How much does it cost to build a Magic deck?

By the ScryPrice team · Updated July 15, 2026

The honest answer to "how much does it cost to build a Magic deck" has two parts: format, and how you buy. Format sets the ballpark. Your buying method decides whether you land near the bottom of that range or way above it.

How much it costs to build a Magic deck, by format

Format is the biggest price driver. A Pauper list is all commons, so it stays cheap. A Modern deck leans on premium staples and fetch lands, so it climbs fast. Here are realistic ranges for a complete deck in NM or LP singles.

Treat these as starting points, not gospel. A budget Commander brew can come in under $40; a tuned cEDH list runs into the thousands. Modern sits near the top because its manabase alone can cost more than a whole Pauper deck. The only way to know your number is to price your actual decklist. Our MTG deck price calculator, Commander deck price calculator, and Modern deck price calculator do that.

Why the same decklist has more than one price

Here's the part most cost guides skip. A deck's price isn't fixed. The same singles sell for different prices at different stores, and shipping changes everything.

Say your list has 40 cards. Buy each one from whoever's cheapest and you might be ordering from a dozen sellers. Most marketplaces charge shipping per seller, so that "cheapest" cart quietly piles on shipping until it costs more than a cleaner split would. The lowest sum of card prices is almost never the lowest total you pay.

How your buying method changes the price

Three things move your final total more than anything else.

• Condition floor. Dropping from NM to LP or MP shaves real money, especially on older or beat-up staples. For a deck you're going to sleeve and shuffle, LP is usually the sweet spot.
• Printing. Plenty of staples have been reprinted a dozen times over. The cheapest printing can cost a fraction of the newest foil, and it's the same card in your deck.
• Where you consolidate. Free-shipping thresholds decide a lot. TCGplayer Direct ships free over $35, otherwise about $5.49. Card Kingdom is free over $99, otherwise about $5.61. ManaPool bundles sellers and charges roughly $1.35 per shipment. Crossing a threshold, or missing it, swings the total more than card prices do.

So buying a deck well is a splitting problem, not a per-card hunt. Want the full breakdown? How to buy a Magic deck online walks through it.

Where to buy Magic singles for the lowest total

No single store wins every time. TCGplayer has the deepest inventory and the lowest floor on most singles. Card Kingdom tends to run cleaner conditions and free shipping once you clear $99. ManaPool bundles many sellers into one cheap shipment. The cheapest source for your list depends on which stores already stock most of your cards, so you dodge extra shipments.

ScryPrice solves for the lowest total, not the lowest sticker per card. Paste your decklist and it compares live prices across TCGplayer, Card Kingdom, and ManaPool, refreshed daily across 170,000+ indexed cards. Then it works out the cheapest way to split your list so you pay shipping as few times as possible.

You set a minimum condition, from NM down to DMG, and you can switch on cheaper-printing substitution if you don't care which version shows up. The output is a ready-to-buy cart link for each store in the cheapest split, plus per-card links if you'd rather cherry-pick. For ManaPool it runs their own optimizer, so the consolidated total is the real number you'll pay, shipping included.

It's free, and there's no account to make. Drop your list into ScryPrice and you'll see your deck's real cost in seconds. Want the reasoning behind the split? How ScryPrice finds you the cheapest cart shows the math.

Tips to build a Magic deck for less

1. Start with a budget shell. Most archetypes have a cheap version. Upgrade the manabase and payoffs later, once the core actually plays well.
2. Buy the whole list at once. Ordering everything together lets you clear free-shipping thresholds and consolidate sellers instead of paying shipping on scattered orders.
3. Loosen your condition floor. LP singles play the same and cost less. Save NM for cards you might resell.
4. Let cheaper printings in. Unless you want a specific frame or foil, the cheapest printing is free money.
5. Compare stores before checkout. A quick look at TCGplayer vs Card Kingdom shows how far the same cart can swing, and the cheapest way to buy a Magic deck ties it together.

Format tells you the ballpark; how you buy decides the final price. Price your exact list, buy it in as few shipments as you can, and you'll build near the bottom of the range instead of the top.