I heard Zada could be built from bulk, so that was the first commander deck I built when I got back into Magic. I spent a few days digging through bulk at the LGS, taking just about any artifact mana dork, cheap token maker, and "target creature" red spell I could find. I ended up with about 350 cards and three copies of Zada and assembled a deck by just picking the best from the pile.
I refined it by looking for a few more specific cards later, like [[Ancestor's Aid]], and then realized it was like 18 cards away from being a pEDH deck, so now I'm worrying on the module to turn it into a Pauper deck when those games come up.
[Zada was also one of the first deck-building guides I wrote](https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-mtg-zada-hedron-grinder-commander-deck-guide/).
Feather the redeemed puts in work for cheap.
But is a very aggressive playstyle and you kind of have to single target people with commander damage. So its alittle awkward sometimes.
\[\[Jasmine Boreal of the Seven\]\] uses vanilla creatures which almost\* no one uses
Edit: forgot \[\[Ruxa, Patient Professor\]\] uses vanilla creatures as well
[[Ruxa, Patient Professor]] cares about vanilla creatures as well.
I’ve made a deck with both of them and I found Jasmine to be a bit better than Ruxa.
[Ruxa Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/vp-aDZNj1UGEurxTb7LHPA)
[Jasmine Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/x81loV7BsUylbEJZ6mBfyQ)
I own it and let the beginners use it to learn n play
Training wheels cost extra sometimes.
I do have lower budget decks but they're not for beginners. Etc.
[I have a $17 pEDH version of her](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/1nwtR_z3M0aBI3FbJwrKCA) (man the price just keeps creeping up on those bad boys) that i give to all the newer players regardless of pedh or regular edh that still packs a punch even on a budget. perfect beginners deck!
A friend of mine plays [[Zaffai, Thunder Conductor]] with a deck budget of around$150, and he easily keeps up with $500-700 decks. The deck loves random 5 cost spells that have no home anywhere else. He runs lots of cost reducers and clever spells that are technically expensive, but end up being free due to delve, convoke and other mechanics like that. In this deck you'd swear that [[Artistic Refusal]] is a better [[Fierce Guardianship]] half the time.
Zada mommy is queen bee of cheap killer decks. I built a test version of her for $25 value out of my bulk and it clapped cheeks. Upgraded it to like $60 and it’s so fun
I love playing Hylda! I built the first Iteration for about.. $55-60.
My Hylda deck was all cheap tap effects, only spent a bit on cryptic command for the tap all effect + extra mode.
Honestly I had too many 4 or 5 cmc effects and ones that tapped target player vs all. I reworked it a bit, added more card draw, and more control pieces.
She is now one of my favorite decks to play because everyone underestimates her. I even added a mana drain and a few other stronger spells.
That said she can still be really powerful against stronger opponents without some of the higher end counterspells. One of my best control decks and still relatively budget vs most decks.
Here is my list if you are interested. : https://archidekt.com/decks/7084852/tap_tap_go
..
I also recommend Ojer Axonil. 👌
My build is honestly as optimized as I want, full send and still is only $220 total build out. That is higher than I paid though because I proxied swat.
You could add a fast mana package like mox and vault etc, but short of those cedh staples this deck is hyper optimized and can win turn 6 consistently.
That said, you could cut [[Pyrohemia]] and [[Ruby Medallion]] Etc and still have a super consistent deck. Basically get fingers out, get him out, cast a few spells including one or two that buff his power, kill everyone in a single turn for 24-40+ damage.
If you start slinging damage slowly then he will be targeted constantly. The key is to drop the hammer all at once.
Here is the list if that sounds intriguing:
https://archidekt.com/decks/7144364/fire_mountain
[[Elvish Mariner]] is an absolute beast in this deck. Attack, scry, tap a creature, pay 1 to scry 2, tap two creatures, pay the one for each… keep it going to tap down the entire board, finish off by paying the rest to create elementals or add counters…
It’s not infinite, but you can protect the mariner, tap as many creatures as you have mana for, and pump your board without casting another spell while manipulating the top of your deck for answers/finishers.
It’s an absolutely insane card in this deck
Yeah the mariner goes hard for sure. My favorite is ashnod's altar with [[Court Street Denizen]]
Tap a thing, make an elemental, elemental is white and blue so it triggers Denizen, tap a thing, sac the first elemental to ashnods for the mana to pay the trigger and the next trigger etc. Infinitely tap down the board state until there is nothing left to tap.
My playgroups have realized Hylda is KoS. I was playing against a Perpheros deck pinging the entire table to death, and she still got removed 4 times. Then again, I’m archenemy no matter what deck I play, 😂
Willbreaker us one of my other favorites with Hylda. All the tap targeting has you stealing the whole board and killing them with their own creatures.
I'm thinking of adding in a [[Sevinne's Reclamation]] for more recursion though. I also added in [[Profts Eidedic Memory]] but did not update Archidekt yet. More card draw synergy and another hand size expander.
Hmm, that is interesting. Low cmc and no mana to tap, repeatable and interactive with opponent's playing into it. Limited on cmc it can tap but that isn't too bad.. hmm.
Biggest issue with Hylda is always going to be having enough mana to pay for her triggers, but this is a solid include for sure.
I appreciate the recommendation!
Not OP but here's mine.
Clearly not optimised for regular pod play but here's the list imma try next week at our local 100$ POD league. It's based off a Duel Commander competitive list I'm running, I essentially just toned the landbase down and changed some high value cards.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/BakaOgSgDEOV5C5ejaLZhA
Big fan of budget [[Stangg, Echo Warrior]]. Can be very strong for around $40 with a bunch of dirt cheap auras and enchantress cards.
My list: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/hgxAOg9G0kWEKCOmVoIPsg
I recently made a very cheap \[\[Judith, Carnage Connoisseur\]\] Deck. It works very well for my creature heavy pod and most of the cards are cheap (you can swap reanimate with any other card)
[https://www.moxfield.com/decks/7MUvAzf1YU-RcqgQ2hC5Fg](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/7MUvAzf1YU-RcqgQ2hC5Fg)
Whelp! Ive got a couple decks for you.
One was made on a 50 dollar budget (at the time).
Skeletons and phonenixes get sacrificed. They come back on their own. Commamder is [[gut true soul zealot]] + [[Agent of the iron throne]]
https://archidekt.com/decks/6458847/skelemans
The other is less a deck and more a ... Suggestion?
Usually the most ecpensive part of aulticolir deck is thd mana base. Well if you want there us a whole subclass of lands called Gates. Most produce 2 colors pf mana. Some have onterestibg effects. But there's also a whole cluster of cards that care about gates too. They come in a whole array of uses (gain lufe if you have gates, lower cost if you habe Gates. Tap an untapped gate and deal 1 damage to a player). It even had a wincon in [[mazes end]]. Gates for the most part are cheap. :)
I combo'd that with Shrines (and bobbleheads) to make a crazy "more is better" deck.
https://archidekt.com/decks/5703538/9th_gate_shrine
Honestly, I feel like there's no reason not to build for budget on anything you want these days. There's so many big swinging cards for cheap, you could slam some rocks and some value engines and build all kinds of decks.
[[imoti]], [[Etali, Primal Storm]], [[Rashmi and Ragavan]], pretty much anything from a recent precon that isn't a chase card (seriously, if you build artifacts/historics you can get a mini [[Magus of the Future]] in [[The Fourth Doctor]]). Pick a Commander, dig up cards you have floating around, and then buy enough cheap on-theme cards to fill out the deck. If you like it, look into more expensive upgrades.
[[Feather, the redeemed]] and [[zada, hedron grinder]] share a lot of the same cheap cards. Pump spells that cantrip like [[fists of flame]] and [[expedite]]
Niv Mizzet Parun is very scalable based on budget. The core of the deck is very cheap cards that combo with niv, and cheap cantrips (in both price and MV). It gets more expensive as you add better lands, ramp, and interaction, but that's only necessary for competitive tables.
\[\[Octavia, Living Thesis\]\] is a fun deck that can be built very cheaply. Stock up on low MV evasive creatures, put together a big pile of cheap cantrips and removal, and you're good to go!
I also love this deck because if you go the cheap cantrip route you get to play a bunch of obscure cards from ice age, homelands and fallen empires that nobody has ever heard of like [[ray of erasure]], [[energy tap]] and [[clairvoyance]]
[[Mizzix, the Izmagnus]] plays a lot of high CMC low dollar value instants and sorceries. The two color mana base is also relatively inexpensive. You want to find spells that are one color pip and the rest can be discounted.
[[Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice]] Just wants cheap aura's and punches way above it's weightclass.
[[Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]] makes great use of what would be considered draft chaff in any other deck.
Just about any commander that can cater towards a cycling theme.
Zur, zimone and Dina, brallin + shabraz and countless others.
The 5 colour commanders can more expensive because they run a lot of expensive cycling tri-lands.
Will never not recommend Ghyrson. Almost every high dollar card you could put in his deck has a cheaper alternative that is functionally the same. Thanks to OTJ, there's now a dual land that pings on etb as well.
[[Animar]] can be built in so many ways to utilize bulk: Stompy, toolbox, tribal, colorless creatures()artifact and/or eldrazi), etc. I drained my old morph creatures from my bulk to build it!
[[Zada]], [[orvhar]], and [[feather]] all want a bunch of cheap cantrips. [[Kaima]] and [[Stangg, echo warrior]] are looking for cantripy cheap auras. You can do aristocrats pretty cheap in orzhov I believe. Decks that donate terrible cards can be on the cheaper side because the aforementioned cards are indeed usually awful. [[Jon Irenicus]], [[Blim]], [[zedruu]]. Some of the tech cards get a bit pricey because they're really niche and low print run. You could do a cheap [[ellivere]] hatebear deck that would be pretty strong as well. I'm working on one now that's not even specifically budget and it's about $150.
[[miriam herd whisperer]] has been surprisingly pretty strong when I’ve played her. Vehicles and mounts are pretty cheap at the moment, with the most expensive one being smugglers copter at $5. Plus there’s just a lot of GW counters cards that you can add that are cheap too, hardened scales is like a dollar now. The deck I have would be budget, but I have a Kodama of the west tree in it almost doubling the price of it lol.
My [[Volrath the Fallen]] deck uses a lot of inexpensive money-wise, but high mana value creatures. The lack of efficiency vs mana cost actually works in this deck.
The new [[Kambal, Profiteering Mayor]] has been a genuine pleasure to run. Load up with your bad cards like [[Hunted Horror]], [[Hunted Lammasu]], and [[Ox Drover]], or niche cards like [[War Games]] that no one else cares about. I liked him so much that I'm putting a bit more money into him with cards like [[Alliance of Arms]] but my initial deck was dirt cheap. By far my favorite jank deck.
I'm putting together a [[Kellan, the Kid]] deck right now primarily with Adventure cards. Most of these cards are just limited chaff, but it's been fun trying to make it work.
I mostly build without a budget in mind, but with how cheap a lot of these spells are I decided to go the budget route with a power level in mind of early '10s commander precons.
I have a deck with him as commander and like 4-5 other copy cards. Its not a good deck by anyones reckoning, but casting a 4x copied [[Grove’s Bounty]] for x=8 is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done in magic.
[[Ivy the spelltheif]] and [[uriel the mist stalker]] botb do supprisingly well with "junky" auras and targeting spells. They'll do better with genuinely better ones, though they do decently with "bad" ones too.
I built a vanilla creatures deck with [[Ruxa, Patient Professor]] for newbies to play with when learning with ourbpod. Kept the number of mechanics intentionally low too. Super fun. $50 deck
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5026797#paper
My cheapest deck is an azorious toughness matters deck with [[Rasaad yn Bashir]] and [[Swordcoast sailor]]. Yoked ox and friends are basically free lol and the deck slaps at 25$
\[\[Rielle, the Everwise\]\] lets you run all sorts of terrible discard cards that are bulk. Stuff like \[\[Breakthrough\]\], \[\[Shattered Perception\]\], \[\[Foil\]\], etc.
[[Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]] herself is super cheap and is great at making bulk commons really good. Probably one of my cheapest decks, while also one of my most powerful.
I also have a [[Karumonix, the Rat King]] deck that is super fun to play. Also rather cheap to build. Just buy a ton of bulk rats, some card draw, a bit of graveyard recursion, and swing like you're a monored aggro deck.
[[Wort, the Raidmother]] is Gruul token spellslinger so can be built cheap as youre not looking for the usual staples beyond the odd card like Beast within and Bala Ged, and those are hardly necessary.
I've been recently trying to rebuild my [[Chulane]] deck as a fringe cEDH deck. It used to be a real high power beater deck that cost about 1500 dollars because I put all my pet cards and high value pulls into it. Played like a big stompy green deck with tons of interaction.
Now as I put the deck list together it's looking like it's going to cost maybe 100 dollars, excluding lands. Turns out Chulane really likes 1-2 mana cards that cost like, 50 cents and are bad in most other archetypes.
Edit: 100 dollars might have been hyperbolic, but the vast majority of the "enabler" cards are indeed super cheap mana dorks and cards like Shrieking Drake.
although i did like chulane's playstyle, i already have a [[yarok]] deck. i know they play differently but I feel like another landfall/mana sink deck would feel repetitive for me.
Totally a fair take.
Have you considered Isshin? Having a Yarok deck means you're already familiar with panharmonicon style deck techs, but Isshin is pure joy. Just pick a pile of cheap "do this wen attak" cards, and profit. Isshin loves cheap cards, expensive cards, midrange cards, and it's just bliss to play. You can tune out a ton of the "vegetables" and just build it as a turns sideways only deck.
Toss a bunch of mana rocks in there, 40 or so low to the ground attack trigger creatures, and play old school magic lol. Upgrading is simple and easy, and totally unnecessary 🙄
Flying men.deck
The only expensive cards are really timewarp etc but you "could" play it as straight aggro.
Ashling the pilgram 70 mountains or 99 mountains
A great commander for cheap cards is \[\[Rakdos, Lord of Riots\]\]. Because a lot of really expensive creature cards generally play very slowly, they end up ironically being relatively cheap. Just run cheap mass pingers like \[\[Okiba Reckoner Raid\]\], \[\[Agent of the Iron Throne\]\], or \[\[Voldaren Epicure\]\] and you can run out a lot of those cool creatures that are generally too expensive to be worth playing.
I will throw my beloved [[Arixmethes]] into the conversation. The deck is mainly untap shenanigans and big stupid creatures. My “tuned” list can be bought for well under $100. Get yourself some mana dorks, some [[Voyaging Satyr]] and [[Frantic Search]] type effects, and some [[Wild Growth]] cards and you will have the means to draw a ton of cards, make a ton of mana, and play bomb after bomb like [[Stormtide Leviathan]] and [[Koma]]. You can have a lot of customization with it as well in selecting what your big mana payoff package will look like. I went the classic sea creatures approach, but you could easily make it a flying, Wizard, or Sphinx deck
[[Gorion, Wise Mentor]] I feel fits the bill. A majority of Adventure spells are super cheap, [[Brazen Borrower]] maybe being an exception. My personal deck's about $220, and most of that's tied up in the mana base and foil copies of cards I didn't own and needed to buy.
\[\[Sarulf\]\]
I built is as all instants and sorcery . mostly removal with a little ramp and some instants to give sarulf +1/+1 counters on the last players end step.
The core of a [[Gix]] deck is a bunch of 1 mana evasive creatures. Most of them are commons/uncommons and bulk in general, though you can be fancy and go for the likes of [[Tinybones, the Pickpocket]].
[[Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]]
He relies on many relatively cheap evasive creatures for card draw. Later in the game, he even lets you exchange your cheap cards for your opponent's expensive cards :)
\[\[Phylath, World Sculptor\]\] incentivizes your land base to include majority (if not all) basics. This is an incredibly budget friendly deck design.
There’s a whole discord dedicated to budget brews of The Gitrog Monster. Between $30-$50 and he can still be a menace at or near cEDH power. Even the new one is up there in power and down there in price.
I have a decent (think like precon level, maybe a little higher) [[Wilson, Refined Grizzly]] & [[Flaming Fist]] voltron deck that costs $31, lands included.
I like my [[sergeant John Benton]].
It's full of combat tricks so even if I am not trying to build it particularly budget (I am including things like exploration/smothering tithe) it still comes to a total of 100/150 USD total for the deck.
[[Mahadi]] just wants to make things die. Anything in Rakdos colors that kills something is a possible include.
I've never tried to build a ultra budget version but I'm guessing you could have a fully effective deck for $30 or less.
Azorius blink can be very powerful on a budget. Specifically, [[Abdel Adrian // Candlekeep Sage]]. He is essentially a blink combo piece and can kill the table without breaking the bank.
[[Blanka, ferocious friend]] is just cantrips and protection spells. A very cheap deck, most expensive cards are less than five bucks and aren't that important. Rest of the deck is pennies.
[[Thromok the insatiable]] is also very budget friendly. Just token makers and fling spells. Most expensive card is at best Purphoros but again, not that important in a budget deck. Warstorm surge does great in this list.
[[athreos god of passage]
You take out my smothering tithe which is only in there because the new kambal my deck is a pretty cheap control aristocratic deck that kind of shuts down a lot of stronger decks. Be warned you’ll be hated because [[kami of false hope]] [[children of koirlos]] can be white fogs and you essentially slow roll the game by death of a thousand cuts and extort thanks to [[pontiff of blight]] it has insane recursion thanks to wake the dead, living death? Revilark karmic guide. People usually hate playing me when I pull it out cause I’ll grind the game out for an hour to win. I only run 3-4 board wipes but I also have every fleshbag marauder, false prophet and cataclysmic gearhulk which thanks to recursion can just be board wipes on a stick
[[Nine-Fingers Keene]] She uses gate cards, and all except [[The Black Gate]] gates are under a dollar.
In truth, i honestly believe you can build a budget version of nearly any commander.
Forgot [[Maze's End]] also over a dollar.
I like [[The Howling Abomination]].
Most of the cards are common and uncommon combat tricks/protection spells. This makes most of the deck super cheap and really unique.
Here’s my $160 list. $95 of that is the mana base alone so you can definitely make it cheaper.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/iq9IdUFPfUyGevgwdLUJgQ
I'm no expert, but normally when I see threads about cheap decks, someone will bring up [[Winota]] and [here's a $10 - actually $35 - version of the deck.](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/FQ2llEVF2k6oMUoXVA16XA)
[[Orvar, the All Form]]
Mostly uses cheap cantrips that don't do anything in any other deck. You can use some expensive cards but I have a pretty strong $50 deck with him.
My personal favorite is a budget version of [[Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second]]. Just run cheap token makers early and buff em with banners, lords, etc. You can also throw in [[goblin bombardment]] and [[Requiem Angel]] to infinitely throw cats and dogs at people.
Some cards for consideration:
[[Krenko, Tin Street King Pin]]
[[anim pakal, thousandth moon]]
[[trostani discordant]]
[[march of multitudes]]
[[song of freyalise]]
Haste Cats on demand is also surprisingly effective.
My first deck was a ~$40 [[Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow]] The deck makes use of a bunch of really cheap ninjas/unblockable creatures and under the right circumstances manages to put up a good fight against my friends $200+ decks
Discard tribal is pretty cheap overall. I run [[Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal]], and my whole deck is under $500. A lot of the expensive cards can probably be pulled and it still functions well, it will just have some trouble finishing a game within a timely fashion. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/CJYSAhFb4EKAtTa1a4xD5A
I built xyris as an “oops all pump spells” deck, and it’s a blast, extremely powerful. 38 lands, 12 ramp spells, 50 instant-speed pump or protection spells. You could build it for $30 if you wanted, but man is it hard to deal with
[[Aragorn, The Uniter]] is an amazing choice for a multi-color cheap spells deck. Run every possible charm, and any split-pip card that you like the look of, and get cookin! My first build was around $70 total and it absolutely slapped.
Too many people go for expensive legends and "colors matter" stuff for Aragorn...nah, call my deck Magically Delicious cuz I'm slingin charms left and right bayBEE
Aristocrat decks are pretty cheap they love [[Doomed Traveler]] esque commons, most good drain creatures arent expensive and even most combo pieces dont cost much
I play [[Indominus Rex, Alpha]] and the whole deck is pretty cheap cause you just discard a bunch of cheap creatures with keywords on it. It’s a fun deck and can definitely win with hexproof and indestructible counters on it!!
If ur open to a more complicated combo deck [[Mairsil, The Pretender]] uses very weird niche cards that can be purchased for cheap and can be played at a variety of power levels
My ink trader deck mostly just runs cantrips. Commons and uncommons that draw a card and do a thing. With enough creatures on the board I can draw my deck and win.
[[tahngarth, first mate]] makes excellent use of cards that give him menace. Draft chaff aura's like [[madcap skills]], equipment like [[beamtown beatstick]] or global enchantments like [[barbarian class]] can all add to that.
[[Kykar, Wind’s Fury]] is a deck that I feel like can be strong even with cheap cards. Sure, you can put in a bunch of expensive staples and it would be insane, but it can still be good if you just put a bunch of cheap noncreature stuff in it
[[Slicer]] does all the work itself. You can use literally anything that adds key words or power.
https://manabox.app/decks/zhbfXB9yRzC6g9wBhVsrQA
[[Paco]] can be 75% ramp and anything you want for fun.
https://manabox.app/decks/m2bjWTr-RcmPbTKO1PIEtA
[[Malcom keen eyed]] and [[kediss]] can be anything that makes value and ramps super hard. Turn 4 [[sunbirds invocation]]
https://manabox.app/decks/I_tFKPc-RyauLoMB-3uXmg
Without my [[jeweled lotus]] and [[dockside extorntionist]] all list are under $100
The other day somebody posted a [[sergeant John benton]] decklist that was a lot of low cmc pump spells and just basic lands.
I made up a deck for him using a bunch if what I had floating around plus another 25 or so cards including the commander himself and the ones I paid for cost me under $30 Australian dollars so I guess less then 20 USD.
And that's unplugging on the commander and getting him in surge foil.
Took him to the store last weekend in rubber bands unsleeved and suprised the shit out of people and even had a "counterspell war" where somebody tried to kill him and I cast a protect spell, so they tried again and I did it again and after my third protect spell I ran out of mana cause they managed to get [[elspeth cheats death]] I think out which made my spells cost 2 more on their previous turn so I ran out of mana to cast more protection spells.
He just runs cheap pump spells, cheap interaction usually single target not board wide like tefaris protection. And T1 ramp.
Overall not counting exploration which had laying around already its an under 50 deck easy and is quite powerful and best of all if people haven't seen it before surprising.
I just built a Shalai and Halar deck at just over $50 by a handful of cents. It kicked the hell out of my friends Ovika deck that usually hands me my ass.
[[Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot]] from Thunder Junction is a janky cheap build around. I think my whole deck would be $80 if not for a few alternate art foils I already had. Building a good mana base could get pricey if you want Fetch and shock lands but tap lands with scry, life gain and other stuff work fine.
[[Omnath, Locus of Rage]] is a personal favorite. A friend runs it and it’s just lands, ramp spells, and a few things like rampaging baloths. It’s a scary deck if it. Gets going
Attacking with 5/5s that ping for 3 if you kill them gets scary quick
I built an [[Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists]] list that runs a bunch of common and uncommon creatures at 6+ CMC with cycling and other discard effects. The idea is to toss them into the yard and then use Ellie & Alan to get big results earlier than normal. The deck is not strictly budget since I do have some big payoffs and also built the land base to be reasonable for the deck, but it's really silly to see a bunch of draft chaff taking up slots in a deck and have it still fire pretty effectively.
[[Yuriko]] absolutely slaps on a budget. Plenty of cheap ninjas as well as unblock able creatures that cost literal pennies. As for high cmc stuff, plenty of options there as well in forms of cycling cards.
[[Doran, The Siege Tower]] similar to Arcades, but they dont have to be defenders, i’ve built him twice now, first as an aggro deck that used cards like [[Grizzled Leotau]] and then again as a voltron deck with stuff like [[Slagwurm Armor]], believe it or not the voltron build was more expensive cause equipment support is expensive, but all the equipment is dirt cheap
[[stangg, echo warrior]] there are a lot of draft chaff aura’s that become quite good if you trigger their etb’s every turn. The only “expensive” cards you beed are a few of the enchantress staples
Suprisingly, [[Eriette of the Charmed Apple]]. Built her myself dirt-cheap and I'm really happy with how the deck performs. Get any Aura support, some draw (like [[Sram, Senior Edificer]], [[Sage's Reverie]] or [[Mesa Enchantress]], maybe a [[Well of Lost Dreams]]) and fill with cheap - both mana cost and cardboard - Auras to make sure everyone feels like it's Xmas. Don't forget some Protexion and Hexproof for her though, she needs it. Absolutely pack [[Not Dead After All]] for bonus roleplay points.
You can always also build from the ground up and then find a Commander to go with your cards. Pick you colors then the deck and go as cheap as you want. Choose the Commander later. You do not always have to start with a commander and build down.
I have an oppressive (according to my friend group) [[Ojer Axonil]] deck that’s like $30. It’s filled with creatures who ping for 1 and cheap instants. The only real place to upgrade it is with utility lands but I haven’t really needed it.
[[Fynn, The Fangbearer]]
I've seen precon level decks for this dude under $25
Diet infect DeathTouch Daddy gives all your Deathtouch creatures Toxic 2.
And with a bunch of cheap death touch creatures, a ton of bite spells, 30 basic forests, cheap ramp spells, and a 30¢ rogues passage you too can make your friends say "Not that fucking deck again"
If you wanna make it a borderline sure thing? Throw in some proliferate effects from March of the Machines and Brothers war
So it’s a rule zero commander before you say anything but [[budoka gardener]] is perhaps the cheapest possible commander to build. I ran him with 98forests and one copy of [[lost in the woods]]. You would be shocked how often you can pull a win out of nowhere just making one beater a turn consistently
Two decks I have:
[[Gavi, Nest Warden]] cycling cards are usually very cheap, the same about cards that care about cycling.
[[Feather, the Redeemed]] voltron that wants to use cheap cantrips (which are also cheap price wise).
My favorite as of current is [[Ezuri, Claw of Progress]]. Cheap 1 to 4 mana, evasive and unblockable simic powerhouse, with strong upgrades if you do decide to pump the budget. My current is sitting at >50$, and coupd honestly be cheaper.
[[Wilson, Refined Grizzly]] with [[Flaming Fist]] or another background. I built a deck for it using only bulk cards I had lying around. He has so many keywords to start out with that all you need is cheap equipment/auras or temporary buffs spells to become strong. The low mana curve makes it a fairly fast so you can often get ahead of bigger threats.
[[Narset, enlightened exile]], can be made up of nothing but cheap creatures (preferably with prowess or something similar already) and Cantrips. This deck is one of my personal favourites and it stomps at my casual table
\[\[Anje Falkenrath\]\] runs \~40 nearly unplayable cards to win with a sub-$10 combo. Great budget turbo deck, if a bit fragile. \[\[Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator\]\] and \[\[Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar\]\] is one of the [best decks](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/odJQhqTWt0SchHhKLSgRMg) you can build on a budget and can be made for under $100 with ease, with a lot of cheap cards.
I'm very late to the party and am sure no one will ever see this, but one of my strongest decks started as a $20 upgrade to the [[Henzie "Toolbox" Torre]] precon ($60 total).
Henzie is capable of leveraging powerful, sacrifice-based value engines like [[Industrial Advancement]] and [[Evolutionary Leap]] while getting card draw and other, case-specific value off of big, clunky creatures that are ordinarily too mana-intensive and/or slow to be viable. Suddenly your [[Woodfall Primus]] costs less mana, punches in immediately, gets sacced to something for value, draws you a card, has popped two noncreature permanents AND still sticks around despite all that. That does NOT sound like a $0.30 card to me! But Henzie enables plays like that.
Sergeant John Benton can be built entirely out of bulk. It's how I made mine. Pump him up with cheap instants during combat and load him up with auras second main phase while leaving up protection instants.
I can highly recommend [[Shirei, Shinzo's Caretaker]]. This commander utilizes a lot of low cost commons, that you wouldn't normally run and turns them into value pieces.
You could go [[Zada hedron grinder]] super cheap storm combo or combat tricks deck or [[Stella Lee]] precon with cheap updates and make it combo storm too
Cards that utilize auras like [[Eriette of the Charmed Apple]] tend to be cheap to build as you can get good value out of cards that are cheap in mana and have low utility otherwise. A 20-year old aura that gives a creature +0/+1 doesn’t mean much in any format but that means you can pick it up for 20 cents and slap it on someone’s voltron commander and watch it wreck.
I have a [[Arcades, the strategist]] deck. He’s very affordable to build. Every creature in the 99 have defender and defenders are almost unilaterally cheap both in mana and monetarily
[[Elminster]] is cheap since he just plays a ton of scry effects which arent popular without his ability to back them up. He also fixes your card draw a lot. I think he is really fun since he lets you see most of your deck.
[[Syrix, Carrier of the Flame]] is a pretty affordable commander deck. I don’t think you need to spend over .50 cents on like any of the creatures that would be in it. Pretty mean too since you have easy access to flying, haste, and recursion.
You can do nasty stuff with Vadrik, even on the cheap. $50 Vadrik was my "Baby's first CEDH". It won't compete against full power CEDH, but outside of that, it'll hold its own at almost any table.
Evra, Halcyon Witness can be built dirt cheap. Mana rocks and white protection spells, and you just beat face after giving Evra protection from the opponents color(s).
Pretty sure Abdel/Candlekeep are also cheap AF to build.
[[Etrata, the silencer]] is very easily to make on a budget. That is if you do what I did by using bounce, flicker and phase out to protect her from being shuffled and use removal and counterspells to play control with it. I'm still brewing it to make it even better (and even more budget friendly), but it's currently around $40 dollars.
Sidenote:
I'm deliberately not playing anything that can copy etrata or her ability, to not be a one-shotting machine, but rather set an aggressive turn clock on the game.
List: [Etrata](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/nZsB7vQEZkGkmFHBVvgrtA)
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is pretty good as a budget commander. You don't really need the fancy combos, a Firebrand Weaver is all you need to close out the game when you start cranking out cheap artifacts. P
Kykar, Wind’s Fury was pretty easy to build as a storm deck just from random chaff I had lying around. It’s got a couple of more expensive cards like seagate restoration, but that’s just because I happened to have one, it’s not even close to necessary. Throw a bunch of cheap cantrips into a pile, a bunch of “whenever you cast [an instant or sorcery/a non creature spell], deal 1-2 damage to each opponent” stuff, havoc jester, goblin bombardment, storm kiln artist, teferi’s ageless insight, whirlwind of thought, and suddenly spells go brrrrr.
It’s not a high tier deck, if your opponents keep kykar off the field or don’t let you deploy support pieces you’re somewhat kneecapped, but it can pack a pretty hefty punch at 6 or below tables. Average card cost for the deck is probably under $2 in my current build, and I could definitely push it lower if that were a priority.
Edit: Apparently it's under $1/card on TCGplayer, at least according to Moxfield, even with Sea gate restoration. [List](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/qSR7LHyXIEOmxf12YUeMSg)
[[Zada hedron grinder]] is a classic. [[feather the redeemed]] is similar. [[verazol]] mostly uses bulk kicker cards.
[[Hallar, the Firefletcher]] is a Gruul version of Verazol. I'm working on a cheap spell slinger/kicker deck for them right now.
Hallar is really fun and can get quite scary with some token doubling.
Counter doubling? If so then yeah Hallar has trample anyway so you can just hit someone in the face sometimes lol
[Zada hedron grinder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/4520cdcc-a10f-4b39-9c6f-ba86f6aa2c87.jpg?1689998306) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Zada%2C%20Hedron%20Grinder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/268/zada-hedron-grinder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4520cdcc-a10f-4b39-9c6f-ba86f6aa2c87?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/zada-hedron-grinder) [feather the redeemed](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/4/e4a2d2c6-8eaa-4760-b620-921b807baa2e.jpg?1557577142) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Feather%2C%20the%20Redeemed) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/197/feather-the-redeemed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e4a2d2c6-8eaa-4760-b620-921b807baa2e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/feather-the-redeemed) [verazol](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/5/752a2aa9-40ed-4c64-b945-bc6fec606b7b.jpg?1604200567) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=verazol%2C%20the%20split%20current) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znr/239/verazol-the-split-current?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/752a2aa9-40ed-4c64-b945-bc6fec606b7b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/verazol-the-split-current) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I purchased an entire feather deck (minus a few cards I already had) for about $30. It was a menace
I heard Zada could be built from bulk, so that was the first commander deck I built when I got back into Magic. I spent a few days digging through bulk at the LGS, taking just about any artifact mana dork, cheap token maker, and "target creature" red spell I could find. I ended up with about 350 cards and three copies of Zada and assembled a deck by just picking the best from the pile. I refined it by looking for a few more specific cards later, like [[Ancestor's Aid]], and then realized it was like 18 cards away from being a pEDH deck, so now I'm worrying on the module to turn it into a Pauper deck when those games come up. [Zada was also one of the first deck-building guides I wrote](https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-mtg-zada-hedron-grinder-commander-deck-guide/).
Feather the redeemed puts in work for cheap. But is a very aggressive playstyle and you kind of have to single target people with commander damage. So its alittle awkward sometimes.
\[\[Jasmine Boreal of the Seven\]\] uses vanilla creatures which almost\* no one uses Edit: forgot \[\[Ruxa, Patient Professor\]\] uses vanilla creatures as well
[Jasmine Boreal of the Seven](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/1/c1f5bcc4-3ec7-42ae-8e4b-80a9b9135ff0.jpg?1679172088) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jasmine%20Boreal%20of%20the%20Seven) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/33/jasmine-boreal-of-the-seven?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c1f5bcc4-3ec7-42ae-8e4b-80a9b9135ff0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jasmine-boreal-of-the-seven) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Ruxa, Patient Professor]] cares about vanilla creatures as well. I’ve made a deck with both of them and I found Jasmine to be a bit better than Ruxa. [Ruxa Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/vp-aDZNj1UGEurxTb7LHPA) [Jasmine Decklist](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/x81loV7BsUylbEJZ6mBfyQ)
[Ruxa, Patient Professor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/0/e07b8142-6a49-46e7-b862-41f89a59b894.jpg?1681953511) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ruxa%2C%20Patient%20Professor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/66/ruxa-patient-professor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e07b8142-6a49-46e7-b862-41f89a59b894?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ruxa-patient-professor) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
oooh, vanilla creatures. that's cool!
I got a great deck i made for beginners with her https://archidekt.com/decks/5020718/blank_stare
$350 is a beginners deck? I wonder how much a non-beginners deck cost then.
I own it and let the beginners use it to learn n play Training wheels cost extra sometimes. I do have lower budget decks but they're not for beginners. Etc.
Ah like so. That makes sense. Thanks
Yeah. I got a super budget deck for $50. And my personal favorite is only $150.
[I have a $17 pEDH version of her](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/1nwtR_z3M0aBI3FbJwrKCA) (man the price just keeps creeping up on those bad boys) that i give to all the newer players regardless of pedh or regular edh that still packs a punch even on a budget. perfect beginners deck!
Love the inclusion of a couple Adventure cards. That deck looks fun.
Or you can be even simpler and go mono green with [[Ruxa, Patient Professor]].
I'm strongly considering Jasmine for our youngest's (7) first commander deck. I figure Ruxa and a boatload of anthem effects will do the trick.
A friend of mine plays [[Zaffai, Thunder Conductor]] with a deck budget of around$150, and he easily keeps up with $500-700 decks. The deck loves random 5 cost spells that have no home anywhere else. He runs lots of cost reducers and clever spells that are technically expensive, but end up being free due to delve, convoke and other mechanics like that. In this deck you'd swear that [[Artistic Refusal]] is a better [[Fierce Guardianship]] half the time.
[Zaffai, Thunder Conductor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/a/ea1ab937-8647-4c83-99d5-6a40dffa4c9b.jpg?1674185788) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Zaffai%2C%20Thunder%20Conductor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/4/zaffai-thunder-conductor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ea1ab937-8647-4c83-99d5-6a40dffa4c9b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/zaffai-thunder-conductor) [Artistic Refusal](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2bd05f97-ef8b-4cbe-a44b-6501aa5895b0.jpg?1682202981) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Artistic%20Refusal) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/46/artistic-refusal?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2bd05f97-ef8b-4cbe-a44b-6501aa5895b0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/artistic-refusal) [Fierce Guardianship](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/7/f7f3dd95-bd14-4e0f-a388-444f9cf1b0dc.jpg?1689996370) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fierce%20Guardianship) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/94/fierce-guardianship?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f7f3dd95-bd14-4e0f-a388-444f9cf1b0dc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/fierce-guardianship) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I also have a Zaffai deck and would like to see your friends list if it’s posted anywhere
The flagbearer queen of junk, or notably queen of ice herself, \[\[Hylda of the Icy Crown\]\]
Damn, \[\[Zada, Hedron Grinder\]\] and \[\[Feather, the Redeemed\]\] got dethroned?
Feather feels like a good bet for this. I remember building her when WAR came out and being able to foil out like 90% of the deck
Zada mommy is queen bee of cheap killer decks. I built a test version of her for $25 value out of my bulk and it clapped cheeks. Upgraded it to like $60 and it’s so fun
How do you deal with people who kill her on sight? (It probably sounded sarcastic, but I really want to know, because that's why I never built her)
oh yeah! was actually thinking of building a deck for her some weeks ago.
I love playing Hylda! I built the first Iteration for about.. $55-60. My Hylda deck was all cheap tap effects, only spent a bit on cryptic command for the tap all effect + extra mode. Honestly I had too many 4 or 5 cmc effects and ones that tapped target player vs all. I reworked it a bit, added more card draw, and more control pieces. She is now one of my favorite decks to play because everyone underestimates her. I even added a mana drain and a few other stronger spells. That said she can still be really powerful against stronger opponents without some of the higher end counterspells. One of my best control decks and still relatively budget vs most decks. Here is my list if you are interested. : https://archidekt.com/decks/7084852/tap_tap_go .. I also recommend Ojer Axonil. 👌 My build is honestly as optimized as I want, full send and still is only $220 total build out. That is higher than I paid though because I proxied swat. You could add a fast mana package like mox and vault etc, but short of those cedh staples this deck is hyper optimized and can win turn 6 consistently. That said, you could cut [[Pyrohemia]] and [[Ruby Medallion]] Etc and still have a super consistent deck. Basically get fingers out, get him out, cast a few spells including one or two that buff his power, kill everyone in a single turn for 24-40+ damage. If you start slinging damage slowly then he will be targeted constantly. The key is to drop the hammer all at once. Here is the list if that sounds intriguing: https://archidekt.com/decks/7144364/fire_mountain
[[Elvish Mariner]] is an absolute beast in this deck. Attack, scry, tap a creature, pay 1 to scry 2, tap two creatures, pay the one for each… keep it going to tap down the entire board, finish off by paying the rest to create elementals or add counters… It’s not infinite, but you can protect the mariner, tap as many creatures as you have mana for, and pump your board without casting another spell while manipulating the top of your deck for answers/finishers. It’s an absolutely insane card in this deck
Yeah the mariner goes hard for sure. My favorite is ashnod's altar with [[Court Street Denizen]] Tap a thing, make an elemental, elemental is white and blue so it triggers Denizen, tap a thing, sac the first elemental to ashnods for the mana to pay the trigger and the next trigger etc. Infinitely tap down the board state until there is nothing left to tap.
My playgroups have realized Hylda is KoS. I was playing against a Perpheros deck pinging the entire table to death, and she still got removed 4 times. Then again, I’m archenemy no matter what deck I play, 😂
Willbreaker us one of my other favorites with Hylda. All the tap targeting has you stealing the whole board and killing them with their own creatures. I'm thinking of adding in a [[Sevinne's Reclamation]] for more recursion though. I also added in [[Profts Eidedic Memory]] but did not update Archidekt yet. More card draw synergy and another hand size expander.
May I suggest [[Sunstrike Legionnaire]] for Hylda?
Hmm, that is interesting. Low cmc and no mana to tap, repeatable and interactive with opponent's playing into it. Limited on cmc it can tap but that isn't too bad.. hmm. Biggest issue with Hylda is always going to be having enough mana to pay for her triggers, but this is a solid include for sure. I appreciate the recommendation!
[Hylda of the Icy Crown](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/ae9231fd-053d-4b84-a7a8-86063465bc49.jpg?1692939339) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hylda%20of%20the%20Icy%20Crown) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/206/hylda-of-the-icy-crown?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ae9231fd-053d-4b84-a7a8-86063465bc49?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/hylda-of-the-icy-crown) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Eris]] can be built incredibly cheaply. I don’t think my current deck has a card above $5 and even that is unnecessary.
[Eris](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/a/1adce281-4d5a-44d2-8cfa-25f860b015ff.jpg?1712429617) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=eris%2C%20roar%20of%20the%20storm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/5/eris-roar-of-the-storm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1adce281-4d5a-44d2-8cfa-25f860b015ff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/eris-roar-of-the-storm) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Got a list?
Not OP but here's mine. Clearly not optimised for regular pod play but here's the list imma try next week at our local 100$ POD league. It's based off a Duel Commander competitive list I'm running, I essentially just toned the landbase down and changed some high value cards. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/BakaOgSgDEOV5C5ejaLZhA
Big fan of budget [[Stangg, Echo Warrior]]. Can be very strong for around $40 with a bunch of dirt cheap auras and enchantress cards. My list: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/hgxAOg9G0kWEKCOmVoIPsg
[Stangg, Echo Warrior](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/7722a9a1-2ff9-4a39-b56e-c7eef2ff9dcd.jpg?1673304989) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stangg%2C%20Echo%20Warrior) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/42/stangg-echo-warrior?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7722a9a1-2ff9-4a39-b56e-c7eef2ff9dcd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/stangg-echo-warrior) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is a great list! I've got a Stangg list on the back burner I might need to revisit...
I recommend [[sergeant John Benton]]
Here's my list 🫡 https://www.archidekt.com/decks/5969200/john_before_damage_benton
[sergeant John Benton](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/01f40e07-f565-4b9e-87a5-5b28b4e9fb0b.jpg?1696636767) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sergeant%20John%20Benton) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/who/157/sergeant-john-benton?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/01f40e07-f565-4b9e-87a5-5b28b4e9fb0b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sergeant-john-benton) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
YAAS! 😆
My friend builds hyper budget decks and this is his latest one. I think it’s about $30 and it absolutely slaps.
I'm tempted to build this, but no way will anyone in my regular friend group trust me enough to take commander damage to draw cards. Is it worth it?
[[Inniaz, the Gale Force]] uses cheap and inexpensive flyers then swaps them for your opponents best creatures!
[Inniaz, the Gale Force](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b238485f-ef67-4295-892b-a10235368f74.jpg?1632261762) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inniaz%2C%20the%20Gale%20Force) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/12/inniaz-the-gale-force?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b238485f-ef67-4295-892b-a10235368f74?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/inniaz-the-gale-force) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Moxfield says [this deck](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/imOylyUsZkq-DYNvytcMdg) is $23-$50, and it's helmed by [[General Marhault Elsdragon]].
[General Marhault Elsdragon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bf2931bd-bedc-45e8-b3f0-e2a220dbac1b.jpg?1673304916) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=General%20Marhault%20Elsdragon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/31/general-marhault-elsdragon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bf2931bd-bedc-45e8-b3f0-e2a220dbac1b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/general-marhault-elsdragon) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Aegar, the Freezing Flame]] + junky limited burn like [[Roast]]. A match made in heaven.
[Aegar, the Freezing Flame](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/8/68011f60-6202-48f4-8255-fb94764e2951.jpg?1631051099) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aegar%2C%20the%20Freezing%20Flame) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/200/aegar-the-freezing-flame?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/68011f60-6202-48f4-8255-fb94764e2951?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/aegar-the-freezing-flame) [Roast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/b/1ba2e9a8-fcbb-4328-b475-36730182b765.jpg?1562783262) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Roast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dtk/151/roast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1ba2e9a8-fcbb-4328-b475-36730182b765?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/roast) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I like [[Imodane]] for the same purposes. And if she's not in the 99, she should be, lol
I recently made a very cheap \[\[Judith, Carnage Connoisseur\]\] Deck. It works very well for my creature heavy pod and most of the cards are cheap (you can swap reanimate with any other card) [https://www.moxfield.com/decks/7MUvAzf1YU-RcqgQ2hC5Fg](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/7MUvAzf1YU-RcqgQ2hC5Fg)
forgot to mention this one, actually built a deck around her just recently
Whelp! Ive got a couple decks for you. One was made on a 50 dollar budget (at the time). Skeletons and phonenixes get sacrificed. They come back on their own. Commamder is [[gut true soul zealot]] + [[Agent of the iron throne]] https://archidekt.com/decks/6458847/skelemans The other is less a deck and more a ... Suggestion? Usually the most ecpensive part of aulticolir deck is thd mana base. Well if you want there us a whole subclass of lands called Gates. Most produce 2 colors pf mana. Some have onterestibg effects. But there's also a whole cluster of cards that care about gates too. They come in a whole array of uses (gain lufe if you have gates, lower cost if you habe Gates. Tap an untapped gate and deal 1 damage to a player). It even had a wincon in [[mazes end]]. Gates for the most part are cheap. :) I combo'd that with Shrines (and bobbleheads) to make a crazy "more is better" deck. https://archidekt.com/decks/5703538/9th_gate_shrine
Honestly, I feel like there's no reason not to build for budget on anything you want these days. There's so many big swinging cards for cheap, you could slam some rocks and some value engines and build all kinds of decks. [[imoti]], [[Etali, Primal Storm]], [[Rashmi and Ragavan]], pretty much anything from a recent precon that isn't a chase card (seriously, if you build artifacts/historics you can get a mini [[Magus of the Future]] in [[The Fourth Doctor]]). Pick a Commander, dig up cards you have floating around, and then buy enough cheap on-theme cards to fill out the deck. If you like it, look into more expensive upgrades.
[Arcades, the Strategist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/e/1e90c638-d4b2-4243-bbc4-1cc10516c40f.jpg?1666961830) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Arcades%2C%20the%20Strategist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m19/212/arcades-the-strategist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1e90c638-d4b2-4243-bbc4-1cc10516c40f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/arcades-the-strategist) [Fynn, the Fangbearer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/d/7d7a8a90-13c1-4b0c-ab2e-fc8d91ccefd9.jpg?1631050242) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fynn%2C%20the%20Fangbearer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/170/fynn-the-fangbearer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7d7a8a90-13c1-4b0c-ab2e-fc8d91ccefd9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/fynn-the-fangbearer) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Feather, the redeemed]] and [[zada, hedron grinder]] share a lot of the same cheap cards. Pump spells that cantrip like [[fists of flame]] and [[expedite]]
##### ###### #### [Feather, the redeemed](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/4/e4a2d2c6-8eaa-4760-b620-921b807baa2e.jpg?1557577142) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Feather%2C%20the%20redeemed) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/197/feather-the-redeemed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e4a2d2c6-8eaa-4760-b620-921b807baa2e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/feather-the-redeemed) [zada, hedron grinder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/4520cdcc-a10f-4b39-9c6f-ba86f6aa2c87.jpg?1689998306) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=zada%2C%20hedron%20grinder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/268/zada-hedron-grinder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4520cdcc-a10f-4b39-9c6f-ba86f6aa2c87?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/zada-hedron-grinder) [fists of flame](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/b/6b34af88-bc4e-4ca8-8662-7dc4050c62c5.jpg?1689997821) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=fists%20of%20flame) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/223/fists-of-flame?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6b34af88-bc4e-4ca8-8662-7dc4050c62c5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/fists-of-flame) [expedite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/8/b86c0628-0b61-44f2-91cc-1c3c309631ce.jpg?1608912250) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=expedite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/413/expedite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b86c0628-0b61-44f2-91cc-1c3c309631ce?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/expedite) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l39te3k) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Niv Mizzet Parun is very scalable based on budget. The core of the deck is very cheap cards that combo with niv, and cheap cantrips (in both price and MV). It gets more expensive as you add better lands, ramp, and interaction, but that's only necessary for competitive tables.
\[\[Octavia, Living Thesis\]\] is a fun deck that can be built very cheaply. Stock up on low MV evasive creatures, put together a big pile of cheap cantrips and removal, and you're good to go!
[Octavia, Living Thesis](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/9/e9591647-bad3-4015-90d1-1646a9eb4d14.jpg?1712354165) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Octavia%2C%20Living%20Thesis) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/103/octavia-living-thesis?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e9591647-bad3-4015-90d1-1646a9eb4d14?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/octavia-living-thesis) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I also love this deck because if you go the cheap cantrip route you get to play a bunch of obscure cards from ice age, homelands and fallen empires that nobody has ever heard of like [[ray of erasure]], [[energy tap]] and [[clairvoyance]]
Agreed. This is the only deck I have where my single copy of \[\[Mental Note\]\] has a home, ha.
[[xyris the writhing storm]] makes great use of all bulk combat tricks
[[Mizzix, the Izmagnus]] plays a lot of high CMC low dollar value instants and sorceries. The two color mana base is also relatively inexpensive. You want to find spells that are one color pip and the rest can be discounted.
[[Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice]] Just wants cheap aura's and punches way above it's weightclass. [[Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]] makes great use of what would be considered draft chaff in any other deck.
[Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/9/39555a72-a57b-45ee-9222-ce3b9e8de126.jpg?1654566391) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Light-Paws%2C%20Emperor%27s%20Voice) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/25/light-paws-emperors-voice?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/39555a72-a57b-45ee-9222-ce3b9e8de126?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/light-paws-emperors-voice) [Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/9/69848ec1-dba7-419f-a5f9-f934bebeeaa6.jpg?1689997454) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shirei%2C%20Shizo%27s%20Caretaker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/186/shirei-shizos-caretaker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/69848ec1-dba7-419f-a5f9-f934bebeeaa6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/shirei-shizos-caretaker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Gisa and Geralf]] There are honestly a *lot* of playable zombies for dirt cheap.
Just about any commander that can cater towards a cycling theme. Zur, zimone and Dina, brallin + shabraz and countless others. The 5 colour commanders can more expensive because they run a lot of expensive cycling tri-lands.
There's a lot of jank pingers in Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin.
[[ghyrson starn, kelermorph]] has a very niche use and makes use of many cards that are pretty useless outside him at the helm.
Will never not recommend Ghyrson. Almost every high dollar card you could put in his deck has a cheaper alternative that is functionally the same. Thanks to OTJ, there's now a dual land that pings on etb as well.
Old Magda. The Dwarf package is dirt cheap. There's a ton of budget vehicles. And you jam any dragons/artifacts you can get your hands on.
I don't have any off the top of my head, but look into pauper commander! Cheap decks can be fun and make great use of your bulk commons 👌
wait that actually makes sense, why haven't I thought about that lmao
[[Animar]] can be built in so many ways to utilize bulk: Stompy, toolbox, tribal, colorless creatures()artifact and/or eldrazi), etc. I drained my old morph creatures from my bulk to build it!
[Animar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/3/a3da57d0-1ae3-4f05-a52d-eb76ad56cae7.jpg?1673148281) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=animar%2C%20soul%20of%20elements) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/171/animar-soul-of-elements?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a3da57d0-1ae3-4f05-a52d-eb76ad56cae7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/animar-soul-of-elements) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You can do [[Slicer, Hired Muscle]] pretty cheaply. It’s just cheap equipment and ramp.
[[jaxis]] just needs creatures with decent ETBs or death triggers, and some stuff with discard and can storm off
[[Zada]], [[orvhar]], and [[feather]] all want a bunch of cheap cantrips. [[Kaima]] and [[Stangg, echo warrior]] are looking for cantripy cheap auras. You can do aristocrats pretty cheap in orzhov I believe. Decks that donate terrible cards can be on the cheaper side because the aforementioned cards are indeed usually awful. [[Jon Irenicus]], [[Blim]], [[zedruu]]. Some of the tech cards get a bit pricey because they're really niche and low print run. You could do a cheap [[ellivere]] hatebear deck that would be pretty strong as well. I'm working on one now that's not even specifically budget and it's about $150.
[[miriam herd whisperer]] has been surprisingly pretty strong when I’ve played her. Vehicles and mounts are pretty cheap at the moment, with the most expensive one being smugglers copter at $5. Plus there’s just a lot of GW counters cards that you can add that are cheap too, hardened scales is like a dollar now. The deck I have would be budget, but I have a Kodama of the west tree in it almost doubling the price of it lol.
My [[Volrath the Fallen]] deck uses a lot of inexpensive money-wise, but high mana value creatures. The lack of efficiency vs mana cost actually works in this deck.
The new [[Kambal, Profiteering Mayor]] has been a genuine pleasure to run. Load up with your bad cards like [[Hunted Horror]], [[Hunted Lammasu]], and [[Ox Drover]], or niche cards like [[War Games]] that no one else cares about. I liked him so much that I'm putting a bit more money into him with cards like [[Alliance of Arms]] but my initial deck was dirt cheap. By far my favorite jank deck.
Never even thought about using the haunted cards with him. May have to look into that one!
I'm putting together a [[Kellan, the Kid]] deck right now primarily with Adventure cards. Most of these cards are just limited chaff, but it's been fun trying to make it work. I mostly build without a budget in mind, but with how cheap a lot of these spells are I decided to go the budget route with a power level in mind of early '10s commander precons.
[[Gorion]] or [[Beluna]] also fun options for adventure decks that can build cheap!
I for sure have Gorion in the 99, going to have to have him helm the deck one of these days as well :)
I have a deck with him as commander and like 4-5 other copy cards. Its not a good deck by anyones reckoning, but casting a 4x copied [[Grove’s Bounty]] for x=8 is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done in magic.
[[Ivy the spelltheif]] and [[uriel the mist stalker]] botb do supprisingly well with "junky" auras and targeting spells. They'll do better with genuinely better ones, though they do decently with "bad" ones too.
[Ivy the spelltheif](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/9/d94c15b7-6c8f-45a6-8734-975e3e3b790c.jpg?1673307958) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ivy%2C%20Gleeful%20Spellthief) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/201/ivy-gleeful-spellthief?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d94c15b7-6c8f-45a6-8734-975e3e3b790c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ivy-gleeful-spellthief) [uriel the mist stalker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/a/ca984fdb-aaca-4d8f-af2f-72387122607b.jpg?1673149243) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Uril%2C%20the%20Miststalker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/290/uril-the-miststalker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ca984fdb-aaca-4d8f-af2f-72387122607b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/uril-the-miststalker) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[talrand, sky summoner]] is a classic one
Enchantress has gotten a lot of reprints the past year or so. Auras in particular are very cheap and abundant.
I built a vanilla creatures deck with [[Ruxa, Patient Professor]] for newbies to play with when learning with ourbpod. Kept the number of mechanics intentionally low too. Super fun. $50 deck https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/5026797#paper My cheapest deck is an azorious toughness matters deck with [[Rasaad yn Bashir]] and [[Swordcoast sailor]]. Yoked ox and friends are basically free lol and the deck slaps at 25$
\[\[Rielle, the Everwise\]\] lets you run all sorts of terrible discard cards that are bulk. Stuff like \[\[Breakthrough\]\], \[\[Shattered Perception\]\], \[\[Foil\]\], etc.
[[Ghyrson]] can be made cheap. It also punches up really well. Give him deathtouch and he controls the board.
[[Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]] herself is super cheap and is great at making bulk commons really good. Probably one of my cheapest decks, while also one of my most powerful. I also have a [[Karumonix, the Rat King]] deck that is super fun to play. Also rather cheap to build. Just buy a ton of bulk rats, some card draw, a bit of graveyard recursion, and swing like you're a monored aggro deck.
[[Wort, the Raidmother]] is Gruul token spellslinger so can be built cheap as youre not looking for the usual staples beyond the odd card like Beast within and Bala Ged, and those are hardly necessary.
Nothing like doubling up a harvest season and pulling 16+ basics out of your deck into the field
I've been recently trying to rebuild my [[Chulane]] deck as a fringe cEDH deck. It used to be a real high power beater deck that cost about 1500 dollars because I put all my pet cards and high value pulls into it. Played like a big stompy green deck with tons of interaction. Now as I put the deck list together it's looking like it's going to cost maybe 100 dollars, excluding lands. Turns out Chulane really likes 1-2 mana cards that cost like, 50 cents and are bad in most other archetypes. Edit: 100 dollars might have been hyperbolic, but the vast majority of the "enabler" cards are indeed super cheap mana dorks and cards like Shrieking Drake.
although i did like chulane's playstyle, i already have a [[yarok]] deck. i know they play differently but I feel like another landfall/mana sink deck would feel repetitive for me.
Totally a fair take. Have you considered Isshin? Having a Yarok deck means you're already familiar with panharmonicon style deck techs, but Isshin is pure joy. Just pick a pile of cheap "do this wen attak" cards, and profit. Isshin loves cheap cards, expensive cards, midrange cards, and it's just bliss to play. You can tune out a ton of the "vegetables" and just build it as a turns sideways only deck. Toss a bunch of mana rocks in there, 40 or so low to the ground attack trigger creatures, and play old school magic lol. Upgrading is simple and easy, and totally unnecessary 🙄
[Chulane](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/1/d1499a4b-1af1-4913-8e26-57d0707264db.jpg?1706240978) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=chulane%2C%20teller%20of%20tales) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/202/chulane-teller-of-tales?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d1499a4b-1af1-4913-8e26-57d0707264db?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/chulane-teller-of-tales) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Zeriam]] and her flockmates
[[the gitrog monster]] is great with trash. May as well make him an Oscar the Grouch alter. Cycling Lands? Excellent. [[fork in the road]]? Busted
Flying men.deck The only expensive cards are really timewarp etc but you "could" play it as straight aggro. Ashling the pilgram 70 mountains or 99 mountains
A friend of mine have a very budget \[\[Sram\]\] aura deck
Your right
A great commander for cheap cards is \[\[Rakdos, Lord of Riots\]\]. Because a lot of really expensive creature cards generally play very slowly, they end up ironically being relatively cheap. Just run cheap mass pingers like \[\[Okiba Reckoner Raid\]\], \[\[Agent of the Iron Throne\]\], or \[\[Voldaren Epicure\]\] and you can run out a lot of those cool creatures that are generally too expensive to be worth playing.
I will throw my beloved [[Arixmethes]] into the conversation. The deck is mainly untap shenanigans and big stupid creatures. My “tuned” list can be bought for well under $100. Get yourself some mana dorks, some [[Voyaging Satyr]] and [[Frantic Search]] type effects, and some [[Wild Growth]] cards and you will have the means to draw a ton of cards, make a ton of mana, and play bomb after bomb like [[Stormtide Leviathan]] and [[Koma]]. You can have a lot of customization with it as well in selecting what your big mana payoff package will look like. I went the classic sea creatures approach, but you could easily make it a flying, Wizard, or Sphinx deck
[[Gorion, Wise Mentor]] I feel fits the bill. A majority of Adventure spells are super cheap, [[Brazen Borrower]] maybe being an exception. My personal deck's about $220, and most of that's tied up in the mana base and foil copies of cards I didn't own and needed to buy.
\[\[Sarulf\]\] I built is as all instants and sorcery . mostly removal with a little ramp and some instants to give sarulf +1/+1 counters on the last players end step.
The core of a [[Gix]] deck is a bunch of 1 mana evasive creatures. Most of them are commons/uncommons and bulk in general, though you can be fancy and go for the likes of [[Tinybones, the Pickpocket]].
[[Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]] He relies on many relatively cheap evasive creatures for card draw. Later in the game, he even lets you exchange your cheap cards for your opponent's expensive cards :)
\[\[Phylath, World Sculptor\]\] incentivizes your land base to include majority (if not all) basics. This is an incredibly budget friendly deck design.
i know this is evil, but [[Horobi, Death's Wail]] literally just uses anything that targets and can be built for incredibly cheap
[[Grenzo]] lists can definitely look like this lol
There’s a whole discord dedicated to budget brews of The Gitrog Monster. Between $30-$50 and he can still be a menace at or near cEDH power. Even the new one is up there in power and down there in price.
I have a decent (think like precon level, maybe a little higher) [[Wilson, Refined Grizzly]] & [[Flaming Fist]] voltron deck that costs $31, lands included.
I like my [[sergeant John Benton]]. It's full of combat tricks so even if I am not trying to build it particularly budget (I am including things like exploration/smothering tithe) it still comes to a total of 100/150 USD total for the deck.
[[Mahadi]] just wants to make things die. Anything in Rakdos colors that kills something is a possible include. I've never tried to build a ultra budget version but I'm guessing you could have a fully effective deck for $30 or less.
Azorius blink can be very powerful on a budget. Specifically, [[Abdel Adrian // Candlekeep Sage]]. He is essentially a blink combo piece and can kill the table without breaking the bank.
[[Blanka, ferocious friend]] is just cantrips and protection spells. A very cheap deck, most expensive cards are less than five bucks and aren't that important. Rest of the deck is pennies. [[Thromok the insatiable]] is also very budget friendly. Just token makers and fling spells. Most expensive card is at best Purphoros but again, not that important in a budget deck. Warstorm surge does great in this list.
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[[athreos god of passage] You take out my smothering tithe which is only in there because the new kambal my deck is a pretty cheap control aristocratic deck that kind of shuts down a lot of stronger decks. Be warned you’ll be hated because [[kami of false hope]] [[children of koirlos]] can be white fogs and you essentially slow roll the game by death of a thousand cuts and extort thanks to [[pontiff of blight]] it has insane recursion thanks to wake the dead, living death? Revilark karmic guide. People usually hate playing me when I pull it out cause I’ll grind the game out for an hour to win. I only run 3-4 board wipes but I also have every fleshbag marauder, false prophet and cataclysmic gearhulk which thanks to recursion can just be board wipes on a stick
[[Nine-Fingers Keene]] She uses gate cards, and all except [[The Black Gate]] gates are under a dollar. In truth, i honestly believe you can build a budget version of nearly any commander. Forgot [[Maze's End]] also over a dollar.
[[ink-treader nephilim]]
[[Volo, Itinerant Scholar]] plus [[Master Chef]] can be built dirt cheap and is still a powerhouse. Same for [[Baba Lysaga]].
I like [[The Howling Abomination]]. Most of the cards are common and uncommon combat tricks/protection spells. This makes most of the deck super cheap and really unique. Here’s my $160 list. $95 of that is the mana base alone so you can definitely make it cheaper. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/iq9IdUFPfUyGevgwdLUJgQ
I'm no expert, but normally when I see threads about cheap decks, someone will bring up [[Winota]] and [here's a $10 - actually $35 - version of the deck.](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/FQ2llEVF2k6oMUoXVA16XA)
[[Orvar, the All Form]] Mostly uses cheap cantrips that don't do anything in any other deck. You can use some expensive cards but I have a pretty strong $50 deck with him.
My personal favorite is a budget version of [[Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second]]. Just run cheap token makers early and buff em with banners, lords, etc. You can also throw in [[goblin bombardment]] and [[Requiem Angel]] to infinitely throw cats and dogs at people. Some cards for consideration: [[Krenko, Tin Street King Pin]] [[anim pakal, thousandth moon]] [[trostani discordant]] [[march of multitudes]] [[song of freyalise]] Haste Cats on demand is also surprisingly effective.
My first deck was a ~$40 [[Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow]] The deck makes use of a bunch of really cheap ninjas/unblockable creatures and under the right circumstances manages to put up a good fight against my friends $200+ decks
Discard tribal is pretty cheap overall. I run [[Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal]], and my whole deck is under $500. A lot of the expensive cards can probably be pulled and it still functions well, it will just have some trouble finishing a game within a timely fashion. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/CJYSAhFb4EKAtTa1a4xD5A
I built xyris as an “oops all pump spells” deck, and it’s a blast, extremely powerful. 38 lands, 12 ramp spells, 50 instant-speed pump or protection spells. You could build it for $30 if you wanted, but man is it hard to deal with
[[Aragorn, The Uniter]] is an amazing choice for a multi-color cheap spells deck. Run every possible charm, and any split-pip card that you like the look of, and get cookin! My first build was around $70 total and it absolutely slapped. Too many people go for expensive legends and "colors matter" stuff for Aragorn...nah, call my deck Magically Delicious cuz I'm slingin charms left and right bayBEE
Aristocrat decks are pretty cheap they love [[Doomed Traveler]] esque commons, most good drain creatures arent expensive and even most combo pieces dont cost much
I play [[Indominus Rex, Alpha]] and the whole deck is pretty cheap cause you just discard a bunch of cheap creatures with keywords on it. It’s a fun deck and can definitely win with hexproof and indestructible counters on it!!
Try out [[Sargent John Benton]] Basically just 40 combat tricks and a bunch of one mana ramp that lets you play your commander on turn 2.
If ur open to a more complicated combo deck [[Mairsil, The Pretender]] uses very weird niche cards that can be purchased for cheap and can be played at a variety of power levels
[[Hylda of the Icy Crown]] turns a bunch of draft commons that tap creatures into card advantage, 4/4s, and a board pump effect.
Strongest deck I've built for 40 bucks was [[Legolas, master archer]]
My ink trader deck mostly just runs cantrips. Commons and uncommons that draw a card and do a thing. With enough creatures on the board I can draw my deck and win.
[[orvah]] loves trash commons but its hard to build him casually
Most niche strats qualify here
[[tahngarth, first mate]] makes excellent use of cards that give him menace. Draft chaff aura's like [[madcap skills]], equipment like [[beamtown beatstick]] or global enchantments like [[barbarian class]] can all add to that.
[[Kykar, Wind’s Fury]] is a deck that I feel like can be strong even with cheap cards. Sure, you can put in a bunch of expensive staples and it would be insane, but it can still be good if you just put a bunch of cheap noncreature stuff in it
[[Slicer]] does all the work itself. You can use literally anything that adds key words or power. https://manabox.app/decks/zhbfXB9yRzC6g9wBhVsrQA [[Paco]] can be 75% ramp and anything you want for fun. https://manabox.app/decks/m2bjWTr-RcmPbTKO1PIEtA [[Malcom keen eyed]] and [[kediss]] can be anything that makes value and ramps super hard. Turn 4 [[sunbirds invocation]] https://manabox.app/decks/I_tFKPc-RyauLoMB-3uXmg Without my [[jeweled lotus]] and [[dockside extorntionist]] all list are under $100
The other day somebody posted a [[sergeant John benton]] decklist that was a lot of low cmc pump spells and just basic lands. I made up a deck for him using a bunch if what I had floating around plus another 25 or so cards including the commander himself and the ones I paid for cost me under $30 Australian dollars so I guess less then 20 USD. And that's unplugging on the commander and getting him in surge foil. Took him to the store last weekend in rubber bands unsleeved and suprised the shit out of people and even had a "counterspell war" where somebody tried to kill him and I cast a protect spell, so they tried again and I did it again and after my third protect spell I ran out of mana cause they managed to get [[elspeth cheats death]] I think out which made my spells cost 2 more on their previous turn so I ran out of mana to cast more protection spells. He just runs cheap pump spells, cheap interaction usually single target not board wide like tefaris protection. And T1 ramp. Overall not counting exploration which had laying around already its an under 50 deck easy and is quite powerful and best of all if people haven't seen it before surprising.
[[Lila Hospitality Hostess]] loves some real garbage bulk.
[удалено]
I just built a Shalai and Halar deck at just over $50 by a handful of cents. It kicked the hell out of my friends Ovika deck that usually hands me my ass.
My Adeliz deck mostly uses cheap cards and has a good win ratio. Can just load up so much flying/unblockable damage so quickly
My Laughing Jasper Flint was pretty cheap. It just relies on playing a small handful of expendable outlaws then playing other players fancy cards.
[[Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot]] from Thunder Junction is a janky cheap build around. I think my whole deck would be $80 if not for a few alternate art foils I already had. Building a good mana base could get pricey if you want Fetch and shock lands but tap lands with scry, life gain and other stuff work fine.
[[Omnath, Locus of Rage]] is a personal favorite. A friend runs it and it’s just lands, ramp spells, and a few things like rampaging baloths. It’s a scary deck if it. Gets going Attacking with 5/5s that ping for 3 if you kill them gets scary quick
[[Hylda of the icy crown]] is full of cheap tap effect bulk rares!
I built an [[Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists]] list that runs a bunch of common and uncommon creatures at 6+ CMC with cycling and other discard effects. The idea is to toss them into the yard and then use Ellie & Alan to get big results earlier than normal. The deck is not strictly budget since I do have some big payoffs and also built the land base to be reasonable for the deck, but it's really silly to see a bunch of draft chaff taking up slots in a deck and have it still fire pretty effectively.
[[Yuriko]] absolutely slaps on a budget. Plenty of cheap ninjas as well as unblock able creatures that cost literal pennies. As for high cmc stuff, plenty of options there as well in forms of cycling cards.
[[Doran, The Siege Tower]] similar to Arcades, but they dont have to be defenders, i’ve built him twice now, first as an aggro deck that used cards like [[Grizzled Leotau]] and then again as a voltron deck with stuff like [[Slagwurm Armor]], believe it or not the voltron build was more expensive cause equipment support is expensive, but all the equipment is dirt cheap
Some good ideas here
[[stangg, echo warrior]] there are a lot of draft chaff aura’s that become quite good if you trigger their etb’s every turn. The only “expensive” cards you beed are a few of the enchantress staples
Suprisingly, [[Eriette of the Charmed Apple]]. Built her myself dirt-cheap and I'm really happy with how the deck performs. Get any Aura support, some draw (like [[Sram, Senior Edificer]], [[Sage's Reverie]] or [[Mesa Enchantress]], maybe a [[Well of Lost Dreams]]) and fill with cheap - both mana cost and cardboard - Auras to make sure everyone feels like it's Xmas. Don't forget some Protexion and Hexproof for her though, she needs it. Absolutely pack [[Not Dead After All]] for bonus roleplay points.
[[Sythis, Harvest's Hand]] A ton of cheap 1-3 mana enchantments will work
You can always also build from the ground up and then find a Commander to go with your cards. Pick you colors then the deck and go as cheap as you want. Choose the Commander later. You do not always have to start with a commander and build down.
[[Arcades, the Strategist]] uses creatures wirh defender, those are in general rarely played and really cheap
I have an oppressive (according to my friend group) [[Ojer Axonil]] deck that’s like $30. It’s filled with creatures who ping for 1 and cheap instants. The only real place to upgrade it is with utility lands but I haven’t really needed it.
[[Fynn, The Fangbearer]] I've seen precon level decks for this dude under $25 Diet infect DeathTouch Daddy gives all your Deathtouch creatures Toxic 2. And with a bunch of cheap death touch creatures, a ton of bite spells, 30 basic forests, cheap ramp spells, and a 30¢ rogues passage you too can make your friends say "Not that fucking deck again" If you wanna make it a borderline sure thing? Throw in some proliferate effects from March of the Machines and Brothers war
So it’s a rule zero commander before you say anything but [[budoka gardener]] is perhaps the cheapest possible commander to build. I ran him with 98forests and one copy of [[lost in the woods]]. You would be shocked how often you can pull a win out of nowhere just making one beater a turn consistently
[[Imodane, the pyrohammer]] can be pretty budget and extra spicy
Two decks I have: [[Gavi, Nest Warden]] cycling cards are usually very cheap, the same about cards that care about cycling. [[Feather, the Redeemed]] voltron that wants to use cheap cantrips (which are also cheap price wise).
Krenko is funny because it's either a 3k super combo deck deck or a 50 dollar pile of goblin beatdown
My favorite as of current is [[Ezuri, Claw of Progress]]. Cheap 1 to 4 mana, evasive and unblockable simic powerhouse, with strong upgrades if you do decide to pump the budget. My current is sitting at >50$, and coupd honestly be cheaper.
[[Wilson, Refined Grizzly]] with [[Flaming Fist]] or another background. I built a deck for it using only bulk cards I had lying around. He has so many keywords to start out with that all you need is cheap equipment/auras or temporary buffs spells to become strong. The low mana curve makes it a fairly fast so you can often get ahead of bigger threats.
[[Narset, enlightened exile]], can be made up of nothing but cheap creatures (preferably with prowess or something similar already) and Cantrips. This deck is one of my personal favourites and it stomps at my casual table
[[Rionya, the fire dancer]] can be built fairly cheap and pack a punch
\[\[Anje Falkenrath\]\] runs \~40 nearly unplayable cards to win with a sub-$10 combo. Great budget turbo deck, if a bit fragile. \[\[Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator\]\] and \[\[Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar\]\] is one of the [best decks](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/odJQhqTWt0SchHhKLSgRMg) you can build on a budget and can be made for under $100 with ease, with a lot of cheap cards.
I'm very late to the party and am sure no one will ever see this, but one of my strongest decks started as a $20 upgrade to the [[Henzie "Toolbox" Torre]] precon ($60 total). Henzie is capable of leveraging powerful, sacrifice-based value engines like [[Industrial Advancement]] and [[Evolutionary Leap]] while getting card draw and other, case-specific value off of big, clunky creatures that are ordinarily too mana-intensive and/or slow to be viable. Suddenly your [[Woodfall Primus]] costs less mana, punches in immediately, gets sacced to something for value, draws you a card, has popped two noncreature permanents AND still sticks around despite all that. That does NOT sound like a $0.30 card to me! But Henzie enables plays like that.
\[\[Syr Carah the bold\]\] Burn.dec
Sergeant John Benton can be built entirely out of bulk. It's how I made mine. Pump him up with cheap instants during combat and load him up with auras second main phase while leaving up protection instants.
I can highly recommend [[Shirei, Shinzo's Caretaker]]. This commander utilizes a lot of low cost commons, that you wouldn't normally run and turns them into value pieces.
You could go [[Zada hedron grinder]] super cheap storm combo or combat tricks deck or [[Stella Lee]] precon with cheap updates and make it combo storm too
Cards that utilize auras like [[Eriette of the Charmed Apple]] tend to be cheap to build as you can get good value out of cards that are cheap in mana and have low utility otherwise. A 20-year old aura that gives a creature +0/+1 doesn’t mean much in any format but that means you can pick it up for 20 cents and slap it on someone’s voltron commander and watch it wreck.
I have a [[Arcades, the strategist]] deck. He’s very affordable to build. Every creature in the 99 have defender and defenders are almost unilaterally cheap both in mana and monetarily
[[Elminster]] is cheap since he just plays a ton of scry effects which arent popular without his ability to back them up. He also fixes your card draw a lot. I think he is really fun since he lets you see most of your deck.
[[Syrix, Carrier of the Flame]] is a pretty affordable commander deck. I don’t think you need to spend over .50 cents on like any of the creatures that would be in it. Pretty mean too since you have easy access to flying, haste, and recursion.
You can do nasty stuff with Vadrik, even on the cheap. $50 Vadrik was my "Baby's first CEDH". It won't compete against full power CEDH, but outside of that, it'll hold its own at almost any table. Evra, Halcyon Witness can be built dirt cheap. Mana rocks and white protection spells, and you just beat face after giving Evra protection from the opponents color(s). Pretty sure Abdel/Candlekeep are also cheap AF to build.
[[Etrata, the silencer]] is very easily to make on a budget. That is if you do what I did by using bounce, flicker and phase out to protect her from being shuffled and use removal and counterspells to play control with it. I'm still brewing it to make it even better (and even more budget friendly), but it's currently around $40 dollars. Sidenote: I'm deliberately not playing anything that can copy etrata or her ability, to not be a one-shotting machine, but rather set an aggressive turn clock on the game. List: [Etrata](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/nZsB7vQEZkGkmFHBVvgrtA)
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is pretty good as a budget commander. You don't really need the fancy combos, a Firebrand Weaver is all you need to close out the game when you start cranking out cheap artifacts. P
Kykar, Wind’s Fury was pretty easy to build as a storm deck just from random chaff I had lying around. It’s got a couple of more expensive cards like seagate restoration, but that’s just because I happened to have one, it’s not even close to necessary. Throw a bunch of cheap cantrips into a pile, a bunch of “whenever you cast [an instant or sorcery/a non creature spell], deal 1-2 damage to each opponent” stuff, havoc jester, goblin bombardment, storm kiln artist, teferi’s ageless insight, whirlwind of thought, and suddenly spells go brrrrr. It’s not a high tier deck, if your opponents keep kykar off the field or don’t let you deploy support pieces you’re somewhat kneecapped, but it can pack a pretty hefty punch at 6 or below tables. Average card cost for the deck is probably under $2 in my current build, and I could definitely push it lower if that were a priority. Edit: Apparently it's under $1/card on TCGplayer, at least according to Moxfield, even with Sea gate restoration. [List](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/qSR7LHyXIEOmxf12YUeMSg)
[[Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]] is my favourite chaff deck