The Tens of EDH

Good article overall! Saw a couple cards I had forgotten about.

Also a couple quick editing things. Countersquall is listed twice in counterspells. Titania, Protector of Argoth is misspelled. And in conclusion 1, this is the sixth installment.

My bad. It's sometimes hard to catch all edits. Fixed.

not bad, but Burning of Xinye is a budget card, the fav reprint is about $2 on tcg

Excellent article. I'm not sure I agree with some of your inclusions, but I've probably found 3 or 4 new cards which will become staples for me.

Cards I recommend:

• Crystal Ball is an excellent poor man's Divining Top. It costs more, and it can't dodge removal, but it's ability to scry as opposed to reorder means you won't turn your top-deck into three islands.

• Thespian's Stage is a great, cheap land which scales to the power of your opponent's mana base. Definitely worth it if you're playing people with extensive collections.

One card that I always receive compliments as being a "hidden gem" and is very good for budget blue control magic decks is Corrupted Conscience. It takes control of someone's creature and then gives them infect. I imagine it isn't played more often because of its cmc and infect. Nevertheless, it is still one of the best hidden gems I know of out there.

Why is it titled "Non-creature Card Draw" when it includes several creatures? Anyways I've always loved Bloodgift Demon for extra card draw and I don't see it in a lot of deck lists. It's a Phyrexian Arena on a 5/4 Flyer for only 5 mana. Seems pretty good to me and it's super cheap.

Don't forget:

1. Tutors: Congregation at Dawn and Sterling Grove
2. Noncreature Card Draw: Honden of Seeing Winds, Triumph of Ferocity and one of my personal favorites Recurring Insight
3. Creature Ramp: Fatestitcher is probably one of the most underplayed cards in EDH.
4. Noncreature Ramp: Braid of Fire if you can make it work
5. Counterspells: Swan Song
6. Spot Removal: Mortify, Deglamer and Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
7. Wraths: I feel like I should point out that if you really are the type of person that doesn't enjoy having friends, you can pick up FTV Burning of Xinyes for like a couple bucks, so I wouldn't really consider big offenders. My pick for "cheap wraths you might not know about" are Retribution of the Meek and Ixidron
8. Lands: Flood Plain, Bad River, Rocky Tar Pit, Mountain Valley and Grasslands
9. Big Creatures: Dread Defiler, Stormtide Leviathan

Finally my pick for a random underused card is Tainted Strike. You only need to get somebody after they say "Ok, I'll take 9" once before they forever live in fear.

Love your articles, great writing!

On budget counterspells, a poor man's Force of Will can be Thwart

While you do state Ethereal Usher as a tutor, you've neglected to mention the better Transmute options, namely Muddle the Mixture, Perplex and Clutch of the Undercity. Also missed out Increasing Ambition.

Of course, each of the three transmute options also fit into other categories as well, such as counterspells (which is what makes them better than usher). Also Misdirection is functionally similar to Force of Will.

Also, in , we have Jarad's Orders.

I think a lot of folks overlook that Burning of Xinye is not functionally identical to Wildfire. Burning is usually pretty bad because it only causes you and one opponent to each sacrifice four lands, leaving the other player's/players' mana unharmed.

There are a lot of genuinely terrible cards mentioned in this post and a lot of great budget cards were overlooked, but I suppose it will still help people get the idea.

For anyone looking for even more budget options in these and other categories, feel free to use the staple list resources on my profile and organize by price in the drop down menu on the respective list.

Dismiss is a very good replacement for cryptic

My apologies for the errors/typos that I missed.

Also: my apologies that I was unable to get ALL of the staple cards. I was hoping get a wider spectrum of cards, rather than going, "Dismiss, Flood Plain, Bloodgift Demon, Deglamer, Mortify etc... Now go make a budget deck filled with staples." The point was to increase card knowledge for some of the newer players who might not have known what cards such as: Ethereal Usher (transmuting for an abundance of cards), Inundate etc. I doubt that many of the newer players knew that Altar of Shadows was a viable card for their mono-black deck (filling two roles ramp and removal), or using Lure as a boardwipe by putting it on a deathtouch creature. Heck: even Snake Umbra to so save their general while drawing cards and increasing damage!

Point is: if you are reading this to learn all of the staples, prepare to learn about cards that aren't staples but are just as good and applicable. You might learn something new :)

miracleHat: Do Flood Plain and friends see that much play in your groups? I don't think I have ever seen one of those in a deck around these parts. I was honestly suggesting them thinking they were a nice cycle some people might not know about.

The Flood Plain cycle is a good budget replacement, but outside of their original printing, of which only allied colours were printed, only 3 of them were reprinted in the modern frame:

• Rocky Tar Pit in Duel Deck Eldrazi vs Zendikar

• Flood Plain in Duel Deck Venser vs Koth

• Grasslands in Duel Deck Knights vs Dragons

Was not aware Bloodgift Demon was a staple. I see it in so few decklists on this site. Just wanted to share a budget card I found super helpful.

miracleHat Altar of shadows is objectively an awful card though. Even in EDH, 7 to cast + 7 to activate is just horrendous. Off the top of my head, Corpsehatch is about a thousand times better if you're looking for a removal spell that makes mana. There's probably some even better card I'm forgetting.

Likewise, ethereal usher... Not useless, but 3 mana sorcery super narrow tutor hardly has applications. As opposed to say, Dizzy Spell, an underrated tutor which finds all kinds of great, commonly played stuff like Sol Ring, Exploration, Swords to Plowshares, Vandalblast, Entomb, Mystic Remora, Vampiric Tutor, Reanimate, Nature's Claim, Nihil Spellbomb, Green Sun's Zenith, Pongify, Pithing Needle, etc etc

Maybe I should write my own article...

metalevolence: You're welcome to submit your own piece for the site, but perhaps do so without so much vitriol.

Spootyone What did I do that was vitriolic? Pointing out that cards are bad is not a personal attack on the writer.

metalevolence: It's possible I misinterpreted your comments, but it felt like, at least to me, you were coming off a little hostile. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Interpretation of words can be hard on the internet.

And like I said, if you feel like you wish to make your own piece on the subject, I am more than willing to take a look at it.

metalevolence: please do write an article for this site that is EDH Based. It is one of the reasons that I started up series: in the hopes that many more users would start writing. It would be great if you would be able to cater yours towards the more competitive EDH audience: while mine can stay more casual.

Now: while Dizzy Spell does tutor up for a lot of cards, that you mentioned, it is valid to note that Ethereal Usher does tutor up:
Consecrated Sphinx, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, any of the titans (besides primeval), Eternity Vessel, Felidar Sovereign, any of the spirit dragons (Kokusho, the Evening Star), Catastrophe, Narset, Enlightened Master, Akroma's Vengeance, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Deadbridge Chant, Mindslaver, Caged Sun, Grip of Chaos, Mind Over Matter, Hive Mind, and many other powerful staples that can be used in a myriad of ways.

If you wanted to compare Ethereal Usher to Dizzy Spell: the usher is better for late-game, and the d-spell is best for explosive plays early on if you want to spend 3 mana early game for an Exploration. Ethereal Usher has applications outside of being a tutor. One of my favorite plays that I have witnessed was tutoring Celestial Mantle with the usher, then reanimating the usher and giving the Bruna, Light of Alabaster unblockable, while it had the celestial mantle attached to it. In the late-game, Dizzy Spell can mitigate the general damage from Kaalia of the Vast, stop a Cold-Eyed Selkie, but when compared to the power off the usher, it is lacking. Why tutor for a Nature's Claim with Dizzy Spell, when you can run Ethereal Usher and get Austere Command? Why save yourself 3 combat damage points when you can make your voltron general unblockable and kill the opponent before they attack with their Cephalid Constable?

Altar of Shadows is a weird card. It takes a lot to set it up: but when it works, it works. Running proliferate cards (Contagion Engine), Doubling Season (i know it isn't budget), Energy Chamber (I remember it's wording correct right?!), and a whole host of other card: it can easily provide you with >14 mana over the course of 2-3 turns. It is important to note that it kills creatures that have swords (Sword of Feast and Famine) equipped to them, has the potential to completely destroy many voltron decks, and many other uses (preventing a combo). While it does cost 14 mana to kill one creature, the longer that it stays out: the more creatures that you can kill, the more mana that you can get back,the more flexibility and control over the board that you have.

Spootyone/metalevolence: Metal wasn't being hostile/vitriolic, he was just stating an opinion that is valid under his own beliefs, which I have addressed.

Edit: @TheRedMage, not overly much but I see them referenced continuously and they are good if you run cards such as Amulet of Vigor or Fatestitcher

Altar of Shadows the mana cost is honestly a bit pricier than I am usually willing to pay for a removal spell.

My main problem is that its color identity is . If it were colorless, some mono-red decks would want it since they are often hurting for way to destroy creatures out of burn range, and it would probably even be great in Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient. But, come on, in black? Even only considering repeatable creature destruction depending on your deck you can have Attrition, the old Dictate of Erebos/Grave Pact double whammy, Pestilence, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief, No Mercy, Season of the Witch, Slaughter, Visara the Dreadful, Avatar of Woe and Witch's Mist just to name some (in no particular order of being good, weird or build-around-y). And that's not even considering the plethora of spot removal spells that you can just fire once.

I guess it can be good, but I don't really see it. Do you run it in any of your decks? Is there any deck that it has overperformed in?

Nice list! There a couple on here that I wasn't aware of. I've somehow overlooked Circular Logic for years even though I love graveyard decks.

Oblivion Ring or Banishing Light is another great budget removal option.

Also worth noting, even though you have it under Targeted Removal, Council's Judgment doesn't actually target. The voting part can make it rough in multiplayer, but usually people can figure out to exile the Avacyn, Angel of Hope or whatever other problematic thing is on the table.

@TheRedMage: I have not played with it in paper, but on cockatrice 4-player matches Altar of Shadows was a card that, when left alone, was great for the Kresh the Bloodbraided counter-edh deck that I ran. It was easy to go turn 3: Kresh the Bloodbraided, turn 4 Altar of Shadows, (and when it was actually cheaper) turn 5 Seedborn Muse + Hardened Scales. Now that doesn't work so well for the budget players... The deck cost $125 paper...

To hopefully end this Altar of Shadows madness conversation: by itself Altar of Shadows is sub-optimal, but when utilized correctly and placed in the proper deck it will do what you want it to do. Also: who the hell is going to kill an Altar of Shadows, that card is garbage right (they say... next turn you have 5 free black mana for the rest of the game and can control a fair amount of the game because of that one card)!?

P.S.Warning: do not run it in rakdos/dimir deck, it will FAIL in those stereotypical builds.

Just to suggest a type of deck that could use Altar of Shadows, something like a Shauku, Endbringer deck could certainly use it. Very quickly it pays for itself and more, plus you are already ramping hard. Example because shameless self plug. Bringing the End

Wouldn't the niche fit of Altar of Shadows make it a card that shouldn't be on a staple list?

What do you mean by 'niche fit'? There are a plethora of cards that could be considered 'niche fit' that have been referenced in this article. For [insert reasons here], Altar of Shadows is the one that met the magnifying glass. I personally think that Altar of Shadows is an undervalued, underplayed card that deserves more credence for what it is and does. Same with Deathreap Ritual, Morgue Toad, Last Word, Greater Gargadon, and Lorthos, the Tidemaker!

For a casual, budget player: having access to (almost) unrestrictional creature-removal that interacts with a wide-set of cards is great!

@UpsetYoMama: I (personally) have mentioned the word 'staple' ~5 times: and in none of them were the (hopefully) in the context of, 'here is an article filled with staples'. This is an article of "I can't afford Karn Liberated! So I just learned about a colorless card that also costs 7 colorless and destroys creatures, in the form of Altar of Shadows! Yes it is worse, and yes it is slower, and yes I will have to work with it to make it work, but wow, destroying creatures and gaining mana?! And it is 1/200th of the $$!"

I guess I made an assumption -- that if the article was about "budget replacements," then those were replacements for EDH staples. By niche fit I meant a card that can only work well around a certain build or in a certain environment. Most staples are staples by virtue of their powerful and easy application to any number of decks. If this article isn't about staples, then my question does lack value.

Sadly, it looks as if you completely ignored my other comment and just took offense to me calling Altar of Shadows niche. Which is a shame, because I did find the article helpful.

I like Staff of Nin for card draw when I'm not playing black or blue (which is most of the time - TIMMMAHHH!). Even better is, of course, Mind's Eye, but that card is getting up there in price. A nice alternative to Eye and good in it's own right is Farsight Mask... again, when blue and black's better card draw isn't available to you because of commander choice. I've started including Mask in most of my commander decks. Three 1/1's hit you? Draw 3!

More mass removal for consideration (all being run currently):
Crux of Fate
Mutilate
Plague Wind
In Garruk's Wake
Reiver Demon
Dread Cacodemon
Living Death
Wave of Reckoning
Hallowed Burial
Calming Verse
Razia's Purification

this article and the comments are great. i just put 7 new cards in my tcg cart for $1.50.
on Morgue Toad, unless you're playing grixis i'd rather have Basal Thrull. and then i'd rather have Dark Ritual or Bubbling Muck or Wayfarer's Bauble.

Yeah, color identity rules really kill the opportunities to use the unfortunate toad. My Balthor deck makes use of Basal Sliver and Blood Vassal though. Also Overeager Apprentice is surprisingly good in a deck that likes to discard.

Both of you are correct, but I like the toad for the unforeseen Negate/Spell Pierce/Swerve. 50% of the time, it works EVERY time.

God, i love Mystic Remora. Play it turn one, and even if you just sacrifice it turn 3-4, you have probably draw 4+ cards off of it. I play it in Brago so i dont really have to pay upkeep (only one)