People tend to look down on mono-white decks in Magic: The Gathering, in lieu of colors that provide more powerful or consistent strategies. However, there is no real reason to avoid any color, as the right cards can make any deck stand on its own. If you’re not convinced, you can always start with a budget commander to dip your toes into your chosen card color.

Budget commanders often cost around six dollars. There are also the staple commanders for each color which are a little more expensive, but if you don’t want to spend a lot of money, these are some budget options to consider for mono-white.

10 CROVAX, ASCENDANT HERO

Crovax is a six mana 4/4 human lord who benefits a mono white deck in the simplest of ways. While in play, Crovax gives all other white creatures +1/+1 and all non-white creatures -1/-1. An effective strategy if you’re going budget, because you’ll likely be including a lot of “white weenies” in your deck.

His secondary ability is useful if Crovax is being targeted by a card such as Song of Dryads of if your opponent uses Mindslaver. Simply pay two life and you can return Crovax to your hand or to your command zone where he can battle another day.

9 KONDA, LORD OF EIGANJO

Konda is one of those commanders that doesn’t do a lot for your other creatures, but he does a lot for himself. If you want to build a commander deck around a single powerful commander that can take on just about any other creature card, Konda is a great choice.

First of all, he has vigilance which pairs perfectly with his Bushido 5 ability. When Konda blocks or becomes blocked, he gets +5/+5 until the end of the turn. On top of that, he’s indestructible. Slap on some Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots and you’ll have a nigh invulnerable creature for every combat phase.

8 YOMJI, WHO BARS THE WAY

Yomji who bars the way is a great commander for building a deck that revolves around powerful legendary cards. For seven mana, this 4/4 spirit doesn’t seem too impressive. But the fact that his ability lets you trigger powerful legendary creature abilities such as Yosei, the Morning Star more than once, is what makes it so powerful.

This is a great ability for board wiping as well. Pair it with a sorcery like Urza’s Ruinous Blast that exiles all other non-land, non-legendary permanents, and you can keep your opponents side of the field barren while you stockpile powerful legendary creatures.

7 SEPHARA, SKY’S BLADE

If you like the idea of building an angel tribal deck, Sephara, Sky’s Blade is a great place to start. There are just so many good things about this card. A 7/7 flying, lifelink creature is powerful in itself, but Sephara also gives all other flying creatures indestructible.

Sephara’s seven mana cost may seem daunting, but you can cast her by paying one plains and tapping four untapped flying creatures instead of paying her mana cost. An army of indestructible angels for one mana is as good as you can get when it comes to angel commanders.

6 LINVALA, KEEPER OF SILENCE

Linvala is a 3/4 angel that costs four mana and revolves around one of the cores strategies of white cards; stalling your opponents by disabling their creatures. White decks, while they can be played offensively, are often best utilized for a defensive strategy. While Linvala is in play, activated abilities of creatures your opponents control cannot be activated.

Paired with other cards like Angelic Arbiter and Ghostly Prison, you can really limit what your opponents are able to do with their cards. It’s a very defensive strategy, but it will give you time to slowly chip away at your opponents’ life.

5 ODRIC, MASTER TACTICIAN

Odric, Master Tactician is a great commander for a “white weenie” deck; a deck that utilizes lots of low cost creatures with strong abilities or synergy. Odric has first strike and when he, plus at least three other creatures attack, you choose which creatures block this combat and how those creatures block.

This pairs great with creature cards like Precinct Captain who creates a 1/1 soldier token whenever he deals combat damage to a player. Fill this deck full of low cost soldier cards like Ballyrush Banneret, Preeminent Captain and Daru Warchief to overwhelm your opponents with an army they are incapable of blocking.

4 DARIEN, KING OF KJELDOR

Darien, King of Kjeldor is somewhat of an antithesis to the general theme of life gain in white decks. Darien costs six mana to cast and whenever you are dealt damage, you may create that many 1/1 white soldier tokens. Where most players want to preserve their life total, Darien’s strategy revolves around losing it.

This means you can either use cards to damage yourself or allow opponents to deal direct damage to you. However, having one drop cards like Soul Warden and Soul’s Attendant in play, which allow you to gain one life whenever another creature enters the battlefield, which includes your tokens. So any damage you take, you can gain right back as life.

3 ODRICH, LUNARCH MARSHAL

Odrich, Lunarch Marshal is a commander that synergizes with creature abilities. At the beginning of each combat, if a creature you control has first strike, then all creatures you control get first strike. The same applies for flying, deathtouch, double strike, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menage, reach, skulk, trample and vigilance.

You can have a mish-mash of creatures in your deck with various abilities that transfer to your other creatures. Cards with multiple abilities like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn or Akroma, Angel of Wrath, although expensive to cast, will make your combat phase a nightmare for opponents to deal with.

2 MIKAEUS, THE LUNARCH

Mikaeus, the Lunarch is a 0/0 human cleric with a cost of one plains and X mana. Although this deck can have a more general build approach, it works best utilizing cards that give advantages to creatures with +1/+1 counters on them. Mikaeus enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it and you can tap it to put a +1/+1 counter of Mikaeus or tap to remove a +1/+1 counter and put a +1/+1 on each other creature you control.

This pairs well with creatures like Abzan Battle Priest and Abzan Falconer, that give any creatures with +1/+1 counters combat abilities. Mikaeus can also be used for a token deck and use his second ability to create an army of powerful token creatures.

1 THALIA, HERETIC CATHAR

Thalia, Heretic Cathar is an often overlooked commander, but her price and simple ability make her easy to build around. While she’s in play, creatures and nonbasic lands (which you’re likely to encounter a lot of in commander) your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped. This ability is especially useful in a white deck as you can slow down your opponents while stacking your side of the board with low cost creatures.

If you’re going to go creature heavy in this deck, add in cards like Blind Obedience to slow down your opponents even more while using an artifact like Oketra’s Monument to speed yourself up. You’ll have a field full of creatures ready to battle while your opponent struggles to fill up their mana pool.

NEXT: Magic The Gathering: The 10 Best Green Creature Cards For Commander, Ranked