Cheapest Way to Get Into Standard Competitvely

[9999ben9]

Hey everyone,
I have been playing ptcgo for years now but have never had the $ to begin playing in real life until recently, but the amount of money I have to spend on the game is still minuscule, so I was wondering what is the cheapest way to get into standard on a competitive level. Please also let me know how much the deck costs when you suggest one so I know the approximate price range I am dealing with. Would prefer decks without shaymins but I might be willing to do 1-2 depending on how competitive the deck is. I already have an archies blastoise deck made just replacing 2 shaymin with 2-2 octillery so I may have some of the cards already.
Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[bbninjas]

Moved from the Competitive Play to the TCG Help & Advice as the OP is looking for help getting into Standard. ~bbninjas

 

[double o squirtle]

Hi there! You might want to check out this article over here that has a few tips on saving money.

There are a few things you can do to save money and make really good decks. One of them is to research and test your deck before buying thecards that you need. You wouldn't want to buy a bunch of cards for a deck and then realize it's terrible. Another thing is to buy cheaper versions of cards. i.e. non-reverse holo, regular art EXs and if they have tin promos, those instead of the non-promos. I know guys that have blinged out decks, and if they played with cheaper versions of it, they could literally have two copies of it. I'd also suggest buying the new Keldeo vs. Rayquaza Battle Arena decks. They come with quite a few staples, and even though it's $40 ($30 american), the cards in it pretty much make up for the price.
EDIT: One more thing, if you go to a league, you'll probably be allowed to use proxies. This way you'll be able to test it out irl without actually buying the cards.

If you're looking for cheap decks, decks with 1-0 Shaymins or decks that use Octillery are definitely something you should watch out for. I've been running a M Mewtwo deck without Shaymins and it's actually turning out really nicely, I posted a slightly outdated version of it here if you want to see. Mind you, M Mewtwos jumped in price ($25 canadian *shudders*) with the new format, so you might not want to do that. Imo, Rainbow Road is a very good, fairly cheap deck. It makes good use of cheap/easy to pull cards (safeguard Carbink, Hawlucha STS, Ninetales PRC, Galvantula STS) so the prices are relatively low (all ranging from around 50c to $1.50). Octillery is one of the more expensive cards it uses, but you've already got those, so in terms of Pokemon, you really only have to worry about the Xerneas ($15.00). I don't know the exact price for the entire deck, but it's certainly cheaper than a lot of others. Also be sure to check out the Deck Garage for other members' decklists so you can get a feel for what gets played and how.

Hope this helps!