Well, Sun Titan has again been reprinted, and that brought back up that old discussion in my mind. Since a number of my LGS players tend to be on a stricter budget, I decided to notify my Facebook group of recent reprints and good new cards that were good budget considerations.
I figured I would share those findings with you. Even if it's not something that applies to you directly, you can also pass along the information to other new players who might not be as easily connected. Or, maybe you have a few favorites that I've missed.
I hope to go into Single Target removal and Ramp soon enough in the future, to really round out what can be good additions for new players to help improve their decks. I am of course also keeping a sharp eye on Double Masters prices, as a number of staples could see drastic reductions!
Recent Reprints!
- 'Tango' dual lands: 50 cents - $2, depending on the land (previously 1.50-3)
- Irrigated Farmland: 40 cents. This is the only Bi-cycle land to be reprinted. The rest remain $2-4.
- Sun Titan : $1 (had hit $3-6 previously)
- Scavenger Grounds : 75 cents (previously up to $5)
- Knight of the White Orchid: $1 (previously $5)
- Krosan Verge , Myriad Landscape , Blighted Woodland : .50
- Bojuka Bog : $1 ($1.50 prev)
- Kessig Wolf Run , Gavony Township : $1
- Mosswort Bridge , Spinerock Knoll , Windbrisk Heights : .50
- Slightly less budget, but still worthwhile:
- Oblivion Stone : $5 (prev 7.50-9)
- All Is Dust : $4.50 (had gotten to $17 at one point early on, then dropped to about $9)
- Heroic Intervention : $5 (prev 15)
- Fabled Passage : $5 - to go with your new Sun Titan.
- Mazemind Tome is 50 cents. If your deck is outside of normal card draw colors, consider this one.
- Mentor of the Meek is reprinted yet again in Jumpstart. Down to 75 cents. If you want to make a white weenie deck, you might need one.
- Keruga, the Macrosage is 25 cents. Companions took a deep dive after their massive nerf, but they may be good considerations for in the 99. Keruga in particular seems to be a decent creature version of Shamanic Revelation (.60). Won't count llanowar elves and basic tokens, but will count mana rocks or some enchantments.
- Speaking of Enchantments, Garruk's Uprising is 50 cents. Elemental Bond ($1) has proven to be a powerful card, and Uprising is a second copy, with several upsides. The full-field trample is nice.
- And Shamanic Revelation is 60 cents, as well.
- Soul of the Harvest is 75 cents. This guy was even in an intro deck for a bit, but remains a good Titan stat line of card draw.
- Garruk's Harbinger is 20 cents. Showcase version as well. In a creature heavy deck, it's a decent early statline.
- Beast Whisperer is $2. (down from 3-4).
- Lifecrafter's Bestiary is $1.
- Liliana's Standard Bearer is 25 cents. More card draw. The Flash makes the card. Whether you drop it after someone elses wrath, or combo it with your own for a build your own Decree of Pain ($3), or even just use it to refuel off of sacrifice shenanigans. You can draw a bunch of cards after blocking a token onslaught, or even when someone attacks me!
- Disciple of Bolas is 40 cents, thanks to being reprinted yet again!
- Species Specialist is 75 cents. You don't even have to be playing tribal. It counts tokens, or you can pick your opponent's creature type and go on a murder spree. Heck, pick your opponents' Commander types (especially if multiple commanders share types), since those might even get recast! Choose Human or Warrior, and he'll trigger himself. Reanimate or Blink to reset!
- Silversmote Ghoul is 30 cents. This guy might take a bit more work/buildaround to make work - but if your deck runs any amount of lifegain (maybe a loxodon warhammer?) you can consider if he's worthwhile. Self recurring is always powerful.
- Reconnaissance Mission is a better Coastal Piracy, for 25 cents! Coastal Piracy has been reprinted in Jumpstart, so the price is down to $3.50, from 6+! Of course, Bident of Thassa is still $1.50, so really coastal piracy is the 3rd version you want, unless you're building pirates.
- undefined are 50 cents. Reprint for Ramp AND Draw.
- Skullclamp was reprinted in Commander 2020, as well as mystery booster after having missed 2 years (last printed C17). It's at $3.50 - not super budget, but costs less than a pack for any token or small flood decks - looking at you, our 3 resident Edgar Markov decks!
- Solemn Simulacrum is at $1.25. Our resident persistent sad robot isn't necessarily a shining star in any deck, but is always a solid dependable tool.
- Ghostly Pilferer is 25 cents. Apparently this powerhouse is seeing CEDH play (believable for the cheap cost), and is also a free discard outlet if you need that!
- Idol of Endurance at 25 cents. I'm still experimenting with Idol, but it looks to be an interesting source of recursion, allowing for pseudo-protection to cards in GY.
- Honorable mention: Liliana's devotee is 15 cents. Not actually card draw, but with Black's propensity to self sac into card draw, fresh sources of bodies aren't terrible, especially not on a Zombie Lord type of creature.
White
- Rout - 75 cents. Probably still my favorite wrath. 5 mana remains an acceptable cost, but the instant speed capabilities seal the deal.
- Tragic Arrogance - 50 cents. Contender for my favorite wrath. You chose what remains, and it doesn't target, and it sacrifices. No pesky hexproof/shroud/indestructible. The only issue is that it does no good if your opponent has a singular threat in a category.
- Hallowed Burial - $1. 5 mana, no indestructible shenanigans.
- Terminus - $1.50. It's Hallowed Burial, but more expensive, but also with a HEART OF THE CARDS mode. If you're playing with top, you might be able to squeak in instant speed shenanigans!
- Descend upon the Sinful - 40 cents. 6 mana to clear out indestructibles is still fine, especially since they're gone for good. You might even get a thing!
- Evacuation - $3. With Cyclonic Rift ($20) being stupid expensive, and usually primarily concerned about the creatures, more people should consider Evacuation for instant speed bounce.
- Whelming Wave - 30 cents. 4 mana. Bounce.
- Crush of Tentacles - $1. 6 mana. Bounce everything. Everything. 1 mana less than cyclonic, for sorcery speed, is still very good. We've just been spoiled by how stupidly costed Cyclonic is.
- Devastation Tide - $1. Let's make it cheaper! 5 mana to bounce everything. Not only that, but the miracle is much easier to set up in blue, giving more potential for that instant speed reaction.
- Mutilate - 50 cents. This tends to scale down above 2 colors in a deck, but at that point you have far more options for wraths anyways. For a 4 mana wrath that kills Indestructible creatures, this remains quite good.
- Dead of Winter - 75 cents. While snow lands are not a free include into a deck, at 75 cents-$1, they're no longer restricted to crazy decks either. This makes Dead of Winter a rather playable 3 mana wrath effect, which is amazing. It's not a Toxic Deluge ($30), but 3 mana wraths are few and far between.
- Crux of Fate - $2. An auto-iclude in Dragon decks, Crux of Fate can also be played outside of them. It might miss changelings, or weird things might happen against decks with Dragons in them. It's not a Damnation ($35), but makes an acceptable alternate.
- Deadly Tempest - 50 cents. While Deadly Tempest clocks in a bit expensive at 6 mana, it has the added benefit of adding a bit of injury to the person you were trying to clear out anyways, and might even kill a token deck.
- Decree of Pain - $3.50. Decree of pain clocks in quite mana hungry, but also has massive upside. The cycling is a powerful mode as well, since it can't be countered and needs to be stifled instead.
- Finale of Eternity - $1.50. Ok, 3 is not "all", but it still does work, and has a lot of upside. It's my list.
- In Garruk's Wake - $1. 9 mana is a lot, but this is essentially Black's 'cyclonic rift' of 'not my stuff'.
- Arcbond - 25 cents. Arcbond can be blanked by single target removal, but the upside of a 3 mana instant speed wrath is pretty high. Just don't miss opportunities of casting it on an opponents' creature as well if the timing is right. Note that the creature does the damage, so deathtouch and lifelink shenanigans can apply.
- Blasphemous Act - $2.50. This is what we compare the others to these days.
- Chain Reaction - 50 cents. One wrath in your deck is not enough. Chain Reaction is still good.
- Bonfire of the Damned - $2. When you really need to torch one player in particular. Don't get too hung up on the Miracle cost. Sometimes you just want to wait until you need to clear someone's tokens.
- Rolling Earthquake - $3. The problem with most X spell earthquake variants is that they leave those pesky flyers alive. Enter P3K's Rolling Earthquake, because Horsemanship.
- Sudden Demise - 25 cents. Another X spell, choosing a color might be able to make this one sided, or it might just mean that it's ineffective. Note that color choice is on resolution, so copy effects can let you choose different colors for each copy, should that be needed.
- Wave of Vitriol - 75 cents. This cleans up a lot of things, and sacrifice gets around all those pesky indestructible gods.
- Whiptongue Hydra - $5. At the cost of a pack, this is the highest price I'd put on a budget list. Green tends to have issues with mass amounts of flyers, and the Hydra turns that on its head. Adding a Whirlwind onto a sizable reach body is capable of turning the tides.
- Whirlwind - 50 cents. If the Hydra is too rich for your blood, Whirlwind has remained a decent inclusion for my mono-green decks in the past. You can also be cute with Predator, Flagship effects to launch enemies into the air.
- Apex Altisaur - $2. Fight. Rage. Fight more. The mana cost is expensive, but Apex Altisaur can clear boards. You can even keep it around to clear more stuff later, or simply save the biggest hit for last for maximum trades.
- Thorn Mammoth - 25 cents. At first I was put off by 7 mana for a 6/6, but repeated murder turns out to be very very powerful. It keeps opposing Commanders off the board very very well, and with token makers is very easy to trigger on opposing turns.
- Kogla, the Titan Ape - 50 cents. Again, not "mass" per se, but bending the rules for green. Removal on entering, and then removal on subsequent attacks. A solid creature even if you don't have humans, and a massive threat if you do.
- Merciless Eviction - $3 - Highly comparable to Austere Command, you lose some flexibility for the power of exile instead.
- Oblivion Stone - $4 - Colorless. Removal. Recent reprint puts it under a pack.
- All is Dust - $3.50-4.50 - Colorless. Removal. Recent reprint puts it under a pack.
Next chapter in this tale of discovery - I attempted to put a bunch of this together and build a staple precon for new players. I tried to keep the deck under $50 and each card under $1, but when I finished vastly under the $50 limit, I opted for a few creative upgrades in the $1-2 range. Once I completed that one, i was challenged to make one in ... so I did.
The idea here is to have an easy loaner deck to hand out to new players, or even be able to give it away, as none of the cards hold any special amount of value.