Top 3 Cheap Decks To Pick Up Before 2022!

Date Published: Wed, 8th September, 2021

As 2021 prepares to enter its last quarter, the current YuGiOh format also heads towards its potential close; the era of Invoked Shaddolls, Prank Kids, Eldlich and Sky Striker may soon be behind us as decks like Despia and Magikey lay their claim to spots within the competitive scene. This shift will become even more pronounced with the impending release of Burst of Destiny in November, which will introduce the much hyped Xian and Flundereeze archetypes to the TCG. Their introduction will soon be followed by the release of Grand Creators, which will bring P.U.N.K, Exorsisters and the Brave decks into the game as well. In essence, the next few months promise to jostle the current meta and establish a yet undetermined pecking order in the tier 1/tier 1.5 category.

Seasoned duelists will know that the best time to make their biggest purchases is in times like these, when the future is uncertain and the market is in flux. As everyone's sights fall on the upcoming decks, they shift away from decks of old, offering budget players a prime opportunity to grab at previously inaccessible decks as their prices fall due to shifting demand. We've scoured the deepest recesses of Ebay, TCGPlayer and CardMarket to bring you three such decks within the YuGiOh monsterverse to steal away while they're dirt cheap! So grab your calculators and count your pennies folks, because here are the top 3 decks you should grab before the year ends!


1. Crusadia

Debuting in 2018's Cybernetic Horizon, Crusaidas were yet another addition to the World Legacy family of inter-related archetypes, bolstering the previously released Knightmare and Mekk Knight decks. They saw significant competitive success but were quickly forgotten after the emergence of decks like Thunder Dragon and Dragon Link within the competitive sphere. Nevertheless, Crusadia remained a force to be reckoned with even throughout 2019 and could rapidly OTK any deck that wasn't adequately prepared to face their beatdown. Virtually unheard of now, the deck has become extremely affordable and can be bought for under $20, making it a very budget-friendly option. 

The reason we bring up Crusadia isn't so much for its price as it is for its utility as a generic link climb engine. With access to a plethora of generic bodies which special summon themselves from the hand if you control a link monster, Crusadias function as a splashable engine in a variety of decks. The best part is that the deck places no restrictions on your plays either, meaning you can run them in whatever deck you please. The deck allows you access to a level 3 Warrior Tuner in the form of Crusadia Arboria, which you can search off with ROTA and quickly summon to your field to either go into link climbs, Synchro plays or facilitate the summon of  a Crystron Needlefiber; the opportunities are virtually endless.

Often paired up with Kaijus and Mekk Knights (also two cheap engines you may want to look at!), Crusadias in their purest form aim to flood the field with their bodies and link climb into Equimax. Tributing off your opponent's strongest monster with a kaiju and summoning it to Equimax's zone allows your monster to achieve absurdly powerful boosts in ATK which can lead to fatal consequences for the opponent when paired up with the effect of Crusadia Maximus, quickly bringing any duel to a surprising close. The deck's absence from the meta scene also gives it the element of surprise it needs to pull off a shock victory. The mekk knight variant is more control oriented and allows further access to a boss monster in the form of Mekk Knight Crusadia Avramax, which remains one of the most powerful Link 4 monsters in the game to date.

Whether you want to expand your collection, broaden your options or just to build a new deck, there has never been a better time to lay your hands on Crusaidas!

Complexity: 2/5
Power: 4/5
Consistency: 3/5


2. Tenyi

Introduced in Rising Rampage, these Wyrms offer support to any normal monster strategy and function as the Crusadia counterpart to any normal monster-oriented strategy for link climbing. All of their main deck monsters share a common effect of special summoning themselves to the field (from the hand) if the player controls no effect monsters. Unlike Crusadia, however, the Tenyi serve a dual purpose- they retain secondary effects in the hand and GY, allowing their wielder to continue accruing advantage long after they've been used as link material.

Based upon the chakras of the body, the Tenyi bring forth a brilliant mix of lore and design with simplicity being the definition of the deck. Although their competitive relevance in the past has been rare and is unheard of in recent times, the deck's history most infamously saw a highlight when it was splashed in with Invoked. Using the Invoked engine to summon forth the Invoked Magellanica, the Tenyi field spell would then allow the player to draw 2 cards for absolutely no cost at all when the opponent would perform a special summon. The same effect could also be used with a face-down monster on your field, as Shaddolls often leave behind. Essentially, the deck functioned as a draw power engine in these builds, but was quickly phased out in favor of other engines such as Dogmatika.

The deck has seen a resurgence in popularity in the OCG however, with the release of the Xiangjian archetype of synchro-based Wyrms. Not only do the Tenyi allow the deck to facilitate a more powerful spectrum of board presence, the Tenyi package facilities the deck with its own Foolish Burial effect (coupled with a search) and protects it from counter-strategies like Token Collector. This inclusion has elevated the level to the highest brackets of competitive play in the OCG, where it already enjoys a tier 1 status and boasts one of the highest representations in official tournaments!

Currently estimated at under $20, the entire Tenyi package can be yours for less than the price of a pizza! Prices are steadily rising, however, in anticipation of the Xiangjian, so we recommend that you get your hands on this one as soon as you can! At best, you'll half half of a tier 1 deck; at worst, you'll have generic normal monster support! That's a win-win for under $20.

Complexity: 1/5
Power: 2.5/5
Consistency: 3.5/5



3. Destiny Hero

While Elemental Heroes aren't a cheap deck by any metric, their edgier (and cooler!), darker counterparts are certainly a deck you can build on a budget! Invest around $35 and you can get yourself a nice Destiny Hero core complete with all the fusions and main deck cards worth running in the competitive scene. A stratos and a ROTA wouldn't hurt either!

Destiny heroe is a deck which has been around for over a decade, so going into its history would be a tideous task. Nevertheless, we will mention that the deck has found most widespread incorporation as a powerful draw engine. With access to three draw 2 cards (Celestial, Disk Commander and Destiny Draw), this deck can easily boost the consistency of any deck its run in. The malicious package is also something that has seen relevance in the past, but has been largely neutered due to its semi-limited status and no longer sees any play of note.

With the release of Fusion Destiny in Dark Neostorm, however, Destiny Heroes once again attained a formidable status in the game since they could fuse straight from the deck. This card has once again seen relevance with the projected release of a new fusion called Destiny Hero- Destroy Phoenix Enforcer in Burst of Destiny. This card can not only weaken the opponent's monsters, but is capable of destroying a card on the field along with itself as a quick effect! The downside of destroying itself is quickly overcome when one realizes that it just comes back on the field during the next turn so it can wreak more havoc! This makes it an extremely powerful card and has made it comparable to Red Eyes Dark Dragoon in terms of its power.

For better or for worse, Destiny Heroes will once again see play in the meta with the release of BODE. We highly recommend that you grab your core now if you're interested in building the deck, because the price of cards like Fusion Destiny is already going up  and there's no reason to believe that it'll stop any time soon!

Complexity: 1.5/5
Power: 4.5/5 (with Phoenix Enforcer)
Consistency: 4.5/5


And that's a wrap for this week's article folks! We'll catch you next week with even more amazing content- just keep living your passion!