MTG Salvation

I just traded in $50 of cards and I am looking to trade in another $60 for a total of $110 store credit with TCGPlayer. Since I am a brand new EDH player (you may remember me, I just built my first ever deck with [The Scarab God](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/where-is-your-scarab-god-now/)), I wanted to get some staples that were good with any deck and some things or thing and some stuff for the Scarab God deck.

Since I am so new, I wanted to know what staples I should get? Cabal Coffers is the first one and that is certain. What about others? The colors I will be playing are black, black, and green. I would also really like some big upgrades for the above deck too that are not high in price, say $10-15 (less is fine too) or so each if anything. I am taking suggestions now and will be debuting my Scarab God deck at Commander next Thursday. Mana rock upgrades would be good too, the ones I have right now are pretty basic.


The acquire board for The Scarab God deck so far is:
Grave Titan
Lich Lord of Unx
Mindcrank
Overseer of the Damned
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Rise of the Dark Realms

I would not get cabal coffers. It’s a little narrow.
I would get
Mana crypt
Mana vault
Grim monolith
These go in litterally any commander deck and make the deck better. No matter what the theme is. Unless the theme is don’t play good cards.

My sugesstions are as follows. Go out and get a:

1. Mana VAULT (~$22) (my error)
2. Cabal coffers (~30)
3. Urborg (~13)
4. Paradox engine (~20)
5. Gilded lotus (3)
6. Thran dynamo (4)

You want to aim for big buys that will get you mileage not only in current decks but future ones too. Buy niche cards last

Edit:

Quote from whiffy penguin »

I would not get cabal coffers. It’s a little narrow.
I would get
Mana crypt
Mana vault
Grim monolith
These go in litterally any commander deck and make the deck better. No matter what the theme is. Unless the theme is don’t play good cards.

What ******* universe are you in wheree you can get a 20 dollar card, a 95 dollar card, and 110 dollar card for only 110 dollars? I suppose being bad at reading OPs correlates with poor mathematical ability, or do I have that backwards?

Where is this $22 mana crypt? I'm only seeing $150+.

I think Cabal Coffers would be great to get as long as you also have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Grave Titan is powerful AND fun. Lich Lord of Unx can win games.

You didn’t mention him, but Mikeaus the Unhollowed is very powerful and although expensive it is much more affordable now due to a recent reprinting. Consecrated Sphinx is fantastically broken.

As far as mana rocks, the signets are all good. Chromatic lantern is also great for color fixing. Mana crypt is way to expensive for you and not necessary.

Quote from DirkGently »

Where is this $22 mana crypt? I'm only seeing $150+.

Yeah, I already have my wallet out. Do go on.

I recommend real estate. Get on-color shocks (~$12), checks (~$5), and possibly pains (~$5) for decks you already have or decks you're about to build. Mana fixing never goes out of style and prices will typically only go up. They're not sexy, but they do a lot of work. Beyond that you'll want to look into spme of the following:

Demonic Tutor ($25)
Mystical Tutor ($5)
Cyclonic Rift ($20)
Damnation ($30)
Toxic Deluge ($20)

Those are autoincludes in any deck in those colors.

Quote from whiffy penguin »

I would not get cabal coffers. It’s a little narrow.
I would get
Mana crypt
Mana vault
Grim monolith
These go in litterally any commander deck and make the deck better. No matter what the theme is. Unless the theme is don’t play good cards.

Mana Crypt market price: $168.11
Grim Monolith market price: $103.31

I do appreciate you trying to read and just ignoring me like the other posters pointed out.

Quote from Sachi »

I think Cabal Coffers would be great to get as long as you also have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Grave Titan is powerful AND fun. Lich Lord of Unx can win games.

You didn’t mention him, but Mikeaus the Unhollowed is very powerful and although expensive it is much more affordable now due to a recent reprinting. Consecrated Sphinx is fantastically broken.

As far as mana rocks, the signets are all good. Chromatic lantern is also great for color fixing. Mana crypt is way to expensive for you and not necessary.

Very good! Thank you. I do own Urborg and it is on the decklist I shared. I did add Mikaeus to the list after reviewing him, he seems fantastic.

Quote from GloriousGoose »

Demonic Tutor ($25)
Mystical Tutor ($5)
Cyclonic Rift ($20)
Damnation ($30)
Toxic Deluge ($20)

Those are autoincludes in any deck in those colors.

Thanks for those! That was a sample of what I was looking for too.

Bribery
Snapcaster Mage
I'd name Yawgmoth's Will here, but that is ~$73 nowadays.
Reanimate
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Dance of the Dead
And since you're in Scarab God, consider a Body Double & Body Snatcher.
Many people swear by Puppeteer Clique, and I for one have enjoyed Memory Plunder.

Depending how casual you go, you might consider a small package of Wrexial, the Risen Deep + Tainted Well & Spreading Seas too. Bit of fun with Scarab God and a cool source of CA off your opponent's spells.

And then if you want to be extra troll with those, then Kederekt Leviathan (it combos with a reanimation aura to mass bounce all non-lands every turn).

I think Goose's list, I'd also add a pet favorite of mine, Recurring Insight, I think it's a great source of card draw and it's cheap ($2 last time I checked).

Cyclonic Rift $20
best board wipe

Rhystic Study $20
best costed draw card

Cabal Coffers $40

That is $80 or a little less so you have about $35 to $40 to spend on stuff like:

Toxic Deluge $25
Killed indestructible guys and can provide a favorable board state all for just 3 mana

Lightning greaves $6
A staple for any deck I play. Even if your God has protection why not make it even harder to remove

Entomb $7
Any black deck dealing with the grave should play this

Sidisi, Undead Vizier $10
Very powerful in black decks playing reanimation effects

Mystic Confluence $4
Most flexible and powerful counterspell in the format (not most efficient)

Solemn Simulacrum $5
Not always a staple but a ramp card that goes into any deck and can be flickered or reanimated and sacced for more value

I choose these over mana rocks because in my opinion rocks only go as far as the cards you can play with them.

Quote from Pappy »

Cyclonic Rift $20
best board wipe

Rhystic Study $20
best costed draw card

Cabal Coffers $40

That is $80 or a little less so you have about $15 to $20 to spend on stuff like:

Toxic Deluge $25
Killed indestructible guys and can provide a favorable board state all for just 3 mana

Lightning greaves $6
A staple for any deck I play. Even if your God has protection why not make it even harder to remove

Entomb $7
Any black deck dealing with the grave should play this

Sidisi, Undead Vizier $10
Very powerful in black decks playing reanimation effects

Mystic Confluence $4
Most flexible and powerful counterspell in the format

Solemn Simulacrum $5
Not always a staple but a ramp card that goes into any deck and can be flickered or reanimated and sacced for more value

I choose these over mana rocks because in my opinion rocks only go as far as the cards you can play with them.

This is very good, thank you so much! I knew about Cyclonic Rift and forgot about some of the others you listed. They are on the list for sure! Thank you!

I pulled even more cards when I got home. Right now I am looking at about $175 in store credit if everything goes as planned! That is a healthy amount of money to play with for my decks. I am so excited!

I think Cabal Coffers is a bad buy right now. The card is only really played in commander, so the second it gets reprinted it will be 5$.
Arguably, Cabal Stronghold suggests coffers may not be getting a reprint, but I like to think long-term.

I would focus on reserved list cards and on lands (shocks, allied fetches, checklands). Damnation and Toxic Deluge seem like good buys (price did not drop much with reprints). Cyclonic Rift and Paradox engine are great cards but since they are only played in Commander, and because they are part of banlist discussions, you should know that if either card were banned the price would plummet.

Demonic tutor is at the lowest price point in a long time. I would argue that it will only become more expensive as time goes on.

Quote from Dunharrow »

I would focus on reserved list cards and on lands (shocks, allied fetches, checklands). Damnation and Toxic Deluge seem like good buys (price did not drop much with reprints). Cyclonic Rift and Paradox engine are great cards but since they are only played in Commander, and because they are part of banlist discussions, you should know that if either card were banned the price would plummet.

This is a fair point with bad examples. Rift and Paradox engine are on the banlist discussions HERE, but sheldon nor the RC hasn't made even the slightest intimation that either card has ever been even close to being banned. The odds that either become a bad buy because of an unprecedented, unpredicted, and uncharacteristic ban is about the same as dying to lightning today.

You already got a pretty good UB manabase. I think you should focus to get some UB staples and cheap mana rocks.

reanimate Cheat in fatties fast. Also form opponents graveyard.
entomb Search anything
phyrexian arena Low radar card draw, almost doesn't eat removal
phyrexian metamorph I almost always put this card in my deck when playing blue
damnation Very good boardwipe, best in these colors
toxic deluge Maybe an even better boardwipe
animate dead See reanimate
necromancy Instant reanimate!
skullclamp Combo card draw, especially with sac outlet.
grave pact Crowd control
necropotence Insane card draw
rhystic study Just good, it eats removal or draws tons of cards
swan song cheap counter
sheoldred, whispering one Very oppresive card when you can put it on the board
cheap mana rocks like fellwar stone, worn powerstone, coldsteel heart

Quote from GloriousGoose »

Quote from DirkGently »

Where is this $22 mana crypt? I'm only seeing $150+.

I recommend real estate. Get on-color shocks (~$12), checks (~$5), and possibly pains (~$5) for decks you already have or decks you're about to build. Mana fixing never goes out of style and prices will typically only go up. They're not sexy, but they do a lot of work.

This. Always this. I'd buy complete sets of 40 fetches, shocks, and checks before I bought any expensive spells.

Are you looking for just scarab god cards? Because with 110 there are some decks that are fairly competative that you can build with that budget. They will never be top tier, but they can play with the big boys.

Lol just saw in the beginning about Mana Crypt, now it is $200 on SCG...

Paradox Engine is getting higher now, it is going to be a $40 card soon.

Quote from Tigerpawx »

Lol just saw in the beginning about Mana Crypt, now it is $200 on SCG...

Paradox Engine is getting higher now, it is going to be a $40 card soon.

I should pick up a spare before it gets too high, just in case it does not get reprinted. That way if it does I have a spare, and if it doesn't, trade fodder.