The First Good $10 Commander Deck on Tapped Out

Commander / EDH Artifact Budget Competitive Mono-Black Primer Vehicle

Deadpoo111

Creature (20)

• 1x Audacious Thief
• 1x Blade Juggler
• 1x Defiant Salvager
• 1x Disciple of the Vault
• 1x Dross Golem
• 1x Fen Hauler
• 1x Glaze Fiend
• 1x Malevolent Noble
• 1x Night Market Lookout
• 1x Nim Lasher
• 1x Nim Shrieker
• 1x Phyrexian Rager
• 1x Rathi Trapper
• 1x Ruin Processor
• 1x Servant of Tymaret
• 1x Twisted Abomination
• 1x Ulamog's Crusher
• 1x Vampire Envoy
• 1x Vulturous Aven
• 1x Warchanter of Mogis

Land (43)

• 1x Holdout Settlement
• 1x Survivors' Encampment
• 41x Swamp

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Claim of Erebos
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Seal of Doom

Artifact (12)

• 1x Aradara Express
• 1x Irontread Crusher
• 1x Leonin Bola
• 1x Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
• 1x Mobile Garrison
• 1x Renegade Freighter
• 1x Rusted Relic
• 1x Scale of Chiss-Goria
• 1x Sky Skiff
• 1x Tumble Magnet
• 1x Tyrant's Machine
• 1x Universal Solvent

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Absorb Vis
• 1x Contract Killing
• 1x Dirge of Dread
• 1x Foreboding Fruit
• 1x Fortuitous Find
• 1x Hunger of the Nim
• 1x Ichor Slick
• 1x Live Fast
• 1x Nighthaze
• 1x Stir the Grave

Commander (1)

Instant (11)

• 1x Altar's Reap
• 1x Costly Plunder
• 1x Cremate
• 1x Death Wind
• 1x Final Reward
• 1x Irradiate
• 1x Merciless Resolve
• 1x Mob
• 1x Scour from Existence
• 1x Succumb to Temptation
• 1x Tidy Conclusion

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Proclaimer: I have used Star City Games to calculate the price of this deck and have excluded the basic lands because they can be picked up from fellow players or your local game store, as well as shipping and tax

Total on Star City Games in M/NM condition: $9.87

Full primer is on the way folks!

This couldn't be made without...

• Victoria Newton, My Grandmother for getting me started even when she didn't understand what I was doing
• The Tapped Out Community for their support, help, and positivity
• The MTG community for helping me through the hard times and inspiring me to make this deck
• Nicholas Osuna aka Ch0ppah for playtesting
• Santiago Osuna aka DarkSwitch for playtesting
• Miles Comras aka DwaginFodder for constructive criticism, playtesting, and support
• Jason Albert aka Carbon-13 for support
• Jacob Lertora aka pokemonmasterjal for support

My Story

I started magic in the November of 2016, right after the release of Kaladesh, though I learned around the time BFZ was released. I was mostly playing casual, but when I stumbled on the mtg club at school, I joined and was introduced to Elder Dragon Highlander, or Commander as it's called now. I didn't actually have a commander deck at the time, so I simply bought a planeswalker deck (it was the Chandra one from Kaladesh). That's how I really got introduced into magic; my 60 card vehicle deck up against a 100 card Gisela, Blade of Goldnight . It was also where my love of vehicles sprouted. I adored the crew mechanic, and the fact that my little creatures could be huge 5/4's with trample was extremely appealing. When I made my first commander deck, I didn't know about buying singles. I remember my grandma taking me to the dollar store and picking out 7 of those cheap packs. That same day I pulled Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and my long path to where I am now began. My first commander deck consisted of humans, spirits, equipment, and any foil card I could find. It was unsleeved, incredibly under powered and never won a game. The deck wasn't good, but it did introduce me to the format I love today, so I remember it fondly. After some devastating losses at my club, I discovered my local game store: Super Games Inc. Every Sunday, they would have a commander day where tickets were awarded not on how many games you won, but on how cool or fun your deck was. I enjoyed Sundays with a passion and soon found my deck lacking the basic necessities of an EDH deck. I then moved on to an Atarka, World Render deck(my grandmother bought Atarka for me too) and it did better than Teysa. However, it didn't win any games either. Why couldn't my deck win? The answer was pretty simple: I wasn't brewing or trying to make synergies with my decks, I was just finding colors that matched my commander and shoved them in the deck. My decks were also dictated by how many basic lands I had. In the beginning, I hadn't even bought a deck-builder's toolkit (something I would recommend for all new players) and only had about 17 copies of each basic land type. After some consideration and research online, I was able to learn about buying singles and brewing. I didn't really understand the concept though, so I took a Melek, Izzet Paragon deck straight off of MTGGoldfish. I bought the deck by selling all of my old Yu Gi Oh and Pokemon cards and finally started getting somewhere. However, the first Sunday I brought the deck to, I faced a Derevi, Empyrial Tactician deck that played Winter Orb on turn 2. Needless to say I lost hope. I blamed the deck I was playing for my loss and subsequently sold it. This happened with another deck right after and in the end, I lost A LOT of money. MTG can be a financial pit, especially for younger players. It's my goal with this deck to build the most budget savvy, competitive, multiplayer oriented commander deck possible for only $10.00. This deck is supposed to help introduce players to the Commander format and give them a deck that can be upgraded or just played in it's usual condition while also combining the things I love about Magic and the EDH format into one vessel. With that I welcome you, dear reader and fellow player, to The First Good $10 Deck on Tapped Out!

The Idea

So here's the plan: A commander deck that costs $10 or less (excluding basic lands) that is both capable of winning, has a clear strategy, and fulfills the requirements that regular EDH decks have. This deck is for the player who wants to get into commander, the kid that wants to play with his friends but cant spend $30-$100 on a commander deck, the ex-player that wants to get back into the game but doesn't know how. If you want to get into commander, I would start with this deck. It's a simple concept with some intricate interactions, it's multiplayer focused, and it's capable of winning against much more expensive decks.

Our Commander

Ever since I started really playing commander, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed always looked appealing. It's a great mechanic and the card is ridiculously flavorful. I've wanted to make him for a while and where better than the cheapest commander deck that will win you games! Macar is actually a very powerful commander because he combines ramp and removal perfectly. His ability also exiles instead of destroys, stopping commanders like Teysa Karlov and Judith, the Scourge Diva to name a few. Because of this, the deck focuses on tapping and untapping Macar and some of our other creatures while also having an artifact subtheme. Macar functions in both themes of the deck and makes the deck incredibly synergistic.

Vehicles

Probably one of my favorite mechanics in the game is crew. The whole idea is really creative and the first deck I really played magic with was the Chandra vehicle deck; so they've been with me through the start of my career. But why are vehicles the best cards in this deck? It's pretty simple, they're repeatable tapping engines that allow you to tap just about any number of creatures at instant speed. They also serve as one of our win conditions because an opponent can only take so many hits from an Aradara Express before they're dead. In addition to this, many of the vehicles in the deck are smaller and more evasive, making them little value engines for very small amounts of mana. Vehicles are also incredibly hard to remove and unless you're attacking with them, I'd simply wait until the end step before my next turn to crew them, making it harder for your opponent to respond. But enough about those vehicles, let's talk about the best one in the deck and probably the best card in the deck: Mobile Garrison ! This card is the best in the deck for three reasons: 1) It's a vehicle 2) It untaps Macar 3) It's an artifact. By untapping Macar we essentially get two activations every turn which is incredible value.

Other Ways to Tap

While vehicles are great, we can only afford so many and stay under budget so we'll need some other ways to tap Macar and our creatures. There are two categories for tapping in this deck, temporary and repetitive. Temporary sources like Mob act as one shot taps when we either don't have a repetitive source or that source is too expensive to activate. On the other hand we have repetitive tap engines like Tyrant's Machine and Rathi Trapper provide tap effects over the long game. Vehicles are also be included in this category. At the moment there are no affordable untap cards in black, but as time goes on and better cards are printed, I hold out hope for Wizards to print a cheap one.

Removal & Control

This deck runs an extensive amount of removal and in all honesty, it's more around a control deck in structure. Some of our removal, like Tidy Conclusion and Irradiate , focuses on our artifact theme. Others, like Death Wind , use the massive amounts of mana we generate. By using an unprecedented amount of removal, we can stop our opponents from getting out of hand and winning the game. Speaking of winning the game...

Winning the Game

Being on a budget can often mean that it's hard to win. However, with Ultimate Masters and Battle for Zendikar, good, budget eldrazi can be found everywhere! My favorite is easily Ulamog's Crusher because it ends game faster than you can say "value". Among others, Ruin Processor can easily gain us a lot of life while also providing a big boi for our opponents to deal with. In the same beater category is Aradara Express because, well, menace is a thing. Your opponent's life totals are your playthings!

Mulligan Guide

Hand 1:

• Swamp
• Swamp
• Blade Juggler
• Ichor Slick
• Live Fast
• Swamp
• Disciple of the Vault

Keep: Yes

Hand Strength: 9/10

Explanation: This hand is really strong, promising plays on turns 1 and 2 with a possible turn three Blade Juggler . It’s also worth noting that this hand has a turn one Disciple of the Vault , which is one of the strongest moves in the deck. In my opinion, this hand is fantastic because it contains draw, removal, and one wincon already. If it had a vehicle or other tap source this would’ve been 10/10.

Hand 2:

• Swamp
• Renegade Freighter
• Swamp
• Swamp
• Final Reward
• Survivors' Encampment
• Swamp

Keep: Yes

Hand Strength: 6/10

Opinion: This hand is very slow. At most, you’ll probably just drop a swamp and Survivors' Encampment on the first two turns before you play Renegade Freighter , which is a pretty good beater. King Macar, the Gold cursed on turn 4 and then you go on with your game. While slow, a hand with a consistent tap ability shouldn’t be undervalued since they help the deck so much.

Hand 3

• Swamp
• Swamp
• Servant of Tymaret
• Costly Plunder
• Swamp
• Altar's Reap
• Swamp

Keep: No

Hand Strength: 3/10

Opinion: This hand isn’t good. Two draw spells is nice, but they BOTH require a creature to sacrifice, which isn’t in this hand. There are very few good plays other than just dropping Macar on turn 4. Be aware that hands with enough lands to cast Macar are tempting but if the trade off is a crappy hand, don’t take it, just mulligan. The deck is built to get swamps into the hand.

Upgrade Guide

$1.00 Tier

Our first tier is only three cards, but they all set up more powerful interactions, and guarantee consistency.

Add:

• Hollowsage - $0.25
• Marionette Master - $0.49
• Scaretiller - $0.25

Total: $0.99

With more consistency and better cards, we no longer need as much ramp and we can cut one of our worse artifacts in the process because it doesn't really serve a purpose.

Take Out:

• Fortuitous Find
• Absorb Vis
• Scale of Chiss-Goria

A Final Thank You

I simply want to say thank you to everyone who's given me advice, support , and a magic community to be apart of. Here's to future games. Brew on.

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Rares 58 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.32
Tokens	Energy Reserve, Food, Gold, Treasure
Folders	Decks to remember, Decks I like or should look at, Noice, Commander Ideas, Budget, Budget Builds, messa like, EDH, The First Good $10 Commander Deck on Tapped Out, Commander