Archetypes
Best Budget Spellslinger Upgrades
A spellslinger deck runs on volume, and volume is cheap. Here are seven payoffs and cantrips, none over a few dollars, that build a real Izzet spells deck.
Cheap payoff creatures
These convert your cheap spells into damage or tokens, which is what a spellslinger deck is actually trying to do. Run more than one; the archetype depends on redundancy since these are easy removal targets.
Young Pyromancer ↗
One of the cheapest real payoffs in the archetype, converting every instant or sorcery into a 1/1 token. A board of tokens is also a second win condition if the direct-damage plan gets shut down.
Guttersnipe ↗
Three mana for damage to every opponent on every spell, which is table-wide reach a single-target payoff can't match.
Electrostatic Field ↗
A defender, so it never has to attack to be worth its slot, and it pings for one per spell whether or not anything is trying to remove it that turn.
Cheap card selection
One-mana cantrips are a rare case where running several genuinely improves a Commander deck, since each one triggers every payoff on the battlefield while keeping your hand stocked with more spells to cast.
Opt ↗
One mana, scry and draw. The cheapest real card selection blue offers, and exactly the kind of spell a payoff creature wants to see cast repeatedly.
Consider ↗
Surveil instead of scry, which fills the graveyard as a side effect, useful if the deck is also running any recursion or flashback spells.
Brainstorm ↗
Draws three and puts two back, which is stronger in a deck with shuffle effects but still fine without one, since it lets you set up the top of your library for a payoff-heavy turn.
Chart a Course ↗
Two cards for two mana, no discard if you attacked that turn. A real card-advantage spell rather than pure selection, and cheap in every sense of the word.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the cheapest good payoff for a spellslinger deck?
Young Pyromancer, usually a fraction of a dollar and one of the most efficient payoffs printed. It converts every instant or sorcery into a permanent board presence rather than a one-time burst of damage, which makes it resilient to removal in a way a pure damage payoff isn't.
Are one-mana cantrips actually worth running in Commander?
In a spellslinger deck specifically, yes. Opt and Consider look weak in a vacuum, but their job here isn't card advantage on their own, it's triggering every payoff on the battlefield while keeping the deck's hand from running dry. The archetype is one of the few in Commander where running several of these genuinely improves the deck.
Do I need dual lands for a budget Izzet spellslinger deck?
Some fixing helps more here than in a slower deck, since the curve leans on cheap, colored spells early. You don't need expensive originals; budget dual lands, Guildgates, and basic lands in a reasonable split cover most of what a two-color low-curve deck needs.
Build the deck and see if the curve actually holds up.
TurnZero HQ's Deck Lab tracks your average mana value and card counts as you build, so you can see the deck's real curve before you're stuck holding it at the table.
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