Hello awesome Control fans! In my opinion the best most powerful three-color combo in multiplayer is Mardu. That's not a conversation and deep dive for now, but the basic idea is that you can remove, target and sweeping, all permanents easily, with discard early, reanimation later and powerhouse Red zone dorks there. From the best card draw to ramp in White! You also aren't enemy #1 with the countermagic and stealing of Blue that can make you enemy #1.

That's why my first real life Commander was a Mardu controlling deck around Oros! (Here https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/the-kitchen-table-318-my-edh-deck/) I had a bunch of sweepers, and dorks that could survive, or didn't care about dying like Kokusho, the Evening Star or Solemn Simulacrum. He'll get in that punch and sweep all no-White stuff.

Since the price of major great sweepers has been dropping for a while like classics Rout and Austere Command, I've been wanting to try this out in budget form!

I wanted to do this as a follow up to last week's Tor Wauki, which you can find here. As a reminder, I need to come in at or under the previous article, which was $31.12. I was unemployed for long times and playing this game, or heading back to grad school so I just didn't have the cash to spend much on this game. Therefore, I wanted a true budget.

Ready? Let's kick this controlling brew off!

Mana, Ramp, Rocks and Lands

Let's make sure we can play our stuff!

$0.99:

• Oros, the Avenger
• Solemn Simulacrum

$0.75:

• Vault of the Archangel

$0.50 cents

• Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind
• Rogue's Passage
• Command Tower
• Unstable Obelisk
• Bonder's Ornament
• Burnished Hart
• Commander's Sphere
• Forsaken Sanctuary
• Hedron Archive
• Mardu Banner
• Savai Crystal
• Scoured Barrens
• Stone Quarry
• Stonespeaker Crystal
• Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• Terramorphic Expanse
• Wind-Scarred Crag
• Bloodfell Caves
• Boros Guildgate
• Cinder Barrens
• Evolving Wilds
• Orzhov Guildgate
• Rakdos Guildgate

Let's start with colorless artifact dorks! Solemn Simulacrum is great here, as mentioned before, since you'll have two triggers. Then you can drop Burnished Hart on turn 3, sac the next turn for three, and then ramp a pair of lands like Explosive Vegetation.

Now let's turn to mana rocks with this pair! The Red tapping three-drop will give it haste if used on a Dragon like your leader! The colorless tapping one will tap and sac with a massive seven mana for a free Desert Twister!

Now let's do a triad of lands! Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion taps with four Boros mana to do so, nasty. Vault of the Archangel also taps with four mana to do so, this time Orzhov colored. Rogue's Passage will make Oros or other beaters unblockable and is a cheap win con in land form too!

My budget for my Commander and 10 ramp stuff and tons of lands is 8.51 so yes, we can cast that stuff!

First Take on Synergies and Winning Conditions

Now let's move to key synergies and winning conditions.

$1.49:

• Syr Konrad, the Grim

$1.25:

• Archetype of Finality

$0.99:

• Assault Intercessor
• Gorgon's Head

<50 cents

• Loxodon Warhammer
• Piru, the Volatile
• Vampiric Link
• Decree of Justice
• Spirit Link
• Soul Link
• Vizkopa Guildmage

Now let's turn to dorks with death triggers to punch above our weight! The Orzhov colored one costs three for a 3/2 with first strike and evasion in menace and then will shoot a foe for two life loss when their dork dies! The mono-Black one costs two more for an 5/4 that pings your foe's each time a dork dies from anyone's control which is nasty here. Then you can spend two mana to mill and trigger him.

Next let's turn to damage into life gain. When put on Oros, could be mad life gains! Vizkopa Guildmage costs two and gives a dork life gain and then also a win con for it too. Loxodon Warhammer gives +3 power on a three-drop, three equip and trample for evasion and lifelink too, while Vampiric Link will provide life gain.

The other side of the coin is deathtouch, coming here in the form of Archetype of Finality and Gorgon's Head, which on Oros will kill everything damaged. The dork costs six and gives your whole team deathtouch. Nasty.

Those pricey synergies brought my take to 15.46. Next?

Controlling with Oros

Next let's turn to controlling stuff we are built around!

$0.99:

• In Garruk's Wake
• Vindicate

75 cents:

• Austere Command
• Bogardan Hellkite

<50 cents

• Akroma's Vengeance
• Bedevil
• Lieutenant Kirtar
• Martial Coup
• Ravenous Chupacabra
• Rout
• Starstorm
• Utter End
• Desolation Giant
• Wing Shards
• Orim's Thunder

In Garruk's Wake and Akroma's Vengeance

This deck Is all about controlling and sweepers are how it gets here! The remake of Plague Wind is cheap but pricey in mana saving just your stuff. Then the cycling six-drop will destroy three permanent types, loves it, and cycles too. Starstorm is also here too, ditto it. I am running a small number of backup cheap targeted removal, including Bedevil, Utter End and Orim's Thunder. I am also running the original Vindicate.

Lieutenant Kirtar and Bogardan Hellkite and Desolation Giant

Now let's finish with budget dorks! Kirtar costs three for a 2/2 flying body with a sac for two to exile an attacker. He acts as a rattlesnake and don't sleep on exiling removal here either! The flashing Dragon costs eight for a 5/5 flying beater that can split up damage to kill. The Boros one can be kicked as a Wrath that kills everything else, love it loads here!

With a massive 20 controlling cards we finish with spending 23.38! That leaves a smaller 7.74 for a massive 23 cards so 33 cents a card. Rough! Luckily the next section can often be cheap let's look.

Oros's Card Draw!

$1.49:

• Harvester of Souls

$0.99:

• Morbid Opportunist

<50 cents

• Read the Bones
• Stargaze
• Underworld Connections
• Ambition's Cost
• Ancient Craving
• Greed
• Diresight
• Bitter Revelation

Morbid Opportunist and Harvester of Souls

What controlling options are available here? With many deaths on yours and other teams, death triggers like Harvester of Souls (1.49) and last week's Morbid Opportunist at 99 cents, 2.48 total combined, both awesome here. Can I afford them with just 7.74 left? Let's try and I pull later if needed!

Ambition's Cost costs four and draws three like Harmonize or Concentrate. Greed swaps two life for one card and then you can activate it repeatably! Underworld Connections and Bitter Revelation both add more budget draw.

With 10 cards that puts us at 28.78. 13 cards left!

Creatures That'll Live

This is the core of surviving, and I don't have much space or slots here. Let's commit!

$1.25:

• Stuffy Doll

$0.75:

• Creepy Doll

<50 cents

• Mortivore
• Darksteel Gargoyle
• Darksteel Sentinel

Let's commit to these five dorks, four with indestructible. The best is Stuffy Doll. You can also flash out Darksteel Sentinel and with vigilance attack and keep back. And don't sleep on the regenerating Lhurgoyf Mortivore.

That gives me five great survivable things, but with 7 cards left I've spent 31.77 so that's over by 65 cents. I could pull the two deathtouch giving things for 2.24 but that's very synergetic with Oros to kill anything damaged no matter the size, rough. I do so 9 cards left, with a budget spent of 29.53 so I've got 1.59 for it, need to keep it cheap!

The Final Slice!

$0.99:

• Akroma, Angel of Fury

<25 cents

• Captain's Maneuver
• Expunge
• Pilgrim's Eye

Captain's Maneuver and Akroma, Angel of Fury

The Maneuver used to get loads of play to perfect and save your stuff, it's nice here too! Akroma is a nice beater with a 6/6 size and pro White to save from Oros's damage.

That's $31.27, so 15 cents over with 54 cards used and six slots left. I could pull a 15-cent Evolving Wilds and then just stop early. Last week I did that with 59 cards. Instead I'll pull 75-cent Vault of the Archangel and have 60 cents left for:

• Rambunctious Mutt
• Radiant's Judgment
• Solemn Offering
• Smash

And there you go. Want to see my decklist? I got you:

Controlling Oros, the Avenger | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Oros, the Avenger

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Assault Intercessor
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
• 1 Bogardan Hellkite
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Creepy Doll
• 1 Darksteel Gargoyle
• 1 Darksteel Sentinel
• 1 Desolation Giant
• 1 Harvester of Souls
• 1 Lieutenant Kirtar
• 1 Morbid Opportunist
• 1 Mortivore
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Piru, the Volatile
• 1 Rambunctious Mutt
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stuffy Doll
• 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1 Vizkopa Guildmage

• Spells (23)
• 1 Akroma's Vengeance
• 1 Ambition's Cost
• 1 Ancient Craving
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Bitter Revelation
• 1 Bedevil
• 1 Captain's Maneuver
• 1 Expunge
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Diresight
• 1 In Garruk's Wake
• 1 Martial Coup
• 1 Orim's Thunder
• 1 Radiant's Judgment
• 1 Read the Bones
• 1 Rout
• 1 Solemn Offering
• 1 Smash
• 1 Starstorm
• 1 Stargaze
• 1 Utter End
• 1 Vindicate
• 1 Wing Shards

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Greed
• 1 Spirit Link
• 1 Soul Link
• 1 Vampiric Link
• 1 Underworld Connections

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 Mardu Banner
• 1 Savai Crystal
• 1 Stonespeaker Crystal
• 1 Unstable Obelisk

• Lands (38)
• 1 Bloodfell Caves
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Cinder Barrens
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Rakdos Guildgate
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Stone Quarry
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Wind-Scarred Crag
• 8 Mountain
• 8 Plains
• 8 Swamp

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