While it's easy to think of Commander only in terms of Legendary multicolored creatures and often exorbitant "staple" cards, that's not the Commander that comes to mind for me. It's unbelievable synergy that crops up between random players' decks that provide epic shenanigans (Read: "Cool story, bro!") and a diversity of awesome.

That was on the fifth turn of the game with my mono-Green Commander deck. No, I didn't do it alone, but that's fine; these things just aren't possible without some inadvertent help. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last week, I plugged in my paper Commander deck and came up with an unruly total of just over 200 tickets. While it's isn't that I don't have the muster to simply go drop that much (save the chorus of "must be nice!" for a real jerk) it's an obviously substantial total to invest. MTGO isn't everyone's cup of tea, and shelling out for something you may ultimately choose to pass up seems foolish at best.

I've tried the Planeswalker format and grabbed the Momir Basic Event Deck, with corresponding Jhoira of the Ghitu and Stonehewer Giant avatars for MoJhoSto fun. So far, I've spent just $20. Since I'm a Commander fanatic, I knew I'd want to get in on that as well.

The Costs of Doing Business

The store sells two preconstructed decks ready to roll for Commander, one for Rubinia Soulsinger and another for Xira Arien.

"Rubinia Soulsinger – MTGO Commander Precon"

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Auramancer
• 1 Azorius Guildmage
• 1 Borderland Ranger
• 1 Coiling Oracle
• 1 Court Hussar
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Jungle Barrier
• 1 Jungle Lion
• 1 Kami of Ancient Law
• 1 Krosan Tusker
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Man-o'-War
• 1 Merfolk Looter
• 1 Mistmeadow Witch
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Noble Templar
• 1 Phantom Centaur
• 1 Questing Phelddagrif
• 1 Raven Familiar
• 1 Rubinia Soulsinger
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Shoreline Ranger
• 1 Stonecloaker
• 1 Willbender
• 1 Wirewood Guardian
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Yavimaya Enchantress

• Spells (34)
• 1 Armadillo Cloak
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Compulsive Research
• 1 Concordant Crossroads
• 1 Condemn
• 1 Confiscate
• 1 Copy Enchantment
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Dismantling Blow
• 1 Empyrial Armor
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Faith's Fetters
• 1 Fertile Ground
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Hinder
• 1 Illusionary Mask
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Momentary Blink
• 1 Moment's Peace
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Overwhelming Intellect
• 1 Prison Term
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Relic of Progenitus
• 1 Resurrection
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Seal of Cleansing
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Simic Signet
• 1 Sterling Grove
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Temporal Spring

• Lands (39)
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Bant Panorama
• 1 Coastal Tower
• 1 Elfhame Palace
• 10 Forest
• 9 Island
• 1 Miren, the Moaning Well
• 9 Plains
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Seaside Citadel
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Treva's Ruins

Buy This Deck Export text format

"Xira Arien, MTGO Commander Precon"

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Abyssal Gatekeeper
• 1 Anarchist
• 1 Anger
• 1 Avatar of Woe
• 1 Brawn
• 1 Carrion Feeder
• 1 Chartooth Cougar
• 1 Civic Wayfinder
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Genesis
• 1 Golgari Grave-Troll
• 1 Golgari Thug
• 1 Hissing Iguanar
• 1 Keldon Vandals
• 1 Krosan Tusker
• 1 Nezumi Graverobber
• 1 Penumbra Bobcat
• 1 Rootbreaker Wurm
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Shambling Shell
• 1 Shriekmaw
• 1 Stinkweed Imp
• 1 Twisted Abomination
• 1 Vampiric Dragon
• 1 Werebear
• 1 Wickerbough Elder
• 1 Wild Mongrel
• 1 Wirewood Guardian
• 1 Xira Arien
• 1 Yavimaya Elder

• Spells (31)
• 1 All Hallow's Eve
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Ashes to Ashes
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Cauldron Dance
• 1 Chain Lightning
• 1 Constant Mists
• 1 Dread Return
• 1 Edge of Autumn
• 1 Elven Cache
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 Fires of Yavimaya
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Grim Harvest
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Life from the Loam
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Massacre
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Reaping the Graves
• 1 Recollect
• 1 Resounding Thunder
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Terminate
• 1 Terror

• Lands (37)
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Darigaaz's Caldera
• 10 Forest
• 1 Forgotten Cave
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Jund Panorama
• 7 Mountain
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Rupture Spire
• 1 Savage Lands
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Tranquil Thicket

Buy This Deck Export text format

Both of these hold several "staple" cards and other Commander goodies. They aren't bad decks, but they aren't the type I usually enjoy. I prefer more business cards; my spells are more focused on doing what I want to do rather than fighting what my opponents are up to.

It's a higher-risk, higher-reward mentality. I curb my ability to resist you but gain explosive and powerful, aggressive board states. Even recursion effects are used to iterate what I want rather than create a "toolkit in the graveyard" to pull from. Which helps explains things when I have a deck that looks like this:

Last week's changes are highlighted in yellow. We cut 100 tickets off the price through just six cards. However, the different between this deck and the two preconstructed decks is more than just colors and cards; those two decks are about 86 tickets less.

While Commander isn't a budget format by normal means, 20 tickets isn't a very good budget either. There are several other formats I could play for significantly less up-front investment. But, as the baseline for buying into Commander through the store is effectively 20 tickets, I feel strongly that this should be my target for tickets.

I was a long way off, but many of you suggested some options. Let's run down the options I used to reduce our ticket total.

Tricky Creatures

Good creatures make me happy. With the idea of going all-in on Kamahl-generated Overrun activations, most utility creatures would be fine.

I focused on getting value and ensuring I could activate for it. Verdeloth the Ancient, Rampaging Baloths, and Wolfbriar Elemental seem like easy ways to get extra bodies onto the board, each providing a different service for the abundance of mana I had planned.

Myojin of Life's Web is indestructible, a handy feature for pounding into (or up against) Eldrazi and other nasties. Baru, Fist of Krosa and Rude Awakening are different ways to capitalize on going aggressive (swarming with lands is both boldly risky and surprisingly effective). And, finally, Tooth and Nail is a pretty cheap way to load the board down with some powerful hitter quick.

All said, these changes shaved just shy of 37 tickets off the price.

Multiplayer Focus

Commander, through the MTGO client, is always a four-player game. I wanted to up the ways I could interact with multiple players.

While Hurricane and Fecundity are old-school ways to keep the game moving (and benefit from using a multitude of ground-pounders), Asceticism and Lurking Predators are new additions to the multiplayer family. I've experienced both of these before in Two-Headed Giant, and I know they would be great fits.

Nature's Will is actually a card I had completely forgotten about but it certainly looks exactly like a card I'd want. Being able to untap all the lands post-combat to refuel or Overrun on other players' turns seems great.

Swapping these reduced our total by almost 6.5 tickets.

Effect Duplication

I'm rather fond of having multiple ways to do the same things in my decks. Upping the ability to mana-ramp or filter cards is something I shoehorn into every Commander deck I build.

While some of these are strictly substitutions to reduce cost (Miren, the Moaning Well is something not replaced by Forest) many are suitable budget versions on the main effect.

Revive is a little gem I picked up a few weeks ago, and it fills the hole of Eternal Witness well. While I'd love to say "My deck keeps every effect I want!", there aren't any other cards like Fauna Shaman and Survival of the Fittest.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy about being able to rip lands and keep things flowing. The final result here trimmed just over 27 tickets.

Treefolk Attack

Looks for a few more ways to edge costs down, I stumbled onto a little guy that fits my deck surprisingly well: Treefolk Harbinger. Whether it's a simple Forest, Deadwood Treefolk for some recursion, or the ability to grab something massive like Dauntless Dourbark, I knew I'd be fine drawing it anytime during a game.

These replacements were made for cost, but the individual Treefolk cards aren't bad. I can't wait to Rootgrapple a Planeswalker; drawing a card is gravy after that.

These alterations sliced an additional 15 tickets and change off.

The Tally

And thanks to price-shopping ideas from two weeks ago, I managed to save even more from my initial prices listed before. Here is the final rundown of the deck, with costs for new cards I previously didn't own.

Or, restated in a nice deck-list output:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Acidic Slime

1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder

1 Baru, Fist of Krosa

1 Borderland Ranger

1 Citanul Hierophants

1 Civic Wayfinder

1 Dauntless Dourbark

1 Deadwood Treefolk

1 Genesis

1 Indrik Stomphowler

1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa

1 Krosan Tusker

1 Masked Admirers

1 Mold Shambler

1 Myojin of Life's Web

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Rampaging Baloths

1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Seedborn Muse

1 Seedguide Ash

1 Silklash Spider

1 Spearbreaker Behemoth

1 Sylvan Ranger

1 Terastodon

1 Timber Protector

1 Tornado Elemental

1 Treefolk Harbinger

1 Verdeloth the Ancient

1 Vigor

1 Wickerbough Elder

1 Wolfbriar Elemental

1 Wood Elves

1 Yavimaya Dryad

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Asceticism

1 Crystal Ball

1 Culling Dais

1 Cultivate

1 Desert Twister

1 Fecundity

1 Gaea's Bounty

1 Greater Good

1 Harrow

1 Howl of the Night Pack

1 Hurricane

1 Journeyer's Kite

1 Kodama's Reach

1 Krosan Grip

1 Lignify

1 Loxodon Warhammer

1 Lurking Predators

1 Mind's Eye

1 Momentous Fall

1 Nature's Lore

1 Nature's Spiral

1 Nature's Will

1 Oblivion Stone

1 Rampant Growth

1 Reach of Branches

1 Reap and Sow

1 Recollect

1 Regrowth

1 Revive

1 Rootgrapple

1 Rude Awakening

1 Soul's Majesty

1 Strata Scythe

1 Sylvan Tutor

1 Three Visits

1 Tooth and Nail

[/Spells]

[Lands]

23 Forest

1 Ghost Quarter

1 Llanowar Reborn

1 Mystifying Maze

1 Slippery Karst

1 Tectonic Edge

1 Temple of the False God

1 Tranquil Thicket

1 Treetop Village

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

With the two tickets from the New Play pack and 20 more—the same investment as a deck right from the store—I was able to sculpt a Commander deck of my choosing. Some of the cuts weren't easy, and without a spreadsheet and some luck in finding cards at the cheaper dealer, we wouldn't have made it.

Clearly, the only thing left is a test drive.

Test Drive

I jumped into the first game I saw, and wouldn't you know it, The Eh Team's own Jay Boosh turned out to be the fourth wheel to this carload of fun.

Jay is a pretty fun guy as it is, but he's also impressively confident.

Dropping Rites of Flourishing on his third turn to fuel the entire table was something that I'm sure kept the game from going long. Thanks to his follow-up of Vernal Bloom, I was able to power out a ton of mana (recurring Gaea's Blessing twice to do so) backed up by Nature's Will. That yielded the turn five pictured above.

Player kenflipkick had dropped a Grim Tutor for Evacuation, but as it wasn't a hard board wipe, I was able to rally the troops again for a multikicker of 11 on turn seven for a turn-eight win. Jay helped out by jumping at the Tooth and Nail-dropping Eldrazi player with a 30/27 Silvos, Rogue Elemental (equipped by Strata Scythe that imprinted Forest, of course).

It was fun, but it's going to take many more games to get a feel for how things will go most of the time. And then there's the issue of handling all those cards I cut. Aren't a few staples, like Sol Ring and Nevinyrral's Disk, worth the investment anyway?

Tell me what you think of the changes and where things go from here!