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.
Yeah, when this one got going, it kinda just put itself together. A bunch of Equipment payoff creatures I thought were going to be more expensive than they turned out to be, particularly Kor Duelist, who is a freaking beating if you can manage to protect the thing, a bunch of fair and powerful equipment to make the most of it, and away we go.
As for budget: Maindeck cost is currently at ~$9.60 (according to the middle blue numbers on this very site under estimated value), sideboard at about ~$4, which gets us in nicely under budget (Note- I'm not 100% sure about that sideboard number, mostly because the range of cost on Argentum armor goes from 80 cents to 40 cents between different copies. I calculated it as 60 because I thought that was fair, though you can afford the 80c version and still be under-budget).
So mostly this section is going to be notes on why I think these are good cards to learn from:
Kor Duelist, Kitesail Apprentice, and Sunspear Shikari are sweet equipment-holders, great creatures to carry the nasty surplus of equipment we've thrown together here. Kitsail is evasive, Duelist hits like a truck, and Sunspear fights well and has lifelink, both of which are quite valuable.
Stone Haven Outfitter should effectively serve as a Lord in this deck, and can carry a weapon just fine herself (She can benefit from her own effects), and lets you restock resources a little when your opponents remove your creatures.
Honed Khopesh and Trusty Machete are your main stat buff equipment, and their cheap costs make them damn good at it. Swiftfoot Boots lets you pull a haste trick or two, and provides Hexproof, which can be huge, Gorgon Flail is just unfair when combined with First Strike on the Sunspear, or Double Strike on Duelist, and boosts some stats too in the package, and Rogue's Gloves is sweet with creatures this hard to block- they're either flying or huge with first strike or always something.
Pacifism and Puncturing Light are all-purpose white removal spells. Every decks needs a bit of interaction, and that's what this deck has. Previous version has Pacifism and Banishing Light, but I switched it around on a comments suggestion to have at least some removal that doesn't get nullified by enchantment hate.
Finally, Make a Stand and Sheltering Light are how you protect your own creatures- Make a Stand can even be a 3-mana answer to an enemy boardwipe, which is just brutal.
Manabase is meant to be a touch lacking, but also super-budget, and is even more so in the mono-color decks like this one.
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.
I replaced Arashin Cleric (which I usually use) in the sideboard with Aerial Responder, which can serve more purposes and is a much sweeter card to put equipment on, Revoke Essence is an answer to most anything you'd board in hate for, extra copies of Sheltering Light and Make a Stand are there for control matchups where you're gonna need to protect your dudes, Harm's Way is just a sweet card that I like throwing into these sideboards to give new players a chance to try and realize when it's useful, and just how powerful it can be, Reprisal isn't useful in every matchup, but is a great removal spell against the decks it's strong against.
And Argentum Armor. Ah, I have good memories of that bad boy from one of the first decks I ever played. It's Certainly too slow and too clunky to be good without the Stoneforge Mystic and Kor Outfitter package I was running (One copy of SFM costs more than my whole budget), but it's definitely sweet and powerful and I really wanted to leave a few in the sideboard just because that card feels sweet as hell to play with.