Budget Commander Deck - Bruenor Battlehamer

Today, We will explore the realms with a commander of a classic tribe, representative of the colors Red and White, Bruenor Battlehammer. His strategy is to cause great damage with the commander and his creatures through direct attacks, being a great option for those who prefer a more aggressive game and interactions with artifacts.

The Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set brought in its first spoilers some characters esteemed by many players who followed the adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden and the Companions of the Hall through adventures in the Dungeons & Dragons universe or in the books by RA Salvatore in the Frostwind Valley Trilogy. Bruenor is the leader of Clan Battlehammer, dwarves known as skillful warriors of great endurance and unshakable will, skilled craftsmen, and excellent miners.

The Dungeons & Dragons' Bruenor Battlehammer was well represented in his physical traits and combat ability which graced us with an impressive 5/3 creature, which added to his leadership which was translated by the ability "Every creature you control gets +2 / +0 for each Equipment attached to it.", similar to Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer, making all our creatures threats when equipped. It would be enough to rank as one of the best commanders for an equipment strategy, but adding to "You can pay {0} instead of paying the equip cost of the first equip ability you activate each turn." granting one more advantage while we don't have Puresteel Paladin or Brass Squire is a great bonus.

Playing Commander with 30 lands is hard to imagine at casual tables, however the large amount of 0 cost cards and some converted mana cost reductions make this possible and fun. Among the chosen lands are some artifact lands, which have a nice synergy with the Metalcraft ability that counts the number of artifacts in play. The use of utility lands is also an option even when using a low mana base, especially those that grant combat advantage. Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion and Rogue's Passage which are excellent finishers.

Before we talk about drawing cards, let's talk about Cheerios, which is the name of a circle-shaped breakfast cereal that resembles a zero. Cheerios is also the name of a strategy of using artifacts that cost zero for the most different interactions. We used in this deck Jhoira's Familiar, Cloud Key and Foundry Inspector to reduce the cost of our artifacts from 1 to zero, Helm of Awakening was also considered, but favoring opponents and reducing their cards' costs it's not always positive. With this in mind, we generate a huge card advantage with Sram, Senior Edificer and Puresteel Paladin. Drawing cards through combat is also a strong strategy, either through equipments or using the Akiri, Fearless Voyager's ability.

Equipment also depends on mana to be used, and the cost of equipping is often higher than the artifact's cost, so we have a group of cards to reduce or even attach artifacts at no cost. Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist is an excellent choice, both in the 99 and in the command zone, until the arrival of Bruenor, it was one of my favorite options alongside Akiri, Line-Slinger.

We have the power of our creatures as a wincondition. Reyav, Master Smith grants double strike to all equipped creatures, Valduk, Keeper of the Flame and Kemba, Kha Regent generate lots of creature tokens that can easily interact with Koll, the Forgemaster, Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith spawning numerous equipments to extract greater value from our commander's ability.

We have many hidden treasures in our adventuring gear: to replace the famous boots, Mirror Shield, Mask of Avacyn are great options, for drawing cards, Rogue's Gloves, Skeleton Key, Mask of Memory, for ramping mana, Goldvein Pick, Prying Blade, Explorer's Scope, and the biggest surprise, Hot Soup that guarantees an excellent evasion that combined with Blinding Powder is really hard to deal with.

Bruenor Battlehammer is a versatile commander for those who have a pleasant nostalgia for memories of Dungeons & Dragons tables and stories, or just looking for a consistent and fun artifact deck that lets you work on different themes within the Boros/Lorehold color combination.

Thanks for reading and good games! Any questions, I'm available in the comments!