neat

/takes picture

@perseas24: Added.

@Ixyao: Good catch. Fixed.

I don't know what you use to check prices but Exploration , Leyline of Sanctity , Burgeoning , Consecrated Sphinx , Liliana Vess , Seedborn Muse , Akroma's Memorial , and Debtors' Knell are all over $5.

@MiniDragon: I missed a few cards (I copypasted this from my other list of EDH staples, then deleted the money cards).

I'm going to leave Consecrated Sphinx and Akroma's Memorial . Consecrated Sphinx is $7 and extremely important in the format, and Akroma's Memorial is $6 as of its M13 printing.

I'm surprised no one suggested Ponder . Seems like a must for my standards if I play blue.

Sigh.. so no one here uses Roil Elemental in their blue decks? It's about the best $1 creature in blue that I can think of for commander. If you're planning on taking advantage of his landfall trigger, it's not at all hard to ramp up for his mana cost. Just make sure you're packing Expedition Map & Armillary Sphere .

Ponder relies on you being able to shuffle your library if you don't like what you see to be any good so I'm not sure I would put it at "staple of the format". Personally about 75% of the time I'd rather have Foresee but I may be a wierdo.

Let's say you don't like what you see with Ponder and something is preventing you from shuffling your library. It's still one mana to draw a card. Both Ponder and Foresee are good for stacking your library with land for things like Roil Elemental . It also is good at timing cards that shuffle your library like Expedition Map or Terramorphic Expanse .

fyi Gatherer has ponder rated at 4.5 stars and foresee at 4.0.

Spending a card to draw a card isn't really drawing a card it is replacing the card you spent. The power of ponder relies on you being able to shuffle after you look at the cards. It is well rated on Gatherer because it is a powerful card, I'm not denying that but what does gatherer rating have to do with the fact that if you don't have a tutor or fetchland available Ponder is Reach Through Mists (rated at 2.9 for those who care) with the ability to determine what order the next 3 cards come in? Even if you can make the case for it to be in the non-budget version of this list it doesn't live up to its potential in a budget deck that isn't running a $1000 land base and a bunch of tutors.

@Epochalyptik doesn't much care for Ponder , though he does like Gitaxian Probe . I would also add Preordain .

Ring of Xathrid is invaluable....

for example...my gf uses ring on her Blood Artist as a ridiculous wipe preventor...it pumps Prossh

and in a tragic turn of events, used it on Primordial Hydra for an almost inevitable victory 1 v 1 lol

Sublime Archangel rarely a bad topdeck

Pyrohemia is an interesting card

Loxodon Hierarch is a very solid 4 drop, saves you from a wipe if you play defensively

Bow of Nylea and Spear of Heliod have treated me very well both in 1v1 and 4 player

Assemble the Legion is a guaranteed win 1 v 1 and does really well in multiplayer, especially when my deck is stacked with wipes

Staff of Nin is perfect for any edh, ping removal and you strict card advantage

Drumhunter usually nets you a card every turn, you're playing green..chances are you commander procs his effect if nothing else

Suture Priest i cannot tell you the rage i get for playing this card turn two

Norn's Annex oh, no one else is running white? this'll buy me a few turns...possibly the game against token commanders

Wolfir Silverheart makes everything, including your commander, even better. 5 mana for 12 field presence is pretty respectable

Divine Reckoning i tend to play the peacekeeper in our 4 way matches....so wipes like this are beautiful

Elderscale Wurm last but not least, this wiggley wallace right here....first time i played him it he followed a platinum angel and the player's look was priceless.

Ponder and Preordain are just underwhelming in EDH. They don't really do enough in the format, and there are better cards for both draw and deck manipulation. I can't think of a situation where I'd take either over a tutor or something else.

Brainstorm skates by in some lists because it interacts well with shuffle effects, and it helps you filter dead cards out of your hand.

Ok.. how about Diabolic Revelation to grab all of your combo cards and just end the game?

You forgot the biggest staples in all of Magic. BASIC LANDS!

no trostani?

@Bababad, Loxodon Hierarch doesnt save from wipes as much as you think. I my play most the wipes that destroy also prevent regeneration, so he could end up as a dead weight in your deck. I would rather run Asceticism since it hexproof your creatures and be able to regenerate. It may only do one creature but usually that's all that will be destroyed and can be regenerated.

asceticism is far more expensive and can't swing on its own.

i end up using him for the obvoius lifegain...i pair him with Silverblade Paladin , Wolfir Silverheart , or my Sublime Archangel and he is a good enough threat, more importantly he allows me to recover my own creatures from a wipe...i tend to wipe the board pretty often...

His synergy with early game creatures is reason enough imo

Blasphemous Act for one followed by his ability for 2 is quite game changing, but i definitely understand that he isn't a universal treat

what about the other choices?

Other's seem good. I haven't run most of them or seen most of them run. Assemble the Legion is great, usually ran with Cathars' Crusade which is a dangerous combo. Staff of Nin is cool. Some like it. There are better draw and damage cards but usually will go unnoticed which gives you card advantage. Norn's Annex is a fancy Ghostly Prison or Propaganda . I'll give it to you on Elderscale Wurm seems usefull and would be great.

Platinum Emperion is a better Elderscale Wurm since the Wurm still allows life loss, just not damage. So life loss, and life payments will be able to take you under 7 and let you start losing life because of damage again. Also if your life total is above 7 Platinum Emperion stops your total there until he is removed where as Elderscale Wurm lets it drop to 7 before stalling it. Both of them however are a lot less use in commander since neither prevents damage, they only change the outcome of damage. So 21 commander damage will still lose you the game.

All this leads to where I was trying to get at the start that Platinum Emperion isn't on the non-budget staples so I doubt Elderscale Wurm is going to make it on the budget list.

That first sentence is supposed to read "the Wurm still allows life loss, just not life loss due to damage." Makes me sad I can't edit :(

Though, you can still gain life with Elderscale Wurm you cant with the other guy.

And commander damage is indeed a downside, but popping boots on the wurm still stalls the game(especially if they arent running a high damage commander)

I tend to run him with black or white support cards.....i value the Exsanguinate or Trostani, Selesnya's Voice life i can cheat out until someone topdecks a wipe or artifact hate.

If you are already gaining more life than the damage being done to you I don't see how Elderscale Wurm is of any use. Since out gaining the damage is the only way to actually gain life with him.

There are enough decks build around 21 commander damage instead of reducing your opponent to 0 life that I think both Platinum Emperion and Elderscale Wurm are too situational to be considered staples. But I am not the final word on what gets into the list so I'm just going to drop it since I have said my piece.

Mul Daya Channelers , It That Betrays , Seer's Sundial , Worn Powerstone , and Staff of Nin are all run quite a bit in my playgroup.

• Myr Battlesphere should be included.

• You may also recall me making the case for Consuming Aberration for the regular staples list, and I agree that it has no place there, but at less than $2, it should appear here too. Mill is a very common budget strategy, and becomes a large beater quickly.

• Archaeomancer is a budget version of Snapcaster Mage .

• Corpsejack Menace is good, great in b/u/g or jund.

• Lotleth Troll can be an important discard engine for reanimation decks and/or decks that have Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord as a commander. Speaking of, Jarad might be a good inclusion too.

• Worldspine Wurm can be a great target for cards that can get it out without hard-casting. Even then It's still very good if cast and resolved. Might be bait for counters though, so I can see you leaving it out. Still, a good target for Tooth and Nail if you ask me.

• Tablet of the Guilds becomes much, much better in budget games, especially with 2-color decks. I run it in a grimgrin zombie tribal. oh and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is one of the most common budget commanders i see, because he's easy to play with.

• Armed / Dangerous can be great for "Voltron" commanders.

• Howl from Beyond and Hatred for the same reason as listed above. Can't tell you how many times I've used this for exactly 21 commander damage.

Feel free to refute any of my suggestions by the way, because they are just that; suggestions.

i find Sylvan Caryatid a pretty decent card as well in commander.For me it's birds of paradise on steroids.Hexproof + 0/3 that means your opponent have to burn a bigger spell if he wan't to stop you from ramping.

other than that it also get buffed from Avenger of Zendikar