20 Budget Commander Staples That Belong in More Decks

You don’t need expensive cards to build a strong Commander deck. Most of what makes a deck feel good to play, hitting your land drops, answering threats and not running out of cards, comes from cheap staples that have been reprinted many times. Here are twenty of them, sorted by color, that are almost always worth a slot.

Prices change, so check the current price before buying, but every card on this list has historically been one of the more affordable options in its role.

Colorless: every deck can play these

• Arcane Signet: two mana, taps for any color in your commander’s identity. Comes in many precons.
• Fellwar Stone: another two-mana rock that works in almost every multiplayer game.
• Mind Stone: ramps early and turns into a card later.
• Wayfarer’s Bauble: fetches a basic land in any color deck.
• Swiftfoot Boots: protects your commander and gives it haste.
• Command Tower: the easiest mana fixing in the format.
• Path of Ancestry: fixing plus a scry if you’re playing a tribal deck.

White

• Swords to Plowshares: one mana, exiles any creature. Still the gold standard.
• Generous Gift: destroys any permanent, and the 3/3 Elephant you hand over rarely matters.

Blue

• Arcane Denial: a two-mana counter for anything; the cards your opponent draws are usually worth it.
• Pongify: one-mana creature removal in the color that normally lacks it.

Black

• Night’s Whisper: two cards for two mana. Simple and efficient.
• Feed the Swarm: lets black deal with enchantments as well as creatures.

Red

• Chaos Warp: red’s answer to any permanent.
• Big Score: discard one, draw two and make two Treasures, so it ramps as well.
• Vandalblast: kills one artifact early, or all of your opponents’ artifacts later with overload.

Green

• Beast Within: destroys any permanent at instant speed.
• Nature’s Lore: two mana, puts any Forest card (including dual lands with the Forest type) onto the battlefield untapped.
• Kodama’s Reach: fixes your colors and keeps your land drops coming.
• Krosan Grip: split second makes it a reliable answer to artifacts and enchantments.

How to fit them in

If you’re upgrading a precon, a good target is around ten ramp pieces, ten sources of card draw and eight to ten pieces of interaction. Count what your deck already has and use this list to fill the gaps. The first cards to cut are usually the clunky five- and six-drops that only work when you’re already winning.

Budget decks also benefit from a clear game plan. Rather than adding the most powerful card in each slot, add the cards that make your commander’s strategy work every game. Cheap staples give you the consistency to get there.