Budget Commander Staples: Charms

I've done a series of posts on budget commander staples, but have focused to date on one- or two-color spells. Today, I look at three-color, focusing on charms.

Charm is not a card type but in its name. They were first introduced in Mirage (1996), but at the time were one-color. They were (and remain) a versatile spell, giving a player several options to choose from at casting. They are always instants.

We've gotten four cycles of five three-color charms, giving us 20 total. They debuted in Planeshift (2001):

Shards of Alara (2008) introduced five more:

Khans of Tarkir (2014) gave five more, and note the modal format (with bullets for each option):

And Streets of New Capenna (2022) round us out with their five:

Note that of the 20 total charms, 15 are allied trios (adjacent on the color wheel); the five from Khans of Tarkir are the only ones that differ.

Most charms play off their colors' strengths, and are good inclusions in any Commander deck featuring those colors.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.