Budget Control: Say NO To Spells and Spending Money

Budget Control decks are very easy to build. Control is one of Magic’s oldest archetypes, and because of that, there are a ton of options. It is also a great archetype to slowly upgrade. Control staples cover all price ranges, letting you pick and choose how much you want to spend. Control decks are all about saying “no” to whatever your opponents are trying to do. You’re cutting off their resources, either in the form of removal or with counterspells before they ever have a chance to hit the battlefield.

This article will show off various staples for budget Control decks, along with some sample commanders to show how to build on a budget.

Budget Control Staples

In budget Control, there are three main categories of cards: counterspells, removal, and card draw. You want all three of these in most Control decks. Without them, you’ll run out of steam and be unable to answer what your opponents are doing. Make sure to load up your decks with these cards while building. You don’t need all of these cards, but you should include most of them.

Counterspells

When someone thinks of Control, odds are the first thing that comes to mind are counterspells. These are cards that stop a spell from resolving. Counterspells are best used on powerful cards that will make a meaningful impact on the gamestate. You don’t want to waste a counterspell on something like a mana dork. Instead, use them on big creatures or game-ending spells.

An Offer You Can't Refuse is a great budget counterspell for noncreature spells. Even though your opponent gets two Treasure tokens from it, it’s better than some potentially game-ruining spell resolving. The best counterspells are free or one mana for a reason: they let you use the rest of your mana for more interaction. Arcane Denial is easy to cast and gives you a delayed card draw. It does allow your opponent to draw two cards later, which, while not great, is usually worth the trade-off when it counters a powerful spell. You can utilize Muddle the Mixture as either a counterspell or a tutor. One of the best choices is Dovin's Veto. Since it can’t be countered, you can ensure you counter whatever spell it’s targeting.

Removal

Another tent of Control is removal. You can’t always counter a spell, so removal helps to take care of any problematic permanent that got past you. Void Rend can guarantee removal since it can’t be countered. It can’t hit lands like Chaos Warp and Generous Gift can, but they’re all great includes in a Control deck. Another similar card is Anguished Unmaking, which can hit any permanent at the cost of three life. One-mana removal, including Path to Exile and Pongify, are generally auto-includes as well.

On top of single-target removal, you also have board wipes to clear the battlefield of creatures. Blasphemous Act is the classic, and usually only costs one Red mana. Toxic Deluge can also convert life into negative stat boosts to get around indestructible. You can make it harder to respond to your board wipe with Supreme Verdict since it can’t be countered. If your deck can manage, Ruinous Ultimatum is a fantastic one-sided board wipe. A very under-used board wipe is By Invitation Only. By forcing sacrifice, you can get around things like hexproof and indestructible.

Card Draw

Lastly, you want ways to draw cards. This lets you actually get to your counterspells and removal options. Certain creatures let you draw cards when you cast spells, such as Archmage Emeritus and Archmage of Runes. It does require constant loss of life, but Phyrexian Arena can draw you an extra card every upkeep. While it’s not a staple in every Control deck, Frantic Search helps you dig through your deck essentially for free since you untap three lands after it resolves. You cast a lot of spells in Control decks, so your graveyard is often loaded up. So, delving with Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise is very easy.

Budget Control Commanders

Now that you know the budget Control staples, we’ll go over some sample budget Control Commander decks. There will be five in total, each showing off a different flavor of Control. This will help you to see what the archetype could do without needing to spend a ton of money on staples and powerful cards.

Vren, the Relentless

This is the most “traditional” Control deck here. Vren, the Relentless can turn your removal spells into creatures, encouraging you to play mass removal spells to control the board state. Unlike similar commanders, it only cares about creatures being exiled, so cards like Curse of the Swine and Reality Shift can create your tokens. The more creatures being removed, the better.

All of your creatures tend to be Rats, so you can take advantage of Rat support cards. Karumonix, the Rat King gives your Rats toxic, which means after ten damage gets through, that’s enough to take someone out of the game. You can make your Rats threats in combat with Ogre Slumlord, which gives them all deathtouch. To make your Rats harder to block, you have Piper of the Swarm.

The deck plays a ton of instant speed removal spells. Cards like Dismember, Tragic Slip, and Rapid Hybridization are all over. This helps you to always trigger your commander and continue to make an army of Rats. You also have countermagic, including Countersquall and Counterspell in case there is a creature coming down that you can’t counter.

A sample decklist can be viewed below. There is an equal balance of counterspell and removal, always having an answer for any given gamestate.

Eriette of the Charmed Apple

This deck, instead of playing counterspells and removals, runs a bunch of Auras to slow down opponents to control the battlefield. Eriette of the Charmed Apple makes it so enchanted creatures by your Auras can’t attack you while gaining life and burning opponents. There is a lot of goading going on, such as with Killian, Decisive Mentor and Parasitic Impetus.

There are two cards in particular that are very useful in the deck. These are Spirit Link and Vampiric Link. These do not give the enchanted creature lifelink, but you do gain life when it deals damage. It’s basically lifelink, but only you get the benefit. Since your commander makes it so opponents can’t attack you, your opponents are harming each other while you reap the reward of lifegain.

Although you want creatures attacking your opponents, you aren’t always going to have your commander out. As such, some Auras act as pseudo-removal to prevent them from doing anything. Darksteel Mutation turns them into an indestructible Insect with no abilities. Reprobation has a similar effect, but doesn’t make them indestructible. You also have Aura-based removal in Ossification.

A sample decklist can be viewed below. The deck primarily consists of Auras, as that’s what the commander wants a ton of.

Hylda of the Icy Crown

Normally, cards that just tap down a creature aren’t amazing. But with Hylda of the Icy Crown, it becomes a very powerful deck. You can turn tapping creatures into card draw, a 4/4 token, or +1/+1 counters getting spread to all your creatures. Something as simple as a Blustersquall or Gideon's Lawkeeper can snowball into a ton of advantage.

Ideally, you want to tap creatures without spending mana so you can pay for Hylda of the Icy Crown‘s effect. Citadel Siege can tap a creature at the start of every combat, giving you at least three triggers of your commander guaranteed. It has to be on your turn to be free, but fittingly, Hylda's Crown of Winter is amazing in the deck. Grappling Kraken has landfall so just playing a land will tap down a creature with a stun counter.

There are various cards that benefit from creatures getting tapped. Willbreaker can gain control of creatures when you target them, making for a powerful theft card if it can’t be answered. You can turn tapping creatures into card draw with Verity Circle while also letting you tap a creature with it. When you tap a creature, Solitary Sanctuary can pump up a creature, while Rhoda, Geist Avenger and Gideon's Avenger can pump themselves up.

A sample decklist can be viewed below. Nearly every card in the deck can tap down a creautre, letting you take full advantage of your commander.

Lord of the Nazgul

Like Lord of the Rings or playing a ton of spells? Look no further than Lord of the Nazgul. It turns all your spells into a 3/3 Wraith, so all of your Counterspells and removal like Infernal Grasp get to come with a 3/3 token as well. This helps you flood the battlefield while controlling it at the same time.

The deck benefits from a lot of cheap spells. You aren’t always going to have creatures to remove or spells to counter, so you want other kinds of spells as well. Card draw is especially good in the deck, as they make a token and help keep your hand fresh. Cremate draws while also being graveyard hate if you’re ever up against a graveyard deck. You can use Quicken to draw a card and give a sorcery flash. Brainstorm digs through your deck to get to key cards quicker and puts back cards you don’t need at a given gamestate.

There are other ways besides your commander to make tokens. Both Talrand, Sky Summoner and Murmuring Mystic can create tokens the same way your commander can. In addition, Mirkwood Bats can turn these tokens into a win condition with all the burn damage it can do.

A sample decklist can be viewed below. It plays both Control staples as well as various Spellslinger cards to fully come together.

Malik, Grim Manipulator/Negan, the Cold-Blooded

Malik, Grim Manipulator (originally printed as Negan, the Cold-Blooded) foregoes counterspells in favor of a lot of removal. Specifically, a lot of forced sacrifice with cards such as Mire in Misery and Sheoldred's Edict since these will give you Treasure tokens with your commander.

The deck makes a lot of Treasure tokens over the course of the game. The idea is to get a ton of Treasure tokens, then dump the spells in big spells like Rise of the Dark Realms and Ruinous Ultimatum. You can also use Debt to the Deathless and Exsanguinate with a ton of mana dumped into the X cost to gain a bunch of life and burn your opponents a ton.

There are a lot of different ways to close out games. Mirkwood Bats, Reckless Fireweaver, and Mayhem Devil can deal slow burn damage with all the Treasure tokens you sacrifice. Alternatively, you can win the game with Hellkite Tyrant once you have 20 or more artifacts. If you have a ton of Treasure tokens, Vihaan, Goldwaker can turn your Treasures into creatures to deal a ton of combat damage.

A sample decklist can be viewed below. Most of the cards force mass sacrifice or enable Treasure token synergies.

In Conclusion

Budget Control decks can play a ton of different ways. They all share a central theme of stalling out opponents, but the win conditions are different each time. Some are about creating tokens while denying resources, while others build a slow advantage as they burn out your opponents.

Regardless of how you play Control, the archetype rewards careful thought. If you enjoy decks that require constant thinking and decision-making, Control is the archetype for you. If you haven’t tried Control yet, budget Control decks are perfect for you. Control is a playstyle that is very much not for everyone, especially if you like playing with big creatures or impactful spells. Many Control decks play small cards that generally don’t make a big splash. Instead, they enable strategies to win the game in the long haul instead of stealing some early wins.