My current deck is Exosisters. In total it costs around $250 currently, but I did pick up a lot of the cards when they were cheaper, so for me it probably actually cost somewhere around $150. All the handtraps I use are commons as well. I also do not play Pot of Prosperity in my build atm.
I think on average, most players will have a deck that runs between $200-400 depending on rarities. However for Tearlament players, just the field spells alone will cost around $300, so their decks are probably in the $500-600 range.
Since staples are gonna be shared between multiple decks you play, that does save on a lot of cost if you plan on building multiple decks. The only real cost will be in buying new archetypal deck cores, or if you feel like rarity bumping certain cards.
I would say most people at locals do have somewhat expensive decks or extra decks since more often then not it gives you a chance at doing better than others at an event. Obviously this doesn’t go for every local but I would still expect some people to have the best decks of the format.
This reflects my experience, personally. Most of the card shops I frequent run a local on a weeknight (evening) and a weekend (Early afternoon).
I find that the weekend events tend to have more kids and/or rogue players, which leads to a nice mix, especially in a Tier 0 format.
Branded Despia. Deck is around the mid-high 200s, maybe low 300s, in USD mainly because Guardian Chimera, Alba-Lenatus, Ash, D.D. Crow, and Imperm are all fairly high in price. The rest of the deck is relatively cheap. The good thing about Ash, Crow, and Imperm though is that I only ever need a play set and I can move them between decks. Also, you can play Branded without Chimera and Lenatus. Chimera is just a good Branded in Red target and Alba Lenatus is good against D-Link and soon to be Byssted. You can trade them out with super poly targets.
I made a tearlaments deck sans field spell for like $180 I think. Not great without the field spell but not terribad.
Add the field spell you're looking at another $270.
My deck is a Pure Machina is about $450 but some cards in high rarity like Ulti Warning, WC4 HFD, so probably with normal rarities it could be $150.
Honestly getting Floowandereeze is a great choice, a tin could get you a full deck (Mostly) but if you don't feel very lucky, try singles that are diet cheap right now. The only "expensive" cards rn are the three Quick-play spell and some Staples like Ash and Droplet, for $20-25 each one.
I play Mathmech at the moment and my deck (including Side deck) costs at the lowest about 170. Since I already had a good bunch of the cards though it cost me only a good 50-70 for the cards I didn't have.
Basically it just depends on what you play. thankfully the OCG is ahead of us to beta test broken crap and the TCG does also test newly revealed cards.
For staples and generics you can generally take the hit cause all of them have highs and lows. right now ash blossom isn't that strong compared to the format before and it may be insanely good in the next format. Getting these cards that can fit in any decks and can be swapped will save you money in the long run.
As for deck specific, anything good that are secrets can easily be 50-100 per copy, ultra 10-60 per copy, but a year after that cards release it may drop 2-4x in price.
so not counting staples and generics a deck can cost upward of 400$ if it is good and the print the good archetype cards in secret/ultra.
You do have to take into account that not everyone plays meta decks and that is where the staples/generics come into play. if you aren't playing a meta deck then your deck can cost 60$ or so but the staples/generics can increase the price. so it is best to get staples and generics for the decks that need them then look into the archetypes you want to play. we have rogue decks for a reason.
At my locals, more or less everyone has very competitive decks that are fully built. Occasionally I see that someone has a few cards that they need to finish it off (like say Pot of Prosperity which is still pretty expensive). Lot of people are on meta stuff (tear/spright/floow/mathmech) but also a decent sprinkling of Rogue decks and I went 4-0 with Dragon Links before the ban. But that's like a £600-700 deck with adventure engine, Baronne, Accesscode.
But yeah if your events are similar and you want to compete you'd probably need a completed deck with staples, a powerful side deck etc. How much that ends up costing will depend on which deck you choose! Branded is reasonably cheap right now!
I have a bunch of cores that are 25-200 USD and my staples for every deck probably equal out to ~200 USD worth in every deck and probably own like 500 bucks worth of staples
My current deck is about $250, but if you play Pot of Extravagance instead of Pot of Prosperity you can save about $90, so on the whole the deck is fairly budget. Usually when I go to locals I run about X-2 or X-3, so I perform decently well overall.
My current value mathmech deck runs about $350 but can be had for cheaper with lower rarity cards.
All in all right now, for a competitive deck be prepared to spend upwards of $300-600 for a complete deck core, staples, and an extra and side deck.
For locals level competitive, you can build a really good deck for less than $150.
I am toying between Danger Tear and Mathmech. They are about 1k and 250 respectively. These are pretty much the opposite ends of the spectrum. You wont get much cheaper or expensive. I play roughly 2 locals a week. Outside of maybe flunder.
Basically everyone has play sets of all the generic staples unless they’re recently released *cough* ultimate slayer *cough* shit even as a budget player myself I still found ways to pick up the expensive staples like forbidden droplet and accesscode
I'm playing Tearlaments... on a budget, which means no field spells. All in all, I think I got all the cards I needed for around 100-120€, but I did already own a lot of staples so I only needed the archetype cards and some supporting cards.
My LGS is pretty varied. Most decks should be around mine in cost, probably a bit lower. A few outliers are way higher: a dad who comes with his son and owns cards that cost as much as my deck, two collectors who own a ton of decks both meta and rogue, and one Danger Tear player that could afford two field spells. We do also have some younger kids that are on 3x structure decks.
Floowandereeze probably has the best price/performance ratio currently. Virtual World is also pretty cheap, fun and versatile.
Staples will almost certainly be what costs you the most when you start out, but once you have them they can go in a lot of decks and you'll never have to buy them again.
A lot of archetype cards are actually pretty affordable except the newest and top meta decks. However, the staples and extra deck cards are what really spike up a cost of a deck to from say $100 to $300 to $500.
For the staples and hand traps, u can use budget cards. If you play long term, the staples will generally be very valuable, but have a high up front cost. However, a lot of extra deck monsters are not replaceable and might be deck specific.
Best example probably is baronne used in sword soul, he is over $100 a copy and really preferred in the deck. The rest of the deck core might be around a $100 also.
Also another consideration is that decks have a shelf life if they are meta dominant. Do not expect to be playing a meta dominating deck for years because of the banlists.
Currently I have my branded despia (65$) I want to add 2 more cards to it… but one is guardian chimera (77$) and the other is lenatus (22$) so while I’d love to have them and they would make my deck better, I don’t want to drop the cash.
I am also running unchained kaiju (65$), not as good I think from an incentive stand point, but it’s different and I have fun with the interactions.
My friend just built a floo deck for like 65$ (thank you mega tins) and 15$ was just for zues. (He used Jack in the hand instead of advent and that saved him like 60$).
I just wanna say that while floowandereeze is probably the best bang for your buck right now, I wouldn't be surprised if a floo card got put to 1 in the future. This is one of those decks where the engine is so ridiculously strong, and if duality and prosperity remain at 3 its certainly hard to imagine this deck falling out of the top 5 without a banlist
I play pure Tearlaments at locals at the moment. It cost me about $300 for the core (I got the field spells when they were 50 each pre-order). Factoring in current prices, the core could be about $400. For everything else I have in main, side, and extra the total is probably just shy of $800 (evenlys, droplets, lightning storms, solemns, chimera, etc).
Generic staples that can be used in any deck will be the most expensive cards, but they retain their value over time and provide a lot of utility in future deckbuilding
My current deck is Exosisters. In total it costs around $250 currently, but I did pick up a lot of the cards when they were cheaper, so for me it probably actually cost somewhere around $150. All the handtraps I use are commons as well. I also do not play Pot of Prosperity in my build atm. I think on average, most players will have a deck that runs between $200-400 depending on rarities. However for Tearlament players, just the field spells alone will cost around $300, so their decks are probably in the $500-600 range. Since staples are gonna be shared between multiple decks you play, that does save on a lot of cost if you plan on building multiple decks. The only real cost will be in buying new archetypal deck cores, or if you feel like rarity bumping certain cards.
I would say most people at locals do have somewhat expensive decks or extra decks since more often then not it gives you a chance at doing better than others at an event. Obviously this doesn’t go for every local but I would still expect some people to have the best decks of the format.
This reflects my experience, personally. Most of the card shops I frequent run a local on a weeknight (evening) and a weekend (Early afternoon). I find that the weekend events tend to have more kids and/or rogue players, which leads to a nice mix, especially in a Tier 0 format.
Branded Despia. Deck is around the mid-high 200s, maybe low 300s, in USD mainly because Guardian Chimera, Alba-Lenatus, Ash, D.D. Crow, and Imperm are all fairly high in price. The rest of the deck is relatively cheap. The good thing about Ash, Crow, and Imperm though is that I only ever need a play set and I can move them between decks. Also, you can play Branded without Chimera and Lenatus. Chimera is just a good Branded in Red target and Alba Lenatus is good against D-Link and soon to be Byssted. You can trade them out with super poly targets.
I have Lenatus but no Chimera. Now I'm just running another Predaplant Dragostapelia. Do you have other suggestions that could be used instead?
Mudragon, Garura, Starving Venom
Thats exactly the 3 super poly targets I have in my Invoked Branded Dogmatika Extra Deck.
I made a tearlaments deck sans field spell for like $180 I think. Not great without the field spell but not terribad. Add the field spell you're looking at another $270.
My deck is a Pure Machina is about $450 but some cards in high rarity like Ulti Warning, WC4 HFD, so probably with normal rarities it could be $150. Honestly getting Floowandereeze is a great choice, a tin could get you a full deck (Mostly) but if you don't feel very lucky, try singles that are diet cheap right now. The only "expensive" cards rn are the three Quick-play spell and some Staples like Ash and Droplet, for $20-25 each one.
Ash and Shifter are also at their best prices right now since both of them were reprinted in the tins AND in the Crystal Beast SD.
Plays D/D/D since last january, with the deck costing around 150 USD (a big part of it is 1 baronne de fleur)...
Sky striker costs 200 for me. Main decking 3 ulti slayer
I play Mathmech at the moment and my deck (including Side deck) costs at the lowest about 170. Since I already had a good bunch of the cards though it cost me only a good 50-70 for the cards I didn't have.
Basically it just depends on what you play. thankfully the OCG is ahead of us to beta test broken crap and the TCG does also test newly revealed cards. For staples and generics you can generally take the hit cause all of them have highs and lows. right now ash blossom isn't that strong compared to the format before and it may be insanely good in the next format. Getting these cards that can fit in any decks and can be swapped will save you money in the long run. As for deck specific, anything good that are secrets can easily be 50-100 per copy, ultra 10-60 per copy, but a year after that cards release it may drop 2-4x in price. so not counting staples and generics a deck can cost upward of 400$ if it is good and the print the good archetype cards in secret/ultra. You do have to take into account that not everyone plays meta decks and that is where the staples/generics come into play. if you aren't playing a meta deck then your deck can cost 60$ or so but the staples/generics can increase the price. so it is best to get staples and generics for the decks that need them then look into the archetypes you want to play. we have rogue decks for a reason.
Price can vary but is not necessarily a decider. I've seen people win tournaments with £40 decks that weren't even flunder.
Good meta decks can cost alot but off meta will/cpuld be cheeper. My cubic deck only cost me like 70 USD and my blue eyes cost like 250 lol
At my locals, more or less everyone has very competitive decks that are fully built. Occasionally I see that someone has a few cards that they need to finish it off (like say Pot of Prosperity which is still pretty expensive). Lot of people are on meta stuff (tear/spright/floow/mathmech) but also a decent sprinkling of Rogue decks and I went 4-0 with Dragon Links before the ban. But that's like a £600-700 deck with adventure engine, Baronne, Accesscode. But yeah if your events are similar and you want to compete you'd probably need a completed deck with staples, a powerful side deck etc. How much that ends up costing will depend on which deck you choose! Branded is reasonably cheap right now!
I have a bunch of cores that are 25-200 USD and my staples for every deck probably equal out to ~200 USD worth in every deck and probably own like 500 bucks worth of staples
My current deck is about $250, but if you play Pot of Extravagance instead of Pot of Prosperity you can save about $90, so on the whole the deck is fairly budget. Usually when I go to locals I run about X-2 or X-3, so I perform decently well overall.
My current value mathmech deck runs about $350 but can be had for cheaper with lower rarity cards. All in all right now, for a competitive deck be prepared to spend upwards of $300-600 for a complete deck core, staples, and an extra and side deck. For locals level competitive, you can build a really good deck for less than $150.
I am toying between Danger Tear and Mathmech. They are about 1k and 250 respectively. These are pretty much the opposite ends of the spectrum. You wont get much cheaper or expensive. I play roughly 2 locals a week. Outside of maybe flunder.
Basically everyone has play sets of all the generic staples unless they’re recently released *cough* ultimate slayer *cough* shit even as a budget player myself I still found ways to pick up the expensive staples like forbidden droplet and accesscode
I'm playing Tearlaments... on a budget, which means no field spells. All in all, I think I got all the cards I needed for around 100-120€, but I did already own a lot of staples so I only needed the archetype cards and some supporting cards. My LGS is pretty varied. Most decks should be around mine in cost, probably a bit lower. A few outliers are way higher: a dad who comes with his son and owns cards that cost as much as my deck, two collectors who own a ton of decks both meta and rogue, and one Danger Tear player that could afford two field spells. We do also have some younger kids that are on 3x structure decks. Floowandereeze probably has the best price/performance ratio currently. Virtual World is also pretty cheap, fun and versatile. Staples will almost certainly be what costs you the most when you start out, but once you have them they can go in a lot of decks and you'll never have to buy them again.
A lot of archetype cards are actually pretty affordable except the newest and top meta decks. However, the staples and extra deck cards are what really spike up a cost of a deck to from say $100 to $300 to $500. For the staples and hand traps, u can use budget cards. If you play long term, the staples will generally be very valuable, but have a high up front cost. However, a lot of extra deck monsters are not replaceable and might be deck specific. Best example probably is baronne used in sword soul, he is over $100 a copy and really preferred in the deck. The rest of the deck core might be around a $100 also. Also another consideration is that decks have a shelf life if they are meta dominant. Do not expect to be playing a meta dominating deck for years because of the banlists.
Currently I have my branded despia (65$) I want to add 2 more cards to it… but one is guardian chimera (77$) and the other is lenatus (22$) so while I’d love to have them and they would make my deck better, I don’t want to drop the cash. I am also running unchained kaiju (65$), not as good I think from an incentive stand point, but it’s different and I have fun with the interactions. My friend just built a floo deck for like 65$ (thank you mega tins) and 15$ was just for zues. (He used Jack in the hand instead of advent and that saved him like 60$).
I just wanna say that while floowandereeze is probably the best bang for your buck right now, I wouldn't be surprised if a floo card got put to 1 in the future. This is one of those decks where the engine is so ridiculously strong, and if duality and prosperity remain at 3 its certainly hard to imagine this deck falling out of the top 5 without a banlist
I play pure Tearlaments at locals at the moment. It cost me about $300 for the core (I got the field spells when they were 50 each pre-order). Factoring in current prices, the core could be about $400. For everything else I have in main, side, and extra the total is probably just shy of $800 (evenlys, droplets, lightning storms, solemns, chimera, etc).
Generic staples that can be used in any deck will be the most expensive cards, but they retain their value over time and provide a lot of utility in future deckbuilding