I'm back today with another budget Commander brew. I've been doing these for about a decade, and most of these come in around $40 and are still tons of fun to play. The last few have even been in the $30 range.

Commander is a weird format, especially when it comes to prices. There are some staples that can cost as much as $40, and don't get me started on Game Changers. Some brews online will be touted as a budget option and still come in around or over a hundred bucks. That's not a budget option for most players.

I've had periods of time when I wasn't working, and some where it's been hard to find a job. That didn't stop my love for Magic or keep me from wanting to build decks, though. Just because it can be a pricy game doesn't mean that's the only way to win or have any fun.

That was what inspired this series from the beginning. Today, I'm back with a bunch of counter synergy in Orzhov colors.

All the prices cited below are accurate at the time of writing and publication, July 2026.

Even if this deck rises a few dollars here and there, you are still getting a rock-solid budget deck. Let's check it out.

Let's Meet Nita

At around just 50 cents, Nita, Forum Conciliator is a great leader.

She has a low casting cost at just , so it'll be easy to get her out early or pay the Commander Tax a few times if we lose her.

Nita's trigger lets us put +1/+1 counters on all our Creatures any time we cast a spell we don't own. While on the board, we can also use her other ability, which will have us pay and sac one of our guys.

If we do, we can exile an opponent's spell and spend any type of mana to cast it this turn. We can only do it as a Sorcery but we can sacrifice tokens for the cost so it balances out, and we get to use something that's not ours.

The ability to pay any color of mana, or use mana as whatever color we may need, is usually called "mana filtering," or "mana laundering." I like the second one, as we're kind of washing over the mana base with whatever color we need, temporarily.

This deck will be a few different things. We'll be getting repeated value from sacrificing tokens and small dorks with ETB triggers; we'll have multiple ways to trigger Nita to cast spells we don't own, too.

We even have support from some cheap Aristocrats.

Building the Mana Base - About $11

Mana is a critical part of any deck, and I usually focus about 25% to 30% of my hundred cards on mana sources like lands, and mana rocks. So, let's start here and spend about a third of our goal so we can make sure we can cast our stuff.

Solemn Simulacrum brings a lot of value to this brew as a 2/2 for that will ramp us when it enters. I kept it here to sac for a card, making it an easy two-for-one.

If we get Castle Ardenvale too early, it comes out tapped but if we've got a Plains already then we can use it right away. Apart from being a White mana source, we'll also have the option to pay and tap to create a 1/1 Human token.

Transmogrant Altar is an Artifact that we can get out for that'll do a few things for us. It's a solid budget alternative to Ashnod's Altar because it can:

• Tap with + Sacrifice a Creature to give you three colorless mana
• Tap with + Sacrifice a Creature to make you a 3/3 Colorless Zombie

For more colorless mana, we have Urza's Factory. We can also pay and tap it to create a 2/2 Artifact Creature.

I'll wrap up my mana section with these two.

Secluded Starforge is a colorless land that arrives untapped. At Sorcery speed, we can pay and tap it to tap Artifacts and bump our Creatures +1 for everything we tap this way. This doesn't come with Haste or anything but could go crazy when combined with the counters from Nita. If we pay , it'll make us a 2/2 Robot.

Realm of Koh is a check Land that we can use for . For , we can also tap it to create a 1/1 Spirit that can only be blocked by Spirits.

Answers to Support Nita - About $6

Normally, I like to work on synergies and building a win condition next, but we have to be smart when we're building on a set budget.

If anyone at the table has a Swords to Plowshares, or Heroic Intervention, we want to be able to do something about it to keep our plan online. So, here's my answers up next:

We'll start by adding in some targeted removal.

I adore cards like Utter End that can just knock something out of the game with very little restrictions and with nothing in exchange (like with Generous Gift). It's even a great way to get a Commander out of the game.

Another Instant for , Abstruse Appropriation is another one that exiles a nonland permanent, but this one lets us do some mana laundering, or washing, to cast that card from exile whenever we want.

So, we get to steal a card and trigger Nita here.

Now I have these two dorks that are here for their ETB trigger and then sacrifice themselves to the cause.

For , I threw in Meteor Golem. We can use it to blow up a permanent when it comes in, even a land. This one is easy to grab some value and then sac to our Commander.

Dalek Drone, a 3/3 with Flying and Menace is a nice body to have on the board, especially as an Artifact Creature. On ETB, the Dalek takes out a Creature and three life from their controller. Also threw in Ravenous Chupacabra here.

I'll finish this section with these Sorceries.

The modal Sorcery, Moment of Reckoning, is a lot. To play it, we need but it's so worth it. We can choose to do either of these effects up to four times:

1. Destroy a nonland permanent
2. Return a nonland permanent from the graveyard to the battlefield

This is great because we have the choice to bring back some of Nita's lambs or to severely destabilize an opponent's board -- or both.

We can pay whatever we want for Martial Coup and this X-costed Sorcery is crazy powerful. It makes 1/1 Soldiers but if X is more than five, it kills everything else. I love the flexibility here.

Social Snub is another good one here. If we already have a dork, we can copy it for free. Everyone loses a Creature (or two), everyone loses a life, and we gain one life for each lost this way.

Card Draw - About $4

Now, we have to make sure we'll be able to draw into the cards we need. Of course, we do get the virtual card advantage from Nita that lets us access our opponents cards, but we can't count on that every game.

These two also let us give up a Creature in return for a card.

Vampiric Rites only costs , so we can (theoretically) start getting value from it within the first few turns. It lets us repeated pay to toss a Creature, gain a life, and draw a card.

For a similar effect, I have Carnage Altar, which lets us pay to trade a Creature for a card.

Next up, I have these two three-drops in Black.

Liliana's Standard Bearer is a 3/1 Zombie Knight with Flash. When she enters, we'll get to draw a card for every Creature we've lost this turn. This is a great way to rebuild if we're hit with mass removal, or can offer us easy card draw if we sac for it.

Also , but this time a 1/3, I threw in Morbid Opportunist. Whenever one or more Creatures die, even our opponent's, we can draw one card. We only get to do this once per turn, though.

I'll finish card draw with these two guys.

Tallyman of Nurgle is a 2/3 with lifelink and we want him for his Seven-fold Chant. If we've lost a Creature this turn, then we draw a card and lose a life. If we happen to lose seven Creatures, we'll do the same for each. I love cards like this that pose a little bit of a strategic challenge. There are lots of cool ways to unlock its power.

The very last card for this section is a 4/2 Zombie Wizard, Corpse Augur. Whenever he dies, we get a really cool effect. We can pick an opponent's graveyard and draw a card for every Creature, but we will lose one life so it's important to choose wisely.

I also threw in a few guys that will bring cards with them when they enter. We can drop them in and get our card, then sac them for value later. The Rites or the Altar we've already got would be great options. One Helpful Hunter is another one who could draw us some cards with the right setup.

Synergies and Win-Cons - Close to $13

It's finally time to get into some synergy cards and our win condition.

My whole synergy section is focused on ability's like Nita's, where we will be casting things that disrupt our opponents cards.

Gonti, Lord of Luxury is first for . He is a 2/3 with Deathtouch but it's his enters trigger that I care about. When he comes onto the board, we will get to look at the top four cards of an opponent's library and exile one of them. While in exile, we can play it whenever we want, and it bends the mana to let us do so, of course.

The other one, Gonti, Night Minister, is a 3/4 with the same mana value. Whenever a player casts a spell they don't own, they get to create a Treasure. We'll be doing that a lot so we should be able to rack these up easily. That's a great way for us to ramp, especially if we steal some expensive spells from our foes.

Also, whenever a Creature deals damage to one of our opponent's, the controller can exile and later play the top card of that person's library. Of course, these are cards that would theoretically benefit our opponents, but I think it's worth it here. I loved these two so much, I shifted the deck around to give them a more central role.

I love Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion, I've even done a deck around her in the past. She is a 3/2 for but she has Ninjutsu for four.

Whenever we deal combat damage with Nashi, all opponents have to exile the card at the top of their library and we can cast any of them if we pay in life instead of mana. She's a great card but I'm worried that this might be what tips us over our original budget.

Xander's Pact is another one I included here. This is a six-cost Sorcery that we can copy if we have a Creature to sacrifice as we cast it.

When we play it, each opponent at the table exiles the top card of their library, just like Nashi, and we can cast them if we pay their mana cost in life instead.

Hedonist's Trove is a simple Enchantment. When it comes in, everything in our foe's graveyards goes to exile and we can play at least one spell exile this way each turn. The only downside is that it doesn't filter the mana for us, which is why cards like DarkSteel Ingot are useful here.

For , Predators' Hour offers some crazy synergy too. It gives all our Creatures menace and gives them all this effect:

"Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as it remains exiled..."

It even filters the mana for us this time.

Crabomination is a 5/5 Crab Demon for six mana with emerge from artifacts for seven. When it enters the battlefield, target opponent exiles the top card of their library, a random card from their hand, and a random card from their graveyard. After that, we can cast those exiled spells without paying their mana costs. That's a ton of value from a single enters trigger.

For a more flexible option, I included Outrageous Robbery. This Instant has target opponent exile the top X cards of their library, then lets us play those cards until the end of our next turn. It also fixes our mana so we can spend mana as though it were any color to cast them. It's a great way to fuel all of our "cast spells you don't own" synergies.

I've also got these in here.

Whispersteel Dagger is an Equipment that costs and equips for three. It gives the equipped creature +2 power, and whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, we can cast a creature card from that player's graveyard. It also lets us spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast it. Unlike many of our other effects, this pulls from the graveyard instead of the library, giving us another angle of attack while still triggering all of our "cast spells you don't own" synergies.

The other card is Arvinox, the Mind Flail. This Legendary Enchantment costs and becomes a 9/9 Horror once we gain control of at least three permanents we don't own.

At the beginning of our end step, each opponent exiles the bottom card of their library, and we can cast those cards for as long as they remain exiled. We don't have to worry about mana color here, either.

Last up for this section, I have two token making engines.

Denethor, Ruling Steward is a 2/4 legendary Human Noble for . At the beginning of our end step, if a permanent we controlled left the battlefield this turn, we create a 1/1 Human token. Since we're sacrificing creatures regularly, this should trigger almost every turn and help replace the creatures we've lost. He can also pay and sacrifice a creature to have each opponent lose 1 life while we gain 1 life, giving us another sacrifice outlet whenever we need one.

Rat King, Verminlord is another great fit. This legendary 1/1 Rat costs , and at the beginning of our end step, if a permanent left the battlefield under our control this turn, we create a 1/1 Rat token and put a +1/+1 counter on the Rat King.

Both of those abilities should be triggering consistently in this deck. It can also tap and sacrifice three Rats to return a creature card from our graveyard directly to the battlefield, giving us a powerful way to reuse our best creatures in the late game. That's rough, but possible.

The Last of my Budget

I have a tiny problem in this section. Tinybones is running around $2 but he is a great option. Usually, I can focus on supporting our strategy here without a lot of constraints, but we're about at the budget I've set for this brew.

Let's fill in the blanks and see where we end up.

We just can't do it without Tinybones, Bauble Burglar. He's a 1/3 for two in Black but what we really care about here is his abilities.

When someone at the table discards a card, we can exile and add it to his "stash" (with a counter). We can mana wash on our turn to cast anything in the stash, and we can guarantee it grows by forcing people to draw for .

Also, we have some Burglar Rat cards here too to do the same.

Then, there's the 5/4 Demon, the Arbiter of Woe. He also will cost a Creature when he comes in, forcing us to sac one but, this big body can Fly. On entry, all your foes will have to discard a card and lose two life.

You, though? You'll gain two and draw a card. If Tinybones is already in play, the real woe will be how big your stash gets with this synergy here.

I had to add these two pretty strong bodies that let us exile and cast our opponents' cards to get mad counters from our Commander.

The Elder Brain is a 6/6 with Menace for seven. Any time we swing on a foe, they'll exile all the cards in their hand and we can cast those cards with any of our mana sources. Another appearance of the mana washing effect.

A 4/3 Devoid Menace, Bismuth Mindreader is also a good one. When he deals combat damage, an opponent exiles cards until they hit a nonland. We can play that card if we want to, but have to pay in life rather than mana.

Bastion of Remembranceis great here. It's a three-drop Enchantment in Black that brings a 1/1 Human Soldier with it as it enters but, the real value comes later. Whenever our dorks die, each opponent loses a life, and you'll gain one.

For , the final Creature I added to the deck is Intellect Devourer. When it enters, everyone up against us has to exile one card. The Devourer gives us that much-needed mana filtering effect and lets us cast any of those exiled cards.

How did the deck turn out?

Right at the finish line, I tossed in Rogue's Passage to help out as a dork win-con.

All in, I spent $40.73 putting this one together. Here's how it looks:

My Orzhov Budget Commander Nita Deck | Commander | Abe

• Commander (1)
• 1 Nita, Forum Conciliator

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Arbiter of Woe
• 1 Arvinox, the Mind Flail
• 1 Bismuth Mindrender
• 1 Burglar Rat
• 1 Corpse Augur
• 1 Crabomination
• 1 Dalek Drone
• 1 Denethor, Ruling Steward
• 1 Elder Brain
• 1 Fleshtaker
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1 Gonti, Night Minister
• 1 Helpful Hunter
• 1 Homicide Investigator
• 1 Inspiring Overseer
• 1 Intellect Devourer
• 1 Kor Cartographer
• 1 Liliana's Shade
• 1 Liliana's Specter
• 1 Liliana's Standard Bearer
• 1 Meteor Golem
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1 Rat King, Verminister
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Search Party Captain
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Tallyman of Nurgle
• 1 Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
• 1 Virus Beetle

• Instants (6)
• 1 Abstruse Appropriation
• 1 Altar's Reap
• 1 Mortify
• 1 Outrageous Robbery
• 1 Requisition Raid
• 1 Utter End

• Sorceries (11)
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Dread Summons
• 1 Fix What's Broken
• 1 Lingering Souls
• 1 Martial Coup
• 1 Moment of Reckoning
• 1 Predators' Hour
• 1 Rout
• 1 Send in the Pest
• 1 Social Snub
• 1 Xander's Pact

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Hedonist's Trove
• 1 Hidden Stockpile
• 1 Vampiric Rites

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Carnage Altar
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Magnifying Glass
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Orzhov Cluestone
• 1 Orzhov Locket
• 1 Transmogrant Altar
• 1 Whispersteel Dagger

• Lands (39)
• 10 Plains
• 11 Swamp
• 1 Ballroom
• 1 Big Apple, 3 a.m.
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dalkovian Encampment
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Foot Headquarters
• 1 Great Arashin City
• 1 Great Hall of Starnheim
• 1 Memorial to Glory
• 1 Realm of Koh
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Secluded Starforge
• 1 Urza's Factory

Buy This Deck Export text

There are still some things that you could tinker with, if you wanted to. We could toss in Rumor Gatherer or Syphon Mind to support some card draw.

I did include some Clue cards for exploiting Starforge, and one of those is a death trigger. I also love me some Big Apple, 3 a.m. even though it's one of the more expensive cards here (about $1.50); it can tap for enough Rats to trigger the Rat King over and over again.

By using all our opponent's stuff against them, this budget brew a great way to align against our foes with better or pricier decks. It might feel a bit pushed with tons of ways to trigger Nita but, that's a nice way to level the playing field on the cheap without Winter Orb or Stone Rain effects.

This might feel like a bit like swinging someone's own arm at them and asking, "Why you hitting yourself?" but, still tons of fun and hopefully enough to eek out a win.