Although the decks highlighted in the Price of Glory series are very inexpensive compared to the decks you see making Top 8s at major tournaments, there is always demand for decks that can be built on an even tighter budget. Therefore, I'll be doing something a little different this time. Between this article and the next, I'll be giving you two decks for the price of one. Although the decks obviously won't be quite as powerful as my usual fare, they should still be able to compete at your local tournaments. Whether you're a starving college student, a busy parent, or just someone who's trying to pinch a few pennies, one of these might be the deck for you.

White Weenie is an archetype that has popped up again and again throughout the game's history. With the resilient and aggressive white creatures currently in the format, a budget list can still pack a real punch. Here's the one I put together:

"White Weenie"

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Elite Inquisitor
• 4 Accorder Paladin
• 4 Doomed Traveler
• 4 Elite Vanguard
• 4 Loyal Cathar
• 4 Porcelain Legionnaire
• 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch

• Spells (14)
• 4 Midnight Haunting
• 4 Honor of the Pure
• 4 Oblivion Ring
• 2 Shrine of Loyal Legions

• Lands (22)
• 22 Plains

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Shrine of Loyal Legions
• 2 Elite Inquisitor
• 4 Fiend Hunter
• 4 Leonin Relic-Warder
• 4 Celestial Purge

Buy This Deck

The Creatures

2-power creatures for 1 mana have always been a great tool for aggressive decks, and Elite Vanguard is no exception. It puts the pressure on early, forcing your opponent to take action before his life total is reduced drastically.

Doomed Traveler doesn't have the power of Elite Vanguard, but its resiliency more than makes up for it. This card has proven that it's good enough to be played in Standard in decks such as W/U Humans and W/B tokens, and this deck is well positioned to take advantage of it.

Loyal Cathar is like a bigger Doomed Traveler, coming back from the dead to continue the beatdown. With these guys on the battlefield, a Wrath effect won't be enough to save your opponent from destruction.

Accorder Paladin is an extremely aggressive creature. It not only gives you 3 power for 2 mana, but it also pumps up all your other creatures. With this on the board, you can very easily deal 5 or 6 damage on turn three.

Porcelain Legionnaire is another aggressive attacker, wielding the same 3 power as Accorder Paladin. It also has first strike, making it excellent for shutting down small creatures such as Huntmaster of the Fells and Strangleroot Geist.

Elite Inquisitor helps you crush the increasingly popular Zombie decks, shutting down their attackers with ease while still swinging in for 2 every turn. Against other decks, it fills much the same role as Porcelain Legionnaire, but with the added bonus of having vigilance, making it easy to maintain your life total while reducing your opponent's.

Mikaeus, the Lunarch is an excellent way to pump up all your creatures, creating even bigger problems for your opponent. Even a lowly 1/1 can turn into a massive threat if this guy survives a few turns.

The Spells

Midnight Haunting provides two flying threats for only 3 mana, and at instant speed to boot. With a pump effect on the board, you can surprise your opponent with 4 power worth of creatures at the end of his turn, sending all his plans down the drain.

Shrine of Loyal Legions will gain counters very quickly in this deck since every other spell is white. It can give you a new attacking force after a sweeper or an attrition war, putting your opponent far behind and requiring even more answers. With a well-established board position, it creates a lose-lose situation for your opponent.

Honor of the Pure pumps nearly every creature in the deck, with only Unhallowed Cathar and the Myr tokens from Shrine of Loyal Legions dodging the bonus. With one of these in play, Doomed Traveler leaves you with a 2-power flyer after a sweeper, and Porcelain Legionnaire can take down Ravager of the Fells or Thrun, the Last Troll. Mikaeus, the Lunarch becomes much more valuable, letting you use up all of its counters and still being able to add more later.

Oblivion Ring has proven to be among the best removal spells in Standard, dealing with any threat for only 3 mana. It's a staple of any deck playing white, so it's a shoo-in here.

The Sideboard

The extra Shrine of Loyal Legions and Elite Inquisitors increase your chances of drawing one in matchups where you need them, such as against decks with a lot of sweepers for the Shrine and against decks with many small creatures or relevant creature types for the Inquisitors.

Fiend Hunter can give you some major card advantage against decks such as as tokens or Birthing Pod. Neither of those decks can kill it easily, and even if an opponent does get rid of it, it still gives you value, such as getting rid of a token for good or delaying your opponent's ability to start a Birthing Pod chain.

Leonin Relic-Warder is excellent against decks that rely on artifacts, removing one and providing a relevant creature at the same time. With most cards, 2 mana will buy you either a 2/2 or a piece of artifact and enchantment removal. With this card, you can have both.

Celestial Purge deals with an otherwise devastating Inferno Titan or any other major threats such as Phyrexian Obliterator. It's 1 mana cheaper than Oblivion Ring, it can be played on your opponent's turn, and there's no chance of the target ever coming back. When playing against black and red, this can serve as a massive upgrade or an additional piece of removal for when you just need to kill more things.

Playtesting

U/B Zombies – Game 1

I lost the roll and kept a hand of four Plains, Doomed Traveler, Accorder Paladin, and Honor of the Pure. My opponent took a mulligan and led with a Darkslick Shores, followed by a Fume Spitter. I drew Mikaeus, the Lunarch, played a Plains, and cast my Doomed Traveler. I passed the turn. My opponent played a Swamp, cast Geth's Verdict, making me sacrifice the Traveler and drop to 19, and then sacrificed his Fume Spitter to take care of the token. He ended his turn. I drew the second Mikaeus, played my land, cast Accorder Paladin, and passed the turn. My opponent played Drowned Catacomb and cast Mortarpod, sacrificing the token to kill my Paladin. He then passed the turn. I drew Shrine of Loyal Legions, cast it, and played another Plains before passing the turn.

My opponent cast Geralf's Messenger, dropping me to 17. He ended his turn. I put a counter on my Shrine, drew a Plains, and played it. I then cast Mikaeus, the Lunarch for 3, putting a second counter on the Shrine. I passed the turn. My opponent cast another Geth's Verdict, forcing me to sacrifice Mikaeus and making me lose 1 life. He then attacked with Geralf's Messenger, dropping me down to 13 before passing the turn. The Shrine got a third counter, and I drew another Plains. I played it, then cast Honor of the Pure, putting another counter on the Shrine. I cast my second Mikaeus, this time with only 2 counters, put counter number 5 on the Shrine, and ended my turn. My opponent cast Phantasmal Image, copying Mikaeus to kill them both. He then attacked with Geralf's Messenger to drop me to 10, and he passed the turn.

My Shrine got another counter, and I drew Midnight Haunting. I passed the turn with no play. My opponent cast Diregraf Captain and attacked with his now-4/3 Messenger. I cast Midnight Haunting, making a pair of 2/2 flyers and bringing the Shrine up to 7. I then sacrificed the Shrine for seven Myr tokens and blocked with one of them. My opponent passed the turn. I drew Elite Vanguard and attacked with the two Spirits and four Myr tokens. My opponent blocked a token with Diregraf Captain and dropped to 13. I cast the Elite Vanguard, and my opponent killed one of my Spirits with Tragic Slip when I passed the turn.

My opponent equipped Geralf's Messenger with Mortarpod and attacked. I blocked with a Myr token again. After damage, my opponent sacrificed the Messenger to deal 1 damage to my remaining Spirit, making me lose 3 life between the Messenger's trigger and the Diregraf Captain's. He then cast Fume Spitter, sacrificing it to kill off the damaged Spirit before ending his turn. I drew Midnight Haunting and attacked with Elite Vanguard, dropping my opponent to 10. I passed the turn. My opponent attacked with Geralf's Messenger, and I chump-blocked with a Myr again. He then cast another Geralf's Messenger, dropping me to 5 before passing the turn. During his end step, I cast Midnight Haunting to restock on my Spirit tokens. I drew Accorder Paladin and attacked with both Spirits and Elite Vanguard. My opponent traded his Captain for the Vanguard and dropped to 6. I cast the Paladin and passed the turn. My opponent drew his card and conceded.

Sideboarding:

−4 Accorder Paladin

−2 Oblivion Ring

+4 Celestial Purge

+2 Elite Inquisitor

U/B Zombies – Game 2

I took a mulligan and kept a hand of two Plains, two Midnight Hauntings, Porcelain Legionnaire, and Honor of the Pure. My opponent opened with a Darkslick Shores and a Fume Spitter again, and I drew a third Midnight Haunting. I played a Plains and passed the turn. My opponent swung for 1, then played another Darkslick Shores and cast Skirsdag High Priest. He ended his turn. I drew Shrine of Loyal Legions, played a land, and cast Honor of the Pure before passing the turn. My opponent swung for 2, then played a Swamp and cast Geralf's Messenger, dropping me to 15. He passed the turn. I drew a Plains and passed the turn.

My opponent attacked with Fume Spitter, and I took the damage. He then played a land, cast Diregraf Captain, and passed the turn. I cast Midnight Haunting during his end step to make a pair of 2/2 flyers. I drew Celestial Purge and passed the turn. During my end step, my opponent sacrificed Fume Spitter to put a -1/-1 counter on one of my Spirits, then tapped Skirsdag High Priest and his other two creatures to make a 5/5 Demon token. I cast Celestial Purge on the High Priest before it untapped.

On his turn, my opponent attacked with Geralf's Messenger and the Demon token. My 1/1 Spirit blocked the Messenger, and I dropped to 9. My opponent then cast Gravecrawler, followed by a Phantasmal Image copying Geralf's Messenger and making me lose 2 more life. I drew a Doomed Traveler and passed the turn. My opponent attacked with everything but the Captain, and I cast Midnight Haunting and chump-blocked the biggest threats with my tokens. I dropped to 4, and my opponent cast Diregraf Ghoul before passing the turn. I drew a land and conceded.

U/B Zombies – Game 3

I kept a hand of two Plains, two Porcelain Legionnaires, Loyal Cathar, Elite Inquisitor, and Honor of the Pure. I started things off with a Plains, and my opponent had the Darkslick Shores/Fume Spitter opening yet again. I drew a Plains, played it, and cast Loyal Cathar. I passed the turn. My opponent cast Mortarpod and passed the turn. I drew Oblivion Ring, played my land, and attacked with Loyal Cathar. He took the 2 damage, and I cast Honor of the Pure after combat. My opponent sacrificed the Fume Spitter and the Germ token to kill the Cathar in response, and it returned to the battlefield transformed when I passed the turn. My opponent played Drowned Catacomb, then cast Geralf's Messenger, dropping me to 18, and he passed the turn.

I drew another Elite Inquisitor, attacked for 2 with Unhallowed Cathar, then cast the Inquisitor and passed the turn. My opponent played a land, then cast a second Mortarpod along with Skirsdag High Priest and passed the turn. I drew Shrine of Loyal Legions and attacked with Elite Inquisitor. My opponent dropped to 13, and I cast Oblivion Ring on Skirsdag High Priest before passing the turn.

My opponent played another Swamp and cast Gravecrawler. He then equipped it with Mortarpod and passed the turn. I drew a Plains, played it, and attacked with Elite Inquisitor. My opponent blocked with his Germ token, sacrificing it before damage to kill my Unhallowed Cathar. After combat, I played Shrine of Loyal Legions, then cast the second Elite Inquisitor to put a counter on it. I ended my turn.

My opponent sacrificed his Gravecrawler to deal 1 damage to me, then cast Tragic Slip on an Elite Inquisitor. He then cast Gravecrawler from his graveyard, equipped Mortarpod to Geralf's Messenger, and passed the turn. I put another counter on my Shrine and drew Midnight Haunting. I attacked with Elite Inquisitor, and my opponent returned it to my hand with Vapor Snag, dropping me to 16. I recast it, then paid 2 life to cast Porcelain Legionnaire, putting 2 more counters on my Shrine in the process. I ended my turn.

My opponent cast Phantasmal Image as a Geralf's Messenger, making me lose 2 life. He then equipped the Image with the second Mortarpod and sacrificed both the original Messenger and its copy to kill my Legionnaire. Both came back into play with +1/+1 counters, the Messenger as itself, dropping me to 10, and the Image as my Elite Inquisitor. My opponent passed the turn.

I put a fifth counter on my Shrine and drew a Loyal Cathar. I passed the turn with no play. My opponent equipped one Mortarpod to Geralf's Messenger and the other to Gravecrawler. He then attacked with the Image. I blocked with my Elite Inquisitor, and we traded. He ended his turn, and I cast Midnight Haunting during his end step to make a pair of 2/2 Spirits and put another counter on the Shrine. Shrine of Loyal Legions ticked up to 7 counters, and I drew a Plains and played it. I attacked with both Spirits, and my opponent dropped to 9. I cast Loyal Cathar, the Shrine received yet another counter, and I passed the turn. My opponent drew his card and conceded.

Despite being built on a very small budget, this deck can still compete against some of the best decks in Standard. The large amount of first strike in the deck is especially powerful, and Shrine of Loyal Legions has the ability to instantly turn the tides in your favor. If you're looking to get into Standard without investing too much, or if you just want a fun deck to try out, I encourage you to give this list a shot.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @Twinblaze2, or simply leave a comment below.