MTG Salvation

CARD SELECTION
Child of Alara (and most EDH decks) can be divided into a core and a shell. The core is the General and all the spells that go with it to create a synergistic whole. The shell is the lands, the ramp, the small dig and land fetch - all the cards that enable you to play your business spells and execute your game plan. This sections examines card selection for the core, and how to construct a realistic shell to support it.

Each subsection is divided into common, uncommon and rare, so it's easy to select cards if you are restricted to only commons, or a Peasant mix of commons and uncommons. The uncommons and rares discussed in this section are all budget friendly, being capped at <$5. After the Decklists section, there is a discussion of worthwhile upgrades that you can invest in gradually if you wish to improve the budget build. Please note that utility lands and small dig spells (like Brainstorm) that can be used early to dig for lands are discussed in the Shell subsection, not in the Core.

The Core - Sacrifice Outlets, Recursion and Engine Pieces
Unlike most Commanders, CoA makes little use of the Command Zone, since it has to go to the grave to activate its ability. This immediately demands two types of functions from the rest of the deck: sacrifice outlets (which become your de facto sweepers) and recursion (so you can get CoA back, since you can't use the Command Zone like everyone else). Ideally, these card types are reusable, so that going through a CoA activation nets no card loss. The building blocks that make this happen are called engine pieces.

The problem with Pauper builds is that the only available reusable sac outlet is Slow Motion (pretty iffy to use), which means that each activation of CoA typically costs you a card. The reusable recursion available is limited to Disturbed Burial and Grim Harvest. This combined with the relative scarcity of tutors in the Pauper card pool requires you to diversify your strategy.

The common builds solve this by playing instant recursion bears (Archaeomancer, Izzet Chronarch, Mnemonic Wall and Scrivener) and a clever selection of multi-purpose instants that permit the timely demise of CoA while also having other uses (such as Terminate). The recursion bears also permit reuse of multiple creature recursion instants (such as Reaping the Graves), creating loops that protect themselves (for instance: Scrivener returns Reaping the Graves so that, when the world blows up the next time, you can reap both Scrivener and CoA back again). This typically develops further into many ETB effects where Ghostly Flicker and Capsize also play a part as engine pieces.

This approach is effective but immensly clunky. If you're using Burial/Harvest, replaying CoA costs 5 mana for the recursion spell and another 5 for the baby. That's before considering the cost for the sac outlet and the process of getting it back or drawing into another. To compensate for this, the Pauper builds make great use of alternate win cons (see below).

As soon as we look at uncommons, it's a very different story. Assembling the CoA engine is as easy as combining two cards (with several options available), with the total cost for the cycle being typically around 8-9 mana, often netting additional benefits such as life gain. If you're going into rares, free recursion becomes the new norm - in fact, killing CoA can even provide a net gain of mana each cycle if you have a few more dollars to spend. This allows you to rely on CoA and reanimation in general as a win con to a much higher degree.

Let's take a look at the cards in these categories by rarity:

Sac Outlets - Commons
Abjure: Get more value out of your sac outlet by countering a spell at the same time. Cute for Pauper builds if REB/Pyro is dead in your meta, but otherwise it's typically better to keep your sac outlets and counters seperate.
Altar's Reap: A good option with all commons, since it compensates for the card loss. Such builds also tend to run more expendable creatures, reducing the risk that this will be a dead card. Be careful not to run too many cards that only work if you have a creature in play, however.
Devour Flesh: Better than Diabolic Edict if used on CoA, and against opponents the life gain matters little and can even be politically beneficial. Also very good at mopping up indestructibles after CoA explodes. Mandatory with all commons, but always a consideration.
Eyeblight's Ending: Worse than Terminate, but useful at 3 CMC for transmute purposes. Not recommended outside all commons builds.
Mind Extraction: One of the most powerful cards in the deck. A must run in any build. Hand wipe + board wipe is usually GG for whoever gets hit with it.
Murder: See Eyeblights Ending and Rend Flesh. Typically, double black is a greater restriction than the small creature type limitations of the other two options, making this rather bland.
Perilous Research: A better option than Altar's Reap since you don't HAVE to have a creature to use it. Also good with non-creatures that like to die, such as Reality Acid, Spine of Ish Sah and Flagstones of Trokair. Also a target for Merchant Scroll and should definetely be run as long as you include this tutor.
Primal Growth: Ramp that also doubles as a sac outlet when needed? Fantastic! Recommended for all builds.
Pyroblast: One of the cheapest ways to kill CoA, while also protecting your key plays against counters. This or REB is a must for an all commons Dizzy Spell toolbox, but both are always meta considerations even when you're running rares.
Red Elemental Blast: See Pyroblast.
Rend Flesh: See Eyeblights Ending. Typically choose this or EE, depending on meta.
Skred: Requires a more expensive snow-covered mana base, and it will take a while until it can kill CoA or other threats. If using Dizzy Spell in all commons it merits consideration as a toolbox target together with Tragic Slip.
Slow Motion: With access only to commons, you must use what's available. Under such circumstances, this is a good way to facilate continuous CoA use late game when combined with Disturbed Burial/Grim Harvest. Definetely not a consideration otherwise.
Terminate: Good both when you want to blow up the world and when you don't. Always a consideration, though uncommon options tend to overshadow it.
Tragic Slip: A cheap way to kill CoA, but the trigger can be a problem. Also a good way to mop up indestructibles after CoA explodes. A meta consideration for a Dizzy Spell toolbox.
Wrecking Ball: More of a silver bullet against problematic lands than a sac outlet, I include it here since it's an instant that can also kill CoA. A very strong choice in all commons, but overshadowed when uncommons are available.

Sac Outlets - Uncommons
Beast Within: This uncommon upgrade to Murder/Eyeblight's Ending/Rend Flesh, Terminate and Wrecking Ball. At this point however, you can have dedicated and reusable sac outlets, and the competition for your removal slots is very cutthroat.
Fallen Ideal: A significant upgrade to Slow Motion. It doesn't come with life gain like Worthy Cause, but is less prone to counters and discard, and lets you tap out. If you have Reveillark combo, you can also grow an infinitely large CoA (see Reveillark). Being a 3 CMC aura also puts it in an interesting tutoring category. Mandatory unless you invest in expensive rare lands.
Worthy Cause: One of the best outlets available, and definetely the best instant and 1 CMC option, making this mandatory in all builds due to its tutor category. Only disruptable by counters and discard.

Sac Outlets - Rares
Altar of Bone: The budget version of Diabolic Intent. Sorcery speed outlets that require a creature to be sacced has to have a power level on the scale of Mind Extraction to be considered. Skip.
Bound//Determined: A fantastic one-shot deal, and very cheap to aquire. The determined part also cantrips and provides a way to cover key plays, making the card always useful.
Greater Gargadon: Dirt cheap and opens up the use of creature tutors for getting sac outlets! It's uncounterable and only costs a single mana to start using. Unfortunately it doesn't last forever, but it's pretty untouchable while it does and has the added benefit of netting you a 9/7 when used up! Also deters mass LD, which is a great boon. A must run if you decide to use rares.
High Market: The cheapest of the land sac outlets and could be considered alone. Most useful if you add it as part of a more costly land package though.
Miren, the Moaning Well: More costly to use and also to buy than High Market, plus there's a limit to the amount of colorless lands that you can use - and the amount of reusable sac outlets that are relevant. Two in lands is typically plenty, and I'd recommend Phyrexian Tower and High Market before this.
Momentous Fall: Altar's Reap on steroids. This time however, the power level is comparable to Mind Extraction and Bound//Determined. Run it!

Recursion and Engines - Commons
Archaeomancer: The best of the common instant recursion bears. Mandatory in all commons, but easily eclipsed by Eternal Witness when uncommons are available.
Cadaver Imp: Cost effective in builds using Ghostly Flicker and Capsize, but also easily replaced by Eternal Witness.
Capsize: One of the most powerful cards in the deck - stand alone or as an engine piece, allowing you to reuse ETB-effects. A must include in all builds.
Death Denied: An option in all commons builds with the instant recursion bears, where there is a significant amount of creatures to recur. More susceptible to counters than Reaping the Graves, and in a less interesting transmute category (already crowded with Disturbed Burial and Grim Harvest).
Disturbed Burial: A must include in all commons - a must not include if uncommons are available.
Elven Cache: A bad Regrowth. Hardly a consideration even for all commons - a single Reclaim is typically sufficient when you already have creatures, instants and sorceries covered so well.
Evolution Charm: A multi-purpose card and a strong consideration at instant speed. Even has application as an early mana fixer in more advanced builds that can play it on t2 routinely.
False Demise: See Shade's Form.
Ghostly Flicker: A very powerful card in a pauper environment if you set it up right. When uncommons are available, there is no need to jump through these hoops.
Gravedigger: A rather ineffective recursion option. For only one mana more, you could be paying for buyback or recover on Disturbed Burial/Grim Harvest, or getting a really good deal on Urborg Uprising.
Grim Harvest: The strongest common creature recursion. Must include in Pauper builds! Can be considered even in budget builds, to recur small creatures.
Izzet Chronarch: Almost as good as Archaeomancer, better color requirements and a slightly larger body for one mana more. A must include in Pauper.
Mnemonic Wall: See Izzet Chronarch.
Reaping the Graves: Probably the best option after Burial/Harvest - a very strong consideration if you're only using commons.
Reclaim: Tutors well and costs little to use - almost a must include if you're in all commons. The slightly better Noxious Revival eclipses it if you're not.
Scrivener: Worse than the other recursion bears, but you run so many instants that not doing sorceries is not so big of a deal. A strong consideration for all commons.
Soul Manipulation: A very interesting card - a better Exclude, which is saying something. To me, tutoring with Merchant's Scroll is the most interesting thing with this card, so as long as you're using it, you should keep this card in the deck IMO.
Shade's Form: Puts CoA immediately back into play, making it much more effective mana wise than most other options in Pauper. Also allows for pumping and stealing opposing threats (a very interesting option if your opponents are packing more expensive and bigger threats than you are). Decks not running much in the way of other win cons should consider this card and its friends (Unhallowed Pact and False Demise). However, builds using rares typically don't have room for these cards (eclipsed by Fool's Demise) and Pauper builds must prioritize card advantage over mana advantage.
Undying Evil: An absolute bomb in recursion efficiency. Also brutal with Mulldrifter and many other utility creatures.
Unhallowed Pact: See Shade's Form.
Urborg Uprising: As cost effective as Death Denied, but tutors in the 5 CMC category instead and requires fewer creatures in the yard to be a worthwhile engine piece.

Recursion and Engines - Uncommons
Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead: In a vacuum, Necromancy is better, but with Three Dreams and ample recursion in 3 CMC already, these auras get better. Which one you pick is mostly up to preference, as 2 less power and 1 less toughness isn't a dealbreaker, but nor is paying 2 mana for untapping if you want to actually swing with the reanimation target. I think Dance has cooler art - and black borders! See Necromancy for interaction with Capsize.
Artisan of Kozilek: Uncounterable and colorless recursion for CoA with a decent annihilator body to boot. Unfortunately, big dudes are not needed in the deck, making this an overcosted reanimation effect most of the time.
Cauldron Dance: Forms a loop with Eternal Witness (or Archaeomancer and friends) and Child of Alara (or some ETB dude), much like Ghostly Flicker. More "fun" than effective, and quite easy to disrupt.
Diabolic Servitude: With correct use of the stack and replacement abilities, this will net you reanimation on the cheap (4 mana) half the time, while you have to rely on playing CoA for an increasing cost from the Command Zone the other half. It still averages out to be a better deal than the common engines for the first handful of sweeps at least. However, there are much better options.
Eternal Witness: Always a must include, as it turns all that creature recursion into everything recursion while being awesome on its own.
Fool's Demise: The self-recurring version of False Demise and friends. Probably the best engine you can find in uncommons, completing the cycle for only 8 mana when paired with Worthy Cause/Fallen Ideal. Since it also keeps stealing dudes through CoA activations, it's good enough for any build IMO.
Golgari Thug: Not the best of reusable recursion effects, but strong with Buried Alive. Truly a placeholder for Genesis until you can afford it - it is much better.
Necromancy: The best of the Animate Dead type effects as it comes with no drawback and optionally at instant speed. Forms an engine with Capsize, completing a sac-and-reanimate cycle for the very acceptable price of 9 mana - at instant speed! Without Capsize at the ready however, this type of effect has poor synergy with CoA itself (unlike Fool's Demise), but is still an undercosted creature with optional flash. If you're running Three Dreams however, Animate Dead or Dance of the Dead are better, since they count as auras.
Noxious Revival: As a 1 CMC instant, it tutors in other categories than Regrowth and Eternal Witness, which makes it very useful. The card disadvantage is sad however.
Regrowth: The original recursion spell and still one of the best. A strong consideration for any build, if not a must-include.

Recursion and Engines - Rares
Body Double: Solid "recursion" on its own (similar to Necromancy), but has a stupid combo with Lark.
Bound//Determined: Already covered under sac outlets, it only takes half of this card to cover the two most important roles in the deck! It's also the most powerful recursion option, returning five cards to your hand (CoA can be one of them) as you explode the world at instant speed.
Corpse Dance: Sort of OK, but iffy to use (best in decks with few creatures, or when paired with other recursion) and only works on your yard. Eclipsed by Gift and other options for free recursion, but becomes stronger if you run Boseiju, Who Shelters All.
Gift of Immortality: This card was pretty much designed for this deck. Less than a dollar will net you a free recursion engine in one card. Stupid good.
Karmic Guide: Another option for the Lark combo, but worse color requirements than Body Double and can only target your graveyard. Consider skipping it.
Life from the Loam: Doesn't recur CoA as such, but is one of the most powerful engines available to the deck. See the Shell section and the section on adding money to the deck.
Reveillark: Another means of free recursion comes from combining Lark, Saffi and Body Double with CoA. Body Double impersonates CoA but qualifies for Lark recursion once it hits the grave. As you blow it up, Saffi will return Lark and Lark will return Saffi and BD, conserving this board state indefinetely for no mana investment. The pieces for this formidable engine are affordable enough to be staples in any rare build. Lark combined with either Saffi or BD will also recur any utility creature with power 2 or less indefinetely, which is awesome with all your instant speed sac outlets. If constant sweeping feels like an outmoded concept, how about constant countering with Mystic Snake instead?
Saffi Eriksdotter: Kind of like the False Demise auras, but this also has a nasty combo with Reveillark.

The Shell - Tutors
Now that we've defined the best sac outlets and recursion pieces, the next question becomes what tutors are best to find these two categories of cards. The benchmark Pauper tutor costs 3 mana, achieves card parity, and has a suffienct range to find either card category. Transmuters are good examples that achieve this benchmark, while being dirt cheap (mostly commons), uncounterable and having situational secondary uses. It would of course be foolish to pay for uncommon or rare "upgrades" if they can't beat this benchmark.

Tutors - Commons
Brainspoil: The only common that can dig for CoA if it gets tucked, and even a bad sac outlet/removal in itself. The 5 CMC slot only becomes more important in non-pauper, so this is actually one of the best transmuters in a budget build. Eventually eclipsed by more powerful options as you add money to the deck.
Crop Rotation: Mostly a consideration if you're running strong utility lands, since it has card disadvantage. However, this can be circumvented by getting a karoo-type land.
Dimir House Guard: Interestingly, few important cards in this deck cost 4 mana, but it is at least a sac outlet in itself. Should be run in all commons, but otherwise there are better options.
Dimir Infiltratior: 2 CMC transmutes are very useful in commons/uncommons, but lose power when you rely more on rares. This card is pretty useless on its own, but the creature type is interesting for recursion and tutoring purposes.
Dizzy Spell: Useless on its own but can get you some rather things. Again, not too useful if you have access to rares and uncommons.
Drift of Phantasms: The 3 CMC slot is packed with bombs throughout the rarity spectrum, always a strong include.
Expedition Map: See Reap and Sow.
Merchant Scroll: Easily built around (just be sure to include Soul Manipulation and Perilous Research in your counters/draw suite) and should always be run as long as you're on a budget. See the section on adding money to the deck.
Muddle the Mixture: Decent on its own, fantastic with the transmute option. Always a must include.
Mystical Teachings: Possibly the best tutor in commons - pretty expensive to cast and recur, but worth it.
Perplex: Worse than Drift of Phantasms - the primary ability is useless as a counter and it's not a creature, so it can't fit into creature tutors in non-pauper. Eclipsed by Dimir Machinations.
Reap and Sow: Decent even when running only commons, but much more powerful with more potent lands available. Always a consideration.
Shred Memory: A must include in commons/uncommons, otherwise not so much.
Vedalken Aethermage: A very interesting tutor in Pauper. Since the Aethermage tutors with Mystical Teachings, a single Teachings will assemble the Ghostly Flicker engine with the mage in the deck (the recursion bears recurring teachings as they ETB, and teachings grabbing more recursion for the Aethermage's encore appearance) - quite useful. Also finds Sea Gate Oracle, Qasali Pridemage and Trinket Mage.

Tutors - Uncommons
Beseech the Queen: Typically worse (and more expensive to buy) than 3 CMC transmutes. Skip.
Buried Alive: Three creatures into the yard for only three mana. Usually, one of them will be Golgari Thug or Genesis, to get one of the other three back. See Jarad's Orders for shenanigans.
Congregation at Dawn: Very good at setting up your engine. Instant speed and leading with Mulldrifter compensates for the card disadvantage.
Diabolic Tutor: Pretty bad at sorcery speed and 4 mana, but it is cheap to buy and it can fetch anything. Can be a consideration if you really need more tutors.
Dimir Machinations: Another 3 CMC transmute! Also strong disruption against top of the library tutors. It's also jet black, meaning it can transmute for Darksteel Ingot under Contamination locks. One of the better options IMO.
Lim-Dûl's Vault: Kind of like a budget Vampiric Tutor for roughly a dollar. The upside of being blue is that it qualifies as a target for Merchant Scroll. You could run this over a 3 CMC transmuter, but I'm not terribly fond of the card disadvantage.
Mystical Tutor: Excellent selection in this deck and a reasonable purchase price for the effect - though not at all mandatory for any build. See the adding money section.
Sylvan Scrying: An OK effect for an OK price, but not needed. A good replacement for Myconsynth Wellspring when you're getting thin on basics.
Tolaria West: Perhaps the best of the land tutors, but also the most expensive. A good upgrade for Expedition Map if you're adding money.
Worldly Tutor: Worse and higher price than Congregation at Dawn. Get Mystical Tutor instead if you have cash to spend.

Tutors - Rares
Altar of Bone: Already discussed under sac outlets.
Demonic Collusion: Very strong reusable tutor that works best if you discard lands and grab Life from the Loam first. An engine that fits into your hand, unlike the Ghostly Flicker combo!
Eladamri's Call: More narrow than Demonic Tutor, but instant speed is good. A consideration when adding money to the deck.
Jarad's Orders: Probably the only card that, if it's in you opener, merits a change of strategy from the t4 CoA plan. Being ready to always blow up the world by turn 5 while attacking with a trampling commander is nice and all, but not quite as broken as forcing all opponents to discard their hands, as early as turn 4 with the right ramp. Grab Myojin of Night's Reach and Body Double. Since Body Double is cast from your hand, it gets a divinity counter. So there's that. But it's hardly a one-trick pony. It also gets Anger (or Genesis) into the yard while replacing itself with something useful - all for 4 mana. A must include!
Plea for Guidance: Worse than Three Dreams, but it can also get Necromancy. Pass.
Three Dreams: 3 cards for 5 mana is good alone, but this card single-handedly assembles your engine with cards to spare. Gift of Immortality and Fallen Ideal are usually the ones to go for, plus whatever else seems useful. A must include!
Wargate: Puts the card directly into play with a 3 mana tax - very acceptable and cheap to buy. Even works as ramp. Always a must include!

The Core - Counters and Silver Bullets
Child of Alara is much like a broad spectrum antibiotic that kills most things. However, just like some bacteria are resistent, a few strategies require additional measures. Counters and a few silver bullets that fit well into your tutor package should cover these holes. To avoid redundancy, it's best to add cards in this section that do something that just blowing up CoA won't already accomplish. You're specifically looking for these qualities in silver bullets:
*Exiling/tuck/sacrifice: CoA simply destroys. Exiling/tuck effects prevent recursion and bypass indestructibility. Forced sacrifice also bypasses indestructibility and can often be used for CoA as well.
*Land removal: CoA avoids lands, so you need something to destroy problematic lands. Ideally, the silver bullet has a broader scope that just LD though.
*Colorless/free: Mana denial like Contamination or Winter Orb can lock you out if you don't have a good board position or counter in hand when it hits. Colorless or free spells help break the lock and restart your engines.
*Uncounterable: If you need to use a silver bullet, it had better resolve. Maybe the reason you need it is because you can't get CoA or reanimation to stick? Split second and similar mechanics help achieve this. Hitting first with brutal discard is another strategy.
*Non-creature: If Humility effects are big in your meta, consider that CoA won't work and that other creature based removal is not something you can rely on either.

Capsize and counters go a long way to handle these problems, but unfortunately, there's no one single answer to handle all of the above. There's usually only room for 2-3 silver bullets beyond the counter package and what utility you may be able to fit in lands, so chose wisely. Your choices here are obviously more meta dependent than in the other sections.

Counters and Silver Bullets - Commons
Arcane Denial: Perhaps the best 2 CMC counter in multiplayer, and can even function as a good draw spell if you counter a 1 CMC spell that you have no need for (3 mana for instant speed draw 3, discard 1 is quite acceptable).
Bojuka Bog: Graveyard removal in a relevant mana source color that doesn't take up a slot. Always a must include.
Capsize: Wins games on its own. Always a must include.
Counterspell: One of the best counters available, but not as versatile as Arcane Denial and Muddle the Mixture.
Dismantling Blow: One of the best disenchant effects in commons, but not at all mandatory.
Faerie Trickery: One of the best common counters, and can always be considered in a graveyard centric meta.
Mind Extraction: One of the strongest cards in the deck as previously discussed. Must run.
Muddle the Mixture: Decent cost and countering range combined with tutoring capabilities might make this the best counter in the pauper card pool.
Negate: Pretty much a Counterspell that is easier to cast, since you mostly care about non-creatures anyway.
Nihil Spellbomb: Perhaps the best GY hate in commons and always a strong choice for the Dizzy Spell toolbox. However, Expedition Map for Bojuka Bog (or a ravnica bounce to reuse it, if already in play) is often just as effective, and saves a slot on dedicated GY hate.
Oblivion Ring: A good catch-all answer if you're running only commons and not blowing up CoA all the time. Otherwise, Reality Acid is probably better. You can respond to the trigger with Capsize, which nets you an engine that exiles a non-land permanent for 9 mana a piece - not too bad for Pauper.
Overrule: Built in lifegain can be useful, but if you have Worthy Cause already, there are better counters.
Pyroblast: Kill CoA on the cheap or protect against counters - always at least a meta consideration. A target for Dizzy Spell.
Reality Acid: See Oblivion Ring - same functionality with Capsize as well. Beyond Pauper, there are stronger options than either.
Reap and Sow: Competes with Wrecking Ball for the land removal slot and gets better the more powerful lands you run.
Red Elemental Blast: See Pyroblast.
Reverent Silence: A free enchantment sweeper that works under Contamination type locks. Mostly a consideration for common builds that don't rely heavily on auras.
Revoke Existance: Another source of exiling removal. A strong answer to Darksteel Plate etc.
Rewind: A very strong counter if you run the Ghostly Flicker engine - otherwise, 4 mana is a lot to keep open.
Qasali Pridemage: Another consideration for a disenchant effect. Easy to recur and helps boost CoA or utility creatures if they want to take a swing.
Shred Memory: A must include until you get access to rares and more appropriate tutors.
Snakeform: Indestructible killer that also stops leave play abilities - and it cantrips! Requires a board position to work though, but is always a consideration if you see lots of indestructibles. Being found by Merchant Scroll and the 3 CMC transmutes makes this a favorite of mine. It is later eclipsed by Bant Charm however.
Soul Manipulation: Mostly a way to get recursion from Merchant Scroll - can be safely skipped once you swap it for Demonic Tutor (not the highest of priorities, considering the price).
Unmake: Good creature removal, if somewhat difficult to cast. Competes with Snakeform.
Wrecking Ball: Good land removal in all commons builds that also kills CoA in a pinch.

Counters and Silver Bullets - Uncommons
Acidic Slime: Adds too little functionality to what CoA with its engines can already accomplish. Not recommended if you're pressed for space at all. The same can be said for all the other green creature-based removals that only add land destruction to your removal portfolio.
Bant Charm: Tucking removal that's also a counter and artifact hate. A must run!
Beast Within: Mostly useful for the LD option, but it also kills CoA when you have nothing else available and is generally useful - and more political than most other removals.
Countersquall: A slightly better Negate with slightly worse mana requirements. Not too useful.
Dream Fracture: Half way between Arcane Denial and Dismiss. A strong consideration, especially if you're not running the pricier counters.
Forbid: A very strong counter with Life from the Loam.
Encroaching Wastes/Ghost Quarter: The cheapest of the land-based land removals. A must for budget builds, that begs to be upgraded to Tectonic Edge when you have dollars to spare.
Dissipate: The slightly better Faerie Trickery. IMO, Hinder is a better replacement though.
Dissmiss: A peasant's Cryptic Command. Cantrips, but costs 4. A consideration.
Hinder: Slightly pricey, but still affordable. Access to tuck effects can mean the game against some opponents, so I find it a worthwhile investment if you have access to uncommons.
Krosan Grip: Uncounterable artifact/enchantment removal that tutors with the 3 CMC transmuters. Split second also means the ability to stop Crypt effects before they pop and nuke your yard. Arguably more important than Beast Within if you have land removal covered in other cards. Usually, you will have to choose between this and exiling removal.
Return to Dust: Competes with Krosan Grip for being the best disenchant effect in EDH. The exiling and possible card advantage is nice, but this deck is much more set up to take advantage of Archon of Justice rather than this card. Always a consideration however.
Stonecloaker: The best GY hate available, tutors with creature tutors, Mystical Teachings and the 3 CMC transmuters, and doubles as protection for creatures in case they are targeted with bad things. Dirt cheap too. Problem is, you probably can't spare the slot on dedicated GY hate. Most make do with Bojuka Bog and a couple of exile/tuck effects, but it's a strong consideration for the most GY centric metas.
Voidmage Husher: A reusable Stifle and cheap to buy. Can be useful in the right meta, but usually you have better uses for your mana.

Counters and Silver Bullets - Rares
Archon of Justice: Dirt cheap and a strong upgrade for Oblivion Ring/Reality Acid type effects. It also fits into creature tutors, which gives you more options than having all your removal in instant/sorceries. Deals with any type of permanent, permanently! I prefer it over Return to Dust in this deck.
Glen Elendra Archmage: Pricey, but boy does she do yeoman's work in the deck. Fits right into the Lark engine too. One of the first upgrades to consider when adding money to the deck.
Myojin of Night's Reach: If you resolve this, you will typically win the game. Mass removal + mass discard leaves very little for your opponents to do. Being indestrutible is also synergistic with CoA, without being a problematic Bribery target. Will only cost you about a dollar. Completely broken with Body Double and Jarad's Orders. Must include!
Mystic Snake: Costs more than Counterspell, but being a creature makes it more available for tutoring and recursion. Kind of competes with Glen Elendra (and this is the cheaper option to buy), but both could be run. One of them is mandatory if you run rares, to make the most of your tutors/recursion.
Spine of Ish Sah: It's colorless, it's non-creature and it deals with lands. Unfortunately, it's also 7 mana, a bit difficult to tutor for, and doesn't exile, but at least it has built in recursion and works as a bad reusable sac outlet for CoA. I like it in my meta where I often see Contamination locks.
Trickbind: Pricey, but also priceless. Like Hinder, it adds an important tool to the toolbox. I'd rather be without $3 than this in my budget deck.

The Core - Support
Now that the deck is rounded out with answers, it's time to sprinkle a few cards in there that will help you close the game or support the other cards you have picked. The all commons builds must rely more on separate dedicated win conditions, whereas the more general-centric builds can simply add a little synergy to help move things along more quickly. Note that while some draw spells are discussed here, small dig spells like Brainstorm and land fetch that can be played as part of your t4 CoA plan go into the Shell section below instead.

Support - Commons
Bequeathal: Not only is there card draw in green, it's the most efficient card draw you'll find - and in CoA it will trigger easily (but it's better to put it on an opponent's creature than CoA!) Mostly useful with Three Dreams to ensure you always have three targets in your library to make the most of it.
Deep Analysis: A strong draw spell both from the hand and from the grave. Synergy with Forbidden Alchemy.
Forbidden Alchemy: Heavy mana investment, but adding things to both your hand and yard is very advantageous. A must for Pauper builds, but easily eclipsed by Fact or Fiction.
Foresee: Very strong draw for a common that looks six cards deep! Highly recommended in Pauper builds if you have room to spare.
Krosan Restorer: Provides for infinite mana with Freed from the Real. This overcomes the clunkiness of the all commons engines and can let you win quickly with Capsize or a Fireball-type spell (easy to tutor for with infinite mana, many tutors and recursion to get them back).
Freed from the Real: See Krosan Restorer. Also a bad removal/lock piece.
Kaervek's Torch: An option for killing your opponents when you combo out or your lands in play outnumber their life total. Easy to recur with the Ghostly Flicker engine.
Krosan Tusker: Doesn't accelerate CoA or help mana fix before t4 CoA drop, but provides card advantage and is a decent beat stick. I never have room for land fetch that doesn't work with the t4 CoA plan, but YMMW.
Mulldrifter: The most versatile card draw in EDH. Awesome with the Ghostly Flicker engine in Pauper, or with the Reveillark engine in rares. Also very good with Congregation at Dawn.
Rolling Thunder: A more versatile but generally worse option than the torch. Mostly comes down to what transmuters you run.
Rush of Knowledge: Massive draw spell with CoA or the Pauper recursion bears. On par with Foresee and Deep Analysis.
Sea Gate Oracle: Another fine Ghostly Flicker target and general utility dude in Pauper.
Yavimaya Elder: It doesn't help ramp into CoA or fix mana before a t4 drop, but it's a pretty decent card advantage machine. Typically competes for that slot with Krosan Tusker, but both could arguably be run.

Support - Uncommons
Anger: Greatly increases the kill speed of CoA, creatures stolen with auras, or other fatties you might run. Highly recommended.
Blasting Station: Forms a game winning combo with Reveillark and either Body Double or Saffi Eriksdotter, while also being a bad sac outlet. There are other options for this slot (such as Altar of Dementia), but this one is probably the best and cheapest. I find it superfluous with Fallen Ideal already doing almost the same thing while being better on its own.
Fact or Fiction: THE draw spell for the deck. See Forbidden Alchemy above. This should probably always replace your worst tutor, at least as long as you're running any 3 CMC transmuters. Much, much better than something like Diabolic Tutor.
Pulse of the Grid: Kind of interesting, but the draw power is rather bland for the mana and you already have Forbid and Demonic Collusion as superb discard outlets. Optional, but hardly an alternative to FoF.

Support - Rares
Colossus of Akros: Hilarious and cheap! However, a single StP will kill your 18 mana investment. Completely unnecessary - skip if you value your 99 slots.
Spearbreaker Behemoth: The better option to Colossos, can make stolen/reanimated dudes indestructible so they survive CoA blasts. Cute, but still pretty easy to handle.
Darksteel Plate: A more expensive alternative to the Behemoth, but also much harder to handle as most decks don't run exiling artifact removal and you can protect it with counters. Too little added value for too high a price (about $4) to be considered for the budget build, but you could always consider this over your worst reanimation effect if you add money to the deck.

The Shell - Basic Theory
The "shell" of the deck comprises lands, acceleration and early dig and land fetch. The shell serves to enable the game plan of your core, and as long as it can accomplish that, it is fine. The goal of this shell is to enable you to play Child of Alara on turn 4 as often as possible - a rather challenging task, especially in Pauper.

Of course, with Pauper or budget constraints, your selection for mana fixing is limited. However, this is actually not as bad as you might think. The importance of a "perfect" shell is often overstated for no good reason.  So what if your lands enter tapped on turns 1-2 and you have to spend turn 3 on acceleration - you probably have rather few other spells that you want to play here anyway. Beyond that, ETBT lands do slow you down, but the speed bump of every other or every third land entering tapped is negligable compared to the speed gain that you can achieve by improving your engines and card selection - and the price is orders of magnitude lower.

The calculations below (based on hypergeometric distributions) aim for an 80% theoretical chance of playing CoA by t4, with mulligans covering the remaining 20% as far as is practical. For an 80% chance of t4 CoA, you need 53 mana sources, 13-14 of which should accelerate your development. However, it can be shown that as few as 10 accelerants will suffice if you include 4 dig effects that can be played on t2. These also help dig for lands etc. when you do have acceleration, reducing the risk for doubles or even triple acceleration. You may also wish to run land fetch, provided it can be played on t2 reliably, over a land slot.

The next issue to adress is mana distribution. Besides the mana requirements of your spells, there are three parameters of interest: 1) enough t2 blue sources to play dig reliably (since it fixes ramp and other stuff), 2) enough t3 green sources to play ramp reliably (since it fixes your other colors), and 3) enough lands that do not ETBT so you'll actually have 3 mana on turn 3 and WUBRG on turn 4. In Pauper, item 1) and 3) are further complicated by the fact that you cannot run too many mono-colored sources (such as Islands) because you risk getting multiples instead of the WUBRG distribution that you need from those 53 sources. The maximum is 7 mono sources of any one color, if you want to be at least 80% likely to not get multiples by turn 4.

So how many sources are enough to reliably play spells? In 60 card games, 12-13 is the generally accepted number to not go below if you want a source of a certain color by turn 1 without undue mulligans. Here we don't need the source until t2 or t3 and most EDH groups use more favorable mulligan rules, so my rule of thumb is 18 sources (the equivalent of 11 in a 60 card deck).

Playing 4 lands from your hand and accelerating the final source, it stands to reason that you would need about half your lands not entering tapped (playing the two tappies on turn 1 and 2). However, you're also planning to use those early turns for dig and land fetch on occasion! While it's difficult to find an exact number here, I simply up the required number of non-ETBT lands by one for every spell I add that I intend to play on turn 1-2. In Pauper, this inevitably means playing more basics, so you should think hard before adding land fetch to a Pauper deck, if it's really worth it.

The Shell - Pauper
The Pauper deck is heavily weighted towards blue and black. You already want to max out on blue sources for t2 dig, and should max out on black too if possible. The remaining slots should be as even as possible, to increase the chances of a t4 CoA.

We now have sufficient information to construct the shell of the Pauper deck. Understanding its construction will be crucial even when you're adding other rarities to the deck, because the basic principles detailed above still apply, and you need to consider them when swapping stuff around.

T2 Blue Sources: With only 7 dedicated sources allowed, it will be difficult to reach 18 sources by t2. There are 4 guildgates that produce blue, as well as the two common fetches and Command Tower. That's 14 and as far as is reasonable to go in Pauper. The upside is that playing t2 dig spells is only needed when you lack acceleration, so you can hope for the stars to align (or simply mulligan more). Halimar Depths is very good here, because it is a blue source and a source of dig for ramp or more lands, setting one of your four dig slots as well.
T3 Green Sources: Beyond the mana ramp, the Pauper deck really has little need for green, so there's no point in stocking up on Forests to meet requirements. We also have access to a world of 2-drop lands that come on-line on t3. The best are Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade. Next best in Pauper are the three green competent Panoramas (though these actually become even better when you add rares to the build!) Then there are the Ravnica Karoos. However, you should be careful adding these for two reasons: 1) They will set you back heavily if bounced/destroyed, and 2) magical number 7 to avoid multiples applies to 2-drop lands as well, and you're already running 5 with the Panoramas. Hence, 2 is maximum (I recommend the UG and BG for color purposes). If we add the remaining green guildgates (3 total, the blue one is already in), I count 14 sources, requiring 4 dedicated green sources which is perfectly acceptable.
Other ETBT Lands: So far we have 17 lands that ETBT (assuming we activate Panoramas, which we must if we are to produce WUBRG by turn 4). With 40 lands total, that's maximum 23 untapped ones, which is also the bare minimum to finance 3 more blue dig spells. Hence, if you want to add something else that ETBT, you have to take it out of the slots already allocated! I recommend the following tweaks:
*Swap the GR and GW guildgates for Tranquil Thicket and Bojuka Bog. This ups it to 6 dedicated green sources (Thicket being one), which is still within margins for duplicates, plus Thicket cycles.
*Swap the BG Karoo for Myconsynth Wellspring. It's a fantastic card in the deck and the best 2-drop fixer with CoA blowing up readily and also Ghostly Flicker late game. One Karoo is an excellent tutor target for reusing Bojuka Bog etc. but beyond that the returns diminish rapidly.
Non-ETBT Lands: In a Pauper build, I think there's little reason not to run the colored artifact lands and Trinket Mage. The Mage might not help you get a t4 CoA, but there's little opportunity cost to include the artifact lands and it makes Mage an excellent engine piece late game. Darksteel Citadel would help too, but alas it doesn't produce WUBRG so it can't count towards our 53 sources. With the Wellspring cutting a land however, I think Citadel is important enough to merit going up to 54 sources - the extra land will hardly hurt in the long game and Darksteel stuff is about the only answer you have to mass LD in Pauper, beyond counters. The only other non-basic in this category is Command Tower. The other pseudo-gold lands don't help in the t4 CoA plan, but you may prefer running Opal Palace over Darksteel Citadel if you don't like the Trinket Mage package for some reason. There are 22 more dedicated sources to distribute (in addition to one dedicated U, B and G source respectively in utility lands) and we already presume 6 will be blue and 5 will be green. We want to max out on black, however a more even distribution would increase the likelyhood of WUBRG on t4 more. Thus I suggest a 3/6/5/3/5 distribution - the best compromise in the overall interest of a t4 CoA. It also makes it easy to have one of each kind be an artifact land without ever running into having too few basics of a certain kind in your library for fetching purposes.

Now that the lands are decided, the remaining part of the Pauper shell is dig and ramp.
Dig: Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain are undisputably the best three. A simple addition.
Ramp:
*Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: The bee's knees. Ramp and card advantage, fixing two colors.
*Harrow: Instant and also fixes two colors, which are put into play untapped for a net cost of one mana and giving the option for other spells on t3. No CA though, but almost as good.
*Primal Growth: Versatile - does it's job t3 and is also a sac outlet and ramps formidably late game.
*Far Wanderings: Also acceptable t3, but amazing late game with all your basics and a strong recursion target with your bears.
*Sakura-tribe Elder + Farhaven Elf: The best ramp dudes available and even easier to recur.
*Darksteel Ingot + Wayfarer's Bauble: Colorless acceleration has an interesting effect on the mana base - it waivers the requirement for a green source. In fact, it COUNTS as a green source. This means you can run fewer Forests in favor of Islands/Swamps instead. This lets you max out on U and B sources and still keep the distribution very even at 3/6/6/3/4 and good margins for a t3 green source.
*Search for Tomorrow: As it can cost as little as one mana to use, and it puts the land into play untapped, it can essentially be a free ramp spell - or just a rather mediocre t3 ramp. Still the best option to make it 10 ramp effects in Pauper.

Thus the Pauper shell is finished, behold:

LANDS (40)
//multi-fixing (5)
1 Command Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Transguid Promenade
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
//tri-fixing (3)
1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
//dual-fixing (6)
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Simic Growth Chamber
//utility (3)
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Halimar Depths
1 Tranquil Thicket
//artifact lands (6)
1 Ancient Den
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Great Furnace
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
//basic lands (17)
3 Forest
5 Island
2 Mountain
2 Plains
5 Swamp

RAMP (10)
3 Cultivate
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Harrow
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Far Wanderings
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Primal Growth
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
3 Search for Tommorow
1 Wayfarer's Bauble

SMALL DIG/LAND SEARCH (4)
1 Brainstorm
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Ponder
1 Preordain

The Shell - Budget
The color distribution of the non-Pauper deck is much different from the Pauper version. Blue is still the most important color, but green becomes useful for much more than ramp and white now rivals black in importance. Red is even less useful in the budget build, however. With non-commons available, you also get access to a lot of interesting utility lands, but adding them to the mana base becomes a challenge as you can't cut colored sources! If anything, you're striving to add more blue duals. Lets look at some very cost-effective options that adress these new constraints.

The Odyssey Filters: For roughly $2 a piece (that's $10 for the whole set) you get duals that work better than the original premium duals in this deck. You see, these launder colorless mana into colored mana, which means that dropping this and a colorless land can suddenly count as your two non-ETBT land drops in the t4 CoA plan - something your average Taiga could never accomplish. Since 5 of these will give the same amount of sources as 10 basics/artifact lands, they allow you to cut 10 dedicated sources (2 of each color, including the colored artifact lands since Trinket Mage no longer makes the cut) and create space for 5 non-ETBT colorless utility lands (see below), which is pretty darn impressive for the price. They also make your panoramas better since they can be that colorless source and you don't have to crack it on turn 2 just to meet the plan. Yes, sometimes the mana in your opener will include a colorless utility land and no filter or other outs to t4 WUBRG, but that's what mulligans are for. Trust me, these are great in the deck and well worth the investment.

Utility Lands: You now have five slots to spend on colorless utility lands (in addition to the Darksteel Citadel you're already running to guard against mass LD). Many CoA decks will use these slots similarly:
*Sac Outlet: A defining slot in Child of Alara. Grim Backwoods is the cheapest option and will cost you a quarter! It's arguably better than Miren, the Moaning Well at about $7 (I'd rather pay four to draw a card and blow up the world, than pay three and gain 6 life and blow up the world - plus the effect is redundant with Worthy Cause). High Market is probably better, but will cost you a few dollars, so I'd make do with Backwoods for now (see the section on adding money to the deck).
*Recursion: A budget option exists here too - Moorland Haunt for less than a quarter. It's no Volrath's Stronghold, but you can use it to put CoA in the CZ from your grave to be cast again, and it doesn't kill your draw like VS does. Neither this nor VS is a particularly effective recursion engine though, so why not save $25 on your back-up solution?
*Land Removal: Nasty with LftL - several options exist. Strip Mine gives you the most bang for your buck if you can use it (I go by the Duel Commander banlist, where it is banned). Tectonic Edge is roughly the same price point ($4) and almost as good for the job. Ghost Quarter and Encroaching Wastes are decidedly budget options, but I'm sort of partial to Ghost Quarter because it has synergy with Darksteel Citadel.
*Reliquary Tower: With all the things returning to your hand, this is perhaps the primary utility land to consider beyond these three slots. An argument could be made for the use of the discard step in reanimation, but in practice it is mostly academic and you will almost always benefit from this card in a long game. Can be had for $1.
*Open Slot: Some choose to play another sac outlet or recursion source here, or perhaps Petrified Field ($2) in case either gets destroyed. I trust in Life from the Loam instead and opt for more varied utility. Alchemist's Refuge is a very nice budget option (half a dollar) that permits combat tricks, playing around counters, instant speed Mind Extraction and other nasty things.

Redestributing Basics: With 5 artifact lands and 1 of each basic gone, we now have a WUBRG distribution of 1/4/4/1/2. One Mountain is sufficient for fetching purposes, and while green is still important, you will rarely fetch basic Forests with green basic land search, so two is the correct number. We can't cut Islands as we're already short on early blue sources, but white is now as important as black. Two each of Swamps and Plains leaves an open slot for a non-ETBT land and Exotic Orchard is a very good budget option (roughly $1). At worst, it's a second red source - at best it produces U and/or G in the early turns. Most of all however, it adresses the need for more varied sources in the non-pauper build.

Improving the 5 Guildgates: The lone Simic karoo is still as good as ever as a tutor target, but much has improved since we only had guildgates to choose from. It seems obvious to simply swap them for the 5 shard lands, but this would actually not be an advantage to the t4 CoA plan, as you would lose one green and one blue source in favor of less important colors. So some shard lands are better than others, and there are even better upgrades to be made:
Simic Guildgate -> Seaside Citadel: The best shard land for the deck, a straight upgrade that is good with the increased demand for white in the early turns. Less than $2.
Golgari Guildgate -> Murmoring Bosk: Another almost-straight upgrade and an extremely interesting card. It's not part of any cycle, but a stand-alone gem. It counts as a Forest, meaning cards that look for Forests will find it - so such cards will at least offer powerful three color fixing too. Awesome for less than $3.
3 Other Guildgates: We now have better ETBT blue sources that also provide green and more:
*Grand Coliseum: The budget City of Brass is actually very good with the filter lands. A bit more than $1.
*Vivid Creek: The best Vivid for the deck. It can help fix green on t3 and red on t4 and still be very useful throughout the game. Half a dollar.
*Mirrodin's Core: Not strictly an ETBT land, but in practice it works like a cross between Coliseum and Vivid Creek. There's almost always some room in the mana budget, and that's when you put counters on the core. Can fix U/G early or R on t4, and is strong with the Odyssey filters. Half a dollar.

Improving the T3 Green Sources: Panoramas are still awesome as they help power filter lands, have synergy with LftL, provide shuffling on demand - or of course, needed green mana which was their original purpose. Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire are very slow however, and with the addition of faster fixing and more green sources, they are simply better to replace with 1-drop lands. To round out the utility land selection, I highly recommend Mistveil Plains ($2) alongside your U, G, and B utility lands. With most recursion mechanics (and of course CoA) being white, meeting the requirement isn't hard and it gives you a nice way to recur tutor targets to be searched out again. It also counts as a Plains, which makes Grasslands (less than a quarter) the perfect budget fetch to search it or the powerful Murmuring Bosk out, or just simply provide an early green or white basic source.

Improving Ramp: With the new land base, heavy basics fetching becomes a less viable strategy. You now have earlier green sources as well, meaning that 2-drop ramp can give you the option of a more productive turn 3 before CoA even hits the table.  
*Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: Still awesome, you run more than enough basics to support them.
*Primal Growth: Still one of the best ramps for the deck.
*Harrow: Not so good anymore as you typically don't want to substitute your stronger lands for basics. Wargate is a pretty awesome replacement with all the new early white sources. Ramp that also tutors for practically anything - and costs about $1!
*Darksteel Ingot + Wayfarer's Bauble: You now have a rather interesting alternative to Bauble - Krosan Verge (half a dollar). Thanks to Murmoring Bosk, this provides acceptable fixing and puts less strain on the basics - and it also fetches Mistveil Plains. More importantly, it gives you acceleration in your land tutors while improving the ramp-to-land ratio for the late game (ramp is worse than lands when you start missing drops anyway).
*Far Wanderings: With fewer basics, triple ramp risks not getting you the colors you want, making it less useful. However, now that you can consistently play green spells on turn 2, you can swap it for Crop Rotation (common) which can find Krosan Verge and do many more interesting things with your diversified manabase.
*Sakura-tribe Elder + Farhaven Elf: There's merit in having a ramp creature for tutoring purposes, but two are not needed and you can do better than Farhaven Elf now. Farseek (also a common) can be played t2 and also finds Mistveils Plains!
*Search for Tomorrow: Even better now that you can consistently drop it turn 2, and leave t3 open to play business. Lets you fix at the last minute in case your top deck changes things!

Improving Land Search/Cantrips: Now that you can cast green spells on turn 2, it's possible to further reduce the strain on finding basic land targets by swapping Mycosynth Wellspring for Evolution Charm. It will fix with basics on turn 2 just like the Wellspring, while giving you a recursion option (or combat trick) instead if you start running out in the late game. The blue cantrips remain as useful as always and cannot really be improved at this point in the budget.

So, for about $25 total compared to the Pauper version, you will gain:
*A more useful shell with more utility functionality.
*A faster mana base, permitting the occasional business spell (such as disruption or a tutor) to be played on turns 2-3 while still being able to drop CoA on t4.
*Slightly improved fixing and overall number of mana sources of each color.

LANDS (41)
//multi-fixing (7)
1 Command Tower
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Mirrodin's Core
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Vivid Creek
//tri-fixing (5)
1 Bant Panorama
1 Jund Panorama
1 Naya Panorama
1 Murmoring Bosk
1 Seaside Citadel
//dual-fixing (8)
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Grasslands
1 Krosan Verge
1 Mossfire Valley
1 Shadowblood Ridge
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Skycloud Expanse
1 Sungrass Prarie
//utility (10)
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Halimar Depths
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Tranquil Thicket
//basic lands (11)
4 Island
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Mountain

NON-LAND RAMP (9)
1 Crop Rotation
3 Cultivate
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Farseek
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Primal Growth
2 Sakura-tribe Elder
3 Search for Tommorow
3 Wargate

SMALL DIG/LAND SEARCH (4)
1 Brainstorm
2 Evolution Charm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain