5 Budget Commanders You Need To Try! - Ally Colors
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster | Illustrated by Billy Christian
Bess, Soul Nourisher | Illustrated by Leonardo Santanna
Hey, nerds! In this week's article, I wanted to showcase five budget commanders you should check out. I'll include some key cards you should check out if you're building these commanders. Unlike my hidden gem list, I ignore popularity for this list. I'll be covering the ally colors in this article, so Azorious, Dimir, Rakdos, Gruul, and Selesynia, but come back next week, where I will go over some enemy-colored commanders. With all of the explanation out of the way, let's get into it!
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster
If you look on the EDHREC page for Zethi, a lot of the instants listed are already pretty efficient, but I think it makes more sense to add more expensive and impactful instants instead of copying Opt or Curate.
Don't get me wrong, we do want to copy those spells, but why only cheat out three mana worth of spells when we can instead copy Sublime Epiphany and Elminster's Simulacrum, giving us 12 mana worth of spells?
There are also spells that untap your lands, like Turnabout, Frantic Search, and Snap, that let us cast spells before combat, while leaving up mana for interaction. Protection spells, like Crypsis and Take Up the Shield, are also great with Zethi since you have to attack with them to trigger their ability. If you want to take this deck to the next level, Nexus of Fate goes infinite with Zethi so long as you can attack without losing your commander.
Key cards to include: Crypsis, Faithful Mending, Traumatize, Sublime Epiphany, Show of Confidence, and Vega, the Watcher.
Mirko, Obsessive Theorist
Mirko also lets you cheat on the cost of spells, but instead of instants, it's creatures, and instead of blindly milling yourself, you get to surveil cards into your graveyard. Well, you can blindly mill yourself, but surveilling lets you keep that important spell or land you need on top. Plus, if you're the victim of graveyard hate, you still have a flying vigilant creature that can attack and block like a champ.
The best part of all of this? Of the 115 cards with surveil on them, 112 cost less than $2 at the time of writing. Then just take some of your favorite giant beat sticks, like Grave Titan, or value pieces, like Mulldrifter. I've even considered building a Sphinx deck with Mirko.
Key cards to include: Doom Whisperer, Dimir Strandcatcher, Think Tank, Hullbreaker Horror, Sepulchral Primordial, and Sire of Stagnation.
Kardur, Doomscourge
If you're playgroup has a problem with not attacking, do I have the solution for you! Kardur will take any passive playgroup and turn them into a combat machine. You'll have to get creative with how you "blink" Kardur since Rakdos isn't known for their ability to blink creatures; Conjurer's Closet is probably the best option for this.
There are also cheap pseudo reanimation spells, like Supernatural Stamina and Feign Death, if you can sacrifice Kardur. The other option is to return Kardur to your hand. I'm a fan of Blood Clock, Umbilicus, and Erratic Portal. If you want to spend a little more money, Helm of the Host and Sword of Hearth and Home are also fun.
There is one more card I want to mention. You should only add this card if you're brave enough, but Eater of Days keeps Kardur's effect around for at least two turns. I don't think you should play it, but for less than a dollar, it could be worth the laughs.
Key cards to include: Blood Clock, Umbilicus, Delina, Wild Mage, Calculating Lich, Mirage Phalanx, and False Orders.
Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss
When a new player asks what commander they should build, I often point them in the direction of commanders that tell you exactly what to do. In Goreguts' case, you take all of the mana dorks you can find, and throw them in a deck. Well, that's one way of building this beatstick of a commander. I mean, who doesn't want to swing with a 7/7 Birds of Paradise.
But what if we could be a bit more creative? It doesn't specify that the creature needs to tap for mana, which means Eldrazi Scion and Eldrazi Spawn tokens benefit from the buff. Or you can use Enduring Vitality, Elven Chorus, or Cryptolith Rite to turn all of your creatures into mana dorks.
The last option might be too cute, but if you animate your lands, they are technically creatures with mana abilities. Just be careful with Life and Limb and Nature's Revolt as you could easily lose all your lands.
Key cards to include: Cryptolith Rite, Emrakul's Hatcher, Spawn-Gang Commander, Fireball, Smuggler's Surprise, and Armored Scrapgorger.
Bess, Soul Nourisher
Reading Bess tells you exactly how you want to build her. She cares about 1/1 creatures and counters. She doesn't exactly seem that intimidating of a commander at first, but trust me, she can threaten kills as early as turn four or five given the right setup. A well-timed Mirror Entity can take an already buffed board and supercharge it beyond belief.
An Elenda's Hierophant, can split into 15 or 20 new 1/1s. Or a Wild Beastmaster that will double buff your creatures. You don't want to include ways to create a ton of 1/1s at once, but instead you want individual instances of making 1/1s.
Bess's ability doesn't care how many enter at a single time, so a card like Scute Swarm is great, since each token copy is a separate trigger, unlike Aura Mutation which would only put a single counter on Bess.
Key cards to include: Deep Forest Hermit, Scute Swarm, Glistener Elf, Nut Collector, Toby, Beastie Befriender, and Champion of Lambholt.
I'd love to hear what some of your favorite budget commanders are and what cards you think I might have missed. Let me know if you'd like to see a dedicated deck for any of these commanders. Make sure to check out last week's article where I take a commander precon and turn it into a Canadian Highlander deck. Alrighty nerds, I'll see you in the next one.
