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For many Magic: The Gathering players, there’s no greater feeling than playing a giant monster and watching your opponents’ faces break into a sweat. Eldrazi Unbound is the perfect preconstructed Commander deck for just such a player, and it’s coming in Commander Masters.
As always, Wizards of the Coast did a phenomenal job creating Eldrazi Unbound, filling it with a good mix of ramp, removal, card draw, and of course, giant Eldrazi monsters. It’s not perfect, however, and that means there’s plenty of space for even price-conscious Magic players to make improvements. If you plan on snagging Eldrazi Unbound, here are a few cheap cards that could improve the deck.
All prices are taken from TCGPlayer.com.
More Eldrazi
One of the problems with Eldrazi-themed decks is that the biggest, baddest Eldrazi are often far too expensive for budget-minded Magic players to consider. Eldrazi Unbound thankfully reprints a few of the better ones, such as Kozilek, the Great Distortion and It That Betrays, but there's no Ulamog or Emrakul.
There are still a few cheap Eldrazi that are still worthy of consideration. The first is Conduit of Ruin, a mere 5/5 Eldrazi for six mana that also reduces the mana cost of the first creature spell you cast by two. It also tutors for a colorless creature with converted mana cost greater than seven, which is pretty great.
The second is Desolation Twin. Although nothing special, 20 power for ten mana is nothing to sneeze at.
Consider replacing Bane of Bala Ged or Endless One with either of these cards.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $1.36 | Conduit of Ruin Six generic mana, creature - Eldrazi, 6/6 When you cast this spell, you may search your library for a colorless creature card with mana value seven or greater, reveal it, then shuffle and put that card on top. The first creature spell you cast each turn costs six generic less to cast. |
 | $0.30 | Desolation Twin 10 generic mana, creature - Eldrazi, 10/10 When you cast this spell, create a 10/10 colorless Eldrazi creature token. |
More Eldrazi Helpers
Eldrazi are big and expensive--and not just in terms of dollars and cents. Eldrazi are also very expensive in terms of mana, which means you can’t always count on them to arrive before your opponents have already cast an army and are bearing down your front door.
Eldrazi Unbound already has cards like Palladium Myr, Solemn Simulacrum, and Ornithopter of Paradise helping to produce mana, but there are other ways you can assist your giant monsters. One is Eldrazi Mimic, an adorable little Eldrazi that becomes much larger as soon as you start casting the bigger Eldrazi later on.
The second is Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter. Although it doesn't necessarily make Eldrazi come into player sooner, it does make them come into play at instant speed, which turns all your Eldrazi into enormous, monstrous traps. And when much like Eldrazi Mimic, Liberator gets bigger the more big spells you cast.
Consider either of these in place of Crashing Drawbridge.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $1.20 | Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter 3 generic mana, Legendary artifact creature - Thopter, 1/2 Flying, Flash You may cast colorless spells and artifact spells as though they had flash. Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana spent to cast that spell is greater than Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter’s power, put a +1/+1 counter on Liberator. |
 | $0.39 | Eldrazi Mimic Two generic mana, creature - Eldrazi, 2/1 Whenever another colorless creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may change Eldrazi Mimic’s base power and toughness to that creature’s power and toughness until end of turn. |
More Removal
Sadly, there are very few options for instant-speed removal in pure colorless decks, and Eldrazi Unbound already runs Spatial Contortion and Titan's Presence. There is one colorless removal card still left, and it deserves attention.
That card is Scour from Existence. Yes, seven mana makes it even more expensive than Desert Twister, but it's an instant, and Eldrazi Unbound should be able to produce seven mana in no time with all its various mana rocks and mana-producing critters.
If your table happens to play with a lot of larger threats, then consider this in place of Spatial Contortion or even Desecrate Reality if your friends tend to play with odd-numbered permanents.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $0.08 | Scour from Existence Seven generic mana, Instant Exile target permanent. |
More Board Clear
Eldrazi Unbound already has decent board clear from All is Dust, Blast Zone, and Perilous Vault (and even Steel Hellkite to an extent), but two cards out of 100 isn't a lot. Nevinyrral's Disk is cheap in terms of both mana and money and it reliably resets the board.
Another card worthy of thought is Gruesome Slaughter. Even Eldrazi can sometimes get bogged down; Gruesome Slaughter can break open stalemates provided you have enough giant monsters present (and your stalemate isn't the result of indestructible creatures).
Scaretiller and Bane of Bala Ged might be good options to replace with either of these cards.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $0.15 | Nevinyrral's Disk Four generic mana, Artifact Nevinyrral’s Disk enters the battlefield tapped. One generic, tap: Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments. |
 | $0.09 | Gruesome Slaughter Six generic mana, Sorcery Until end of turn, colorless creatures you control gain “tap: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature.” |
Better Ramp
In order to get all these Eldrazi on the field, you're going to need a lot of mana. Eldrazi Unbound has a lot of ramp from the likes of Hedron Archive, Worn Powerstone, and Thran Dynamo, but reliably getting a lot of mana is of paramount concern for Eldrazi players.
Expedition Map can help search for one of the more high-value mana-generating lands, such as Temple of the False God or a missing part of the Urazatron lands. It can also help search out utility lands like Blast Zone, Scavenger Grounds, or Sea Gate Wreckage.
Manifold Key pairs well with pretty much any mana rock that produces more than one mana, and it can also make one of your Eldrazi unblockable.
And finally, Quicksilver Amulet offers an alternate way of casting Eldrazi that's way cheaper than Darksteel Monolith.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $1.49 | Expedition Map One generic mana, Artifact Two generic, tap: Sacrifice Expedition Map: Search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. |
 | $0.21 | Manifold Key One generic mana, Artifact One generic, tap: Untap another target artifact. Three generic, tap: Target creature can’t be blocked this turn. |
 | $0.39 | Quicksilver Amulet Four generic mana, Artifact Four generic, tap: You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. |
Better Card Draw
Eldrazi Unbound's biggest threat isn't necessarily other players--it's running out of Eldrazi to cast. Cards like Sea Gate Wreckage, Mystic Forge, and Mazemind Tome help, but it can be a struggle to reliably keep your hand full.
Mind's Eye is probably the best colorless card draw engine out there. Staff of Nin isn't bad (and pairs well with Manifold Key), but prioritize Mind's Eye first. Introduction to Prophecy is more deck cycling than card draw, but it can still help you find either Mind's Eye or any of the above cards.
Scaretiller or Endless Atlas are easy replacements for any of these cards.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $0.04 | Introduction to Prophecy Three generic mana, Sorcery Scry two, then draw a card. |
 | $0.80 | Staff of Nin Six generic mana, Artifact At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card. Tap: Staff of Nin deals 1 damage to any target. |
 | $1.50 | Mind's Eye Five generic mana, Artifact Whenever an opponent draws a card, you may pay one generic mana. If you do, draw a card. |
A Few More Cool Lands
Eldrazi Unbound already has a lot of lands to help where spells and monsters might fail, but there are a few more that could prove useful.
Zhalfirin Void provides colorless mana and a free scry. Field of Ruin can pop a problematic land on the opponent's side. And Mikokoro, Center of the Sea can often be more helpful than Sea Gate Wreckage even if it helps your opponents almost as much.
If you plan to get rid of a few Wastes for these cards, be sure to get rid of Endless Atlas too.
Image | Price | Name/Description |
|---|---|---|
 | $0.25 | Zhalfirin Void Land When Zhalfirin Void enters the battlefield, scry one. Tap: Add one generic mana. |
 | $0.79 | Mikokoro, Center of the Sea Legendary Land Tap: Add one generic mana. Two generic, tap: Each player draws a card. |
 | $0.06 | Field of Ruin Land Tap: Add one generic mana. Two generic, Tap, Sacrifice Field of Ruin: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each player searches their library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles. |