The $1DH Gauntlet

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TheGildedGoose
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Post by TheGildedGoose » 1 year ago

So, if you're not familiar, $1DH is exactly what you think it is: every card in the deck must be under $1. This leads to some interesting design considerations, since you can't just jam every deck with $20+ staples and rest on your laurels. Like Pauper, these decks are so value-oriented that it appeals to me down to my bones, eking out as much worth as you can from every little card.

I want to create a stable of 10 decks, one for each color pairing, because building a budget manabase for two colors is much, much easier than three colors and also because I appreciate the aesthetic.

Current Lists:

Golgari: Criminal Past/Wilson, Refined Grizzly
Dimir: Kels, Fight Fixer

To Build:

Azorius: Dragonlord Ojutai Control
Rakdos: Chainer, Nightmare Adept Midrange
Gruul: Wulfgar of Icewind Dale Midrange
Orzhov: Kambal, Consul of Allocation (if 2X2 lowers his price to under $1 as I predict)/Liesa, Shroud of Dusk Extort/Drain n' Gain
Izzet: Adeliz, the Cinder Wind

Undecided:

Selesnya
Boros
Simic
Last edited by TheGildedGoose 1 year ago, edited 4 times in total.

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TheAmericanSpirit
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

Gruul, baby. But not Stonebrow, that dude was boring on arrival (and is best with extra combats, which the budget largely forbids). Why not Wulfgar of Icewind Dale? He's basically Stonebrow with a wider range to generate value, and I'm pretty sure the nonfoil is < $1.
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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 1 year ago

Imoti/Keruga cmc matters
Yasharn control
Thalisse tokens
Faldorn (mostly I don't know what this deck looks like, but I think there is enough impulse draw in the cheap range that this deck is not too hindered)

I like this idea a lot, but my buddies would never go for it.
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TheGildedGoose
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Post by TheGildedGoose » 1 year ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
1 year ago
Gruul, baby. But not Stonebrow, that dude was boring on arrival (and is best with extra combats, which the budget largely forbids). Why not Wulfgar of Icewind Dale? He's basically Stonebrow with a wider range to generate value, and I'm pretty sure the nonfoil is < $1.
Great idea. Much better than the big, dumb stompy list I was imagining.
Serenade wrote:
1 year ago
Imoti/Keruga cmc matters
Yasharn control
Thalisse tokens
Faldorn (mostly I don't know what this deck looks like, but I think there is enough impulse draw in the cheap range that this deck is not too hindered)

I like this idea a lot, but my buddies would never go for it.
Imoti/Keruga: I don't want to do companions,and I think that this deck would eventually overpower the others due to value and a high top end. Games would devolve into "kill Imoti first" and that's no fun.
Yasharn: Non-blue control is a great idea, and Selesnya Hate Critters is a better idea than the dumb unicorn.
Thalisse: These decks will be aimed at New players and the idea of tracking tokens makes my eyes glaze over.
Faldorn: I'm quite enamored with Wulfgar now, honestly. I need another good ol' fashioned beat down deck and he's it.

EDIT: Kels is really cool and all but I think I'll break Dralnu down to $1DH. I love that card so much.

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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 1 year ago

I can attest that Kels is really cool!
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Post by Rumpy5897 » 1 year ago

I've ended up in relatively adjacent realms lately, via a newfound desire to not spend money on cards unless necessary and a general lack of oomph of my group. Really makes you appreciate all the made for EDH stuff of the past few years, as you get to piece together a deck without all the staples in it that still more less does the thing and doesn't take your wallet with it. Plus after having put the same old expected utility suite in a few decks of the appropriate colours, it's nice to get to skip some of it for some cooler different options.

For Boros, I could totally see a fierce Feather voltron. Feather has a transformative effect on the game, turning targeted spells into activated abilities, and while this renders her card pool shallow I really like it on a conceptual level. Her standard spell suite is a bunch of sub-limited common chaff, and can still be had for pennies despite the legend's popularity. Protect Feather from demise, draw some cards, pump her up. Fun times. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, a recent Boros legend that caught my eye is Commander Liara Portyr. She doesn't read that interesting - ramp and draw. But the ability actually presents a nontrivial deck building challenge to optimise, as you need to balance early swarm to get attacks off, costs of cards to try to make good use of the discount, artifact presence for flip cheese and general ramp application. I could see some problems with getting this to work on a budget as it probably wants some combat protection pieces to make the weenies not die as they go get you cards and mana discounts.

For Simic, I agree that Imoti is excessive. I ran her for a while, and then turned the deck to Eligeth + Gilanra to tone it down a bit. This ended up working perfectly. It's super easy to stay topped up in various cool ways, as playing 6+MV junk draws off Gilanra, while playing scry chaff draws off Eligeth. Great opportunity to walk various crap that got relegated to shame boxes if you so desire.
 
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RowanKeltizar
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Post by RowanKeltizar » 1 year ago

You've definitely inspired me. It might be time to build some budget decks myself. I've been on an expensive bling kick lately, and I need to cool off and shift gears. Finding good budget cards does indeed present a much more interesting deckbuilding challenge. I tend to choose battlecruiser commanders that require A LOT of support from the deck itself to be competetive. Gishath, Niv, Aurelia, and Prossh were all the opposite of a budget commander choice. I found myself sinking more and more cash into the decks just to keep up.

Looking through the possible commanders I think I've found a bunch I would enjoy building on a budget personally that might even be competitive enough for my playgroup. 2 color decks are A LOT easier to build on a budget for sure since you don't have to worry about dual lands nearly as much.

These decks are decks I could sell to my LGS for players looking to get into commander, or just sell them directly I guess. I've encountered a few people interested in commander that don't have their own decks yet. I would choose commanders that someone could grow into and upgrade as their budget allowed. A starting point.

I think I'd elect to go for an overall deck value rather than single card value for my purposes. I can see there being a few things that really want to be in the deck but are over $1. You can make up that higher price tag in the rest of the deck.

Personally, I would pick commanders with built in card advantage and/or ramp at an efficient cost (4cmc or less) since it will help the deck be a bit more consistent if you aren't running all the expensive draw/ramp staples. I find these commanders to be A LOT less frustrating to play on a budget, especially for newer players.

If all of your decks are on a similar power level I wouldn't worry about choosing commanders that are "too strong" since they are meant to be played together. You want to be getting as much value from the command zone as possible. And inevitably, you will find yourself playing against more powerful non-budget decks and your commander will give you a bit of a leg up.

I know you are just doing dual colored decks, but if you ever do tricolor, Henzie "Toolbox" Torre fits the bill for me. He's an excellant enabler and encourages running non staples with higher cmcs. For example Timeless Witness instead of Eternal Witness. You've got built in cost reduction, haste, and draw all for just 3 mana.

Azorius: Vega, the Watcher low cmc, with built in draw. This commander encourages running a lot of unique non-staplish cards. Shorikai, Genesis Engine doing vehicle tribal with this guy seems like fun and would be a unique deck for your collection.

Dimir: Kels, Fight Fixer yup, i can get behind this one for sure. Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver pretty obvious choice, but overdone. I've always had an itch to build a zombie deck. Sygg, River Cutthroat an old classic. notably this was updated to indicate "At the beginning of EACH end step..." Jon Irenicus, Shattered One this is the hipster dimir card. interesting build around

Rakdos: Mahadi, Emporium Masterramp in the command zone for 3 mana. I think I would enjoy building this commander. Prosper, Tome-Bound an obviously powerful commander. Probably too powerful and overdone for your taste but I think building him on a budget would be fun and easy personally.

Gruul: Tovolar, Dire Overlord at least one tribal deck would be fun. lots of wolfs and werewolves on budget. Neyith of the Dire Hunt nice classic aggro deck. Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald again, fun to build on a budget I think.

Selesnya:: Sythis, Harvest's Hand is a pretty obvious choice for me albeit boring. Selvala, Explorer Returned leaves a bit more flexibility in what you can do with the deck. Probably overdone at this point but she's a fun commander IMO. Gluntch, the Bestower is something I would probably enjoy. Very non-threatening and an easy way to make allies.

Orzhov: Breena, the Demagogue A very experienced player has a budget breena deck and I can tell you it is quite competetive. Fun commander for sure. Nalia de'Arnise besides the sexy art, I really like her abilities. Tymna the Weaver will always be a competetive choice. for some reason I was thinking she was cheaper, so nvm.

Izzet: Rielle, the Everwise so easy to find good discard outlets in these colors. Eruth, Tormented Prophet pretty straightforward and gives you a lot of freedom to build. Jori En, Ruin Diver really a flawless choice.

Golgari: Carth the Lion piqued my interest when he was spoiled. I think this would be a fun deck, but I'm not sure how many budget walkers there are in these colors. Glissa, the Traitor another commander I've always wanted to build. So many cheap or free artifacts that can be looped. Baba Lysaga, Night Witch classic aristocrat reanimator

Boros: Feather, the Redeemed probably my first choice also, because there are so many cheap cantrips that can be used for draw. I would consider her ability to be built in card advantage and it's a fairly unique deck for Boros colors. Akiri, Fearless Voyager classic boros equipment.

Simic: Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca yes, Im a sucker for tribal. Lonis, Cryptozoologist pretty interesting ability. You've got 2 sources of card advantage. Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy I think I might choose this over Gretchen Titchwillow. They are doing very similar things, but Zimone is usable earlier.


Well, that's all I got for now!

Side note: I think it would be neat to compile a list of viable budget cards for each category, draw, removal, ramp, etc... cards that are efficient and get the job done but are still $1 or less.
WRBKaalia, Zenith Seeker - Certified Air Raid Material
WBElenda, the Dusk Rose - Drain and Gain
WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
GWUBAtraxa, Praetors' Voice - Artifact Stax Beatdown
Budget Starter Decks
UBSygg, River Cutthroat
WU Shorikai, Genesis Engine
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TheAmericanSpirit
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

Selesnya should be torens, Fist of the Angels goonstorm. Cards like rabble rousing and call the coppercoats all over the place. A beautiful bookkeeping nightmare.
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Post by TheGildedGoose » 1 year ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
1 year ago
Selesnya should be torens, Fist of the Angels goonstorm. Cards like rabble rousing and call the coppercoats all over the place. A beautiful bookkeeping nightmare.
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duducrash
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Post by duducrash » 1 year ago

Sounds like really fun to brew but a pain to keep updating because of spikes

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Post by brainface » 1 year ago

On a lark, recently I did a fifty cent limit for this with Halsin, Emerald Archdruid and Feywild Visitor
https://www.archidekt.com/decks/2869501#Bear_Proxies
I don't know how well it plays, I'm waiting for card delivery but it's pretty funny spending half the deck cost on shipping. I love the price restriction restriction over pauper, though, as it allows for a pile of junk rares and decent uncommons.

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Post by rogerandover » 1 year ago

You could allso just go all in and build Pauper-DH decks. Uncommon commander and the 99 commons.

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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 1 year ago

Doesn't everyone know the best commons already, so Pauper is a solved format?
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Ulka
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Post by Ulka » 1 year ago

Goose, Im glad to see this format has excited you so much. Currently I have Bess, Soul Nourisher as my Selesnya 1dh commander. She is quite fun and the deck plays super different than most which is fun.

Izzet: Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is cheap, fast and is honestly probably one of my favorite decks when built budget.

Boros: Mila, Crafty Companion // Lukka, Wayward Bonder could be a fun Boros Reanimator deck.
Modern: Goryo's Gifts | Heartless Architect | Soul Sisters | MonoGreen Devotion
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Post by Arebennian » 1 year ago

Nikya of the Old Ways seems reasonably good for a budget choice. Main consideration would be finding good cheap card draw on creatures.

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Post by TheGildedGoose » 1 year ago

Ulka wrote:
1 year ago
Goose, Im glad to see this format has excited you so much. Currently I have Bess, Soul Nourisher as my Selesnya 1dh commander. She is quite fun and the deck plays super different than most which is fun.

Izzet: Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is cheap, fast and is honestly probably one of my favorite decks when built budget.

Boros: Mila, Crafty Companion // Lukka, Wayward Bonder could be a fun Boros Reanimator deck.
I quite like Adeliz as a tempo list. That could be a lot of fun. Is Young Pyromancer under a buck? Yup, sure is. So long, Jori En.
Arebennian wrote:
1 year ago
Nikya of the Old Ways seems reasonably good for a budget choice. Main consideration would be finding good cheap card draw on creatures.
I like Wulfgar more. Nikya is fun, but a little more limited in what you can run due to the restriction. Wulfgar just wants the best of the best of attack triggers, which are likely pretty good on their own.

In other news, Kambal, Consul of Allocation has officially hit under a dollar. It is time.

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