How to budget build?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 1, 2015, 10:46 a.m. by MagicalHacker
So let me start off by saying that I've never really had enough money to build a deck in paper the way I build online, not because I cram all the expensive goodies into a deck and say they need to be there, but because it just so happens that after my deck is built, maybe 15 or so cards are extremely hard to get. Or the fact that I can only trade for cards and not buy cards means I literally can't get cards that people don't want to trade, like the eldrazi Titans. My response to this was proxying until I get the cards, and it works fine, but not for all playgroups.
However, playing only fine-tuned decks isn't exactly ideal for every game you sit down to play, so I figured I need to have a deck to play against new players, players still learning, or more casual playgroups to facilitate integration.
I can kill two birds with one stone by building a budget deck, but I'd like any and all advice for how to build a budget deck. These are my preliminary restrictions:
- No card over five dollars (including commander).
- Deck is 100 dollars or less (including commander).
- Must be a control deck because it's the most powerful deck to have, and budget needs any help it can get.
- Mono-color is preferred, but two-colored works as well.
Are these good restrictions?
Any other restrictions I should add?
Any advice when building budget?
Any suggestions for commanders?
I appreciate all discussion on anything related to anything I said. Thanks!
TLDR
I wanna build a control 1-2 colored budget deck, any advice?
Hjaltrohir says... #3
There are some really powerful EDH cards for under 5 dollars. For a budget control deck, I would run UG as there are some nice budget green ramp spells and creatures as well as lots of blue control card, for the commander I would run Prime Speaker Zegana
March 1, 2015 10:58 a.m.
Misanthropia says... #4
Try xmage.info.Also, commander online is really horrible, kinda takes away from the point of the format, i.e, social interaction.
March 1, 2015 11:02 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #5
I built an Experiment Kraj deck for 30 dollars that is very control and it can stand up against $1000 dollar decks in multiplayer until they get a bomb through my cancels and removal. Just give yourself a few great blockers and a lot of answers. It doesn't need to get expensive for it to be decent
March 1, 2015 11:34 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #6
I don't know much about playing control yet; I'm still learning it. I do know about building on a budget though...
Avoid all of the fancy lands, like the fetchlands (Flooded Strand, etc). They eat up a huge amount of budget. Most of my decks in the past have mostly used basics with a supplement of things from the Commander precons, like Command Tower, Temple of the False God, etc. This is easier to get away with in green or with fewer colors.
Play with fewer tutors. Tutors are expensive, and they provide deck consistency, which improves the deck's efficiency also. This is also something that makes it harder to oppose for newer players, because you'll be able to more reliably pull the tools you want to stop them. If you want tutors try to use more specialized, sorcery speed ones (they tend to be cheaper; Merchant Scroll vs Mystical Tutor for example), or a commander with a tutor ability.
March 1, 2015 12:06 p.m.
To build budget, I always do the same thing.
-Get my hands on the commander
-Build with what I already own
-Trade for upgrades
-Gradually buy more expensive cards in order of importance
This method allows me to get a very strong deck together on the cheap in maybe 1 or 2 months.
March 1, 2015 12:19 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #8
I build on a pretty tight budget. The way I do this is I put a budget on the deck from the start. I normally have the commander, or trade for it, but I have used 5, 10, and 20 dollars.
I use the cards I have, and try to make the most out of that budget. 1 and 2 colors is best for budget due to lands. Go off the lands that you have already to pick the color for the deck.
So the question I want to ask is what lands do you have available to build with? Rare ones, and chase uncommon ones (cabal coffers type)
March 1, 2015 12:41 p.m.
GhostChieftain says... #10
Yeah, build talrand says no so you lose all of your friends.
March 1, 2015 5:17 p.m.
rooroothepirate says... #11
I enjoy building budget decks quite a bit. It adds an extra level of restriction and forces you to be creative and think outside of the normal format staples.
That being said, I have found that trying to build something very specific and off the beaten path helps keep prices down. Recently built a bobo deck in which most of the other cards are not used in normal decks but are all stars in that specific deck.
Perhaps some kind of u/b control deck could be fun? Play a bunch of theft effects which would also help you be able to naturally adjust the power level of your deck to those around you. Lazav, Dimir Mastermind can be great for that.
March 1, 2015 7:06 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #12
So I've been looking around, and I know I want a legend with blue. Without blue's counterspells, there's no way I'll be able to reliably remove cards that have spot removal evasion (indestructible, hexproof, etc.). So I've looking for a commander of cmc 3 or less that can draw cards or a commander that has flash. In my budget, that leaves me with Sygg, River Cutthroat or Wydwen, the Biting Gale. Opinions?
lemmingllama, unfortunately, I'm not planning on including many creatures like that. Sure some, but mostly spot removal, counterspells, and board wipes, as much instant speed as possible.
I do like the card advantage idea, but I think I'd want to keep a card advantage commander to less than four mana. At four mana, I don't know if the deck could take that big of a hit to tempo. It's harder to cast a four drop and keep two counterspells up than it is for a three drop and two spells. Thank you for your input! :)
awesomeguy37, idk if I see ramp has a huge goal of the deck really. As a control player, I tend to slow things down, not speed things up. But regardless, 6 mana is way above my comfort zone for a sorcery speed spell in the deck, especially if it has a one shot effect. Thank you for your input! :)
Misanthropia, that looks like an interesting program, I'll have to try it out!
And as for MTGO, I was actually talking about a paper budget build, but I think MTGO can facilitate the social aspect of commander, but I like the fact that it limits the amount of arm-twisting that happens in game (some say it's politics, but I say politics refers more to playing in a way to prevent seeming like public enemy #1). Thank you for your input! :)
luther, that is very cool! Experiment Kraj has always been a really cool card to me, but I'm not sure if I could play what I'm looking to play with him xD Thank you for your input! :)
nobu_the_bard, that's exactly what I was thinking! A budget deck doesn't have room for fancy shmancy lands! I'm gonna run some of the cheaper ones, but probably mostly basics, especially if I build mono colored.
Tutors may end up missing from the deck completely in favor for more draw, so, yay Treasure Cruise lol. Thank you for your input! :)
Jay, in this case, I want to first make a deck that is the end goal deck, because if I don't, I know I'm going see the grass as greener on the other side and I'm going to have trouble getting rid of sentimental cards. Also, I don't have any money to buy any cards. So my plan is build the deck online, proxy it up, unproxy it as I go, and then revel in my work. Thank you for your input! :)
Didgeridooda, well the thing is, I don't really have enough cards to build a deck from, enough cards to make all the trades I'd need to make to have enough to build a deck from, or any money to buy cards. So I'm unfortunately going to have this deck proxied initially. The hope is that the fact that it's a budget deck means I can unproxy it more quickly than any other deck.
But the part about the deck being 1-2 colors is exactly how I feel! In fact, the more I think about it, mono colored budget is not going to be versatile enough to do control when the budget means I can't get the cards in its colors that are unique and do things that the color typically doesn't do. Thank you for your input! :)
jandrobard, I am glad you mentioned him, cause I know he can be amazing! I'll add him to my list of possibilities. Thank you for your input! :)
March 1, 2015 7:22 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #13
rooroothepirate, I completely agree! The restrictions I think are gonna be great!
But after some more thought, I've decided I'm adding a rule: No sorcery speed card that needs to be cast at more than three mana. Unfortunately, this rules out Lazav, but something very similar will be the commander I think. Sygg and Wydwen are my main two options, but Talrand and Lazav are things I'm considering also. Thank you for your input! :)
To all!
Options:
March 1, 2015 7:30 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #14
Out of your commander options there, I would say that Talrand, Sky Summoner or Wydwen, the Biting Gale are the strongest options. Lazav, Dimir Mastermind is a commander that wants extra budget in the deck so he can become all of those pretty Eldrazi, but with hexproof. Sygg, River Cutthroat doesn't really affect the game significantly, and typically will die. A lot. I personally would rather have a resilient commander than one that draws me cards that I have to use solely to protect that commander.
Of the two, Wydwen, the Biting Gale is probably the most fun to play. Flash, built in protection, and you can slowly voltron someone to death until you land a Hatred or something. Talrand is great, but he is a very linear deck (play cantrips, receive flying death machines, do nothing else but counter things and swing) and he folds to boardwipes. Wydwen also gives you access to targeted removal in black, which is quite useful.
March 1, 2015 9:50 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #15
Currently the limitations of Talrand (board wipable, costs four mana, no black, etc.) have made me decide to remove him from the options.
As for Sygg, the effect seems scarier than it actually is, and I think he will get hated out or trigger too little. He's out too.
Wydwen is definitely amazing looking, although a bit vanilla, and Lazav is still a toss up, as he is only a good commander if opponents get good creatures into their graveyard, so what do you guys think?
March 1, 2015 10:46 p.m.
miracleHat says... #16
If you insist on b/u, then I would go Wydwen, the Biting Gale tempo control.
That being said, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is the best control general that you will find, save for the fact that everybody hates him... He is >$5, easy to go budget with, good color combination and a lot of possibilities can be explored with him.
lemmingllama says... #2
I would say to build your deck around a commander that lets you get extra value out of your creatures. Guys like Brago, King Eternal or Feldon of the Third Path let you use your good cards over and over again, which can be very strong when trying to close out a game without giant expensive haymakers.
Alternatively, try using cards that give you lots of card advantage. Mono Blue using Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora is pretty standard, but throwing in cards like Arcanis the Omnipotent can allow you to find the rest of the cards you need to survive. I'm quite fond of mono-blue board bounces for budget, I build one myself and it works quite nicely against more competitive decks.
March 1, 2015 10:57 a.m.