Welcome back for some more budget Magic discussion. As usual we have more cards to throw in your binder for use in Pioneer, and some that are useful for Commander as well. Hopefully by the end of this read you will consider picking up a few copies or playsets of the cards discussed!

Another thing to consider is you do not have to just choose a creature you control. If your opponent has a larger creature on the board than what you have, you can copy that instead to make things tougher on your opponent. This brings up the other side of the coin which is using it defensively. Simic (Green/Blue) is more on the Aggro front in the meta, but we can use Artisan of Forms to defend us against certain threats. If our opponent is running bigger creatures or creatures we might not have a response for, in comes Artisan of Forms. We can target it with something like Blossoming Defense if we are able to bait our opponent to block it with the creature we choose to copy. This would rid of the threat and give us a big creature that they now have to deal with. There are a slew of ways to get creative with this one, and I just think the risk/reward with this would be well worth the potential upside.

Looking into Modern, this could be used in Blue/Red aggro. If we have a small creature our opponent decides to let through, and we have Murktide Regent on the board, we can return the small creature and make a copy of Murktide Regent. I like that idea, so if we have another Murktide Regent in hand we can beef up not only the one we cast, but also the ones on the board by exiling the cards we want! Of course, that is an optimal scenario, but one that can most certainly be attained rather easily. Keep an eye on this one, but it would not hurt to grab some up while they are on the cheap!

Next is Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root. The price is $0.99 for the non-foil, $1.19 for the foil, and $1.83 for the prerelease foil. I am more looking into utilizing Lisette, Dean of the Root for Green/White weenie builds that utilize life gain and Hardened Scales. I would look into this as a mid-game or late game play to get quick additional damage in. Using a card like Lone Rider // It That Rides as One that has not only first strike but lifelink is perfect to use with Lisette. If it is able to go through unblocked and we have multiple creatures attacking, this will deal damage first triggering Lisette's ability, and allow us to add a +1/+1 counter to everything before remaining combat damage goes through! I don't think this will skyrocket in value, but its current price is still cheap.

Eidolon of Countless Battles has been a pet card of mine since Born of the Gods was released. The current price is $2.02 for the non-foils, and $4.30 for the foil copies. This is a card that has been quietly going up for some time, and I feel it is only going to do the same at this point. The non-foil pricing is pretty fair considering there are no reprints, and the same goes for those seeking the foils copies. If you are able to, I would use bulk trade to acquire these before cash.

Now, why have I been so hung up on this card for so long? Originally my mind always loves creatures that get bolstered based on things you are already going to do. In this case it would be a deck utilizing creatures and enchantments/aura spells. Chances are we would be running cards like Ethereal Armor or All That Glitters. Depending on the build, we could also use a card like Murder Investigation to add even more creatures to the board.

The other big thing with this is we have the option to cast it as a creature or bestow it onto something else as an aura. Having options is always nice, and this will certainly do that for us. Depending on how the battlefield looks, we can either decide to add to our creature base, or we can make a creature stronger. White weenies of course or Green/White enchantments are decks this will go in. However, Red/White has plays with this.

A pet card of mine, Skyknight Vanguard, loves a card like Eidolon of Countless Battles! Being able to just add creatures by attacking is going to cause a headache for your opponent if they do not have a response soon. A jank late game play I love to do with this card is throw it on something I have Ethereal Armor on, attack (if it will go through), and then fling it at my opponent for lethal damage. In the end it is all about winning, and that can get you to lethal damage in a hurry. That is all we have for today. I hope you enjoyed the read and consider picking up some of these gems in the future!