Alternate Deck Titles: "I like Big Butts...."or "ASSault Formation". Yes, they do all have to be butt jokes.
So this is a project I wanted to engage in- To make a set of 10+ super-budget 60-card decks that are simple, relatively easy to play, relatively easy to understand, and bring across the fundamentals of how Magic Works. We've since gone way past 10, with tons more in the works, and I've really enjoyed the challenge of trying to make these decks easy to play and understand, fun, and all under a $15 budget, sideboard included.
The main goal here is that you could easily build these deck for a low cost and use them as an easy introduction to how magic works, to teach a group of new players both how to play, and give them a sense of Why, a sense of what fun things they're getting into. These decks aren't gonna be particularly good, or even legal in any particular format if it stops me from including a card I think is good for the deck, but they should be fun and interesting without being too hard to get into. They should be an easily-accessible example of how fun Magic: The Gathering can be.
This is one of the more advanced decks- Not really the first decks you want people learning with, but a sweet, budget deck you can use once new players are already on their feet to really knock their socks off and get them to think about something you can do in Magic that they might not have otherwise realized.
Y'all have no idea how happy I am that I got to throw Durddle Turtle into one of these deck. Yes it's too complicated, yes it has Islandwalk, which is a mechanic I've been trying hard to keep out of these decks because I don't like swingy cards dependant on what your opponent is running that they can't really interact with or do anything about if it works, and no I don't care, because Durddle Turtle is the best, and a Durdle Turtle taking 2 turns to successfully crash in for 9 is hilarious. Also I started acknowledging that some of these decks are more complicated than others, so now I don't even have to feel guilty.
Anywho, this is the Teaching deck that uses Assault Formation and Belligerent Brontodon to mess people up, running a ton of high-toughness creatures that, once provided with the awesome power of Assault Formation, can use that absurd toughness to murder fools, and it's wonderful. It is, however, one of the hardest of these decks so far for me to feel happy with the balance of creatures to spells- any deck semi-reliant on a 7 drop ought to be playing a lot of removal spells, but this one can't afford to, because it needs its creatures to be able to turn sideways eventually and run your opponent over.
As for budget: Maindeck cost is currently at ~$10.80 (according to the middle blue numbers on this very site under estimated value), sideboard at just under $3, which leaves us nicely a little over a dollar under our $15 budget.
So mostly this section is going to be notes on why I think these are good cards to learn from:
The big one is Assault Formation: Each creature you control assigns combat damage equal to its toughness instead of its power. Oh. Boy. And some other text you're probably not going to use, but that's fine.
To make the most of this, your creatures include 3 playsets of 1/5s that become effectively 5/5s for 2 or 3, one of which has reach, all three of which can murder your opponent and anything they throw at you once Assault formation is active.
On top of that, you have Looming Altisaur, a 1/7 that's even more brutal (and should 100% have reach, why the hell doesn't this card have reach? I know it's in White, and I don't care, it's name is freaking Altisaur.), and the Durddle Turtle himself, Meandering Towershell, which hits respectably hard without an Assault Formation or Belligerent Brontodon in play, but with one hits like a goddamned train, even if it takes 2 turns.
Speaking of which- Belligerent Brontodon is your back-up Assault Formation, and it sucks because it costs 7 freaking mana to cast. Seriously, I should probably cut it from the deck, it is completely impractical. A 7 cmc creature should be a wincon whether you build your entire deck around it or not. This thing should be a 6 drop at most, probably a 5 drop with 4 toughness so it only barely survives a lightning strike, that'd be fair. They clearly didn't want anyone actually building around the thing in Standard. Or anywhere except Commander, for that matter.
Fell the Mighty should, in most cases, serve as a one-sided boardwipe. Anything with power greater than 1 will be obliterated from the board, and all of your toys (Except Durdle Turtle and Brontodon, but you shouldn't need it if you have Brontodon in play) should be perfectly safe. Brutal stuff.
I really could not find a Green draw spell I was happy with here, and the only white card draw that would work in this deck might be Mentor of the Meek, which is super expensive. So I settled on Shamanic Revelation- the Ferocious part will never trigger, it doesn't matter, your goal is to get 3 or 4 defensive creatures out and draw off of them.
The enchantments mostly represent removal- Pacifism and Banishing Light represent White removal classics, and they can be used to neutralize anything that your blockers don't stonewall until you can get Assault Formation online and put Them on the backfoot.
Manabase is meant to be a touch lacking, but also super-budget. I'll be doing the same for all of them.
As for the sideboard, this IS supposed to be a sideboard they learn how to use, to make their deck perform better in the right matchups, or just in general to customize their decks within constraints.
Reviving Melody exists in the Sideboard as a response for when your opponents realize they want Enchantment Removal against you- they blow up Assault formation, you go get it and a creature back for 3 mana instead of having to wait to draw another one.
Naturalize is a great sideboard card, I kinda want to fit in 3 of them, even though Banishing light can also hit Artifacts and enchantments, and I dunno.
Usually, anything you'd play a playset of in the sideboard should be in the mainboard, but I made an exception for Reprisal- there aren't a ton of creatures or decks you'll need Reprisal for, but when you do, go hard, go all-out, and clean house. It's one of the only situations you really need to sideboard for much anyways, when they've got creatures that can bust through your walls.
Sheltering Word is either agro tech, or protection from removal, or both, depending on your opponent. It might even be worth mainboarding, since the only decks the lifegain is useless against will be packing non-damage-based removal almost for certain.
I wanted to run Tower Defense, because it's a hilarious blowout if it works, but the reliance on too many moving pieces made me go less bold and instead run Brave the Sands in the sideboard, with lets your walls make extra blocks, and lets them attack and defend both once you get rolling.