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. Alt-win-conditions sort of automatically get you in that category, you know?
Hedron Alignment is a very fun and silly card, and I do love it, so I had to try and make a passable version of the deck for this series. My approach with Alignment has always been that you want to obviously dig and tutor for the things like mad, discard 2 copies of Alignment into your graveyard, and then exile 1 more from the 'yard, which is what I've tried to do here. I almost threw Treasure Cruise in this deck, which would've been completely bonkers, but I don't want to throw in too many cards in these decks that are fair in one deck but totally busted in another. Even if this deck is kinda okay to let it draw a million cards, just because it doesn't really have the tools to grind you out.
As for budget: Maindeck cost is currently at a little less than ~$10.50 (according to the middle blue numbers on this very site under estimated value), sideboard at about ~$2.37
So mostly this section is going to be notes on why I think these are good cards to learn from:
Hedron Alignment is the obvious star of the show, so everything has to exist around that card- You need to really get all 4 copies to pass through your hand (probably), one to just get played, 2 more to get discarded into your graveyard, and a final Hedron needs to get exiled from your graveyard.
To get all 4 copies of Alignment through your hand, the primary tools are Diabolic Tutor and Secret Salvage- Tutor can obviously search up your copies of Alignment, and once you get a Hedron in the graveyard, Salvage can be used to pull out all of the remaining Hedrons from your library. Obviously this is the jankiest part of the deck- drawing all 4 copies is not going to be easy.
Playing out one Alignment is easy, and holding the second in your hand takes even less effort, but you need to get one copy into your graveyard. For that Purpose (And digging you deep enough to find more copies), you have Cathartic Reunion, Merfolk Looter, and Thoughtflare, all of which discard cards to the graveyard and draw you cards to make up for it.
Finally, if you don't get a Secret Salvage to put that combo together, Murderous Cut can use Delve to exile cards from your graveyard as part of your control package.
Speaking of which- alongside Murderous Cut, you have both the Dimir and Izzet Charms, which are great and versatile control tools, as well as Revolutionary Rebuff, which can answer anything but artifacts so long as your opponent is tapped out (or close to it), and is just a solid way to keep yourself alive.
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.
Slagstorm is for boarding in against agro (Look, this deck is going to loose against agro anyways, but Slagstorm lets your at least try), and Cancel, Essence Scatter, Negate and the extra Revolutionary Rebuff are your counter package for switching in if the counters in the mainboard are less than ideal.
Forbidden Alchemy increases your card selection and helps you get Hedrons in the graveyard, provided you haven't drawn them yet, while Rite of Undoing is a cute little thing to pull a Hedron back to your hand in case of unforeseen shenanigans that also adds to your ability to exile a Hedron from the graveyard.