Budget Alternatives to Commander Staples For the Money-Conscious Brewer
Alternatively, if your goal is to protect your creatures, then Guardian of Faith is a fantastic option! At three mana you can phase out any number of creatures. Naturally, this lends itself to protecting your creatures from a board wipe. When your opponent attacks, declare blockers but then flash this in before damage is dealt. Suddenly you have blocked your opponent’s attack while also preserving your creatures so you can attack the next turn.
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I am a big fan of Erratic Portal and it’s friend Crystal Shard in my Inalla ETB deck. Also great in things like GOnti or Prime Speaker Zegana (or the new Tishana). Repopulate looks really interesting- if I reaaallly need to I can use it as a bad Elixir of Immortality as well as cycling or ruining someones Animate Dead.
Other Utility Cards
Outlaws of Thunder Junction was the second premier set of the year. It suffered from some of the same flaws as Murders at Karlov Manor, including overused tropes, but once again delivered a plethora of noteworthy cards to Constructed and Commander alike. Tortured Existence – Insane card if you have reanimation schemes. Plus it allows you to cheat on commander tax if you allow the commander to go to the graveyard and have something to discard for it. Gustha’s Scepter and Ice Cauldron are great cards for any deck that does a lot of wheeling. Plus even if you remove ice cauldron, you can still play the exiled cards.
Off the top of my head, Corpsehatch is about a thousand times better if you’re looking for a removal spell that makes mana. There’s probably some even better card I’m forgetting. There are a lot of genuinely terrible cards mentioned in this post and a lot of great budget cards were overlooked, but I suppose it will still help people get the idea. Of course, each of the three transmute options also fit into other categories as well, such as counterspells (which is what makes them better than usher).
Foundations Jumpstart is unlike other Jumpstarts attached to sets, with it being a full release rather than just a small handful of themes (similar to Jumpstart and Jumpstart 2022). The best card in Foundations Jumpstart has to go to Dionus, Elvish Archdruid (though Rev, Tithe Extractor and Scythecat Cub are strong contenders). Foundations is a set designed to be the backbone of Standard, with the cards having a five-year legality as opposed to the normal three.
Also Misdirection is functionally similar to Force of Will. Overlord of the Hauntwoods does a great job enabling Leyline Binding and ramping towards your other payoffs. Overlord of the Mistmoors helps buy you time as a four-mana play, while acting as a top-tier win condition later in the game. This card is good enough to show up in Vintage from time to time. It’s a bit narrow since you need a high density of cheap historic spells to maximize it, though this isn’t a big ask. The real unique piece of utility with this is Transmute.
Murders At Karlov Manor: Vein Ripper
At its floor, this is two mana for mass indestructible! Crescendo was only printed recently in the New Capenna Commander decks. Similar to Epochalyptik’s list of EDH power and staple cards. I have concocted a list of all the staples and power cards for the Modern format. Why, because I love this format quite a bit and wanted to have this down for all to see and add onto. I chose the deck list for the same reasons as Epoc did his EDH one.
Anyways I’ve always loved Bloodgift Demon for extra card draw and I don’t see it in a lot of deck lists. It’s a Phyrexian Arena on a 5/4 Flyer for only 5 mana. For this set, the best of the bunch was Slickshot Show-Off.
It is easy for all to find and see, comment, deckcycle, and to find. I just threw this together in the wee hours of the am so some things may be missing, but that’s why this is a communal deck list. The other big addition to the maindeck that this deck makes good use of is Deeproot Wayfinder, another strong card that struggled to find a home.
The legality of the cards only included eternal formats, and the one card that broke into Legacy as Fallout’s standout star is Pre-War Formalwear. Once it’s a creature, it counts as every creature type, which makes it a solid inclusion in Demon decks built around Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber. It may not be as efficient as Mutavault in this department, but it gets the job done. As such, Soulstone Sanctuary concludes our list of mtg card the best new MTG cards of 2024.
This time around, it didn’t feel particularly close. In Pioneer, Rakdos Prowess and mono-red Wizards shells effectively pair Slickshot Show-Off with a flurry of cheap spells to push damage. Prior to the release of MH3, Slickshot Show-Off made waves in Modern Prowess decks all the same. While it cannot be cast for free, one mana is pretty close.
The four-power creature stipulation is not a big hurdle especially in decks with a four-power commander. Besides having a big commander, your deck may be filled with plenty of creatures that fit the bill to turn this card into an easy, under-costed auto include. Lastly, if you would like to stay out of blue I have a recommendation. Grand Crescendo is two white mana and X for an instant that creates X 1/1 creature tokens, and grants all creatures you control indestructible. This one is quickly rising in price thanks to its ability to pump out tokens and protect your board.