Personally, I'd leave Hugo out. And certainly not because he's a bad card at all; he used to be a great budget choice for new DT players. Its just that now he carries a -10 point penalty for every match you win with him in your hand (even if you don't use him), so he just isn't worth it anymore for a card that isn't absolutely game changing.
I'd give that same advice to any new members out there trying to start getting better DT scores.

When I first started making a real effort to improve my scores back in my newbie days, I came across a (very) budget Sentinel deck. At the time, I used Owen, Miranda, John, Martha, Katja, Skiner, Tobbie, and the then-less-expensive Lehane. Very cheap deck, and easily under 10k (I think lol). I'll emphasise that there are some FAR better upgrades you'd want to make in the future (check out some public presets), but it's usable enough for a newer player to grasp.

Since then I've settled with Montana in DT's (with which I've won), so I'm not totally clueless. There are many other budget options out there which I'm sure other kind people will impart on you. It's just a matter of finding something you like. Good luck!

Best I can recommend is a Bangers consisting of Bubbles, Chlora, Fifty, Fixit, Lennox, Loocio and Lucas, it a little over 10K (10 723 in current market price to exact). BTW, I wouldn't recommend using Hugo as he has a -10 penalty in DT. In fact I'd advice using Timber instead of Hugo if you still have him or Bridget once you get her.

Uppers/Montana could work very well and not too expensive.

Glenn
Frankie Hi
Harold
Gail Ld or Bianca

Ace or Ficcanaso (preference)
Ivy or Ficcanaso (also preference)
Desmond
Milovan if you have under 1k, Sharon for under 2k or Gianfranco if you have enough for him.

That deck provides a lot of 2 hit KO combinations, especially if you put in Glenn 1st or 2nd round. And it shouldn't be too expensive either. Just play enough of DTs to get used to when you should pill or bluff the first round.

When you start raking up some clintz, go for some more expensive cards like as an example Oxen.

Half decks work well if you work well with both clan bonuses. For Uppers and Montana both do well in DTs very easily. Mono or split they win a lot of em. If you want to go mono it will be more expensive because you will need to get cards that can 2 hit ko in Uppers such as Herman and Kazayan wich are expensive at the beginning of the game.
Same problem for Montana, Avola and Oscar which are both staples in mono Montana are expensive for the beginning of the game.

In a half deck you get to use some very good cards for their price like Glenn etc.

However if you prefer one bonus over the other, you could do a 5/3 split with the clan you like getting the bonus a lot more often than the other one. Its all preference, and how well you do with a deck. My friend has won DTs with 5/3 splits (expensive decks mind you), and many winning decks are mono or equally split. Even mono with a splash card. (Card from different clan used for overpowered ability).

The only thing to really watch out for in DTs is the amount of cards in your deck that have penalties, the 2 hit KO possibilites and cards that will potentially slow down your game like damage reducers with poor stats.

-10 having Hugo in a deck really hurts.
There are some clans can give you that top 150.

Search preset deck with cheap amount. ofc with high popularity.