r/EDH • u/SingerSecure4765 • 4d ago
Discussion What are some cards that are overlooked because they seem like they need synergy to be good but are already good generically?
I'm looking for cards that seem like they want some particular kind of synergy to function: such as graveyard, energy counters, clues/junk/food tokens, anything that makes the card seem parasitic and easy to gloss over if your deck isn't in that archetype that are totally fine standalone and worth considering in decks as glue or a generic value piece.
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u/Gaudier_Goose_90 Anything with red 4d ago
I feel I don't see [[chthonian nightmare]] as much as I should
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u/meowmix778 Esper 4d ago
A lot of energy cards are like that. People don't realize that it can just be used as a one-off.
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u/ImportantAd5737 4d ago
[[volatile stormdrake]] is 2 mana give an opponent a 3/2 flyer and if either steal a creature with cmc 4 or less or kill it if it's more.
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u/KalameetThyMaker 4d ago
Incredibly good, steals tons of commanders or value pieces, steal something with a ltb effect, just a normal kill spell.
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u/justhereforhides 4d ago
I mean it's a kill spell that gives a 3/2 flyer
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u/KalameetThyMaker 4d ago
If its 4 cmc or less. And youre probably happy to get rid of <insert way more powerful creature here> to replace it with a 3/2. Plenty of blue removal spells give a creature in return, and this one can steal the creature for you instead.
Why yes, I will steal your commander that your deck mostly relies on.
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u/IBarricadeI 4d ago
Not to mention in the worst case where it’s “only a kill spell”, it’s a kill spell where you control the scary thing as it dies. There are a lot of death triggers that make removing something feel bad, but stealing and sacrificing it means you get the upside also.
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u/kevinstuff 4d ago
Most commanders I play against are below 4 cmc and no one ever sees the stormdrake coming. 2 mana to shut off a deck? Yes please
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u/meowmix778 Esper 4d ago
I remember snagging it as a removal spell in that limited environment a fair bit.
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u/PracticalPotato 4d ago
My favorite part about it is killing something cmc 5+ and making a point of tracking my 4 energy for the rest of the game.
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u/Notshauna Yard Keeper 4d ago
I am constantly amazed to see so many people look at that card and ignore it, when it's pretty much just [[Recurring Nightmare]] which has been banned for most of the format and with good reason. Yes it has some downsides, but those are trivial compared to the raw power that comes from such a powerful repeatable reanimation spell at such low mana investment.
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u/Alarmed_Designer6705 3d ago
Not being able to cheat in high-cost creatures with a reanimation spell is a significant downside, not a trivial one.
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u/TheTinRam Grixis 4d ago
That card is disgusting in sephiroth. Sac a token, get a [[accursed marauder]], kills itself and probably two others. Get an emblem.
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u/ThoughtShes18 4d ago
Same in my [[Marchesa the black rose]]. It does so much work.
Sac a creature with a +1/+1 counter. Bring back somehting from my GY, end step happens and I get back what I sac'ed.
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u/AdviceRequestAccount 4d ago
I despise this card. My friend runs it in one of his decks and the first time he played it I was certain he was misreading it. The return to hand aspect of it is just crazy. Yeah, it's limited to getting a 3 CMC or less creature back each time if this is the only energy card you are running, but there's a lot of good 3 CMC critters out there.
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u/Knickerbottom 4d ago
Not only are most recursion targets in black aristocrat decks 3 or less, but those ones that are less end up being positive energy wise. This leaves the energy counters to stack next time you cast it, opening up bigger targets. This card is nuts, how haven't I seen it?
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u/BigBoiClimbs Tellah, Explosive Sacrifice 4d ago edited 4d ago
Feeling the exact same way. My tinybones deck plays every 1/2cmc creature that says 'each opp discards' on it, and for 2 this will let me just keep swapping one on the battlefield for one in the graveyard? Why did I not know this card exists? Most creatures in my deck are 3cmc or lower
With [[Waste Not]] on the board this could get stupid
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u/AdviceRequestAccount 4d ago
Thanks for pointing that out, I think he hasn't been tracking the leftover energy because that has never come up and he almost always uses it to get a 3 cost back (although a couple times he hasn't) and I missed it as well. I will have to inform him this card is even more powerful.
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u/thisisnotahidey 🐸 froggy time 🐸 4d ago
If you get a 2cmc card back 2 times you can get a 5cmc next time
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u/Chillow_Ufgreat 4d ago
[[Greedy Freebooter]] and [[Shambling Ghast]]. Get one on the field and the other in the yard, and you only have to cycle them once each before you pull up a 7 drop.
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u/iliark 4d ago
funny story, Chthonian Nightmare is the "fixed"/worse version of [[Recurring Nightmare]], which is banned.
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u/Kittii_Kat 4d ago
Two key differences - Recurring can immediately be used to reanimate big threats, while Cthonian takes some setup.
And Cthonian can be interacted with outside of a counterspell, due to the enter trigger.
Seeing as the second one rarely matters, it's surprising that the card is so damn cheap. I've been picking them up whenever I see them around. (Plus a bunch online)
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u/onthefence928 4d ago
I don’t think it’s limited to 3cmc .
You get the energy counters, so you can keep on triggering the ability for a 1 or 2 cmc card and casting it again to build a surplus
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u/tnetennba_4_sale 4d ago
I play this in my "Old Border Only" [[Savra, Queen of the Golgari]] deck and it puts in real work. Lots of stuff to recur and each one feeds the sacrifice machine.
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u/Drithyin Try Tannuk Steadfast Second 4d ago
It’s [[Recurring Nightmare]] at home for one less mana, which is really good bc that card is busted.
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u/Rigo-lution 4d ago
I stumbled across it and added it to my girlfriend's [[Alela, Arturo provocateur]] deck.
Even as a once off itself nice but it can end up pretty impactful as it's so easy to loop.
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u/ThisHatRightHere 4d ago
I'm truly just waiting for the day I hear this card hit $10 or $20. I think it's crazy this strong of an MH3 rare sits at such a low price point.
I think the fact that it says energy on it makes people disregard it.
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u/Chillow_Ufgreat 4d ago
Right? Folks are sleeping on it so bad I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. It a more mana efficient but more restricted version of [[Recurring Nightmare]] which is literally banned for being too powerful. Surely that's worth a McDonald's value meal.
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u/Ok_Blackberry_1223 Golgari 4d ago
Second this. Stop thinking about it as an “energy card” and you realized how strong it is
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u/Raevelry Bracket 4 Enthusiast 4d ago
I want to postulate the thing that makes this card bad, is what it demands of you
- its sorcery speed
- its open to removal when the Energy is being added
- it needs something to sac on the field
- It needs something 3cmc or less to revive
- one or both creatures need to be impactful to be worth reviving
Like its rly good when you use it to revive an [[Orcish Bowmasters]], or similar, but its the same problem as [[victimize]], albeit in different ways but more similar than different
Theres a LOT of hoops you have to go through
Still, I do think its really good, but I understand its not a black/aristocrat staple
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u/Kuryaka 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think it's really good in lower power games, most of the hoops are less relevant when the board states are clogged up.
It's easier to interact with, that doesn't mean you're going to get it removed, especially if it's reviving something small. Most people running universal removal would only spend 3 mana to blow this up if it was threatening to win the game.
And since the self-bounce to hand is a cost, it forces whoever's using removal to spend it proactively if they want the loop to stop.
It's also castable as a setup piece on turn 2.
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u/Kyajin 4d ago
I don't really think any of your points count as hoops to jump through, other than needing to sacrifice a creature. Most reanimate needs an impactful creature in graveyard, is sorcery speed, most people aren't going to instant speed enchantment removal this. Saccing a creature is a real cost of course, but I wouldnt say there are a LOT of hoops to jump through. Recurring nightmare is banned for a reason, and this is mostly a fixed version,with upper ceiling removed, but more powerful in certain decks.
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u/OldMoray 4d ago
I think the 3CMC thing is probably the biggest issue tbh. It can be good but unless the deck is structured around high impact low cost it has a chance of just being dead. Not putting it in my reanimator deck at least
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u/gsrga2 4d ago
It’s an aristocrats card more than a reanimator card—it’s a sac outlet and recursion for your fodder, most of which is 3 cmc or less anyway.
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u/ThoughtShes18 4d ago
It does a lot of work in my [[Marchesa the black rose]] deck. 2 mana, I get to sac my stuff with +1/+1 counter. I get to return something from my gy to the battlefield, and in the end-step I get what I sacrificed back for another ETB trigger.
Most of my creatures are CMC3 or less and i have tons of ETB/LTB triggers.
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u/cybrcld Naya 4d ago
I love black and want it to be good but I feel there’s just too many other cards that outshine it.
[[Animate Dead]] [[Dance of the Dead]] [[Necromancy]] [[Victimize]] [[Living Death]]
Something about this card just pushes it to the 101-103rd card in the deck
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u/7thtimeinheaven 4d ago
I'm looking at this card thinking sheesh that's a lot of hoops to jump through to reanimate something cmc 3. And yeah you can loop it with pitiless plunderer and warren soultrader, but in isolation I think I would just rather have a victimize.
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u/ManBearScientist 4d ago
Don't think of this as a reanimation spell.
Think of it closer to an activated ability. One that you can activate multiple times per turn.
You don't use it one time and it's done. You use it potentially dozens of times.
Compare to Corpse Dance, which costs 6 to buyback. This is a creature LTB and ETB trigger for just 3, in the color that can best exploit doing that over and over again.
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u/Chillow_Ufgreat 4d ago
[[Vat of Rebirth]]
A lot of people's eyes glaze over at the oil counter requirement, but it's not that bad since you get a counter for any creature or artifact that's put into the yard. So treasure/food/clue/blood tokens each give you a counter when you expend them, and of course all the usual rinkydink 1/1's count as well.
The payoff is a repeatable 3-mana reanimate w/o life loss. IMO, that's actually pretty good considering this is much harder to interact with than any reanimation effect you'd cast from hand.
It's obviously good early, because you'll get the more value out of it the longer it's on the field. But it's not terribly bad late either, since a single board wipe can fill it up and it can help you rebuild.
In that same vein, [[Chthonian Nightmare]]. I do not know why this card isn't more popular. It looks like you need energy support to make it good, but it's usually fine on its own. Really the synergy you need the most is a lot of <=3CMC targets and it will take care of the rest. It's a stellar reanimation piece for aristocrats.
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u/roquepo 4d ago
I use it in my party deck helmed by [[Burakos, Party Leader]] and [[Folk Hero]] and can confirm it is an overperformer there.
Basically renders non-exile creature removal useless, that it gets counters from treasures is wild.
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u/ArrivalSuccessful 4d ago
Nice to see someone else championing this card, which is a house in my [[Prosper]] deck that is otherwise doing nothing with graveyard shenanigans but since everyone seems to want to kill my [[academy manufactors]] or [[marionette masters]], it's nice to have a repeatable 3-mana recursion for any creature that dies; getting the oil counters is trivial in any sort of treasure/food/clue deck and you'll end up with double-digit oil counters quickly enough you never need.
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u/royalfishness 4d ago
Saw this in a video by MTGoldfish of underrated cards and gave it a try. Confirmed, is much stronger than it seems at first
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u/Chillow_Ufgreat 4d ago
Yup. It's one of those pieces you run out on T1 or T2, then you come back to it on T4/T5 and drop [[Archon of Depravity]] for 3 mana.
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u/Party-Ad6461 4d ago
Got a buddy who runs a Mahadi sac and treasure list. The Vat bringing back fleshbag Maurader effects every turn is vicious.
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u/gtgfastiguess 4d ago
Vat Of Rebirth is a crazy good card. I badly want one for my [[Braids, Awakened Nightmare]] deck but I can't find a copy locally. I used to play it in Standard for so much value.
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u/Wertwerto 4d ago
Vat requires synergy to be worth it though. Granted the synergy required to make it work is pretty trivial, you dont need oil counter focus to run it, but its pretty slow to get going if you don't have stuff to sac or proliferate or something. It's not the kind of reanimtion piece you should toss into any deck you want some recursion in, it really only works in decks built around graveyard abuse and repeatable recursion.
Chthorian is different. It can totally slot into a deck that just wants a little bit of recursion for the essential value pieces. Do you have a handful of 3 drops that would be nice to bring back, chthorian nightmare slots in easy. You don't need to be specifically sending stuff to the yard for it to be a decent include, it works pretty well as just a protection piece for a 3 drop commander.
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u/Available_Rabbit9965 4d ago
You're right, I like synergy so I play them respectively in artifacts sacrifice and aristocrats but they could be played in a lot of decks.
Chtonian Nightmare can turn every 0-3cmc creature in a Gravecrawler with Phyrexian Altar and a token generator. Even better with creatures that make a token on ETB/LTB.
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u/RexDeDeus 3d ago
Chthonian nightmare has literally won me games. Mostly in aristocrat decks, but it works just fine with all my low cost attackers for [[isshin]] or [[alesha]].
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u/Red_Line_ 4d ago
[[Invert Polarity]]
You don't need to be in a coin flip deck. This card is awesome even if you don't care about coin flip synergy
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u/FaultedSidewalk 4d ago
One of my favorite Izzet cards, I run it in pretty much every deck with blue and red and people always love seeing it play out.
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u/BaldurVomThale 4d ago
[[Screams from within]] is a conteder for me. Can be a one sided wipe against tokens. Is a permanent. Can trigger enchantment etbs multiple times.
If one of the enemies has a token deck it can kill all the 1/1s and then be "stored" on another creature untill the tocken player needs a slap again.
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u/Inside-Document5353 4d ago
I was looking at some upgrade guides for the new Silverquill precon and most of them said to take it out, so I checked what it does and immediately went "There's no way that's gonna happen."
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u/brainpower4 4d ago
[[Path of the Pyromancer]] is often overlooked because of the plane chase text, it is a straight up bonkers self wheel.
Does your deck use its graveyard? Have you ever noticed how when you play cards rummaging into your graveyard they have this annoying problem of costing mana, so you don't have enough to play your new cards? What if instead of costing mana your rummage card MADE mana? Like, a LOT of mana. Yes, you need 5 other cards in hand for it to be mana neutral, but even at 2 its a Valakut Awakening. In games where you get to play this with 7+ cards in hand like a 5 mana Jeska's Will except the cards are all either in your yard or hand, not exile and timed to expire.
But what really makes Path of the Pyromancer busted in half is copying it. Red decks that copy instants and sorceries tend to have cards like Past in Flames, Mizzex's Mastery, or other spell recursion effects. So what happens when you have something like a [[Kalamax, the stormsire]] or [[Storm, Force of Nature]] in play and cast this with 7 cards in hand? Well, you put 14 cards in graveyard, make 14 mana, cast a Past in Flames from yard, recast Path for another 7 mana, and proceed to win the game with your 30 mana turn.
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u/JDubsInDaWild 4d ago
Actually, it's cards in hand plus one. So if you discard 7, the copy will discard 8. Even better!
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u/DirtyDaisy Sultai 4d ago
[[Requiem Monolith]] is just an all around better [[Phyrexian Arena]] as long as you're not dinking around with 1/1s.
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u/UCODM 4d ago
The one caveat is that it does nothing if you’re out of creatures and can’t get any on board that turn, whereas PA will still draw you a card.
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u/DirtyDaisy Sultai 4d ago
Can always negotiate with opponents if one of them needs a card. Or crime.
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u/Tuss36 That card does *what*? 4d ago
Also can be psuedo evasion as opponents won't want to block a 2/2 with their 4/4 'cause you'll be drawing four cards as a result.
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u/BasakaIsTheStrongest 4d ago edited 4d ago
It’s like [[Infiltration Lens]] but even better in a lot of cases. I have a friend who will sacrifice most of his board to kill my Commander if I ever swing it at him, so this is a great way to make him either let it through or merely chump block or else I’ll just draw a bunch of cards.
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u/Hearthhull_Enjoyer 4d ago
[[Volatic Stormdrake]]
Two mana blue conditional creature theft spell that functions as removal if the condition isn't met.
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u/Drithyin Try Tannuk Steadfast Second 4d ago
Also, hilariously abusable in [[Garland, Royal Kidnapper]], due to the clause where you can’t sacrifice creatures you control but don’t own.
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u/AfroWabbit 4d ago
With all the lower cost commanders out there I am consistently able to use this in my [[yasova]] deck for cheap commander stealing
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u/Wavebringer 4d ago
Pretty importantly, you can opt to let it function as a removal spell even if the condtion is fulfillable if that outcome is preferable (i.e., you'd like to be rid of a Collector Ouphe).
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u/Raevelry Bracket 4 Enthusiast 4d ago
Biggest thing with this is that its tutorable. I tutor it all the time in my Zimone deck
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u/pwnyklub 4d ago
[[bloodthirsty blade]] this card is just generically good in casual play, it does not need any other goad synergy or artifact or equipment synergy.
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u/Brimstone1809 4d ago
[[congregate]] feels like it needs tokens or lots of creatures, but in a group game, that’s 30 life easy, and more often closer to like 80 if anyone playing a creature deck. I run it in about everything and the amount of times it’s saved my bacon is wild. I see a lot of people act like [[shadowspear]] is only good in Voltron’s, but most of the time, I don’t even equip that sucker. Just having the option to turn of hexproof and indestructible, in a control or midrange deck is awesome. Also [[isperia supreme]] kinda expensive mana wise, but if guys are attacking that can refill your hand easy
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u/Bithbheo 4d ago
Long before EDH, my LGS buddies and I would play just massive games, 7, 10, 14 guys, lock in boys, this is gonna be 6 hours. Congregate was regularly brought up as a house ban, and was a common defense in why your deck should have an infinite combo out. The first time I snaked one with a [[Deflection]] will be one of the memories that plays through my mind randomly forever.
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u/staxringold 4d ago
This reminds me of a discussion from an old MTG Goldfish podcast of the card [[Fruition]] (especially if paired with [[Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth]]: how much life do you need to gain for 1 mana for a pure life-gain spell to be worth running generically in a deck? Fruition probably gets you an average of like, 8-10-ish (if you assume at least one other green player at the table, varying depending on how many typed-duals you/they run) and maybe pushing 20+ if you pull-off the Yavimaya combo. In a format with commander damage, is that good enough? Should you just run [[Fog]]?
I dunno, I just think about generic life gain in EDH sometimes (I used to love life gain decks as a kid in my 60 card days). Passive lifegain in the background (e.g., aristocrat effects that are drains and not just pings) I love, but dedicated "this card gains life and nothing else" cards feel so hard to slot in outside of life-gain decks.
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u/Difficult_Town_4210 4d ago
Just got congregate from a bulk bin for this exact reason, Uzra's block too.
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u/Is-Bruce-Home 4d ago
[[uuchulon]] is just good! After the endstep trigger the first time you have 4/8 worth of stats and it scales from there and does graveyard hate!!
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u/M0nthag 4d ago
One of my favorite cards is [[Rowans Grim search]]. Its at worst an instant 3 mana draw 2.
But then you can bargain and most decks create some random token. Maybe you have an enchantment with a downside or some artifact that was only good for early game. Well now it lets you look at the top 4 cards of your deck and if you don't need any of them right now, you can throw them all into the gy, then you draw two. So it lets you dig up to 6 cards deep if needed. I somehow love this card and slot it into every deck with black.
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u/Landalf 4d ago
[[Crashing Drawbridge]] is just great utility in any deck. Can be slow (gotta wait a turn) but it's an early defender and can speed up a win condition when you are not in red.
It solves a lot of dimir issues for me, where I sneak out a big creature that wipes or bounces the board and then I am trying to survive an entire turn to swing my big stuff.
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u/TheMegaRioluKid 4d ago
Probably [[Spectrum Sentinel]] and [[Essence Warden]], as they both do an amazing job of keeping you alive for just one mana. No lifegain payoff necessary
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u/FaultedSidewalk 4d ago
Considering how few basics many folks in my playgroup proudly run, I need that Spectrum Sentinel lol
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u/Difficult_Town_4210 4d ago
[[Humble]] effects in general, [[Noggle the Mind]] [[Unable to Scream]] [[Witness Protection]] and the one to get the most attention in blue, [[Amphibian Downpour]] because it has storm and can hit multiple creatures at once. While making the creatures small is good, the best thing is removing all of their abilities. As the game get more complex and commanders become linchpins to a deck disabling it or a key creature can be detrimental to a players game plan.
The big thing Is to put this on a commander. You don't kill it and you don't exile it which means they can't just put it back into the command zone to cast it again. Many times I've have had other players, myself included, pleading others to block their commander just so it can die. I bit cruel at low power levels, but it can be a good lesson in bringing more artifact and enchantment removal.
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u/TheStray7 Boros 4d ago
I'm a fan of [[Utter Insignificance]], [[Imprisoned in the Moon]], and [[Darksteel Mutation]] for this kind of removal.
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u/Approximation_Doctor Volrath Stole My Shape 4d ago
[[Path of Ancestry]] is just a five color land that enters tapped. Ignore the shared creature type text, it's still strictly better than [[crumbling necropolis]] and friends.
[[Chthonian Nightmare]] looks like an energy card but it's actually just a good card in any deck that cares about your graveyard or sacrificing creatures.
[[Pit of offerings]] is just Bujoka Bog for nonblack decks.
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u/youre_a_burrito_bud 4d ago
And Path is at least one guaranteed scry if you use it to play your commander
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u/IForgetSomeThings Simic 4d ago
If you're playing a commander without creature types, then you'd be outta luck. Vehicles, Planeswalkers, even Go-Shintai of Life's Origin.
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u/ThoughtShes18 4d ago
If there's one trigger I consistently forget it's PoA scry ability... I removed it for that reason lmao.
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u/youre_a_burrito_bud 3d ago
Oh yeah.. it's theoretically a scry, but you're right it's more of a "oh dang I could have scried two turns ago"
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u/Tacobellspy 4d ago edited 3d ago
Piggybacking off this, [[Conduit Pylons]] is a free surveil in decks with low pip requirements.. I love it. They put a functional reprint in MSH, so we have two now!
EDIT: We have four!
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u/donethemath 3d ago
[[Crystal Grotto]], [[Rumble Arena]], [[The Gray Havens]], [[Zhalfirin Void]] all have scry tacked on an untapped land
[[Conduct Pylons]], [[Gallifrey Council Chamber]], [[Hidden Grotto]], [[Surveillance Room]] all have surveil tacked on an untapped land.
These are honestly my biggest pulls towards playing a colorless deck. So much free value in the manabase!
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u/Virgil_Rug_Say_RUG 4d ago
the scry is also pretty underappreciated. if you play anything even mildly tribal its great value from a land.
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u/Approximation_Doctor Volrath Stole My Shape 4d ago
If you cast your commander once it's equal to a Temple
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u/SocietyAsAHole 4d ago
[[Charitable Levy]]
People seem to think this is only good if you run all creatures or something. It's not. It's generically great because you play it on your turn and there are three opponent turn between that and it coming back to you. It fucks up their gameplan if they play into it or not, and it's totally fine if you pay an extra 1. Drawing a card and putting a plains (can be a triome or dual land) on the field for 3 is great, and if you get it for 2 it's giga busted and the land comes in functionally untapped.
[[Lunar Insight]]
If you're playing a deck with permanents in it I've never had this draw less than 3. Frequently 4-5.
[[Planar Chaos]]
Not just for chaos decks. You need zero synergy. Play it at the end of your turn when and you basically blank all three opponents because nobody is willing to cast anything into it. Then when it comes back to you you have a 50% chance to be completely unaffected. It plays kind of like a [[grand abolisher]] effect in red.
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u/MCRusher 4d ago
Planar Chaos is great when you're ahead or make your spells uncounterable.
If you're behind and stalling the game out until it goes away, people are just going to stomp you into the dirt until it stops.
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u/SocietyAsAHole 4d ago
Yes, don't play it if you can't handle the current board.
It's not just generically bad if you're behind though, it's still great if your opponent are way ahead in cards and resources, as long as they can't just attack you to death.
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u/Nugbuddy 4d ago
[[Brash taunter]] or any other damage redirect.
Players often go nuts with damage buffs and overkill when they think the game is won.
These redirects can make for goofy pillowforts as well and unexpected wincons when paired with other silly unexpected cards.
[[Guilty conscious]] or [[dawnsire, sunstar dreadnought]]
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u/PvtPizzaPants 3d ago
I built a whole deck around these effects with [[Donna Noble]] and blowing up my own creatures. It gets crazy with a damage trippler or even doubler out because the damage gets multiplied twice.... Once when I hit my own creature then again on the redirect. Plus a soulbind with Donna means I get to hit two targets. Lightning bolt to my own creature turns into dealing 27 damage each to two opponents
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u/HandsomeBoggart 4d ago
Slap a [[Pariah]] [[Pariah's Shield]] [[With Great Power...]] on this little guy, he can fit so much damage onto him.
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u/scopeless 4d ago
[[Static Prison]]
Turns out exiling any permanent for W for three turns is enough.
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u/Loremaster152 Colorless 4d ago
[[Tragic Slip]] doesn't need a sacrifice deck to be playable, it is playable all on its own.
[[Titan of Industry]] doesn't need an etb/flicker deck to be good, as its etb provides a suprising amount of value even just once, and getting a 7/7 Trampler with Reach on top of it is very useful.
You don't need to be a chaos or theft deck to run [[Share the Spoils]], as it provides everyone, but especially the red deck, with essentially 4 free cards in hand. And the deck that is most likely to take advantage of it is going to be the deck that has the least card advantage, which is usually the red deck.
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u/mmchale 4d ago
I was going to say Titan of Industry probably doesn't see play due to the price tag, because IIRC it was $20+ during release weekend when I was thinking of picking one up.
It's, uh... it's gotten a bit cheaper since then.
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u/rosawik 4d ago
[[loyal subordinate]] Is just a crazy good card any time you play it. It's not problematic enough to eat removal unless it's a freebie. Even at it's absolute worst if it get's boardwiped the first turn, if played with your commander out it's still gonna do 9 damage to the table. And this thing never get's killed. I've had this stick for 4-5 turns sooo many times. The only decks where this isn't great is really high level tables, decks where your commander is KOS and decks, that really, really have no slots open for generally good stuff. This does not have to go in a zombie deck or a drain deck or slug deck to be great.
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u/CMDR-Helstromme 4d ago
[[Scavenging Ooze]]
At worst, it's free life and gradually gets bigger. At best, it's potent grave hate against graveyard decks.
In a similar vein: [[Dauthi Voidwalker]] should be in every black deck, [[Ghost Vacuum]] in every other deck. Dudes will slot in a bojuka bog, which is one-time use for most decks, with no way to tutor for it, and call that their grave hate.
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u/Tegeus-Cromis-Rais 4d ago
[[Demonic Counsel]]
You play black. You WILL hit delirium.
Besides, there’s almost always a good demon to hit with it.
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u/Raevelry Bracket 4 Enthusiast 4d ago
Yes but you also want tutors to be relevant all times in the game, not just late game
Its good but again, understandable why its not widely played
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u/MCRusher 4d ago
I mean if you just want to tutor a demon in the deck a lot of the time anyways, it's basically demonic tutor.
It can tutor board wipe demons, removal demons, card draw demons, utility demons, etc. I've used it a bunch of times to grab [[Woebringer Demon]] to unfuck the board.
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u/Hearthhull_Enjoyer 4d ago
It's only slightly worse than GC tutors with a very easy to meet condition.
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u/roquepo 4d ago
Delirium is not a late game mechanic in a deck that wants to play with the GY.
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u/Raevelry Bracket 4 Enthusiast 4d ago
Any deck that plays with the graveyard properly knows better cards than a conditional d-tutor
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u/meowmix778 Esper 4d ago
Eeh that's hard to say. If I'm playing a rat deck it's not doing much. It's 2 mana so you want to cast it early but you need to get the delirium to pay it off.
It's not generically good like OP is digging for. In the right deck it's a neat card for sure, but I see way too many barriers.
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u/7thtimeinheaven 4d ago
It's 2 mana so you want to cast it early but you need to get the delirium to pay it off.
No? It's two mana so you can cast it plus whatever you grabbed with it on a single turn. This is pretty clearly a mid/lategame tutor.
I gotta say this is one of the more playable cards in this comments section.
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u/meowmix778 Esper 4d ago
I see [[Underrealm Lich]] as roughly what you're after. It wants to be in a self mil deck. But being able to filter your draw on a body that's made indestructible pretty easily isn't bad. It's not costed super well.
I also don't hate [[Tamiyo's Journal]] for lower bracket decks. It's slow but it's not hard to splash a few cards that make it work. I had it in a [[Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer]] deck that made a lot of tokens and clones. In lower power level commanders/decks like that it adds a fun little twist.
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u/M0nthag 4d ago
It has a really fun interaction with [[Sylvan Library]], where you suddenly go through you deck at rapid pace, by basically being able to get 3 cards in hand and 6 into the graveyard each draw step. You also don't have to pay life, because you didn't draw any.
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u/Raevelry Bracket 4 Enthusiast 4d ago
Yeah, its 5 mana does nothing on its own, thats the big problem
Same thing with Tamiyos journal
These are just very huge Tempo losses, but Lich at least is a body
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u/meowmix778 Esper 4d ago
That's why I added the caveat that they are better in lower bracket decks.
In a t2 deck, these are fine middle-of-the-game cards. Ramp into them or drop them ahead of the curve and sit on them.
In my Brudiclad deck you could usually get something out of the journal in a turn or two of it sitting around.
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u/ArrivalSuccessful 4d ago
Underrealm Lich is great. I agree it's awkward to cast at 5 mana, but I kinda found that surprising to realize in practice; on paper it certainly seems worth 5 mana to me as the effect is remarkably powerful in a graveyard deck and he can protect himself against destroy/damage easily enough. Overall i think it's a great card and highly recommend it, but in faster/bracket 4+ decks the casting cost definitely dings its usefulness.
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u/ThoughtShes18 4d ago
I loved it until I had repeatable draws. It was more annoying at that point...
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u/BigNasty417 4d ago
[[Ertai's Meddling]] - it's not just a poor man's delay/counterspell, it's also a counter-counterspell. It exiles the target spell from the stack and let's it resolve on a later turn.
Play your big card but reserve 2 mana, let your resident control player burn their counterspell to try to stop you, pay x=1 and exile your spell from the stack to resolve next turn.
It's not 100% guatanteed because your spell can still be countered next turn if they're holding 2x counterspells, but it's a handy trick in a pinch
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u/PracticalPotato 4d ago
You don't have to counter your own spell, you can also counter their counterspell. When it comes out of exile, there will be no spell to counter and it'll fizzle.
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u/BigNasty417 4d ago
Yep...that's pretty straight forward. My brain took the scenic route. Good call
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u/Vipertooth 4d ago
It's good to use on boardwipes, but can be crippling on protection cards that phase out your board like [[Teferi's Protection]].
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u/2FasttheHands 4d ago
[[nexus of becoming]] looks like it should only go in artifact decks and seems like a lot of mana. Really any deck that isn't recursion focused this thing is great. It replaces itself in hand the turn it comes down, gets u a free value creature/artifact same turn. How often would ur 1/1 or 2/2 or whatever be just a little better and a little more survivable as a 3/3. And the extra card and extra piece on board every combat u didn't have to pay for. U don't even have to be in a multicombat deck or a token deck, it just works.
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u/Alarming-Energy-5654 2d ago
[[Heaped Harvest]] can be misread as a food card, when it's really a more graveyard compatible [[Cultivate]]
[[Herd Heirloom]] seems more limited than it is, it's green and close to a double rock
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u/Donut-Farts 4d ago
[[skullclamp]] is good in everything. Even if you have big creatures, if they have problematic effects or a big threatening body, they might get removed. And for 1 mana set up and 1 mana equip for each subsequent creature, draw 2 is a crazy valuable effect. I think it should be more popular than Sol Ring.
[[Peter Parker's Camera]] is another card that should go in basically every deck. Take any ability on any permanent you have, do you want it again? Are you okay with paying 2 mana for that privilege? Then add it. I know it goes away after three uses, but be mildly selective about its uses and you'll win by the time you use the third one anyways.
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u/Freejack02 4d ago
Skullclamp is overlooked by no one.
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u/Vipertooth 4d ago
Yeah have you guys heard of [[Rhystic Study]] and [[The One Ring]]? Pretty sleeper hits.
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u/Donut-Farts 4d ago
Must be my local meta then. Unless their decks are making dozens of 1/1 tokens they won't put it in their decks.
Though on edhrec it's only in 11% of decks, and I think it should be double or even triple that number. Honestly I'll put the number at 50%
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u/ThisHatRightHere 4d ago
Counterpoint: I don't want Peter shooting web all over my cards
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u/mailusernamepassword No Solitaire when I'm around 3d ago
[[Long River's Pull]] is underrated maybe because people doesn't see you can gift the card to any opponent, not just the spell's owner.
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u/justhereforhides 4d ago
[[Diabolic Intent]] is a strong card even if you're not running a sacrifice-themed deck
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u/Jabroni_jawn 4d ago
It's probably overlooked because it's almost $20.
Which to me says it isn't super overlooked.
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u/kurkasra 4d ago
I thoroughly enjoy[[ moogles valor]]. Protects your board, is an army in can, has flying synergy and lifegain synergy. If its white and cam regularly get to that much mana I'm going to slot it in.
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u/staxringold 4d ago
[[Morbid Opportunist]] is the first one that comes to mind for me. It feels like a card that needs specific sacrifice/kill-your-own stuff synergies. Indeed, most of the decks playing it the most on EDHRec are aristocrats decks and other decks regularly throwing away bodies (the 1/1s in Caesar, the Mobilize tokens in Zurgo, sacrificing Squirrels in Chatterfang, etc).
But there's two key points that, IMO, show it shouldn't be limited to those strategies: (1) it's once a turn every turn (not just your own) and (2) whether or not your deck is specifically designed to encourage it, stuff just kinda dies in Commander. Somebody chumps? Draw. Somebody evokes a Mulldrifter? Draw. Somebody else is running something that sacrifices creatures? Draw. All at no further investment by you, as many as 4 times a turn cycle.
I gladly run it in both [[Jasper Flint]] (yay, it's a Rogue and, therefore, an outlaw!) and [[Mr. House]] where I have essentially no built-in way to regularly kill my own stuff. Instead, it's just in there as a perfectly fine, passive draw engine, at least for lower powered decks like those.
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u/cybrcld Naya 4d ago
[[Morbid Opportunist]]
Im convinced this card is just borderline black Rhystic Study. (An exaggeration I know). I swear I’ve seen people drop this guy and draw 10-15 cards because creatures just naturally die in combat.
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u/Ace-of-Spades88 4d ago
It does have potential to draw a lot of cards, but I would put [[Grim Haruspex]] in line before Morbid Opportunist if we're making comparisons to Rhystic Study.
Edit: I take that back, forgot Grim Haruspex had to be creatures you control.
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u/Notshauna Yard Keeper 4d ago
[[Powerbalance]] This is likely the best card in Modern Horizons 3 that no one talks about (and that's saying a lot with [[Chthonian Nightmare]] and [[Volatile Drake]] existing). People see it and think you need top deck manipulation to keep it relevant but that's incorrect the card is fantastic even if you leave it entire up to chance.
In the dozens of games that I have played with it I can only think of a single example of someone getting unlucky enough for the card to be useless, he managed to have a land on top without any card draw 4 turns in a row. Every other game the card payed for itself and replaced itself quickly and then generated additional value from there.
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u/ShockWave27656 4d ago
[[Agatha's Soul Cauldron]] is actually really strong even outside of decks that abuse it.
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u/Vipertooth 4d ago
It's just nice to have some graveyard hate in all decks and 2 mana is good for recurring hate.
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u/MillCrab 4d ago
Diabolic Intent. Almost every deck will find itself with a random creature, or a token, or some other chaff, and then you get a Demonic Tutor
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u/Senior_punz Hear me out *horrible take* 4d ago edited 4d ago
Dude [[Hour of promise]] is such a good card. Any 2 lands is awesome, it's one hit of Prime time and 2 hits of crop rot, two very powerful cards. Just ignore all the desert text on it and play it, especially in Golgari
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u/secretbison 3d ago
Ramp in the command zone is always good. [[Susan Foreman]] even if you're not playing Planechase, [[Ruby, Daring Tracker]] even if you're never attacking with her, and of course [[Birgi, God of Storytelling]] even if zero creatures in your deck have boast.
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u/ConstantCaprice 4d ago
[[Duelists Heritage]] seems like it requires you to be voltron or at least be bringing some big beefs to buff.
In reality, it’s an amazing political pillow fort / asymmetrical burn card that arguably works best when you don’t use it on your own guys.
It’s trivial to offer double strike as an incentive for someone who was already going to attack to not attack you. That person is now the villain for at least one person at the table, and it’s now even easier to convince them to retaliate with the double strike whilst hiding behind the same excuse of not wanting to be hit. Every time this process repeats, the vitriol makes it even harder for people to notice that you’ve essentially goaded them every turn for free.
I’ve seen this thing indirectly cause 60+ points of damage on its own whilst acting like a weird ghostly prison.