Budget Commander Staples: Red

Continuing this month's theme (see this post for an introduction), today I look at budget Commander staples in red, focusing on four categories: ramp, card draw, targeted removal, and board wipe.

Ramp (red)

Ramp is about accelerating land deployment and/or mana access. In red, that happens in three ways: sacrificing creatures to add mana (Reckless Barbarian, Skirk Prospector), discarding cards to draw cards and get treasure tokens (Pirate's Pillage, Big Score), or exiling cards from your deck to play that turn (Light Up the Stage, Act on Impulse, Atsushi). There are a few mana-producing creatures, too (Alena, Sunset Strikemaster).

Card draw (red)

Card draw in red almost always comes at a cost of discarding, though Browbeat is a fun way to force an opponent to pick their poison.

Targeted removal (red)

Red excels at destroying artifacts, lands, and creatures (by doing damage).

Board wipe (red)

Board wipes in red are about destroying all artifacts (Shatterstorm) or doing damage to every creature (Star of Extinction, Burn Down the House, Blasphemous Act). Note: Blasphemous Act is ~$3, above by $1 limit, but close enough to count.

Conclusion

Of the 32 cards above, you could choose ~20 for almost any mono-red Commander deck based on your  strategy.