One of the big complaints about Hearthstone is the price to pay (to play) when you first start. There are a ton of Legendaries released, and if you are unlucky you may have not received much in the way of playable cards. This is unfortunate, so we’ve gone ahead and created some budget decks that should serve you well if you are in the Bronze or Silver divisions. Some of the stronger builds should be viable throughout Gold and possibly even Platinum if you master them. We don’t recommend those decks in Diamond or to attempt a Legend climb, unless you replace some of the budget cards and turn them into actual meta decks. You CAN hit Legend with some of them, but you would really need to master them and play very well, and by that time you most likely will have enough resources to build a full version anyway.
The game is in a better state than it was a few years ago. The free Core Set, as well as the current rewards system, are both pretty generous (at least by the old Hearthstone standards). We’re also commonly getting other free stuff like packs, Legendaries etc. during expansion releases, events, and from outside of the game (e.g. Twitch drops). While things have gotten much better for new and F2p players, it’s hard to deny that the game is still quite expensive to get into. F2P players should easily be able to build a few meta decks per expansion, but the issue is that they can’t play whatever they want. So once they commit to crafting certain cards, if they want to switch to another class – tough luck! That’s why we think that those budget decks can come really handy. No matter if you want to do Daily Quests for another class, test a deck before crafting a full version, or just play around with different options, they should be a good option for new and F2P players alike.
Defining a Budget Deck
We’re trying our best to keep the budget decks as cheap as possible while making them as strong as we can. Overall, there’s no hard cutoff, but we try to keep the decks within the 2-3k Dust range (Dust cost listed next to decks below isn’t always accurate, since it includes cards that are given away for free). However, their real cost is usually much lower, because players tend to own a lot of Commons / Rares used in them already.
When it comes to Commons & Rares – it’s simple, all of them are allowed. It’s very easy to get a full Common & Rare collection (doubly so with the recent addition of Catch-Up Packs), and even if you’re missing some of them, they’re cheap to craft.
As for the Epics – if it’s not possible, we try to not include them. If a deck can be built with no Epics at all, that’s great. However, that is sadly quite rare. Epics are often key cards in a given build, so removing them is either impossible or would drop the deck’s win rate by a lot. Even in the worst-case scenario, we try to keep it down to a couple of Epics, but if choosing between a deck that has to include a few Epics and a completely unplayable deck, we’ll choose the former. Playing a deck that virtually can’t win any games is just not fun.
Legendaries are completely excluded UNLESS they are available for free. This includes all of the Core Set Legendaries, as well as Legendaries that were given out for free in the current Standard rotation (e.g. Pozzik, Audio Engineer – if you don’t have it, all you need to do is buy a single Festival of Legends pack and go to the pack opening screen, you will get the card automatically). For this reason, if you are a new player or you just came back after a long break, you should get at least 1 pack from each Standard expansion to collect all those free Legendaries.
Perils in Paradise Update
Last expansion, I asked you to craft Zilliax Deluxe 3000. Let me start this expansion’s summary by asking you the same thing again. Not only the card is by far the most popular Legendary in Hearthstone history, your value is insane because it’s like crafting a few Legendaries in one. The card was already nerfed multiple times and it’s still played in ~60% of decks. Do yourself a favor and craft him. In the best-case scenario, you have a card that you will play until it rotates out of Standard in dozens of decks. And in the worst-case scenario he just gets nerfed again and you get your Dust back.
Perils in Paradise has been pretty great for F2P players, although it also has one big downside. Maybe let’s start with the good side. The set’s free Legendaries were amazing this time. It’s probably the best free duo of cards we EVER had. In Patch 29.6, all players got Marin the Manager which has seen a ton of play in all kinds of Midrange and Control decks. To be completely fair, he doesn’t fit into many budget builds, since those are usually too fast for him, but if you want to invest into meta decks, you will find him a great addition into tons of builds. Additionally, players can claim a free copy of Gorgonzormu from the rewards track. And unlike Marin, this one is a perfect fit into most of the budget builds. It’s cheap, it’s strong, and it fits into all kinds of decks. Those are the two most popular Legendaries right behind the aforementioned Zillliax, with ~40% (Gorgonzormu) and ~33% (Marin) play rate (at the time I’m writing this).
On top of that, the expansion is full of decks that can be built on a relatively small budget. We even have one meta deck in this post! Of course, most of them still require a bunch of Epics and maybe w few Legendaries, but you can find multiple viable builds in the 5k Dust budget, and that’s honestly really good. We have relatively cheap Aggro decks, a nice Elemental package that sees play in three different classes (while some builds do require class-specific Legendaries, they can still be played without them), and even a couple of inexpensive Midrange and Combo decks.
As for the bad part – Tourist mechanic. It’s the main feature of the expansion, letting you “tour” into another class, using their cards from the expansion. The downside is that it requires a Legendary. And since lots of the meta decks right now use Tourists, it’s +1 Legendary you have to add to the cost of many, many builds. There are a few decks that could have been built on budget (Combo Druid, Aggro Shaman), but they require you to run Tourist cards, thus blowing up the deck’s cost.
Still, overall Perls in Paradise is a good expansion, and even if we look at proper budget decks from this post, we have a few Diamond-Legend climb candidates.
Cheap Hearthstone Decks
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Death Knight has been performing quite well so far in Perils in Paradise. Although the full meta build dip into Shaman with Buttons, this budget version is actually quite capable too.
The deck usually wins through burn damage. In the early/mid game your goal is to try to stabilize the board and keep removing your opponent’s threats. Use your board presence combined with Frost Strike, Corpsicle and pings from Horizon's Edge to keep the board clear while trying to push some chip damage here and there. If you face a slower deck like Control Warrior, their board presence won’t likely be a problem, so you should instead push as much tempo as you can. If you don’t want to overextend too much, play Gorgonzormu but don’t play the Cheese. Just keep it in hand and if your opponent drops a big board clear, play the Cheese for an instant refill.
However, at one point you want to switch gears and go for the face. The way you do it is usually by chaining Freeze effects. For example, you can start with Might of Menethil on Turn 6 to just freeze your opponent’s board and ignore it. Then on Turn 7 you can play another copy or maybe use Frostwyrm's Fury instead. You might have a couple of turns to just go all in with your opponent not being able to make trades. If that’s not enough, you have some reach in form of Corpsciles. If you have at least 3 Corpses when playing the card, it returns to your hand at the end of the turn. So you can shoot your opponent’s face a few turns in a row.
You also have a late game Marin the Fox option. 90% of the time you want to go for Wondrous Wand Treasure (it’s the strongest one), although Zarog's Crown might also be useful if you need more board presence or you’re desperately looking for lethal with something like Leeroy.
There aren’t really any viable meta versions of Frost Death Knight, so if you’re looking for a full meta builds, I’d recommend either a Rainbow Death Knight (using all three Runes) or Frost/Unholy Death Knight.
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Aggro Demon Hunter was one of the strongest decks in the early days of the expansion, but it quickly turned out that Aggro Shaman can do the same thing, just better. It doesn’t mean that Aggro Demon Hunter is a bad deck, but it’s been sitting around Tier 2 for most of the expansion. Players have been experimenting with different builds, and there’s a clear split – some prefer a pure Demon Hunter versions, while others dip into Priest with Aranna, Thrill Seeker. Since it’s a budget build, the dip is out of question, so we’re stuck with a Demon Hunter build.
The goal of this deck is, as you’ve guessed it, to dish out as much damage as you can. The deck has some ways to control the board, but it’s at its strongest when it just goes face with everything. The main idea behind the deck is that it can summon multiple 1/1 Pirates with Charge. Then you have a few ways to buff them or otherwise benefit from them attacking. A perfect curve with the deck in a slower matchup is Treasure Distributor on T1, Sigil of Skydiving on T2 and then either Hozen Roughhouser or Southsea Captain on Turn 3. If Distributor survived until T2, you now have a 5/3, three 3/2’s and either a 3/4 or a 4/3 on the board. As you can imagine, that’s a whole lot of pressure.
And that’s your main game plan. Set up Sigil of Skydiving or Dangerous Cliffside (another way to summon 1/1’s with Charge), then play your buffers and go face. Slam in Adrenaline Fiend and/or some other ways to gain Attack and you can have some Turn 5-6 lethals. Because of the potential damage, the deck gets very scary if your opponent has no answers.
However, the deck’s biggest problem is that it’s fragile. It mostly runs small minions that are quite easy to answer and it doesn’t have great ways to contest the board, so once you fall behind you can’t do much. That’s why you usually want to try to kill your opponent before they can establish a bigger board. Of course, it doesn’t mean that you can’t trade with your Charge minions, sometimes you have to, but still try combining them with buffs so either you have to use fewer of them (Attack buffs) or they survive trades (Health buffs).
The deck is missing a few cards compared to a full meta build. You can either expand on this version or, as I’ve said at the beginning, dip into Priest for a few extra cool synergies. At the time I’m writing this, stats indicate that the Priest version is a bit stronger, but things can change in the future. Either way, check out a list of Aggro Demon Hunter builds here and pick what you like.
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Druid has been doing incredibly well for the last couple of expansions and Perils in Paradise is no different. The class has a few viable meta options… however, Treant Druid is none of those. Right now you can play Tempo/Dragon Druid, Combo Druid, and Reno Druid, but as you’ve probably guessed, none of those can be built on the budget. While Treant Druid is not a meta option, the deck is not actually that bad and it genuinely stands a chance at lower ranks.
Your game plan is simple and hasn’t really changed much ever since Token/Treant Druids were first created over a decade ago. Flood the board, buff the board, hit the opponent. That’s pretty much it.
Sadly, right now there aren’t THAT many ways of summining Treants in Standard, so you need to be careful. Probably most importantly, you don’t want to play Forest Seedlings in its basic form unless you really have to (you have no other play and you face a high tempo deck that you need board presence against). You want to wait 2 turns until the 1/1 Saplings turn into 2/2 Treants. Not only they are much better tempo, but they also make your synergies possible.
For example, you can keep the card until T4 to combo it together with Overgrown Beanstalk (this way you draw 3 cards) or Conservator Nymph. Another card that combos very well with those two is Blood Treant – on Turn 3 you can play the Treant for free (technically for 5 HP, but health total is not your concern in almost any matchup) and follow it up with one of those two a really solid play.
In the mid-late game, Cultivation is your strongest card. Once you have summoned enough Treants, it should either be very cheap or even completely free. Your Summer Flowerchild is guaranteed to hit at least one, so you should be able to get in each game. The goal is to set up a massive board flood turn that your opponent won’t be able to answer. Play at least 4-5 minions on the board and then give them all +2/+2 (or even better, +4/+4 with two copies). Many Aggro/Midrange decks have no easy way to deal with such a massive board. If you don’t have Cultivation, Power of the Wild (or two) might be enough to turn multiple small minions into a more serious threat.
Against Control, try not to go all in on the same turn. Try dropping a few minions on the board each turn and force them to use their board clears on that. If they run out of them, a few of your minions survive, then you can go all in and make a big board. Of course, sometimes you’ll have to risk it, just play everything, and hope that they have no way to answer.
Drum Circle is quite flexible – if you already have a wide board, you want to use it for a +2/+4 buff. That’s a massive amount of stats and Taunt means that you might have just won some faster matchups. On the other hand, especially against slower decks, you might use the second option to summon five Treants. If they aren’t answered, follow it up with buffs.
As I’ve said in the beginning, Treant Druid is not really a meta build so there’s no reason to try to build (there aren’t many cards you would want to add to it anyway, maybe except something like Pylon + Ticking Zilliax). If you’re looking for a relatively cheap, but meta-viable Druid deck, you should check out Combo Druid. The only Legendary that’s absolutely necessary is Mistah Vistah (although Fye, the Setting Sun is also good to have. Add a few Epics and you have a really strong deck. It’s not the easiest deck to play if you’re a new/returning player, but it’s one of the more straightforward Combo decks so learning it won’t be very hard. Other than that, you can check out Tempo Druid or Reno Druid but both of those multiple Legendaries.
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Hunter has been nearly non-existent in Perils in Paradise. At higher ranks, it sits below 1% play rate (!). Even at lower ranks, where Hunters have always been quite popular, it’s only around 2-3%. The class’ win rate is not that bad (it’s around Tier 2), but I think a bigger issue might be the lack of innovation. The two best decks right now are Secret Hunter from the last expansion (with zero new cards) or a slight improvement of the last set’s Token Beast Hunter (the build utilizes some of the new cards, but it’s very similar to the old one). For the budget deck, I’ve picked Secret version simply because it’s easier to build without using Legendaries. The only Legendary card you really want is Product 9, so if you have it be sure to add it, but you can play it without it.
The idea is simple – play Secrets, let the enemy trigger them, which in turn discounts Starstrung Bow. Once the bow is cheap, equip it and keep going face to (hopefully) kill your opponent. Other than the Bow, you have some other cool combos. Vicious Slitherspear works insanely well with Bunch of Bananas. Playing him on T1 with two Banas on T2 means that you end up with a 5/5 minion (that will go down to 3/5 on your turn, but that’s still very good). Another cool synergy is your cheap spells (including Bananas) + Mantle Shaper. You can easily discount it to 0 mana and 0 mana 5/5 is a very strong tempo move.
And if you need some reach, or maybe a way to contest the board, Patchwork Pals is one of the best cards Hunter got in a long time. You can drop Misha to gain some board control, Leokk to buff your small minions, and Huffer to get more immediate face damage. Huffer can also be combo’d with Camouflage Mount – you end up with 7/5 with Charge and a random bonus effect (which can’t be Windfury, but getting something like Divine Shield or Reborn is also nice).
Despite already showing its age (the deck is already played for a few expansions with small changes every set), it’s not a bad deck. Even in budget form, it should easily be able to climb at lower ranks. If you want a full build, just add Product 9 (instead of Pozzik for example). And if you want to try the other, more expensive Hunter build, check out Beast Token Hunter decks here.
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While building some of the decks on the list took me a while (for research, playtesting etc.), this one was incredibly simple. This is a 1 to 1 meta build of Elemental Mage. Yep, it runs zero Epics or Legendaries – just Rares and Commons. And for a while, before Lamplighter got nerfed, it was encroaching into Tier 1 territory. Even after the nerf, which slower it down quite considerably, it’s a solid Tier 2 build.
The gameplay is your good old Elemental synergies. Elementals often have extra effects that activate only if you have played an Elemental last turn. To make it even a bigger deal, you have a couple of cards that get stronger for each consecutive turn you played an Elemental. If you skip one turn, the bonus resets, so I have to make it incredibly clear that you NEED to play Elemental every turn if possible. Of course, given that 25 out of 30 cards in your deck are Elementals it’s not going to be hard, but I have to emphasize that even if T2 Hero Power seems like a good idea, you probably want to play some Elemental if you can.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s see how the deck wins. In the early/mid game, you try to establish some board and clear whatever your opponent plays. While you have no spells that can handle your opponent’s board, many of your minions can deal damage. For example, Triplewick Trickster and Tainted Remnant both can deal with a few small minions if you get lucky with your hits. In a slower matchup, the same minions can be used to push extra face damage.
At one point you will probably start falling behind too far and you will need to stall the game. Freeze comes in handy in those situations – Glacial Shard and Sleet Skater can both buy you some time, especially against decks running a few big minions and not a lot of small ones.
While you might sometimes be able to win with board alone, your main condition is Lamplighter. It’s a card that starts only at 1 damage, but grows each turn in a row you play an Elemental. By the mid-game it should already be around 5-6 damage, even higher by the late game. The maximum I’ve reached with the deck was 13 damage, and it was (barely) enough to beat a Warrior I’ve played against. How long you want to keep him growing depends on the matchup, current board situation, how much damage you’ve already dealt, can opponent heal/gain Armor, and so on. Overall, you have up to 4 nukes – two Lamplighters and two Saloon Brewmasters that can put them back into your hand. In some situations you might use Salon Brewmaster on another minion (for example, on Sleet Skater to stall for longer), but usually you want to keep it for Lamplighter.
And that’s pretty much it. Try to sneak in some early/mid game damage (like dropping a Trickster or Remnant on an empty board) and then finish your opponent off with burn from Lamplighters.
Usually, I post some potential deck changes or a better build here, but in this case, Elemental mage is the best Mage build currently available. If you’re looking for another deck, you can try Spell Mage. It’s also a cheap deck, but it’s significantly weaker (around Tier 3, maybe even Tier 4). However, I know that some people simply don’t imagine playing Mage without almost any spells, so if you’re one of them, at least there’s an alternative.
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Aggro Paladin and Handbuff Paladin were consistently some of the best decks in the last expansion, and they still hold up really nicely in Perils in Paradise despite almost no changes. In fact, this budget build runs exactly zero new cards, because the only new card Handbuff Paladin uses is Legendary (Sanc'Azel). If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.
Most of the power of this deck lies in one card – Painter's Virtue. It buffs your entire hand by +3/+3 in total and it lets you deal with some small threats while gaining life back thanks to Lifesteal. This is the reason why you run Instrument Tech (in order to find it as often as you can) and Air Guitarist (to make it last longer). Combine it with other Handbuff minions you have (Grimestreet Outfitter, Muscle-o-Tron) and you can make some really big minions. You usually start pretty slowly and spend the first few turns either drawing cards or handbuffing. Because of that, a common strategy is to try to go under you and kill you before you can take off. That’s where your Rush + Lifesteal minions (Audio Medic, Tigress Plushy) come in handy. You use them to stabilize the board and heal up after your slow start.
You have two main win conditions. The first one is simply big minions – handbuff your stuff, drop a bunch of big minions that your opponent can’t answer, win the match. The strategy is surprisingly solid – most decks have a way to answer a few big minions, but once you start rolling you have a whole hand of threats. Just remember to not overextend into the board – it might be tempting to drop another minion if you have spare mana, but sometimes it’s just better to pass if you know that your opponent might be holding a board wipe.
The second strategy is Charge damage. Some decks will keep answering your board over and over again, so you might want to sneak that damage on them. That’s why you run Southsea Deckhand, Leeroy Jenkins and Outfit Tailor. In the late game, you can often deal 20+ damage from hand. Just keep in mind that in order to use Deckhand you need to hold onto at least one weapon charge – if you break it, Deckhand will no longer be able to attack right away. It’s also a common mistake to keep Deckhand and Outfit Tailor for combo only – if you have a good opportunity to, for example, get ahead on the board by using those cards, you still want to do it. It’s better than dying while holding onto your combo.
The full deck actually runs a bunch of Legendary cards that the budget version obviously can’t, but even in this limited form it’s not that bad. You can find full Handbuff Paladin builds here. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a more aggressive deck, Aggro Token Paladin is also a solid option (and it runs a similar set of Legendaries so crafting many of them will let you play both).
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Ever since Darkbishop Benedictus rotated out of Standard, Priest has been a nightmare to build on a budget. Priest’s biggest focus are Control strategies, and those always require a bunch of expensive cards. Luckily this expansion the class has got some aggressive, self-damage synergies, so the budget version is way better than it was last time (we had to use a horrible Automaton Priest because there was no other option). Of course, it’s still not a great deck and I would not recommend it, but if you have to play Priest on budget for whatever reason, it’s probably your best bet.
The best way to win with this deck is with tempo. Sauna Regular and Thirsty Drifter are quite easy to discount in this build, you should be able to get them down to 0 mana in the mid game. Then you can get extra copies of them with Power Chord: Synchronize, Celestial Projectionist and Zola the Gorgon. This way you have a few waves of mid-sized minions with Taunts. Against Aggro decks that don’t have AoE removal, you can go all in and try to play as many of them as possible in one turn. Against Control, you want to try to drip those threats more slowly
The deck also runs Crimson Clergy shenanigans to draw those cards in the first place. The card combos very well with Fan Club, Funnel Cake and Dreamboat. You can get a lot of extra draws really easily. Using Synchronize on Clergy can also be a good idea if you need more draw. Sometimes a curve like Clergy on T1, Synchronize on T2, dropping the second Clergy with some AoE heals on T3 can win you the game because it’s a lot of tempo AND you get a hand full of cards to play with.
And finally, you have some reach in the form of Acupuncture, Hot Coals and Glowstone Gyreworm. If you get your opponent pretty low, you can often sneak 10+ extra damage out of nowhere.
There’s actually no full meta build of Pain Priest, simply because it’s simply not a meta deck. If you want to build a good Priest deck, you really have two options – Zarimi Priest and Overheal Priest. Neither of them is recommended for new/returning players, but if you have some experience with the class, they are both actually quite capable.
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Elemental Rogue is the second Elemental deck in this roundup. It was a very common meta deck until Lamplighter nerf. That really messed it up, but it’s still playable. It runs fewer Elementals and relies on Sonya Waterdancer shenanigans to deal a bunch of extra damage. But since we can’t use Sonya in the budget version, we have to go all-in on Elementals.
Just like with Mage, Lamplighter is your main win condition. In Rogue, you rely on it even more simply because you have cheaper and easier way to bounce it. Your game plan is basically the same, but since you don’t have many ways to stall, you tend to go in with the combo sooner. But it’s equally as important to keep the Elemental chain – mulligan hard for an Elemental 1-drop and go from there, playing at least one per turn. For example, Quick Pick on T2 is usually a bad play unless you can Coin out an Elemental too, because it really slows down your combo.
If you face a lot of board pressure, it’s fine to use your Lamplighter as a board clear, but it’s recommended to bounce him right away. For example, Lamplighter to clear something + Breakdance (to clear another minion with 4/3 Rush) is often a good mid game play to buy you some time.
At some point, you need to switch to face damage. If you face a deck that can’t heal, you can start throwing Lamplighters at them around 5-6 damage. Just remember to always bounce them back, unless you have a second one in your hand. Against slower decks, depending on the situation, you can keep going longer, until you get 7-8 damage, before you start. You can play six Lamplighters in total thanks to all of your bounces, so that’s a lot of damage.
You can find full Lamplighter Rogue decks here. The main difference is Sonya Waterdancer + Bounce Around (ft. Garona). Thanks to those two cards, you have insane late game burst. Without it, it might be difficult to win because some slower decks can outarmor or outheal your damage.
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Our third (and final) Elemental deck is Elemental Shaman. In terms of current power level, the deck sits somewhere in the middle between Mage (strongest) and Rogue (weakest). However, a full build has one thing going on for it that this budget version doesn’t – Skarr, the Catastrophe (which is the original Lamplighter, on steroids).
Out of the three Elemental decks, this one is the least reliant on Lamplighter. Of course, it’s still a great finisher you want to use, but it can actually create some scary boards and contest the opponent’s minions in other ways than just stalling. If you get a great curve and your opponent doesn’t, you might not even need Lamplighters – I won some Elemental Shaman games with a good 1-2-3-4-5 curve.
You want to do exactly the same thing as with other Elemental decks, so I won’t repeat it again. Play Elementals on the curve, never break the Elemental chain, try to win the board and sneak some damage in, and finish them off with Lamplighters. That’s it.
As I’ve said, the biggest difference when compared to a full Elemental Shaman build is Skarr. It’s a great card that can completely swing the game. In the late game, it’s usually a full board clear + lots of face damage + a 7/7 minion. A better alternative to Elemental Shamam, however, is Aggro Shaman. It comes in many varieties, but all of them run Tourist card to get access to Demon Hunter cards. Hence why it can’t be built on budget.
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Pain Warlock has been one of the best decks throughout Whizbang’s Workshop and it got a few new, powerful tools in Perils in Paradise. Right now it’s one of the strongest decks on the ladder, especially at lower ranks. Given that the full version runs 8 Epic cards and all of them are important, it’s the only budget deck on this list that I had to go up to 4 Epics with. I simply can’t cut them down further without making this deck bad, the ones left are simply too important. And one note – Sheriff Barrelbrim was available for free from the rewards track in Showdown in the Badlands expansion. In order to unlock him now, you need to finish an achievement asking you to own 30 different cards from Badlands. Even if you have zero Badlands cards, that’s only 6 packs (and as a new/returning player you should be opening a few packs from each expansion anyway). So even though he’s technically not available for free, I still decided to include him.
In terms of gameplay, the deck relies on self-damage to activate multiple high tempo effects. The two most important ones are Molten Giant and Imprisoned Horror. With the right hand, you can drop 0 mana Giants/Horrors on Turn 3-4, and that’s just best way to win. You just put A LOT of stats on the board very quickly and hope that your opponent can’t answer it (and very often that’s the case). The other way to get some huge minions is Fearless Flamejuggler. Combine it with cheap, self-damage cards like Flame Imp, Party Fiend and Spirit Bomb for some really strong tempo plays.
However, getting so low puts you at a massive risk. Aggro decks can just ignore your minions and kill you. Many decks also run ways to deal damage from hand. And that’s where your healing becomes relevant. INFERNAL! is your best bet when it comes to getting out of range. Not only do you end up with 15 health, but you also put a 6/6 Taunt on the board. The card should usually follow your pop off turn with Giants. A full build uses Pop'gar the Putrid, letting you clear some minions (or deal face damage) and heal for up to 8. However, since it’s a Legendary, I had to replace him with Lesser Amethyst Spellstone – it’s really easy to upgrade in this deck, and a full version deals 7 damage to a minion and heals you for that much. It’s worse than Pop’gar, but what can you do.
An important note is that Blood Treant DOES NOT count as damage, it’s health cost. So it discounts Molten Giant, but not Horror. You also can’t play it together with Juggler – or rather, you can, but it won’t do anything.
As I’ve said in the beginning, Pain Warlock is one of the best build in the current meta. And it’s not really that expensive to build – if you have this version, you really need is a couple more Epics (Trolley Problem, Cursed Souvenir) and a Legendary card (Pop’gar). You might also consider other Legendaries like Symphony of Sins or Party Planner Vona, both of those are good in this build. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a cheap Warlock deck, Fatigue Warlock is also an option. The deck runs only one Legendary (Pop’gar), but it’s even more necessary than in Pain version.
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- 2,820
And finally, a fun one. Well, fun if you don’t mind losing a lot of games, because oh boy, the deck is not good. Building Warrior on budget is just straight-up impossible. The last few expansions all focused on expensive strategies that required multiple Legendary cards. Not to mention that after the recent balance patch Warrior is in a bad spot anyway. The only two semi-viable strategies are Reno Warrior (a 20k Dust deck) and Odyn Warrior (a deck requiring, as you’ve probably guessed it, Odyn). So instead of going for a viable budget deck (because there’s none), I’ve decided to have some fun.
If you’ve been playing Hearthstone in the past, you might remember Bomb Warrior, shuffling explosives into your opponent’s deck and then relying on draw RNG to win the match (of course after shuffling 10+ Bombs the RNG was usually in Warrior’s favor). Blizzard has decided to bring the mechanic back. Sort of. We have two ways to shuffle bombs – the first one is Explodineer. This one is straightforward and is there in the deck just to increase the Bomb density in your opponent’s deck (and to have something to play on curve). If it sticks for a few turns then it’s very strong, but 90% of the time it’s going to die right away, so it will only shuffle one Bomb. However, the second and strongest way to do it is Safety Expert. The card shuffles three Bombs in total on Deathrattle.
However, three Bombs is still not enough, that’s why you have some other interesting tools to increase that number, such as Boom Wrench. However, at 10 mana, the card is too expensive to really combo with anything, and that’s where your discounts come in. Chemical Spill lets you summon it for 5 mana. And sure, it becomes an 8/3, but you can still rush it into a big minion and kill it immediately. Or… you can also copy it with Battleworn Faceless for three more bombs. Another discount is Part Scrapper, you sacrifice 5 Armor to let your next Mech be 5 mana cheaper. It’s best to be combo’d with Safety Goggles or Shield Block. In this case, the minion doesn’t get damaged, so you can’t play Faceless. But you can play Boom Wrench. The perfect scenario is having the Boom Wrench pre-equipped. Then you play your Safety Expert, play Miniaturize version of Boom Wrench (which destroys the original one and shuffles 3 Bombs), then swing with the 1/1 Wrench (to shuffle 3 more Bombs).
During my playtesting, once I managed to shuffle 16 Bombs into my opponent’s deck. I still lost that game, but hey, if RNG was on my side and they drew a bunch of them in a row, I would have won it.
The deck also runs Testing Dummy as an alternative Big Mech in case you don’t get your Safety Expert. It’s pretty good vs Aggro, especially when combined with Boom Wrench to trigger its Deathrattle immediately. Against slower decks, it can also be used for some extra burst damage if you manged to soften them up with Bombs first.
I really wouldn’t craft anything for this deck since it’s clearly not viable, but if you do happen to have Inventor Boom, definitely add him to this build. But more realistically, if you want to play Warrior, you should look into Odyn Warrior or Reno Warrior (but neither is cheap).
It’s mentioned that Corridor Creepers are good for nearly all of them; but what do they replace if I craft two? I’m trying out each of the decks, and want to put them in but unsure exactly where.
So also replace minions that not have a ton of synergy and arent overly impressive from bottom to top
Naga corsair
Bloodfury or demonfire
Devolve, bloodlust, squire, primalfin
One mana cards or defias
Shieldraiser elixir
Chaingang champ jailor
Bearshark flanking strike hounds
Dont use in jade
Highly disagree with the zoolock and evolve shaman replacement recommendations. In zoolock considering you dont run keleseth youd really want to use the 2 mana cards. Demonfire can create your turn 1 demon ( voidwalker/flame imp) into a big boy in the early game and provides additional removal. You could add a vicious fledgling to the deck and that combined with bloodfury can by itself win you the game sometimes. You should replace the blood imp and fire fly with creepers and fledglings( or techs).
In the evolve shaman argent squire is a really important card since it provides a strong turn 1 Play that can trade into your opponents 1 health minions, and primalfin is just a great card at making tokens and the 3 health make it often hard to remove on your opponents turn ( after you play it) + it has good synergy with flametongue. You usually dont need 2 devolves, but one is a good tech, replace the other one and maybe a jade spirit or chain gang. The 2 blood lusts are a must since you don’t have powerful minions like aya and the pirate package, making a board swarm into blood lust one of your main win conditions. Hope this helps.
I’m building a secret made, and I wonder if I could benefit from putting archmage antonidas and what to replace for corridor creeper. The deck is complete and I have 1120 dust to spend (without purchasing corridor creeper)
Antonidas is not that good right now tbh , corridor creeper is the most powerful card of the expansion and its used in almost every deck , its a good choice for crafting
So what cards should I replace with corridor creeper?
Mirror entity is not nearly as good as counterspell or explosive runes, so I would replace this card or cobalt scalebane. Just don’t put anything slow into this deck.
You could take out Bonemare.
No antonidas its too up, the stansardard deck runs valet creeper aluneth instead of bonemare scalebane and entity so replace a bonemare and a scalebane
Antonidas is too slow not up
Budget Midrange Hunter looks fun. I have Deathstalker Rexxar and wanted to know if it could be squeezed into that deck.
Sure, it’s not optimal but you can cut a Flanking Strike for it.
You said that Corridor Creeper can be put in Budget Hunter, but what should I replace with?
unleash the hounds
Thank you for these decks. I completed my Secret Mage and its so fun to play! I dont care about my rank, I just want to play a little with each class and this page its my guide to it. Thank you so much <3
Glad you are enjoying the deck!
In budget mage deck, what cards would I replace with Primordial Glyphs? Also any other cheap additions? I got 2k dust left. And should I put in Corridor Creeper into this deck, and if yes, what to replace? Thanks for reply.
yoyyooyoyyo u should take out fireball for PG
Cobalt Scalebanes is what if replace, but mirror entity is okay too
Ok, these are budget decks, but i think Corridor Creeper is Must Have.
We agree, it’s mentioned in most of the guides as a must craft.
I love these decks ! I chose the mage one because i find it very fun. And btw the guides on each deck are very good, very well made. Congrats on you mr. 😉
Glad you liked it, and good luck with the Mage deck!
just for anyone wondering about the priest deck specifically its really hard to play but is probably one of the best besides mage im at rank 4 atm and just needed a priest deck for some quest so i made the one here and i didnt climb much but i had a 5-4 win rate with is so its something to keep in mind that it can work in the right hands
I’m brand new to the game but played ALOT of mtg, I saw the cost on the deck and had to try it as a ftp player, even in the hands of a noob, still stomps at low tiers
Is it still worth spending my dust (I have 1500) to make a low-cost deck like the mid hunter, even with the ranked being in the final?
Or is it worth keeping my dust and the gold until next year?
Ps: And if I make it, how much time he is still being a good deck?
Craft secret mage. It’s more stable.
Why the mage is more stable than the mid hunter?
And what ranking can I get with him?
Thank tou for awnser.
If the option is between these two decks it is better to think well. The ideal is to opt for a more enjoyable style because in reality neither of the two is particularly good.
– Tempo mage is bad against aggro and dragon priest, but good against the remaining priest decks, warlock control, jade and druid ramp. Also with the next rotation Medivh’s Valet and Firelands Portal leave standard. There is also talk of the possibility of Iceblock also leaving for the hall of fame.
– Hunter is weaker than tempo mage, being bad against warlock control, priest… (any long game oriented deck) but is good against aggressive decks like tempo mage, tempo rogue, zoolock etc, but thats true when you run the pirate packet… After the next rotation it loses no cards (but upgrading is much more expensive).
– Also, in any of the lists is essential the addition of Spellbreaker.
So what you recommend?
Maybe i should wait a little more and gather more dust to craft something more useful? Thanks for the help, I am really missed you here.
First you need to keep in mind that during the first month after the release of a new expansion the most successful decks will almost always be the most aggro ones (e.g., usually hunter is good for the first month and then decays). However, in this meta it is likely that aggro is to stay +/- as it is due to Creeper Corridor and Patches. However, it is already known decks that can give a good counter to aggro, as the case of warlock control.
Knowing this you need to answer the set of answers:
1 – What style of play gives me more pleasure in playing?
2 – Against what do you see more play in rank mode? And what is good and bad against it?
3 – What is my goal? To have a single good deck, or to have variety (even with weaker decks) to avoid getting bored?
4 – What cards do I already have? (sometimes it is possible to make decks better than the typical budget ones because you already have the core cards or some epic-legendary ones)
5 – Which cards will leave the end of year (March-April) standard? Do I lose to investment I’m making now?
After answering this you will set your expectations and you will have an idea of ​​what you really want to do and how far you can go with that in rank mode. It is important to be aware of the relevance of various cards such as Creeper Corridor and Patches, what you lose if you do not use them and what can be used instead when you run your list and when you run against a list with it (e.g. if you like aggro and it is very expensive to use the pirate pack, you can use Golakka Crawler to give counter to those who use it if you see many pirate decks). Budget slots may also include more tech cards than the rest and alternative strategies that no one is waiting for (and if your oponent does not expect it, he/she can not play around it).
Hey so im a returning player, I was really active but stopped playing around when mean streets hit; so i have all the cards before there but only some from the newer expansions. I was wondering if you would recommend the best budget deck right now just because im not totally familiar with the meta (and dont know alot of newer cards); also is there a crafting guide for the most versitile new legendaries? I have Lich King and 8000 dust but dont want to spend on anything without knowing the meta
try midrange hunter
Well, patches and southsea deckhand are in almost every class as an aggro deck… but here’s a list:
-Druid, Priest, Hunter, and Warlock hero cards are found in most decks of the respective classes
-Lich Kind is Good
-Patches for aggro (with southsea deckhand and corridor creeper)
-Bonemare is a pretty good common
This is a bit general because I don’t have the time to get in detail of every class, but I just wanted to send a reply while I’m here.
Hope I helped 😉
Can you make a budget otk dragon priest list please!! I’ve seen some for 3k dust. For a non priest player it’s hard to know what sacrifices to make.
Just add THE dragon that puts an heroe to 15 HP and 15 dmg spells
Thnks!! Nice deks
As a player on a budget, I really appreciate when you guys do these lists. Just noticed token druid was listed as a recommended deck, but there’s no list given here for it.
It’s listed in the Jade Druid description, which I realize is a bit confusing. I’m going to work on a better system for displaying classes with multiple decks. Here’s the deck: Budget Token Druid!
thanks for updating these decks, these are great budget decks!
lit worked so well
this website is the reason i started to like hearthstone, keep it up. when you guys planning to update new stuff?
Glad to hear that! We’re working on these right now, should be done this week.
When will the changes hit these budget deck lists, knc is out and i wish you guys can update the list so we can deal with the meta. Your guys response and work is appreciated.
We’re going to start updating these very soon, glad you like the site!
Will there be a change to the decks when the expansion comes out and when will the change happen? 🙂
THANK YOU MAN! NICE 😀
Why is “Budget Elemental Mage” removed from this list?
I found it the best one here, it was really cheap and yet really effective especially for someone who got Frost Lich Jaina from The Prolougue.
Can you put deck code here?
It’s still there, it’s in the description for Secret Mage, but here’s the link: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/budget-elemental-mage-deck-list-guide/
Oh, I haven’t seen it there, but still, it’s better when it’s displayed here.
Great work on the page btw, well done admins (Y).
Are the reevaluation complete yet? Just asking as the last comment dated back to September.
I’ve made a bunch of changes and updates!
Thanks! Loving this site alot! 🙂
Is the reevaluation ready? I still have mixed feelings about innervate in aggro druid. Do you think it’s worth it to run it with teacher?
I second this comment! I’m eager to know what you guys want to do to the decks.
Can i put The Black Knight in any of these decks i just got him in a Pack
He’s not so great right now, and he doesn’t really fit into most of these decks.
I would say with all the Lich King running around these days, hes not so bad to run as a tech
Hello,
will you be making any changes to the budget and basic (0 dust decks) since crucial cards (like war axe) are being nurfed?
Yes, we’ll reevaluate these decks after the nerf!
is the reevaluation completed yet? :^)
I recently bought Karazhan and I wante dto inturduce Maelstrom Portal to the midrange shaman deck, what card should I take out?
Will this get an update after the druid nerfs? (:
Okay, they released what they’re gonna change:
https://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/21029448/upcoming-balance-changes-update-91-9-5-2017
– Innervate – Now reads: Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only. (Down from 2)
– Fiery War Axe – Now costs 3 mana. (Up from 2)
– Hex – Now costs 4 mana. (Up from 3)
– Murloc Warleader – Now reads: Your other Murlocs have +2 Attack. (Down from +2 Attack, +1 Health)
– Spreading Plague – Now costs 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Great post! Have nice day ! 🙂 crssw
Hi, I would like to make space in secret mage and elemental mage decks for Medivh and Frost Lich Jaina. What would it be better to cut out?
Thanks
Medivh can fit in pretty well to a Secret Mage deck, I would take out a Cryomancer as the freeze synergy in a Secret Mage deck, especially one without Frost Nova, is kinda bad (Cold Wraith’s stats justify its inclusion though they can also be substituted). Meanwhile, Frost Lich Jaina can replace a Faceless Summoner in the Elemental Mage deck, seeing as it is not necessary for such a deck and Frost Lich Jaina can easily generate minions with her Hero Power. I would even replace the second Faceless Summoner with a second Flamestrike in order to achieve more board clears and greater survivability.
Is there a chance there will be codes for copying the decks?
Thanks a lot!
Hey! If you click on the decks name, it will take you to a separate page for that deck where you can find the code.
Click on the deck title and it will take you to a page with the code.
Thank you Evident, I always love to read the budget section.
It’s great that you keep this updated and many players like me benefit enormously from this effort.
Another section I’d love to read, or something just to keep in consideration, is a selection of decks that uses only Classic + Un’Goro + KFT so that what we invest in term of dust will still be there in the next rotation.
Keep up the good work!
Hello, tahnk you for the decks and the great work. We beginners really apreciate it.
Just have a question. Of all of these budget decks, what is the best one?
I think Pirate Warrior, Evolve Shaman, and Token Druid are likely the best.
Having tested several of the decks, I second this. I’ll also say that Zoo Warlock has been performing surprisingly well for me.
well there is not a real answer to that question because people play differently however that pirate deck is a god one and it was used by amaz (a pro) he just added patches the pirate
These budgets are awesome, even reached rank 5 with the hunter list last season. Will be really really happy to see more budgets for Knights of the Frozen Throne. Good work for real, your efforts werent for nothing!
It’s awesome to hear that, I’m working on updating them. I even have some of my writers working on a bunch!
Thats awesome! By the way would you please write somewhere in the beginning of the page that the decks are ready when they are. Just checked and saw some decks are still being updated. Cant wait to play with them :D!
what is the best budget deck for farm gold ?
Whichever deck you need to complete quests, you make them accordingly
The arena is the best place for that. If you are a newer player, it is also the best place to learn about deck building, board control and tempo.
Also the arena evens the playing field and takes budget out of the equation. After all both of your decks are worth 150 gold.
For the elemental mage deck, if i have blazecallers, what do you think they would replace in the deck?
Replace the faceless summoners
i have 1600 dust what deck should i make
MILLHOUSE MAAANNNASTORM
Tinkmaster overspark
I want to make quest Rogue eventually but being free to play that could be sometime down the road. MY big challenge right now is dust to make these and I have cards that I’m not sure if I should DE them or not which would help out. I’m probably a good 300-400 dust short.
I am f2p as well, I have quite a few expensive decks. It really came down to rng for me, pulled a couple golden legionaries which DE for alot of f’n dust. I wouldnt DE any cards you dont have dups of for dust though. Never know when a new deck might come out. GL
I have around 1700 dust and I’m not sure if I should go for the warrior pirate or for the elemental shaman. The only legendary card in my possession is Baron Geddon, is it good to replace something for him or not?
Barron geddon is crap craft it and create pirate warrior
the Elemental Shaman deck is a solid one i have had a 12 game win streak going with it before starting to tweak it for the higher ranks
Thanks for posting!
This really helps out people who lack legendaries needed for better decks, but still provides a solid fallback option.
I’m having great success with the Elemental Mage deck, it’s a massive improvement over the disorganized rubbish I was playing with previously.
Keep up the great work!
No problem, glad it helped you!
I’d like to say that the elemental buff paladin listed in this article isn’t good. And doesn’t work, I built it and tried it and was hard stuck rank 10. The deck is too slow to beat aggro decks excluding pirate warrior, and isn’t good enough against other slow decks. I had extreme trouble against most meta decks.
I mention in the article that most of these decks aren’t going to get passed rank 10 very well. The Paladin list being one of them.
I just want to say thank you for putting the work into this section, it really helps us poor folks enjoy the game more! Even if you dont follow the list directly it definitely gives an idea of what a successful deck build looks like.
i was wondering if you can create another priest deck because c’thun decks arent seeing play since a long time maybe a budget silence priest would be better.
Here. Try this.
https://m.imgur.com/lauzRS3?r
You can replace Lyra with another card and the cost is around 2000 dust.
Hard to master but lots of fun.
Thanks for this compilation. It’s really appreciated.
I got Swamp King Dred yesterday out of a pack. What can i replace in the hunter deck with him?
personally i would get rid of both fireflys and add 1 more bat and dred
Yeah this is fine, you could also just cut the Ravasaur Runt.
Gollaka krawler
It’s a tech choice vs control; if you are playing a lot of control swap 1x golakka crawler for 1x Dred
What the fuck? How does adding Preparation help that Rogue deck?? The only spells you have are Eviscerate!! What the fuck???
I was referring to needing Preparation for the Quest Rogue deck, not the deck listed in this post.
The preparation is for the quest rouge and you are hoping to draw it before you complete the quest to play the quest the same turn you play the last minion to complete the quest.
Thanks for the awesome budget decks for every class! If you happen to have Leeroy, what card in the warrior deck would you replace?
i would drop a naga corsair. dont wanna jack up the curve too bad to get him in.
Naga Corsair would be one, you could also cut Acidic Swamp Ooze or Golakka Crawler.
For the pirate warrior deck – firefly.
Thank you for your nice effort to help . Great guide.
Great guide, thanks for the hard work of those less fortunate to not be able to use a lot of dust.
I always make Decks for my son who loves to play Hearthstone too.
These Budget Deck Guides are always a big help for me to make Decks for him with his current Card Collection.
Keep up the good work, it is much appreciated.
Thanks, glad to help. I hope your son is enjoying Un’Goro!
Hi admins,
Your site has fantastic articles delivered in a timely manner and it has become my favourite HS resource.
I find it a shame that with such a wealth of information it is rather hard to sort through. For example if an article I saw 2 weeks ago came back to mind I’d have to rifle through the site to find it, not knowing if it will be on page 3 or 5 or whatever.
Perhaps you can implement a “Table of Contents” of sorts, a little like the weekly roundup but just a permanent sidebar or the like where we can browse the headlines of articles for easy access?
Hey, I’m glad you like the site! I’ve been mulling over some design changes, I’ll see if I can fit something like this in.
Thanks for this guide I’ll try these decks soon.