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0 In the last decade or so, the Commander format has completely taken over Magic: The Gathering. It has, without a doubt, become the most popular format among players, new and old. It is therefore safe to assume that your MTG-playing friend, whom you want to gift some Magic stuff this Christmas, plays Commander.
Budget All-Stars Your MTG Friend Will Love
This list is meant for those who want to buy Magic: The Gathering cards for their friend or loved one but haven’t got a clue. You could always just ask them which format they play, but that would risk ruining the surprise.
If you don’t know where to buy singles from, look for trade card gaming shops or comic book shops near you. Chances are, they have some of this stuff. If you really can’t shop locally, or it’s too time-consuming, then shop online. Sites like tcgplayer.com, if you’re in the States, or cardmarket.com, if you’re in Europe, are your best go-tos.
Here is the list for you, good-hearted but clueless MTG Christmas shoppers.
10. Birds of Paradise
Starting the list with the good old Birds of Paradise. This card has been around since 1993. It has been reprinted more times than I can count, and it is still an eight-dollar card. Why, you ask? Because it’s just that good. You can’t go wrong with this colorful little bird who coined the term ‘bolt the bird’ among MTG players.
9. Heralds’ Horn
Many MTG players have a favorite tribe. Secretly, or openly, everyone favors one tribe over all others. The most popular tribes are dragons, elves, goblins, vampires, zombies, dinosaurs, angels, and squirrels. Others like more obscure tribes, such as merfolk, cat warriors, myrs, faeries, kithkin, or pirates. What do they all have in common? They all need Herald’s Horn in the deck to function just a little better and faster. Currently sitting at three dollars and fifty cents in the US market and three Euros in the European market, this is an easy grab.
8. Arcane Signet
For a two mana investment, it gives back one mana of any color of your commander’s color identity. This might sound like Chinese to anyone who doesn’t play the game, but this card is basic and essential. For 50 cents, it’s an easy auto-include in almost every deck I can think of.
7. Path to Exile
Path to Exile can only be played in white decks or decks that include the color white as their commander identity. Not everyone plays white, not everyone even likes to play with the color white, as it is sometimes thought of as the weakest of the five colors in Commander. But this is one of the best removal spells in the entire game that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. For a dollar and fifty cents, you can pick this card up at TCGPlayer. If you’re in Europe, it will cost you the grand total of one Euro on cardmarket.
6. Blasphemous Act
Blasphemous Act is possibly the cheapest board wipe in Commander, despite it being highly efficient. In most games of three to four players, there will surely always be enough creatures to cast this sorcery for only one red mana. I’ve personally rarely ever cast this spell for more than two or three mana. For only a dollar fifty in the US, and two Euros in Europe, it’s an auto-include in every red deck.
5. Culling Ritual
Personally, I think this card gets overlooked. The four mana casting cost is rather steep for a removal spell, but it works as a mini board wipe, and it gives back an insane amount of mana in most game states. Not only are you kneecapping your opponents by destroying all their mana rocks and mana dorks, but you are setting yourself up for an explosive turn with all that free mana. Its low price of one dollar in the US and fifty cents in Europe only emphasizes just how much this card is overlooked and underestimated.
4. Rakdos Charm
This card has the specific colors black and red, so it narrows down quite a bit in which decks it can fit in. But Rakdos Charm is so versatile and so devastating under the right circumstances that it is worth including in this list. For just two mana, and at instant speed, players have not one, not two, but three modes to choose from. Exile an opponent’s graveyard, destroy an artifact, or each creature deals one damage to their controller. There is a very high chance that at least one of these three modes will be useful in a game of Commander. For forty cents in the US, and twenty-five cents in Europe, Rakdos Charm will get the job done.
3. Skullclamp
Not every deck runs small creatures that can be sacrificed for some sort of benefit, like drawing more cards or gaining life. But every player does like drawing two additional cards every turn. Skullclamp is an auto-include in go-wide and token strategies, but can also fit into other decks. For three dollars and fifty cents in the US market or four Euros in the European market, this card is a bargain.
2. Sol Ring
It is the most played card in Commander. There are very few decks that don’t run Sol Ring. For one mana of any color, you get two colorless mana back. It is so impactful in the early stages of the game that, at one point, there were rumors that Wizards of the Coast was going to ban the card. For a dollar fifty in the USA, or seventy-five cents in Europe, this card is a no-brainer.
1. Lightning Greaves
Lightning Greaves protects what is most important in Commander: your commander. As a colorless artifact, it can slip into any deck of any color that needs that extra layer of protection for its leader. Really not much more to say here, it’s a must-have, and it’s only five bucks.
What would you include on this list? What MTG cards would you like to get this Christmas? Let us know below!
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