[Resource] Niche and/or Budget Cards

[Treamayne]

Inspired by this thread, I would like to try a resource thread collecting niche budget cards.

Guidelines:

• Explain what roll you use the card to fill
• (optional) include price/number of printings at time of post
• (optional) Name an example deck where you use the card

What this list is not:

• I am not passing judgement, what you post I will add to the list because I accept you are posting the card because you beleive other players may like using that card (or at least consider using it)
• I am not editing your post, except possibly some formatting (spacing, possibly punctuation or non-relevant comma before/after the card) but only when clarity is a concern (such as splitting a list)

My first contribution:
Phyrexian Splicer - I love to use this card in decks that lack inherent defense against flying and trample (stealing the ability from a key attacker for defense) and/or in decks (playgroups) that want more politics and combat shenanigans.
Example: Currently in Gahiji, Honored One Beasts both for the lack of fliers and the ability to move Trample or First Strike after blockers. Politics on opponents' turns is a nice bonus
Uncommon - Tempest - $0.35

[Treamayne]

Colorless

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Phyrexian Splicer - I love to use this card in decks that lack inherent defense against flying and trample (stealing the ability from a key attacker for defense) and/or in decks (playgroups) that want more politics and combat shenanigans.
Example: Currently in Gahiji, Honored One Beasts both for the lack of fliers and the ability to move Trample or First Strike after blockers. Politics on opponents' turns is a nice bonus
Uncommon - Tempest - $0.35

Avarice Totem in Kurkesh, Zirda, or any other deck that can make lots of mana and/or save mana on the activation — stack shenanigans mean that you can exchange whatever useless junk you have lying around for the best nonland permanent on the table, provided they don't have five mana open. "I'll take that Grave Pact, thank you. You can have my Myr token."

Victory Chimes in Talrand, Sky Summoner no creature, draw-go, drake beatdown. This can create or a turn cycle depending on what I'm casting. basically a free mana on my turn that will untap for interaction afterwards. Good for commanders with activation costs.

Cultivator's Caravan in Kalamax, the Stormsire; ramps and allows Kalamax to tap outside of combat. Very important should be board get cluttered.

Baton of Morale - Banding! I'm not sure why anybody would need a reason other than that.
Example: I have this in my Tim deck, so my blockers can shift damage over to Chucky and Bride of Chucky (as well as other less-fragile options)
Uncommon - Ice Age- $0.35

Bladegriff Prototype
I think this card is pretty underrated. Sure the 3/2 statline for 5 mana, no etb and opponent chooses variance makes it look bad but that why it's good.
3 per turn isn't nothing but most people will just take it because they get to blow up something. Lot of the time Griff just gets to do its' thing. I like to play it stax decks. 3/2 gets to pressure life totals and just getting random permanents off the board is good and the griff isn't hindered by most common stax pieces like orbs. I've been adding haste and clone effects just to get more value out of Griff
The card is like 5 cents. 0% playrate

I'll stan Bladegriff Prototype as well. I didn't mention it because I think it's a bit more niche. My prior mention was a card that I think is good for more than just Insect tribal and undergrowth.dec; Kraul Harpooner should have legs and lots of 'em in a variety of blink or counters-based strategies imo. Bladegriff is very good and has blown me away in Volo, Guide to Monsters to the point I may test it elsewhere, but it made it in Volo because:

A) As a simic deck that wants a high creature count, this deck has trouble removing 'walkers and creatures once they're on the board.
B) Types matter to Volo. Dragons are a competitive type (I took Keiga, the Tide Star and Steel Hellkite is also high on the list); this is really the only remotely playable griffin in Simic.
C) I mentioned it earlier but again, this deck wants to have its solutions be creatures not instants where it can help it - sure I could just run Beast Within + Song of the Dryads + Rapid Hybridization + Reality Shift + Pongify + Imprisoned in the Moon (and I do run at least a few of those) but I wanted a better critter count.

But again, it's blown me away and might just be the straight-up best card to curve into after Volo in the entire 99. Folks are often willing to take 3 to blow something else up wheras Steel Hellkite tends to be a kill-or-block-on-sight threat. Because "someone else chose", you don't draw as much heat. Once you get going players might "get wise" and start popping treasure tokens and saprolings instead of real cards but this card is way better than Meteor Golem if it gets even one real card. I don't think it should be run everywhere - in particular if your deck doesn't need a high creature count, doesn't have ways to copy/duplicate/reanimate Bladegriff over and over, doesn't have haste outlets, or has access to superior removal on a stick creatures in B/W, this is sorta meh for its cost. But it is much better in play than it looks on paper for sure.

White

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Commander's Insignia — this is the best anthem in the format. There, I said it. It is also a bin rare. How that's possible, I have no clue.

Inheritance is good white card draw on a budget
Alliances Uncommon $0.27

Vengeful Archon is a piece of Zirda tech I stand behind. Since its activation costs X, you can choose X=3, let Zirda cheapen that to cost 1 mana, lather, rinse, repeat. Lo and behold, triple efficiency! Now you can nullify entire alpha strikes while bashing your opponent over the head with a 7/7 flier. Works well with other ways to cheapen activation costs of creatures, of course, like Training Grounds or Heartstone.

Speaking of Zirda tech, there's Safeguard. A little-known rare from Tempest that can neutralize singular big threats and negate commander damage, which might help in a lifegain deck. Zirda, of course, makes the activation cost only W, which is ridiculous.

March of Souls is a board wipe for classic token swarm (and token Stax) decks. It reduces all creatures to 1/1 white flying Spirit tokens, which is an upgrade for vanilla 1/1s. But wait! There's more! You also get all your entry and death triggers again, and Doubling Season and Parallel Lives/Anointed Procession. And your anthems make your creatures bigger. (Ideally, you want all these to be artifacts, enchantments, or emblems. Or "graveyard-matters" incarnations.) And some just get ridiculous. So if you have five tokens, Cathars' Crusade makes them all 6/6 (before Doubling Season and friends walk away with the game). If you have Grave Pact and friends, you get to not only reduce everyone's creatures to 1/1, but also reduce their numbers. Purphoros, God of the Forge shocks your opponents for each creature you control that dies this way. Zealous Persecution destroys your opponent's side while also boosting yours this turn. Yet it's only in 1262 decks per EDHrec.
Notably, board wipes are usually bad in tokens, for the same reason players use them against token decks. But here, this board wipe often upgrades your army.

Ashes of the Abhorrent is a very under rated hate card that everyone down talks until they see it stop whatever it is they're trying to do.

Righteous Aura is a genuinely fantastic card for a pillow fort leaning deck. It helps with the archetype's comparable weakness to tall creatures, and comes with the bonus perk of turning off fireballs. Probably best used in a deck that can play a bit at instant speed to potentially use some of the mana left up.

While this is more than one card, they're connected. Story Circle, Rune of Protection: Artifacts, Rune of Protection: White, Rune of Protection: Blue, Rune of Protection: Black, Rune of Protection: Red, and Rune of Protection: White all have value against most decks. Story Circle lets you pick and choose, while the Runes have cycling, so if you don't need them, you can just pitch them. (And if you have Sun Titan out, you can pitch them then bring them back.)
The artifact one is really great if you also have Mycosynth Lattice.
Note that I am not a fan of Rune of Protection: Lands. There are very few lands I can think of where it's genuinely useful.

Blue

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Mind Harness! It's my favorite budget gem and does so very much for a handful of mana.

Lazotep Plating
It's a master-of-none card, and it's certainly not Heroic Intervention, but I get a lot of mileage out of a surprise critter for saccing or blocking along with protection for my stuff (and me!).

Aether Gale — I find it useful, it's a nice, cheap version of stuff like Cyclonic Rift and In Garruk's Wake, but it still gets the job done. The fact that it can target any nonland permanent makes it much easier to cast than Hex, too.

Dreamscape artist blue land fetch ramp
Planar Chaos - Common $0.14

Downpour
Ran this in a Cyberpunk2077 Trauma Team deck with Amrou Scout and cheap equipment , the easy-to-play Downpour often felt like laying down suppressive fire to get my guys into the heart of the action . One of the most fun decks i·ve built .

Fumble
The best combat trick in the book. Bounce is nice, but it's very good vs. deck that are greedy with equipment. I was looking for a card that doesn't see that much play, and according to EDHREC this is played in just 0% of all decks. It's an uncommon from Battlebond with just a single printing, you could buy it for something like a quarter.

Sphinx of Lost Truths in Sefris of the Hidden Ways; Good one shot looter with reasonable body that can kick later for big draw. Mainly here for the looting. Sort of a pet card for me. I think graveyard decks in blue are sleeping on this card.

Sphinx of Lost Truths used to be a manaless Dredge staple. Dread Returning one was often gg in game one.

Wavebreak Hippocamp in Kalamax, the Stormsire; incentivizes casting spells on opponent's turns. Nets some incremental advantage for little mana.

Bonded Fetch in Sefris of the Hidden Ways; Since Sefris only triggers once each turn, instant speed ways to put creatures in the graveyard are good value. This is the only haste looter I could find.

Spellkeeper Weird in Sefris of the Hidden Ways; self-sacrifice creatures are great ways to trigger Sefris on opponent's turns. This buys back a removal spell and triggers my commander. Evoke is good too, but those aren't niche or hidden.

Black

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Spoils of war, permanent mono-black overrun basically.
Ice Age Rare $1.85

Minion of the Wastes — while Phyrexian Processor is a better card in most situations, if you can protect it and/or abuse the potentially high power, Minion can catch people off-guard. Having natural trample certainly helps. My friends who have played against my Ghoulcaller Gisa deck certainly know this card exists ;-) IDK, maybe Nethroi would want it? It's a 0/0 in the graveyard.

Thought Gorger's template makes it completely safe to use in that you can't lose cards unless they counter the leaves-play trigger. If you benefit from discarding, if you play black in your +1/+1 counter deck, you want this bad boi (or both — hello, The Mimeoplasm!) Natural trample helps ignore weenies as you stack more counters on this. A hidden gem for sure.

Discerning Taste
Modern Horizons 2 spells t finely-tuned k created . There are loads of cards that let Black till its deck , like Corpse Churn or even Thought Erasure . Discerning Taste isn·t limited by card type like Abundant Harvest , and it offsets a higher casting cost by gaining life , making it a spell yu·d use in a deck that means to pack some firepower, stay awhile, and practically invite some Graveyard play .

Disciple of Griselbrand in Karador, Ghost Chieftain as one of my "fair" sac outlets to avoid infinite combos. Cost to activate prevents infinites and the life gain helps offset the life for cards that black likes to pay for its draw. While the activation cost is annoying, it's a price I pay willingly over options like Viscera Seer to curb power level. Turns every land into a Diamond Valley, so seems like a good rate.

Discerning Taste - Modern Horizons 2 spells t finely-tuned k created . There are loads of cards that let Black till its deck , like Corpse Churn or even Thought Erasure . Discerning Taste isn·t limited by card type like Abundant Harvest , and it offsets a higher casting cost by gaining life , making it a spell yu·d use in a deck that means to pack some firepower, stay awhile, and practically invite some Graveyard play .

The original hidden gem was Rend Flesh. The idea behind it was it's virtually unrestricted with no drawback (I guess there's a few more good spirits these days) but for the most part, this is just an easier-to-cast Murder.

ashes to ashes|drk belongs on every list of this type.

Red

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Possibility Storm
Possibly my favourite card in magic. In the right deck it is amazing (and fun) to build around, and against the right decks it can literally kill any chance your opponent has of winning.
I know it is creeping up to a dollar but it has only been printed once.

I still get a giggle out of playing Clash of Realities in Kykar, Wind's Fury. I get to bolt a creature for each noncreature spell i cast, but since Kykar, Wind's Fury himself is not a Spirit, they can't pay back nearly as easily.

Sin Prodder is a very reliable source of damage for Rakdos, Lord of Riots. Torbran makes everything he does hurt more. Any big mana cost deck with some tip-of-the-library manilulation like Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos will like him as well.

Skyfire Phoenix — another criminally underplayed card, IMO. It doesn't look like much, I know. But just try actually playing it and you'll see.
—any commander that sacrifices creatures gets free fodder
—any equipment deck gets a hasty evasive sword-wielder
—Aurelia, the Warleader, PW Jeska, Torbran, Gahiji, and other generals that buff the damage of your creatures get a bigger bang for your buck with it
—Ognis gets a free treasure
—Nin gets a sacrificial lamb

Goblin Chirurgeon — the floor of this card is "Sac self: Regerate your commander.", which is kinda respectable for a one-drop. Add some Dragon Fodder tokens or random stuff that happens to be a goblin (COUGHDOCKSIDECOUGH) and you've got yourself a deal, even outside dedicated goblin decks.

Outmaneuver is a sick combat trick with many uses. It can straight-up murder people when you're alpha-striking, it can mess other people's combats, it can even let you block and kill a deathtouch creature without losing the blocker. Only one printing, but still cheap.

Electric Revelation in Kalamax, the Stormsire; draws 4 cards on each casting when copied, but I only have to discard one when cast, not on the copy also. Just helps keeps cards flowing when I can dig 8 cards deep over a couple turns for only 1 card slot. Becoming one of my favorite draw spells due to efficiency and card volume.

Green

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Old reliable Forgotten Ancient still does a pretty decent job in collecting counters and spreading them across the board. It shines on lower-powered tables, but is a fine addition to several counter-based strategies.

Silverglade pathfinder is also pretty shweet. You can discard extra lands to fetch more and effectively play 2 lands per turn. Mix in any number of green ways to get land outta the yard and *Mwah! Magnificent!
Mercadian Masques Uncommon $0.25

Ecological Appreciation is a fun card for a lower power setting. It comes with a whole bunch of safety valves built into the design to prevent degeneracy, but it can get some table politics going as you try to negotiate for particular outcomes. Maybe you can get something other than creature #3 and #4 out of it somehow?

Specifically for toughness-matters decks without fliers, like my Treefolk Tribal build of Doran: Spidersilk Armor.
In more battlecruiser metas like mine, you're going to need ways to avoid getting wrecked by dragons and angels and demons and such, because they will appear in numbers at least every third game. And in a toughness-matters deck, +0/+1 can actually be better than +1/+1, because lower power means Retribution of the Meek, Dusk // Dawn, and Wave of Reckoning still work as well as they did before. A synergistic anthem that offers an answer to annoying fliers can be extremely valuable.

Also for toughness-matters decks, Sight of the Scalelords. Because a free +2/+2 and vigilance every turn is excellent, especially the vigilance on high-toughness creatures that are therefore quite good on defense, and it being a combat trigger means it doesn't mess with your wraths, as mentioned above.

A card I've been really impressed by is Kraul Harpooner. It seems to have a rep as mostly a budget card for insect and undergrowth-style decks, but it is actually just really solid. Even with nothing supporting it, this is an ETB kill off a handful of top commanders (Kykar, Wind's Fury, Alela, Artful Provocateur, Kaalia of the Vast and a handful of annoying utility dorks (Aven Mindcensor, Birds of Paradise). With a bit of support the number of targets this hits grows considerably, smacking down a variety of threats. As an efficient body it is of course good in Insect/Warrior/Undergrowth decks, but I've found it really good in decks like Samut, Voice of Dissent "Fires" Momentum and suspect it's pretty good in EtB decks.

UW / Azorious

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Lavinia of the Tenth is one of the most annoying things you can drop in a blink deck. Turning off 60-80% of your opponents' boards, including all of their manarocks, WILL make them very willing to murder you, but unable to.

RW / Boros

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Rally the Righteous is a straight-out instant-speed Overrun in Anax and Cymede. It also untaps affected creatures, making it a defensive trick as well. Even with a different commander, if you benefit from heroic or similar effects, it's still worth a look.

GW / Selesnya

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Nature's Blessing - Banding! I'm not sure why anybody would need a reason other than that; but it's a good discard outlet and a fairly unique source of keyword granting at instant speed and can play politics (such as giving trample to one opponent's beater if he'll just attack that pesky Planeswalker about to Ult).
Example: I am using this in my Bant Exalted deck to help make sure all those creatures that don't attack have ways to stay alive on defense (Banding, First Strike) or to give trample to the sole attacker (if not already there)
Uncommon - Alliances - $0.40

*Some Content submitted on Discord

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Mind Harness! It's my favorite budget gem and does so very much for a handful of mana.

[Dunharrow]

Possibility Storm
Possibly my favourite card in magic. In the right deck it is amazing (and fun) to build around, and against the right decks it can literally kill any chance your opponent has of winning.

I know it is creeping up to a dollar but it has only been printed once.

[Serenade]

Lazotep Plating
It's a master-of-none card, and it's certainly not Heroic Intervention, but I get a lot of mileage out of a surprise critter for saccing or blocking along with protection for my stuff (and me!).

[cheonice]

Old reliable Forgotten Ancient still does a pretty decent job in collecting counters and spreading them across the board. It shines on lower-powered tables, but is a fine addition to several counter-based strategies.

[Shabbaman]

Fumble

The best combat trick in the book. Bounce is nice, but it's very good vs. deck that are greedy with equipment. I was looking for a card that doesn't see that much play, and according to EDHREC this is played in just 0% of all decks. It's an uncommon from Battlebond with just a single printing, you could buy it for something like a quarter.

[PrimevalCommander]

Fumble

Interesting bounce spell I have never seen before. Thanks for posting.

I am currently playing Echoing Truth because the number of token decks I play against is significantly more than the number of voltron decks I play against. So it has a niche Perplexing Test mode for all opponent's matching tokens that has saved my life once or twice. Fumble seems like a similar type niche application that turns into a blowout against the right opponent. I dig it.

[Treamayne]

I've been adding the posts as we go, but would also welcome ideas for further organization. My current thought is to just label sections inside of each CI's spoiler tag.
Example:

RG/Gruul

Show

Hide

Utility Creatures

Card

Beaters

Card

Removal - Single or multiple target

Card

Mana Production/Ramp

Card

Draw

Card

Combat Tricks

Card

Obviously those categories are just off the top of my head to illustrate the example. I would also plan to name the category only after there is at least one entry.

Thoughts, ideas, BGCs?

[RowanKeltizar]

This is a potentially endless resource. Have you ever listend to EDH deckbuilding on youtube? He has a series of niche cards, a lot of them budget.

[Treamayne]

This is a potentially endless resource. Have you ever listend to EDH deckbuilding on youtube? He has a series of niche cards, a lot of them budget.

My internet is still DSL, I tend to avoid streaming anything - which is a contributing factor to preferring text content over podcasts or video.

[PrimevalCommander]

Here are a few cards I'm actively playing. Maybe not niche, but I'm not known for my budget brews .

• Electric Revelation
• Disciple of Griselbrand
• Wavebreak Hippocamp
• Cultivator's Caravan
• Flow of Ideas
• Victory Chimes
• Consuming Vapors
• Bonded Fetch
• Kor Sanctifiers
• Spellkeeper Weird
• Sphinx of Lost Truths

[MaritLage]

Downpour

Ran this in a Cyberpunk2077 Trauma Team deck with Amrou Scout and cheap equipment , the easy-to-play Downpour often felt like laying down suppressive fire to get my guys into the heart of the action . One of the most fun decks i·ve built .

[hyalopterouslemur]

Well, first, it's *role or rôle. (Sorry.) Secondly...

March of Souls is a board wipe for classic token swarm (and token Stax) decks. It reduces all creatures to 1/1 white flying Spirit tokens, which is an upgrade for vanilla 1/1s. But wait! There's more! You also get all your entry and death triggers again, and Doubling Season and Parallel Lives/Anointed Procession. And your anthems make your creatures bigger. (Ideally, you want all these to be artifacts, enchantments, or emblems. Or "graveyard-matters" incarnations.) And some just get ridiculous. So if you have five tokens, Cathars' Crusade makes them all 6/6 (before Doubling Season and friends walk away with the game). If you have Grave Pact and friends, you get to not only reduce everyone's creatures to 1/1, but also reduce their numbers. Purphoros, God of the Forge shocks your opponents for each creature you control that dies this way. Zealous Persecution destroys your opponent's side while also boosting yours this turn. Yet it's only in 1262 decks per EDHrec.

Notably, board wipes are usually bad in tokens, for the same reason players use them against token decks. But here, this board wipe often upgrades your army.

[Treamayne]

Here are a few cards I'm actively playing. Maybe not niche, but I'm not known for my budget brews :smirk: .

• Electric Revelation
• Disciple of Griselbrand
• Wavebreak Hippocamp
• Cultivator's Caravan
• Flow of Ideas
• Victory Chimes
• Consuming Vapors
• Bonded Fetch
• Kor Sanctifiers
• Spellkeeper Weird
• Sphinx of Lost Truths

Guidelines:

• Explain what roll you use the card to fill
• (optional) include price/number of printings at time of post
• (optional) Name an example deck where you use the card

Could you please explain which deck(s) and what role the card is being used to fill (especially if it is a non-obvious application)?

[PrimevalCommander]

Sorry about that, I will elaborate on these. Once I mention the commanders for some of these, the role they play will become self explanatory I think. Sorry about the big list of cards, trying not to clutter the thread with 15 single posts.

Disciple of Griselbrand in Karador, Ghost Chieftain as one of my "fair" sac outlets to avoid infinite combos. Cost to activate prevents infinites and the life gain helps offset the life for cards that black likes to pay for its draw. While the activation cost is annoying, it's a price I pay willingly over options like Viscera Seer to curb power level. Turns every land into a Diamond Valley, so seems like a good rate.

Victory Chimes in Talrand, Sky Summoner no creature, draw-go, drake beatdown. This can create or a turn cycle depending on what I'm casting. basically a free mana on my turn that will untap for interaction afterwards. Good for commanders with activation costs.

Kalamax, the Stormsire cards: Could probably pull these off EDHrec, but some real world feedback never hurt.
Electric Revelation draws 4 cards on each casting when copied, but I only have to discard one when cast, not on the copy also. Just helps keeps cards flowing when I can dig 8 cards deep over a couple turns for only 1 card slot. Becoming one of my favorite draw spells due to efficiency and card volume.
Wavebreak Hippocamp incentivizes casting spells on opponent's turns. Nets some incremental advantage for little mana.
Cultivator's Caravan ramps and allows Kalamax to tap outside of combat. Very important should be board get cluttered.

Sefris of the Hidden Ways cards
Bonded Fetch Since Sefris only triggers once each turn, instant speed ways to put creatures in the graveyard are good value. This is the only haste looter I could find.
Spellkeeper Weird self-sacrifice creatures are great ways to trigger Sefris on opponent's turns. This buys back a removal spell and triggers my commander. Evoke is good too, but those aren't niche or hidden.
Sphinx of Lost Truths Good one shot looter with reasonable body that can kick later for big draw. Mainly here for the looting. Sort of a pet card for me. I think graveyard decks in blue are sleeping on this card.

[MaritLage]

Discerning Taste

Modern Horizons 2 spells t finely-tuned k created . There are loads of cards that let Black till its deck , like Corpse Churn or even Thought Erasure . Discerning Taste isn·t limited by card type like Abundant Harvest , and it offsets a higher casting cost by gaining life , making it a spell yu·d use in a deck that means to pack some firepower, stay awhile, and practically invite some Graveyard play .

[kirkusjones]

Sphinx of Lost Truths used to be a manaless Dredge staple. Dread Returning one was often gg in game one.

[3drinks]

The original hidden gem was Rend Flesh. The idea behind it was it's virtually unrestricted with no drawback (I guess there's a few more good spirits these days) but for the most part, this is just an easier-to-cast Murder.

ashes to ashes|drk belongs on every list of this type.

Ashes of the Abhorrent is a very under rated hate card that everyone down talks until they see it stop whatever it is they're trying to do.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Ahem, I would suggest one post per card. Mine is an example of how it should be done: One card, one post, list possible synergies, but make it clear it's about One. Card. To avoid any ambiguity.

Yes, this means double posting sometimes.

[Treamayne]

I've been adding the posts as we go, but would also welcome ideas for further organization. My current thought is to just label sections inside of each CI's spoiler tag.
Example:

RG/Gruul

Show

Hide

Utility Creatures

Card

Beaters

Card

Removal - Single or multiple target

Card

Mana Production/Ramp

Card

Draw

Card

Combat Tricks

Card

Obviously those categories are just off the top of my head to illustrate the example. I would also plan to name the category only after there is at least one entry.

Thoughts, ideas, BGCs?

No comments? Does that mean the idea is horrible or acceptable?

[Rumpy5897]

No comments means people are too busy providing budget cards to pay attention I'd rename "beaters" to "win conditions" and "removal" to "interaction" as broader categories, but am lacking a good alternative for "combat tricks". Maybe just "other"?

Here are a couple from me:

• Righteous Aura is a genuinely fantastic card for a pillow fort leaning deck. It helps with the archetype's comparable weakness to tall creatures, and comes with the bonus perk of turning off fireballs. Probably best used in a deck that can play a bit at instant speed to potentially use some of the mana left up.
• Ecological Appreciation is a fun card for a lower power setting. It comes with a whole bunch of safety valves built into the design to prevent degeneracy, but it can get some table politics going as you try to negotiate for particular outcomes. Maybe you can get something other than creature #3 and #4 out of it somehow?

[Jemolk]

Specifically for toughness-matters decks without fliers, like my Treefolk Tribal build of Doran: Spidersilk Armor.

In more battlecruiser metas like mine, you're going to need ways to avoid getting wrecked by dragons and angels and demons and such, because they will appear in numbers at least every third game. And in a toughness-matters deck, +0/+1 can actually be better than +1/+1, because lower power means Retribution of the Meek, Dusk // Dawn, and Wave of Reckoning still work as well as they did before. A synergistic anthem that offers an answer to annoying fliers can be extremely valuable.

Also for toughness-matters decks, Sight of the Scalelords. Because a free +2/+2 and vigilance every turn is excellent, especially the vigilance on high-toughness creatures that are therefore quite good on defense, and it being a combat trigger means it doesn't mess with your wraths, as mentioned above.

[Treamayne]

Updated to here. . .

[Hawk]

A card I've been really impressed by is Kraul Harpooner. It seems to have a rep as mostly a budget card for insect and undergrowth-style decks, but it is actually just really solid. Even with nothing supporting it, this is an ETB kill off a handful of top commanders (Kykar, Wind's Fury, Alela, Artful Provocateur, Kaalia of the Vast and a handful of annoying utility dorks (Aven Mindcensor, Birds of Paradise). With a bit of support the number of targets this hits grows considerably, smacking down a variety of threats. As an efficient body it is of course good in Insect/Warrior/Undergrowth decks, but I've found it really good in decks like Samut, Voice of Dissent "Fires" Momentum and suspect it's pretty good in EtB decks.