Hello!

I hope you are having an awesome day today!

I wanted to push my deck-building into a new area. What I like to do when I want to exercise my deck-building muscles is head over to Gatherer and hit random card for inspiration.

Today, let's do a random card which is legal as a Commander, and then build around it!

All right Gatherer, what do you have for me?

Our first card is Wellspring!

That's a fun throwback. Takes me back! But it's not legal, so let's keep on going.

Rally is my #2. Nope. Not legal as a Commander.

All of my first five are White. Wow. Interesting.

All right, my first legendary dork hits at pick 11:

All right great! Let's pack it in and build around Omnath, Locus of Rage, right?

Well, not so fast oh dear reader o' mine.

See, I don't like to build using a leader I've already written a deck around before. And not only do I have an Omnath, Locus of Rage deck in article form, but I have a real life version that's in my Commander box, and I've played just two weeks ago.

No thanks. Let's dig up something else.

It hits a little more than ten cards later!

It's Kefnet the Mindful. All right! Let's do it.

A lot of the Amonkhet Gods have very low prices on the secondary market. Kefnet? Just 0.49 here right now. (See The Scarab God or Bontu for other cheap examples. Shoot, even Hazoret dropped to fewer than 4 dollars). I want to push myself into a different direction...

Can I do a budget build of Kefnet? Let's do it! Let's try to keep this deck cheap for y'all!

In fact, let's connect this to my Budget Commander series and make this the 46th entry in that!

In this series, the goal of each iteration is to come under the budget of the previous one. The most recent was Emmara, Soul of the Accord where I came in at $32.77. That'll be my target today as well!

What do I want to do with a Kefnet deck? Great question!

First, I want to have the ability to keep cards in my hand beyond seven. Kefnet needs a big ol' grip o' cards to engage in combat for you. If you want your leader to have a board presence beyond his activated ability, then you are going to need a big hand of cards, and the best way to do that is with cards that allow you to have any number:

The problem is that these effects are really popular in Commander, so they have pricey market values. The Tower is okay with it's in print cost driving it down, but the Journal is five dollars.

I do both Library of Leng and Spellbook instead, which are just two bucks total for the cheapest versions.

Now there is a big ally for Kefnet that was printed long ago that you may not remember. I definitely see Kefnet and this Legendary Spirit as Brothers in Arms.

Soramaro is awesome in a Kefnet build as they both can activate to draw you cards, both can self-bounce lands in order to increase your hand size, and both are going to really want to have as big a grip of cards as possible. Soramaro is in.

Know what else is in? Patron of the Moon!

I know! So awesome. You can bounce lands via Soramaro or Kefnet in order to make them bigger with prior to combat, and then drop two lands for a single mana later in order to keep the pace with your mana. It also gives you an out to use the extra lands you may draw from your mass card drawing efforts. (See also Terrain Generator)

I also wanted a few cards that would help me win the game as well as play into my cards-are-strength idea. Both of these work well here, as they are sizeable, and the Crawler will hit people over the head in this build a lot. I want to draw all of the cards! And the Crawler is perfect here. Note that Sturmgeist flies and has a face-punching card drawing context as well.

Empyrial Plate strikes me as another great win-con. Strap it to anything from Mulldrifter and Silver Myr up to Kefnet and you have a nasty body. The great thing? All four of these rares are bulks, thus they are mega-cheap.

There's another bulk-rare area I want to hit too:

This is Future Sight. Now what it brings to the table is nasty. You can play off the top of your library and keep on going. Now if you've ever played Future Sight, then you know that what you'll do is favor the free cards on the top of your deck over playing cards in your hand. This allows you to play the game and keep dropping things while also not casting cards from your hand! I put in Magus of the Future to play into this as well.

I also wanted to draw cards, so you'll see Staff of Nin:

I wanted to add in a few lands that have "enters-the-battlefield" triggers. I can re-bounce them and then replay with them Kefnet (and Soramaro).

I am also running the cycling lands here, to draw cards if you don't need them. If you dropped them early for mana, then you can re-bounce and cycle them later for more cards. This deck is all about those cards.

I grabbed Uyo for more self-bouncing fun times for my lands, given that Uyo us a bulk rare with a powerful fork ability. I also tossed in a pair of Soratami creatures to add to my creature count.

We have a few other card-drawing triggers in here, like Tomorrow. Tomorrow is amazing in many builds, especially this one! And of course, Thought Reflection, which is now a bulk rare, surprisingly.

Oh, and I don't want to deck myself, so give a nice thanks to Elixir of Immortality to help with that.

I also wanted to bring two cards from Ravnica Allegiance to this build as well. Verity Circle is a fun way to draw cards by tapping stuff. Tapping stuff is a good way to keep it from punching you in the face, so you have a nice addition to this build. This is also a good place to bounce and replay Skyline Cascade after you tapped their dork, to keep it locked down. Mass Manipulation can steal tons of stuff and the many Blue in its casting cost isn't an issue in a Mono-Blue Commander build.

Welcome to the starting lineup rookies!

Retreat to Coralhelm is nasty with Verity Circle. Play a land, tap a dork, draw a card. Nice! You can also untap your stuff after you swung, scry 1 or tap stuff down to get ready to lock down with Skyline Cascade. It's also just a quarter. The Guardian of Tazeem is a bulk rare that plays into the same space. Nice, right? If you like the landfall thoughts then you could look at Roil Elemental, although I ran out of cash. Even a buck rare can't make the cut here. Sorry!

Avarice Amulet is a perfect card for Kefnet! Can you see why? Nope? Let me walk you through it!

Kefnet is:

1. 5/5
2. Flying
3. Indestructible
4. 3 mana
5. Needs 7 or more cards to swing or block

The Amulet is perfect!

First, Kefnet will get pumped by two in the front and vigilance. If you get Kefnet to attack mode, then a 7/5 vigilance, flying, indestructible is hard to stop when it swings every turn, as well as hard to swing into. It's opretty good.

Second, you get a free card each turn, so you will increase you card drawing, thus helping to ensure that Kefnet can participate in combat.

Third, the mana works. This can come down the turn after you drop Kefnet, so you can Amulet up your God.

Finally, and this is clever, the Amulet only switches sides when the creature wielding it dies. Kefnet can't die. He can be bounced, exiled, or something. But barring a rare Commander -X/-X effect he probably isn't dying, so you aren't being forced to give it up. And if you do, you can just get the Amulet back by killing the one who took it from you!

All right. The deck is finished! Want to see it in it's glory!

Budget Kefnet | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kefnet the Mindful

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Aeon Chronicler
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Azure Mage
• 1 Graceful Adept
• 1 Guard Gomazoa
• 1 Guardian of Tazeem
• 1 Illusory Ambusher
• 1 Jushi Apprentice / Tomaya the Revealer
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Magus of the Future
• 1 Mercurial Pretender
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Mystic Archaeologist
• 1 Psychosis Crawler
• 1 Salvager of Secrets
• 1 Scourge of Fleets
• 1 Silver Myr
• 1 Soramaro, First to Dream
• 1 Soratami Savant
• 1 Soratami Seer
• 1 Sturmgeist
• 1 Tideforce Elemental
• 1 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
• 1 Uyo, Silent Prophet
• 1 Vizier of Many Faces
• 1 Wild-Field Scarecrow
• 1 Windreader Sphinx

• Instants (11)
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Desertion
• 1 Dismiss
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Dissolve
• 1 Foil
• 1 Rewind
• 1 Summary Dismissal
• 1 Unwind
• 1 Void Shatter

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Flow of Ideas
• 1 Mass Manipulation

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Ever-Watching Threshold
• 1 Future Sight
• 1 Precognition Field
• 1 Retreat to Coralhelm
• 1 Thought Reflection
• 1 Verity Circle

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Avarice Amulet
• 1 Elixir of Immortality
• 1 Empyrial Plate
• 1 Icy Manipulator
• 1 Ivory Tower
• 1 Library of Leng
• 1 Seer's Sundial
• 1 Spellbook
• 1 Staff of Nin
• 1 Strata Scythe

• Lands (41)
• 33 Island
• 1 Desert of the Mindful
• 1 Halimar Depths
• 1 Lonely Sandbar
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Remote Isle
• 1 Skyline Cascade
• 1 Terrain Generator
• 1 Zhalfirin Void

Buy This Deck Export text format

My target was 32.77. Total cost?

$32.74

Nice!

Now please note that prices are not set in stone but instead are elastic. The specific price may vary from when I wrote this last week to when it was published to when you read it. So it may wind up being 36.88 or 33.21 or 44.22 if something spiked. That happens. It's okay. The point stands. Kefnet is a great budget leader!

Oh, here are some cards I was looking at, and their price at coolstuffinc.com right now.

Jace Beleren -4

Jace, Memory Adept - 6

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - 4.50

Master of Waves - 3

What else do you like here? Inundate? Rhystic Study? Thought Vessel? Chasm Skulker? Thassa, God of the Sea? Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx? Propaganda? Vedalken Shackles? Alhammarret's Archive? Mystic Confluence? Cryptic Command? Nezahal, Primal Tide? Toothy, Imaginary Friend? I could push into milling with Psychic Corrosion I suppose. Or Sphinx's Tutelage.

And there we go! Any thoughts? Any changes you'd make? Just let me know.

APPENDIX

Here are the first 30+Discount Commander Options for your wallet-friendly needs:

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. [card][card]Bosh, Iron Golem" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card]Bosh, Iron Golem" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card][card]Bosh, Iron Golem">[card][card]Bosh, Iron Golem">[card]Bosh, Iron Golem" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card][card]Bosh, Iron Golem">[card][card]Bosh, Iron Golem[/card] 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 [card]Yeva, Nature's Herald" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/Yeva, Nature's Herald" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card]Yeva, Nature's Herald">[card]Yeva, Nature's Herald">Yeva, Nature's Herald" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card]Yeva, Nature's Herald">[card]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. [card]Karametra, God of Harvests" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/Karametra, God of Harvests" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card]Karametra, God of Harvests">[card]Karametra, God of Harvests">Karametra, God of Harvests" href="/p/Magic+The+Gathering/[card]Karametra, God of Harvests">[card]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!