BDB Origins - Patrick

BDB Origins! Last but not least:

Patrick - The Entrepreneur

Patrick was the last to join Budget Deck Builders, seeing the potential of the idea that Nathan and Pete had started. He wanted to help grow BDB from a hobby into a business. His primary role now is brewing Mystery Decks, branding, and marketing (running the Facebook page), but he also assists with deck design, assembly, and card sorting. Most of the content you see here was written by Patrick, and if you message us on Facebook, he will be the one responding.

Patrick began playing Magic with his brothers in 1998, with the release of Stronghold. He now plays mostly draft with friends, but has a small arsenal of Modern and Pauper decks for the occasional duel. He sporadically follows pro level play by watching Grand Prix and World Championships on Youtube and Twitch. Along with reading/watching content from other sites, he enjoys interacting with the BDB community on Facebook. He has already completed one of his goals - collecting all the Duel Decks - but still wants to attend a Grand Prix with friends.

Magic has been a long time hobby for Patrick, and it combined with his passion for small business through watching TV shows like Shark Tank and The Profit. He sees BDB as both a way to stay involved with a game he loves and continue to develop business skills to help him in his future career.

Art from Elvish Mystic by Wesley Burt

BDB Origins - Pete

BDB Origins! Next up:

Pete - The Rules Guy

Pete was the next to join Nathan in Budget Deck Builders. His primary role is now accounting (aka stops us from buying all the Magic), but he single-handedly ran the business for some time during the startup years. Pete basically has Magic's comprehensive rules memorized, so we are constantly asking for his ruling on different gameplay scenarios and whether a new combo will work. Whenever you guys ask a tough question, I'm usually checking with Pete before providing an answer.

Starting in 2002 with Onslaught, Pete now plays mostly draft and sealed with friends. He is always up-to-date with the latest Magic news, as he spends his free time consuming various articles, videos, steams, blogs, and forums including LoadingReadyRun, Tap Tap Concede,Reddit.com/r/magic, MTGGoldfish, Tolarian Community College, Channel Fireball, and Limited Resources (you guys get the idea). Pete's favorite decks also tend to be control, and he has aspirations to move into the Modern format once he finishes constructing his Jeskai Control Deck. He is carefully monitoring all the Magic Online changes as he plans to play more online in the future.

Art from Electrolyze by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

BDB Origins - Nathan

BDB Origins!  First up:

Nathan - Founding Father

Nathan is the foundation of BDB. He is the lead for deck design, assembly, inventory, card sorting, purchasing, packaging, and shipping. He is also in charge of our Ebay store. If you buy something from us, Nate is the one fulfilling it, as well as answering any questions/messages through Ebay.

Starting with Mirrodin in 2003, he now plays draft and constructed formats casually with friends and participates in Magic Online prerelease and sealed leagues. He is an avid ingester of MTGGoldfish, Channel Fireball, Tolarian Community College, and TCGplayer content. Nathan favors White/Blue Control decks, specifically Miracles, because he loves playing on his opponent's turn. His favorite card in this archetype is Sphinx's Revelation. Nathan has the looong-term goal of collecting a playset of every Modern-legal card.

Nathan loves gaming in general and teaching them to people. This passion is what inspired him to start BDB, as a way to get new players into Magic affordably.

Art from Sphinx's Revelation by Slawomir Maniak