Hello folks! I hope you've been doing well!

Wow do I have a treat for you! Today, for my first Tuesday column of 2021, I am giving you a Budget Commander article with two mono-blue partners from Commander Legends. This article twins a series I've been doing of Commander Legends options each week as well as my favorite series Budget Commander.

What is Budget Magic? Great question! In this series, I introduce a budgetary version of the article. My goal is to come in under the budget of the previous article using only near mint card prices here on Coolstuff. In my previous article in this series, the price was a cheap $32.27! I need to come under! Note that prices can shift from writing to editing to reading, so they may have increased or decreased over time.

It takes about twice as long to write a budget series than a normal one. With the increased workload at my job due to COVID-19, it's harder to find the time for longer projects like this one. But over the holidays? I had the time! Shoot, I might be able to do this next week as well!

This is my 9th deck featuring leaders from Commander Legends.

Let's look at some previous decks! Okay!

1. A few weeks ago, I built a fun Jund midrange deck around Yurlok of Scorch Thrash that plays a little pillow forty, a little nice to everyone, with some fun dragon win cons. Check it out here.
2. Then I built an enchantment-based Mardu deck around Ghen, Arcanum Weaver that combines the enchantment loving of White with the graveyard filling of Black. You can find it here.
3. The following week I built a deck around Blim, Comedic Genius that gave away things like Rogue Skycaptain, Rainbow Vale, Sleeper Agent, and other Rakdos cards to help give away so you can ratchet up that life loss and card discard. You can grab it here.
4. The next week built a deck around Amareth, the Lustrous. This awesome dragon wants you to build around one permanent type. Which did I choose? Probably the hardest: planeswalkers! Want to check out this Bant Buddies Build? It's here.
5. Then I turned to Tuya Bearclaw and I built a nasty power matters decks in Gruul around Phyrexian Dreadnought and Illusionary Mask. It's pretty powerful. Wanna check it out? You can find it here!
6. After I build the nasty Vintage combo around Tuya Bearclaw, I turned to the infamous Lich and his Disk, Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant. I built this control Zombie deck that wants to sweep the board over and over again, save for your stuff, and then win the game. You can check it out here.
7. Then I turned to Golgari and Belbe, Corrupted Observer. I created a life-draining deck that has some synergies with the Group Slug archetype in Rakdos in order to trigger Ms. Belbe many times for that sweet mana. You can find it here.
8. After Golgari's Belbe, I moved to Simic and Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist. I am running a number of ways of turning my foes' stuff into Salamanders so you can be protected, such as Imagecrafter and Unnatural Selection. Want to see it? It's here!

There you are!

At the end of this article, you can find an Appendix of every Budget Commander deck I've done! It's a whole lot of fun!

Now...what dorks inspired today's article? That's also a great question!

The first is this bad boy at rare. Say hello to Eligeth, Crossroads Augur. Eligeth is a powerful leader for any Commander deck. He's Mahamoti Djinn cost and size and comes with flying to boot. It'll turn any scrying effect into massive card draw. Take Magma Jet as a great example. It's a two mana Shock that scries you 2 when it resolves...but if you control Eligeth? Then you draw two cards! It's nasty and it's powerful as well!

He also costs just $0.49.

What am I partnering Eligeth with? It's this Djinn Monk!

Say hello to Siani, Eye of the Storm. It also flies, and when it swings, it will always Scry 1 for itself, and thus draw you a card. Now...Siani wants to be in the red zone with flyers...

I am looking for these cards for the Siani/Eligeth partnering, which I am calling Siageth.

• Cards with Scry. Take any card in blue like Opt. It draws you a card for the effect, and with Eligeth out, it draws you a second card. I want to find the cheap scrying effects of Opt.
• Flying Bodies. Siani must be a key aspect of this build as well. If I only have scry cards, then this is a poor wedding. I need to maximize my flying bodies.
• Flying Matters. Since I only have flyers, I should take advantage of the mono-Blue cards that will help my flyers out.
• Getting Through. I cannot rely on my team getting through with flying alone. I need to run cards that will let me slip through with my team so I can maximize the card drawing attacks of Siani.
• Punch Rewards. I am in the color of many rewards of punching for damage, and I'd like to add in cards and effects where possible to play into this
• Support. Then I need support, like removal and mana rocks.

And that'll be a great deck Siageth!

Now...what were the first cards to pop into my head? Windreader Sphinx! It's basically Siageth in one card. As your flyers swing, you'll draw those juicy cards and net a lot of value! Good stuff, right? Right! It's also just a quarter for the cheapest nm version here and plays well with my theme!

Favorable Winds is an obvious adjunct to this build as it can pump your whole team. It's also just another quarter for this key cheap anthem effect for the team. Meanwhile Warden of Evos Isle is both a cheap flyer as well to drop the costs of your flyers, and it's just $0.20 per copy as well! Good stuff, right?

Look at this duet of countering fun times. They are both cheap flyers that can give you bodies for your Siani'ing purposes. They also can sacrifice for countering purposes in case the right situation is running around. I run both in a real-life Commander build and am happy to lean into them here as well! You'll find that with these out and the mana available for the Stormtamer, no one will target your stuff unless they have two answers. You'll also often see them wait a turn for a key spell so they have the mana for your Hatchling. Good stuff for the win!

Do you know how much this old school pre-Modern Commander costs? Just $0.75! Pretty good, right? Right! You can tap it to tap down a flying blocker and spent UUU to tap all non-flyers, which is most of your deck. Do them in that order! You can also tap the Cephalid Emperor to tap lock a key land like Maze of Ith or their only source of a color of mana or a key artifact. It's a great adjunct to any flying-matters build! And it works as a brilliant way to keep back things on the ground that might want to swing in after you swung for SiIani triggers over them.

Like Aboshan, Stormtide Leviathan is a cheap price here clocking in at $0.49. It's another great ground pounder for a flying brew as only flyers and walkers of Islands can attack while this bad Leviathan is on the battlefield. Since that's pretty much every dork in your deck it won't hurt you at all! But your foes? They are about to get their non-swing on as they cannot bring the heat with anything that's not one of the two key abilities. Like Aboshan, this can do a great job at keeping the team safe from non-flyers that might want to swing your way after you've tapped your team. Good stuff!

The next place I dug into were flyers with scry of some sort! Augury Owl and Faerie Seer were the first two to head into my deck in this line of thinking as they are cheap, fly, and will scry 2 on arrival so you can draw two cards if you control Eligeth! Good stuff right? Then I thought of Sphinx of Foresight! It's a four-drop flyer that'll scry each upkeep for a card with Eligeth out. And these are flyers for Siani so they fit this build perfectly!

Have you forgotten about Prognostic Sphinx? Don't! It's a cheap bulk rare that will really punch above its weight in this build. You can discard a card to protect your 3/5 flying house of card drawing, and I'd do so if you control Eligeth. Get your swing on with this bad boy, and instead of scrying for 3 you'll be drawing 3 instead! That makes this guy an attack-and-Ancestral Recall guy, which is pretty good here! Prognostic Sphinx is good with that card draw!

Draining Whelk costs $2.99 for one copy, but it's worth it! It's gives the deck on-theme countering with a flyer that arrives and counters something. I love it a lot and it's one of my favorite cards from one of my favorite sets: Time Spiral! You need these sorts of cards to make this deck work...

...just like these cards! This pair can bounce something on arrival, like flyers that might stop the swinging. I'd forgive you for not knowing that these two Sphinxes exist as neither was released in a booster pack but in decks. Note that Riddlemaster Sphinx probably won't use its prowl ability, but it can bounce things other than dorks if there is another threat you care about. It can also bounce one thing per foe, which is solid value for the cause!

Look at this uncommon flying duo! The first will turn extra cards you are drawing into 1/1 flyers, which feels pertinent to this build, right? Right! The second will protect both Siageth leaders while also swinging and bringing the heat. I really enjoy them both here in this build!

Take a closer look at bulk mythic rare Kefnet 1.0. He's cheap. He flies. With all the card drawing in this deck he'll likely be able to swing and block with the best of him and with that activated ability you net a solid mana sink. Good stuff Keffy!

Without needing mana money, I can fit in some cheaper mythics like Jace, Mirror Mage, who is $1.75 for the cheapest NM version! On three mana his scry 2 +1 will net you two cards per activation if you control Eligeth...but if you kick him for 5 mana? The cards will flow with double +1 activations!

$2.50 for the cheapest NM version of Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer? This is another cheap mythic I can add and her value as a flying enabler is pretty good. She can drop a blocker from the sky with her +2 and that's a great way to ensure your flying team can punch through. She can also make those sweet 4/4 flyers with her second ability, which is pretty good for the team! Welcome Yanling!

There are a whole range of bulk support cards available that like scry! I have added a few spells here and there that do things like counter and bounce along with scrying for the card drawing fun times of Eligeth!

Wanna make a ton of flyers? Okay! I'll also have some cards that support the Siani side of the deck as well! We can bounce stuff and make a ton of flying Faeries as the same time, which our flying deck will really enjoy!

Remember how I liked the ability to add hit triggers to this build? Sure thing, I have you covered! Sing this duet and you'll draw cards as you punch foes' faces for each dork that did so. In this build? That's a lot of dorks and cards! Remember that most of your team flies and gets ways to take out blockers, so you have a few ways to get these combat damage triggers going en masse! Enjoy them!

Cannot be blocked? OK!

Look at Aqueous Form! Not only is it a cheap way to make something unblockable, but it also gives you a scry trigger each time said dork attacks. It supports both sides of the Siegeth deck quire nicely, don't you think?

One of the best ways to ensure that a blocker won't block is to bounce it! With the massive number of Islands in this build, Scourge of Fleets is ready to party. This bad Kraken will bounce so many opposing dorks that it feels like a Cyclonic Rift on legs!

Other than bouncing and such, another key way to ensure that flyers won't block your stuff is to tap them down. We have a few effects that do just that, like this flying duo. Dungeon Geists can tap lock a dork on arrival and it won't untap until the Geists is answered. Guardian of Tazeem will tap a dork when a land arrives to the party, and since we only have five non-basics in this brew, it's likely to be the second ability which will tap lock it for a second turn. Good stuff!

Since I don't have that many nonbasics, they support the themes of Siageth. These two are great with the scrying and will net you cards. The best class is obviously Castle Vantress, who is only $1.25 for the cheapest version here at CSI.com, which strikes me as a pretty good deal!

Then we have some lands that play into the flying part of the deck as well! Foundry of the Consuls will sacrifice for two flyers while Faerie Conclave will join as an animated land. Both are great for the flying part of our build.

And that's it! Would you like to see the entire build? Okay you've got it!

Siageth for the Scrying Winds | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (2)
• 1 Eligeth, Crossroads Augur
• 1 Siani, Eye of the Storm

• Creatures (35)
• 1 Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Augury Owl
• 1 Cloud Pirates
• 1 Cloud Sprite
• 1 Cloudkin Seer
• 1 Cloudreader Sphinx
• 1 Cloudseeder
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Dungeon Geists
• 1 Enigma Thief
• 1 Esior, Wardwing Familiar
• 1 Faerie Formation
• 1 Faerie Seer
• 1 Flying Men
• 1 Kefnet the Mindful
• 1 Mist Raven
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Nimble Obstructionist
• 1 Prognostic Sphinx
• 1 Riddlemaster Sphinx
• 1 Scourge of Fleets
• 1 Siren Stormtamer
• 1 Spectral Sailor
• 1 Sphinx of Foresight
• 1 Spiketail Hatchling
• 1 Sprite Noble
• 1 Stormtide Leviathan
• 1 Thieving Magpie
• 1 Tide Skimmer
• 1 Warden of Evos Isle
• 1 Windreader Sphinx
• 1 Windrider Patrol
• 1 Windstorm Drake
• 1 Witness of Tomorrows

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Jace, Mirror Mage
• 1 Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer

• Instants (6)
• 1 Condescend
• 1 Dissolve
• 1 Lazotep Plating
• 1 Memory Drain
• 1 No Escape
• 1 Voyage's End

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Anchor to the AEther
• 1 Foresee
• 1 Inscription of Insight
• 1 Scour All Possibilities
• 1 Stolen by the Fae
• 1 Tamiyo's Epiphany

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Eyes Everywhere
• 1 Favorable Winds
• 1 Flood
• 1 Gravitational Shift
• 1 Omen of the Sea
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Crystal Ball
• 1 Seer's Lantern
• 1 Sky Diamond
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Witching Well

• Lands (35)
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 30 Island
• 1 Faerie Conclave
• 1 Foundry of the Consuls
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Zhalfirin Void

Buy This Deck Export text format

And there we go! My target was $32.27 and where did I wind up? $32.33! Pretty good right? Right!

Other cards you might want to add in are Sower of Temptation, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, Glen Elendra Archmage, Treasure Map, Mausoleum Wanderer, Cyclonic Rift, Tezzeret, Artifice Master, or Thieving Skydiver.

I hope that you enjoyed this fun deck! Did you like coming back to the Budget Commander series? Did you enjoy the deck? Any other thoughts? Just let me know and have an awesome day!!!

APPENDIX

If you enjoyed today's mono-Blue scry deck, great! Here are the first 54 Budget Commander options for your wallet-friendly happiness and joy:

1. We kicked things off with Brion Stoutarm came in at $37.71
2. Next up was Ghave, Guru of Spores, with a budget of $36.48, is a lot of fun!
3. Talrand, Sky Summoner - $49.37. I increased the budget for this project due to the nature of the challenge, and it's the only entry in the series where the cost is increased rather than decreased.
4. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius is the next for our list rocking that $36.37 pricetag.
5. Princess Lucrezia and Riven Turnbull feature in this fun throwback Commander deck that is just $35.68.
6. Roon of the Hidden Realm demonstrates one of the Commander 2013 dorks in a $35.29 shell.
7. Vhati il-Dal runs the table for just $35.17. It's also one of the more unique entries in this project.
8. With all of the latest draconic lovin', Bladewing the Risen comes just a few cents less at $35.13. http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-042114-budget-commander-8-budget-bladewing/
9. Lu Xun, Scholar General may not be a powerhouse, but there's enough utility under here to spark a very interesting EDH deck for just $35.07.
10. Bosh, Iron Golem was a fun mono-red artifact centric deck that hits $35.06. That's right, one cent cheaper! It's a fun and different take on artifacts than good ol' Brago will be next.
11. Brago, King Eternal is featured with a different artifact theme and a $35.04 budget.
12. Let's finally get below that $35 mark with Lin Sivvi and her rebel horde! $34.98 for the witness.
13. Wedges are cool. So is Teneb, the Harvester! $34.94 gets us a deck that wins and has fun.
14. Who likes Surrak Dragonclaw? Who likes making a face-smashing deck for just $34.83? This guy!
15. Tolsimir Wolfblood? $34.73? Selesnya aggro? We've got it in spades!
16. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is ready to bring some serious recursion, beats, and a modest budget to boot at $34.62.
17. Want to Dragon up your deck? Why not roll with Dragonlord Kolaghan for $34.47.
18. Who's thumping those mono-green beats with the Yeva, Nature's Herald stylings? Who clocks in at just $34.39? This article!
19. Want to donate some stuff, play some politics, and draw a ton of cards? Then check out this Zedruu the Greathearted deck that came in at $34.29.
20. I have a notion that a Five Color deck would be a fun budget challenge. Horde of Notions is a blast of Elemental fun that clocks in at $34.17. Check it out!
21. Five color doesn't have to end with tribes. There are so many options that this Five Color Cromat deck with a bit of a smash-y board presence is ready to introduce itself to the red zone, and to winning. It also is just $34.20.
22. Sometimes it's really nice to see how far we can push a popular commander with a cheaper budget. That's where this Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck comes in, clocking in at $34.03
23. With a budget of just $33.98, this Daxos of Meletis deck is pretty cool without being too expensive. Check it out!
24. We have a Snake flavored Kaseto, Orochi Archmage deck with a lot of fun, Snakes, and budget goodness at $33.91.
25. Nahiri, the Lithomancer is calling for an equipment and Solider focused mono-white build that's just $33.85.
26. Who's Born to be Wild? Mina and Denn are! Check out this Gruul Smash deck with lands and fun for just $33.75.
27. Gods are cool, especially when they make you berries, fruits, and tasty veggies. Karametra, God of Harvests might fetch you a lot of lands and good times, but she won't set back your wallet. Check out her budget build, clocking in at $33.74
28. She beats with auras and fun, sailing over her foes. It's Bruna, Light of Alabaster! She's bringing a strong game at a cheap $33.69.
29. Rosheen Meanderer at $33.63 clocks in with a bunch of X spells and activations with a different take on the classic Elf-Ball deck.
30. We take a look at a very old school sort of guy, Boris Devilboon, from the original Legends set, and then build a $33.58 deck around our good demonic friends.
31. It's time for a bit of an Orzhov Control loving, built around Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts and featuring a ton of removal, control, and more, all for the low, low price of $33.56.
32. Captain Sisay leads a fun, legendary infused deck that has a lot of great cards and synergy, but a light price, checking in at $33.46.
33. Ertai, the Corrupted sacrifices creatures and enchantments to counter spells. For $33.35, we have a great control-esque deck with some groovy sacrificing love.
34. With a modest budget of $33.32, Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis have a fun event and morph focused theme, without running a bunch of cards from their Commander 2016 Appearance. Check them out!
35. Built around the Old-School combo of Prodigal Sorcerer and Fungusaur, this Commander deck features a number of cards that deal damage to your own creatures so they get better. It clocks in at a humble $33.26.
36. With a Golgari Toughness-Matters theme, this Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper deck won't hurt your budget, but will do some damage for $33.15.
37. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden goes all crazy with graveyard and deck restocking shenanigans for a cheap $33.12. We even have an infinite combo in here!
38. Commander 2017 brings some powerful new options for Commander players everywhere. I put together a multiplayer-friendly control deck around Mathas, Fiend Seeker for just $33.10.
39. Don't you love the Izzet madness of Arjun, the Shifting Flame? No deck has more card drawing, or card drawing triggers, than this one! It clocks in at $33.04.
40. It doesn't have to be Halloween for you to enjoy the Monster Mash. Here we have a Grusilda, Monster Mash deck that enjoys mashing your dorks together, but not mashing your budget. It clocks in at $32.98
41. Don't Shatter your Budget with this build of the Shattergang Brothers, who's sacrificial ways won't sacrifice wallet, and just cost $32.94.
42. I saw Muldrotha, the Gravetide and I just fell in love with that face. Who wouldn't? Here's a graveyard abuse deck that won't break your bank, just your battlefield. And maybe some friendships. It was $32.89.
43. Who likes some Saprolings and having Fungal Fun? I do! Slimefoot, the Stowaway leads this cheap, flavorful deck that clocks in at $32.80. Every addition to the deck has to support the flavor of the Fungal concepts!
44. Who wants to untap and en-creature Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle? Who wants a fun budget build that's just $32.77? ME!
45. Next up is a budget build of Emmara, Soul of the Accord which is cheap and clocks in at $32.77. Check out it's token majesty!
46. I randomly selected Kefnet the Mindful for a random Commander challenge, and was inspired to combine my two series and build a Budget Commander deck around card-drawing and fun times with Kefnet! Check it out and it's $32.73 glory.
47. Let's build a fun graveyard and mono-Green build around my second Portal: Three Kingdoms leader - Hua Tuo, Honored Physician. I really like this build, and for just $32.65, I hope you will too!
48. I built a fun budget Burn and Life gain deck around Firesong and Sunspeaker for a price tag of only $32.57! Want to check it out?
49. I built a fun deck around the partners Gorm the Great and Virtus the Veiled. This deck ran some cool cards, including the old school Basilisk and Lure combos. But it only cost $32.51. Don't you wanna check it out? Of course ya do!
50. For my 50th Budget Commander article, I decide to do something crazy! Let's build a Warrior themed deck around a very expensive Najeela, the Blade-Blossom, rather than my normal way of a budget leader. We come in at $42.45. You know you want to read it...
51. Want a Naya Gold deck? Literally? Built around the multicolored loving Rienne, Angel of Rebirth. It clocks it at $32.39. I know you want to find out how I ever could do that! Check it out!
52. I built a fun +1/+1 counter and enchantment-matters build around Eutropia the Twice-Favored for $32.33. Don't you wanna check it out?
53. I took the Skirmish deck I designed, Defy Death, and turned it into a Commander deck featuring Tariel, Reckoner of Souls for $32.28. Take a look and see what you think!
54. I created a fun token creature deck around Akim, the Soaring Wind from Commander 2020. It came in at $32.27!  Enjoy it here!
55. That's this article!