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.
So I started trying to bring together a zombie tribal deck.... and pulled together Somewhere in the range of ~100 workable zombie cards across 3 colors. So consider this apart of a sub-series of zombie variants. I don't really expect anyone would build all the zombie versions, but you at least get to pick one that suits your fancy.
This is the slow deck- You hold the ground, control the board with a hell of a lot of boardwipes and spot removal, and then you plant a series of sick Zombie tribal effects that cost too damn much and forced this deck to go over budget. Goddamnit, why are all the sweet cards ones that people already know are sweet? (Note- it was more over-budget when I wrote this).
Maindeck cost is currently at ~$12.50 (according to the middle blue numbers on this very site under estimated value), sideboard at about ~$2.60, so we're about 10 cents over, and the only way to change that would be to settle for less-sweet wincons. So hell with it-- if you want a zombie deck that's under budget, I built 2 more earlier.
So mostly this section is going to be notes on why I think these are good cards to learn from:
So let's start with the removal package, because it's gonna have to last you for awhile-
Agony Warp is a better -3/-3 effect in Dimir, Essence Scatter, Murder, and Negate are all bread-and-butter classics, Revolutionary Rebuff is a good 'counter unless you pay x' effect, and puncturing light is a good way to interact with attackers that's 10 cents cheaper than Immolating Glare, which would be better, but even more over-budget.
Drown in Sorrow and Planar Outburst are your boardwipes, and pretty solid ones at that. They're fair, they blow up the board real good, and your Returned Phalanxes survive Drown in Sorrow at least.
Speaking of which- Returned Phalanx is a fairly sweet defensive Zombie creature that you can use to stay alive, and then can lead the charge in the late-game once you have the mana, and the tribal anthem effects in place.
Your only Card Draw is Font of Fortunes (would have been hieroglyphic illumination if I thought you could actually afford to cycle it), so that kinda sucks, but there you go.
Wincons are a few sweet ones- Liliana's Mastery is an Anthem effect and two tokens on one card, which is super sweet, and at 6 mana, you can play either Rise from the Tides or Necromancer's Covenant to summon a hell of a lot of zombies if the game's gone for any notable length of time, and Covenant even gives them lifelink, while Rise from the Tides turns all those answers you cast into a horde of threats.
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.
You can board in Moaning Wall if you need more defenders (and with cycling, it'd probably be okay mainboard), extras of Drown and Outburst if you need more boardwipes, or if one of the two is ineffective, Revoke Existence is almost as sweet a hate card as naturalize, and we've got extras of the removal package, including 2 copies of Cancel, which is absent from the mainboard.