(The Council of Four | art by Mark A. Nelson)

Not Quite The Four Horsemen...

Greetings and salutations from somewhere where it should apparently be safe to swim in a heavily polluted river this summer. I'm Arnaud, and I'm thrilled to take you on a journey of budget brews, uncanny techs and hidden gems.

We parted last time with a budget Ooze monstrosity, and I left offering you the usual three choices for this week's iteration. First off, I'd like to thank you for your participation. With a count of 370 votes as the poll closed, I think this is among the highest count since the inception of this series. What's uncanny is that despite you people massively voting, there have in fact been no comments at all. I could almost be enticed into spurring comments with a slew of polls... No? Bad idea? Moving on.

At any rate, the contention for this week's first spot was, early on, quite close, before a clear winner started to emerge, five days into the poll. Coming third is Mayael the Anima, with 86 votes (25%). Looks like the flower lady did not spark much enthusiasm. Second place goes to Volrath, the Shapestealer. This is a spicy one, and I have to say I'm somewhat relieved, as he looks really tricky to pull off, especially on a budget. Which leaves the top spot for...

Let's dive into some D&D. Fun fact: I can't stand anything from Universes Beyond. Call me a boomer if you will, but I feel like external IPs have nothing to do within the Magic-verse (and I'm well aware I'm opening myself to some major roasting here, that's fine). The only ones I have some leniency towards are the two D&D sets, as they are historical franchises from Wizards of the Coast. But I digress.

So, 0/8 for five mana, which incentivizes providing carefully managed draw to your opponents and rewards you with mighty Knights whenever they decide to cast more than one spell during their turn. Being the proud owner of one such deck with budget in mind, I can safely say that this is as tricky to play as it is a blast to pilot.

So, let's get everything from this brilliant quatuor's page and dump that into Archidekt, including all the stuff from the budget section. This gives us 382 cards to tinker with, so without further ado, let's proceed to the...

First Trim - The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre

You know the drill, soldier, so get to it. Chop, cut, trim, downsize and hack away at those expensive cards. You're no John Hammond, you can't spare no expenses!

Once all the cards above $2 have been cleared, we're left with a healthier base. And I'm sad to report there are a bunch of cards above the $1.10 absolute mark that we'll have to remove.

Let's have a look at a few worth of your budget if you so chose:

• Flumph: This is a fantastic political tool, which can net a massive card influx. At $1.11, it just barely misses the mark. A shame.
• Folio of Fancies: I'm a bit torn on this one. On the plus side, this can eventually turn into a killing machine. However, I like to give players additional cards on their own turns only if possible.
• Wand of the Worldsoul: Yes, Convoke is quite relevant, as you'll likely make more than a few tokens.
• Well of Ideas: It's a Howling Mine on testosterone. But 6 mana is a hefty price to pay.
• Spellbook: I'm still surprised this is above our set mark.
• Alandra, Sky Dreamer: If there was ever a card to include, this would be it. It can spew Drakes each and every turn, and it's a wincon on its own. A must-have.
• Teferi's Ageless Insight: Double the draw, double the fun!
• Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield: I told you how I feel about UB, but this one has the potential to snowball mighty fast.
• Mordenkainen: A steep cost for a couple of nice synergies. Worth a shot, but watch your curve.
• Invasion of New Phyrexia: Did I mention that aside from making a token army and eventually becoming a Jack-of-all-trades, this battle also makes pancakes and provides soothing feet massages? What's not to love?
• Mangara, the Diplomat: He's a great guy, all-around, providing a surprising amount of card draw.
• Walking Archive: The literal definition of what I'm expecting from a selective card advantage provider.

Now, you may recall the slight change to the rule of thumb of this series. I'm indulging myself to include cards up to $1.10, assuming the 10 cents might easily be shaved off the card at a given point in time.

We have two cards that fit the bill, and none impress me too much:

• Ghirapur Orrery: Give cards yes. Give more mana, no.
• Preordain: Cute, but I'm positive we can find suitable replacements.

And with that, we're down to 218 cards, all fitting the original bill. Life is good.

Second Trim - Cardward Scissorhands

While pondering how to proceed, I have been staring at the list for a little while, and it needs to be said: I am impressed. This might be the highest count in the "veggies" section we've had insofar. Check this out:

I don't think we've had such a high count of card advantage in... ever? At any rate, while we need to keep a lot of common draw for the sake of the deck, we need also to keep some benefitting only us.

The rest of the categories are more or less in line with what we're used seeing, with a higher-than-usual wipes count.

Here's what's being left behind:

Can you feel the fresh air coming from this already neater decklist? Feel the breeze on your skin, whispering "Sweeeeeeet card draw, sweeeeeet tokening..."

At any rate, we've still got some travel to do. 149 cards and counting.

Third Trim - Cutting Off the Rough Edges

So. Let's talk a bit about how the works.

This is a sneaky deck, that involves a lot of politicking and negotiations to work its magic. From my various games, I've never been more successful than when I supplied timed card draw while slowly assembling my army, before giving the estocade. More so than in other decks, you want to stay on the down low. You're the nice guy, there's no need to be afraid. Sure, I'm drawing a lot of cards, but aren't you too?

With that said, there still remains a healthy amount of, for lack of better word, "stuff" that we need to address.

First, there is a strong Knight theme. A lot of anthems and several cards that care for rampaging cavalries, some definitely better than the other.

Then, there is a decent assortment of counterspells. You know how I feel about these, especially in casual environments. Plus, they might draw unwanted attention towards us (got it? Draw? Yeah ok, I'm leaving, no need to shove...). We may keep a few just in case and to keep our opponents on their toes, but 11 is definitely too high of a count.

Also, there are simply too many Protection spells.

Finally, there are a few cards that feel either downright nasty, useless, or out of place.

Off we go. Off we go.

And just like that, we're already down to 110 cards. Either this has been a particularly easy one, or I'm getting better. I'm suspecting the former though...

Final Trim - Heart-Wrenching Choices

Down to the last stretch. Let's get rid of the final 10 cards. As usual, none of these are bad per se, and yet I feel like even these decisions are less difficult that usual. Go figure.

• Baird, Steward of Argive: This feels a bit like the Wish version of Ghostly Prison
• Windborn Muse: Same as above, but slightly better. At least it makes a closer impression of its model.
• Slaughter the Strong and Fell the Mighty: These look great on paper, but I feel like there are too many boardwipes in this list, and these are the worst of what's left.
• Counterspell: Only because of the double blue.
• Marshal of Zhalfir: Nice anthem, but lackluster secondary ability.
• Azor's Elocutors: I love a janky alternative wincon, but let's be honest, no one will ever let you pull this off.
• Path to Exile: We have 9 removal spells, we can safely tuck one away. It's telling when Path is the one spell you decide to cut against all others.
• Prince Imrahil the Fair: This has nothing to do with UB, I just feel like making 1/1s will not win us the game in the end.
• Confounding Conundrum: At first I liked the idea of pacing my opponents, but it's simply not a fun card to play against, period.

And just like that, Ladies and Gentlemen, we've got a winner!

Conclusion

As the curtain falls on yet another budget brew, I will leave you with some food for thought.

What, in your opinion, makes for a great budget commander? And what is a definite no-no?

No poll this time, I'm thinking of something special for the next iteration.

See you in two weeks!

Arnaud Gompertz

Arnaud Gompertz has been playing Magic since 4th Edition, back in 1995. He's been an assiduous EDH enthusiast since 2012, with a soft spot for unusual and casual Commanders. He'll always favour spectacular plays against a boring path to victory. Aside from mistreating cardboard, he's a dedicated board games player, loves a challenging video game and occasionally tries to sing with his choir.