We've had a week to play in Hearthstone's newest expansion, Murder at Castle Nathria, so now it's time to stop and take stock of the best early decks that don't require players to shell out their hard-earned Dust before the meta truly settles. To that end, we've fished out six Budget decks from around the internet that you can play with while waiting to see what cards are worth crafting.


Old Guardian's Budget Brews

Old Guardian is a Hearthstone streamer who usually builds a handful of competitive budget decks every expansion and shows them off on YouTube. This expansion, he's put together two early decks that can have success in the current meta.


Face Hunter

We start where most budget players do whenever a new expansion launches: with Face Hunter. While the Wildseeds are rightly the headliners for Hunter decks in the current meta, Budget players only have access to Spirit Poacher to plug into their aggressive decks. New tools Frenzied Fangs and Collateral Damage play well with a double from Twinbow Terrorcoil.


Elemental Shaman

Looking very similar to Enhancement Shaman due to its use of Doomhammer as a finisher alongside expensive Elementals Al'Akir the Windlord and Baron Geddon. Don't look for new cards in this list, as there aren't any. Elemental Shaman has been a pretty tight list for over a year now.


Mostly Budget, Modified

Our other decks have been pulled from HSReplay, with a single small caveat: All of these decks originally contained one or more playsets of Epic cards that were replaced by something a little more Budget friendly. We'll be sure to mention which cards have been replaced and if you happen to have those cards you should probably make the switch.


Imp Warlock

Vile Library is a powerful Location that gives a boost to our tiny Demons - which is good, because they need it. This swarmy deck wants to drop wave after wave of tiny Imps, then end with either a Sea Giant or Shady Bartender.

Impending Catastrophe can replace Famished Fool.


Token Druid

Not a lot of new faces in this list, unless you're looking at Herald of Nature. Ol' Harold has a plethora of Nature spells to trigger that Battlecry, and a host of furry friends to buff. While Crooked Cook is nice and all (and the only new card in the list), Composting is the better option for card draw in this deck.


Murloc Shaman

Murloc Shaman also has no need of these new-fangled Castle Nathria cards (if you're sensing a theme, then good for you), just the same fish from past expansions to swarm the board and buff with Nofin Can Stop Us and Bloodlust.

If you're a fan of tribal decks, you've probably already justified crafting a pair of Amalgams of the Deep, and you can take out Twin-fin Fin Twin to accommodate them.


Deathrattle Rogue

Deathrattle Rogue got a lot of interesting new tools from Murder at Castle Nathria, namely Masked Reveler and Stoneborn General to get better use out of Smokescreen.

Thanks to Shattershambler, Creepy Painting can be used to copy your key Rattlers - but it's really only a pale impression of the Epic Forsaken Lieutenant that we cut. Also, you can take out that Sinstone Graveyard for Counterfeit Blade, if you've got it.


Have your own idea for a budget deck? Post it to the site with our deckbuilder, and don't forget to include a guide!

Are you living the budget life in Hearthstone? Share your thoughts in the comments below!