Hey folks, and welcome to Commander On A Budget, where we build powerful decks for around $50! This month’s article is all about my current obsession: Wernog, Rider's Chaplain!

Wernog is an incredible Clue generator: at minimum you’re making a Clue and pinging each opponent for 1 each time it enters and leaves the battlefield, but in my experience people are usually greedy and take a Clue token, meaning you’re generating a whopping 4 Clues per trigger! Either way it’s a win-win for Wernog, and triggering from both entering AND leaving is just incredible value for a 2-drop! Because of how efficient it is, I’ve seen quite a few Wernog lists at my tables and even run one in the 99 of my Teysa, Opulent Oligarch deck where it always impresses me.

Every deck I’ve seen with Wernog in the command zone pairs it with Bjorna, Nightfall Alchemist, which makes sense for a bunch of reasons: Bjorna gives you access to Blue and Red, the two primary colors for the Artifact archetype, and Wernog pumps out a staggering amount of artifact tokens to fuel your Artifact engines. Blue is also one of the primary Blink colors too, giving you access to powerhouse Blink engines like Displacer Kitten, blinking Wernog for stupid amounts of clue tokens.

This article was initially going to be a budget brew of Wernog & Bjorna for this reason, but while constructing the list I was disappointed to find out that all the sweetest payoffs for the deck are pretty expensive! Blink enablers like Displacer Kitten, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, and Teleportation Circle are all quite a few dollars, and I don’t think the one-shot budget options like Flicker of Fate are even worth running. Artifact payoffs like Time Sieve and Storm the Vault are also a bit on the pricey side too! The deck still has a lot of powerful payoffs included, but my initial impression at least is that my $50 budget was limiting its potential.

After rethinking Wernog a bit I found something that looks way more powerful on a budget: pairing Wernog, Rider's Chaplain with Othelm, Sigardian Outcast to make an Aristocrats Clue deck!

Wernog & Othelm is a much less popular pairing, but in my opinion it’s an even more potent combination, especially at lower budgets. Green gives us access to some powerful Clue payoffs like Peregrin Took and Samwise Gamgee to make even more tokens, and Jaheira, Friend of the Forest to turn Clues into mana rocks. We combine those with cards that go into any Wernog list like Inspiring Statuary and Academy Manufactor for more incredible ramp, Thousand Moons Smithy for ramp and gnomestructs, Idol of Oblivion for draw, and Vat of Rebirth for very cool reanimation.

We’re also still “blinking” Wernog in this deck to maximize its triggered ability, but we’re doing it more efficiently than actual Blink decks by instead sacrificing it and reanimating it with Othelm, Sigardian Outcast. We sacrifice it or other creatures for value to cards like Priest of Forgotten Gods or Braids, Arisen Nightmare, or just sacrifice them efficiently at instant speed to things like Bartolomé del Presidio, and then Othelm brings the sacrificed creature right back to the battlefield. Wernog isn’t the only thing we’re bringing back, of course: we’re loaded with creatures that have powerful ETB triggers like Accursed Marauder and Reveillark, death triggers like Viridian Emissary, and things that sacrifice themselves like Cankerbloom and Sakura-Tribe Elder.

So our deck is all about sacrificing and reanimating stuff for value. To kick this engine into overdrive we’re running things that add extra value to sacrificing like Teysa Karlov and draw engines like Grim Haruspex, plus cards that untap Othelm to use its ability multiple times per turn like Dazzling Theater (even doubles as ramp!) and White Plume Adventurer.

To win the game we’re doing the typical Aristocrats strategy of draining the table: Agent of the Iron Throne is the absolute best here since if we have both commanders out it drains TWO for each creature/artifact going to the graveyard. The next best one is Marionette Apprentice because it also triggers from creatures and Clues. Rampage of the Clans is a cheeky one because it can turn all our Clues into 3/3's at instant speed while also triggering our drains in the process. But my absolute favorite win con in the deck has to be Persuasive Interrogators, which turns our Clues into poison counters and can surprise tables with immediate kills if you pair it with an efficient clue sacrifice outlet like Bartolomé del Presidio!

Wernog & Othelm Aristocrats: The Decklist

The deck is very consistent and grindy, with tons of interaction, draw, ramp, and of course recursion to get ahead of the table. Its only major weakness is graveyard hate since it’s a graveyard deck, but that’s how Aristocrats goes.For further upgrades I’d suggest Pitiless Plunderer, Warren Soultrader, and Skullclamp to bolster our Aristocrats plan, Haywire Mite as repeatable removal in the deck, Enduring Vitality as another way to turn our creatures into mana dorks, and Seedborn Muse to maximize Othelm’s potential. Then I’d work on the lands by adding all the on-color fetches, shocklands, surveillands, triome, bondlands, etc.<

And that’s the list! I think it’s one of the stronger $50 brews I’ve made recently; it’s not a fast deck by any means but it has so much interaction and the engines are so effective and resilient that it should be able to handle the faster decks and grind out tables very consistently. Let me know what you think though!