Budget Magic: $54 (16-Rare) Goyf & Beans | Standard

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Budget Magic! One of the most common ways new decks are created in Magic is redundancy. Having a new card come along that works a lot like an older card makes it much easier to build around the effect since we can essentially cheat on the "you can only play four copies of a card" rule. Take today's deck. Thanks to Bloomburrow, we now have three creatures that are super expensive but get a discount based on how many creatures we have in the graveyard in Huskburster Swarm #98, Writhing Necromass #115, and Hollow Marauder #90. The goal of our deck today is simple: fill our graveyard in the early game with cards like Gnawing Vermin #101, Aftermath Analyst #148, Blanchwood Prowler #172, Cruel Somnophage #286 Showcase, and Urborg Lhurgoyf #186; play an Up the Beanstalk #195 or two; and then have a massive combo turn where we chain together Huskburster Swarm #98s, Writhing Necromass #115es, and Hollow Marauder #90s to draw a ton of cards and build a (hopefully) unbeatable massive board! The best part is that the deck is super cheap to put together, costing just 16 rare wildcards on Magic Arena (and eight if you already have Fabled Passage #67 and Llanowar Wastes #376) and just $54 in paper! After two years of trying, can we finally make Urborg Lhurgoyf #186 work in Standard? Is the janky Up the Beanstalk #195 plan legit? Let's get to the video and find out!

Budget Magic: Goyf & Beans

Wrap-Up

Really, there's not a ton to say about the deck. The plan is surprisingly simple: fill the graveyard, play Up the Beanstalk #195, cast a bunch of seven-drops for a single mana, and win the game. What surprised me most about the deck is just how well it worked! We went 7-1 with the deck, playing between Top 200 and Top 100 mythic on Magic Arena, which is a shockingly good record for any deck, let alone a budget deck with a uniquely janky plan. In paper, it looks like we get wrecked by graveyard hate, and it is true that cards like Rest in Peace #156 Extended basically beat us all by themselves. But it is worth pointing out that we played against cards like Tranquil Frillback #74 Showcase Foil and Keen-Eyed Curator #181 (two of the most popular graveyard hate spells in the format) and managed to win anyway, so softer graveyard hate doesn't seem to be a deal-breaker for the deck.

While eight matches isn't a huge sample size, the deck felt oddly solid overall. Many decks aren't prepared for the plan of smashing huge creature into huge creature, and Up the Beanstalk #195 gives us a way to rebuild when things go wrong. If you are a fan of Urborg Lhurgoyf #186 or are just looking for a spicy (and, in our experience, oddly effective) budget deck for Bloomburrow Standard, give Goyf & Beans a shot!

Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.