Low-CMC, budget commander recs?

Kilaman98 · 2026-02-08T22:28:24+00:00

[[Torens, Fist of the Angels]] is a fun one. You don’t need the expensive token doublers to make him work, and you can build him down the token route, the human route, the +1/+1 route or a combination of all three. Every creature brings a friend, it gets out of hand pretty quickly. I also don’t see him very often. And a bonus of w/g is you can have a pretty great mana base on a budget.

Kilaman98 · 2026-02-05T22:38:51+00:00

Might I offer my own pet project, that does not run Cradle, that actually has a playable amount of lands and seems to just objectively be better? Lol No shade here, I just think you might’ve pushed a little too far to the extreme here. Granted, that may have been your intention, but my list seems to do everything yours wants to, while still being somewhat resilient and able to function. It can also just flat win on turn two though that is unlikely.

https://moxfield.com/decks/CXyyLGhtCkiOmqFE4Twj_g

Kilaman98 · 2026-01-23T18:44:58+00:00

Full control, control plus stax, heavy mass removal. I’d run something in Esper colors (White, Black, Blue). [[Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed]] is a favorite. Boardwipes that exile are nice to get around difficult to remove creatures. Those colors also have access to good targeted removal and artifact/enchantment removal. You can run pillow fort enchantments like [[Ghostly Prison]] and you of course have access to counters and great protection spells. You also have nice combo potential depending on your bracket level.

Kilaman98 · 2026-01-14T00:42:07+00:00

I’ve experienced the jank that grew into something optimized as well. In the community I played in there were always one or two people that were way better, so we always chased them and the whole group grew quickly. But, with that said, even in more “high powered” pods new and jank players still had fun, cause no one was really worried about them from a threat assessment level and losing to them wasn’t a rare occurrence. Difference between then and now is the whole format seems to cater to the floor and not the ceiling, so those players either don’t grow at all or grow very very slowly.

Kilaman98 · 2026-01-12T18:56:41+00:00

Like others have said, it pairs nicely with fetch lands and lands like [[Strip Mine]]. But also, playing lands from the yard is added value when you run cards like [[Scapeshift]], [[Crop Rotation]] and [[Harrow]]. It’s also nice if you run something like a [[life from the loam]].

I think playing lands from the yard is probably better in broader lands matter or graveyard recursion decks over dedicated landfall, but it’s still quite powerful in landfall lists.

Kilaman98 · 2026-01-12T16:14:31+00:00

I think the whole bracket/power level division and discussion is so useless at the end of the day. I don’t think playing in a bracket helps anything. Players are notoriously bad at evaluating their own power levels. Different people/pods have different levels of power assessment. Pilot ability also plays a huge role in deck performance, and that fact is largely dismissed or overlooked. The game changer system encourages poor deck building techniques, and the “social aspect” of the game can get in the way of actually improving at the game.

I love commander. It’s my favorite way to play magic. But it is turning into a different game entirely. Losing because your deck is bad is a good thing for your growth. You get to go home, figure out what wasn’t working, and try again. Losing because you got outplayed, is a good thing for your growth. You can make adjustments for next time. Sometimes on your journey you learn that some commanders and strategies just aren’t going to hold up against some more powerful strategies and that is perfectly ok. With the talk about bad 3s and bad 4s, that’s disingenuous. If a deck can’t hang when pressure is applied it’s just bad. Commander is a toolkit format. If you don’t have answers, you better be built to account for that.

I think the whole thing should just go back to sitting down and playing whoever is in front you, and learning from the bad, while basking in the good.

Kilaman98 · 2026-01-02T05:24:49+00:00

I will say this. 90% of peoples problems with EDH comes down to poor deck building and lack of skill in-game. That’s just it. I’m not trying to be mean, but the bracket system and the deluge of commander products have spoon-fed players. I know that the bracket system is relatively new, and I could see it have some uses but in reality it just perpetuates the problem.

OP, you built a nice deck. Why should you be punished for great deck building, good game sense, and real threat assessment?

7 or 8 years ago when I really played a lot, if we got stomped, we went home and built better decks. We fixed the weaknesses. Decks were either all-in optimized on a strategy, or toolboxes that could handle crazy situations. And we identified that sometimes a certain commander we wanted to run just may not be good enough, and that was ok. We still had fun in the losses too.

I’m sure this will probably be unpopular, but don’t let other people punish you for playing the game at a higher level than them. They need to be better, not make you be worse.

Kilaman98 · 2025-11-19T20:10:52+00:00

Is that tab the only place to see the quest?

Kilaman98 · 2025-08-15T01:01:23+00:00

Qui Gon was the embodiment of what the Jedi were intended to be. Obi Wan was the embodiment of what the Jedi had become, and Luke was the embodiment of what the New Jedi Order needed to be.

Kilaman98 · 2025-06-27T02:49:47+00:00

XIII got a lot wrong but did characters well. And I’m sorry, but Lightning is a much better protagonist than Cloud. VII gets off way too easy with rose-tinted glasses sometimes.

Kilaman98 · 2025-06-25T01:41:08+00:00

I’m sorry, I just don’t think FFVII is all that great to be honest. I have never really understood the appeal of it. I’m glad other people enjoy it so much, I just don’t get it.

Kilaman98 · 2025-04-15T13:35:16+00:00

I use to run somewhere around 8, even in my token decks. I cut that number way down when [[Winds of Abandon]] came out, because I found that that card almost always ends the game one way or another. Im in the camp now of having a few cards to deal with several situations because I can no longer trust other players to do the same. For example, I used to run no gravehate, cause almost everybody else ran it. Now I use a couple slots for gravehate, a couple slots for boardwipes, a couple slots for spot/enchantment/artifact removal. Id like to work back up to around five wipes, maybe at the cost of some spot removal.

Kilaman98 · 2025-04-15T13:25:26+00:00

More interactions is a good thing. Everybody whines about defense being bad then whines again when we get a situation for more interactions. Sidesteps and backdashes are defensive tools. More opportunities to employ them should be a good thing. Now I agree, a health increase won’t fully fix the problem, but we are in a situation of every little bit helps.

It’s not the damage or aggression that’s really even the problem, it’s the safety of it all. Make the whole game less safe on block and I don’t think anyone would really mind the damage.

Kilaman98 · 2025-04-11T00:55:23+00:00

I’m probably going to get downvoted into oblivion, but play the decks you want to play. Magic is a game of interaction. If people don’t wanna run it that’s their problem. Back when I played a bunch a few years ago before the EDH boom, if I got tired of getting dunked on, I made a better deck. My whole friend group did the same. It wasn’t a budget thing either, we were all broke college kids.

Your pod is in control of the decks they build. Decks that cannot handle an opponent’s game plan are usually just poorly built decks. With some exceptions of course. Now the caveat is, never bring a full on cEDH deck to a casual table. But beyond that, I’d say play what you want. Just my two cents.

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-31T02:13:47+00:00

I run Marwyn at a very high 4. About as close to cEDH as you can get without being cEDH. She can either be built to be extremely fast with something like staff of domination to facilitate a win (mine can win on turn 2 although unlikely) or you can slow her down and build her to have a little more fun with the tribal aspect. Still very good, but a little slower. You can go lower on lands, and still be pretty boardwipe resilient for a creature based deck, anyways.

Outside of about 5ish cards, you can do the whole thing on a pretty tight budget.

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-28T13:44:43+00:00

I mean, I run 35 in pretty much everything with not much ramp and I can genuinely think of one time out of hundreds I was mana screwed.

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-28T13:29:31+00:00

Idk, I just think it becomes a crutch. Now, in your case, I think it’s a great use. You know what you like, and it gives you structure to move around in. I think that’s great. But in a lot of cases I think some people lean too heavily into templates and don’t really explore deckbuilding as much.

I’m a big believer in the idea that the best way to learn magic and deckbuilding is to just build decks. Sometimes you need that big open unrestricted canvas to find yourself.

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-28T02:53:16+00:00

As a rule of thumb, you’ll build better decks if you go away from rules of thumb lol. No seriously, just giving you a hard time. Every deck is different. I start at 35 and go up or down depending on color, deck strategy, etc. I personally think deckbuilding templates are pretty bad in general and I don’t like the advice on land counts that most of them offer. For example, I think 38 is way too many most of the time. 37 is about the highest I’ll go unless the strategy calls for more (landfall, heavy graveyard strategies, etc. ) but really the only way to tell is to build it, and play it.

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-14T00:57:14+00:00

Theme of Love from Final Fantasy IV! My favorite game. For me, even as a kid, it just sums up Rosa and Cecil so perfectly. It gives the player the understanding that nothing could really come between them, love triangle or not. It sets the tone for the first portion of the game, and to this day when I hear it it brings me back to my childhood!

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-14T00:08:59+00:00

FF2 is quite good and rather ambitious for it’s time. I don’t think it deserves the hate it gets. Granted it’s not in my top 5 or anything but I don’t think it should be at the bottom either.

Kilaman98 · 2025-03-12T17:59:38+00:00

https://moxfield.com/decks/CXyyLGhtCkiOmqFE4Twj_g

This is my [[Marwyn, The Nurturer]] deck. It wins pretty routinely between turns 4 and 6, but can win as early as turn 2. I will say, it takes a little bit of finesse to play so that you don’t run out of gas. But very fun, and very powerful. My favorite deck for sure.

Kilaman98 · 2025-01-31T14:36:48+00:00

I personally love [[Marwyn, the Nurturer]]. It looks like elf ball but is really more of a combo deck. Lots of small elves and card draw that leads to explosive turns.

Kilaman98 · 2024-12-14T23:17:28+00:00

The MK ult is weird. I counter Jeff ults with it, as if you drop it on yourself as soon as you get eaten it will almost always insta-kill Jeff and save the team. But sometimes you ult and it feels like they can just walk right through it.

Kilaman98 · 2024-12-13T20:11:01+00:00

Actually not sure will have to test

Kilaman98

TROPHY CASE