MTG Salvation

I have a friend who wants to get into commander. He started playing right after Dragons came out and has primarily sealed, pauper, and modern. He's enjoyed playing many decks, from aggro to control, but doesn't really like combo. After being told the rules and spectating on a game, he really wants to play and asked me to help him build a deck. I agreed, but we've had trouble finding a commander. Here's his criteria:

1. No Vultron. He doesn't want to win via commander damage.
2. Two colors. Idk, he just really likes 2 color combinations.
3. Budget. I know all commanders can be budget or can be super expensive, but he's aming for ~$100.
4. No Gaddock Teeg. He actually wants to have friends after his first game.
5. Not too high casting cost. He says 5 max.
6. Not too complex. Has 2-3 main elements/strategies, easy to understand, but still has depth and synergy.
7. Meant to be played with 3 other people, so a 4-person game.
8. Not combo.

Thoughts? Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!

That criteria is really lose, it would be helpful to know what colors he likes/what playstles he prefers

Anyways, edric can be built very competitively for cheap, if he likes go wide creature strategies

Flying matters, either stompy under maybe Sigarda, or Dragonlord Ojurai or Dragonlord Dromoka, or less stompy maybe bird tribal under Kangee. Evasion is always really useful, you can play some kind of wonky stuff like Bowyer Passage or Island Sanctuary that doesn't see much play, and it's easy to scale the deck upwards (turn that Serra Angel into a Baneslayer, etc.)

Captain Sisay

The information you've provided is too broad to make much of a suggestion, there are a lot of non-voltron, non-Gaddock Teeg, lower CMC 2-colour legendary creatures with easy to understand mechanics.

But if your friend wants to stick to a tight budget, I would greatly recommend picking up one of the dual colour Commander 2015 decks and modifying it with a few choice cards. Plunder the Graves (Meren of Clan Nel Toth) and Seize Control (Mizzix of the Izmagnus) are probably the better decks out of the five.

Maybe that one from Conspiracy? Adriana, Captain of the Guard
Or how about something like Gisa and Geralf and play heavy towards a theme?

I'm asssuming this is for multiplayer right? If so I recommend Daxos the Returned. His criteria is pretty vague. Any way to narrow it down a bit more?

Rhys the redeemed. G/W elfball

Nin, the Pain Artist, Prime Speaker Zegana, Wydwen, the Biting Gale, Dralnu, Lich Lord all make good control generals.

Olivia Voldaren, Omnath, Locus of Rage, Wort, the Raidmother, Meren of Clan Nel Toth all are easy enough to build around.

I typically suggest Glissa, the traitor, versitile, unbeatable in combat and interesting. Green black is a good colour combination and Glissa isn't as grave reliant as other generals in those colours (Whille still being grave reliant). And Kaladesh is an artifact set with lots of new toys.

Speaking of Kaladesh. Rashmi, eternities crafter has potential as a new commander, there is a lot of untapped creativity in deck building with her. No one is going to tell you, you are building her wrong, there hasn't been time to form an archetypal Rashmi deck yet. Edit: well I looked at the ideas thread for her and its expensive oh well, I like people choosing commanders from recent sets as good starting points. why not start with thier first set? I enjoy my Dragonlord Ojutai deck, don't follow my example though I built that deck before Ojutai was printed it was just waiting for a good commander. Edit again: blergh I guess that is best as a commander damage type deck. this is hard

I think two colours is correct, mana base isn't too expensive, you can focus on your commander without getting hyper focused like a single colour deck or have too many options in 3 or more colours.

I have found that power in commander isn't actually that expensive but effienct answer cards can be, but don't forget your removal!

Meren. Two color, pretty good out of the box, lots of sub $5 upgrades available, and not too hard to pilot.

old sevala could be good in a sorta ramp/politik deck.. don't build it as a group hug though, build it as a redirecting hate and playing the politics deck..

archangel avacyn can also lead to a pretty epic builds... like a mini-inferno on a stick that protects your dudes! can lead to a pretty cool beat-down strat.. not the most resilient archetype though..

one of my favs is Wrexial, the Risen Deep. he sits at the top of the curve, and punishes people for playing big-mana spells. also, he enables really niche cards like spreading seas, and i like being able to use weird cards like that for an amazing effect. my build is kinda controlly/team playery, and uses wrexial as a finisher/stealing an epic spell to win the game.

My absolute favorite 2 color commander is by far, Hanna, Ship's Navigator . She's super fun and cheap even. Best thing, your friend could start on a budget and eventually build up and get her gorgeous Terese Nielson artwork version that is sure to "wow" some tables.

Seriously, it has possibly the most beautiful artwork of any card I've ever seen.

I'd like to suggest Radha, Heir to Keld. Lots of different directions to take her when building (ramp, aggro with tricks, elves, etc) and she is relatively non threatening. Also having a mana dork in the command zone is always cool. And she's cheap on cmc and $

I second Dralnu, Lich Lord. Seems fragile but he is lots of fun, and reasonably easy to build on a budget.

Grenzo, Dungeon Warden is good fun, and his ability is something out of the ordinary. With a bit of careful building he can be pretty explosive. Either go goblin tribal or rakdos goodstuff. Scalable, can be competitive or good times. Not my most competitive deck, but definitely one of the more fun. Goblin Charbelcher is a must but otherwise have fun with it.

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is easy and cheap. Fill it with token producers and, for budget, stick to Parallel Lives with Second Harvest to double up.

Jori En, Ruin Diver is pretty fun, interesting, and doesn't lend itself towards any one archetype. As long as you're playing 2 spells a turn with her, you're getting a solid benefit from her. I think a good tempo-style deck with Kiln Fiend, Nivix Cyclops, Wee Dragonauts, etc would be fun. There's also a good smattering of prowess cards, and fun cards like Young Pyromancer, Talrand, Sky Summoner, and Guttersnipe. There's actually quite a bit of subtlety to getting the most out of the deck as well using not very often picked up stuff like Hidden Strings, Hands of Binding and such. Remember, because of the wording on cipher when the creature deals combat damage to a player, you get another casting of those cards which means more tokens, damage from guttersnipe, and if need be it counts as your 2nd spell for Jori En herself. Just an idea!