Hello Awesome Readers! Today we have our next step in the Building Your First Commander article series. Two weeks ago, we chose three Commanders and budgets to build around. Today we will add in their mana and lands, one of the biggest steps. Building your First Commander can be rough, since the deck size of 100 cards and Highlander and the high cost of staples can be prohibitive. Plus where do you start in a format with more than 20,000 cards legal and then more than 1500 legal Commanders?

This is the biggest week. Get ready for a longer article.

Mana matters a lot, don't ignore it. I like to run Mana Rocks and things like lands on the turn prior to dropping them. So for example, with a 4 Mana Commander run two drop rocks and Rampant Growth to drop on turn 3 instead of four. A 5 drop can be played one turn early with a 3 mana rock or Cultivate. Make sense?

I also like to run things like the modal spell/lands that can count as either, like Malakir Rebirth that can be played in either spot. I try to stick to 40 lands, but I'll drop it if I have a cheaper set of stuff to run. Also, don't sleep on the ability of cheap cantripping one drop instants and sorceries like Opt to get the land and color you need in the early game.

I typically like to run 10-15 ramp and mana dorks and rocks in my deck in addition to my lands, although some will have more based on the size of my Commander or the cost of my spells and dorks.

Here are my decks and budgets:

• Deck #1: Dimir Saboteur with Milling Backup around Zareth San, the Trickster; Budget Under $100
• Deck #2: Boros Equipment with Partners Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist and Rograkh, Son of Rohgah; Budget-conscious
• Deck #3: Golgari Elves with Abomination of Llanowar; No Budget Cares

Let's do the long one first:

Deck #1: Zareth San

• Dimir Sabotage, budget under $100

Basics don't count towards the budget. This is a Dimir Saboteur deck with a milling backup win con to have enough to use out of the graveyard. Note that I am building around Zareth's combat damage trigger that can get you free permanents onto your battlefield, and we'll be loading this other combat damage triggers called "Saboteur" abilities by R&D.

Lands first!

These Lands Cost $1.49

The Tunnel is a key colorless land that arrives untapped and ready to tap for colorless. Then with three mana it'll tap to make a dork with power 3 or less unblockable for the turn. That plays nicely with your combat damage triggers. The Castle usually arrives tapped so you take a turn off unless you control an Island. Then you can tap it with four mana to scry 2, which is nice card selection over time.

Check out the much cheaper Rogue's Passage. Even though this is way better than Access Tunnel, it's cheaper to acquire on the secondary market. Then you can tap this with four instead of three, and then make anything unblockable, like your leader! This is very strong here, and elsewhere too! It's very good with the unblockability of your stuff! Next up at 50 cents: Choked Estuary!

These Lands Cost 35 Cents

Check out this pair of Dimir lands that tap for colorless and arrive untapped and ready to be used. The Drownyard taps with three to have your foe mill three. Good stuff for the winning as well as getting things for this deck's Commander to mill. The House taps with two instead but only mills for one. Still not bad! Getting opposing mill in your land base is key since these cost $0.70 together. Nasty pair!

• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Contaminated Aquifer
• 1 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
• 1 Mistvault Bridge
• 1 Nephalia Drownyard
• 1 Thriving Isle
• 1 Thriving Moor

These Lands Cost 25 Cents

Let's finish our land section with a quarter pair in Mortuary Mire and Port of Karfell. The Mire arrives tapped, so you'll take a turn off to use it. Then you can get one activation of a Volrath's Stronghold for free. Nasty stuff here, am I right? And you get that added to your deck for free. The Port arrives tapped as well. You can sac it with a tap and a massive six mana. Then mill four and Zombify a dork from your graveyard to your battlefield. This pair is free recursion in your land zone, nasty for longer games.

• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Dismal Backwater
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Port of Karfell
• 1 Submerged Boneyard
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Waterfront District

Budget: $10.91 for Lands and Commander

Mana Rocks and Artifact Mana

These Artifacts Cost 1.49

Check out this pair to complement Sol Ring (which clocks in at $2)! The 10-card Signet cycle is a key mana rock in any two-color deck. It's grown in value on the secondary market to be worth the price of three $0.49 bulk rares. But you can still fit it into a $100 budget deck. The Golem is a classic 4-drop that's the same price as the Signet, despite being a rare and it a common because it's been so heavily printed. It's nicknamed "Sad Robot." Ol' Saddy is powerful card here as it'll grab you a land ramped on turn 4, and then when it dies, you'll draw card, a nasty combination of two ways of getting cards, so it's card advantage in your ramp section. Nice pair!

Decanter of Endless Water was just printed. It's a three-drop mana rock that gives you a fourth-turn Zareth San. Then you can tap it for any color, which is great here since you can activate mana of things you reanimate with your Commander when it deals combat damage to anyone. Then it stops you from discarding, so it's a free Spellbook on a mana rock you can add to your deck for free! Fellwar Stone is a classic two-drop that will arrive untapped and ready to be used turn two. You can tap for any color of your foes' lands, so that's usually all five colors in a multiplayer game, and certainly their activated abilities can be paid if not in your colors with this mana rock.

• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum

Now let's check out the $1.25 Worn Powerstone. Unfortunately it has not been errata'ed with the Powerstone subtype. This drops for three, but you take a turn off since it arrives tapped. Then it taps, not for one, but two mana, but just colorless. This leads into a fourth-turn play of your Commander, even if you miss a turn 4-land drop since it taps for two. But it's just colorless. It's worth the time taken off and colorless to get two mana from one rock.

These Artifacts Cost 25 cents

Note this is sold out here, so I don't know it's current CoolStuffInc.com price, but it's priced at a quarter on other sites so that's what I went with here. This was originally Commander's Sphere, which I pulled for the ability to get any color of mana for your leader's stealing as well as the ability to tap and make any color of mana. I also like the ability for this to tap for any color of mana with four to draw a card.

• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Charcoal Diamond
• 1 Sky Diamond

Total for 10 Mana Rocks and Bodies - $10.20

Budget - $21.07 Total for Lands, Commander and Artifact Mana

There we go!

Zareth San's Lands and Mana | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Mana sources (50)
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Charcoal Diamond
• 1 Decanter of Endless Water
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Sky Diamond
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Worn Powerstone
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Choked Estuary
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Contaminated Aquifer
• 1 Dimir Aqueduct
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Dismal Backwater
• 1 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Ice Tunnel
• 1 Mistvault Bridge
• 1 Mortuary Mire
• 1 Nephalia Drownyard
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Port of Karfell
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Submerged Boneyard
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Thriving Isle
• 1 Thriving Moor
• 1 Waterfront District
• 8 Island
• 8 Swamp

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Budget - $21.07 Total for Lands, Commander and Artifact Mana

Cards to add with a bigger budget are Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Command Beacon, Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

Deck #2: Boros Equipment

• Boros Equipment with Partners Ardenn, Intrepid Archeologist and Rograkh, Son of Rohgah; Budget-conscious

As a reminder, this Boros deck is budget-conscious, so it will be happy to run cards that cost 10 or 15 or 20 dollars, but not heavily priced staples in the format, like the $60 of Sword of Fire and Ice. Ready for my lands and mana stuff of this Boros Brew?

Let's get 'er done!

The Armory arrives tapped so you take a turn off but then you can sac it with four mana to search your library for an Aura or Equipment and put it into your hand, so it'll get you a key piece of either for your Commander or other equipping fun times. The Sphere arrives untapped so there's no tempo loss, but it only taps for colorless. It can blend one color into another with a tap. Then you can tap it with X mana to copy a nontoken artfict with that cost. It'll be tapped, but the copy effct doesn't end at the end of the turn, so it's very strong. It's here to copy key equipment and then equip your key dork for free with Ardenne each turn.

Slayers' Stronghold can be tapped with two Boros colored mana and then gives the targeted dork haste, vigilance and a two-power boost. Nasty here with that since in multiplayer you can attack targets of opportunity with your fat equipped dork without tapping and being open for a counter attack. Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion also taps for colorless, and takes a four-mana tap to give a target double strike. Then that will kill with Commander Damage twice as fast, so it's a Time Walk in land form. It's a rattlesnake with it untapped and four mana since your foe may not attack into you're your team and lose in the red zone.

Check out this pair of lands that help out your artifacts. The uncommon taps for colorless and then will tap with a pair of mana and sacrifice to Raise Dead an artifact from your graveyard to your hand. Then the rare will tap for colorless too. This time you'll gain life each upkeep if you control three or more artifacts which is called metalcraft. Then you can tap and sacrifice this with four mana and then Fabricate to tutor for any artifact from your library to your hand if you have metalcraft. Nice combo of sacrificing fun times!

Check out this pair of War rares. The Room is sold out here, but between $4.50 and $7 on other sites. It's a new Commander staple. This taps for colorless and then with three mana you'll lose life equal to your colors and draw a card - here that's a trade of two life and three mana for a card. Boros often has issues with card flow, and getting one in your land base is brilliant fun. The Cathedral ETBs tapped, so you take a turn off. Then it taps for a colorless with exalted, so when you just attack with Rograkh then he'll get +1/+1 boost even when tapped. For free, no mana or other resources required.

Rustvale Bridge is a cheap common with indestructible and it's an artifact to boot. It taps for both of our colors and arrives tapped, so it's hard-to-answer, adds to our artifact count for metalcraft, and can be tutored for with the Fair. I am also running Darksteel Citadel. Arid Mesa can tap and sacrifice with life to fetch out any Plains or Mountain. I am running almost every dual land to fetch.

Mana Rocks and Dorks

The Signet is my only two-drop mana rock. It arrives untapped and will tap for any of your two colors. It's nasty here as a nice way to make that mana! The Mox is a zero that will only tap for Red if you control a Red legendary and so on. If you have it on the first turn with Rograkh then it'll always tap for red on the first turn, making it canon here.

Ready?

Boros Equipment Mana | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Mana sources (44)
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Mox Amber
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Ancient Den
• 1 Alpine Meadow
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Axgard Armory
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Cathedral of War
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Great Furnace
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Mishra's Factory
• 1 The Mycosynth Gardens
• 1 Needle Spires
• 1 Rustvale Bridge
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Sacred Peaks
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spire of Industry
• 1 Treasure Vault
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 War Room
• 8 Plains
• 8 Mountain

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Other cards might include Urza's Saga. Also note that this includes fewer mana rocks and bodies since we want to be playing an equipment on turn 1 and turn 2, as well as Rograkh on turn 1 for free. We have fewer needs for a mana-curved dork since our most expensive Commander just costs three, so we need to drop it pre-combat on turn 3 and equip Rograkh with the equipment already played and swing. I also like Mox Opal here if you can afford it or Mana Crypt for a first turn drop and play. Mox Diamond is way too pricey.

Deck #3: Golgari Elves

• Elves with Abomination of Llanowar; No budget

This three-drop Golgari card won't have a budget, but that doesn't mean we'll run expensive cards just because. Jeweled Lotus on turn one won't do anything but have a 1/1 Elf Horror. Instead of mana rocks, we'll lean into mana elves to pump this thing now and then later when they die, too. This will have some self-mill to grow the size of our Commander.

Ready for the Lands? Wirewood Lodge arrives untapped, taps for colorless, and can be used turn 1. Then you can tap it to untap an Elf, such as some we'll see later! It's very strong here and you don't lose a card running it in your landbase. Bojuka Bog ETBs tapped, so there's a tempo loss. On ETB you'll exile a graveyard, so that's removal of opposing graveyard tricks in your deck without worrying about anything else. Nice pair!

Check out this pair of lands with Golgari color identity! Oran-Rief can place a counter of the +1/+1 persuasion onto each Green creature that ETBs this turn. Most of the key Elves are Green, so that should be a lot. Note that this works on all Green creatures for multiplayer and duals, so your foe will get that enhancement. It's very strong at killing with your going wide deck. The Coffers arrive untapped and tap with two generic mana to make Black equal to your Swamp count. I also tossed in Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to make all of your lands Swamps as well as all of the dual lands save for the original Bayou. Great card here!

Check out this pair of self-milling Black identity cards! I wanted self-milling here to fill up my graveyard with Elves for the building up of our Abomination. The Mire arrives untapped, but is here to Channel for no more than 4 to mill three and then Raise Dead a dork or planeswalker in your graveyard to your battlefield, so that's recursion in land form. The Fortress can exile with five mana and a tap to mill four and then Zombify a dork onto the battlefield under your control but only at sorcery speed. Great pair here!

Grim Backwoods taps for colorless and arrives untapped. Then you can tap it for four, sacrifice a dork, and draw a card. Card flow in the land zone is always hard to deal with. Also note that your go-wide deck should have loads of different options for sacrificing for cards. It's great after chump-blocking or being targeted for removal. Path of Ancestry is a Command Tower that ETBs tapped, so you take a turn off. Then if you tap it for making an Elf, you scry 1, which is a great way of securing better draws over time! Nasty land pair here!

Let's play with creature type with this duo as well! The former one chooses a creature type on arrival to the battlefield. Choose Elves. It arrives untapped. Then it taps for colorless. Then any mana for casting Elves, and they cannot be countered. That's a nasty option here with a deep Elf creature type group in your mana stuff. The latter will tap for colorless on arrival to the battlefield since it's untapped. Then you can tap a mana and make this a 2/2 Elf for the turn to add to your land count, Elf count, and size of your Abomination, so it's a combat trick out of nowhere. Love this pair loads here!

Let's finish our land with this pair. The Elderhall arrives tapped, again taking a turn off. But it's worth it. It can be sacrificed with five mana to give a target dork you don't control -2/-2 for the turn to kill it, and then make two 1/1 Elf Warrior tokens. That'll grow the Abomination by 2 and increase other things we'll see below - that's creature removal tethered to Elf-making. You can only do that at sorcery speed. The Stronghold taps for colorless and enters untapped. You can tap it with two mana and then reload a dork from your graveyard to the top of your library. This will shrink your Commander until recast, but will let you reload the good stuff over and over again from your deck. High quality fun begins with this one. Great pair of ways to impact the board state in your mana base.

Lands are done!

Mana Dorks and Rocks

Ideally I want to drop our Commander on turn 2 with a turn 1 mana Elf, so I am playing them all here. The Priest can tap for mana equal to your Elf count, which cares about the Elf from our land base too. The Deep Shadow Elves are well worth it here with the 40 life format of Commander and since it gives you Black mana off a Green mana source on the second turn, it's great.

Llanowar Visionary ETBs and draws you a card, nice card flow in your mana Elves. Then it taps for a mana so it's free here and loads of fun. Circle of Dreams Druid also costs three, but much harder so it may not be a third-turn play in a two-color brew. Still it taps for mana equal to your dork count, so it's a Gaea's Cradle on legs. It's very strong here too.

The Modern-legal Llanowar Tribe isn't easy to cast with triple colored mana but also gives you an on-curve 3/3 body and taps for triple as well, so that's very strong here. Remember how I am playing every non-Bayou dual land? Enter Wood Elves with the ability to ETB and ramp Forest from your deck to the battlefield tapped. Nice ramping in an Elf body!

Let's finish our creature count with this pair. The Archdruid costs three and then pumps your Elves by +1/+1 and taps for mana equal to your Elf count, so it's another Priest of Titania on a Lord body. The Tactician is a four-drop 3/3 that gives your Elves the same pumping, two Lords that also make that mana! Great pair!

Golgari Elves Mana | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Mana sources (54)
• 1 Arbor Elf
• 1 Canopy Tactician
• 1 Circle of Dreams Druid
• 1 Elvish Archdruid
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Llanowar Tribe
• 1 Llanowar Visionary
• 1 Priest of Titania
• 1 Wirewood Channeler
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Grim Backwoods
• 1 Haunted Mire
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Secluded Courtyard
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Skemfar Elderhall
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Tomb Fortress
• 1 Wirewood Lodge
• 1 Woodland Chasm
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Volrath's Stronghold
• 1 War Room
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• 7 Forest
• 7 Swamp

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We have 15 cards that aren't lands, plus a full 40 lands to help out with. Nice!

Again, each deck has different mana needs, one came in at 10 non-land mana makers, one just a handful, and the last 14 non-lands that all are Elves. See the difference there?

Next week we'll do card flow and answers. Ready? I hope so!