MTG Salvation

Whenever I'm building a new deck, I find that there's tons of staples I want to run that cost three mana, but I have a much harder time getting in enough good cards for one and two mana so the deck reliably does something the first few turns. There are some staples like Skullclamp or the humble Sakura-Tribe Elder, but not as many as for the crowded three mana slots - and quite a few aren't exactly budget-friendly (like Land Tax, Sylvan Library or Mana Vault). So I was wondering, what are your favorite cards at lower mana costs that help you keep the mana curve in check and can still do good work throughout a game of Commander?

Warping wail is always good in non-Blue as the ability to counter sorceries is unexpected and ever so useful. Most decks have sources of colorless mana so the cost is reasonable.

Oakhame Adversary is a new one that might be worth looking at. As is Merchant of The Vale for it's adventure, whilst being able to be played later as a looting engine.

I have a deck that runs off of rat colony and the CMC in the deck is extremely low. Very aggressive

Most of the time people are just ramping for the first couple of turns.

I often a pile of cantrips in my decks just so I can spend time setting up, making sure I make my land drops etc. So either I have ramp or cantrips in the early turns.

Luminarch Ascension is often amazing when people are too busy ramping to notice what you are doing.

Another auto include in non-green decks for me is Expedition Map, it is always useful for fixing early game or for finding toolbox lands in the late game like Rogue’s Passage or Maze of Ith.

I like Open the Armory in most of my white decks, because it grabs useful equipment and unlike the other equipment tutor steelshaper’s gift, open the armory can fetch answers in the form of auras like darksteel mutation and Faith’s Fetters (or Imprisoned in the Moon and Song of the Dryads depending on your colors).

Cards like Enlightened tutor and Fabricate are also very nice to have in most decks. Every deck that I build that uses them also uses Ancient Den, Seat of the Synod and every other artifact land in that deck’s colors since it’s nice being able to fetch a land drop in the appropriate color if I desperately need one.

First, i want to say that i really like low cost cards. So i compiled a list of some i played over the years with great success. With over 200+ entries i roughly sort my list. Maybe this will inspire you.

Block 1: Mana


Block 2: Tutor & Draw



Block 3: Counter & Removal



Block 4: Stax



Block 5: Sac, Recursion & Value



Block 6: Other Good Cards