Building a hyper-budget Commander deck is a bit like being MacGyver. (For those of you who don't know, MacGyver was a television show from the 80's starring Richard Dean Anderson. There are lots of things to say, but the primary is he uses what he has around him to solve the problems he encounters. Break into a secret, high-security lab? We'll use this spray cleaner from the cleaning cart to reveal the laser beams. Diffuse this bomb? A bobby pin from the hair of the woman next to him on the train. He carried a Swiss Army Knife, matches, and his wits. And Duct Tape, of course.)

The reason is because Mac rarely needed anything to last. He needed a distraction right now, or to stop this bomb for a few minutes to get away, or whatever. It's okay that the cooked egg won't patch the radiator forever - he just needs it to work for long enough to get away from the bad guys.

A budget deck, in my estimation, is often similar. We're trying to achieve a goal. Most often, that goal is to win, but it's in a specific way. Because we don't have a ton of resources (we're limited by budget), we won't be running all the super-powerful spells that will give us a ton of angles of attack or amazing resilience to every possible response any given deck might have. Instead, very often, we're going to go all-in on a single strategy, often one rather unexpected, and cross our fingers. Then, as we play the deck and continue to build our collection, we can upgrade and change it to make it more resilient. Or not, and just leave it as this "will it or won't it?" kind of thing. Either way.

Today's commander is the fourth of our series of four decks for $100 and is a great example of this kind of strategy.

That's a 2/2 for four, which isn't great, but we're not going to attack with her anyway. Nope, we want the abilities and more importantly the Experience counters. We're going to turn every single little Creature we can throw out into an effective and game-winning threat because we're going to have something leave the Battlefield every turn we can, and we're going to find more ways to make even more Experience counters while we're at it. Let's go.

Budget Minthara | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Minthara, Merciless Soul

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Bartolome del Presidio
• 1 Blightbelly Rat
• 1 Cathar Commando
• 1 Denethor, Ruling Steward
• 1 Disciple of Bolas
• 1 Doomed Traveler
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Flickerwisp
• 1 Grateful Apparition
• 1 Gulping Scraptrap
• 1 Infestation Sage
• 1 Inspiring Overseer
• 1 Martyr for the Cause
• 1 Metastatic Evangel
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Nested Shambler
• 1 Pegasus Guardian // Rescue the Foal
• 1 Priest of Ancient Lore
• 1 Rumor Gatherer
• 1 Ruthless Lawbringer
• 1 Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar
• 1 Skullport Merchant
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Spirited Companion
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Wyrm's Crossing Patrol

• Instants (14)
• 1 Acrobatic Maneuver
• 1 Altar's Reap
• 1 Corrupted Conviction
• 1 Costly Plunder
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Despark
• 1 Eviscerator's Insight
• 1 Fanatical Offering
• 1 Flicker of Fate
• 1 Mortify
• 1 Nasty End
• 1 Unbounded Potential
• 1 Village Rites
• 1 Whisper of the Dross

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Call to the Feast
• 1 Drown in Ichor
• 1 Rite of Oblivion
• 1 Vat Emergence
• 1 Victimize
• 1 Wanderer's Strike

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Call for Unity
• 1 Far Traveler
• 1 Hidden Stockpile
• 1 Muster the Departed

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Charcoal Diamond
• 1 Marble Diamond
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Relic Vial
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble

• Lands (40)
• 6 Plains
• 6 Swamp
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Escape Tunnel
• 1 Esper Panorama
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Forlorn Flats
• 1 Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1 Hidden Courtyard
• 1 Hidden Necropolis
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Obscura Storefront
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Promising Vein
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Shire Terrace
• 1 Silverquill Campus
• 1 Snowfield Sinkhole
• 1 Sunlit Marsh
• 1 Tainted Field
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 The Dross Pits
• 1 The Fair Basilica
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Vibrant Cityscape

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The gist here is fairly simple: get Minthara on the board, then start playing out Creatures and have things leave the Battlefield in any way possible. Build up Experience counters to the point that whatever we've got is attacking for an absurd amount - think Servo Tokens at 23/1 - and beat the snot out of our opponents with them. Will it work every time? Nope. But when it does? Should be pretty spectacular.

Minthara isn't wildly expensive and we have our 40 Lands, the majority of which fix colors, so we've only got six pieces of ramp, all of which cost one or two. If we hit one, we can play Minthara a turn early, but really as long as we play her on time we should be fine. We can play out our earlier drops early - nothing wrong with a turn one Doomed Traveler or turn three Denethor, Ruling Steward. Minthara cares when things leave, not enter. Solemn Simulacrum is here and does ramp, but we're not counting it; it's more for value than anything else.

We have a bunch of cheap fetch lands, including the newest version of Terramorphic Expanse, Vibrant Cityscape. These are a great way to make sure we have something leave the Battlefield each turn, but don't wait! If it's a choice between holding Evolving Wilds to get the trigger or using it to get a Land, get the Land. We have plenty of ways to trigger Minthara, and hitting those Land drops is too important. Vault of the Archangel is a great way to earn back a ton of life when attacking with a couple of giant Creatures, and Rogue's Passage can mean the end of a specific player. It's particularly good when something has Myriad, like Wyrm's Crossing Patrol - make the main one unblockable and keep it around so it keeps sending giant Creatures at all your opponents.

Black generously gives us lots of draw spells which require a sacrifice of some kind, so we're running a bunch of them. They're all sort of in the realm of Village Rites, but the idea is you sac a Creature (or sometimes an Artifact) and you draw two cards. Deadly Dispute costs a bit more but we get a Treasure, which is great because those leave the 'field a lot. We've also got Relic Vial as a slow Skullclamp, but it helps Minthara is a Cleric so we get the Aristocrats synergy as well (and our Creatures will die, of course). Disciple of Bolas is a tragically underplayed Creature which is perfect for us here - attack with a 17/1 Accursed Marauder, then play out the Disciple and draw 17? I'll take it. Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar does a similar thing but repeatable; lots of ways to draw a ton of cards here. There are a number of Creatures which replace themselves, like Priest of Ancient Lore, too. These serve as sacrifice fodder, or just random things with which to attack, so the fact they replace themselves makes them more useful.

We'll definitely win in the red zone. It's kind of our only option. Ultimately we'll get a bunch of Experience Counters and everything we attack with will be huge. The nice thing is, this deck has a bunch of silly little Creatures in it, and any one of them can deliver the killing blow. Don't be afraid to sacrifice things as needed, and keep drawing cards. You'll find what you need.

We have a few classic removal spells, like Mortify and Despark. I'm also a fan of Fleshbag Marauder effects here, since they trigger Minthara for us, so we have a few. Then there's Ruthless Lawbringer, which is great fun. Whisper of the Dross may not kill much, but it'll hit something and the Proliferate is fully worth it. What we don't have is any mass removal; there's lots in these colors, but between budget and what we're up to, it didn't make sense. That might be a place to consider a swap, though, if you find yourself needing to reset the board before going for the win.

Then there's the Proliferate. We've got Creatures like Grateful Apparition and Metastatic Evangel, both of which do a ton of work. We have several effects which care if something left the 'field this turn like Hidden Stockpile and Call for Unity. Pegasus Guardian is wonderful here.

We've also got a number of ways for things to be Sacrificed, and stuff that doesn't mind dying like Nested Shambler (imagine the situation when someone is deciding to block that at 21/1 or not - do I take the 21? Or do I block it with this thing and let it die, knowing it means we'll have 21 Squirrels, ready to attack next turn?). There are a few ways to flicker things. Far Traveler is very strong here.

Vat Emergence can bring something back, of course, and Victimize can return a couple of things and trigger Minthara.

This is a player's deck. It requires careful sequencing and thought-out turns. It's a good one to goldfish to practice the sequencing so you don't keep everyone waiting too long. You often have to figure out when the best time to do various things is - sometimes you want to play out all your Creatures before you attack, because you'll Proliferate and gain more Experience. Sometimes you'll want to flicker something, but others you won't because you used a Treasure or cracked a fetchland. Keep on top of your triggers, track everything, and attempt to wrench as much value out of each card as possible. It will improve your playing and increase your chances of winning.

Also, we kept this one under $25, so there's money left for an Akroma's Vengeance if you want it. Or maybe Mimic Vat, which would probably be good here. Either way, $23.58 as of the time of this writing!

Total spent: $94.97

Total remaining: $5.03

That's everything but basic Lands for four decks, leaving you enough for a snack at your LGS. If you already have some cards or make some swaps, it'll be less!

Thanks for reading.