Prisoner of Fate - Budget Triad EDH

Commander / EDH Budget Casual Multiplayer WB (Orzhov)

vbfabled

Creature (35)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Angel of Despair
• 1x Angel of Finality
• 1x Angel of Serenity
• 1x Athreos, Shroud-Veiled
• 1x Banisher Priest
• 1x Captain of the Watch
• 1x Corpse Knight
• 1x Demonlord Belzenlok
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Evangel of Heliod
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Flickerwisp
• 1x Geist-Honored Monk
• 1x Glimmerpoint Stag
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kor Cartographer
• 1x Luminate Primordial
• 1x Magister of Worth
• 1x Nekrataal
• 1x Oreskos Explorer
• 1x Phyrexian Gargantua
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Regal Caracal
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Reverent Hoplite
• 1x Sin Collector
• 1x Stonehorn Dignitary
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Taranika, Akroan Veteran
• 1x Tenth District Veteran
• 1x Village Bell-Ringer

Artifact (11)

• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Jandor's Saddlebags
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Orzhov Cluestone
• 1x Orzhov Locket
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Puppet Strings
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Paruns
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy

Instant (9)

• 1x Cloudshift
• 1x Despark
• 1x Doom Blade
• 1x Eerie Interlude
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Murder
• 1x To Arms!
• 1x Unmake

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Banishing Light
• 1x Oblivion Ring

Commander (1)

Land (38)

• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 19x Plains
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 16x Swamp

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Unburial Rites

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"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds." -Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Sorry FDR, but not anymore!

Why does nobody use this commander? I mean, sure they're no Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, but is that really such a bad thing? I mean, I don't know about you, but I like having fun when I play magic, and I like my friends to have fun, too! Otherwise you start running out of people to play with.

These guys lay out a very clear strategy that I personally think seems very fun. Blinking creatures for ETB effects and easily removing your opponents threats with activated abilities. Now they may be slower than Brago, King Eternal, but they have more options, like instant-speed blinking your creatures to dodge removal, and the ability to kill off your opponents' creatures. They also give you access to a lot of valuable black cards with cool ETB effects.

Let's take a look at our deck's contents here.

First things first, if our commander is going to be any good, they have to be able to tap more than once a turn so we can put on counters, then do something with them. What do we have for that?

Untappers

-Jandor's Saddlebags/Magewright's Stone/Puppet Strings - 3 artifacts all with essentially the same ability, but it EDH that redundancy is valuable. We're 3 times more likely to draw into it.

-Sword of the Paruns - Very useful since it not only lets us untap as many times as we can pay 3, but it gives the added benefit of boosting everyone else's toughness.

-Thousand-Year Elixir - With a similar effect to the first 3 artifacts, Thousand-Year Elixir has the added benefit of giving our Triad haste.

-To Arms!/Roar of the Kha/Village Bell-Ringer - It's good to have a few instant-speed untappers that can't be naturalized when we need them most. Plus, these all have the added benefit of untapping the whole team.

Alright, so now that our commander is nice and playable, what do we do with them? Obviously we're going to need some nice ETB(enter the battlefield) effects to exploit? Here some of the cool things we'll we able to repeat a couple times each turn:

ETB Effects

-Angel of Despair - "Destroy Target Permanent" has always been a powerful effect, which is why this 7-cost 5/5 is still $3. You can kill creatures, lands, artifacts, whatever! And you can do it at least once every turn.

-Ashen Rider - Just Angel of Despair with exile instead of destroy, so potentially even more valuable against any of those Meren of Clan Nel Toth decks out there.

-Captain of the Watch/Geist-Honored Monk/Evangel of Heliod - Nothing puts the pressure on your opponents like throwing down a metric crap-load of creature tokens every turn.

-Sunblast Angel - Keep a fate counter ready on this guy and your opponents will think twice before swinging at you.

-Stonehorn Dignitary - This guy is a common? Seriously?! Okay, maybe he's not that useful under normal circumstances, but with the Triad on your side, he can keep an opponent locked down indefinitely.

-Gray Merchant of Asphodel - Probably the coolest name for a common ever, and not a bad effect either. Blinking this guy drains all of your opponents' life totals, and hits harder the better your board presence is.

-Kor Cartographer - This guy is important, because it's one of the only white mana-ramp cards I could find. Plus, get him(her?) out early and you have a huge advantage as far as mana, blinking every turn and helping you get to the top of your curve faster.

Nice! That's some cool and only mildly annoying stuff to recur. But hang on, what if our commander is killed or worse, Darksteel Mutationed! Well, an important rule in building EDH is that you never make your commander your only win-con, so here's some things to blink my guys just in case the Triad can't:

Back-Up Blinkers

-Eerie Interlude - In my opinion, one of the most underrated cards in EDH. Not only does it work great as a backup for Triad, it can potentially save my entire team from a board wipe!

-Cloudshift/Acrobatic Maneuver/Otherworldly Journey - Targeted Blinking can be valuable, too. Whether you're saving it from removal or a board wipe or just want to reuse its ETB ability, these cards all get the job done well enough.

-Conjurer's Closet - Get one of these out and you get to blink a creature a turn!

There ya go. An underrated commander deck that's easy to pilot and easy to upgrade as your budget increases!

Let me know if you know some particularly synergistic cards I should add!

Top Ranked	Achieved #27 position overall 7 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 19 - 0 Rares 28 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.85
Tokens	Cat 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Harpy 1/1 B, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W
Folders	Budget, Inspiration, EDH, EDH, Interesting Commander Decks, EDH Ideas, Commander, good deck ideas, Commander, Things to consider