My group decided to build stip decks - commander can be any cost - all of the 99 must be $1 or less. This deck aims to go super wide and fairly high to overwhelm your opponents with masses of creatures.
The stipulation regarding each card in the 99 is that the card is 'legal' as long as any printing is $1 or less at the time the deck is built. Value is based on TCG market.
Playing the deck:
The deck is designed around Chulane's static ability to quickly draw cards, put lands down and play creatures as fast as possible. Her activated ability can be used early-mid game to protect key creatures, bounce zero-cost creatures for value and end-game to win via combo. As a budget deck, you will not have access to fast mana or fetches and you will need some amount of ETB tapped lands due to playing a 3-color deck, however, a healthy of amount of dorks and basics should maintain the speed of the deck. I have been testing this against other budget decks and it has been a fun and strong deck.
Early game and ideal starting hands.
Again, we do not have Sol Rings and Mana Crypts at $1, so our ability to start getting value from Chulane will rely on our dorks and a potential signet. Ideally, we want to start with a couple of dorks and at least one signet to give us our 3 colors. Any time you can get an ETB-tapped land into play without losing momentum, do so - especially if they provide access to U. Get the dorks down and get to 5 mana for Chulane so we can start going off. Even better if we have an Ornithopter or Phyrexian Walker or Rushwood Legate in hand to start getting immediate value.
Mid-game
Pretty straightforward - play creatures, put lands down and protect your board/key guys. Profitable attacks may be tough here as your creatures are mostly small, however, chip in where you can.
Beating dat ass
We are a creature deck and without the combo wins of pricier decks, we need some straight up beaters to get the job done. Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Veteran Warleader, Hanweir Militia Captain
and Ludevic's Abomination (Ludevic's Test Subject
flip) are all capable of laying some serious beatdown on your opponents. Ironroot Warlord has a limited toughness of 5, but still grows to some serious power and can make extra dudes.
Abusing Chulane with ETB's
Where you need Chulane to really shine is with his bounce ability to not only get constant ETB's from the same creature, but also the additional cards and land drops when replaying those creatures. Depending on your opponent's decks and board states, you can counter their spells, bounce their creatures, destroy artifacts and enchantments are get additional lands into your hand. Decent.
Counterspells.
We run a very healthy number of counter spells, this is due to my meta's penchant for wipes as creature decks (like this one) can certainly get out of hand pretty quickly. At $1, you won't have to worry about Damnation or Supreme Verdict, but there are plenty of <$1 board wipes that can set you back pretty seriously. Prioritize wipes where possible although understand that once your engine is going and your boardstate is bonkers that you will likely become public enemy numero uno. As always, pick the wise battles
Combo FTW
Who said you can't go infinite with a super-budget deck? Well, probably no-one but if it's you, kind reader, than shame on you!
My primary go-infinite line involves looping Village Bell-Ringer with the ability to create 7 or more mana from my creatures to draw the entire deck. To get maximum value for this loop, you will want Civic Guildmage on the field without summoning sickness. This will allow you to not only draw your entire library, but also go infinite with all of your utility ETB creatures, most importantly Man-o'-War and Ironroot Warlord to bounce all of your opponents creatures and give yourself an army of infinite 1/1's to end the game as well as all of your counter spells in hand to thwart your opponents attempt to stop you.
Another combo that is very powerful with Village Bell-Ringer and 6 mana is to loop infinite activations of Kazandu Tuskcaller for a huge amount of 3/3 Elephant tokens to end the game.
Abusing ETB's to control the game (adding Scryb Ranger to untap either Chulane or a tap-ability creature for maximum value:
Chulane + Frilled Mystic to counter spells.
Scryb Ranger + Intrepid Hero to destroy big creatures
Hope you enjoyed this and best of luck to anyone who builds this desk. If you have comments and/or improvements (remember, under $1) please comment below!!
Flip
