of the most unique looking archetypes in the entire game and their effects are also distinctive. You can easily fill the field with level 10 Flower Cardian monsters, however you can’t overlay for Rank 10 XYZ monsters due to the summoning restrictions that come with this archetype.

The Flower Cardian Tuner monsters can treat all Synchro materials as level 2 monsters, allowing you to summon their epic boss monster Lightflare with ease. So many combos can be made with this archetype with a ton of potential drawing power, Flower Cardian’s are seriously underrated.

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $30/£22

Raccoon

For those who enjoy a really, really fun deck with cute monsters and good combo pieces, Raccoons are excellent. Being a fairly generic archetype, almost any Beast support cards can work well with these little guys, as can a myriad of other Beast type monsters. Not only do these raccoons swarm the field with low-level Beast type monsters, you have a great boss monster at your disposal in the form of Number 64: Ronin Raccoon Sandayu.

You can acquire all these monsters very easily and no doubt you have at least half a deck in your random common piles too!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $77/£57

Ghostrick

Don’t let the pictured Ghostrick monster fool you, it’s an option rather than the main focus of the deck. Ghostrick’s are some of the most fun monsters in the entire game, with particularly weird and bizarre effects. No single win condition is focused on, you can stall, burn, mill or bring out powerful beat-stick monsters.

If there is one focus to choose it’s the ability to flip monsters face-down, both yours and your opponents. Combine this strategy with Ghostrick Mansion for a fairly odd approach that actually works!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $60/£44

Lair of Darkness

It really is quite hard to believe how cheap this deck is, you can pick up 3 Lair of Darkness Structure Decks on Amazon for a crazy low amount. Putting together a deck using the cards in this set will give you a relatively powerful casual deck that can hold its own in tournaments. The actual Dark/Tribute engine inside can be applied to other archetypes and decks too.

So many variations exist, using the field spell included to turn your opponent’s monsters into the Dark attribute, only to tribute them and devastate their entire hand and field. Take a look at the pictured boss monster too, with huge ATK and targeting immunity, it’s hard not to crave some darkness!

Looking at the below deck list, I recommend removing 3 of the Virus cards for Sky Striker Ace – Raye. Then remove 3-4 of the non-budget extra deck monsters for Sky Striker Ace Link monsters. Raye’s tributing effect proc’s Diabolos’ graveyard effect to special summon itself!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $40/£30

F.A

The addition of Ancient Fairy Dragon to the Forbidden List was a huge, huge blow to F.A’s competitive efforts. Even then, this archetype is so cheap while still being decent and playable casually. F.A monsters increase their ATK by their levels x 300 and have additional effects that completely shut down your opponent’s strategies if they’re level 7 or higher. This is easy to achieve due to their level increasing effects.

Additionally, F.As have some nice Synchro type boss monsters available to them. Difficulties getting monsters onto the field, especially after Ancient Fairy Dragon was banned, is a problem for F.As at the moment but feel free to have fun with them casually!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $40/£30

Weather Painter

Weather Painters are absolutely stunning aesthetically, with many of them being Secret Rare with beautiful art. Combining continuous spells/traps with monster effects for devastating effect, Weather Painters banish themselves to bounce/destroy/banish other cards, only to return during the standby phase. The combination of such varieties of cards allows you to tech the likes of Metaltron XII the True Dracombatant into the deck too.

Recently, Weather Painters were used in my (casual) local tournament and they did very well, only losing out to a full-on meta viable deck. It wasn’t until I checked afterwards did I realise how cheap they are.

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $80/£60

Abyss Actor

A forgotten archetype, one a lot of players will never expect to see. Abyss Actor’s are a variety of Pendulum monsters, all of which have powerful searching and recycling effects. They also have Abyss Script spell cards backing them up, providing yet more valuable support with absurdly strong effects if they’re destroyed while set on the field.

Link format reduced their swarming capabilities quite a lot but getting the required Link monsters isn’t too difficult, Abyss Actors are so fun to use and are surprisingly viable too!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $45/£33

Noble Knight

The most viable equip-based deck for years, Noble Knights are an absolute pain to play against while being enjoyable to use. Almost all of their monsters have powerful searching abilities, letting you add the monsters and/or equip spells you need to your hand.

Having 3 or more equip spells on a single monster makes them nigh unkillable, combine this with their powerful XYZ monsters and you have a very, very good deck for the price. As expected, cards like Arkbrave Dragon and others that banish spells will completely demolish Noble Knights so their viability is a bit niche!

Isolde being re-printed is massive for this deck, significantly reducing its cost.

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $90/£70

Rock Magnet Warrior

Swarming Magnet Warriors is the aim of the game with this budget deck. You can easily summon multiple level 3 or 4 Rock-type monsters for Link or XYZ summoning. With backup from Imperion Magnum the Superconductive Battlebot (pictured), your opponent won’t have a clue what hit them. Most Rock decks are defensive, focusing on using their defensive power to eventually win the game.

If you enjoy the Rock type while not being particularly fond of their playstyle, Magnet Warriors are for you!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $47/£35

60-Card Banish Spam

60-card decks took a huge hit when That Grass Looks Greener was banned but this particular variant can still work. The great thing is, there’s so many banish-related milling cards that replacing Grass is a lot easier than it looks. After a turn or two, Gren Maju Da Eiza (pictured) can work up a huge ATK/DEF stat. With just 20 cards removed from play, it’ll have a mind-boggling 8000 ATK/DEF.

You can easily use this to OTK or go full cheese mode and set it face-down, waiting for your opponent to attack it and lose a ton of life points. This 60-card banish spam deck is a blast to play with and is relatively cheap!

Recommended deck list

Average deck price: $73/£55

Batteryman

Arguably 1 of the 2 half-decent Thunder archetypes, the Batteryman series has gone under the radar for a while but they’re well worth acquiring. They love to swarm, filling the field full of moderately powerful monsters, sporting decent ATK/DEF stats. Their true power lies in card effects, being able to destroy entire boards with ease by themselves or with the completely “fair” Short Circuit.

With so many recycling cards added to this archetype, it’s insanely fast with huge boss monsters and great destructive power.

Recommended deck-list

Average deck price: $40/£30

Exodia Draw Stall

Of all Exodia decks and strategies available, filling a deck full of stall/draw cards is the best method. You should be able to go through your entire deck in 3-4 turns, if not sooner, all the while you’re preventing your opponent from attacking.

Obviously, absolutely no one likes to face decks like this but Exodia is so hard to complete nowadays that you have to use strategies like this to do it!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $60/£45

Dragon lords

Arguably the greatest benefit of a Dragon Lord deck is their Link format competence, you definitely don’t even need an Extra Deck but if you decide on one, the single Extra Monster Zone is enough. This deck’s main cards are Divine Dragon Lord Felgrand (pictured) & Arkbrave Dragon, with Dragon Ravine being the spell that brings them together.

A huge; no, massive weakness to being banished makes the Dragon Lords pretty much useless against certain decks though. If your Felgrands & Arkbraves get banished, it’s GG. You can get 99% of the main deck cards required in the Rise of the True Dragons structure deck.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $86/£65

Dinomist

While this deck is technically budget, Heavymetalfoes Electrumite is pretty much mandatory for the deck to function in Link format. Fortunately, due to the recent ban-list hitting the biggest abusers of Electrumite, the price has gone down by at least 50% so now this deck is much cheaper. Qliphort Genius is another great option.

Dinomists spam heavy hitters with powerful effects, capable of running over anything your opponent can lay out. Appearance wise, this archetype looks incredible and they’re well loved by the Yugioh community. Each card is remarkably cheap, excluding Electrumite of course, and you can tech Dinomists into a number of other archetypes.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $33/£25

Monarch

Monarchs are the embodiment of anti-meta. Do you dislike people? Do you enjoy seeing people suffer? Do you actually hate Yugioh despite playing it? If you answered “yes” to all of those questions, Monarchs are the only archetype for you. Full of cards to shut down your opponent’s plays & strategies, there’s nothing quite like seeing the other player say “I can’t even do anything” under their breath.

Sure, you’ll have no friends but you’ll have an awesome deck for a small price!

You can literally buy 3 of Emperor of Darkness Structure Deck and get almost all the cards you need!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $53/£40

Krawler

Very few decks swarm like the Krawlers do, as is fitting for their monster type. One of the few Flip related archetypes on this list, Krawlers fit snuggly into Link format with their support cards. No matter how many your opponent destroys, these Insect type monsters will keep coming back. Flip monsters are pretty slow though, so an experienced opponent will take advantage of such a weakness considerably.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $53/£40

Amazoness

The Amazoness archetype has been in the game for a long, long time. They were always semi-decent in niche situations but a lack of coherency plagued them. Years later, Konami released some exceptional support, you can search the exact cards you need with ease. While they lack heavy beaters, Amazoness monsters utilise their spell/trap support alongside their monster effects to devastate the opponent.

If you enjoy lots of searching and swarming, Amazoness are right up your street!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $58/£43

ABC

After A – Assault Core‘s addition to the Forbidden List, ABC players renounced their favorite archetype. As of December 2018, A – Assault Core has become unlimited again.

High degrees of consistency make summoning ABC-Dragon Buster (pictured) extremely easy in the first turn. Easily one of the best boss monsters in the entire game, backing it up with powerful Link monster is recommended.

Since such a small Union engine is required, an ABC deck can be filled with more consistency engines, such as Sky Strikers. On a budget though, you’re better off running beat-down cards to protect/reinforce Dragon Buster’s destructiveness, as well as hand-traps to disrupt your opponent’s strategies!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $90/£67

Dinosaur

For many years, Dinosaurs were a laughing stock. They were exactly where they belonged, fossilized in time, forgotten by all. This all changed when the Dinosmasher’s Fury Structure Deck was released, suddenly they’re a forced to be feared. Ultimate Conductor Tyranno is the flagship Dinosaur, so much so that other decks are adding dinos specifically to get this card onto the field easily. Being able to flip all of your opponent’s monsters face-down during either player’s turn is crazy good. A pure Dinosaur deck will do you wonders both casually and competitively.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $77/£57.50

Gouki

On their own, Gouki’s are a formidable archetype with plenty to offer. Acquiring a decent Gouki deck will provide you with a fun to play, semi-viable budget deck. The actual Gouki core is insanely cheap and can be tech’d into a number of different decks if required. Combine Gouki’s with Knightmares to transform your decent budget deck into an expensive deck that can win tournaments with ease.

The price of this archetype will likely increase over time so get your hands on them while you can!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price:$51/£38.50

Shiranui

As if the Zombie type didn’t have enough support, Shiranui introduced yet more cards to boost their power. Combining Shiranui support cards with generic Zombie cards is a great idea, as they can swarm Extra Deck monsters whilst retaining card advantage. Shiranui Spectralsword (pictured) is their only Tuner monster, you can use it to make a Synchro monster whilst it’s on the field then do the same next turn!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $77/£58

Evilswarm

Not to be confused with the closely related Steelswarm, Evilswarm’s are Dark attribute monsters with powerful abilities. Swarming level 4 monsters for Rank 4 XYZ monsters is what this archetype aspires to do, with Steelswarm Origin being a great Link monsters as well. With how fast they swarm the field, Evilswarm’s can get a good amount of Link monsters on the field to make way for their Rank 4 XYZs.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $61/£43.30

Phantasm Spiral

Insanely cheap for its power, Phantasm Spiral Dragon is a great choice for newer players, or experienced players looking for a cheap fairly-viable option. Summoning beat-stick normal monsters to whittle down your opponent is the aim of the game for this archetype, with some great support cards to make sure these normal monsters can actually do their job. So many variants of the Phantasm Spiral archetype can be created, it’s completely up to you how viable or fun you want to make it!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $40/£30

Skull Servant

Imagine a level 1 monster with 18,000 ATK, just take that in for a moment. Filling your graveyard full of Skull Servant cards is so easy because of the support they’ve received in recent years, a ton of cards have been released that are classed as Skull Servant in the graveyard. They work really well together, strategies flow naturally and other generic Zombie support cards fit in well too.

Unfortunately, a huge weakness to hand-traps and negation boss monsters makes this budget deck horrible in competetive play. Use it casually though, that way you and your opponent will have an insanely fun duel!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $104/£78 (Wightmare takes up almost half of the budget so try and get it cheap somewhere)

Lunalight

Just read the pictured card’s effect, I mean dear god, what a card. Obviously, those fusion materials look difficult to achieve. Looks can be deceiving though, cards like Fusion Tag and Lunalight’s very own Kaleido Chick make summoning Leo Dancer a breeze. As well as summoning boss monsters easily, Lunalights have a ton of recycling and graveyard effects. Variety is key, this archetype has so many monsters with different effects that no bad situation can be solved!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $67/£50

Roid

Over the years, Konami has given plenty of old archetypes some loving touch-ups. Roids are no exception, being given a few nice support cards based around the Vehicroid series. Mixeroid was a brilliant addition, giving you more options to summon your Vehicroid fusions. There’s something satisfying about facing huge dragons, experienced warriors and complicated machines with cartoon vehicles!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $48/£35

Heroic

Technically not archetype specific, this budget deck revolves around summoning Number 86: Heroic Champion – Rhongomyniad (pictured) with 5 materials as soon as possible. So many Warrior type monsters can be summoned easily, a combination of different archetypes, such as Empowered Warriors and Heroic Challengers, is a good way to start.

The below deck-list is one I’ve put together and I can get Rhongomyniad on in 2-3 turns but I’m sure others will find easier ways to summon it. This boss monster is one of the most awesome Warrior type monsters available and it deserves its own deck!

Metalfoes Fusion is included as Empowered Warriors discard a lot of cards, discarding Metalfoes Fusion allows you to shuffle it back into the deck and draw a card.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $53/£40

Gladiator Beast

Yet another archetype that’s received significant support over the years, only they weren’t in dire need of it. Gladiator Beasts have always swarmed quickly with powerful destructive effects, now they do it even faster with more destruction and more boss monsters to choose from. Revolving around battling, Gladiator Beasts are quite powerful while also giving your opponent ways of playing around them. At least, the illusion of fairness, Gladiator Beasts have all the tools they need to be deceptively good.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $65/£49

Ancient Gear

Of all the Machine archetypes in Yugioh, Ancient Gears are arguably the coolest. Debuting in Yugioh GX by Dr. Crowler, they’ve since received a tremendous amount of support, Konami is hell-bent on making them viable. Chaos Ancient Gear Giant is one of the craziest boss monsters in the game, being absolutely monstrous on the field, immune to pretty much everything and capable of OTK’ing with ease.

Plenty of spell cards are capable of summoning the other Ancient Gear boss monsters, sometimes it feels like it’s easier to summon a 3000+ ATK boss than any other monster!

Deck list is quite expensive but you can cut down on the fusions, one of each is fine for casual play and it’ll reduce costs considerably. You can also replace Ancient Gear Fusion with Overload Fusion.

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Average deck price: $113/£85

Kuriboh

Well, Kuribohs aren’t competitively viable in any way, shape or form. They are exceptionally fun to play though, as well as considerably cheap. The element of surprise is what Kuriboh is all about, these level 1 monsters are incredibly weak by themselves but after a few turns, you can get out some epic boss monsters that your opponent never sees coming.

Everyone loves Kuribohs, no doubt you can throw together a fun deck using your spare cards. They won’t win any tournaments but you’ll have so much fun and also have the perfect deck to use against new players or lower tier decks.

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Average deck price: $46/£35

Deskbot

If you acquire a Deskbot deck, get ready for a ton of mis-plays and bad calculations. Deskbots swarm the field with ease, playing multiple cards to boost ATK & DEF stats. Keeping track of such boosts is a huge part of the deck as it has insane OTK potential. Deskbot Base (shown above) is particularly useful, granting you a free Magical Mallet for Deskbot cards each turn, as well as a nice ATK/DEF boost.

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $40/£30

Chain Burn

In some ways I didn’t want to give chain burn decks any recognition by putting them on the list, they’re absolutely horrible to play against. If you’re desperately struggling though, chain burn will alleviate your concerns as they can pull out a win against almost any deck out there. It’s not uncommon for you to win even without summoning a monster, something your opponent will not appreciate as they barely got a chance to play!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $35/£26

Lightsworn

Over the years, Lightsworns have continued their meta relevance, although many of them are outside of pure-Lightsworn deck-lists. Not only is it well worth picking up a bunch of Lightsworn cards because a pure deck is awesome, you can port such cards over to other decks in the future, like Zombie-Lightsworns. This archetype is exceedingly fun to play with, fair for the opponent yet effective!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $100/£74

Fluffal

I will always recommend Fluffals to any Yugioh player, there’s something so satisfying about winning with these little creatures. With a focus mainly on Fusion summoning, you have a ton of options at your disposal as you choose which cartoon-like monster to summon. Fluffals do have their weaknesses which can be exposed quite badly but overall, they’re a strong deck with the cutest art in the game!

The recent release of Frightfur Patchwork has been a huge boon for this deck’s viability. It’s now a monster in casual duels and worth using at locals!

Recommended decklist

Average deck price: $75/£56

D/D

Take a look at the linked deck-list below, I’ve written a huge guide behind the D/Ds using my personal deck as a reference. Put simply, D/Ds are one of, if not THE hardest archetype to use in the entire game. The extra deck consists of Fusion, Synchro, XYZ and Link monsters. Even with a fairly bad hand, you’ll have a huge variety of combos you can pull off, the skill ceiling is incredibly high.

At the same time, this makes the deck effective against players who are unfamiliar with their cards & strategies. Also, D/Ds are one of the most fun and satisfying decks in the entirety of Yugioh, no duel is ever the same!

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Average deck price: $40/£30

HERO

Link format hit HEROs quite badly but they’re still going well, Masked HERO Dark Law (shown above) is the key monster you want to use. Summoning this guy first turn almost always guarantees a victory, single-handedly shutting down your opponent’s strategies. He isn’t the only Masked HERO available though, there are others available for niche situations. To summarise what this deck is about, you need to get Dark Law onto the field and protect him as much as you can!

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Average deck price: $80/£62

Odd-Eyes

Props to Konami for their main character series of cards in recent years, the Utopia series was great but Odd-Eyes are even better. With plenty of extra deck summoning capabilities, you’ll have a card and a combo for every situation you come across. Not only is the linked deck list great, there’s so many other deck strategies you can make and investing into an Odd-Eyes deck now is investing in the future.

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Average deck price: $75/£56

SPYRAL

For a long time, SPYRALs were undoubtedly the best deck in Yugioh. After many of their cards were hit by the Forbidden List, they’ve fallen from grace yet remain relevant. No longer able to easily steam-roll over anything it comes across, SPYRALs now require another turn or two before they win. Prices are ramped up by the SPYRAL Super Agent card, other than that it’s considerably cheap to build.

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Average deck price: $75/£56

Burning Abyss

The majority of decks appearing on this list are considered unfair, boring and tedious to play against. Not Burning Abyss though, in fact your opponent will have fun even if they get destroyed. Rarely do we see such a strong archetype with so many methods of your opponent having a chance and Burning Abyss can be combined with a number of other archetypes. Considered a fan favorite archetype, Burning Abyss are a great choice for any duelist.

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Average deck price: $50/£37

Paleozoic Frogs

The ultimate budget deck, you can’t go wrong with Paleozoic Frogs, such seemingly weak monsters can topple even the greatest of dragons and fiends. Toadally Awesome is the cream of the crop, becoming a meme since its release yet it’s absolutely nothing to laugh at. Palezoic XYZ monsters are also formidable with support from their trap cards. For how cheap this deck is, its effectiveness is truly bizarre!

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Average deck price: $50/£37