Building On A Budget | The Command Zone 117

[@frankpetrekovich1530]

I'm an older player that started back in 96' and have never had much luck with my decks. I never really understood about synergy, play style or what some of the mechanics did. I was frustrated a lot and stopped playing for about 10 yrs. I started back up around 06', but still had the same problems until I started listening to the Command Zone about a year ago. Since then, I have been able to figure out some of the things I had been doing wrong and have been able to correct them. Now, my decks are more competitive and fun for me to play. Thanks Josh and Jimmy! I will continue to listen and learn even at 67 yr. old. You guys do a fantastic job.

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Frank Petrekovich I was born in 96 Feel old yet?

[@whatdoiputhere4150]

@@fenixmeaney6170 I was born in 06' fight me

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Fizfiz I would love to battle a fellow commander player

[@XimCines]

You should try Tolarian Community College in YT, it also helped me a lot in this game.

[@vinceinman9666]

Building on a Budget: Hosted by two people who admit they are not great at budgeting. I couldn't stop laughing when they embarrassingly admit to it. Great episode!

[@apanapane]

Main topic starts at 00:06:59.

[@aaronbowers4029]

I just recently found your channel after getting back into Magic after a 15 year hiatus. Your advice on Commander decks and building Commander decks has been extremely helpful.

[@leovaeg]

Better tip - start with the Cards you already have, then add some from outside sources if it is lacking :)

[@BahamutEx]

Nah, always buy more. We need to consume... >:3

[@Libery300]

I know this is an older video, but for anyone interested "The Commander's Quarters" makes some great cheap (25$) commander decks.

[@stasjovb]

It has seen better times but the old vids are great

[@micahshapiro9739]

One of my favorite things about brewing budget is something that you touched on, which is improving the deck over time. It gives me a connection to the deck, and makes me much more likely to keep playing a deck. Just generally more fun, and a *lot* more satisfying.

[@johngarner7159]

love how your talking about budge decks and mention running mana rocks you throw a mana crypt up on the screen! Totally budget!!!

[@jamesthefront2246]

More often than not the guy at my LGS will give new players a few cards to kick start their archetype when they buy their commander. For example someone new to EDH/MTG bought Karador as their first commander and he gave them a Sakura-Tribe Elder and Satyr Wayfinder 'just to help you out man'. That person was me, and I have always gone back to play EDH at my LGS.

[@NaldoNidoking]

Fine tuning is really important if your deck is starting to feel a little dull. I changed about 5 cards in my Omnath, Locus of Rage deck and have been so excited to play it every time I've pulled it out.

[@Tyler-hr2jg]

The ultimate budget deck: Ashling The Pilgrim + 99 mountains. Should only cost you $1.25, maybe two bucks if you need to acquire the basic lands.

[@SovereignwindVODs]

you are evil. I almost want to try that now. only thing stopping me is that my play group uses a $600 mono-green ramp deck, a modified atraxa deck, and a modified edgar markov deck. fun it might be, but i'd get stomped.

[@madhatten00]

lol i think you can do that with almost any legendary creature

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

Oh man. I feel sorry for you. That's just sick to spend that much on a deck that isn't made up of legacy style cards. You should introduce them to pauper...lol

[@fenixmeaney6170]

Or you could put dark steel plate and soul of new phyrexia and caged sun from precons

[@a.w.melodies2449]

Thank you guys so much, guys! I've been watching a lot of these older videos and listening to the podcasts while i'm at work, and i now have some ideas and plans for the future when it comes to playing and investing in Commander. Though i am newer to the format, i still plan to play some of the crazy cards through saving money.

[@TomBerryBW]

my mum and sister used to live ~3 miles away from me and there was a bus that took me right there and i would say...bus ride or half a booster pack and then walk 3 miles and then going home i would say...bus ride...or boosterpack and walk 3 miles back

[@Red-yt2dk]

3 miles is actually a pretty reasonable walk

[@samuelgoodliffe4757]

@@Red-yt2dk **6* miles...a day... Is not reasonable. But the things people will do for what they love. 😏

[@gallodorogaming9964]

@@samuelgoodliffe4757 6 miles is very reasonable😂

[@pjjones306]

great episode guys, I've been brewing budget decks for the past year and your advices are on point. I had a playgroup with friends who were complete starters, and I had to build all the decks, so that meant I had to balance the power level, so upgrading a deck meant upgrade to all the decks. This changed by now, and we have a healthy playgroup, but we are still collecting the usual pieces, but the learning curve lead us to strange brews that can surprise people in the LGS when we go out to play. Last time the sarcastic question popped up "who doesn't play a sol ring?" they didn't expect an answer when I raised my hand. Sol Ring is cheap, but when you have to buy 8 at the same time, you quickly change your mind. 4 of us sat down to play, there was a jhoira deck and a derevi deck loaded with all you could want, my girlfriend with her Emeria Tandris token/midrange build, and me with my Sek'kuar deck. The two guys were heavy on counterspells, and did not take us seriously until I landed a Sire of Insanity, which immediately slowed down their deck, since they couldn't really build up a plan, and that lasted for about 6 rotations around the table. The game was really fun even for them, and we did pretty good but we did not have a winner since the shop closed before we could finish, but the game could have ended in anyone's favor.

[@anthonygilmore5424]

Love the idea of sleeving everything in the same type of sleeve and have been wanting to do it. It would be useful for modern, legacy, or casual so you only need one playset of a card. The checklist or proxy idea is cool as well.

[@letzgoterps]

I love how you talk about leaving a review and then say "you can relatively expect." Reminds me of teachers in school hinting that a pop quiz was incoming and half the students didn't get it.

[@Markail17]

So I know I'm super late on this video but I just recently found this channel and and it's already my favorite mtg channel. Since this video is about building a deck on a budget, I just want to say I waited 9 months to build a 5 color ally commander deck with General Tazari. It was the first commander deck I ever built and it's not too competitive but it's super fun for me to play, even if I lose.

[@sharpshot2356]

My favorite budget deck is New Kozilek. Bunch of cheap mana rocks and some off the wall equipment makes him realy good.

[@jonathanmedina9484]

"Can I get some?" "YEAH!" I laughed at this one when you guys were talking about signets.

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

the thing I like about commander is to get into the format the precon decks are competitive and 30-40 usd

[@studentanselmus9461]

Most of the precon commanders are actually tier one or two commanders, which helps to balance out the weaknesseses of the decks by sheer powerlevel

[@SabataDS]

My first deck was Daretti, but he's ended up that first character I played and I'm glad I held back and didn't buy the skin for him. Currently, the deck I'm heavily involved in working on is Meren of Clan Nel Toth because I realized I have a passion for graveyard decks. Daretti may end up taken apart for bits for Sydri or Hanna deck down the line.

[@BugsHaveProtein]

If you do have multiple decks, you usually won't run into people that have a problem with printed proxies in one deck if you own the card in another deck, and having them saves time from having a binder to change everything out as well.

[@SirNarax]

The less colours the cheapest? What about no colours? I am a genius!

[@mtgmight353]

FrozenAura colorless, full of eldrazi titans

[@SirNarax]

Danny Brownlee Yes, and artifacts!

[@azerim2039]

0 colors - 7/10 expensive, good colorless cards are expensive (Eldrazi and stuff). 1 color - 5/10 you have only 1 color to chose from, there is a limited list of good cards. 2 colors - 3/10 you have access to a lot of cards and mana base is quite cheap. 3 colors - 7/10 4 colors - 10/10 5 colors - 9/10

[@SmugLookingBarrel]

I mean, you could play Momir Basic, which aside from the momir Vanguard (which doesn't exist in Paper, so it's free), your entire deck is basic lands (also free) 0 dollar deck in colourless!

[@langgalea4330]

And then he enters affinity hell, where the cards are jank, and the pricepoint doesn't matter haha.

[@hammanhouse]

I love the point that you made about getting into the commander format around the 9-10 minute mark. my first edh deck was a budget izzet build. I had told myself, "ok just buy this one and this will be it for me". eventually I learned that it was definantly wasn't my favorite play type and my meta kinds kicked my butt almost every time we got together. after playing a while and really testing the edh waters, I learned my kind of play strategy and my favorite kind of deck. eventually when I brought more of my friends into edh, I had made many Jank budget decks for them to start with too to give them a taste.

[@joshleekwai8895]

It's a great idea to have some decks for your friends to try out the format. Good work!

[@jticonchuk]

the best purchase I ever made was Dakmor Salvage, picked several up when Gitrog was spoiled. It jumped up x8 in price. Also had a playset+ of Chromatic Lanterns that I didn't get rid of and they are pricey now.

[@veggieboi2966]

Thank you. I am a 14 year old attempting to play commander. I have almost no money, and am reusing many cards that suck in certain decks. I can really relate to this. Something that’s fun about it is that when I go to my lgs I play with people way better than me, but I can get them out of nowhere with really weird cards, like my fish that mills half their deck when it attacks that costs way too much mana. Thanks for this episode.

[@a3s1r1986]

Rebuilding one of my decks because I keep thinking it's too slow and it really helped to listen to this. Found a lot of cheaper alternatives for lands just digging through my card boxes

[@williamschaefer1822]

I once bought a like-new creeper at a garage sale for $10. It had a post-it that read "This is for working under your car". I later found the same item at an Auto Parts Store for $169.00. I've had this for years (still with the well worn post-it).

[@loganhall7776]

I can't watch the videos without thinking of Jimmy as Ted from VGHS.

[@whorod8895]

Logan Hall are they the same?

[@loganhall7776]

Jimmy plays Ted on VGHS, yes. #JimmyIsTheOneTrueDriftKing

[@davidfrischer7075]

Logan Hall same

[@kekleon-Gamer]

Yes! I'm not the only one!

[@GUITARMADDNESS2]

I bought a foil Riftstone Portal for $3 (from Card Kingdom) about two months before it spiked. A Seedborn Muse while they were $12. I picked up a Japanese Karn Liberated for $23 during the dip right after MM2. But my all time favorite purchase was when I bought my Revised Underground Sea for $195 (the only thing that makes it LP is a knick on the back), while they were $240, a month before the announcement of Eternal Masters. I also happened to pick up two Force of Wills for $75 a piece about a month and a half ago.

[@JS-wk4oe]

It also has a lot to do with the power level of the commander coupled with the cards that it works with; take Brago and Yisan for example, they're both top tier decks and yet can be functionally built on a budget of $50 including a deck box and sleeves. I am not kidding, look at the core creatures for Yisan, (hint: it ain't Craterhoof) all you need is a Quiron Ranger and his other untapper buddies, a Priest of Titania, Temur Sabertooth and Great Oak Guardian (The real MVP, and ACTUAL combo piece of most of the better lists!) - all of that's like less than $10. The rest of the budget is mainly your Umbral Mantle, Seedborn Muse and Nykthos. All the things Brago likes to flicker infinite with, are a buck or less except for his Strionic Resonator which last I looked, is a $2 card. You just need Resonator, any mana rock that taps for 2 or more, and you're infinite. **For reference** My Brago deck has about $55 in it and people have asked me to stop playing it. My Yisan deck has substantially more, I keep putting more money in it, it's up to $155 and rising, but that deck routinely hangs with decks that cost in the thousands, because it is SO absurdly consistent and explosive out of the gate (turns 1-3).

[@pontious99]

Gilder Bairn actually works really well with Experiment Kraj and Vorel of the Hull Clade. If you have nothing else to do with your turn (really bad draws), then dump all your mana into making a bunch of counters for things.

[@BrandoThompson]

@24:01, the dopest 26B build, ever, that car was in mags about 10 years ago. its a BMW with a dope rotary turbo'd out crazily.

[@jays2376]

The talk about Kaalia is super relevant for me right now. I decided to build a budget Esper reanimator deck, and I almost trashed the idea because I don't have the budget for a lot of the good cards right now (Avacyn, Iona, Jin-Gitaxias, Consecrated Sphinx, etc.) ...but then I realized I could build it with cheaper big fatties, and always slowly upgrade over time.

[@joshleekwai8895]

And trust me, the deck will still be super fun to play even if it's not 100% super optimized power level.

[@austincuster282]

I never listened to the podcast on iTunes but I just reviewed it, just for you Josh so you aren't disappointed.

[@snowstalker913]

I play a $17 Dromoka Bolster deck. XD it wins too often against people who actually spend money on their cards

[@FlameX13]

SnowStalker That's hilarious

[@TheBigJame_]

Yo can you send a decklist

[@jamilrizvi5804]

You guys should do a game knight with budget decks for 100$

[@kimbach1824]

Buying collections is also a great deal to get alot of nice edh cards from, since alot of commons and uncommons are useful for our format and might be bad in other formats. :) Also trading expensive standard rares for rotated rares / edh stuff is also a great idea. Personally I have often sold stuff like Thragtusk, when it was like 10-15 euros and now you can get it for like 2 euro.

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

I bought a sliver deck for $50. I found a list somewhere online and decided to put it together. I have no idea if it's good or not, but I do have a couple other preconstructed decks, so I am going to play with it a bit and then see what needs switched. I love slivers.

[@dominicsevilla1189]

The first deck I had built was Anowon, the rune sage vampire tribal. I did buy into it like you said not to but it is my favorite deck I have built. having said that I follow like all of the other parts of your video. I do beileve I have the most decks in my playgroup because of it too

[@mythoughtsonblank5769]

My Surrak deck is actually the first ever deck I built and now 2 years later it's my favorite and most powerful deck. I actually talked to you about this on twitter, Josh!

[@jukemaster2848]

I love the addition of video of you guys to the show. Really awesome!

[@MasonzeroDigitalWorks]

I am all about the budget! I have a budget Narset deck, where I haven't spent much money on anything. Any expensive cards in it like Ugin or shocks/fetches I got from packs or trades. But as far as cards that I've bought, I've never spent more than a dollar on any card.

[@langgalea4330]

Recently someone I know built a goblin deck. Actually functioned relatively well, and with the exception of bloodmoon and a few land destruction cards, it was relatively cheap. It beat out infect, mindrazor, and an atraxa counter deck. It stung our expensive decks a bit haha

[@studentanselmus9461]

My Zada deck is dirt cheap, way below 50$. I did not build it specifically as a budget deck, there just are no cards I need for the deck that are expensive because her ability covers a very specific niche that requires such specific cards that neither anyone knew exist nor that anybody wants, which means that they cost mere pennies. It can rip an entire table to shreds because it flies under the radar, is very explosive and a lot of fun to play, even though the entire deck is cheaper than every single card my opponents run.

[@chrisgallo2236]

The Dracogenius do you have a list for this deck?

[@BahamutEx]

Id like to see a list too...

[@kennethcooper788]

One thing I've been doing to keep my budget low lately is to have one card serve a place in multiple decks. I keep these cards sleeved in a folder and just prep the deck I plan on playing a few minutes before the game. This is great because it means that cards like Door of Destinies are effectively costing me a third of the cost per deck.

[@kennethcooper788]

LOL, posted this before I got to 58:30 where they mention this

[@Hellraiser923]

So i know this podcast is almost 2 years old at this point, but i have a problem with the snapcaster vs archaeomancer. I view arc as better. Flashback exiles the card in your graveyard meaning youll never have access to it again and for spells like cyclonic rift, counters, removal, and playmakers, you want them back. Snapcaster is good, yes, but there are SO many situations where archaeomancer is strictly better. Cards like evacuation come to mind where you continuously boardwipe if youre in a bad spot. Granted Snapcaster has flash, but theres plenty of ways to give creatures flash. Also with archaeomancer you can abuse the heck outta blink spells.

[@LivingDeathGuy]

my first deck is a white green cat deck, its served me very well, the cheapest non land card was like 15 cents

[@jessedelange4518]

i made a slimefoot deck with Doubling Season before i purchased the deck i switched it with Parallel Lives. A friend of mine told me about a card named Parallel Evolution. in the end i saved € 20,- yes the card isn't nearly as good as Doubling Season or Parallel Lives but it does the job. the deck functions really well and it's a lot of fun. Also when you make deck start off cheap you can always upgrade later and fix the problems in your deck.

[@jordanmcneal2088]

I like having multiple decks, but have a rule about duplicate cards. If I already own a copy of a card that is worth more than $5, I'm fine with just making proxies of that card for my other decks. Proxies help with budgeting and test piloting new decks.

[@tleam88]

my very first commander deck was super budget and still is. When I got into commander, I still had all of the cards I had pulled from the Alara block and I still had my Naya deck floating about (and unused) so I grabbed it, pulled out one of each card in it and then went through all of my spares and grabbed all of the land ramp and big bodies and threw it all into a pile. To this day, it's still one of my favorite decks and I spent maybe ten bucks but that's on a End Hostilities. I probably should put in a couple of more board wipes and some more spot removal, now that I'm looking at it.

[@Triptides77]

My group is very casual, so we allow players to use almost entirely proxied decks to allow them to be competitive without forcing the rest of the group to build down to their power level. We keep a strong $200 limit on how much can be proxied in the deck (as in a player can only have $200 worth of proxied cards in a deck). We've never had issues with players building too strong with a deck of proxies though that might not fly with every group. It allows us to all have fun and be competitive with each other without leaving anyone behind or anyone shooting through the atmosphere.

[@seanedgar164]

I've had really good luck with building powerful and themed decks around 30 dollars but keep up with the $100 decks my friends use. We use commander-esque 60 card decks. Building on a budget is great; especially when I wreck my friends with Ghave and Nekusar!

[@Meowskiez]

Would you guys recommend picking up the cards listed in your "Commander starter deck" for a new player? (It's a dumb question to ask because I'm pretty sure the answer is yes since you took the time to put it up but I wanted to make sure these are the staple cards you speak of in the podcast.) If so does Card Kingdom allow for a copy and paste -> purchase option? I've used their deck builder but it looks like a tedious process of picking out which edition I want the card from and I'm not super concerned about that. I just want to get the best and cheapest option.

[@lanceolmilla7770]

I played Oona first when I got into EDH. Never looked back since.

[@thelunaist2014]

I just got a Sensei's Divining Top before it will eventually goes up in price after EM supplies die out. I like the idea of check list cards for expensive staple cards to divide and conquer.

[@kimbach1824]

Also about cardkingdom. I cant say I have bought cards from them before (located in europa), but I know several people who have they say they are a good company. Also I often use their search function, when I look for specific cards, it feels easier than gatherer, etc...

[@joshleekwai8895]

We've heard from a lot of our listeners that they do indeed ship to Europe and they are still super fast! You should definitely try em out.

[@mansonleung7768]

I'm glad that all the people in my play group play on a budget so that the power level of games isn't insane. But, these budget decks can still do crazy stuff. Also, when we are talking about building budget EDH decks, I think of the Commander's Brew Podcast. They always build EDH deck on a $50 budget.

[@joshleekwai8895]

Commanders Brew is awesome!

[@EclipseMeteor]

Just gave my review (hoping it pops up soon, if at all), you guys deserve all the recognition for your passion and generated discussion. In terms of sick purchases, I bought a Foil Doubling Season for MM1 for $25 Canadian. Either they priced it wrong or it was just that low at one point, but I walked away with a smoking deal.

[@joshleekwai8895]

Thanks for writing up the review we really appreciate the support!

[@vereskoma]

Great episode :) I'd like to share a budgeting option on landbase, this happened to me when I was building 3color decks. It helps a lot to decide what lands you need on what ratio, if you count the actual coloured mana cost. This way I realised I need much less from a certain color pair producing lands, so less money I had to spend on those.

[@bryanbonar]

my budget decks are really my most creative and unique and/or thematic. They might not be as powerful, but they are still great for having a fun game of EDH. My most budget deck is Lady Caleria, which is an Archer Tribal deck that is basically all Tims that have the added clause of the thing they ping usually have to be attacking, blocking, or flying. Even though the deck started on a measly budget of $25, the deck still has its moments. when you give a pinger deathtouch, things get scary!

[@TheWoolyninja4]

I am very late to this party but if you are seeing this video after me an ultimate way to stay on budget is to play test decks with fakes before buying the real deal. I would never suggest trying to make counter fits but there are sites out there that will allow you to print a deck list and really try it out.

[@87channels]

I can relate to the not playing the first deck much. My first deck was a Rakdos group slug that I haven't used in a while. It's fun, but I like games that are more interactive than just blowing everyone up every turn

[@bowenheaster2171]

The first EDH deck was just made from whatever i had. Luckily my first commander was Zur The Enchanter. I also knew someone who played a lot of EDH, so he helped a ton.

[@TheRealSpellstar]

38:56 Archaeomancer isn't totally worse than Snapcaster Mage, Archaeomancer doesn't exile the spell, you can go infinite with her

[@MichaelCastorano]

I used EDHREC to determine which cards of my collection go out via PucaTrade and which I keep for possible future builds... helps me check if my logic on a card is accurate.

[@simonv8507]

Do a video giving substitutes for the most expensive/popular EDH cards

[@AzzaTylee]

I guess I lucked out with my first deck (Prossh precon) still love it to this day and I've been upgrading it over two years :)

[@constance6198]

Built my first commander deck for about 55-60. Scorpion god, so wither and infect and -1/-1 counters. Also had about 1/3 the cards. No Mikaeus though. Too expensive. Noticed that a lot of the things I focused on when building this deck were echoed in this video. Good video.

[@lessercrow]

I got 4 mishra's baubles 3 years ago for a total of 1 dollar on amazon because I thought it was great for a dysfunctional combo deck I was trying to make (zero mana draw card). They are now each worth 50 dollars

[@claireclearwater8848]

I was very tempted to buy them for a modern deck and I came really close to getting a playset before they jumped. However, I did get 4 copies of Bloom Tender at $15 each and now they're $50 each, so that's nice.

[@MurraySoles]

You still plussed, but not that much. Bloom Tenders are like 20-25 now.

[@claireclearwater8848]

I'm Canadian. The prices of things are different.

[@CoastalWizard]

Also having insanely good pack luck is also good. I mean my Vial Smasher, Kydele deck is worth around $400-500 but I've only spent around $90 on it. I've pack all my fetch lands and my most expensive cards

[@nathanfosberg5857]

I actually love my first commander deck. Its a gruul big creatures deck, that use to run borborygmos as the commander. Its still mostly the same except it runs omnath as the captain now. Btw he draws way more aggro than bobo ever did.

[@TheSac1122]

bought out a store for 50 dollars they had cards from revised up through mirrodin at the time. I have turned that 20k amount of cards to make a modern binder (staples to play grixis, esper, jeskai) and then i built a zur, sliver, teysa edh decks from trading up and all that. probably turn that initial 50 dollars into easily several hundred dollars.

[@saniwada]

my best speck was not selling a chandra torch of deffiance, I opened her when she was like $15 and traded hef when she was like $50 for 3 flooded strands.

[@chortlesinthecorner]

It's amazing hearing about what drove prices 2.5 years ago vs today. EDH was probably the 3rd most influential and now it plays just as big of a role in new sets(of course we're dealing with shocklands right now) and Modern has become unreachable for most players. Standard is a money pit, but is probably the easiest to be competitive in.

[@christophercronkhite5694]

I have three great price jumps. One is three doubling seasons I bought back when Ravnica was in standard and they were $5 each. Another is a copy of power artifact that was part of a card lot that was given to me when I first started playing back in 2000. But the best is a copy of Gaea's Cradle I bought, also when I first started playing, for $10! 💲💲💲💲💲

[@greengoliath5071]

One thing that I've been doing while trying to make a five color super friends is just slowly getting the cards. And in the meantime I have place fillers so I can see what I feel like is needed.

[@Razdasoldier]

NEW TAMIYO! Also Ajani steadfast is severely underplayed. Most Decks leave him out of their super friends but he is so nice. He gives value to doubling season to planeswalkers that take a while to ult. or came down BEFORE doubling season. Also his ult. is SWEET and SLAUGHTERS burn or voltron or even infect to a degree.

[@greengoliath5071]

+Randall Pickard got both in there. Pulled Tamiyo and got steadfast as one of the early planes walkers for the deck. Also in testing it Tamiyo is just stupid crazy when left unchecked.

[@Razdasoldier]

Have you done ajani mentor of heros. He fetches walkers. Also if you haven't seen these guys did a superfriends episode.

[@Razdasoldier]

Also. Ajani steadfast+orbs of warding= I win right? Add elsepeth's ultimate that makes everything indestructible for added win.

[@Razdasoldier]

Dustin Kicklighter didn't hit reply sorry two messages for you above.

[@aliaphoenix7194]

A tip: Go to your LGS and play other people’s commander decks. I’ve recently found out about vampire commander decks, and that’s the one which I’m familiar with and know all the cards I need to get to build them because I used 2 different peoples vampire commander decks. I also found out how much I like commander in general as well. Most, if not all people, appreciate it when their decks can be tested out as well. (I’m also really excited to make a Krave and Regna commander deck as well, any tips on that front would be nice)

[@nexos8097]

My best mtg deal is trading voice of resurgence when it was 40-60 new and traded it for Sorin,Koth,Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon,sword of war and peace. now voice is under 15.

[@ItsColde]

I didn't know anyone had the "binder strategy" the only downside to it for me the last 18 years has been you are restricted to finding those exact same sleeves every time. Ultra pro matte orange, you're up yesterday, today, and always

[@Sofspot1]

I'm building talrand ad my first commander deck, and I just purchased FoW, CC, tutors, etc. I mean, it's a healthy chunk of change, but I can use those in other decks at least .-.

[@HazmanFTW]

He says Mono Red can't beat enchantments. You just go fast and don't care. I have a Krenko deck who smacks face, and I won against a Brago flicker Stacks deck and I got no combat step by having Purphorus and Purphorus just bolted like 10 times and it was glorious. You need the holy trinity of mana rocks/draw with Mind Stone, Hedron Archive, and Dreamstone Hedron Mulldrifter and Beast Within are amazing cards.

[@ThePhantomphan11]

What I usually do is build the deck I want on tappedout and sort by price. Usually 75% of the deck is just $50. I buy that and then over the next couple of months spend another $100 or so. By that point I have 90% of the deck I want, usually just missing 3-6 mythic rare that I don't REALLY need

[@gabrielmiller8565]

The first commander deck I made was an Alesha infect deck, which we decided 1, sucked, and 2, I wasn't mean enough to use it well, so I used it like twice before I scrapped it and made other decks.

[@jasonwerebear6882]

a friend has a flicker deck based around roon, its a cheap entry deck and easy to improve the deck over time.

[@King-fo3kj]

If you open a $40 standard rare tbh you should honestly just try to sell it or trade it off. Brimaz from theros block was over $50 on release and was a pretty good card in a lot mono white edh decks and even some boros decks. He never went under $15 while in standard, after rotation he dropped down under $5 for a while.

[@Kestral287]

He's still low. I picked mine up less than a month ago for $8. Great card, not a $40 card for EDH.

[@chromark7552]

Funny enough, I went with voltron Sigarda. The deck sucked so bad for soooooo long, but then, past the *sigh* couple of hundred dollars in it, it got better! Surprisingly, the best aura cards are pretty cheap, bellow 5 bucks for most of them, but when you have 28 around 3$, it gets a bit expensive XD

[@notsuspiciousthejudgmental2423]

Gilder Bairn is my favorite magic card of all time

[@twidgetron328]

Hey, Guys I've been wanting to make a mono-red Goblin commander deck for a while, but I'm not sure where to start other than Dragon Fodder, Goblin Grenade, etc. etc. I have both Zada and Krenko, but I'm not sure which would be better as the commander. Any advice you have would be appreciated! Love your show!

[@AedalinSolaris]

Don't play krenko as a goblin commader, he draws sooooo much hate. Ib halfheart, goblin tactition is a ton on fun.

[@zachboughner3415]

Zada with Fiery Gambit is hilarious

[@studentanselmus9461]

Krenko is clearly better, but Zada is way more fun. Krenko is already very popular and feared for what he can do while Zada is a much more unique choice. She does not lend herself to full in goblin tribal, but a goblin subtheme is possible.

[@JamesDC42]

Card kingdom isn't fun when you want to spend under £10 on their website but then charge $58 for internation postsge.

[@Tupiaz]

If you are Europe I will recommend you use Cardmarket.com Beware it is a site where a lot of different sellers are based and not a single seller but still the best option in Europe.

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

My first EDH deck was a Mimeoplasm deck for £50. Still playing it to this day :)

[@SventFulgur]

Love your show guys, what was the website you mentioned before that helps you find similar cards? You said you'd put it in the description but it's not there :0

[@ghostunit9]

ive been buying alot from cardkingdom lately, just wish they would throw in a little something extra if you spend A LOT of cash on purchases! :)

[@amphetamean66X]

I find breaking decks down by cmc helps me to keep budget a lot and make the tough cuts. I have 40 decks and probably 5 in progress and I"d say in 30 or more of them this is always the core - 1cmc Sol Ring - 2cmc 4-8 Mana Rocks usually signets -3cmc 4 mana rocks usually cheap ones manalith, darksteel ingot, Cryptolith Fragment and others also ones that scry or have other effects if you are mono or duel colored. Also green should always run Cultivate and the other 5 cards like it from 2-4 mana - 4cmc Explosive Vegetation, Hedron Archive and others like it. Usually after you've done this and then added another 8 card draw spells you can then build the fun stuff. Also always think it's really the big stuff I want to play how can the smaller stuff draw min into them and get me to play them. Don't invest in 1-4 cmc cards that much because they are often playable in other formats. Also value synergy over raw power in general you will find that's more fun

[@amphetamean66X]

Also I never buy fetch lands for commander and one on one that might hurt me but commander is a multiplayer format there is absolutely no need for them. Guildgates and the countless duel tap lands work just fine. Honestly 70% of the time don't want to be the player who is in the lead in commander. It 90% of the time will mean you get attacked first. 80% of commander is a 3 against 1 game at some point. Don't be the 1 getting attacked first right away.

[@thisnameisnotfake517]

A little controversial. I proxy entire decks. I have a cedh real paper deck and progressively lower power level proxy decks that would be worth about 1000 dollars each. I highly advise new players to proxy their first few decks using mtgpress and a color printer. All you need to do is sleeve up a backwards basic land and slide in a slip of paper with the exact card art on it. Its quick and only costs you sleeves and ink. I've found that not many people will care about it as long as you play a deck on everyone else's power level. Power level is most important, price is not. Price =/= power level of a deck.

[@jordancarlson6556]

I've got a bontu the glorified deck that cost me ~$35. No sol ring, nothing particularly special. Also I appreciate the mentioning of pernicious deed so damn much because every time someone sees me play it they're like "what the hell is that card" or "oh damn that's pretty good" like it's so underappreciated as a board wipe.

[@maxcoolperson1011]

imo building on a budget in like one or two colours is soo much easier if you skip out on the dual colour lands, because while it lowers the efficiency of mana it can reduce the price by potentially hundreds of dollars

[@dson8571]

I wish you guys had a website, you could have Command Zone approved decklists and community pitches, I have a few 30 dollar decks that hold their own and are fun - it's preety much unblockable cheap creatures counterspells and draw and has a few 2 card win combos where I can mill out their whole deck - so if I put fetches in the deck it could be a reliable win condition.

[@lithiux7766]

My best buy was a ziploc bag full of magic the gathering cards at goodwill for 20$. Contents included akroma, urza lands, and a lightning angel. There were a total of 200 or so cards but nothing that stands out in my memory

[@DragonDuelistFTW]

Don't get my wrong I love me a snapcaster but archaeomancer is awesome! Him, a time warp effect, and capsize or riptide laboratory is just game. snappy can't do that