We all have those EDH Staples we love. Dark Confidant, Blightsteel Colossus, Jeska’s Will. But the truth is those cards are pricey and if you have more than one deck, or are just starting out, you can’t afford to buy multiple copies.
That’s why you are here today after all!
You are interested in upgrading your decks for cheap with cards that make great budget EDH staples in most decks. Let’s begin.
Table of Contents
Budget Ramp Staples
The importance of ramp cards is discussed in detail in my 18-page instructional deckbuilding guide “Rule 20: Make Your Deck Do What You Want Every Time” So if you are interested in learning why ramp is so important or how to make your decks do what you want every timem I highly check it out.
That said, ramp as defined in Rule 20 is simply “anything that nets you more mana”.
With four main versions of ramp, people can see.
- Storing mana for later
- Mana rocks
- Mana reducers
- Burst ramp
So with that understanding in mind let’s talk about EDH staples great for ramp.
Simian Spirit Guide- Burst Ramp
First on the list is Simian Spirit Guide. This is a great card to ramp with. On turn 1 you can have 2 mana to work off allowing for a ton of great uses. A good example is using the spirit to cast sol ring then use your sol ring and land to cultivate. Thus leaving you with 5 mana on turn 2. And the number of uses is endless. If that doesn’t get your brain thinking, think about any time you needed just 1 more mana, and put a simian spirit guide there.
Strike it rich- Storing Mana
Strike it rich is a ramp card that is great for turn 1&2 plays and okay afterward. On your early turns, you can store the mana that is wasted for a bigger play later and the same can be said in later levels when you have nothing to do with your mana but need more. It also synergizes really well for spellslinger and artifact matters decks.
Tinderwall- burst ramp
Tinder wall is basically a ritual that can block. A 0/3 defender blocks a lot of early-game opponents, plus it has the added benefit of being able to kill the attacking creature or ramp you into your dragons, commanders, or other threats later. Though requiring both red and green in your decks, it is something well worth it.
Wild growth- mana rocks
Land enchantments rock. These are budget staples that are not played enough but really should. While some people complain that it puts a target on your lands for being destroyed the payoffs are well worth it. Being able to ramp earlier means being able to play your big spells sooner. Which usually means more fun for your deck.
Beanstalk Giant- mana rocks
If you are a fan of kodama’s reach, and cultivate, I think this one is better. In exchange for not adding a second land to hand, you get a land onto the battlefield untapped and can be used later to give you a big creature that can finish games. It is definitely one I recommend to a lot of new players who are looking for good Budget ramp cards.
Blood Pet/ skirk prospector/ goldhound- storing mana
Finally, we have treasures before treasures were cool. These budget staples are cards that function the exact same way as to strike it rich in where you save mana you can’t use now into something later. But what is great about it is they are also creatures! So these can block, attack, or synergize with other creature-based strategies. Making a really strong synergy with what your deck is trying to do.
Budget Draw Staples
Next on the list of budget EDH staples under $1, we have draw engines. These are anything that allows you to see more cards. Scrying, tutoring, drawing, exile effects, recurring, and milling are all common ways that work for card draw and are commonly used.
In general, you will want long-form draw engines over burst draw due to how grindy EDH is. As such this list focuses mainly on long-form draw engines that transform your decks with these 2022 EDH staples.
Oakhame Adversary- draw
Dark Confidant is a popular draw engine for CEDH, but a contender for card draw is oakhame adversary. While not as consistent as Dark Confidant, Oakhame will cost you only 2 mana pretty often, and let you draw cards easily being a 2/3 deathouch creature. Meaning most of the time you are getting a card without losing life. An auto-include in most of my green decks.
Whispering Madness- draw
If you are a fan of windfall but can’t afford multiple copies, whispering madness is a great choice for a budget alternative. While costing 1 more, this spell can also be put onto a creature allowing you to windfall multiple times with the same spell. Overall it is a nice include. Especially for those that like combat.
Witching Well- scry/draw
While best in graveyard and artifact decks, this is a card that can go in any blue deck and not feel wasted. For 1 mana you can scy 2 allowing you to get deeper into the cards you actually want to draw. Then when you begin running out of cards, you can pay 4 to draw 2. Giving you more options to work off of. This has some serious value power that may not seem obvious at first.
Skull Winder- recursion
Eternal witness is a card that ranges from just over a dollar to 5+ dollars pretty easily as the card constantly has tons of demand. Skullwinder is a 25-cent version that does nearly the same thing AND has deathtouch. While this may seem bad giving another player the ability to recur a card. In a lot of games, this can be used either politically or aggressively to allow other players to not mess with you or to work with other players to remove key threats. Either way, if you love eternal witness and want it in every deck, here is a good budget staple.
Dire Fleet Daredevil- exile
This may not seem like card draw, but getting an instant and sorcery card from 1 of 3 other players’ graveyards is quite juicy. This can get you an expensive card that other players can afford or simply a good value card. After all, who doesn’t like getting to choose between a Jeska’s Will, Demonic Tutor, and Cyclonic rift?
Keen Duelist- draw
Ever wanted to play dark confidant but love running big creatures? Keen Duelist is the best draw engine for you. Not only is this a 2 mana creature that draws you cards on your upkeep, but it also deals damage to another player equal to the CMC revealed! Old gnawbone? Take 7. What about blightsteel colossus? Take another 12. This is a great way to not only draw cards but kill your opponents too.
Control Budget Staples
Finally, we have control, aka “protect your stuff and stop other people’s stuff”. These cards make for great edh staples in 2022 for controlling the board.
The following edh staples for under $1 are:
Autumn’s veil
If you are terrified of counterspells, but can’t run them due to colors. Here is a great mtg card under $1. Autumn’s veil takes care of most forms of removal and counterspells by giving your creatures hexproof and your spells uncounterable. Making this a solid budget staple if you find yourself going a pesky blue player often.
Blacksmith’s skill/ tamiyo’s safekeeping
Do you know what sucks? Losing your favorite cards and when you have a deck that can’t run counterspells, it becomes harder to keep your favorite cards. Blacksmith’s skill and tamiyo’s safekeeping are the solutions! Giving a permanent hexproof or indestructibly will take care of most forms of removal and allow that important piece to remain. Just beware of farewell, cause that card is dangerous.
Mogg salvage
Free spells are game-changers, and while not as significant as fierce guardianship or force of will, Mogg salvage is a great piece of removal. Sure vandalblast looks like it has tons of value, but really you only need to remove one threat to progress your board state, and having a free artifact destruction spell means all that mana can be used to advance your board state rather than stopping others.
Whirlwind denial
This one is great against combo players and sacrifice decks. While 3 mana to conditionally counter a spell is usually deemed weak, 3 mana to counter every spell and ability on the stack can be really good. Here are a few cards this is great against, counterbalance, stormkiln artist, birgi, beast whisperer, and there are a dozen more that this card breaks parity on.
Frogify/Kasmina’s transmutation/kenrith’s transformation/ witness protection
The biggest annoyance commander has, is that if you remove a player’s commander they can just recast them again. This makes it hard to use removal on them as all you are doing is breaking parity with them and not actually disrupting their board long term. That is why these transformation enchantments are good budget staples. Putting this on a commander removes the threat while also preventing them from recasting them. Forcing them to use even more resources to get their commander back besides just tapping for mana.
Mind Harness
This is in the same realm as frogify but more like gilded drake in my opinion. While somewhat dependent on your meta, mind harness allows other commanders to be your own. While the cumulative upkeep can get annoying denying someone else their commander and letting you use their commander gets you great value for the 1-3 turns you will keep it.
Seal of primordium/ seal of cleansing/ seal of removal
These are very telegraphed plays but that is what makes them great. When you telegraph artifact/enchantment/ or creature removal, people are less likely to play their threats as they don’t want to be the one losing a card. After all, losing a beastmaster ascension, lightning greaves, or even a sol ring sucks when someone else could have lost theirs instead.
Fulminator mage
Fulminator mage is an okay card. While useful for removing Gaea’s Cradle or other cards like that, this is great as a nuclear button against the other 3 players. Simply state, “the one who messes with me the most loses their land.” and watch as no one messes with your board until it is too late.
Where To Get These EDH Staples?
Best Price
The best place for the price is going to be TCG player. TCG is a great resource for buying cards from a variety of shops and allows you to get the best price possible.
Best Quality
Besides them, if you are willing to pay a little extra for your edh staples in 2022 there is card kingdom and channel fireball. Both are trusted by the community and are great resources for those looking to ensure their cards in top quality and are guaranteed to be authentic.
Best Resource
Finally, if you are looking to get these budget staples, it’s best to know effective strategies for utilizing staples. That’s why I recommend getting my Rule 20 book. It not only goes over several strategies to build more effective decks but goes over the math behind it and explains common myths players think to be true.
P.S. Looking to find EDH staples for more specific deck builds? Check out my review on 20 edh staples for Storm Decks!