#you can count this as mirrorpool

[thatsproutguy]

nearly forgot to post this one here

[mtgaddicted]

Budget Mana Base for Commanders: 5 colors decks.

How many times have you heard that a good deck needs to have all original dual lands and fetchlands so its mana base is fine? As long as you are a millionaire or you're playing on Cockatrice that is really easy and possible to do, but, for the rest of us whose budget is limited we have to come up with something else.

In this article I will show you how you can get an effective mana base for a 5 colors commander without having to sell a kidney to do so. It can be used for any kind of deck (2 colors, 3 colors, and 4 colors) but i’m focusing more on 5 colors. A brief disclaimer: This is only my opinion on what works best, so don't take it as a final word, and you can make any changes you like, fitting your needs.

First, we have to cover the basics of every commander deck: Land-No land ratio. I like to run my decks with approximately 34 lands. Recommended are around 36/38, but with mana accelerators i find 34/32 lands fine, 32 the lowest. It really depends on how many accelerators you have and your average CMC for the deck.

The second important point to consider are mana accelerators, which are divided into three: Ramp spells, mana creatures (which I wont cover, as it depends totally on your deck), and mana stones. Some colors have a better chance to ramp than others, being green the master of ramping, so you have to take that into account.

Third are mana fixers, because running 5 colors can get you one color screwed.

And finally, before actually starting, you have to check your commander's color ratio, and see which colors predominate.

Now, the mana base. We're going to start from the most expensive to the cheaper.

 First: The lands.

Yeah, believe it or not, the lands end up being the most expensive cards in a deck (well, there re some ridiculous expensive cards that do not count.) Lands can be divided into:

Multicolor lands: Lands that produce multiple color.

Fetch Lands: Lands that search for other lands.

Utility lands: Lands that can be used for other things beside generating mana.

Basic lands.

 For multicolored lands we have 2 color lands, 3 color lands, and all color lands. I find the all color lands the most important for 5 color commanders, as they can generate any color for anything in your hand or your commander. Depending on your deck, you could have better chances of getting this lands than other decks. Allies decks have Ally Encampment, Dragons have Haven of the Spirit Dragon, Elementals have Primal Beyond , and so on. Among all colors lands we have some really REALLY expensive (Cavern of Souls, and Glimmervoid) that if you have them you can include them, but those are 0 budget friendly.

 Lands that are a total must:

City of Brass

Command Tower

Mana Confluence

Exotic Orchard =  Unless playing against a monocolor deck, this usually generates from 3 to all colors.

Forbidden Orchard =  If you don’t mind giving a token to an opponent.

Grand Coliseum =  Enters tapped, but still really helpful.

These generate any color mana with no restrictions, which is great.

 Conditioned Lands:

Ally Encampment =  For allies tribal.

Ancient Ziggurat =  Only for creatures.

Haven of the Spirit Dragon =  Only for Dragons

Pillar of the Paruns =  Only for Multicolored

Primal Beyond =  Only for Elementals

Sliver Hive =  Only for Slivers

Spire of Industry =  Only if you have artifacts, which you will probably have.

Thran Quarry =  It must be sacrificed if you have no creatures.

 Helpful Lands:

Aether Hub =  If you use energy counters.

Crucible of the Spirit Dragon =  For dragons.

Gemstone Caverns =  To head start.

Lotus Vale =  It's not too cheap, but if you can untap target land…

Mirrodin's Core =  Putting a counter on it can be really useful.

Opal Palace =  Your commander enters with +1/+1 counters.

Tarnished Citadel =  If you don't mind the 3 damage.

Undiscovered Paradise =  For landfall or if you can play more than one land each turn.

 Depending on the ammount of lands and the speed of your deck, you can add the Vivid cycle (Vivid Crag, Vivid Creek, Vivid Grove, Vivid Marsh, and Vivid Meadow) if you think you will need them.

 To avoid:

Transguild Promenade, Rupture Spire =  Enters tapped and cost 1 mana. If your opponent blinks them…

Henge of Ramos, Holdout Settlement, School of the Unseen, Shimmering Grotto, Unknown Shores =  Those are just filters, don’t fill your mana base witht that.

Tendo Ice Bridge =  A single counter isn't worth it, unless you proliferate a lot.

  Multicolored lands are nice, they can generate 2 or 3 colors, which is very versatile. 3 colors are the the most versatile, but they are not fetchable. I would include 2 or 3, with the most predominant colors in my deck.

 3 color lands:

Arcane Sanctum

Crumbling Necropolis

Frontier Bivouac

Jungle Shrine 

Mystic Monastery 

Nomad Outpost

Opulent Palace

Sandsteppe Citadel

Savage Lands

Seaside Citadel

 The exception for this is Murmuring Bosk, which can be fetched.

The Lair lands can be used, but they slow a little bit the game.

 The 2 colors lands are a LOT, but useful budget lands are not that much. Shocklands are very useful, but the price of them is not budget friendly, so, if you have some add them to your deck, otherwise you should include these:

Canopy Vista

Cinder Glade

Prairie Stream

Smoldering Marsh

Sunken Hollow 

 Then, some other useful 2 colors lands:

Choked Estuary

Foreboding Ruins 

Fortified Village 

Game Trail 

Port Town 

 Adarkar Wastes 

Battlefield Forge 

Brushland 

Caves of Koilos 

Karplusan Forest 

Llanowar Wastes 

Shivan Reef

Sulfurous Springs 

Underground River

Yavimaya Coast

 Tainted Field

Tainted Isle

Tainted Peak

Tainted Wood

 Temples are really good if you want to scry, even if the slow the game a little bit.

 To avoid:

Lands that enter the battlefield tapped with no other effect and add 2 colors. Also Gates, unless you're playing them all and Maze's End. Bouncelands can be fine, for fewer color decks, but 5 colors are not worth it.

 Fetch Lands are really important lands, and something I didn’t really understand when I started Magic. It not only helps you fixing your mana, but also reduce the number of lands in your deck so later on in the game you wont be drawing lands. There are some really good fetchlands that are overlooked and budget friendly:

Ash Barrens =  Not really a fetchland, but its cycling is really helpful.

Bad River

Bant Panorama

Blighted Woodland

Esper Panorama

Evolving Wilds

Flood Plain

Grasslands

Grixis Panorama

Jund Panorama

Krosan Verge

Mountain Valley

Myriad Landscape

Naya Panorama

Rocky Tar Pit

Terramorphic Expanse

Terrain Generator =  Not fetching, but helps ramping.

   Utility Lands really depend on your deck. So you have to search them depending on your needs. However, there are some basic utility lands you have to consider:

Arcane Lighthouse =  No hexproof or shroud for your opponents.

Bojuka Bog =  I always add this. Because you don’t know when are you facing a reanimate deck.

Cathedral of War =  Exalted.

Crystal Quarry =  A 5 colors filter is not that bad.

Cascading Cataracts = A 5 mana filter and indestructible.

Darksteel Citadel =  Indestructible.

Ghost Quarter =  Because we are mean and your Cabal Coffers is not fair.

Llanowar Reborn =  Graft.

Mage-Ring Network  =  Mana storage.

Mirrorpool =  Copy things.

Nephalia Academy =  Discarding to Top.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx =  Devotion.

Reliquary Tower =  No maximum hand size.

Riftstone Portal =  Put it in the Graveyard.

Scorched Ruins =  Untap it somehow.

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods =  Extra mana with 7 lands.

Temple of the False God =  Extra mana with 5 lands.

Thespian's Stage =  Copy land.

Unstable Frontier =  Turns any of your lands into any basic land.

Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper =  2 colorless only for legendary creatures.

Wirewood Lodge =  Untap target elf.

  Not super Budget but if you can have them…

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Vesuva 

 Hideaway lands are excelent depending on the deck you're running.

Manlands are cool too.

  Basic lands should be considered last, but you should keep at least one of each type, specially for ramp spells and fetches.

 With a land base done, everything else depends entirely on your deck. Here are some sugestions you can cosider.

5 colors commanders have the benefit of using all mana stones, so it wouldn’t be a problem. The number of mana rocks really depend on you, but here are some that you must include:

Sol Ring

Chromatic Lantern =  Not too cheap, but it is a must.

Commander's Sphere

Fellwar Stone

Darksteel Ingot

Gilded Lotus =  Went up in price, but it's worth it.

Mind Stone

Star Compass =  If playing enough basic lands.

Coalition Relic =  Not budget friendly, but it is a good card to consider.

 If needed, these are fast accelerators and also generate color if needed:

Talisman of Dominance

Talisman of Impulse

Talisman of Indulgence

Talisman of Progress 

Talisman of Unity

Thought Vessel

  Ramp Spells are usually green, but there are not only green ones.

 The green ones:

Cultivate

Explosive Vegetation

Farseek

Harrow

Journey of Discovery 

Kodama's Reach 

Mwonvuli Acid-Moss =  This one is forest only, but the land destruction is good.

Nature's Lore

Peregrination =  Not too recommended for the cost, use only is necessary.

Rampant Growth

Shard Convergence

Spoils of Victory 

 The non green:

Expedition Map

Gem of Becoming 

Gift of Estates

Knight of the White Orchid

Kor Cartographer

Oreskos Explorer 

Solemn Simulacrum

Sword of the Animist =  An equipment, yes, but very useful.

Tithe 

Wayfarer's Bauble 

  For the mana fixers I only have a couple of suggestion

Prismatic Omen =  Not budget friendly, but it is really good.

Celestial Dawn =  Beware of Iona.

Pulse of Llanowar

The already mentioned Chromatic Lantern for this.

  Again, you don’t have to include everything you see here, but you can get a nice diea on how to fix the mana of your deck :)

So, what do you think? :D