Commander staples can be really expensive. They’re in high demand because they’re usually the best-in-class at what they do. Are there any actually good, actually playable budget alternatives to these popular cards?
Well, there are more than you’d think. Here are my picks for the ones I like to run.
BUDGET ALTERNATIVES TO RHYSTIC STUDY
Rhystic Study is one of the most played cards in the format. Its card draw is unmatched, and so trying to find something just as good is going to prove impossible. Some cards at the budget end of things come close, though.
If all you want to do is draw a bunch of cards without spending mana, then Psychic Possession is worth a shot. Slap it on the player with the highest chance of drawing multiple cards a turn cycle and you’ll be rewarded with a solid amount of cards that could end up being way, way more than you ever thought possible.
Ledger Shredder is pretty cheap right now, thanks to some recent reprints. A player casting their second spell happens quite often, especially when it counts you as well. You don’t draw cards with this – instead you Connive, looting through them – but it still lets you see a lot of cards, which is often what’s important.
Cheaper still is Mystic Remora, a card often compared to Rhystic Study – though really, they’re quite different. Mystic Remora gets much better when you play it in cEDH or in metagames where people play a lot of mana rocks to set up. You’ll not see nearly as many cards from it, but you should get a solid 2-4 cards if you pay to keep it around a couple of turns.
At the lowest of the low, you can play Windfall for a wheel, you can play any of the cheaper Coastal Piracy effects, or you can just copy whatever the strongest draw is at the table, and play Mirromade. Mirrormade is a great equalizer on a budget, as are most cloning effects – many of which are dirt cheap inclusions.
BUDGET ALTERNATIVE TO TEFERI’S PROTECTION
Ah, Teferi’s Protection: the Crème de la crème of “you can’t get me” cards in white’s arsenal. This thing stops you losing to practically everything, except for mill, “win the game” effects from opponents, and the very rare instance of someone stopping damage prevention and hitting you for 21 Commander damage (your life total won’t change, but you’ll still take the 21 marked damage from a Commander).
It’s expensive for a reason, and that’s because it’s best in slot at what it does. Thankfully, white has many other kinds of similar effect. And, while Cleaver Concealment, Galadriel’s Dismissal and Everybody Lives! are all in the $20 and up range, there are many cheaper alternatives that can do what you need.
The closest effect to Teferi’s Protection is probably Flare of Fortitude. It’s the same mana cost, gives you the fog effect of stopping your life total changing, and gives all of your stuff hexproof and indestructible. The difference is it’s until end of turn, and not until your next turn. Still, it’s a very strong effect, and generally speaking, you’re playing these effects to stop one alpha strike or dismantling of your board, and not concurrent ones.
Don’t underestimate the value of having a free sacrifice outlet baked into Flare of Fortitude; in my Hofri reanimator deck, this makes it an enabler for non-deterministic lines and value plays, even when I don’t care about the effects of the spell so much.
Dawn’s Truce is white’s Heroic Intervention, and it comes at the cost of gifting a card, which isn’t a big deal (as I’ve written about before). If you don’t need to gift the card, you can just take the hexproof part, which is the more useful part in many scenarios.
A little pricier than Dawn’s Truce is Akroma’s Will. This card is one I love to run because it’s both a defensive spell and a finisher in one, which is the best kind of modal spell, let’s be honest. Taking a deck slot with this one allows you to combine your defensive utility with an offensive finisher, freeing up a potential deck slot for another spell.
True budget options to check out are Brave the Elements or Unbreakable Formation. Brave the Elements is still kinda slept on for mono-white decks, to be honest. A one mana way to protect yourself from burn wraths, or mess with attacks and blocks? Cheap as chips.
BUDGET ALTERNATIVES TO: JESKA’S WILL
Jeska’s Will is a game changer. It can boost the caster ahead by potentially a full turn, allowing for a drop of more game pieces into play than is reasonable, or an early cast of a red Commander. Seeing the extra cards is the icing on the cake; getting 6-9 mana for an investment of three mana is the bit that most decks are interested in. What can you run instead?
Well, Professional Face-Breaker is a lot cheaper than Jeska’s Will, and can still make a bunch of mana for you for the same mana investment. Additionally, being treasures, they can be banked for later turns, and can be cracked for any color of mana. You also get to exile cards to play with the second ability, and all-in-all? I feel like this Human Warrior can be nearly as impactful, and sometimes more impactful, than Jeska’s Will.
A more true comparison might be to Mana Geyser. Sure, it’s two mana more, but you’re going to be netting an average of 14-20 mana off of this when you cast it, which is absurd. If you’re in mono-red, or a spellslinger deck that needs access to lots of mana to pop off, then Mana Geyser is a super cheap way to get that mana.
Another five-mana option is Neheb, the Eternal. Neheb needs you to work for that mana, but when a two-mana Flame Rift nets you 12 mana in your postcombat main phase, well, you’re laughing. Neheb is a great Commander, too, able to chain some bonkers turns together to burn out opponents in short order.
If you’re just happy to be casting a big Commander like Drakuseth or Etali, Primal Storm, then you need to look into Irencrag Feat. It jumps you to a nice seven mana, as long as you only cast one more spell that turn. Of course, some decks like Ashling the Pilgrim can just use this mana for activated abilities, making it a more flexible card than it might seem.
While I could recommend a card like Treasure Nabber – which is bonkers good in the right meta – I think the true budget option here is actually Ruby Medalion, and hear me out. Jeska’s Will gives you a boost of mana, but the savings you make on every spell you cast with a Ruby Medalion are going to equal or exceed that.
BUDGET ALTERNATIVES TO: SMOTHERING TITHE
Smothering Tithe is the biggest mana generator in white, and it’s hard to find a comparison. When you play this with wheel effects too? Whew, what a beating. Still, there are some budget options.
If you’re in WB colors, then Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff is a really great way to make mana. It triggers off of every player at the table, meaning you can net yourself up to 4 treasures a rotation in most scenarios, which is often enough to gain a big mana advantage.
Even cheaper to cast is Curse of Opulence, which for one mana, will ensure you get a handful of Gold tokens for your troubles. People are greedy enough to keep triggering this, so enjoy it.
Oh, and if you are in black, you can use Black Market in conjunction with wiping the board to bank on some bonus mana when you untap.
BUDGET ALTERNATIVES TO: THE GREAT HENGE
The Great Henge is arguably one of the best draw engines in green, and it’s because you get to grow your board at the same time… and because it’s also a mana rock, for some reason? Wild. Thankfully, green has plentiful ways to draw cards, so here are some cheaper alternatives.
Elemental Bond triggers off of all creatures, including tokens, and so is one of my picks for basically any green deck. Power 3 is one of the lower requirements for draw in green.
Shamanic Revelation gives you some hefty life gain, and I’ve come to appreciate this one more in recent times. Even if you’re not getting the life gain, you do get to draw for however many creatures you have in play, making this an easy hand refill in most decks.
Return of the Wildspeaker combines a card draw for non-Human decks with a buff to your creatures. As I’ve mentioned previously in today’s article, having flexibility is key in Commander, so this one is one I’ll opt for quite highly.
END STEP
Commander doesn’t have to be expensive, and although budget alternatives might not give you exactly what you need at the highest levels of play, they’re really good at most Casual tables. Hopefully today’s article has given you some ideas.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.