MTGNexus

My 2nd budget starter deck I'm listing here. This is a fun one I'm excited to build since I've always liked vehicles but never thought they were good enough for commander. Now that we have more vehicle support this is a slightly more viable strategy than it used to be.

As much as I like the thought of building really creative niche decks, I don't know if these budget starter decks are the place to do it. These are meant to be appealing to a wider player base and showcase a certain archetype I suppose. But most of all I'm choosing commanders that are efficient to cast and have built in draw so you never find yourself in topdeck hell which seems much more likely in a budget deck.

Deckbuilding criteria: Total cost of deck is less than $50.

Best thing about Shorikai is that it is both a draw engine and a way to make tokens to crew our vehicles. Untapping him to get multiple triggers a turn is going to be key - in fact both keys are great picks I think!

Board wipes are meant to be as one sided as possible because we don't want to lose our pilots. At the same time, our vehicles dodge most creature removal unless it's instant speed.

The deck is very light on draw and token production since I'm counting on the commander for those effects.

Let me know if I'm missing anything, or if you've had experience with this commander!

Shorikai is such a slam dunk design. It's very open ended and goodstuffy, but the fact it's an immediately usable activated ability slab of artifact out of the command zone makes it feel cool. Somehow appealing to everyone in the process, neat!

I've actually given Shorikai a little bit of thought, and a constant across the various angles I was considering was an absolutely irrational number of wipes. Repeatedly gutting the board to get people to bleed out options, then having a pretty reliable voltron finisher to poke people down once they're flailing. Shorikai lends itself well to pretty overblown control elements, and there are a couple more wipes that could be on theme for you. Citywide Bust is asymmetric and a pittance, Harsh Mercy could do work but would eat up a bunch of the budget.

The discard lends itself well to some recursion themes. You've already got a bunch of that going on, but maybe Ironsoul Enforcer could help as well? Maybe just go full ham with Brilliant Restoration?

Katsumasa, the Animator can help stuff some extra stats on the various cars, and wakes them up. Cultivator's Caravan feels like it wants in, as it's a rock, and becomes a 5-power vehicle off a single Pilot. That means it's just two Pilots to crew Shorikai if need be. Rootborn Defenses could make an extra Pilot fall out and keep your stuff around through disruption. Aeronaut Admiral is mass evasion for the car army. Teferi's Ageless Insight is on the expensive side, but would also be a draw powerhouse if you find yourself needing a little extra oomph in that department.

Pretty much the only Shorikai direction not flirted with here is Polymorph, but that feels outside the scope of this exercise

Thanks Rumpy, these are all great suggestions! I'll add a bunch of them. I especially like Citywide Bust. Katsumasa, the Animator looks great too.

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle feels like it would be right at home here!