Budget Premodern Decks (2026)
Premodern has a reputation for Reserved List prices, but several proven, tournament-winning archetypes cost less than a modern Standard deck. These are the format's best budget decks, cheapest first, each with the upgrade path from its full deck guide.
UG Madness ($50–$150)
The cheapest competitive deck in the format: every threat has an inexpensive reprint, and a full list with sideboard prices in around fifty dollars. The Survival of the Fittest variant adds a Reserved List rare at a real premium.
- Start with the madness core: Mongrel, Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm, Aquamoeba, Careful Study and Circular Logic cost pocket change together.
- Add the flashback package (Roar of the Wurm, Call of the Herd, Deep Analysis, Quiet Speculation) and two Wonder.
- Upgrade the mana with Yavimaya Coast and a Cephalid Coliseum.
- Round out the free counters: Daze, plus single Foil and Gush copies.
- The Survival of the Fittest package (Survival plus Squee and toolbox singletons) is the endgame upgrade, not the entry fee.
Full Premodern UG Madness deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
Dromar Control ($55–$270)
Around $260 as registered, and the eight fetchlands are more than half of that. The defining cards are almost free: Shadowmage Infiltrator, Vindicate, Exalted Angel and Duress together cost a few dollars.
- Cut the eight fetchlands for the cheap Invasion and Odyssey duals (Coastal Tower, Salt Marsh, Skycloud Expanse, Darkwater Catacombs) and keep the painlands. This alone saves most of the cost.
- Avoid the traps: City of Brass, Gemstone Mine and Reflecting Pool are more expensive than the fetchlands they would replace. Dromar's Cavern and Nomad Stadium are the cheap options.
- Swap Mother of Runes for Mesmeric Fiend if you need to: you lose protection but gain proactive disruption, and real lists already do it.
- Sideboard: swap Phyrexian Furnace for Tormod's Crypt and Hydroblast for Blue Elemental Blast, and buy two Engineered Plague rather than four if money is tight.
- Skip Psychatog and Graveborn Muse, the two other expensive optional inclusions.
Full Premodern Dromar Control deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
Tron ($60–$400)
The blue-white build runs about $250 to $300, almost all of it in two Powder Keg (around $150 the pair) and a single Masticore. The Urza lands, Eternal Dragon and Decree of Justice are near-free. The mono-white version is pricier at around $390 because of four Abeyance.
- Cut the two Powder Keg for a Wrath of God and a Seal of Cleansing: they appear in only a quarter of lists, so this is barely a concession and saves the most money.
- Cut the fetch lands for Adarkar Wastes and basics: they only thin and fix marginally here.
- Move Masticore out of the board for a second Exalted Angel.
- Keep the cheap core intact: the twelve Urza lands cost a few dollars total, and Decree of Justice, Impulse and Chromatic Sphere are pennies.
- For the mono-white build, drop Abeyance for Renewed Faith and swap Phyrexian Furnace for Tormod's Crypt to land near sixty dollars.
Full Premodern Tron deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
The Solution ($90–$250)
Around $230 as registered, and the expensive part is the manabase and the sideboard, not the business spells. Lightning Angel costs cents and Meddling Mage and Exalted Angel are a euro or two each.
- Cut the four Flooded Strand for basics plus another painland: Adarkar Wastes, Shivan Reef and Battlefield Forge are all near-free. That alone is the biggest saving.
- Replace Reflecting Pool and City of Brass with Grand Coliseum, which is a fine substitute at a fraction of the price.
- Drop Enlightened Tutor and build the sideboard out of two-ofs instead of singletons.
- Swap the expensive hate pieces down: Phyrexian Furnace for a second Tormod's Crypt, Spiritual Focus for Circle of Protection: Red.
- Keep Mother of Runes at full price: it is in nineteen of twenty lists and cutting it changes what the deck is.
Full Premodern The Solution deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
Psychatog ($95–$210)
Around $200 as registered, and four Polluted Delta are roughly 40 percent of the maindeck cost on their own. Psychatog itself has only one non-gold-bordered printing but is only a few dollars each.
- Cut the four Polluted Delta for basic Islands. That is the single biggest saving and costs almost nothing, since the deck already runs thirteen Islands and the fetch mainly shuffles for Portent.
- Keep the four Psychatog and the four Accumulated Knowledge: both are cheap and neither has a substitute.
- Swap Hydroblast for extra Blue Elemental Blast: strictly worse, since it cannot destroy a permanent, but much cheaper.
- Trim Engineered Plague to one or two copies and lean on Diabolic Edict and Powder Keg for the go-wide decks.
- Do not budget toward the white 'Tog Cannon' build. It needs Mox Diamond, which costs more than this entire deck.
Full Premodern Psychatog deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
Reanimator ($100–$400)
The five-colour blue build runs about $300 to $400, dominated by four Lotus Petal (around $95) and the dual manabase. The tournament-proven mono-black version swaps that whole manabase for Swamps and comes in near $100.
- Build the mono-black version first: fourteen Swamps replace the painful five-colour manabase and cut blue entirely.
- Drop Lotus Petal, the single biggest saving; mono-black lists already run zero.
- Keep the cheap engine: Reanimate, Exhume, Dark Ritual, Putrid Imp, Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Phantom Nishoba and Verdant Force are all a euro or two.
- Swap Cabal Therapy for Duress and Unmask last, since that costs you the self-discard synergy.
- Skip Oath of Druids at first: Naturalize and Powder Keg make a functional budget sideboard.
Full Premodern Reanimator deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
Sligh ($130–$300)
One of the cheapest competitive Premodern decks: mostly commons and uncommons on basic Mountains.
- Start with an all-Mountain core of commons (Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic, Ball Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Incinerate, Fireblast, Price of Progress): competitive for very little.
- Add Cursed Scroll, the deck's one real money card and its best source of late-game reach.
- Add Grim Lavamancer for repeatable damage and card advantage against removal decks.
- Slot Barbarian Ring as a near-free utility-land upgrade for the last two points.
- Build the sideboard last: Sulfuric Vortex, Pyroblast and Pyrostatic Pillar cover the hardest matchups.
Full Premodern Sligh deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
Clerics ($180–$400)
The maindeck without the utility lands is a genuinely cheap deck, but roughly half of it is four Rotlung Reanimator (one Onslaught printing, around $18 each). The full 75 climbs because of the sideboard, mainly Dystopia and Powder Keg.
- Swap Rishadan Port for Mishra's Factory: a handful of lists already do it and it saves the most money in the manabase.
- Cut Dystopia and Powder Keg from the sideboard for Perish, Nausea and Diabolic Edict, which cost cents and cover most of the same ground.
- Swap Graveborn Muse for Phyrexian Arena or Shepherd of Rot if the life loss or the price bothers you.
- Do not skip Rotlung Reanimator: there is no substitute and the deck does not function without it. The same goes for Cabal Therapy and the sideboard Engineered Plague.
- Avoid the trap manabase: City of Traitors and Volrath's Stronghold cost several times the rest of the deck combined, and Swamps plus Mishra's Factory play almost as well.
Full Premodern Clerics deck guide with matchups, mulligans and a sideboard plan.
The next step up
A little more budget opens up The Rock ($250–$500), Landstill ($250–$550), Mono Black ($250–$600), Goblins ($275–$535): their cores start cheap too, and the expensive singles can be added one at a time.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Premodern deck cost?
Competitive decks start around $50: UG Madness ($50–$150), Dromar Control ($55–$270), Tron ($60–$400), The Solution ($90–$250), Psychatog ($95–$210), Reanimator ($100–$400), Sligh ($130–$300), Clerics ($180–$400). Top-tier decks built on Reserved List cards (Serra's Sanctum, Gaea's Cradle) can run well past $1,000.
What is the cheapest competitive Premodern deck?
UG Madness at $50–$150: The cheapest competitive deck in the format: every threat has an inexpensive reprint, and a full list with sideboard prices in around fifty dollars. The Survival of the Fittest variant adds a Reserved List rare at a real premium.
Can you play Premodern on a budget?
Yes. Premodern has proven tournament archetypes made almost entirely of commons and uncommons; the budget builds here take real wins at competitive events.
