Is Syr Ginger the Best Budget Colorless Commander? - BathroomBrews
Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender | Illustrated by Michal Ivan
Gingerbrute | Illustrated by Carlos Palma Cruchaga
Hello, everyone! Welcome to BathroomBrews, the budget deck tech series proving Magic isn't pay-to-win. Each deck will have a budget of $50 excluding the cost of the commander.
In this week's article, we'll be discussing the most ferocious, most dedicated, and most delicious knight on the plane of Eldraine, Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender. Is she a half-baked commander, or will she snap our enemy's bones like a perfect gingersnap? Let's take a look at her and the artifact army she'll lead into battle to avenge her friend.
Let's Eat!
While Syr Ginger might be Food herself, that doesn't mean she won't eat other Food, just so long as it isn't sentient. However, there aren't a ton of ways to create Food tokens in a colorless deck aside from Witch's Oven or Academy Manufactor, if you're willing to spend the dough. Thankfully, with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Wilds of Eldraine, we've gotten some great new nontoken Food options. We have Candy Trail, which is a home-run in terms of flavor... I mean theme flavor, not taste... provides us with card draw. Then we have Lembas, which draws a card and allows us to scry when it enters, and it'll shuffle itself back into our deck whenever it goes to the graveyard. Finally, Three Bowls of Porridge can remove and tap a creature before we eat it. Although I did include Gingerbrute, which is a Food that can bite us back.
Share Your Snacks
Because Syr Ginger has such a way about her, other artifact creatures follow her without question. They're inspired to give their life to protect the Mother of Cookies and in doing so, she grows in strength. Our modular creatures might parish, but their lives won't be forgotten as they give their counters to Syr Ginger. The best of the bunch is Arcbound Crusher, which grows whenever anyone plays another artifact. Because there are a number of modular creatures in the deck, Steel Overseer felt like a no-brainer since it'll grow both our modular creatures and our commander, and finally, Extruder lets us grow our commander incredibly quickly the turn it comes out.
Second in Command
Every great leader needs a second in command, someone who can keep the troops in line, and for Syr Ginger that would be Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate. While Omarthis could helm their own deck, they fit perfectly into the 99 of Syr Ginger as a Hardened Scales for all of our colorless creatures. Sadly, they aren't an artifact, so they can't grow off of modular creatures, well, you could use Liquimetal Torque and make them an artifact for a turn. Plus they're pseudo-card advantage once they die.
Keeping Costs Down
Like any small army, this one is run on a very tight budget, both mana-value and dollar-wise, and we can reduce the cost even further with the right additions to the deck. Of course, we'll need Foundry Inspector to make sure everything is in tip-top shape before battle and reduces costs by one. Then we have Jhoira's Familiar to scout ahead and help ramp us either further. One of my favorite cards, which I think is underplayed in most decks, is Semblance Anvil. While Semblance Anvil does hurt in terms of card advantage, it provides unmatched ramp, especially in this deck because putting any artifact underneath it makes half of the nonland cards become free, and if you're able to get all three of these cards into play at once, 54 of the 64 cards become free. I'd like to see green do something like that.
The Armory
While playtesting Syr Ginger, I found there was one primary way we were going to win, beating face. Repeatedly. Until our opponents were waving their white flags in submission to their new cookie overlord. In order to do this effectively, we need to suit up our general in the best armor money can buy on a budget. First, we need to make sure Ginger is well-protected, which is where Swiftfoot Boots and Thran Power Suit shine the brightest. They provide hexproof and ward to stop pesky removal spells, and because we want to target Syr Ginger with multiple abilities, I wanted to avoid shroud, which is why I left out Whispersilk Cloak and Lightning Greaves. Next, we need to clear the way for Syr Ginger to strike down our enemies. This is easily achieved thanks to Prowler's Helm, which is only stopped by Walls. Another piece of the armor is Vorrac Battlehorns, which gives Syr Ginger trample and only allows one creature to stand in our way. Finally, Trailblazer's Boots lets us travel far and wide to defeat our enemies.
Off With Their Heads!
It's no secret that colorless removal tends to be pretty inefficient, but despite that, we need to play some interaction. I'm sure the first colorless removal spell you thought of was Scour from Existence, which is fine and in the deck, but there are some great cheap options, such as Spatial Contortion, Titan's Presence, and Not of This World. I know Not of This World is seven mana, but think of it as a budget replacement for Fierce Guardianship or Deflecting Swat in Voltron decks, since you'll often have a creature with more than seven power. The best colorless board wipe, All Is Dust just got a reprinted in Commander Masters and is a great inclusion coming in at under three dollars at the time of writing. There is also the colorless battle, Invasion of Ravnica, which is sorcery-speed exile removal. Don't worry about flipping it, just treat this as a removal spell. Finally, we have Ugin, the Ineffable, which I wasn't sure if I should consider ramp or removal, but because it's a six-mana card, I'm including it as removal instead of ramp.
Honorable Mentions
I don't usually do honorable mentions for deck techs, but making cuts to this deck was tough, so I wanted to showcase some of the cards that almost made the list in case you wanted to add them. First was Nettlecyst, a powerful Equipment, but it feels like a win-more card, so I cut it. Next on the chopping block was Animation Module. I wasn't sure if keeping extra mana open to activate this ability was worth it in the long run. If you decide to add Ashnod's Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks to the list, I'd add the Module to make Syr Ginger infinitely large. The last cut I made was Mystic Forge. It didn't feel like it synergized with the deck aside from being card advantage.
Upgrades
If you want to spend a little extra dough, here are some great upgrades. The first card I'd pick up is Arcbound Ravager. This is one of the best if not the best modular creature you can include in the deck. It's everything Syr Ginger could ask for in a creature. It sacrifices artifacts, including itself later on, for free and helps put even more counters on Ginger. Next, I'd have to suggest The Ozolith. It essentially gives all of your creatures modular, and it only costs one mana. It's a very expensive upgrade, but if you can grab one, it'll be well worth it. The last upgrade is Unwinding Clock. I'd mostly use it as a way to give our creatures pseudo-vigilance and as a powerful synergy piece with Steel Overseer.
$50 Syr Ginger
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The Final Battle
Is Syr Ginger the best budget colorless commander? I think that depends on what you're looking for in a commander. If you want to play a finely tuned machine that keeps up with near cEDH decks, I'd suggest Zhulodok, Void Gorger or Karn, Legacy Reforged, but if you want a strong and flavorful commander to bring to Commander nights, I'd highly recommend you give Syr Ginger a try.
This has been another installment of BathroomBrews; make sure to check out my YouTube channel, BathroomBrewsMTG, for weekly MTG content and the accompanying video. Also, make sure to check out my Patreon at if you want to take your support further.
