Colorless Ramp on a budget with Kozilek

Commander / EDH Budget Eldrazi Ramp Stax

Greenpeas

Land (33)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 1x Blinkmoth Well
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Darksteel Citadel
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 1x Encroaching Wastes
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Grasping Dunes
• 1x Guildless Commons
• 1x Labyrinth of Skophos
• 1x Mage-Ring Network
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Phyrexia's Core
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sea Gate Wreckage
• 1x Sequestered Stash
• 1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 9x Wastes
• 1x Zhalfirin Void

Recur (9)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 1x Salvaging Station
• 1x Scaretiller
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Sequestered Stash
• 1x Spine of Ish Sah
• 1x Trading Post

Draw (6)

• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Endbringer
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Mystic Forge
• 1x Sea Gate Wreckage

Untap (5)

• 1x Clock of Omens
• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Victory Chimes
• 1x Voltaic Key
• 1x Voltaic Servant

Stax-light (3)

• 1x Icy Manipulator
• 1x Pacification Array
• 1x Ring of Gix

Counts as land (1)

• 1x Renegade Map

Mana fast (20)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fractured Powerstone
• 1x Guardian Idol
• 1x Hedron Crawler
• 1x Inspiring Statuary
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Manifold Key
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Plague Myr
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Voltaic Key
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Stax (12)

• 1x Bane of Bala Ged
• 1x Feroz's Ban
• 1x God-Pharaoh's Statue
• 1x Juntu Stakes
• 1x Lodestone Golem
• 1x Mishra's Helix
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1x Storage Matrix
• 1x Storm Cauldron
• 1x Torpor Orb

D (8)

• 1x Endbringer
• 1x Icy Manipulator
• 1x Labyrinth of Skophos
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Pacification Array
• 1x Ring of Gix
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia

Sac (4)

• 1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
• 1x Metalwork Colossus
• 1x Phyrexia's Core
• 1x Trading Post

Token (3)

• 1x Prototype Portal
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Ugin, the Ineffable

Commander (1)

Mana Big (14)

• 1x Blinkmoth Urn
• 1x Conduit of Ruin
• 1x Dreamstone Hedron
• 1x Empowered Autogenerator
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Mage-Ring Network
• 1x Pyramid of the Pantheon
• 1x Scaretiller
• 1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
• 1x Sisay's Ring
• 1x Ugin, the Ineffable
• 1x Ur-Golem's Eye
• 1x Victory Chimes

Removal (11)

• 1x Aligned Hedron Network
• 1x Encroaching Wastes
• 1x Endbringer
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Grasping Dunes
• 1x Lux Cannon
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Spine of Ish Sah
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Tectonic Edge
• 1x Transmogrifying Wand

Beater (5)

• 1x Bane of Bala Ged
• 1x Lodestone Golem
• 1x Metalwork Colossus
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Steel Hellkite

Tap (4)

• 1x Blinkmoth Well
• 1x Icy Manipulator
• 1x Pacification Array
• 1x Ring of Gix

Tutor (2)

• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Kuldotha Forgemaster

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Maybeboard

Removal (11)

• 1x Brittle Effigy
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Explosive Apparatus
• 1x Helvault
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Powder Keg
• 1x Scour from Existence
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Torture Chamber
• 1x Triangle of War
• 1x Universal Solvent

Draw (5)

• 1x Book of Rass
• 1x Deal Broker
• 1x Endless Atlas
• 1x Loreseeker's Stone
• 1x Staff of Nin

D (3)

• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Puppet Strings
• 1x Voyager Staff

Mana Big (2)

• 1x Jhoira's Familiar
• 1x Mirrorworks

Land (2)

• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 1x Terrain Generator

Fast (1)

• 1x Manakin

Stax-light (1)

• 1x Relic Barrier

Tap (1)

• 1x Relic Barrier

Great ways to spend (8)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Forsaken Monument
• 1x Lotus Bloom
• 1x Lotus Field
• 1x Mox Tantalite
• 1x Semblance Anvil
• 1x Unwinding Clock

Other (5)

• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Walking Atlas
• 1x Welding Jar
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Recur (4)

• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Workshop Assistant

Token (3)

• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x MImic Vat
• 1x Mirrorworks

Counts as land (2)

• 1x Traveler's Amulet
• 1x Wanderer's Twig

Mana fast (1)

• 1x Foundry Inspector

Sac (1)

• 1x Smokestack

Tutor (1)

• 1x Inventors' Fair

Bling your stax (6)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Void Winnower
• 1x Ward of Bones
• 1x Winter Orb

Not cheap but great value (5)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Opal

Interact (5)

• 1x Hope of Ghirapur
• 1x Not of this World
• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Synod Sanctum
• 1x Warping Wail

Smoke em if u got em (3)

• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Karn Liberated
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Beater (2)

• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Walker of the Wastes

Stax (2)

• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Orb of Dreams

Untap (1)

• 1x Dross Scorpion

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Why I built this deck Artifact/Colorless decks are fun. Alas (Alas! Yup, said it), if colorless cards are any good, they are usually pretty pricy. That’s because the best colorless cards can go into a lot of different decks so they are in pretty high demand. That is too bad because everyone should have a cool colorless deck without breaking the bank.

I’ve had some requests for a more budget version of my Kozilek deck from the playgroup and online. (Here on TappedOut the deck is called The OG Kozilek says No - PRIMER ). So I’ve done some work and this deck is the result.

This decks works well - it is strong enough for most pools and it doesn’t break the bank. I’ll talk more about budget below, but colorless decks are usually very expensive and while you can find a cheaper deck out there, if you want to play colorless this is a pretty low price for a deck that works. Also there are a lot of cards that you are likely to have anyway, and which fit into a ton of decks. That is the benefit of picking up many of the cards in this list if you don’t already have them.

The deck is fun because it ramps so hard, dumping your whole hand out then Kozilek gets your hand right back. It is fun because Kozilek’s counterspell ability means that he is hard to remove.

A lot of decks with a big commander have ‘no fun’ moments when you ramp and then your commander gets shot, or you cast your commander and then watch somebody combo out. Kozilek’s counterspells give you an answer to both of these problems. Also, even if Kozilek does get shot, you aren’t sitting there drawing off the top of your deck like you would be with a lot of other decks - you have a whole new hand!

There is a lot of discussion about how to Mulligan and play in the Kozilek says No Primer and that logic generally applies here.

The deck also takes advantage of the synergy between mana ramp and stax cards like Storage Matrix . Kozilek’s abilities let you really commit to ramp. So you are in a much better position than most decks to deal with the effects of some stax cards.

Spending a Bit More There are a few different ways to spend a bit of money to improve the effectiveness of this deck. The cards in the Maybe Board section Bling Your Stax will make this deck much stronger still. There are a lot of subtle interactions in these additions as well, such as Lotus Field working better with Winter Orb, Drownyard Temple and Ward of Bones . Your ability to tap and untap cards like winter orb makes them one-sided affecting only your opponents.

The section Great Ways to Spend has cards that cost $5-10 that are well suited to the deck and can have a big impact in the right situation. They are all great additions.

Finally, if you already have them, the maybe board has a few cards listed under the heading Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. These cards would add value if you have them but aren’t at all necessary. The deck is built on synergy so you won’t want to go wild with off-theme additions.

A further word about Budget and collection-building

There are a lot of cards that aren’t cheap that would work well in this deck. I think some of these cards are still good to buy even if you have a budget focus - so let me suggest a different way to think about Budget.

Some cards would be a great investment to pick up if you don’t have them because you can put them in so many different commander decks. They are a good use of your budget because you’ll get so much use out of them. The Maybe Board has a list of examples: - For $25-35 each you can get Mox Opal, Ancient Tomb, Extraplanar Lens, and Crucible of Worlds. Often you can also find a Mana Vault for this price. These are good investments because of how much use you will get out of them. Where these cards have been reprinted you are likely to have ongoing chances to buy them. I’m including them because their price is less likely to get out of hand.

It is too soon to say how Jeweled Lotus will be priced. It is great in this deck and many in so others. If you have one, include it.

Extraplanar Lens it is great in this deck but not as generally usable as some other similarly priced cards in the list. If you do use this then increase the number of wastes. Other cards such as Endless Atlas become really good options if you go this way. In any event it is good to have some basic lands - for your own basic land effects, and as insurance against non basic destruction and abilities from other players that allow all players to search for basic lands.

Hope you enjoy. I’d love to hear any great budget additions or alternatives and your experiences with budget colorless.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 35 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.51
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Goat 0/1 W, Ox 2/4 W, Spirit 2/2 C
Based on	The OG Kozilek says No - PRIMER Greenpeas EDH