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. To unlock those free cards, you either have to open a single pack from a given expansion, or finish a simple achievement like owning 30 cards from a given set. It also lines up quite nicely with the fact that you’re guaranteed a Legendary in your first 10 card packs from each set. For this reason, if you are a new player or you just came back after a long break, your first priority should be buying up to 10 card packs from each Standard expansion. This will give you plenty of free Legendaries that you can use in all your decks, many of which are genuinely powerful.
Into the Emerald Dream Update
I’m sorry that this update came so late – usually I try to release them within a couple of weeks after expansion’s launch, but I had some real life stuff holding me back. Budget decks update is always a big time committment because I try. With that out of the way, let’s talk about budget decks.
Emerald Dream is the first expansion of a new Standard year, so I had to basically redo all of the budget decks completely because of the rotation. 4 expansion metas are usually very tough to build budget decks for because the card choice is limited. Many of the budget staples are no longer playable in Standard, and others got nerfed in one of the latest balance patches. However, this entire batch of decks was saved by a single card Blizzard added to the Core this year – Menagerie Jug. It activates many Aggro/Midrange strategies by adding a serious win con package.
However, Jug can’t solve every problem. Menagerie strategy works better in some classes than the others (depending on the rest of the available toolkit). I had a few problematic classes that didn’t really work with the Menagerie package. For Druid, I built a much better and more fun alternative if you’re willing to craft one Legendary. But for classes like Warlock and Warrior I simply couldn’t find a bettter budget alternative, so even though they aren’t great, there’s simply nothing else that I could think of.
I know that focusing on the Meangerie strategies means that the diversity of budget decks went down, but despite sharing the same package, they still have their own playstyle quirks
If you’re wondering which of the budget decks are the strongest, I think that Death Knight, Hunter, Paladin and Rogue are the best ones this time (also Druid if you count the semi-budget Imbue version). Demon Hunter, Mage and Priest are also okay. The rest I would stay away from unless you really need to play the class to complete some quests etc. because they felt the weakest during playtesting.
Cheap Hearthstone Decks
- Format: raptor
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2,760
Handbuff Death Knight is one of the strongest budget builds in this expansion. The deck works quite well in the current meta, and it can be easily built with no Legendaries – the only card you’re realistically missing is Nightmare Lord Xavius. It’s not necessary, but honestly I recommend crafting it anyway, because it’s one of the best cards from the set.
The basic idea is very simple – buff your Undead while they are in your hand, then play big minions, preferably with extra effects. Your key card is Amateur Puppeteer, which between the main body and the Mini gives +4/+4 to all Undead in your hand. It’s even better if you can play both parts together with Brittlebone Buccaneer to give it Reborn. But realistically you’re usually going to drop the first part alone and keep the Buccaneer for the mini (unless you get both in the late game). Other sources of handbuffs include Lesser Spinel Spellstone and Blood Tap.
Once you have your big Undead, it’s time to push. The best part is that most of your tools work well in all matchups. For example, Darkthorn Quilter (especially when combined with Poison Breath) and Gnome Muncher can be used as board clear, but they can also push a lot of face damage. Nerubian Swarmguard puts a big wall vs Aggro they might not be able to get through, but it’s also great vs slower decks as it summons three bodies, essentially tripling all the handbuffs you put on it.
One last thing I have to say is that you shouldn’t go all-in vs slower decks. Balancing between board pressure and resources is very important. You only have a handful of buffed minions, so play them conservatively. Drop them together with new, unbuffed minions you draw, try to play both value cards (like Chillfallen Baron or Toysnatching Geist) together with your big bombs. Don’t put yourself in a situation in which a single board clear is going to get rid of all your biggest minions.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 2,520
Menagerie Aggro Demon Hunter is a surprisingly solid deck, but what you see here is not how it’s normally built. Usually you go for a mix with Priest thanks to Aranna, Thrill Seeker‘s Tourist effect. This way you get access to some great early game minions/burn cards (e.g. Brain Masseuse and Acupuncture). However, the budget version is still decent and it should serve you quite well. If you want a full meta Demon Hunter build, however, I would go in the direction of Cliff Dive version instead. Despite somewhat falling off, it’s still one of the better decks in the game at the time of writing.
Anyway, back to the budget build. As with the other Menagerie decks, your strategy is to build an early game tempo lead and then capitalize on it with Menagerie Jug. If you manage to hit 3 minions, that’s an instant +9/+9 to your board that you can immediately take advantage of (to do some good trades or push face damage, depending on the matchup). Even just hitting two buffs is usually enough. One buff depends heavily on the situation. This deck has an unique advantage of being able to set up Dreadseeds and Dangerous Cliffside, making it easier to hit many targets with Jug. Dreadseeds are Dormant, so your opponent can’t clear them, and they come with two minion types (Undead and Beast). The downside is that since they are Dormant, you can’t attack with them immediately, but it’s still a great tempo push. Cliffside is a Location so you can activate it on the same turn you play Jug, and it’s even better because the Pirates you summon have
Other than the Menagerie package, Dreadseeds are pretty good standalone cards. While you probably won’t win the game from them alone, they make for some nice mid game distraction for your opponent, and Hound Dreadseed in particular can help you close out some games thanks to extra damage. If you combine it with other sources of damage like Chaos Strike or Gan'arg Glaivesmith, you can have some serious from-hand burn. And if you manage to stick Sock Puppet Slitherspear on board, all of that damage is doubled.
Finally, the deck runs an extra solid mid game tool – Ravenous Felhunter. Since the only Deathrattles you run are Ball Hog and Dreadsoul Corrupter, you’re guaranteed to resummon them. And a 5 mana 5/3 that summons two 4/4’s or 3/3’s with extra effects is really strong. Extra Ball Hogs are particularly good vs Aggro because of Lifesteal and Corrupters make it incredibly sticky (opponent first needs to clear a 5/3, then two 4/4’s, then two Dreadseeds they summon).
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 2,680
Usually, Druid would be a great fit for the Menagerie package. The class is known for its early game Token cards, and you can usually get a good few minion types out of the Druid cards. However, the rotation left little to no early game/Token oriented tools, so it has to heavily rely on the Neutral cards. I did some playtesting and while it wasn’t the weakest budget deck, it left a lot to be desired. That’s why if you can afford to craft a Legendary card, take a look at the deck below it. If not, let’s continue.
As with the other Menagerie decks, the idea is to build a sturdy early/mid game board and them get a massive buff with Menagerie Jug. What Druid has going for is Innervate, letting you drop Jug one turn earlier than usual. Against Menagerie decks, opponent is usually trying to, but they might not expect it a turn earlier (or rather, even if they expect it, they might not be able to do anything about it).
Sadly, the only board-wide buff left in Standard for Druid is Power of the Wild, but it still has some uses. You want to flood the board anyway, so even if it’s just +1/+1, buffing multiple minions at the same time has its uses. For example, if you already have some board, it can make a nice combo with Distress Signal on Turn 4. Living Roots and Fire Fly are other good ways to summon multiple minions for the sake of board-wide buff.
If you don’t have Jug, you can try to set up Cosmic Phenomenon as an alternative Turn 5 play. If you manage to keep 4 minions alive, you get a MASSIVE power spike. Not only you give your existing board +1/+1, but you also summon three 3/4 Taunts. That’s a big push, but the downside is that it’s hard to set up because opponent will of course try his best to clear your board. Thanks to Innervate, if you’re missing just one or two minions, you might still be able to get enough for that extra effect.
The deck has SOME reach in form of Living Roots (2 damage option) and Swipe, but overall you shouldn’t rely on it – you have to deal most of damage through your minons. Don’t save those for face and use them to clear enemy board if necessary, but sometimes that little bit of extra damage from hand might be enough to close out the match.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 5,640
Imbue Druid is an almost perfect budget deck. It’s actually pretty strong in the current meta and it can be built for very cheap. But I said “almost” perfect because you just NEED to play Hamuul Runetotem – he’s the reasons why this entire deck works in the first place. So if you want to play Druid, refer to the Menagerie build above. But if you can spare 1600 Dust (or you happened to open Hamuul), this is a great choice.
The idea is to mulligan for cheap Nature spells and Imbue cards, play as many of them as quickly as you can, and then start summoning mid/big minions from your Hero Power every turn. You usually don’t bother with the Hero Power until it’s 4/4 – summoning a 2/2 or a 3/3 for 2 mana isn’t particularly powerful. The only exception is vs Aggro (in a combination with Dreambound Disciple to get some early game tempo so they don’t run over you) or when you literally have nothing else to do.
Even though Hero Power gives you “infinite value”, you usually don’t want to stretch the games very long. Against late game decks, summoning one big minion per turn usually isn’t enuogh with how many removals they have. And you can’t exactly answer their board, so they will just turn the game around on you. Try to play as aggressively as you can and go for big mid game pushes. On Turn 5-6, try playing a few minions at the same time, or doubling your Hero Power with Sing-Along Buddy. Try to build a big board they can’t clear and push as much damage as you can.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 2,520
Egg Hunter is another example of a great budget deck. While it was slightly stronger before a recent nerf patch, even in its current form it should serve you very well. The only card that you’re really missing is Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Pylon + Ticking form, so AoE Attack buff that gets cheaper the more minions you have). You can also consider Amphibian's Spirit, but after the nerf it’s no longer a staple. You might also try adding a small Zerg package (including Kerrigan, Queen of Blades), but stats show that it’s more of a sidegrade than an upgrade.
The deck plays similarly to other Menagerie builds (you build the board of different minion types, then buff them with Jug to push a lot of extra damage or make some great trades). However, this one has one extra twist in form of Eggs – Nerubian Egg (+Terrible Chef, but this one doesn’t need an “activator”)) and Extraterrestrial Egg. Egg decks are almost as old as Hearthstone itself, and their strategy is always the same – play the Egg, which is useless by itself, and then activate it.
When it comes to Egg activators, you have two routes – buffs or Deathrattle triggers. This deck runs both. The best one by far is Terrorscale Stalker, which lets you straight up get the Deathrattle off while also coming with a 2/3 body itself. And when it comes to buff route, by far the best option is Cryopractor. Freezing an Egg is not really a big deal (since it wouldn’t be able to attack anyway otherwise), and you turn it into an actual threat by making it 3/5. At this point you just treat it as a normal minion – don’t try to proc the Deathrattle at all cost. In fact, it’s often a good idea to keep it on the board as long as you can as an insurance vs AoE damage. If your opponent clears the board, you will still have a minion to attack with next turn.
Alternatively, you also have Leokk (from Patchwork Pals) and, in similar vein, Zilliax if you run him. Technically the version using Amphibian's Spirit has an easier time activating Eggs, but in the budget version I had to pick between that and R.C. Rampage, but from my testing the latter is a better card in this deck.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 3,960
Protoss Mage has been a pretty controversial deck – some love it, others hate it. However, I really wanted to include it here because it’s quite unique for a budget deck. As you’ve probably realized by now, most budget decks are Aggro/Midrange, because those usually aren’t built. Of course, this specific deck could really benefit from a Legendary card too (Artanis), but it’s not strictly necessary to run. You can find some full Protoss Mage builds here.
The general idea is quite simple – Colossus is your main win condition. It deals more damage as you play more Protoss spells (you can recognize them by the Protoss icon under the mana cost, like Shield Battery). Each Protoss spell = 2 more damage from Colossus. So your goal is to stall the game while playing as many Protoss spells as possible and then finish things off with Colossus. While you technically have only 8 Protoss spells, Resonance Coil generates extra ones so the number goes up. You can also get extra copies from Tidepool Pupil (try to get extra Coils for even more spells). And finally, sometimes you might be able to Discover more from Primordial Glyph and Tide Pools.
What’s great about this strategy is that you don’t need to “OTK” your opponent. Because Colossus also clears the boards, it’s very common to play him with let’s say 7-8 damage if you need a board clear. With two copies of Colossus and two Youthful Brewmasters, you should have enough late game damage to close out the game anyway. Talking about Brewmasters, while you want to keep them for Colossus in some matchups, in others you might want to use them on Sleet Skater or Bob the Bartender to get more stall. After all, what’s good of more late game damage if you don’t survive until the late game.
Oh, and one final thing – as you can see, Colossus costs 12 mana so you can’t play it normally. Even with two Photon Cannons discounting it to 10, it’s still very expensive. That’s why you run Warp Gates – each use of the Location decreases the cost of your next Protoss minion by (3). Early in the game you can use it to get out a buffed Void Ray, but later you want to stack a few Discounts and play a cheap Colossus. Sometimes Warp Gates will even let you play two on the same turn.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 2,700
Shanty Paladin, also known as Drunk Paladin, is one of the most popular and strongest decks on the ladder at the time I’m writing this. Of course, since we aren’t allowed any Legendaries, we can only focus on one of the two main win conditions of the deck. Full build also runs Ursol + Shaladrassil combo (which is what put it on the radar in the first place), and if you own those cards or can afford it, be sure to add it in. The combo Corrupts Shaladrassil and then puts all 5 Corrupted Dream cards in your hand for 3 turns in a row. It’s very powerful late game tactic. However, Sea Shanty still remains the main way to close out games even in the full build, and that’s what we’re focusing on here.
The idea is that Sea Shanty gets cheaper and cheaper whenever you play spells that target a character. It doesn’t matter what character – your Hero, enemy hero, any minion. In this build, it mostly comes in a form of buffs, most notably Divine Brew and Lifesaving Aura. Both of them provide 3 mana discount to Shanty, although with Aura you have to wait a few turns to get all the spells. In a perfect scenario, you play a small minion early, keep buffing it, then play a cheap Shanty in the mid game which your opponent might not be able to answer.
This deck is very light on minions, that’s why it uses Libram of Clarity with no other Libram synergies. It’s just a 3 mana draw 2 minions, but getting your minions is important so you have targets for your buffs. In particular, tutoring Flickering Lightbot is a good thing, since the 3/3 will become free very quickly (after you cast just three Holy spells). Another inclusion that might seem weird is Aegis of Light + Dragonscale Armaments combo. But Aegis is just a good 1-Cost card that also happens to be Holy so it makes your Lightbot cheaper, and Armaments is a great follow-up after you use your Imbued Hero Power (then it draws 2 cards for 1 mana + summons a random cheap Dragon).
The perfect curve with this deck is a minion on Turn 1, buffs on Turn 2 and 3 (as many as you can), then Ursine Maul on Turn 4 to tutor your Shanties, and then ideally play a few more buffs on Turn 5 and play your Shanty for cheap. Your goal is to get out the 5/5’s as fast as you can, NOT to discount Shanty to 0 mana. Of course, that would be ideal, but it won’t happen very often – you will usually play it while it still costs 3-6 mana (from my experience). The earlier you play it, the harder it will be for the opponent to clear it. Many decks simply can’t answer three 5/5’s in the mid game + whatever you already had on the board, so they will leave something behind for you to hit with. And even if they manage to clear it, you follow it up with another Shanty. Sadly without the Ursol + Shaladrassil combo, the deck has no late game power push, so you need to make those 5/5’s count.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 2,080
Here’s yet another Menagerie deck, and it’s somewhere in the middle of the bunch – it’s not as good as some of them, but it’s still decent. To the dissatisfaction of Priest players, the class has been getting a bunch of solid Aggro tools over the last few sets, so we’re obviously talking advantage of the Pain package or Orbital Halo. Sprinkle some Menagerie flavor and the deck is ready. If you’re looking for a full build, the biggest difference is that you use Chillin' Vol'jin to get access to some Hunter cards like Trusty Fishing Rod or Catch of the Day, but otherwise it’s quite similar. If you have Vol’jin, try out something like this.
The budget version, however, operates similarly to other Menagerie decks – play your different minion types, try to keep them alive, buff with Jug. In this case, you have another, smaller reason to keep your board alive – Shadow Ascendant. While it only gives +1/+1 per turn, if you keep it rolling early in the game, it can really make a diference by the mid game. Ideally, you want to protect it with Power Word: Shield or Orbital Halo to make it more difficult to clear.
Thanks to the Pain package, the deck has some reach from hand, so take advantage of that. Try focusing face as much as you can, doing some risky plays to get more face damage might be the way to go, because if you get your opponent low enough, you can often finish them off with Acupuncture and Hot Coals. Hopeful Dryad might also give you some extra burn in a form of Ysera Awakens or Nightmare.
One cool combo this deck has is Illusory Greenwing + Scale Replica. It might seem weird to run two Scale Replicas with just Greenwings as your Dragons, but it makes sense. If you haven’t drawn Greenwing yet, you can use your first Replica to draw both of them. Then once you trigger Greenwing’s Deathrattle, you shuffle two more 4/5 Dragons into your deck that get summoned when drawn. If you draw them with second Replica (or first if you didn’t have to use it earlier), they get instantly summoned on the board and you draw another card instead. It’s a great tempo push + hand refill package.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 3,120
Pirate Rogue is one of the most staple Hearthstone decks. We’ve seen it before in many shapes and forms, but they always shared a similar playstyle. High tempo, aggressive, usually combined with weapon synergies. While weapon synergies are pretty light this time around, the deck is back and it’s actually looking quite good. And more importantly – it can easily be played on the budget. The main difference is that the full version runs Shaladrassil, which is a nice finisher, but it’s definitely not a must-have card. It also runs Lucky Comet which is surprisngly good (the pool of Combo minions is pretty strong right now), but, again, not necessary.
As you can probably imagine, the goal of this deck is quite simple – play minions, go face, win the game. But it has a few standout cards I want to talk about. First one is Toy Boat – it’s a card that makes you not run out of steam. Later in the game, play it together with your 1-Cost Pirates, Bargain Bin Buccaneer for some cheap draws. It’s also great with Watercannon – the Pirate you summon from attack will draw you a card. If you can afford to combo it with Sandbox Scoundrel, that’s even better – the discounts from Scroundel will let you play other Pirates, so you can easily draw 5+ cards. If you have other things to do, you’d rather keep it for the late game, but with nothing else, dropping in on curve is not that bad (you have other card draw anyway – like Preparation + Raiding Party / Dubious Purchase).
The other important card is The Crystal Cove. The standout combos here are, once again, Bargain Bin Buccaneer and Watercannon. With Buccaneer, it makes you summon two 5/5’s with Rush – great tempo push. With Watercannon, the 1/1 that immediately attacks turns into a 5/5 that immediately attacks. Great way to push face damage on the empty board while leaving a solid body behind. While not as good, you can also use it with your 2/1 1-drops to just turn them to 5/5’s. That’s still +3/+4 buff for one Charge of the Location.
The deck has pretty limited burn damage capabilities, but it can sneak in lethals here and there. As I’ve alredy mentioned, Location + weapon is a great way to push extra damage. If you have a Pirate on the board (especially one previously buffed by Location), giving it Windfury with Sailboat Captain is great. You can even combine it with Hozen Roughhouser to give the minion +2/+2 (and deal 3 extra damage in the process). There’s also a single Eviscerate, but you don’t have to save it for burn damage, you will often find it more useful as a board control tool instead.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 4,200
At the time I’m writing this, Shaman is by far the worst class in the game, with zero viable decks. Even if we dig deep and try playing the nerfed Nebula Shaman, it’s a rather costly deck that makes no sense as a budget option. Sadly Shaman also doesn’t make a great Menagerie class. So I thought that we might as well have some fun and go for a wacky Evolve Shaman deck. I’m saying wacky because despite Blizzard’s efforts to make it a thing in this expansion, it has fallen completely flat. The deck is just weak, it doesn’t have. But admittedly, Imbue decks are quite fun to play, so even if you won’t win a lot, at least you can enjoy your losses and sometimes high-roll your way to victory.
Your game plan with Imbue Shaman is to, well, Imbue your Hero Power and then keep Evolving your minions. It starts off slowly, it’s usually not worth to spend 2 mana on a +1 or +2 Evolve. But once you get it up in the +4 and more range, it starts getting interesting. For example, dropping your Living Garden and Evolving it into Ragnaros the Firelord. Or turning your Creature of Madness into Cairne Bloodhoof or Beached Whale. As you can imagine, those are high rolls, but they obviously do happen from time to time.
However, your main problem is that it’s hard to survive early/mid game to get the Hero Power rolling. You have some control and stall tools, but you really need to mulligan for some low-cost minions, try to get some decent trades, and hope that high-rolls bring you back. One way to high-roll earlier than you should is Plucky Podling. It’s a 1-drop, but it counts as a 3-drop for the sake of Evolve effects. You can often drop him on Turn 3 or 4 alongside already Imbued Hero Power and hope to get something big.
Overall, there’s not much else I can say about this deck. Evolve is the main focus of Shaman in this expansion, but so far it’s just too weak to play seriously. Maybe the mini-set or some future balance patch fixes it – I’ll be glad to revisit this deck once it happens.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 1,440
Last year, Warlock had access to a pretty decent budget option in a form of Pain Warlock. However, not only the deck was nerfed while it was still in Standard, now that both Molten Giant and Imprisoned Horror have rotated out, it makes zero sense to play it. The payoff for damaging your own Hero just isn’t there. That makes building a budget deck problematic, because in the meantime the class didn’t get any good, cheap strategy to replace it.
The reason I’m telling you this is because this Menagerie deck is once again the best I could come up with, but it’s not something I would recommend playing unless you really need those Warlock games for Quest or something. It has almost no strengths over the other Menagerie builds, so it’s just better to play them instead. The only real advantage of this deck is card draw. Between Mass Production and Eat! The! Imp!, you’ll probably never run out of cards. This way you can find your Jug more consistently, and even score some easy Meteor hits from Moonstone Mauler.
Well, another small unique aspect is the small Zerg package. I opted to run Ultralisk Cavern + Consume combo, and Nydus Worm as a way to tutor them. Usually the way it goes is that you play Cavern on Turn 3, use it to deal 1 AoE damage, then on Turn 5 you use it again and Consume the last charge to heal up + immediately trigger Deathrattle. So in total, you’re getting 2 AoE damage + 8/8 with Rush + 8 healing. That’s a great small combo, against faster decks the AoE and Rush minion will do nice job, and against slower decks the 8/8 body migth be hard to clear on Turn 5. The problem is that it’s not good enough by itself and it doesn’t exactly fit this type of deck – but after trying it out, it’s still better than an alternative of running random weak minions of different types.
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 5,400
Warrior is another class that’s historically very hard to build on the budget. Most of the time, it leans towards slower Midrange or Control strategies and those usually require multiple expensive cards to build. Sadly, this time is no different. While it got some light Dragon synergies this expansion, the whole package feels really underbaked. So once again, this is not a deck I would exactly recommend playing unless Blizzard adds more Dragon synergies soon or buffs the currently existing ones.
Still, I tried to make this Warrior the most Menagerie decks out of them all. Usually, Menagerie decks don’t run THAT many small minions with different types – just enough to make Jug consistent. But this one is different. For one, it runs the other Menagerie cards like Menagerie Mug and The Curator. But more importantly, it utilizes Adaptive Amalgam as a way to make them all more consistent.
Since Amalgam has all minion types, it will always fill the “missing” types you need for your Mug and Jug. It makes using those cards way easier. Similarly, The Curator is a bit hard to fit into those decks, because by the mid game you often don’t draw 3 cards from it. With Amalgams, you can consistently get all three cards, just like from All You Can Eat. And that’s great about them is that they will keep all the buffs you gave them after they die. So if you buffed it to 4/5 with Jug, when you draw it again it will already be a 4/5.
When it comes to Dragon package – you use Darkrider and Brood Keeper. Both of them are decent cards, but in general not enough to warrant going for Dragon synergies. However, thanks to Amalgams, you don’t have to run AS many Dragons as you normally would, because they also count as them.
And last, but not least, similarly to Priest, the deck has a cute Illusory Greenwing synergy with Quality Assurance. Once your Greenwing dies, you can tutor the copies you summon with Assurance, get instant 4/5’s on the board and draw other cards instead. It’s a cool combo, but as you can probably imagine, not enough to carry the deck.
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.