From the Brim to the Trim - Puncturing People and Budget Alike

April 19, 2023 by Arnaud Gompertz

(Belbe, Corrupted Observer | Illustrated by Igor Kieryluk)

Hit Me, Belbe, One More Time!

Greetings and salutations! Welcome to this new episode, where we take a massive list of cards for a given Commander and shave off all of the bling to keep only the Cream of the Crop!

Two weeks ago, I asked you people in the first instance of the series which commander among Belbe, Kazarov, and Jasmine you wanted to see, and boy, wasn't I disappointed. In the first few hours after the article was posted, almost 200 of you had expressed your preference, and that went straight to my heart.

While the battle was fierce, in the end the Phyrexian Elf took the win. Adequate, considering that we are currently at the onset of the greatest battle the Avengers have ever fought in the Multiv... erm, you get the idea.

At any rate, here is our contender for this week.

This puny 2/2 is a real thing of beauty, able to generate significant amounts of mana and spew out massive beasts to close out the game out of nowhere.

As usual, we'll first take a glance at what the list on EDHREC has to offer. The least we can say is that the missus does not kid around. 297 different cards appear on Belbe's page, with a wide variety of threats, board management, and card advantage spells. However, two things have triggered a silent warning in my head.

The first concerns the actual price of many cards. As you may know, I stand by a simple rule: no card above €1. However, since I believe most of you use the American currency, I've decided to switch to dollars instead. So we'll forego using any card that's $1 or more. Considering that prices of cards in the US are much higher than in Europe, this will trim what we have to work with by a lot. Hopefully, though, we'll have enough to build a decent deck, and I'm keeping a secret trick up my sleeve. No, no spoilers, you'll have to wait until the end!

The second is the lack of cheap payoffs. After all, what good is all that mana if you have nothing to sink it into? Let's find out!

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First Trim: The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre

If you've been here before, you know the drill. View in Visual Stacks, remove any grouping, and sort by price. From there, you can safely remove anything that costs more than $1. And woof, that hurt. A sign of things to come, I suppose. Almost 25% of the cards in that list are worth $10 or more. While many among the spells that we had to cut were classic staples way out of our reach, abiding by our strict rule was very painful.

Say goodbye to Animist's Awakening, Beast Within, Loyal Subordinate, Return of the Wildspeaker, Phyrexian Triniform, and Sol Ring, just to mention a few!

All cards that totter between $1 and $2 could perfectly fit the bill if you chose to tweak the list while remaining in the realm of affordable cardboard. Also, keep in mind that these trims are made at a certain point in time, so some of these cards could very well dip below the threshold at any given point.

Still, this leaves us with a much more manageable list, with only 129 cards left. Looks like our work will be easier than last time!

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Second Trim: Cardward Scissorhands

Okay, I might have been slightly overoptimistic in the last paragraph. Still, when looking at where the list stands, all major categories have their fill of spells. Draw? 16. Ramp? 27. Removal? 14. Wipes? 3 to 6 depending on how broad your views are on the matter.

Not bad, definitely not bad.

Once again, let's go over the easy cuts. We'll trim down all of the aforementioned categories, making sure to keep enough gas under the pedal to continuously pump out new threats. As usual, I'm aiming for 10-12 draw spells, 10-12 ramp (maybe less since our commander already generates a lot of mana), 36 lands, 3-6 targeted removals, and 2-4 wipes.

While I'm at it, I'll also deal with the land base by removing the very worst taplands and adding a generous handful of snow-covered lands. I have my reasons, just a little more patience.

This is what ends up being cut:

Some of you might wonder why there is still so much ramp remaining. Simple: Belbe will earn all the hate in the world, and you need an alternative to cast the big payoffs needed to close the game.

We're down to 112 cards. Much better, and yet I can't help but feeling uneasy at where this is going. Let's continue.

Third Trim: Cutting Off the Rough Edges

Now that we've eaten our veggies, it's time to dive into the actual meat of the deck. See, Belbe essentially wants to do a couple of things: ping all opponents every turn, then play massive beasties to close out the debate. To achieve these noble goals, you'll first need to establish a recurrent way to damage everyone (even yourself, even though that won't give you any additional mana). As it stands, the list holds a whopping 24 pingers. That's a lot. Like, really a lot. Too much, actually, and we'll need to cut those down a bit. I'll prioritize keeping the redundant spells and instead cut most of the one-time effects. I'll also get rid of most of the one-mana creatures, as they will have a harder time staying alive as the game drags on.

On the other hand, the actual payoffs are quite scarce, with only nine spells that I would consider able to truly turn the tide to our advantage. That's just not enough, as we can't simply rely on Lady Luck to hit one of them. This is where we'll have to find alternatives. I'm guessing that getting somewhere around 15 would be much more acceptable and give us a better chance at winning.

Finally, there are also a few remaining spells that we haven't addressed and that need to go. On to the cuts.

And we're down to... 94 cards. Uh oh, that's an issue. And we still need some more payoffs. So what to do?

Final Touch: Spike Up Those Hairs

Remember when I hinted at a trick early on? It's time for the big reveal: cheap filter, here I come!

Basically, I'm going filter the cards available on EDHREC with the "cheap" option, which only lists the 10% cheapest cards, and try seeing if there are some hidden gems. I'll also keep a spot reserved for a sweet pet card.

When trimming down the list, we're left with 13 nice creatures to choose from.

I've picked the ones highlighted above, but in all honesty, these all feel like solid budget choices.

Finally, I've reserved the final spot for a pet card that I really feel deserves a spot here: Withering Wisps. It's a cheaper Pestilence that will keep forces in check and that is bound to attract curiosity around the table. This is the only reason I've resorted to playing snow-covered lands, but I find it more than respectable.

And with that, here's our final list.

I'll be honest, I didn't expect to be hindered by so many expensive cards in the first place. That's a refreshing challenge, though! I really look forward to hearing from your impressions on this budget build.

Speaking of challenges, what do you want me to tackle next? To vote, comrades, to vote!

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.