Hi! Lets take a dive into the popular pre-con combo commander list, Breya, the Etherium Shaper. I usually set budget EDH decks with a total cost at the time of writing at $300 USD. Determining what is budget depends on a myriad of factors and how that number was selected is a topic for another time. By working with the manabase, it is possible in my opinion to make this list operational on $200. Time to dive in!
Whenever I build a deck, I like to start off by asking myself what is the objective? Given her color palette and enter the battlefield (ETB) effect that generates two artifact creature tokens,a wealth of combo options is open to us. Dropping in Breyas name to EDHrec shows us a number of combo choices players have tried to cram into their lists with her:
- Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry
- Thopter Assembly + Time Sieve
- Bomberman (Auiok Salvagers and Lions Eye Diamond)
- Nim Deathmantle combo
- Eldrazi Displacer combo
Comparing speed, price, and power, it appears that Nim Dealthmantle and Eldrazi Displacer combo would be the stars of this budget brew. It is also another perk that their combo flavorfully centers around our general.
These two combos work by combining their namesakes with the ability to continually generate more tokens when combined with Krark-Clan Ironworks or Ashnods Altar.
Ironworks/Alter + Breya + Deathmantle: Breyas ETB creates two tokens. You sacrifice Breya and both tokens to generate six mana. You use Four mana to bring her back each time with Dreathmantle. This provide the infinite mana. You then sacrifice just Breya and one token to create infinite tokens. You then you use infinite mana plus the infinite tokens to deal enough damage to eliminate all players at the table.
Ironworks/Alter + Breya + Displacer:Breyas ETB creates two tokens. You sacrifice two tokens and flicker Breya for three mana. This nets you one mana each time generating infinite mana. With this you then flicker just Breya while not sacrificing tokens to generate infinite tokens. With infinite mana and infinite tokens you then sacrifice them one at a time until you have dealt enough damage to eliminate your opponents.
We also run Altar of the Brood and Disciple of the Vault to get around people protecting themselves from damage or life loss. Given that we are already running the Nim Dealthmantle combo, I also included another budget win con card of in the form of Murderous Redcap.
With the goal of the deck laid out, I like to move construction to the the bulk of the manabase. As we are in four colors and running budget we need to make good use of the more affordable multi-color lands that do not come into player tapped. In this scenario, we are able to have room for all of the pain lands, shock lands, and a few KTK fetchlands. If the $300 USD budget is a bit much, you could sacrifice the shock lands and fetch lands, however, I feel that would drastically reduce the consistency given that we are in a four color pallette. After adding those lands in, we have room for three of each basic.
Being a combo list, getting the mana we need there as fast as possible is of great importance. As we lack green, we need to rely on artifacts to get us there quick enough. With our budget constraints, we are only able to include Chrome Mox and Sol Ring as our fast mana options. To get us the rest of the way, we max out all the Signet and Talisman mana rocks available to us.
As our combo is primarily is centered around artifacts, we can manage without access to the black tutor suite by including a strong artifact tutor suite and some other fun options.
- Fabricate
- Reshape
- Enlightened Tutor
- Tezzeret the Seeker
- Mystical Tutor
- Muddle the Mixture
While this is a healthy suite of tutor capabilities, we still need to ensure we can get to our combo quickly and consistently. To extend our filtering capabilities further, we can use Blue and Reds access to the Wheel, Looting and Rummage mechanics to quickly draw through our deck. Combining the previously mentioned mechanics with Reds ability to ability to extract artifacts from the graveyard, we can use these budget cards to help us filter.
For a combo to be successful, you need to be able to protect yourself during your combo turn. Thankfully, there are plenty of budget countermagic options that we have access to:
- Counterspell
- Dispel
- Muddle the Mixture
- Negate
- Swan Song
Also combined with one of my favorite secret tech pieces of Pull from Eternity, allowing us to save a valuable combo piece from exile.
Knowing our combo, we can plug the names of Nim Dealthmantle and Eldrazi Displacer into EDHrecs advanced filter to help fill out the remaining cards with what will best help support our combo objectives.
After completing this final step, I give you Budget Breya. A competent combo deck with multiple paths to victory.
Budget Breya
