Hello awesome Commander fans! I hope that your day is going incredibly well! As you know, I care a lot about budget Commander. I even have a series of articles called "Budget Commander" where I build a deck with a budget under $40. Good stuff! Today I want to look at my choices for the best budget Commanders available here at CoolStuffInc.com. For today's list I am looking at rares under a buck here that are in stock. Some classic Commanders are super cheap!

Today we'll be looking at the Top Ten plus three Honorable Mentions. None of these are recent printings that are currently Standard legal! Ready?

Honorable Mention #1 (#13 Overall) - Jared Carthalalion, True Heir

Just $0.49! Happy day to you and, let's get started with this fun thang! Jared the Awesome, this three-drop 3/3 with three Naya colors is great as a leader of your Commander deck in a Monarch Matters brew. As you can see, your foe becomes a Monarch this turn when he ETBs, and you cannot swap over after your combat this turn. And then post becoming the Monarch on another turn you can prevent all damage to him and grow in size with +1/+1 counters on him. Strong stuff for the winning with a cheap three-mana drop to get him reliably out there as well as with Command Tax and he's a threat in the Commander Damage red zone with his perma-pumps. Nice guy to start things off with! What powerhouse hits next?

Honorable Mention #2 - (#12 Overall) - Greven, Predator Captain

$0.75 for this Rakdos five-drop that's in a strong 1,636 decks for you folks (According to EDHREC.com). Nasty stuff! This has a natural five power and menace, so without its other abilities it's a five-turn Commander Damage clock with evasion. Then he gets a power boost equal to your life lost this turn, which is easily done here in the Rakdos colors. Then when you attack with him, you can sacrifice another dork to draw cards equal to its power, and lose life equal to its toughness. Ideally, what you want are a cheap dork with a lot of disadvantages with a fat power to grab a lot and a decent toughness to pump him up. I built around him here about four years ago, and I ran stuff that wanted to be sacrificed with Kokusho and Homura. Then I ran stuff like Aristocrats and sacrifice stuff like Mayhem Devil. I didn't break him.

Here's how you break Greven to get a faster kill, with help from a combo that dominated Vintage years ago.

• Drop Illusionary Mask.
• Cast Phyrexian Dreadnought for one mana upside down, or tutor it up with Demonic Tutor if you don't have it already.
• Cast anything that gives Greven haste in Rakdos
• Cast Greven, attack with haste, attack someone with no dorks or just one with menace, sacrifice Dreadnought to draw 12 and lose 12 life, now it's 17/5 for the turn.
• Drop one of your cards from the 12 drawn to sacrifice, and then attack and kill the person you attacked last turn.

See how fast that can be? He's just so good! And with a few pain lands and Medallions, you could drop him with a 21/5 on turn 5 and something like cycling the Street Wraith for 2 life you can kill in one hit and draw 12 cards to rebuild your hand. It's pretty easy to build a Rakdos life loss brew or sacrifice build around him, and he's pretty cheap. You can drop things like Phyrexian Soulgorger, or Rotting Regisaur to draw tons of cards and gets massive life loss to smash with early. That also ignores Ancient Tomb damage, missing a coin flip on Mana Crypt, Mana Vault tinging and so forth. I think you could win, and many of these cards are cheap to acquire, so a budget deck here is pretty simple.

Nasty! What Experience Counter dork hits in my final spot before the Top Ten?

Honorable Mention #3 (#11 Overall) - Ezuri, Claw of Progress

Hello Ezuri fans! We all know how popular and powerful experience counter Commanders can be, but this is still just a fast $0.99 to acquire. Strong stuff!

You get experience counters when a dork with power 2 or fewer arrives on your battlefield. You can really load up with small stuff in Simic like Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves rather than Rampant Growth or Arcane Signet. There are many classics in these colors that are heavily played in Commander and will trigger, like Mulldrifter, Timeless Witness, and Reclamation Sage.

But when you run small stuff, you often run into removal either mass or targeted, like opponents' Wrath of God or Cyclonic Rift. So, how does Ezuri reward your dedication to things small? Good question! On your combat step, you can place +1/+1 counters on any dork you control equal to your experience counter count. So that could be making that Birds of Paradise into a 4/5 and then a 9/10 the next turn. You keep on growing your stuff, and note that you can target dorks with a power more than 2 that are win cons, or your Commander for a Commander Damage kill.

This also has synergy with +1/+1 caring cards like Doubling Season or Tanazir Quandrix. Strong stuff. And it has flying and trample - double evasion. This is a strong and fun powerhouse that uses the broken experience counter system. Ezuri has the second-highest number of decks in this cycle, after Meren of Clan Nel Toth. What Tribal card hits the 10 spot?

#10. Gisa and Geralf

I cheated here, see it? They are a budget mythic, not rare. They cost just 75 cents though, pretty cheap from where I am sitting. They are in a strong 2,602 decks, off a four-mana nice-sized 4/4 body. When they ETB? You mill four so they are great with the Self-milling. Then you can cast, once per turn, one Zombie from your graveyard. See how they work together to keep your stuff hitting your graveyard and then the once/turn cast? It's very strong here with the Zombie decks and in the right colors for their Tribal Zombie support. This pair is quite good already!! Love them loads, you should too! What Lorwyn block card hits next?

#9. Doran, the Siege Tower

Ah yes, the original toughness-matters legendary dork, in all three colors. For just $0.75! He's in 3,237 decks over at EDHREC. He's nasty good with the color of ramp in Green, big toughness stuff in White, and removal in Black. Nasty! That allows this 5/5 for three mana to drop and kill quickly with Commander damage, and he can be easily cast again with Commander Tax.

Love him with toughness pumping equipment like Slagwurm Armor, enchantments like Spidersilk Armor. Good stuff here. Love him loads! Get ready for my 70th Budget Commander built around him in January of this year here. Him and his support are all pretty cheap. Get some Doran love today! What is my favorite leader from Commander Legends?

#8. Amareth, the Lustrous

This is!It's just $0.49 on the secondary market here. Love this thing's power loads since it wins in four hits of Commander damage and is evasive with flying. Then whenever another permanent enters your battlefield, you reveal the top card of your library and you can draw it if it matches a permanent you control. Nasty card flow just by doing what you want!

This clearly wants to be a creature dork matters, artifact matters, land matters or enchantment matters all of which are in the Bant colors anyway. Enchantments? Enchantress' Presence in Green and Sphere of Safety in White! Dorks? Green with Garruk, Caller of Beasts or Yeva, Nature's Herald. Artifacts? I have White's Razor Hippogriff and Blue's Master of Etherium. Then we have lands in Green with Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya. I built around planeswalkers in my brew here! Amareth is arguably underplayed with just 1,626 decks, but that's still another more than 1.5k on EDHREC.com. What Izzet Commander was heavily played long ago is next?

#7. Jhoira of the Ghitu

Hitting halfway on today's list but just costing $0.49 here is Jhoria Take One. This three-drop in Izzet is a 2/2 Wizard, a good tribe for that color combo. Then you can spend two mana any time to suspend any non-land from your hand, and then it has four time counters. She was heavily played at the kitchen table for years as a Commander, and even today she's in a solid 2,596 decks over at EDHREC.com.

I like her as a "Big Stuff" Commander to wait four turns, for things like Insurrection, Expropriate and Omniscience. Just insert some delaying cards like Fog Bank and Wall of Stone to keep them away. That would be my build. Here's how people actually build around her - Obliterate and a Colossus like Blightsteel or Darksteel. Drop them on the same turn and win. I don't like that, but she's pretty flexible, the most common things she's with are things that play with time counters, and then One with the Multiverse and Ovika, Enigma Goliath. So maybe they are more like my style of decking. She's in my Commander Cube as a draftable leader. Alright, one card left before the Top Five, what is it?

#6. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

Our final one before the Top Five is also costing just 49 cents here! Nice! Alesha is a three drop 3/2 with first strike, nicely on curve! When you swing, you can pay two hybrid to reanimate a 2 power or less thing that's now attacking your foe. Strong stuff for their three colors! They're in a massive 5,180 decks. They give you three colors, so that gives you options. Alesha is also in my Commander Cube.

My favorite archetype for her is what I call "Small Stuff Reanimation." Many cards in White play with this like small casting cost cares Sun Titan and Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants or 2 or fewer power like the Dawn half of Dusk // Dawn or Militia Bugler. Good stuff! Run a small power theme and you can sweep everything with a 4 power or higher for just three mana with Retribution of the Meek which will save Alesha. Alesha is very strong at the reanimating fun times! Who made my Top Five?

#5. Marchesa, the Black Rose

The first Marchesa costs just $0.99! This Grixis colored four-drop is also in my Commander Cube. Love her loads! She has a 3/3 body and has dethrone to grow her with +1/+1 counters over time. Then your other stuff has dethrone as well. When a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it dies, you return it to the battlefield at the end of the turn. Nasty!

She is amazing at the reanimation of other stuff, just toss a +1/+1 counter on it. Grixis gives you Blue for counters and card flow, Black for removal and the +1/+1 counters matter size of Abzan, and then Red gives you burn and artifact removal. All three give you commonly played mass removal in Damnation, Blasphemous Act and Cyclonic Rift. Then you can run stuff like proliferate, the +1/+1 countered stuff getting deathtouch with Mer-Ek Nightblade, and loads more! She's very strong and beloved! Next is a dork from her same set!

#4. Brago, King Eternal

Also in my Commander Cube! Brago is a Commander Classic with a massive 7,234 decks! But he's just 99 cents! He's the blink leader, since his four-drop 2/4 has flying to evade and a combat damage trigger. When he smashes face, you can blink as many non-lands as you wanna! Strong stuff here, and that's an evasive dork that can be attacking the turn you drop him with hasted equipment. He can blink dorks for more ETB triggers like Karmic Guide and Mulldrifter, he can blink artifacts with ETB triggers like Ichor Wellspring or Spine of Ish Sah. (That's how I built around him here in my Budget Commander Series - way back in 2014!)

You can blink out enchantments with ETB stuff like Faith's Fetters and Cartouche of Knowledge. I also like him blinking and reloading planeswalkers with low loyalty about to die. He's an awesome leader for your Commander team!

#3. Alela, Artful Provocateur

This leader made for Brawl Commander is pretty common in Commander too, and just 75 cents! She costs four, rocks a 2/3 body with three evergreen abilities just like beloved Vampire Nighthawk with flying, deathtouch and lifelink. When you cast an artifact or enchantment you make a 1/1 flying Faerie token. So she'll stream out 2/1s for free when you cast stuff of those pair as long as you control her. Strong stuff! You can see why Alela is so beloved.

Since she has flying and deathtouch, she can often keep more expensive stuff from attacking you with their big guns with flying like Consecrated Sphinx so your air force of Faeries can swing for two damage each that you made and she'll hold the fort. However, in many metagames people will swing at her to force damage or trades so that she'll be more expensive with Commander Tax. Don't forget that either. She can be a flyer-matters or an enchantment/artifact-matters leader, or you could combine them and run flyers that are artifacts like Steel Hellkite or Baleful Strix. I also love her with the Aura that triggers her and gives her +2/+2 and unblockable called Steel of the Godhead. You can Voltron her up to win with Commander damage while triggering blockers to hold the fort and drop things like Whispersilk Cloak or Nettlecyst. Since she already has evasion, that makes sense. I also really like her with Esper Vehicles with those triggering to make the crew that tap for it with a 2 power each! And then there were two slots left, but our next spot will have two so who is it?

#2. Child of Alara AND Garth One-Eye

Just 99 and 75 cents respectively! Five color leaders are always popular. Getting the ability to cast any spell ever made no matter its color identity is awesome. You don't need to trade, everything you own is playable! Both of these cost five mana! The former is a 6/6 with trample, on curve, and when it dies? You destroy all non-lands, so that's a free Planar Cleansing. When it's out, people with great boards won't want to lose them so they won't attack you or block with their stuff and kill it. Nasty. It's in an okay 3,140 decks. You can build around it with indestructible things, more spells than permanents, like swapping Phyrexian Arena for Sign in Blood and Eternal Witness for Regrowth and Sensei's Divining Top for Brainstorm. Nice!

And we have the latter mythic which is a smaller 5/5 without evasion. You can tap him, and cast one of 6 key things that were printed back in Alpha, one in each color and Black Lotus. Then you have to cast them, so you'll want to run the mana for them. There are two targeted removal spells that cost two at instant speed (Disenchant, Terror) card draw (Braingeyser), recursion (Regrowth) and you can make a Dragon. It's great card flow over time and you can get loads of cards from it. This mythic is also in a strong number of decks at 4,311. Here, since you have to tap to use it, and you only have 6 uses, I like it with haste in Red or equipment, untaps or haste like Thousand-Year Elixir and then after it's done, a blink effect like Momentary Blink. I have built a Garth deck around abusing the Black Lotus maker here. Good stuff for the five color fun times! What card made my Top spot though?

#1. Jodah, Archmage Eternal

Number one coming in at $.49! This is another key five-color identity Commander but easier to cast with a four-cost and just three of its colors. He does have a solid 4/3 flying body. Then you can spend 5 mana, one of each color, to cast your stuff! That means you have a Fist of Suns in the Command Zone and we know how popular that was!

Just like Jhoira earlier, I like him casting fat stuff for five mana, like Insurrection, Eldrazi Titans like Ulamog, Archangel's Light, Plague Wind, Searing Wind, the Ultimatum Cycle like Genesis Ultimatum, Conflux, Apex Devastator, Progenitus, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, the Ancient Dragon cycle, and loads more! He's so powerful and good. And since he costs 5 mana of each color he's not easy to do, and therefore isn't as abusive as Jhoira, but still has access to three more colors. Awesome possum!

And we're done! I hope that you enjoyed my look at popular, older Commanders under a buck! I liked this a lot so you might see me hit it up again sometime soon.