Thirty Casual Decks under $20 for Magic: the Gathering Guilds of Ravnica

by SaffronOlive // Oct 8, 2018

A couple of months ago, right after Core Set 2019 was released, we published an article featuring 30 casual decks for Core Set 2019 Standard. The response was very positive, so we're back with another round today, but with decks for Guilds of Ravnica Standard! These 30 Magic: the Gathering decks are all $20 or under, perfect for new players or for fun casual play without breaking the bank. We've broken the decks into three categories. First up, we have a bunch of Standard decks that use cards released over the past year or so. Second, we have five Guilds of Ravnica decks, which use only cards found in the latest Magic: the Gathering expansion set, Guilds of Ravnica. Finally, at the end, we have a handful of decks that were featured in the last 30 casual decks article but are still playable in Guilds of Ravnica Standard with slight updates or no updates at all.

We tried to minimize the number of rares that show up in decks to make them easier to acquire. For the Guilds of Ravnica decks specifically, none of the decks have 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 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 by tournament and pro players.

Standard Decks

The following decks are for Guilds of Ravnica Standard. Each deck is under $20, and the goal is to minimize the number of rares and avoid mythics altogether. The upside of this strategy is that along with being super cheap in paper and on Magic Online, these decks should also be pretty budget friendly on Magic Arena (which is a new free-to-play digital Magic game that's now in open beta, if you are interested in trying it out), if you are looking for something different to play in the free-play room. Since the decks are mostly designed for beginners and casual play, I'm not going to break down each deck card by card, so if you have questions about any of the decks, make sure to ask in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer!

One last thing before we get to the decks: Ravnica is a world based around two-color combinations called "guilds," so our decklists use the guild's names to describe the colors rather than the colors themselves. In case you're a new player and aren't familiar with the guilds, here's a handy chart showing what colors each guild name is referring to:

Guild Name Colors Selesnya Green-White Golgari Green-Black Izzet Red-Blue Dimir Blue-Black Boros Red-White Orzhov White-Black Simic Green-Blue Gruul Red-Green Azorius White-Blue Rakdos Red-Black

Guilds of Ravnica Only

Finally, we've got five decks made only from Guilds of Ravnica cards. If you're brand new to Magic, Guilds of Ravnica is the newest Magic set, which makes it the perfect starting point if you are interested in trying out the game! While limiting the decks to just one set makes them less powerful than the all-Standard decks we just talked about, 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 Guilds of Ravnica. Again, these decks won't compete at the FNM level (or on Magic Online), but these decks will be great starting points if you're looking for a way to stretch the amount of fun you get from your Guilds of Ravnica booster boxes!

One last thing before the decks: unlike the Standard decks, for the Guilds of Ravnica decks, each rare only shows up as a one-of, 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!

Still-Legal Decks from Last Time

Finally, we have a handful of decks that you might remember from last time we did a 30 casual decks article. Even though Standard just rotated, these are decks that didn't really lose many (or even any) pieces. Some are very lightly updated to make sure they are legal for Guilds of Ravnica Standard (often because one single card rotated), but for the most part, they are very much like they were a few months ago when the first article was released.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. A quick reminder on the way out the door: all 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 (or starting out on Magic Online), make sure to check out our Budget Magic series. If you are looking for competitive tournament-staple decks, you can find them on the metagame page. Hopefully, these super-cheap deck lists for Guilds of Ravnica Standard are 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.