Hello, everyone! In this week's article, I'm going to give you my top five budget commanders from Modern Horizons 3 and the precons. I'm excluding the price of the commander here since they're likely to change after release. Instead, I look at how much it would cost to build a powerful 99 around a commander. If you're going to spend $10 or more on a card, I'd always suggest it being the commander since you'll see it every game. With all of the explanations out of the way, let's get into it!
. This commander is all about X spells, and I'm here for it. Its first ability is pseudo card draw, and if we add enough graveyard recursion, it can act like a draw three. Its second ability is Metalworker
but for X spells. I feel this deck will often be built as a Hydra commander. However, I'm more interested in building generic X spells with some of my favorite win conditions: Fireball
. Now, you might be asking yourself, "How is a five-color Eldrazi commander budget?" To that I'd say, technically this is a Scions and Spawns deck more than an Eldrazi commander. You don't need to include the titans, like Ulamog, the Defiler
. Additionally, the mana base for this deck is incredibly budget. All you need is the ten pain lands, some filter lands, and whatever utility lands you have lying around.
's ban, now you can! Land decks can be incredibly inexpensive, especially when your commander gives your lands dredge, for some reason. Fetches are being reprinted, so it might be worth picking up one or two for this deck, but using Evolving Wilds
. Then add some snow-covered lands and with just basics you have six different land names.
If I were building this deck, I'd take some inspiration from a Standard deck using all of the Streets of New Capaenna common fetches with Aftermath Analyst
I've been wanting to build a Voltron deck for several years, and I finally think I've found the commander. Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain has built-in evasion, lifelink, and an annoying ward cost. It's no ward three, but it's something. Not only that, but they provide a unique form of card advantage by making copies of your Auras and Equipment. It also copies counters, but those don't matter a ton unless you're putting on exalted counters with Emissary of Soulfire
or +1/+1 counters. The deck I'd want to build is focused around bestow creatures and Auras.
For those who are newer to Magic, when a creature enchanted with a bestow creature leaves the battlefield, the bestow creature falls off and becomes a creature, so if we can make multiple copies of Eidolon of Countless Battles
, whenever our enchanted creature leaves play, we can easily rebuild by enchanting our new board. This is great against board wipes and targeted removal, which can easily disrupt these strategies. However, with only 26 bestow creatures, and most not being great on rate, I'd suggest adding an Aura package with ETBs, such as Sage's Reverie
. My initial impression of this commander was that of ambivalence. It seemed like just another Orzhov sacrifice commander, which you could also build as a weird Angel sac deck. No thanks. But as I was discussing this card with a friend, we realized something. Instead of building your usual aristocrats deck, I want to brew a blink deck. Shilgengar's second ability might seem like a downside; however, finality counters only put creatures into exile if they were put into the graveyard, and because they're counters, if we blink our board, we can remove the counters and trigger their ETBs again.
also combos nicely since Shilgengar's ability isn't restricted to sorcery speed. Allowing you to sacrifice your board before your opponent's end step, returning them with Cosmic Intervention, sacrificing them again, and then using their ability, you can return all of them into play with finality counters. As for creatures you'd want to blink, I think the usual suspects of Solemn Simulacrum, Marionette Apprentice, and Inspiring Overseer will do just fine.
And that wraps up my top five budget commanders from Modern Horizons 3! I'd love to hear what commander you're looking forward to building and how the pre-release went. Make sure to check out my other articles and let me know which of these commanders you want to see turned into a deck. Alrighty nerds, I'll see you next time.
Ben has been playing Magic since 2012 and started creating Magic the Gathering content in October of 2022 on YouTube under the name BathroomBrewsMTG (YouTube.com/@BRBMTG). Primarily focusing on budget EDH content. When he isn't thinking or talking about MTG, he is usually playing video games, spending time with his wife or playing with his two cats. You can find him on Twitter @BathroomMTG.
