Seven Budget Theorycraft Decks for Day 1 of Onyxia's Lair

With Onyxia's Lair--the last set of the Year of the Gryphon--upon us, we've got a handful of cheap decks to take out on the ladder (or wherever your heart sends you) that make use of the newest cards and synergies.

Choose One Druid

Aggro Taunt Druid gets a late game glow-up thanks to the Choose One package of Pride Seeker getting your Boomkins and Cenariususes on the board early. Meanwhile, Raid Negotiator looks at the "Choose One" text and wonders, "Por que no los dos?"

Cute Demon Hunter

Move over Cute Rogue, there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Razorglaive Sentinel. This deck goes all-in on the draw power of the Sentinel to discount Irebound Brute to the low, low Cost of nothing. In an ideal world, Illidari Studies finds us Felosophy, but if not at least we finally found a use for Sigil of Silence.

Smokescreen Rogue

Not since the glory days of Necrium Apothecary has Rogue felt the need to jam so many expensive Deathrattles into one deck. Because we don't have easy (read: "cheap") access to a minion that can cheat powerful Deathrattles into play, we're forced instead to take the long way 'round, namely:

• Play Snowfall Graveyard
• Next turn, play Sketchy Information to tutor Loan Shark for four Coins
• Use the Coins (and/or Preparation) to cheat out Smokescreen
• Pray that we have Deathrattle minions on top of our deck

If everything works out to our advantage, we should summon an army of very large minions for very little mana.

Burn Shaman

Burn Shaman is technically only getting one new card to add to its list, but what a card it is. Spirit Mount gives the deck an extra source of sticky Spell Damage that can also buff your minions for more damage and survivability, whether they be a Diligent Notetaker or a very big Snowfall Guardian.

Drakefire Amulet Mage

Drakefire Amulet is the perfect target for Celestial Ink Set discounts and Grey Sage Parrot recursions, especially if we can find something as powerful as Haleh, Matron Protectorate to unleash on our unsuspecting opponents. Because not every opponent is understanding of our desire to summon many, many big dragons, we've included cheap Freeze and Armor gain to survive against faster decks.

Dragon Priest

Dragon synergy decks haven't had a lot to play with for the past couple of years, but thankfully Onyxia's Lair has given us a handful of dragons with which to make a decent Dragon deck. Dragon Priest makes use of a new-look Duskbreaker in Lightmaw Netherdrake to slow down swarm-style decks, while making use of Priest's ample Discovery tool box to constantly remain ahead in the value game.

A quick sidenote: Buying the full miniset is very much worth the gold and we would recommend it to most budget players, if they've saved up. With that in mind, Kazakusan would definitely be a lot of fun to include in this deck for late game shenanigans.

Dragon Warrior

Speaking of late-game shenanigans, our last theorycraft is a Control Dragon Warrior that looks to end the game with the power of Raid Boss Onyxia (who can be discounted by Athletic Studies) and Kazakusan. To get there, we've packed the deck full of Armor gain, and removal that uses our Armor gain. We would also like to introduce you to Standard's next big combo: Reaper's Scythe plus Hit It Very Hard.

What decks are you excited to try out in the new expansion? Share your thoughts in the comments!

If you have any of your own Budget theorycraft decks to share, be sure to add them to our site via the deckbuilder and write up a guide to help others achieve your success.