Magic: The Gathering – The 13 Best Budget-Friendly Deck Themes For Commander

As Magic: The Gathering has evolved over the years, Commander has gone from a fun social side format to the most popular way to play the game overall. So many products and card slots in regular sets now dedicated to Commander that it’s difficult to know where to start for a new player just entering the format.

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This isn’t helped by the fact that Commander’s popularity has driven up the prices of many format staples, creating another barrier to entry for many.

Updated October 19, 2024 by Ryan Hay: There are plenty of great starting points for new Commander players to jump right into, and we added a few new deck archetypes to consider when you are off to build your first deck. If you can't settle on a theme on your own, you might draw some inspiration from an Elves deck, Mono-Green Devotion, or Spellslinger list.

13 Toughness Matters

The Best Offense Is A Good Defense

Ever since the release of Doran, the Siege Tower back in Lorwyn, Commander decks built around creatures with high toughness and little to no power have been viable in the format. And since most creatures that fit that description are unplayable elsewhere, you can pick up a deck full of them on the cheap.

Toughness-matters decks tend to be stuffed with Walls and creatures with defender, the kinds of hidden gems you’d usually find gathering dust at the bottom of game store bargain bins. There are multiple ways to build the deck too, with Arcades, the Strategist being an excellent alternative to Doran as commander.

12 +1/+1 Counters

Just Keep Stacking

The humble +1/+1 counter has a long and storied history in Magic, with so many support cards that an entire deck built around them is not just a possible choice, but a great one. All you need to do is set up a couple of engine cards like Winding Constrictor, put some counters on a few keyworded creatures, and go to town from there.

Whether you choose to go tall with Ezuri, Claw of Progress or wide with Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice, building your creatures up to titanic proportions with +1/+1 counters is a tactic as old as time. Some of the best support cards for the archetype are pricey, looking at you Doubling Season, but a budget version can still put up a serious fight.

11 Mono Green Devotion

Bigger Means Better

If you want an uncomplicated deck that does one thing exceptionally well, you can't go wrong with a Mono Green Devotion deck. All you really have to do is ramp up a bit, drop the biggest synergistic creatures you have, and run over your opponents with all sorts of powerful creatures.

Do you want to play the ten-mana Apex Devastator, which comes with four cascade triggers on it when you cast it? Easy, knock that out on turn five. If you are jamming a few Eldrazi Titans and don't want to wait ten turns to cast them, you can power them out on turn six or so with the right ramp package.

10 Tokens

The ‘Strength In Numbers’ Approach

Whether they’re 1/1 Goblins or 6/6 Wurms, creature tokens in Magic are a great way to bolster your board presence. They’re also very easy to replicate and multiply, opening the door for some truly ridiculous decks that can play both Aggro and Combo roles depending on the game.

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Token decks make great use of Anthem effects, cards with convoke, and sacrifice outlets, creating swarms that can easily wipe out your opponents with a single Craterhoof Behemoth or Overrun. There’s no shortage of good choices for a commander here, but Jinnie Fay, Jetmir’s Second is notable for letting you tune your tokens to the current game state.

9 Flicker

Transience Leads To Triggers

Whether you refer to it as flickering or bouncing, the act of exiling a creature only to put it right back into play is one of the most satisfying in Magic. It protects against removal, re-triggers enters and leaves the battlefield effects, and can easily form the basis of a whole Commander deck if you lean hard into the concept.

Flicker/Bounce decks typically aim to win via some kind of infinite combo, but they can also play out as straightforward value decks if they don’t draw all their pieces. Brago, King Eternal probably still wears the crown when it comes to commanders for this archetype, letting you flicker your whole board every turn in most cases.

8 Aristocrats

All For The Greater Good, Of Course

Named for the powerful Falkenrath and Cartel Aristocrats from Dark Ascension and Gatecrash, respectively, Aristocrats is an archetype all about sacrificing creatures for value. You play creatures that give benefits when they die, sacrifice them to outlets that provide even more benefits, and sit back as your opponents drown in a sea of value.

Legends like Judith, the Scourge Diva and Teysa Karlov make great commanders for an Aristocrats deck, but any creature that sacrifices other creatures or does something when you do will work. Decks like these are often largely built of cheap fodder creatures, meaning they’re surprisingly affordable for their power level.

7 Burn

Set Fire To Your Opponents, Not Your Savings

Burn isn’t the kind of deck you’d expect to do well in Commander. Typically Burn decks focus on wiping your opponent out with direct damage as quickly as possible, but the high life totals and multiple opponents in the format make this difficult. It is possible, however, and even quite effective, if you bring the right commander along.

The ‘right commander’ is probably Imodane, the Pyrohammer, who can spread your Burn spells out across all of your opponents to speed up your clock, but Ojer Axonil is a great alternative. And since Burn is mostly built with cheap spells, you’ll be able to get the fire going for less than the price of a precon.

6 Enchantress

Create A Literal Land Of Enchantment

Enchantress is a fairly loose archetype, but ultimately it boils down to playing a lot of enchantments and a lot of cards that care about you playing enchantments. The titular Enchantress cards serve as your draw engine, while evasive creatures, once backed up with Auras, serve as your win condition.

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In many ways, Enchantress decks are similar to Voltron decks, with the key difference that they spread their eggs out across multiple baskets rather than going all-in on one creature. And since Auras are rarely playable in any constructed format, you can build a deck centered around them on the cheap.

5 Monarch

The Once And Future King

Introduced in Conspiracy as a way to inject politics into multiplayer games, the Monarch mechanic was a resounding success. It rewards aggressive play by giving the current Monarch an extra draw each turn, but it also unlocks additional benefits on individual cards, allowing for entire Commander decks to be built around it.

Both Jared Carthalion, True Heir, and Queen Marchesa make great commanders for a Monarch deck, providing solid bonuses when you are and aren’t the Monarch, respectively. Whichever one you go for, make sure to pack your deck with evasive creatures so you can shift the seat of power when you need to.

4 Spellslinger

Never Can Have Enough Spells

You can't go wrong with a solid Spellslinger list. Filled to the brim with cantrips, draw spells, burn spells, and everything else in between, Spellslinger decks reward you for casting as many spells as you can in a turn, generating some amount of value while doing so.

Stella Lee, Wild Card is a perfect example of a great Spellslinger commander. She rewards you for casting spells and then gives you another bonus spell by tapping her, but you can only do it once you've hit three spells in a turn. Another interesting commander that gains bonuses from casting spells is Veyran, Voice of Duality. Veyran gains a +1/+1 counter every time you cast a spell, quickly getting stronger and stronger for each spell you cast, all while doubling your triggered abilities that happen when you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell.