Hello, folks! Looking for a budget-based challenge?

What are some color combinations I still haven’t used? I still haven’t hit up Jund, Esper, Naya, or Sultai. We’ve also skipped past Orzhov, Gruul, and Simic.

I begin to take a tour of interesting multicolored legends that are on the cheaper side of life. Does anything jump out at me as inspiration for my next project?

I found my guy!

Daxos of Meletis

While it’s true that I’ve done a W/U build before, it was a Brago blink deck with a strong artifact element to it. It’s a very specific build, and Daxos will be different and require some different cards to flesh him out.

Now I did some checking, and the color identity of the format turns mana of other colors into colorless mana while in your mana pool. But it does not restrict what you can do with color of mana. Traditionally, you can spend 1 white mana for just white or colorless costs. But Daxos enables my white mana to also pay the costs of other cards if it reveals something. So if Daxos hits you and exiles Cultivate, I can still play that Cultivate with white, blue, or colorless mana. That makes Daxos pretty intriguing to me.

For Meletis! ? Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (0)

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Augury Adept
• 1 Broodbirth Viper
• 1 Captain of the Watch
• 1 Celestial Archon
• 1 Coralhelm Guide
• 1 Daru Warchief
• 1 Man-o'-War
• 1 Master of Predicaments
• 1 Mirror Entity
• 1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1 Precinct Captain
• 1 Preeminent Captain
• 1 Relic Seeker
• 1 Rhox Pikemaster
• 1 Skymark Roc
• 1 Thassa's Emissary
• 1 Veteran Swordsmith
• 1 Windrider Patrol
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Ephara, God of the Polis
• 1 Lavinia of the Tenth
• 1 Medomai the Ageless
• 1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor

• Spells (36)
• 1 Dismantling Blow
• 1 Fate Forgotten
• 1 Hindering Light
• 1 Lost in the Mist
• 1 Memory Lapse
• 1 Repel Intruders
• 1 Rewind
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Shadow Rift
• 1 Supplant Form
• 1 Faerie Trickery
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Roil Spout
• 1 Sleep
• 1 Tidings
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Dictate of Heliod
• 1 Equilibrium
• 1 Mind Control
• 1 Sigil of Sleep
• 1 Steel of the Godhead
• 1 Teferi's Moat
• 1 Unquestioned Authority
• 1 Writ of Passage
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Azorius Keyrune
• 1 Explorer's Scope
• 1 Fireshrieker
• 1 Grappling Hook
• 1 Moonsilver Spear
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Spear of Heliod

• Lands (39)
• 15 Island
• 16 Plains
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Daru Encampment
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Skyline Cascade
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Cove

Buy This Deck

Total: $33.98

The next way to break him a bit is to ensure that he hits. Just being unblockable by big guys is not enough because I want sheer unblockability. So cards that ensure a precious hit are also highly useful here. We’ll start with obvious cards like Whispersilk Cloak or Steel of the Godhead. Those have huge value because they give other bonuses, too (shroud and lifelink and size pumps respectively). But I don’t want to stop there. I want to ensure that we can smash with Daxos.

Take a look at Writ of Passage. If Daxos has not been pumped by anything, this makes him unblockable and costs just 1 mana. Plus, you can forecast it to make something else that’s small unblockable while keeping it in your hand. We also have something like Unquestioned Authority that gives you protection from creatures. And since only creatures can block, that makes it difficult for anyone to prevent Daxos from slipping on over and smashing some face. Plus, you can activate stuff like Coralhelm Guide or Rogue's Passage.

You can find a variety of interesting cards in here of various sorts. We’ll call these cards like Daxos and Medomai “hit triggers,” from a small hit trigger on a creature like Commander (2015 Edition) entry Broodbirth Viper to draw you a card to something big like that Master of Predicaments (which can join Daxos as a way to play cards using alternate paths). Meanwhile, Thada Adel, Acquisitor can steal artifacts (if there’s nothing else good, just grab a mana rock to help play bigger stuff with Daxos’s hit trigger) while you can hit that renown trigger on Relic Seeker to fetch up one of the eight Equipment cards in the deck.

I also tossed in Precinct Captain to hit-trigger and put a Soldier token onto the battlefield. Did you notice that Daxos is not a Rogue? I guess I sort of expected that a sneaky little W/U guy like him would be, but he’s a Soldier. Wanting to add a little depth to the deck and play with the Precinct Captain some, I began to toss in some more Soldiers. It’s not a large section of the deck at all, but we added in cards like Rhox Pikemaster, Daru Warchief, and Veteran Swordsmith to pump up the little guys. In leapt a Captain of the Watch to make some little guys as well. And you could live the dream and drop a Relic Seeker or Precinct Captain with that Preeminent Captain and generate their triggers from nowhere. Don’t forget that you can bounce the Relic Seeker with the ninjutsu fun of Ninja of the Deep Hours to drop it and swing for another hit trigger and Equipment fetch.

Did you know that Decree of Justice has dropped to bulk-rare value after being printed in Commander (2014 Edition) last year? That’s just crazy, so I tossed it into the deck as well.

There’s a bit of bounce in here, too. Equilibrium is great here. You cast a creature and then spend 1 colorless mana and bounce any creature in play. Bounce that blocker that would keep your creatures from getting in a crucial hit trigger or to replay something like Pilgrim's Eye or Relic Seeker. But I suspect you’ll normally turn it toward your foe.

We have a smaller army, so making sure to get through is a valuable way to win the game. The free cards from Daxos are one way to get that win. The unblockable stuff is another. Going wide with stuff like Soldier tokens of Decree of Justice, Captain of the Watch, Precinct Captain, or Repel Intruders is another tool as well. I added some hit triggers for everyone—both Bident of Thassa and its predecessor Coastal Piracy are here. Drawing a lot of cards can bring you over the hump.

And we can certainly continue that theme by adding some threats to pump your team. It’s not just Spear of Heliod. Check out the flash, cheap, and permanent Dictate of Heliod as well. It brings another nice way to change combat math at a quick speed.

With a bit of utility tossed in as well, that’s a pretty synergetic deck at the end of our budget. I included a few support cards that work with your theme. Roil Spout bounces a permanent to the top of someone’s library, which works for when Daxos smashes. You can also counter with Memory Lapse to put a valuable card on top for you to steal and play later. You’ll find interesting cards like Sigil of Sleep, Supplant Form, and Thassa's Emissary that are all on theme in here.

And you could certainly add a lot more as well. From Celestial Mantle to Cyclonic Rift, there are a few ways you could dig. What about Venser, the Sojourner? What about Sun Quan, Lord of Wu? The various Swords of X and Y also fit the deck, in particular Sword of Light and Shadow. You could toss in the cipher spells, like Voidwalk, or more Ninjas, such as Mistblade Shinobi. Quietus Spike? Sure! Scytheclaw? Double sure! You could also mine more Soldiers and their territory. You could find room for Hinder or Time Warp. Even Tragic Arrogance would be really good. (Play it, keep your Medomai or Daxos, and leave your foe with a creature he or she can’t block with; then, start hitting for triggers.) You can find the goods to make Daxos even better and to suit your card stock and metagame.

So get your budget-minded beats on with Daxos and co.!

APPENDIX—

Here are the first twenty-one (-ish) budget-happy decks for your budget-happy days:

1. Brion Stoutarm came in at $37.71.
2. 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 it due to the nature of the challenge, and it’s the only entry in the series for which the cost is increased rather than decreased.
4. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius is the next in the list, rocking that $36.37 price tag.
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 Edition) dorks in a $35.29 shell.
7. Vhati il-Dal runs the table for just $35.17.
8. With all of the expected draconic lovin’, Bladewing the Risen comes just a few cents fewer at $35.13.
9. Lu Xun, Scholar General may not be a powerhouse, but there’s enough utility under here to spark a very interesting Commander 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.
11. Brago, King Eternal is featured with a different artifact theme and a $35.04 budget.
12. Let’s finally drop below that $35 mark with Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero and her Rebel horde! It’s $34.98 for the witness.
13. 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 have it in spades!
16. Alesha, Who Smiles at Profit 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. A. I have a notion that a five-colored 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!
20. B. 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 smashy board presence is ready to introduce itself to the red zone—and to winning. It also is just $34.20.
21. 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.