MTG Salvation

Alright, I'll admit that me and commander don't really hang out very much. But my friends from home used to play commander a lot, and we played it "for fun." Big splashy spells that we wanted to cast. We all pretty much moved away from each other and still play magic competitively in our new areas. We all kinda decided to jump on to mtgo and play commander over skype.

So heres the challenge, as a self imposed rule other than basic lands and the commander, our deck can only cost total 10 mtgo tix. http://www.cardhoarder.com/ is the site we use to check the tixs.

First I need to figure out the commander. Again, I havent played commander in like... 3 years, and I don't really know which to choose. I feel like no matter which on I choice, I'll need to work with the fact that the cards to support it need to be cheap as hell. So while kiki and resto angel make a good team, resto eats up like 6/10 of my budget, so its a no go.

Also keep in mind my playstyle. I like aggro and midrange, playing both in modern with Zoo. And while I like the animals, I would like something a tad different, and some different fun stuff too. Somewhere balanced between competitive and fun, with out anything too unfair (nuking lands for example)

Heres the commanders Ive narrowed it down too:

• Karador, Ghost Chieftain
  
• Marath, Will of the Wild
  
• Kaysa
  
• Mayael the Anima
  
• Norin the Wary
  
• Kiku, Night's Flower
  
• Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
  

If I could figure out which would be the best on a budget and what kinda game plan they should run, I could make a new thread where I attempt to build it. Help me out Commanders!

I think I built Talrand the Sky Summoner for ~20 tickets on MTGO - with most of the money cards coming from the sapphire medallion and (surprisingly) serum visions. Basically, all you really need to do with Talrand is play a crapton of blue cantrips, bounce spells, and counterspells. Mana doublers and anthem effects are nice and really help the deck out, though (and they're relatively cheap online).

Ignore anyone who tells you to avoid three color generals because mana fixing will eat your budget. They're wrong. Especially now that there are several sets of dual lands at common. Play as many colors as you want.

Karador, Ghost Chieftain: This commander tends to be somewhere between a reanimator and midrange. The deck tends to be almost exclusively cheap creatures with good abilities (Sakura-Tribe Elder, Qasali Pridemage, Eternal Witness, Mesmeric Fiend, etc.), high impact non creatures (Birthing Pod, Greater Good, Path to Exile, etc.), and some bombs to finish the game (Kokusho, the Evening Star, Yosei, the Morning Star, Angel of Serenity, etc.). There's nearly an infinate selection of inexpensive utility creatures you can use to fill up most of your deck so you can focus most of your budget on your Bombs and utility spells.

Marath, Will of the Wild: Of the commanders you're interested in he's the best on his own. On a budget you just get about six mana dorks for the best chances of a turn two Marath. Marath gets better the more you cast him so it's hard to have too many mana dorks. Make sure to pick up Skullclamp for between mana dorks, small utility creatures, and Marath's tokens. The colors are good midrange strategies but Marath also has several combos and can play a well as a hate bear or enchantress deck.

Mayael, the Anima: If she can be built for a budget in paper she can be built on a budget on MTGO. If you look at the Mayael Primer you can get ideas for what to look for.

Norin, the Wary: He isn't much of an aggro or midrange commander. He is fun but his gimmick gets old fast. Being mono color means you can just play 37-ish basic lands to free up a bunch of you budget.

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave: He's a voltron general most of the time. Look for equipment that offers evasion. Swords of X+Y are the best but simply giving him flying will do. Spend the rest of you budget on various means of disruption, removal, and protection. Make sure to run sac outlets like High Market, Phyrexian Tower, or Spawning Pit.

Kiku, Night's Flower: She tends to be mono black control. You can choose what end of the Midrange/Control spectrum you want her to be on though. Pick up Cabal Coffers - no exceptions. No matter what mono black legend you choose Coffers is always your commander.

Keysa: She's fine. She's worse than Kamhal, Fist of Krosa as pump effect in mono green tokens/aggro decks. You could try an elfball strategy but then she's just worse than Ezuri, Renagade Leader. Her effect doesn't do much for a mono green goodstuff deck either. She's bad and I wouldn't run her. But I run Jedit Ojanen of Efrava so I'm in no position to criticize using her. If you want to use her then go ahead.



I would choose Marath or Karador if you want to go with midrange strategy. I prefer Marath since he's always relevant by himself. Both are good though and have a lot of space to move forward if you want to contiue playing commander in the future. If you want to go more aggro-y than Kaysa or Skullbriar should be your choices.

Edit: I'll edit this post later with some better budget advice for Karador and Marath

You bring up a lot of good points. Marth, Karador kaysa and skull are what I'm leaning to most. Kasysa less for her ability more for her art.

I know some people get annoyed by constant Norin triggers on mtgo. I'd recommend Marath or Mayael; the green should provide lots of budget fixing and ramp. Mayael is basically the queen of bargain-bin rares.

Welp! Looks like some were choosen and I cut a few my self.

Down to these guys:

• Marath, Will of the Wild
  
• Kaysa
  
• Mayael the Anima
  
• Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
  

After looking throughout the MTGO price site you linked I think it’s going to be easier to build Karador, Ghost Chieftain for a few reasons. First off, a lot of the good, efficienct multicolor removal is pretty expensive. Cheap spells were about 1.50 tix. Black removal like Doom Blade on the other hand are really cheap. About 0.04. Second, many of the good Karador enablers - Greater Good, Survival of the Fittest, Skullclamp - are quite cheap. They’re 0.05, 0.12, and 0.20 respectively. Most notably Hermit Druid is 0.05 tix.

Both Karador and Marath share a lot of utility creatures. Almost all which are 0.20 tix or less. Many of the better bombs Karador traditionally uses will eat a lot of the budget. Yosei and Kokusho were the cheapest - 0.25 and 0.50 respectively. Looping through those triggers will be pretty easy with Karador so they’re worth picking up.

Many of Marath’s traditional creature finishers ate up the most of your 10 Tix budget. If you want to use Marath then I think you best bet it to take him down a token rout.

Here are some green and white utility creatures that can be used by both Marath and Karador.
Arbor Elf 0.05
Avacyn’s Pilgrim 0.02
Fyndhorn Elves 0.02
Llanowar Elves 0.02
Elvish Mystic 0.06

Qasali Pridemage 0.15
Sakura-Tribe Elder 0.15

Wood Elves 0.02
Farhaven Elf 0.06
Fierce Empath 0.21
Harmonic Sliver 0.25
Reclamation Sage 0.31
Mentor of the Meek 0.05

Spike Weaver 0.34
Solemn Simulacrum 0.75

Acidic Slime 0.03
Karmic Guide 0.06

Sun Titan 1.50
Deadwood Treefolk 0.03


Greater Good 0.05
Sylvan Library 0.54
Survival of the Fittest 0.12
Skullclamp 0.20
Signets 0.02 - 0.08

Austere Command 0.47

Noticeable black cards that Karador can use

Necromancy 0.56
Animate Dead 0.03
Dance of the Dead 0.10
Necrotic Sliver 0.17
Fleshbag Marauder 0.04
Withered Wretch 0.04
Bloodgift Demon

Yosei, the Morning Star 0.25
Kokusho, the Evening Star 0.50


None of the cards listed that cost 0.50 Tix or more are necessary for either commander. Sun Titan would be the only one I encourage picking up. It’s interacts with Harmonic Sliver, Necrotic Sliver, Anicmate Dead, and Dance of the Dead are really strong for the Karador deck.

It should go without saying but the Guildgates and Khans tap lands are your best bet for cheap mana fixing. Marath will likely have a slightly cheaper mana base. There are more option for ally color fixing and many have been reprinted more often and are cheaper than their enemy counterparts.

If you choose to use Kaysa then I think tokens will be the way to go. Pallallel Lives and Kamahl, Fist of Krosa are relatively cheap and Doubling season is about the same price as Sun Titan. Primal Vigor costs a million but you shouldn’t play that card anyway.

Well, if you like Naya, Marath has got to be the way to go. He is well suited for loads of different strategies, from combo, aggro, tokens, midrange, elemental tribal, and control.

Mana Echoes is 0.48 tix. This card wins games.

D0Su put together an awsome all commons deck with Child of Alara at the helm. You should check it out. It really has game and can hold its own against many high end decks.

Alright, so if I end up going with Marath, Will of the Wild, I think a ramp tokens theme would be the best plan of attack, at least for like 10 bucks. Am I right in this?

Sounds solid. Make sure to pick up Earthcraft, Mana Echoes, and Doubling Season. The new Hardened Scales is awesome for this deck as well.

I dont know about the other suggestion but I have this kangee bird tribal deck which is pretty much mvp in out group:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/kangees-birds/
It isn't entire up to date (it's missing few khan cards like weave fate and high sentinels of arashin) but the I could call the deck as mid range aggro that isn't unfair and it only costs 4,48 tix.

Tokens are a solid way to go for cheap. Things like:

Raid Bombardment
Hellrider
Champion of Lambholt
Mentor of the Meek
Nacatl War-Pride
Nullmage Shepherd
Titanic Ultimatum
Triumph of the Hordes
Assemble the Legion
Cathars' Crusade
Druids' Repository
Glare of Subdual
etc..

Skullbriar, the walking grave can be a pretty solid voltron deck. You could go for a more midrange-esque deck, pumping Skully up with rancor and multiple auras and killing cards with spot removal.