Do you like cheap cards? Do you also love to unfurl secret cards at your opponents? I love to drop a cheap, powerful card at the Commander table and win with it. Finding some hidden gems is great!

Previously in my Foster and Friends series, I’ve looked at cards that really gave a lot with a low cost. Today, I thought I’d push that theme and give you fifteen potential Commanders that all clock in at a buck or less right now on www.coolstuffinc.com for near-mint copies. (Note that prices might alter from when this article is written to when it is published to when you are reading it.)

Yeva, Nature's Herald – If you are going to be mono-green, it’s hard to find a better Commander for your deck. I’d rather run Yeva than something like Kaysa or Meng Huo, Barbarian King. First, I can play her with flash from the Commander zone, and that’s cool. I’d rather turn all of my creatures into spiderlike surprises that come out of nowhere. She’s both a rattlesnake and a spider. She’s a rattlesnake because on the board, you have to believe that I can play a creature at ramming speed to block and kill any creature you have. So you reconsider attacking if I have cards in hand and lands untapped. I have instant spider tricks that combine with warnings of a rattlesnake to establish a potent board effect. I’ve seen her run the table as a Commander.

Vorel of the Hull Clade – While Vorel is not the best Simic legendary creatures of all time, he does have two major advantages. First, he’s very much on theme, which helps. His counter-doubling is very potent in a lot of decks, and he’s very easy to build around. Second, he’s quite the cheap little engine. Vorel can add a lot to your deck more quickly than other options, such as Prime Speaker Zegana.

Lieutenant Kirtar – The first of our three mono-white considerations for you today is this underrated jewel. Each of the three mono-white players will go in different directions, and here, we have a great control Commander. Kirtar can be played very early and used as a virtual Seal of Order (from Order // Chaos). He keeps people from attacking with their best stuff at you (and often just generally). Using him as a Commander, you can sacrifice him to exile dorks over and over again. The cheap cost, combined with a powerful ability that alters the game in your favor, makes Kirtar a strong option for your deck. In my opinion, Kirtar is among the single best options for Commander for a mono-white control deck.

Tajic, Blade of the Legion – Indestructible with a powerful battalion ability, Tajic brings some strong goods to the table for your consideration. We all know the sheer power of indestructible, how it helps to keep people alive through a lot of crap that often sweeps the board—plus, Tajic is in two colors with sweeping removal he can survive, so you can run Magmaquake and Fated Retribution with aplomb. However, Tajic is also the leader of an army. As long as you’re bringing a couple of friends to the party, he’ll swell to giant levels quickly, which can kill folks with Commander damage surprisingly quickly.

Bosh, Iron Golem – I’m saddened by the lack of play that Bosh has seen in Commander for the last few years. He used to see a lot of play in Casual Land, but it seems that he’s been collectively forgotten. But he brings a lot to the table as a Commander. You already know exactly how to build your deck around him: mono-red with heavy artifact elements. You are looking at stuff like Goblin Welder, Mycosynth Golem, and Darksteel Forge. It’ll be a fun deck; build it, and enjoy yourself!

Rosheen Meanderer – This giant Shaman is a perfectly respectable 4/4 threat for 4 humble mana. You have a guaranteed on-curve 4-drop every game. And then, let’s not forget the ability to tap for a quartet of mana under the right circumstances. Let’s suppose you have used no mana acceleration. On turn four, you play Rosheen, and then on turn five, dropping your fifth land, you tap the lands and Rosheen for an Apocalypse Hydra. It comes into play as a 14/14 Hydra. That’s pretty powerful, right? And that’s just a simple example, without benefit of acceleration. You can imagine how fast and big things would be with better acceleration. Plus, you can use our Giant friend for things with in the cost, such as Arashi, the Sky Asunder, Cinder Elemental, and Silklash Spider. Don’t forget that Astral Cornucopia would look good in a Rosheen deck, too.

Patron of the Moon – The Patron of the Moon is a minor card, right? I mean, who plays cards with offering? But take another look at that ability. For 1 colorless mana, you can spit two lands out onto the battlefield tapped from your hand. Blue draws a lot of cards. It can swell its hand with too many, so you can throw down those lands and quickly accelerate your mana to the levels green can. It’s a great card to have as your Commander in a mono-blue deck with a ton of mass-card-draw. Note that blue is also the color of untapping. You can play an effect such as Turnabout to untap all of those lands and make a metric ton of mana to explode into some nastier and nastier effect. In fact, I like this idea so much that I’m tempted to build a Patron of the Moon deck. Seems like it would be a lot of cards!

Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero – Our second mono-white dork is this Rebel, once so powerful she was banned in Masques Block. In Commander, you can drop her on turn two and then immediately begin searching up the Rebel Alliance. Of course, one of the issues here is that many of the potential targets are not the best for multiplayer. I get that. But there are a number of contenders one might forget: Whipcorder is a good tapper, Cho-Manno, Revolutionary is a powerful blocker, and so is Defiant Vanguard. You could run a small number of flexible guys to search up, and don’t forget Changelings and Bound in Silence are options as well. You can also restock cards such as Crib Swap and the Silence after use with Lin Sivvi’s ability. Have some fun!

Karona, False God – Does your potential tribal deck have more than one color, but no obvious legendary creature? Why not run Karona!? That way, you can play all four colors of Samurai, including Isao, Enlightened Bushi and Cursed Ronin. Or you can play all five colors of Spirits, all three colors of Goblins, or all five of Wizards, Soldiers, and so forth. Karona can do more than be the annoying Commander of Allies. She enables any fun tribe that wants to thrive in more than one color. So let’s hear it for our False God.

Asmira, Holy Avenger – Asmira has an unusual template that resonates with her abilities even today. Like Khabal Ghoul and some other early cards, she receives counters at the end of the turn, not as they die. Why does that matter? Well, suppose you cast Wrath of God to sweep the board. Four of your dorks die. Then, you play Asmira. At the end of your turn, she swells to 6/7 range, and you have a serious flying threat on the board. In any deck with sacrificial outlets and/or loads of creatures, she’ll grant a strong chance to finish people off with Commander damage. For example, Selesnya’s ability to spit out a lot of Saproling tokens can be harnessed while also growing your Asmira. She has the chops to stand with others.

And that makes fifteen entries for you of legendary creatures that chart in at a buck or less. All of these make fine Commanders. Even if you don’t like each one as a Commander, you might have uncovered a cool card to add to your deck. Commander doesn’t have to break the bank. So pick up Nath, Vorel, or Asmira, and let’s have some fun!

See you next week,

Abe Sargent