Budget Bin Commander - A MTG EDH Article

People who know me will know that when it comes to EDH I like to try anything and everything when it comes to building new decks so inspired by content creators like Loading Ready Run ($20 Challenges 1st, 2nd), Quest for the Janklord (Episode 4) and discussion with a few fellow EDH players (you guys know who you are) the idea of Budget Bin Commander was invented.

The concept is simple :

1st - pick a $5 or less commander from the folders.

2nd - build the rest of the deck using only basic lands or cards found in the dreaded Budget Bin (dan dan daaaa!).

3rd - use the deck in a commander tournament.

NOTE: While this is most definitely a budget way to build a commander deck this is not the same as what they do on Commander's Quarters or in the Pauper Commander format (a great format where you use an uncommon commander often including non-legendary options to allow for more colour combinations and the remaining 99 cards must be/have been commons - more info at the mtg wiki). The idea with Budget Bin Commander is more in line with a sealed deck or draft challenge, basically getting away from the optimization and to creatively use cards that you usually wouldn't consider.

This is how it went down for me, I went to my LGS -

Huge shoutout to Kev who supported the concept even chipped in with bulk buy discounts and free basic lands.

I looked through the folders for a $5 or less commander, I eventually settled on this one -

She's been a favorite of mine since release but i've never actually managed to use her so it felt like some sort of destiny

I then spent 30+ minutes digging through the "dreaded" budget bins

And came away with a "deck" I went spider tribal with a graveyard sub-theme and these were the "highlights" -

12 Spiders, 4 spider themed cards, 3 delirium enablers and 5 "MVPs".

I obviously didn't win the tournament with the deck but I had a lot of fun, it was a lot better than I thought it would be and I felt like I had an impact on the game and the result in my pods. I also believe with a few tweaks I could turn the deck into something casually competitive. If anyone enjoys both building EDH decks and playing sealed (limited MTG format) I would highly recommend giving it a try.