Hello awesome folks and Commander fans with a cheap budget! I got you! Today I wanted to do a pair that debuted just recently in March of the Machine's Commander deck that's pretty cheap on the budget side of things, ready?

What three color legendary am I building around?

This 4-drop is my baby! It's everyone's favorite colors - Blue for draw and counters, Red for burn and removal, Green for ramp and removal. This has a smaller size 2/4 body. And just one ability too. When you cast your first spell on your turn, exile the top card of each opponent's library and make a Treasure. Then you can cast an exiled card for free if it's cheaper than your Artifact count, or normally with your mana. Since this is in Red for Treasure making, that latter aspect could be quite the big pricey thang as most Treasure makers are way past this budget, and that's the direction taken over at EDHREC.com. Rashmi and Ragavan costs just 99 cents, which is 50 cents less than my last Budget Commander, Radagast the Brown.

That budget for the last deck was 32.20, so I have to come in under it. Ready for my deep dive? I got you!

Let's get this thing started!

Ramp, Mana, Lands

0.25 each. Since I am not able to run a bunch of the best Treasure makers and adjuncts due to price, I am leaning on mana rocks instead of ramping lands and Treasures like this pair. The 3-drop taps for any color of mana in our identity but not the other two. Since we are casting spells not in our colors and without Black's mana washing, I am running Manaliths here as well. This sacs for a card to keep up the card flow. The 4-drop taps for double colorless for pricier spells or two a turn, and also sacrifices for a card, this time with two mana and a tap. It'll also exile all other graveyards when you do - solid stuff here.

0.25 and 0.25 here too! The Hart drops for three, sacrifices for three, and then ramps two basics to the Battlefield tapped from your library. That'll fix your mana or get you two lands for ramping or fetch out two lands for casting the bigger stuff or twice. The Sphere drops turn two, sacrifices for two and fetches two basics and then puts them into your hand. Both are early game sacrifices in the cheap Artifact friendly zone!

0.99 and 0.49 for this land and Artifact pair! The Artifact is one of the priciest cards here. This 2-drop will tap for any color of your foe's lands! That means that with this you'll always be able to cast their stuff even if it's White or Black. The land is a bulk rare that is also a Fellwar Stone land that ETBs untapped and taps for color your foes can make, both very strong additions here.

Let's finish this section with this land pair that cost 0.35 and 0.49 respectively. The common is an indestructible Artifact land in the Bridge cycle that taps for two colors of mana. I tossed in the other two. It's here to tap and make mana and count for lands as well. The Temple is a bulk rare that taps for Gruul colored mana, ETBs tapped and you scry 1. I also tossed in their other two as well.

Cool Things to Cast

Now let's turn to cool things to cast. This pair of 6-drop, 6-power dorks cost $0.15 and $0.49! The former has 4 toughness, and when it ETBs, you make two Foods. Then you can cycle it for two mana to grab any basic land from your deck, so it's mana search or Food making on a Green common. The latter one is Red and has 6 toughness with menace, so it's evasive. Then when it smashes face, you make that many Blood tokens! Deal all 6? Make 6 Blood! That's a lot of Blood-making on an evasive beater. Then you can spend three to Zap a target for one, so that's board control and player control on one ability. I am obviously leaning into other mass Artifact token makers here that also contribute to the red zone, but let's turn to a pair of Treasure makers next!

We'll finish this section with this Mono-Red Treasure making common pair that cost $0.15 and $0.25 each. The Ogre costs four for a 3/3 size so it's a Hill Giant. Then when it swings, toss a D20 and make some Treasures, always at least one! Note that this is not deals combat damage to a player, like Olivia's Attendants. The Dwarf and Rogue costs two with a defensive-esque 1/3 body. Then you can spend one and tap him to exile a dork from your graveyard to make a Treasure token. We don't have any recursion and I am running 28 non-Commander dorks, so that should be likely here.

Synergies and Winning-Conditions

Now let's turn to synergies and win-cons. A quarter each! The non-creature costs two to drop, makes a Food on arrival to the Battlefield, and then you can spend 1 when you sacrifice a Food to dig two, reveal a permanent and draw it - card flow and Food synergies in one card. The Creature costs three on a 2/3. When you would make tokens, make a Food too. That works with Food makers too as well as others like Blood, Clues, Treasure and Food. You can sac three Food to draw a card at instant speed without mana or tapping. Nice combo!

Chek out this Green Enchantment pair! Bulk rare at $0.49 cents and a quarter for the uncommon persuasion. The rare drops for three, and when it ETBs, you make a Food for each foe you have! In a traditional four player game that's three and a card with Peregrin Took! Or you can trigger the Trail of Crumbs three times. The uncommon also costs three. At your end step, if you cast both a non-creature and a Creature, you make a Clue, Food, and Treasure too. Nasty three Artifacts for you. Since you should be casting one spell normally, and then a spell with your Commander that could easily be three tokens on your turn. And if you wanna do that normally, I have 29 Creatures and 31 noncreatures.

Let's finish this section with this pair that is in all of my colors! Bulk rare ($0.49) and pricey common ($0.49 too). The Simic one costs two, rocks a 1/2 body. When another non-token ETBs on your side, you make a Clue. Token making, card flow, and with 28 other dorks, that should happen pretty often. Then you can tap her and sac X Clues to make a foe reveal their top X cards from their library and then drop a nonland permanent from their library to your Battlefield for free that's equal to or less than the sacrificed Clues. Card flow and Artifact making and free stuff all in one two-mana package on a bulk rare. The pricey common Red one costs two for a bigger 1/3. For this investment, whenever an Artifact ETBs on your side, your foes will ting for one damage each, so it's player removal.

Card Draw

Now let's turn to card draw! This pair of uncommons cost $0.25 x 2! The Sorcery costs five and draws 4. It used to get loads of play casually and still is a four for one. The Instant is one of the best card draw spells ever printed. I also tossed in $0.25 cost Concentrate and Harmonize.

Both of these are also quarter as well! The uncommon costs five, with improvise, so you can tap Artifacts like Food or Blood to drop its cost down by one each to minimum. The Elemental costs five, is a 3/2 flyer so it can swing, and then it makes two Clues on arrival. Then you can evoke it for two to make two Clues that add to your Artifact count by two. I am also running Mulldrifter that costs a quarter for its cheapest version here too!

Let's finish card flow with this Clue making duo! A quarter and ninety-nine cents! The quarter one costs two, when you deal combat damage to your foes, you make a Clue. Note just once per combat damage, so barring first or double strike, just one per combat. Then you can spend two to exile a dork from your graveyard to gain two life and make a Clue. The $0.99 one costs four for a dork, that has a 2/3 flying body. Then when it ETBs, you'll make a Clue for each foe you control, again three in a four player game. When you draw your 2nd card each turn you make a 1/1 flyer with the Spirit tribe, so that's a win-con go wide on a flying dork that also investigates you multiple times.

Answers

Let's turn to answers and start with counters. This rare pair are $0.49 and $0.99 so less than a buck fifty combined. The Suspicions costs five, is a hard counter for any spell cast, and then you make three Clues on resolution to count as Artifacts or draw cards. The Swindle also costs five, counters anything, and then makes Treasures equal to your spell countered. I also am running the cheaper than you'd expect Commander Classic Negate ($0.25) and synergistic win-con and artifact maker Access Denied ($0.99).

Now let's turn to synergetic removal. $0.25; $0.20. The Sorcery costs three, one more than Naturalize and slower, but you can make a Clue token when it resolves. Then the Instant costs three, is a pseudo-Fight for you to kill an opposing dork without taking any damage back. Then you make a Food token, so you can get removal tied to Artifact making.

Let's finish this section and deep dives with more Creature removal that costs $0.15 and $0.49 each. The common costs five is a Sorcery speed, then you shoot a dork for four damage. Then you make Bloods equal to the excess damage. So, if you shoot a 2 toughness dork, you make a pair of Bloods. The rare Creature costs six for a 6/6 on curve. When it ETBs (or another Vampire does) fight an opposing dork for six damage and absorb up to five back without dying. Then when your Enforcer kills a dork you'll make a Blood token, including the Fighting, so you might make a Blood then as well as later. This is a strong pair of Blood makers on removal!

And there we are! Ready for the decklist? I got you!

Budgeting with Rashmi and Ragavan | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Rashmi and Ragavan

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Captain Lannery Storm
• 1 Cutthroat Negotiator
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Etali, Primal Storm
• 1 Ethereal Investigator
• 1 Hoarding Ogre
• 1 Ingenious Artillerist
• 1 Lonis, Cryptozoologist
• 1 Markov Enforcer
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Olivia's Attendants
• 1 Orchard Strider
• 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1 Peregrin Took
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Plundering Barbarian
• 1 Rapacious Dragon
• 1 Reckless Fireweaver
• 1 Schema Thief
• 1 Shimmer Dragon
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Vault Robber
• 1 Vedalken Humiliator
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
• 1 Wavesifter

• Instants (7)
• 1 Access Denied
• 1 Confirm Suspicions
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Hinder
• 1 Negate
• 1 Smashing Success
• 1 Stew the Coneys

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Concentrate
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Inspired Tinkering
• 1 Lacerate Flesh
• 1 Portent
• 1 Reverse Engineer
• 1 Revive the Shire
• 1 Root Out
• 1 Sylvan Scrying
• 1 Tidings

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Fae Offering
• 1 Killer Service
• 1 Ongoing Investigation
• 1 Trail of Crumbs

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Izzet Signet
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Stonespeaker Crystal

• Lands (40)
• 10 Island
• 10 Mountain
• 9 Forest
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Frontier Bivouac
• 1 Silverbluff Bridge
• 1 Slagwoods Bridge
• 1 Tanglepool Bridge
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Darksteel Citadel

Buy This Deck Export text

Budget Target: 32.20

Result? 32.14 - six cents cheaper!

Nothing cost more than a dollar. Note that I spent a big portion of my budget on the mana like the 50 cent each Signets, Temples, the buck Fellwar Stone, and stuff to make sure this three color dork can cast it's stuff. Note that budget and prices quoted here at CoolStuffInc.com and sorts can shift from writing 8 days before publication and when you read it, but the basic concept of a cheap deck is key, even if the price shifts here and there.

Cards to include could be Treasure Vault, Xorn, Academy Ruins, Ketria Triome, Hellkite Tyrant, Heroic Intervention, Tireless Tracker, Goldspan Dragon, Brass's Bounty, Cavern-Hoard Dragon, Professional Face-Breaker, The Shire, and it's pal Mines of Moria too.

I hope you enjoyed my budget take on this fun popular Commander with more than 2k decks registered over at EDHREC.com already!

Budget Commander Appendix

If you enjoyed today's cheap Selesnya Rabit making build, great! Here are the first 65 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. I built a Mono-Blue scry and flying matters deck around the partners Eligeth, Crossroads Augur and Siani, Eye of the Storm, that came in under $32.23. It was fun! You can find it here!
56. I love a good crazy Commander to build around, like Hans Eriksson. My version of him ran cards like enrage led Dinosaurs, and mid-range cards you'd want to drop onto the battlefield with aplomb. The deck came in at $32.29. Want to check it out?
57. For my Selensya fans I built this crazy life gain and going wide build around Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn! It came in at $32.27 just two cents fewer than #56! Enjoy it here!
58. I built a big spells matter and ramp Simic deck around partners from Commander Legends Brinelin, the Moon Kraken and Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood. It features X spells like Hydras and big spells a go go! The budget? Just $32.73! Check it out here.
59. If you want to check out a cheap Orzhov +1/+1 Counters Matter brew, great! I've got you covered! I built around Shaile, Dean of Radiance and Embrose, Dean of Shadow. The total for this awesome build is $32.68. You can view it here.
60. This deck came in at $32.65 and it's a Peasant version Axelrod Gunnsaron from the first set that introduced legendary stuff. This one lets you use the version from Legends instead of Chronicles and it's a powerful Rakdos deck that uses ways to trigger Axelrod's ability like giving him ping effects like Fire Whip, deathtouch ones like Bladebrand, and I built the rest of the deck around deathtouchers and pingers. You can check it out here.
61. Coming in at $32.60 was this mono-Black Jerren, Corrupted Bishop deck that cared about the Human tribe and going aggro. You can find it here!
62. I was excited to write a mono-Blue toughness-matters brew around Geralf, Visionary Stitcher. It came in at $32.56.
63. Then I created a deck around the incredibly popular Zaxara, the Exemplary and built and budget view of this powerful leader that came in at $32.54. Find it here!
64. I built a Sphinx matters mono-Blue build around Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign that came in at $32.51! You can check out this bad boy here.
65. I built a Mono-Black, 1-power creature matters theme around Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker. This is a fun unique deck Budget Commander: Hurray Shirei! | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com) with a budget of $32.46.
66. I have a fun Rabbit-y deck led by Cadira, Caller of the Small that frumps around at $32.42- ready? Budget Commander: All the Rabbits with Cadira | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)
67. For $32.42 I built an Izzet deck around the Kenrith Planeswalker Twins that you can find here - Budget Commander #67: Befriending the Kenrith Twins | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)
68. I build a Boros Spellslinger and Power-pumping and token making build here - Budget Commander #68: Boros Spellslinger with Baird | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com) for $32.37 around Baird, Argivian Recruiter.
69. For my first colorless deck, I built a $32.25 (sorta, I split up and gave that price to both lands and non-lands) Voltron deck around Traxos which you can find here - Budget Commander #69 - Colorless Voltron with Traxos! | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)
70. Since the cost of Doran, the Siege Tower had dropped to cheap limits, I built my first deck around him! You can find it here - Budget Commander #70 - Toughness Matters with Doran | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com) - my budget for this one was just $32.25 again.
71. Let's try a unique Creature type matters brew like Volo in Mono-Green with Radagast the Brown, which you can find here - Budget Commander #71: Radagast the Brown | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com) for 5 cents cheaper at $32.20.