In general control and ramp can be generalized. There is not a lot of cards that cannot be replaced. Some of it might be a question of what you are trying to build and what you are having issues with. Its much harder to replace combo cards and or fast ramp. If you are in a competitive combo meta that would be the hardest to find replacements for.
You can also go for a niche strategy as well as mono colored strategies. Going mono colored will simplify your landbase and something like an aura deck can be quite cheap overall.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
RW Blaze Commando Soldier Swarm BW Edgewalker Clerics i.e. All the prevention R Ogre Menial (Fallen Feromancer) Tunnelin' Infectors GB Shaman of the Pack Elves URReclusive Artificer Artifact Control GBCatacomb Sifter Sac-Attack
Tiny Leader Decks
WU Geist of Saint Traft WKembha's Cats WRG Marath Slide Control
DOUBLING: Doubling Season is tough to replace and is irreplaceable when it comes to cheesing planeswalkers. Primal Vigor even as a symmetrical card does 66% of what you want though. Hardened Scales is good if all you care about is +1/+1 counters. Parallel Lives is okay if all you want is tokens; Growing Ranks is generally worse but an even more budget option and there's also Parallel Evolution and Second Harvest as budget one-shot doublers. If you really want to cheat with 'walkers you can consider Oath of Gideon and anything with Proliferate if your heart is set on superfriends.
COUNTERS: Obviously it's great if you can run Mana Drain, Cryptic Command, Force of Will...but not essential. While obviously worse, consider Foil and Thwart for all your "free counterspell" needs.
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Contrasting Opinion: If you are on an extreme budget and playing at a card shop where meta fluctuates, I recommend favoring speed. Stick to one, two, or maybe three-color decks and focus on various super affordable dual lands that EtB untapped. Painlands (Adarkar Wastes, Shivan Reef, etc) can be had for a song nowadays. "Checklands" (Glacial Fortress), "Reveal Lands" (Port Town), and Battlelands (Prairie Stream) are a little more conditional but can also EtB untapped in the right deck. Filterlands (Mystic Gate) and "Fastlands" (Seachrome Coast) also do it but those are more expensive and not really budget even if they are typically cheaper than Fetches and Shocks.
Those Mirage fetches are great adds for any deck that cares about land in graveyard even a smidgen though. If your deck has Sun Titan or Life from the Loam and you can't afford Fetchlands, definitely snap up Mirage Lands + Krosan Verge if applicable!
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
As said above if Demonic Tutor is too expensive and the other cards mentioned are unavailable try Behold the Beyond. Black can usually make lots of mana so the casting cost is manageable and black also usually likes a full graveyard, so it all syncs up. I use it myself.
I like the idea here, but I put forth that mana cost is just as important in determining what a card does as is its actual effect. Wrathing on turn 4 is a very different effect from wrathing on turn six. So if my deck wants Damnation, but I don't have one, I'm more likely to consider Languish, Mutilate, or Yahenni's Expertise as a replacement than I am Life's Finale.
Just be aware that copying Cavern of Souls with Thespian's Stage doesn't do anything but change the name of the land outside of a couple very, very fringe cases. Stage doesn't enter as a copy of Cavern so you never choose a creature type and the choice isn't a copiable value.
I like the idea here, but I put forth that mana cost is just as important in determining what a card does as is its actual effect. Wrathing on turn 4 is a very different effect from wrathing on turn six. So if my deck wants Damnation, but I don't have one, I'm more likely to consider Languish, Mutilate, or Yahenni's Expertise as a replacement than I am Life's Finale.
256k, but remember -X/-X effects are not good in EDH because of fatties running around. You need destroy effects.
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GMR21=OYS, I know you.
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
In seriousness, how about Insidious Will? It's a modal 4 mana counterspell just like cryptic, but you only pick one option. (and one could argue its modes are worse)
Oblation and Condemn are arguably better in commander than Path to Exile anyway, but the fact that they are a lot cheaper certainly helps.
If you're foiling out your deck, you can run both Graveborn Muse and Bloodgift Demon for less than the cost of one Phyrexian Arena - and they're a lot easier to recur, plus they can lay down some beats if needed.
As said above if Demonic Tutor is too expensive and the other cards mentioned are unavailable try Behold the Beyond. Black can usually make lots of mana so the casting cost is manageable and black also usually likes a full graveyard, so it all syncs up. I use it myself.
I mean, in a realm where Diabolic Revelation exists, I'm not sure there is room for Behold the Beyond outside of decks actively using their graveyard. Funny card, that Revelation thing. Its main purpose is discouraging from running costly tutor options, as you realise that the Revelation exists, and then you don't start running the Revelation instead
In terms of budget replacements, if you can't get yourself to acquire a Consecrated Sphinx, consider a Tidings or Opportunity instead. Four cards is not too farfetched an estimate for the amount of value you're likely to get off the Sphinx before someone takes it out, and these offer said value at a fraction of the monetary investment.
Painlands. You don't get the synergy with fetchlands or the Glacial Fortress cycle, but you do get fairly cheap lands, and they also let you play cards that require colorless mana.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I will start the ball rolling: Damnation becomes Life's Finale.
Your turn.
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
Copy effects in general are good for getting nicer cards, too. "Oh, Azusa? I'll play Clone since the Legend rule was nerfed."
The BFZ duals are fine alternatives to the ABU duals for two/three colored decks.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
You can also go for a niche strategy as well as mono colored strategies. Going mono colored will simplify your landbase and something like an aura deck can be quite cheap overall.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
What is BFZ and ABU?
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
In Progress
GBIshkanah, Grafwidow ~ BWGRTymna the Weaver & Tana, the Bloodsower ~ UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ~ RGAtarka, World Render
Battle for Zendikar and Alpha, Beta, Unlimited
Abbreviations for set designations
EDH DECKS:
GBCatacomb Sifter Sac-Attack
DOUBLING: Doubling Season is tough to replace and is irreplaceable when it comes to cheesing planeswalkers. Primal Vigor even as a symmetrical card does 66% of what you want though. Hardened Scales is good if all you care about is +1/+1 counters. Parallel Lives is okay if all you want is tokens; Growing Ranks is generally worse but an even more budget option and there's also Parallel Evolution and Second Harvest as budget one-shot doublers. If you really want to cheat with 'walkers you can consider Oath of Gideon and anything with Proliferate if your heart is set on superfriends.
COUNTERS: Obviously it's great if you can run Mana Drain, Cryptic Command, Force of Will...but not essential. While obviously worse, consider Foil and Thwart for all your "free counterspell" needs.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsContrasting Opinion: If you are on an extreme budget and playing at a card shop where meta fluctuates, I recommend favoring speed. Stick to one, two, or maybe three-color decks and focus on various super affordable dual lands that EtB untapped. Painlands (Adarkar Wastes, Shivan Reef, etc) can be had for a song nowadays. "Checklands" (Glacial Fortress), "Reveal Lands" (Port Town), and Battlelands (Prairie Stream) are a little more conditional but can also EtB untapped in the right deck. Filterlands (Mystic Gate) and "Fastlands" (Seachrome Coast) also do it but those are more expensive and not really budget even if they are typically cheaper than Fetches and Shocks.
Those Mirage fetches are great adds for any deck that cares about land in graveyard even a smidgen though. If your deck has Sun Titan or Life from the Loam and you can't afford Fetchlands, definitely snap up Mirage Lands + Krosan Verge if applicable!
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Also if your deck really wants a land you can't afford, but others in your playgroup use try Thespian's Stage. It isn't expensive and at worst you probably get a Command Tower out of it. At best you get a Cavern of Souls or a Cabal Coffers or a Gaea's Cradle.
Time Walk becomes Time Warp
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
Walk is banned and Warp is only marginally less expensive than Damnation. Wouldn't Time Warp → Walk the Aeons be a better one?
256k, but remember -X/-X effects are not good in EDH because of fatties running around. You need destroy effects.
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
Not good? Toxic Deluge is arguably the best creature wipe in the format, and indestructible creatures are a thing.
[Primer] Erebos, God of the Dead
HONK HONK
... ok maybe not
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
Uncommons can sometimes break the bank
In seriousness, how about Insidious Will? It's a modal 4 mana counterspell just like cryptic, but you only pick one option. (and one could argue its modes are worse)
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsIf you're foiling out your deck, you can run both Graveborn Muse and Bloodgift Demon for less than the cost of one Phyrexian Arena - and they're a lot easier to recur, plus they can lay down some beats if needed.
Sword of Fire and Ice is obviously good, but if all you really need is card draw, you're fine with Rogue's Gloves and Mask of Memory.
WU Bruna UW | R Kiki-Jiki R | RB New Chainer BR
Legacy - Burn | Pauper - Reanimator | Aristocrats | Burn
@votechainer2016
I mean, in a realm where Diabolic Revelation exists, I'm not sure there is room for Behold the Beyond outside of decks actively using their graveyard. Funny card, that Revelation thing. Its main purpose is discouraging from running costly tutor options, as you realise that the Revelation exists, and then you don't start running the Revelation instead
In terms of budget replacements, if you can't get yourself to acquire a Consecrated Sphinx, consider a Tidings or Opportunity instead. Four cards is not too farfetched an estimate for the amount of value you're likely to get off the Sphinx before someone takes it out, and these offer said value at a fraction of the monetary investment.
On phasing:
Salt is part of the game. Deal with it.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Force of Will becomes Misdirection, depending on what you want to use it for
Transmute Artifact becomes Reshape
Timetwister becomes Windfall and possibly Whispering Madness
Entomb becomes Buried Alive
Lion's Eye Diamond becomes One With Nothing (ok, I'm joking)
UGR Wanderer
UGB Tasigur Control
URB Jeleva Storm
RW Gisela Control