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. Flicker might be one of the least advanced 'advanced lessons', but it's still an odd strategy that takes some work to get into.
So I was working on a more "classic" Bant flicker deck, but the green wasn't doing much, and Deadeye Harpooner was by far the sweetest card in the deck, so I decided that once I finished with it, I wanted to see if an Esper version would be more my speed. Sadly, Ravenous Chupacabra is outside my budget (Probably just 'cause it's in standard), but Vengeful Rebel is also really sweet in this deck.
I like how this one turned out in a lot of ways- it's sleek, it's fun, it's synergistic, and once the deck gets rolling, it hits like a truck and draws cards like nothing you've ever seen. It's a hard deck to get online, but once it is, watch out.
As for budget: Maindeck cost is currently at about ~$11.30 (according to the middle blue numbers on this very site under estimated value), sideboard at about ~$3.40
So mostly this section is going to be notes on why I think these are good cards to learn from:
Let's start by going up the mana curve of creatures- Dusk Legion Zealot is gets out early, cantrips, and can be flickered for additional value. Also just gets you on the board reasonably well. The follow-ups on 3 are Deadeye Harpooner and vengeful rebel, neither of which is amazing on-curve, but when you're flickering them, they become your primary way that you're going to control the boardstate and kill opposing creatures.
Spire Patrol serves a couple of purposes- It slows down your opponent significantly, it opens up any target to die to Harpooner, and it's also probably the creature you're going to kill your opponent with- 3 power is enough to sting, so long as your can hold control of the board long enough to use it, which the card does a solid job of helping you do.
Alongside Patrol, Archaeomancer lets you bring back your own flicker effects ad infinitum, which lets you get a real value engine running, which is super useful. And, finally, Cloudblazer is just a blatant value play- flicker it, draw 2, gain a little life, and just keep doing it for as long as you feel like it.
To flicker these creatures- we have Displace and Ghostly Flicker, which return the creatures instantly, but only target 2 of them, and Eerie Interlude, which flickers as much as you want, but they only come back end-of-turn, which limits the shenanigans you can pull off a little. Much sweeter value though.
And Negate is basically your only main-board interaction besides your flicker gameplan. The deck does not joke around in what it's trying to do, and that's flicker for sick value.
Finally, the real wincon- Call for Unity. Because you should be flickering creatures every turn as much as you can manage, this bad boy should be ticking up into a powerful anthem effect pretty quickly- you hold down the board for three turns with this thing in play, and you're going to start cracking in for a hell of a lot of damage.
Manabase is meant to be a touch lacking, but also super-budget. Look, you try to build a 3-color mana base for less than $2, it's gonna suck, alright? That's the name of the game with budget 3-color manabases.
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.
Arashin Cleric is already a fair anti-agro tech card in a midrange-ish deck before you start flickering it for sweet lifegain. It's not Centaur Healer, but it'll do. The Extra Spire Patrol is also for against agro, since that's probably where Patrol's tempo effect is most important.
Gilt-Leaf Winnower gives you an additional kill effect that you can flicker in and out, and it also just a powerful beater with Menace once the game goes late.
War Priest of Thune is your enchantment hate, and while I could replace it with Revoke Existence to hit artifacts too, it felt like it would go against the point of the deck, so no artifact hate.
Mistmeadow Witch is there so players can try it out and learn that the slower but repeatable effect isn't actually that great, and then Harm's Way and Negate just provide interaction options, since there are so few of 'em mainboard.