15 Budget Underused Cards for Commander

As many of you know, Magic is increasingly becoming an expensive game to play, which makes many players who want to stay active opt for cheaper pieces when building their decks. In addition, some stores and online tournaments have opted for online championships and tournaments with a maximum deck value limitation.

Cards Divided by Colors

I separated 3 cards of each color, which I don't see being used as much, but which in my opinion have a lot of potential and are not expensive on most stores.

Deafening Silence

A card that is less than one dollar in value and costs one mana, with the effect of forbidding players from casting more than one noncreature spell per turn. This slows down decks very effectively early on.

You can use it in decks like Winota, Joiner of Forces and Oswald Fiddlebender without worrying too much about whether it will affect you or not.

Cathar Commando

This card is better than a Caustic Caterpillar in almost every way. Even though it costs an extra mana to enter the field, its activation cost is one colorless mana, so in the end both costs 3 mana for their effects, but the caterpillar is 1GG and Cathar Commando is [2]W, which is a better cost when you have more than one color in the deck. In addition, it still has flash, which allows it to be cast on an opponent's turn — all for less than 50 cents!

Spirit of the Labyrinth

This card is excellent for keeping opponents with few cards in their hand, as it prevents them from drawing more than one card per turn, helping many decks with an Stax pproach that doesn't draw cards to be able to decrease their opponents' resources.

Ghostly Pilferer

This card is very strong in Commander, since everyone has at least one card that will guarantee you a draw, which is the Commander, not to mention cards that are cast from the graveyard, cards that allow you to cast from the top of the deck, cards that exile cards and allow you to cast them; these effects can turn our little friend into a powerful Card Advantage tool.

If your opponents avoid casting cards from outside their hand, they'll end up falling behind, which in itself is also a benefit.

Gitaxian Probe

This card is banned in all formats except for Vintage and Commander, and it's no accident - it doesn't cost you mana, due to the alternative cost in Phyrexian mana (2 life), replenishes itself in your hand and even allows you to look a player's hand to know exactly their cards and use that information however you like.

This card has no negative points, other than taking up a deck space.

Verity Circle

An enchantment that gives you cards in your hand whenever a creature is tapped for something other than attacking. This is situational, yes, but just having a green deck on the table guarantees you a source of recurring card advantage, and as I mentioned for the example above, if the opponent wants to avoid giving you cards, they will have to play without their mana dorks.

Plumb the Forbidden

A Strixhaven card that borders is cheap and allows you to sacrifice creatures to copy it, the more creatures you sacrifice, the more cards will be drawn, granting you many extra cards in addition to serving as a way to kill many of your creatures that have effects when they die.

It's a good choice for decks that make many tokens like Chatterfang, Squirrel General and Sedgemoor Witch, or simply to benefit from a sweeper your opponent has cast, and draw cards with the creatures that would die anyway.

Languish

Sweepers are essential and that is why most of them are more expensive, precisely because there are not so many and the few that exist are targeted.

However, there are cheap sweepers options that are circumstantial, like this one that for 4 mana gives -4/-4 to all creatures, which will normally remove all dorks, elves and even some commanders, as many have 4 toughness or less, like Kraum, Ludevic's Opus and Winota, Joiner of Forces.

Final Parting

This card has a high mana cost, but it has the effect of two cards at the same time, mixing Entomb, with Diabolic Tutor. That alone makes it strong and present in graveyard decks, as you find the creature to reanimate and a reanimate spell.

Bolt Bend

Red isn't the best color for dealing with the stack, but it's the color of targeting — redirecting a spell to another target is one of the ways the color protects itself.

The fact that this spell only costs one mana when controlling a creature with at least 4 power is one way to make it even more efficient and usable, as many decks fit this restriction already in the command zone.

Mogg Salvage

This spell in decks that have a good number of Mountains and against opponents that runs blue has great potential, as it can be cast for free, but its cost is not so absurdly high that you don't even think about casting it, if you don't meet all the requirements.

Pyrokinesis

This is another spell that I haven't seen so many players using on budget lists. Its hardcast is almost impossible. However, it manages to take a dead card out of your hand to remove one or more threats from the board.

Timeless Witness

This is a more mana-expensive version of Eternal Witness. However, it costs much less in cash — more than five times cheaper than Eternal Witness and still has something the original lacks, which is the ability to eternalize.

Anyway, if your deck would run Eternal Witness and you need to keep the function, but cut the cost of the deck, this would be a great change to make.

Outland Liberator

This card was released in the same set as Cathar Commando and with a similar effect: a two mana that for one colorless mana can destroy an artifact or enchantment on the field, but instead of having flash, this one has nightbound , and when transformed, it destroys an artifact or enchantment each time it attacks. In addition, it can still be sacrificed to destroy one more if necessary, and all this for less than a dollar.

Oakhame Adversary

This card was called Grob at the competitive tables, as it is a green creature that entered the battlefield for two mana just like Dark Confidant, which received the affectionate nickname of Bob, because of the player who made this card exist, Grob comes from "Green Bob".

Anyway, Oakhame Adversary can easily give you an extra card in your hand per turn, since there will hardly be a green permanent under your opponent's control, and even though the draw is situational, it still occurs a lot, and besides, it doesn't cost you life and is not even revealed to your opponents.

If you're interested in more budget decks, I usually write some budget articles here on Cards Realm!

In case you have suggestions or think some card is missing from my list, leave it in the comments, and I'll check it out!

Stay safe and see you next time!