pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Yeah as others have said, something that is only 3-4 rounds and not full of top-tier decks you can probably win if you know the field, what you're facing, and are very comfortable with your deck. Modern is a format of really knowing your deck and how to play it well.
That said, stuff like Burn, WB Tokens, Goblins, Human Aggro, Mono G Stompy, 8 Rack (maybe), Seismic Swans, etc... are all the "go-to" budget decks. You can get pretty creative though and play other things like Grand Architect decks, Burning-Tree Emissary decks, Tempered Steel decks, Abzan Aristocrats, and other very fringe combo decks to take down events.
Id say its not hard to win FNM with a budget deck
But if you tried and failed dont be quick on bashing budget decks.
There are several points that matter and will affect your performance
1. Good build. Top decks' builds are polished by pros and massive research of the croud. Budget build is likely to not be such a high quality one so you need to have deckbuilding and testing skill and put efforts to make one.
2. Opponents' readiness. Budget builds are more streamlined and fragile. If you have a small meta, be ready your opponents will beat you have they prepared to beat you. This is universal for any deck in small meta but more so for budget decks. While your mill deck can be ok in general you can be unlucky to face Elixir of Immortality that will ruin your match even without opponent's preparation to do so. If you have a few Affinity players, making budget Affinity build can be a bad idea, while 8Rack will shine.
3. Your skill. People with budget decks statistically will be less knowledgeable about format and less trained with their own deck. That Jund guy with $1500 deck that wins every other day might play your Goblins twice as good as you.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/594508#paper
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
especially 3-4 round FNMs
best budget decks in $50-100 range are Burn, Goblins, Green Stompy and 8 Rack
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!
That said, stuff like Burn, WB Tokens, Goblins, Human Aggro, Mono G Stompy, 8 Rack (maybe), Seismic Swans, etc... are all the "go-to" budget decks. You can get pretty creative though and play other things like Grand Architect decks, Burning-Tree Emissary decks, Tempered Steel decks, Abzan Aristocrats, and other very fringe combo decks to take down events.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
I will second this! I have won some local events with 8 Whack, even managing to beat some of the bigger modern decks like Affinity and Tron.
My proudest moment was beating Tron even after he played turn 3 Karn, turn 4 Ugin.
Here - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-85-35-tix-mono-red-hollow-one-modern
Goblin Lore has really spiked recently but it can be replaced by 2x Cathartic Reunion and 2x Tormenting Voice/Desperate Ravings as budget alternatives or just add some Fiery Temper/Lightning Bolt and run slightly less self-discard spells.
But if you tried and failed dont be quick on bashing budget decks.
There are several points that matter and will affect your performance
1. Good build. Top decks' builds are polished by pros and massive research of the croud. Budget build is likely to not be such a high quality one so you need to have deckbuilding and testing skill and put efforts to make one.
2. Opponents' readiness. Budget builds are more streamlined and fragile. If you have a small meta, be ready your opponents will beat you have they prepared to beat you. This is universal for any deck in small meta but more so for budget decks. While your mill deck can be ok in general you can be unlucky to face Elixir of Immortality that will ruin your match even without opponent's preparation to do so. If you have a few Affinity players, making budget Affinity build can be a bad idea, while 8Rack will shine.
3. Your skill. People with budget decks statistically will be less knowledgeable about format and less trained with their own deck. That Jund guy with $1500 deck that wins every other day might play your Goblins twice as good as you.
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!