Despite the energy and organization that have defined the format in the past few years, Austin does not have a centralized Old School scene. With that, I’ve found that local players have many misconceptions about Old School. The biggest one, invariably, is the cost of building a deck. As we’ve just announced our second non-proxy event of the year – the Summer of 94 – we wanted to help prospective and skeptical players come and join us for a day of fun and old cardboard. To do that, I’m writing this article to help new players put a deck together without buying Power, Duals, etc.

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Very cool roundup, although if I can't write off old school as something I can't afford to play, I have no choice but to be disappointed that there doesn't seem to be a scene around here. These decks all look way more fun to me than the powered decks I've seen as well.

Another point toward affordable old school is the cards you already have for other formats. After accounting for things I already owned, I just bought all the things I need for my new OS deck for $110 - and that's including upgrading some things to more aesthetically pleasing versions. And of that $110, $40 was cards I was already planning on buying for non-OS reasons.

FWIW, this is a thing I really like about Middle School. If you play Legacy (and to a lesser extent, Vintage), you have the majority, by cost, of at least one and probably several decks.

Thanks for sharing this @thecravenone! Hoping people find it useful. I wish there were better non-aggro budget options (mono red Disco, maybe?) but as I said in the article, these are at least a way to get your foot in the door.