Top 3 Budget Engines in Yu-Gi-Oh 2021!

As we transition into the latter half of 2021 and the mega tins inch closer to their big release, duelists worldwide are emptying out their savings to cash in on the massive influx of budget reprints which the Tin of Ancient Battles will eventually bring. Perhaps the most sought after decks currently are Dogmatikas and Eldlich; the two biggest names in the meta right now. Invoked Shaddolls, Zoo Tribrigades and Drytron are also close behind. Unfortunately, none of the decks mentioned so far are accessible to anyone with a budget under $200; a formidable barrier of entry which can intimidate even the most enthusiastic of duelists from joining in to fight with the big names in the top brackets of competitive play.

In light of this reality, we've dug around and compiled a list of our own for all the budget engines in the game which are being overlooked right now. As everyone has their eyes set on the big names, these engines have slipped out of favour- and thereby demand. Not only does this lower their price, it also creates a reason for sellers to part more easily with these engines since they're currently less profitable investments. This creates the perfect opportunity for budget players to sweep in and maximize the return for their limited finances.

This week, keep your eyes peeled for these cards because these are the Top 3 Budget Engines in YuGiOh right now!


3. Symphonic Warriors

Power: 1.5/5
Price: 1/5
Versatility: 3.5/5

Engine:
3x Symphonic Warrior Guitaar
1-2x Symphonic Warrior Miccs
0-1x Symphonic Warrior Piaano/Drumss

You've probably never heard of this deck, even if you've been in the game for a while. The reason is that it's by all means a mediocre deck and hasn't seen the light of day since 2017. Rest assured, this works to your favor because not only are most of these cards available in low rarities, they were also reprinted in the 2017 mega tins- meaning that many of your local sellers may have them lying around in the common pile and would be happy to part with them for dirt cheap prices. You can pick up the entire deck (if you want) for less than $10. Be sure to check your own common piles though, because chances are you just might have a few instruments already!

The strategy here is to achieve exactly what the Brilliant Fusion engine did, but at the cost of losing an extra card from your hand. Place Guitaar into the Pendulum Zone and use its discard & effect to get yourself a Miccs on the field straight from your deck. When Miccs hits the field, you get a Double Summon effect with a free lv 5 body! Remember that Miccs is a machine, so you'll be able to make a Cyber Dragon Nova (and Infinity!) provided you have another lv 5 machine on the field! This is also an excellent tribute fodder engine and is much more consistent tech option than Double Summon and the like.

Keep in mind that Guitaar's effect can also get you a lv. 2 or 3 tuner (Drumss and Piaano, respectively) on your field straight from the deck! You can then gain access to niche cards like Hi Speedroid Kitedrake to lay waste your opponent's field and instantly turn the duel in your favour! Symphonic Warriors are most definitely a force to be reckoned with and rest assured, nobody will see it coming!


2. Numerons

Power: 5/5
Price: 3/5
Versatility: 2/5

Engine:
3x Numeron Network
3x Numeron Wall
1-2x Numeron Calling
1-2x Numeron Gates, including Sunya

Numerons have had a very unique run in the history of competitive play. Released in Battles of Legend: Armageddon, this deck brought Don Thousand's cards to life, but the boss monster in competitive play took the form of a card reminiscent of Yuma's Zexal transformation [S0: Utopic ZEXAL]. Ironic as its run might be, the deck quickly fell out of competitive play with the ban of Zexal and the once $25 (per copy!) Numeron Network now sits at a humbling $3. Accessible at under $30, this compact engine can add life to any deck which isn't heavily summon reliant, and is still very much capable of bringing games to a speedy conclusion if your opponent isn't careful with their plays.

Numeron Wall not only functions as a weaker Battle Fader replica, but is one of the very few searchers in the game immune to Ash Blossom; you can discard it on an empty field to activate Numeron Wall directly from your deck; keep in mind that this is a quick effect, so you can do it on your opponent's turn as well, before you draw any cards. Numeron Network is a beast of a card, allowing you to send Calling straight from the Deck to the GY to flood your field with 4 Numeron Gates.

Often overlooked, these Numeron Gates are a competent OTK strategy on their own, even without access to the Utopic ZEXAL lock. Each gate is immune to battle destruction and is able to double the ATK of all gates after battle, meaning that the fourth gate will attack with a whopping 8000ATK, which is enough to end a duel through a direct attack. Even if you don't manage to end the game through the beatdown, you can link off the gates into a free Link 4 monster during your second main phase to keep the advantage rolling. Great Link 4 targets are Saryuja, Apollousa and Borrelsword Dragon. The Link 3 Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops is also an excellent card to bring out after you're done laying a beatdown on your opponent.

The fun doesn't end there. If for some reason, your opponent's monsters survived the onslaught from your numeron gates (perhaps due to battle immunity or by negating your ATK gain), your deck has access to a Black Rose Dragon on steroids in the form of Chaos Gate Sunya, which not only banishes all monsters on the field on summon, but also returns the next turn to deal your opponent 3000 in burn damage!

An excellent inclusion for non summon-intensive strategies, Numerons are a gold mine of potential waiting to be exploited! Remember that although Numeron Calling limits you to only 1 summon after getting out your gates, you still have the liberty to set a monster. We'd like to mention Subterrors and Aleister (he will search invocation even if flipped, in case you forgot) as viable strategies to fill this niche, although if you're running Invoked, there's honestly better decks to consider than our Numeron strategy. The name of the game is budget, and Numerons are flying under everyone's radar at the moment. Don't forget that more support for the deck has been promised in this year's Battles of Legend, so you still have legacy support to look forward to!


1. Predaplants

Power: 3/5
Price: 1/5
Versatility: 5/5

Engine:
3x Predaplant Ophrys Scorpio
1x Predaplant Darlington Cobra
0-3x Lonefire Blossom

A classic strategy which has gone out of favour due to the Invoked powercreep, the Predaplant engine is still a very viable engine which can be used to boost the consistency of any fusion deck. Essentially a Tour Guide engine, the aim is to summon Scorpio and use its effect to special summon Cobra from within your deck. When Cobra hits the field, you can opt to add any "fusion" or "polymerization" card from your deck to hand. Notable targets include cards like Shaddoll Fusion, Super Polymerization and Instant Fusion.

What happens after this point is totally your call. You can make the simplest move and summon out Starving Venon Fusion Dragon by fusing off these 2 predaplants, or two dark monsters on your opponent's field. You can opt to link off these two monsters into a link 2 such as Cross Sheep, or a Predaplant Verde Anaconda (most definitely not budget!) for a Dragoon summon. You can go into any generic Rank 3 Xyz monster with the predaplants; great targets are Dante, Traveller of the Burning Abyss (if you want to mill) and Number 3: Cicada King (if you want a monster negate). You even have the option for a variety of Synchro plays by using the Instant Fusion you searched to get out the lv 5 tuner Sea Monster of Theseus; Trishula, Zero Dragon of The Ice Barrier is a powerful Lv 11 synchro which is at your disposal with this combo!

The Predaplant engine opens up a vast array of possibilities for any deck- be it mass non-targetting & non-destruction removal, a monster negate or just more fusion support; you get to decide what this $10 investment brings to your deck!


And that's all for this week's list folks! Honorable mentions include Shaddolls, Psy Frames and Lightsworns, but they didn't quite make the cut for our top 3 this week! What do you think? Do you have an engine which you think deserves a spot on this list? We'd love to hear your feedback on Whatsapp and Discord!