Ganax, Astral HunterGanax, Astral Hunter | Art by Aaron Miller

Hello and happy new year 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. At time of writing, it's that weird in-between time anomaly between Christmas and New Years, so I thought we'd go with something chill today. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled product deluge in 2026.

I've been tinkering with the idea of a Dragon deck for my personal collection. I said something chill, so no broken MiirymMiirym shenanigans or dealing with The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon's massive card pool. I want to go with something simpler, so we're not even going to have a rare or mythic as our commander:

Some Baldur's Gate goodness is what I'm feeling today, in large part because I have these two cards in my bulk bin. With Dragons tending to be more mana intensive, having access to some guaranteed mana acceleration is a great thing to have in the command zone. Dragons also tend to be more wallet-intensive, including this list with an average deck price of $238.09.

Let's make some cuts:

Total Value of Cuts: $174.14

That's a pretty top-heavy list, and that's even using the cheap version of Ancient Copper DragonAncient Copper Dragon. We only need to throw Spire GardenSpire Garden and Stomping GroundStomping Ground into the mix for lands, adding an additional $19.67 in savings for a total of $193.81.

As a quick note, the deck is now under $50.

Additions for Ganax & Acolyte

Dragons

I know we removed some of the flashier Dragons, but there are still plenty of good ones in the list, and better yet, good ones to add. The first two accomplish basically the same thing, since they both have the same mechanic: myriad. As long as Ganax is on the battlefield, Goldlust TriadGoldlust Triad ($2.53) and Tiamat's FanaticsTiamat's Fanatics ($0.06) will get us a Treasure when they enter and two more when they attack. We can even curve Ganax into Acolyte and one of these for a pretty explosive turn.

By getting a mana discount on our first Dragon, and getting a mana refund on each Dragon, Stormscale ScionStormscale Scion ($2.34) makes quite a bit of sense in this deck. Even if we only cast a single spell before casting the Scion, getting two 4/4 Dragons that pump each other and our other Dragons is a pretty good deal, even more so when they'll then refund one mana each as well.

In the same school of thought, we'll also add Realm-Scorcher HellkiteRealm-Scorcher Hellkite ($0.51). We'll have plenty of Treasures lying around to sacrifice to its bargain ability, and with the aforementioned mana discount this can basically turn into a free spell, or maybe even net us mana from casting it. After that, use its ability to pick off opposing creatures or cast another Dragon.

With all this mana flying around, it's important that we don't run out of things to do. We've got a few Dragon-y options for card velocity as well. Thundermane DragonThundermane Dragon ($0.47) will let us cast most of our creatures right off top of our library, and even gives them haste as well. It also gives us another four-drop, which is the weird gap in our current curve.

Since a lot of our acceleration brings us from two mana to four, pushing up the number of four-drops gives us more to do with those ramp effects. With that in mind, we'll also add Atsushi, the Blazing SkyAtsushi, the Blazing Sky ($0.41). Atsushi is an effective four-drop, which can also be card velocity or even more mana if we need it.

We also have Knollspine DragonKnollspine Dragon ($0.29), which is a curve topper that can really gas us up. Attack with some Dragons, use this as the last card in our hand, and draw a bunch more cards. Dream PillagerDream Pillager ($0.12) does a similar thing, impulse drawing us a bunch of cards which we can cast in our second main phase. If those cards are Dragons, our commanders make them even easier to cast.

Don't worry about losing any lands, chances are we're set on mana if this guy came down already.

"Dragons"

I gotta give props to friend of the series Ryan. He found this "Dragon" when I told him my idea for this article:

Formless GenesisFormless Genesis ($0.10) is kind of hilarious. Because it has changeling, it actually counts as a Dragon. So we can go find it with Sarkhan's TriumphSarkhan's Triumph or anything else that cares about finding or casting a Dragon spell. Of course, it also makes us a Dragon, and with retrace we can do it over and over from our graveyard while those Dragons get progressively larger.

The kicker: it's a free spell with both Ganax and Acolyte out. Acolyte makes it only cost , then we can use the Treasure we get from Ganax to cast it again next turn.

The last card we'll add is another "Dragon," Invasion of TarkirInvasion of Tarkir ($1.49). While it's not a Dragon on the front side (instead it's a removal spell), the flip side is a powerful creature, allowing us to throw damage around wherever we might want it to go. It's also fairly easy to flip since most of our creatures are large and evasive.

Personal Tweaks

That's it for our replacements. We re-added eight Dragons and two more "Dragons" sure to make the list do its thing at a fraction of the cost. Like I said, I'm probably going to build this deck myself, and even though I'm liking where the budget is right now, I have a few additional tweaks that I'm making to my list.

The ramp package is pretty standard for a green-based deck, with Three VisitsThree Visits, Nature's LoreNature's Lore, etc. However, I'm cutting Rampant GrowthRampant Growth for Young Red DragonYoung Red Dragon. Rampant GrowthRampant Growth is a terrible draw later in the game, and Young Red Dragon can get some turn-two ramp if we need, or just be a Dragon if we need that.

Herd HeirloomHerd Heirloom is out too. I'm putting in Magda, Brazen OutlawMagda, Brazen Outlaw instead. Magda is also ramp, and rather than draw a card like the artifact, we can use our Treasures to just put a Dragon straight from our deck onto the battlefield. Again, a much better draw late in the game.

I'm also cutting Chaos WarpChaos Warp. There are some edge cases, but most of the time this is played in red decks to combat enchantments or other permanents red can't deal with. But we're in green, and cards like Beast WithinBeast Within and Return to NatureReturn to Nature solve that problem for us. We'll replace it with Draconic InterventionDraconic Intervention, which can pretty often be a one-sided board wipe for us, and for only four mana.

Wrap Up & Savings

Let's see what we saved:

Just missed the $50 mark, but still a much better price for a perfectly functional Dragon deck. I see this deck operating somewhere at Bracket 2 to Bracket 3, depending on certain card choices. You could buy three of this deck with the money saved from the cuts, and this deck has mostly the same cards as the average list. Pretty cool!

So what do you think? Did I miss any cheap Dragons that we could add to the list? Would you lean harder into the Treasure aspect of the deck? Do you want to see more of my "personal touches"? Let me know down in the comments and I'll see you next time when we brew for your buck!

Acolyte Ganax Commander Deck List

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