Arabella, Abandoned Doll | Art by J.P. Targete

Confronting My Fears

Hello fellow brewer and welcome back to Brew For Your Buck, where we swap out the top 10 most expensive cards in a deck with 10 budget cards that add a unique twist.

Well, I've been proven wrong. In my Duskmourn set review, I guessed that The Jolly Balloon Man would be the most popular commander from the set, but it's another Boros legend that takes the title:

(Author's note: in the time it took to write this, Marina Vendrell surpassed both Boros legends as the most popular commander)

Arabella is pretty awesome for an uncommon, despite the fact that she forces me to confront my childhood fear of my sister's Amazing Ally doll.

Seriously creepy. That thing still talked after being in the attic for seven years. I wouldn't be surprised if it's still up there waiting for me... *shiver*

Anyway, Arabella's a fun aggro commander that combines specific niches of red and white's color pie: small creatures, lifegain, and burn.

Unsurprisingly, there is a huge focus in her $349.50 average list on creatures with power 2 or less, and subsequently a lot of token synergies too. Here's what we have for our top 10 most expensive cards:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Anointed Procession ($49.03)
               2. Ocelot Pride ($40.77)
               3. Mondrak, Glory Dominus ($37.53)
               4. Charismatic Conqueror ($20.73)
               5. Esper Sentinel ($20.65)
               6. Delney, Streetwise Lookout ($15.82)
               7. Dolmen Gate ($14.46)
               8. Grand Crescendo ($11.06)
               9. Agate Instigator ($10.89)
               10. Imperial Recruiter ($8.71)

Total Value of Cuts: $229.65

We only need to replace two lands, Sacred Foundry and Spectator Seating, which leads to an additional $27.34 in savings, for a total of $256.99.

Delney is probably the biggest loss here, so if you can spring for one of the above cards, that's the one I'd pick. It's pretty obvious that most people brewing with Arabella took her in the tokens direction, but there is so much she can do that's way more interesting in my opinion.

Instead of spending all that money on the token staples, we can use the token producing cards leftover and focus in on two other ways to win the game: lifegain and direct damage.

Additions

Lifegain

Starting with lifegain, there are some really great ways to take advantage of Arabella's attack trigger gaining so much life in a single chunk. In this deck, Nykthos Paragon ($0.46) is a Craterhoof Behemoth that costs less than a dollar. Play this, swing with your very wide board of tokens, triggering Arabella. Then you trigger the Paragon and give all of your creatures a massive buff.

In much the same way, Well of Lost Dreams ($0.40) can keep the cards flowing so you can keep up the pressure on your opponents. Note that you can pay X or less, so decide how much mana you'd like to spend to refill your hand based on the game state.

If you want to kill your opponents with commander damage, look no further than Field-Tested Frying Pan ($0.38). Equip Arabella and force her through with cards in the list like Subira, and killing opponents with a couple of hits is trivial.

Also, the idea of a doll smacking someone with a frying pan is pretty funny.

Path of Bravery ($0.18) will buff your board and power up your other lifegain synergies in case Arabella becomes elked or prohibitively expensive to cast. Once your opponents see what she's gonna do to them, she can become a lightning rod, so it's good to have a backup plan.

The other option is to have a way to reanimate Arabella, in which case we look to Ratchet, Field Medic ($0.94). Both sides of Ratchet are creatures with power two or less, and it's easy to convert him back and forth with the extra lifegain we're adding to the list.

Damage

On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of ways to take advantage of the massive amount of damage Arabella can deal as well. My favorite is Virtue of Courage ($0.86). This is perhaps the best card in my Volcano-themed deck, and just like there, it becomes a massive draw engine.

If this is on the field and you happen to trigger Arabella where X equals 4, you'll exile the top TWELVE cards of your deck and be able to play them. If you don't want that many, you can always decline a trigger per opponent, and all of this includes a removal spell as well.

The next three cards are all damage doublers: Fiendish Duo ($0.48) and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight ($1.07) can end the game fast, doubling up the damage from Arabella's trigger, your other burn cards like Raid Bombardment, AND any combat damage that your creatures get through.

There is also the one-shot version of the effect with Quest for Pure Flame ($0.42). It should be trivial to get the quest counters required; one attack from Arabella will get three of them. This can come down on turn one and sit around until you're ready to pop it and double up all your damage for the turn.

Token Making

I admit that the removal of some of the token makers at the start does leave the deck hurting a bit, so I'll throw one back in. We dip back into The Lord of the Rings with Saradoc, Master of Buckland ($0.28). It's no Anointed Procession, but for the same mana cost he'll make most of the nontoken creatures in the deck bring a friend, and help out with the lifegain synergies too.

Bonus Cards!

After those ten adds, I feel good about where the deck is. However, there are some cards in the average list that I think are not worth the inclusion. First of all, Boilerbilges Ripper does nearly nothing for the deck's synergies, so let's throw in Escape Tunnel ($0.23) instead.

Another land doesn't hurt and it can sneak Arabella through later in the game. Seized from Slumber is a pretty bad removal spell, so let's remove that and throw in Crashing Drawbridge ($0.95) instead. It's a colorless haste enabler that also counts for Arabella's trigger.

Wrap Up & Savings

Let's see what we saved:

We just squeaked in under the $100 mark! I really like this deck; it's able to push damage and pad your life total as opponents quickly try to deal with the onslaught. It also seems really easy to upgrade as Wizards prints more and more cheap, effective threats especially in these colors.

If you've got some ideas for improving this deck, or there's another Duskmourn commander that you want to see featured, let me know in the comments and I'll see you next time when we brew for your buck!

Follow me on Twitter @BrewForYourBuck

Please note: card prices listed in this article are accurate at the time of writing, but prices can vary over time and between locations.

Read more:

Brew For Your Buck - Rendmaw Dagger Burn on a Budget

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Brian Cain

Brian played Magic intermittently between 2003 and 2017 when he fully embraced his love for Commander. Finding ways to maximize the value of each piece of cardboard in the deck is one of his favorite things to explore, especially if it involves putting lands in the graveyard! Outside of Magic, Brian works as a consultant in the marine industry, turning his passion for boats and ships into a career.