Dollar Menu Dynamite, Part 5

Tired of playing the same old cards? It can be strategically beneficial to know your deck inside and out, but if you're just playing casual games with your friends, it can also get kind of boring. There's a real element of fun in your own deck surprising you now and then, and there's no better way to encourage the process than trying out a new card or two. Of course, you can't afford to swap out your power cards all the time - or can you? As part of the Dollar Menu Dynamite series, we have here a list of ten cards that can be picked up for a dollar or less yet can make a big impact on the board. Find one that piques your interest and try it on for size!

Elven Warhounds: A 2/2 for four mana might seem pretty wimpy, but the hounds feature an ability far more subtly insidious than your run-of-the-mill deathtouch. Any blockers, even those with first strike, will immediately get stuffed on top of your opponent's library before any damage is exchanged. Not only are the Warhounds unharmed, but your opponent is stuck drawing and replaying the same card - he's basically been put back a whole turn. Mostly players will gladly take 2 damage before losing a turn, so in practice the Warhounds may be more like a green Phantom Warrior. That is, until you add in a card like Lure or Nemesis Mask, which forces your opponent's entire army on top of his library! He'll be wading through every creature he's ever played while the rest of your squad marches through unopposed, making short work of your foe. Slap trample on the Warhounds and they'll still nail your opponent while they're at it, putting him on a clock even if he's being forced to block every turn. If you're really feeling rude, though, throw in a copy of Nature's Revolt or Natural Affinity and your Luring Warhounds will label your opponent with the mother of all Plow Unders.

Dawn of the Dead: The Unearth cards from Alara are great fun, able to come back for a repeat performance regardless of how they ended up in your graveyard. Unfortunately, they all come equipped with a self-destruct sequence, removing them from the game if they would try and leave play for any reason. This black-heavy enchantment from Torment has no such clause, allowing you to reanimate the same creature time and again so long as you can get it back in your graveyard before the end of the turn. For a piddly 1 life each time, you can repeatedly use powerful self-sacrifice abilities like Composite Golem, Sadistic Hypnotist, Magus of the Jar, Goblin Dynamo or Barbarian Riftcutter each turn while still getting to attack first. If you'd rather just re-use abusive comes-into-play abilities, simply pair Dawn of the Dead with the sacrifice outlet of your choice: premiere options include Ashnod's Altar, Greater Good and Altar of Dementia (to gain access to more targets!) Don't feel like only getting back one creature at a time? Combine the Dawn with Sundial of the Infinite or Teferi's Veil and you can permanently keep any creature that rises from the grave. George Romero would be so proud!

Collective Unconscious: What was that green deck that reliably dumped a ton of creatures into play every game? Could it have been... oh, I don't know... all of them? Collective Unconscious is expensive at six mana, but after you've played out your hand and all of your cards exist in the form of board presence, this can refuel you to keep dropping threats without having to slow down. Besides, one of the premiere green board flooders, elves, have the likes of Priest of Titania, Joraga Treespeaker and Elvish Archdruid to hurry it out, as well as Imperious Perfect, Hunting Triad and Elvish Promenade to fuel it. Tokens are an especially easy way to get a big return on cards, whether they're elves, saprolings or even squirrels. You see? Your creatures give you cards, and your cards give you creatures. What could be more green than symbiosis?

Diminishing Returns: The Power Nine are a legendary group of cards that exist at the peak of power (and pricetag) within the hallowed annals of Magic, rendering them more-or-less the polar opposite of what this article is about. Still, every now and then Wizards tries to remake a "balanced" version of one of the Power Nine in order to generate buzz. This classic example from Alliances is a 'fixed' Timetwister, costing only one more mana for virtually the same effect! How many cards from the Power Nine can be had for less than a dollar by adding one mana to their cost?! It pulls ten cards from your library when all is said and done, but it's not like that makes a difference to you - you didn't have access to those cards anyway, and still get a full hand and reset graveyard out of the deal. Just don't run the Returns in a combo or toolbox-reliant build. Drawing seven cards for four mana is a hell of a deal, and while it is a symmetrical effect, note that the Returns are harder to use with Underworld Dreams and the like: it makes each player draw up to seven cards, meaning everyone is allowed to get back a smaller hand. But if you're making your opponent draw fewer cards, that's just fine, too! Combine the Returns with Notion Thief for a real damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

Thran Turbine: A one-mana artifact that makes two mana per turn? Sol Ring does the same and it's restricted in Type One. The Turbine is a little more limited in what you can do with it, seeing as it can't pay for spells and only is available for a short window in your upkeep, but so long as you don't mind losing the surprise value, it's great to put towards any activated abilities. Jayemdae Tome, Withered Wretch, as well as anything with Cycling or Morph are fair game. You also have the perfect tool to help pay for upkeep costs, including Echo costs. If you want to have your cake and eat it, too, you can even use the Turbine to pay for spells so long as you get in on a mana laundering scheme. There are creatures, artifacts and even lands that can convert your gains into anything-goes mana able to be put towards your favourite instant. Gemstone Array can even save your Turbine mana up for a rainy day, letting this one-mana trinket very quickly leave you with oodles of mana.

Noetic Scales: Huge creatures got ya down? Dragons, demons, angels and wurms rule the late game, where their huge stats can overwhelm creature and player alike. Another defining feature of the late game is that players are usually running low on available cards, and the Scales can turn this fact to your advantage. You can slow huge creatures down by forcing your opponent to hold cards back in order to keep them in play. Of course, once he's achieved a comfortable cushion of cards in hand, you can always encourage some bounce with the power bonus of Ghitu War Cry, Nantuko Mentor or Sheltering Ancient. Meanwhile, pumpable creatures like Dragon Hatchling, Kiln Walker or Glaze Fiend; no-power nellies like Guiltfeeder and Doran, and anyone with Haste allows you to have an offense even with an empty hand. Reusable discard like Disrupting Scepter or Warped Devotion ensure your opponent will never field a creature bigger than a kobold, and Ostracize or Cabal Therapy can take a critter out of the picture permanently once it's been bounced. And why stop with your opponent's creatures? A small hand lets you bounce your own Liliana's Specter or Pierce Strider for repeated use.

Soul Sculptor: It might look like a Limited card, but this workaholic creature can produce great art. For just two mana you can stonewall any opposing creature by turning it into a do-nothing enchantment, soundly destroying any attached auras while you're at it. Of course, your opponent can undo your hard work by playing another creature, but why let him get that far? Pair the sculptor with removal-on-demand like Tranquil Grove, Soltari Visionary, Allay, or Nullmage Shepherd and you have reusable creature removal. It's not just your opponent's creatures that get to be beautiful art, of course. Turn your chump blockers into enchantments mid-combat to keep them alive for future turns. Dodge targeted removal by becoming an enchantment in response. Reap a handy comes-into-play ability, then turn the resulting critter into an enchantment so that you can pick off an opposing sculpted creature via Teferi's Care. Wrath of God (or better yet, Jokulhaups) spares your creatures-turned-enchantments but devastates your opponent. And if your foe ever tries to point some enchantment removal at your creatures? Any creature with Flash can switch 'em back at a moment's notice, from the lowly Zealous Guardian to the reusable Whitemane Lion.

Energy Tap: Convinced that blue can't ramp without artifacts? The Tap might require some setup, but you can score a huge payoff that blows even the classic Dark Ritual out of the water. It can only get you mana off of a creature you've already played, so it might seem that you'll only ever get what you can already pay for. There are plenty of critters with huge mana costs that can be dropped cheaply, though, including those with affinity, delve, suspend, morph, convoke or any other sort of alternate cost. Imagine the kind of trouble you could cause by dropping an Island and a free Allosaurus Rider on turn one, then immediately Energy Tapping it to play a Myr Battlesphere, Akroma's Memorial, Sphinx-Bone Wand or (heaven help your opponent) Karn Liberated. That kind of power, that quickly, should assuage any fears of card disadvantage!

Inkfathom Witch: This tricky little two-drop might look too small and mana-intensive to be worthwhile, but she can pull some fast ones if you have four mana to spare. Blue and black feature plenty of excellent evasive creatures, such as Invisible Stalker, Tormented Soul and Dimir Infiltrator, who would be happy to quadruple their power after waltzing past any enemy blockers. You can activate the Witch on any player's turn, however, meaning you can lay down some Caltrops or attach a Curse of Death's Hold to your foe and have the ability to wipe out all of his attacking creatures for four mana on demand. Talk about a lose-lose situation!

Impulsive Maneuvers: This might look like yet another in a long line of 'wacky' red enchantments that lean on randomness. Well... I mean, it is, but it has some utility to offer the red player that isn't usually easy to access. While it can be used as a way to double damage sometimes, where it really shines is on defense! The coin flip happens on the attack trigger, meaning you know which creatures are hot or not before having to declare blockers. This allows you to negate roughly half of all attackers coming your way, then throw your piddly goblin tokens in front of the rest. Alternately, your little creatures can gang up on anyone who's telegraphed that they're dealing no damage this combat to kill off attackers without losing anyone. As for those lucky ones hitting twice as hard? Why, Mogg Maniac and Boros Reckoner will happily welcome them with open arms. Combine the Manuevers with Maze of Ith for some major defense in mono-red.

Having some hot new toys doesn't have to break the bank. Any one of these cards can be had for a dollar or less and can fit a variety of colours and decktypes. Hopefully one or more of these can fit your needs and inject a little excitement into your games!