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.
I'm not sure this one needs to be an advanced lesson, but it's janky and hard enough to handle that I'm gonna play it safe. I wouldn't teach someone their first game with this deck, but I wouldn't be too terrified to spring it on them a few days in.
This is an Enchantress Deck- a deck themed around Enchantment synergies, and specifically around drawing a hell of a lot of cards based on your absurd critical density of enchantments. If you have an Eidolon on the board, 28 out of the 60 cards in your entire deck become cantrips. If you make an Eidolon stick, you will draw a hell of a lot of cards. Which is good, because you'll need to get through a bunch of enchantments to plant and get value off of Sigil of the empty throne.
As for budget: This one went over by about a Dollar, because lots of people play Enchantress in different forms in different formats, particularly singleton ones, so the right cards are all expensive. Maindeck is currently ~$12.30, sideboard around $3. That 30 cents over is already way less than a couple previous versions of this deck, so I'm willing to sit with it. Synergy strategies are hard to make work on a strict budget, because there are fewer cards you can replace with. You might get under-budget by swapping the Banishing Lights for Isolation Zone, and I guess trim a Sigil of the Empty Throne while you're at it, but I'm okay with being a little over budget on this deck. It's a hard one, but I do like the result.
So mostly this section is going to be notes on why I think these are good cards to learn from:
At the core is Eidolon of Blossoms- most of your deck cantrips itself with this bad boy, and you're gonna have trouble emptying your hand properly once you get one or two of them on the board. Satyr Enchanter isn't quite as nice, since it isn't an enchantment itself, but that critical density of Enchantress effects is important, so you play it.
Herald of the Pantheon is great cost reduction, and slow, incidental lifegain, which is nice, while Nyx-Fleece Ram helps your defend your lifetotal while still enabling enchantment synergies, so it's still a good draw late-game.
Kruphix's Insight is a sweet way to draw cards in this deck, help you dig for Eidolons and whatever other pieces you need. It will often be a draw 2 or draw 3 for 3 mana, which is perfectly solid. Occasionally you'll even get to pick the enchantments you want most from the top 6 of your deck, which is fun.
Most of your actual enchantments are just removal spells though- Dead Weight, Pacifism, Banishing Light and Trial of Ambition all exist to let you interact with your opponents while fueling Enchantment Synergies.
Your real wincon, however, is Sigil of the Empty Throne, which makes every Enchantment you play spawn 4/4 Angel Tokens, which is pretty sick value.
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.
Blood-Cursed Knight pulls Double-Duty here as a powerful lifelinker to keep your life total up, and an actual threat in case Sigil isn't doing the job for some reason.
Diabolic Pact is a good way to make your combos easier to set up, though I cut them from the mainboard in favor of more Enchantress effects myself.
Seal of Cleansing I thought was a cute way to remove Artifacts and Enchantments while fueling your synergies, Guard Duty is a cheap removal spell you can use against non-flying units without worry, and even on smaller flying ones since your 4/4s can bust through them eventually.
And Crystal Chimes is just a bonkers value card you can use to laugh in the face of your opponents' Enchantment removal, draw a million cards from your graveyard, and just go off.