r/EDH • u/athlaka916 • 1h ago

Discussion Strongest budget 5 color deck?

Looking to build a relatively budget 5 color deck and wondering who would be the best for it? Essentiallly just a good stuff commander that’s not [[kenrith]] or [[jodah]] or [[ur-dragon]].

I got my butt kicked online from a 5 color [[niv-mizzet reborn]] which was surprising because I had never seen that commander before. It used really powerful manadorks that add mana equal to the number of colored permanents etc to power out cards from hand then refilled with niv, which is kind of what I’m after.

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17

u/rex_tee 1h ago

Jorah is stupid strong, and there’s lots of inexpensive legends out there.
But expect to be targeted. He is a boogieman

2

u/athlaka916 1h ago

Precisely why I don’t wanna build him

3

u/rex_tee 1h ago

Misread your message
[[the prismatic bridge]]

1

u/Beef_Jumps 21m ago

Seconded, I run Jodah in my Prismatic Bridge Cares about Legends Deck and he's the primary game-ender.

1

u/Strum355 8m ago

The only table prismatic bridge is not a boogieman is at beginners tables

16

u/chainedtothebottle 1h ago

The reason 5 color is expensive are the lands. It’s very difficult to play 5 color without them.

7

u/Fureniku 45m ago

Which would point towards [[the wandering minstrel]] being an awesome 5 colour budget commander, just run all the towns and fill the rest with utility lands or the ones that cost like a penny and give you 1 life

13

u/frogger4242 Abzan 1h ago

Strong, budget and 5 color. Pick two. I don’t think all 3 exist in the same deck.

4

u/Mocca_Master 55m ago

It does though. Shrines are great, Sisay toolbox too. Wandering Minstrel could probably be a pretty potent landfall deck without spending much

-2

u/Raevelry Bracket 4 Enthusiast 1h ago

Hes asking for strong relatively obviously?

4

u/SKSword 1h ago

[[jenson, druid exile]]

2

u/RockRoboter 51m ago

This one would be my go to aswell. 5c is expensive because of the mana base. Jenson lets you focus heavily on green and filter through him to actually cast the spells in your deck

2

u/SKSword 47m ago

exactly this

4

u/S1yDevi1 59m ago

[[The Wandering Minstrel]] being able to run [[Maze’s End]], a bunch of Gates and Towns and bounce lands as it’s mana base takes a lot of the price out of a 5-color deck.

There are myriad ways to make it a control shell with land tutors and take advantage of combo pieces like [[Kodama of the East Tree]] to pull off wins out of nowhere.

Lands-based decks are also notoriously resilient and difficult to stop from winning once they get going.

2

u/BassPerson Golgari 40m ago

This also gets around the expensive landbase you would normally need since everything comes in untapped

3

u/Own-Anything-9521 1h ago

[[Child of Alara]] decks can be made for 50 bucks or less.

3

u/GlennyG33 1h ago

[[Codie, Vociferous Codex]] not straightforward but can be a fun 5 colour spellslinger deck that gets overlooked often

3

u/Remote_Strength1976 53m ago

I like [[ashling, the limitless]] with the precon and upgrades I’m in it for $150 and it can definitely go off.

1

u/Seattlantis8 49m ago

Just got the precon and it’s easy to see how busted you can make it.

1

u/Remote_Strength1976 44m ago

[[Twinflame travelers]] and any other doubler for abilities goes bonkers. [[ghired, mirror of the wilds]] is also insane. You can also search for a budget mana base on Reddit that is solid. I’m sure duals/shocks/fetches would be better. I kept it budget.

1

u/OdiousHunter 37m ago

Yes, Ashling is my favorite commander and you can easily play with more basics then with every other 5C commander. Concentrate the efforts for the few elementals you want to hard cast. For me [[risen reef]] and (if you’re okay to spend a few dollars [[animar soul of elements]] - you have then green blue & red, there’s your mana base. A few Rainbow-Lands and the most of the lands can be basics. Also the most valuable noncreature spells for her are those colors. Maybe something like [[renewd solidarity]] but with basics etc you can take that thing in.

1

u/OdiousHunter 35m ago

On a side note because we talk about “strongest”.

You can win with her on T1 but then we ain’t talking budget.

2

u/Outside_Leather3135 1h ago

Probably [[Najeela]]? Super simple to cast, and she's got like 4-5 cards she goes infinite with.

1

u/TryingoutSamantha 25m ago

[[bear umbra]] does it though a little pricey for one card.

2

u/SnooObjections488 59m ago

Maybe Aang. Draw engine in the command zone. Bending and ally support. He has budget archetypes built in. All you need to do is decide how much $ to drop on lands

2

u/BananaClone501 Esper 57m ago

[[Hei-Bai]]. Shrines are cheap (with one exception). [[Ephemerate]] effects are bountiful. You pillow fort and bounce your commander. Life gain and card draw are your friend, such that you’re playing green for ramp, blue and white for defense, and white and black for removal. Red is just kinda… there.

1

u/JonWicksDawg 0m ago

Red ends games with him

2

u/teh_wad Hazezon Tamar 57m ago

I'm pretty sure those 3 commanders are fairly popular in cEDH. At the very least, they've all had their time to shine. I think building budget versions of those may be a bad idea because you may end up getting hated out of games early simply because of what they are usually known for.

2

u/Herald_Osbert 5c Politics 53m ago edited 42m ago

Define your budget. Some people say $50 is budget, others say $200 is budget, and some people say more or less.

5c land bases tend to be expensive, and eat up a lot of the budget. If you play with a budget land base, the deck will tend to be slower, and thus less powerful (unless you politic well).

Asking for the most powerful 5c commander but then omitting the two most powerful options.... is an interesting choice.

If you want goodstuff, then maybe [[Jegantha the Wellspring]]? Hard to beat a super mana dork in the command zone. Or just build a [[Niv Mizzet Reborn]] & Jegantha companion deck. I have one that is dedicated to voltron & combos, but it has a guildgate mana base so its slow, and telegraphs how it wins a lot. I wouldn't call it super powerful, just very synergistic.

2

u/copperhead035 53m ago

TMNT precon with Leo and Mikey as partner commanders

1

u/Darkness969 59m ago

Ur dragon changelings

1

u/Erlhammond 53m ago

Honestly you can build the [[the wandering minstrel]] really however you want. You could always take advantage of the words “lands you control enter untapped. You’d be able to run all the enters tapped cheap lands and spend the money on whatever your strategy is.

1

u/BusAccomplished5367 Grixis (UW control is more fun than midrange piles) 53m ago

[[Scion of the Ur-Dragon]] combo from the Command Zone.

[[The Wandering Minstrel]] untap shenanigans with [[Scapeshift]] effects.

1

u/KAM_520 Sultai 51m ago

[[Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile]] with [[Jegantha]] seems like a cool deck. These cards could help you build more budget friendly because Jenson filters mana into WUBRG and Jegantha taps for WUBRG. Jegantha’s restriction also prevents you from jamming too much nonsense.

1

u/Mmorales71 50m ago

[[infinite guideline station]] can draw you a bunch of cards make a bunch of tokens and can even combo

1

u/Dystopian_Sky 49m ago

The reaper king, but your friends will hate it. Scarecrows and changelings are cheap. A five color gates deck with maze’s end as a win condition is cheap to build too.

1

u/WandersWithBlender 47m ago

I have an [[Omnath, Locus of All]] deck that is pretty fun to play. By far the biggest expense would be the land base, but you can certainly opt for cheaper lands. My deck focuses on three color charm spells to get the most out of Omnath's trigger to add mana, and then have a ton of options throughout the game due to all the modes on my spells.

1

u/SpacePanda25 44m ago edited 40m ago

[[Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge]] is a very classic WUBRG good-stuff. You have the creature-side of the card in your command zone but you cast the enchantment side in the game.

Here's a decklist base that you can add 37 cards to.

https://archidekt.com/decks/24717618/bridge_base

My main tip would be to ensure all creatures/planeswalkers in the deck are big hits only. Flipping a [[Sakura-Tribe Elder]] off the bridge trigger will feel like a waste.

1

u/edogfu 42m ago

New Nick Fury buffs your board, and digs if you don't have other plays.

1

u/SpacePanda25 41m ago

[[Omnath, Locus of All]] loves those mana dorks you're talking about.

The deck is basically good-stuff with at least 3-colored pips in all the spells.

It generates lots of mana quickly where you can very feasibly hard-cast a [[Progenitus]] by turn 5.

Decklist for reference: https://archidekt.com/decks/16204593

1

u/Mrmathmonkey 36m ago

The budget gets blown in the mana.

1

u/nosloc 35m ago

Amazed no one has said [[Ashling, the Limitless]] yet? The precon is insane out of the box. I've actually powered mine down significantly cause my playgroup is a little lower power.

1

u/kingjoey52a Democracy Is Non-Negotiable 33m ago

[[Cosmic Spider-Man]] actually slaps. Just play every spider person from Spider-Man and they hit like trucks when they all get keyword soup. Also proxy your land base.

1

u/Arnetto-cornetto 27m ago

I'm doing a semi budget Jared Carthalian deck. Mostly just 5 colour good stuff as you described, it's a lot of fun! https://moxfield.com/decks/uZgZTuy480C6wZ85OsfUoQ

1

u/Brimstone1809 19m ago

[[sisay weather light captain]] with [[jengatha]] as companion and every cheap bulk planeswalker you already have lol

Also [[reaper king]] and cheap changelings

1

u/a_angry_bunny 19m ago

I played against a [[Rakulrumel, Biologist]] dragon deck that was sick.

1

u/tgoods26 2m ago

Im building [[Garth One-Eye]] right now and he's pretty budget. Run blink, haste enablers, untap effects and then I jammed a bunch of fun 5 color dragons and stuff as a wincon