If you're new to the game and want to buy the most good cards possible with the least amount of ETH, then look no further! This list is designed to cover all the possible meta-relevant cards and cards that will be useful for Budget decks (a deck that costs .1 ETH or less, aka <$20; guide to those coming soon!). This will allow you to get all the good commons and rares while they're cheap so that you don't have any regrets in the future. Since these are so plentiful, it should not be difficult to find copies once they're on the market.
Key (now less wordy and easier to interpret):
++ -> Staple card in at least one meta deck, auto pickup, probably defines the meta in some way or is almost never a bad choice
+ -> Good usage in current meta decks or has obvious potential to be great
?? -> We have no idea if this card will actually be good… it just has potential
? -> Has uses now, has the potential to be replaced (or better) in the future
^ -> Synergy dependent; if x deck is good, this card will be good (think things like tribes or runes), symbol can be combined with other keys
General idea is to buy the ++s and +s first, then buy the ?s that fit an archetype you want to play. For example, I’m looking forward to playing around with Afterlife Anubians, so even though a lot of those are ? or ??, I’ll be getting them anyways. ?^ is worse than ? because not only is the card itself meta dependant, but so is its archetype.
After I go over all the cards, I will have an overview of each god to say generally what you’re looking for and how they got supported this set.
Commons:
Neutral:
- Backstreet Bouncer ++
- Nimble Pixie ?^
- Dread Pirate +
- Bonded Warrior ++
- Rune Smuggler ++
- Annoying Combatant ??
- Rolling Wacher ? (could be +; weird card)
- Cambion Runelord ??
- Tomb Robber ?^
- Nephys Guardian ?^
- Leviathan Hunter ++
- Foolhardy Berserker ++^
- Nether Nanny ?
- Rebirth Planetar ++
- Valkyrie Heartsworn +^
Death:
- Dangerous Ritual ?
- Crimson Oni ?
Deception:
- Lightfoot Informant +
- Sleep Dart +
- Smoke Bomb ?
- Shady Merchant +
Light:
- Master of Indulgences ++
- Canonize +
- Pharoah’s Double Body ??^
- Holy Writ ++
Magic:
- Flying Carpet ?
- Shadow Scryer ++
- Runestorm ++^
- Arcane Transcendent ++
- Portal Wrangler ++
- Dimensional Looper +
Nature:
- Vine Armor ++
- Agrodor Protector ++
- Black Rhino +
- Uproot ?
War:
- Blood Rage ?
- Sharpen ?
- Whetstone ?
- Deathsworn Raider ++^
- Penitent Spear ?
- Mercenary Daemon +
- Incoming Raid ?
- Odin’s White Raven +^
Rares:
Neutral:
- Netherborne Binder ++
- Pyramid Warden ++
- Anputian Magus ++
- Servant of Inti ??^
- Bonepact Hunter ?^
- Soul Jar ?^
- Empire’s Footman ?^
- Trojan Golem ++
- Golem Centurion +
Death:
- Fanatic of Khnum +
- Greed Banestrider ++
- Sacred Lore ++
- Amazon Hearteater ++
- Canopic Hoarder ?^
- Untold Greed +
- Catacomb Curator ?^
Deception:
- Mugging ++
- Shade Walker +
- Needle-Fang Chameleon +
Light:
- Ra’s Ascension ?^
- Cudgel of Atonement ++
Magic:
- Ancient Texts ++
- Faraday Cage +
- Planetar Envoy ++
Nature:
- Underbrush Boar ++
- Revenant Lynx ++
- Rebel Quartermaster +
War:
- Master Tactician ++
- Iron Kopis ?
- Blast Claws ?
- Returned Einherjar +^
Overview for Each God:
Neutral: First of all, all the 1 and 2-drops on these lists that don’t have ^ are auto pickups. They all set most of the basis for what a standard 2-cost lineup looks like, and the 1-drops here are very important for most zoo decks. You also have some standard tribe synergy in there; sometimes it’s really important, sometimes not as much. I will note that the Aether cards aren’t *too* useful until you have some epic Aether cards.
Death: Lots of zoo and control staples in here. There’s also some Anubian Afterlife shenanigans if you’re interested in trying that out, though after theorycrafting a bit with them, decks that want them will be expensive.
Deception: None of these fit any specific archetypes, they’re just good on their own. If you like playing Deception, get all of these.
Light: All the non-Anubian cards are incredibly good, as few as there are. Similar to Deception; if you like Light, get these cards (aside from the Anubian cards, unless you want to take a risk
Magic: Just a mixture of removal, utility, and Aether cards. All are good in the control archetype.
*Nature:* If you’re playing aggro, all the rares are a must have. If you’re playing control or midrange, all the commons (aside from maybe uproot) are must-haves.
*War:* Incredible Viking and weapon support in this set. Aside from those, War has a few more unpredictable cards that have the potential to be good or bad.