“Reap dry, but the leaves keep fallin’.”
Art: Crypt Incursion
by Svetlin Velinov
After a very positive response to our first article on this topic, we are coming back for more! Even though we covered ten amazing cards before, there is still a ton of awesome cards that work quite well in EDH and get almost no love or play. From spells that change the mechanics of the game to cards that really disrupt our opponents, this list has it all. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
Please note: This list is in no particular order.
#10: Energy Arc:
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 2000)
Energy Arc is a super sweet card. It can be a great way to keep you or another player alive, and if you are playing a deck without green, this card will be very unexpected and can absolutely take your opponents by surprise. Having access to a card like this in a control-style Azorius deck can make your survivability much higher.
#9: Ruthless Invasion
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 900)
A card that is quite aggressive and perfect for aggressive decks, being able to make non-artifact creatures unable to block absolutely hoses a ton of decks, even if there is an artifact-focused deck on the table, being able to take out just a few blockers, is quite strong as well. This card is also exceptionally easy to cast since it has phyrexian mana, and this can be a great way for an aggressive red deck to finish a game.
#8: Batwing Brume:
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC
A Fog
or Fog Effect is always a decent option to have if you fall behind and are facing an opponent who is going off but Batwing Brume has a ton of upside, way more than a typical fog effect, being able to fog and if you pay black you can force your opponents to lose a ton of life which is extremely strong especially token strategies or really any deck that has a ton of creatures, being able to fog in Orzhov is quite rare as well so having that can certainly surprise your opponents.
#7: Koskun Falls:
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 5000)
This has been one of my favorite “pet” cards for years and I am still shocked this card isn’t run more, yes it is worse than Ghostly Prison
or Propaganda
but having access to an effect like that in black with a very easy cumulative upkeep cost is very strong, whether you run this in a deck that can run Ghostly Prison and Propaganda or just simply in a mono-black deck this card is very good and can keep you alive for awhile.
#6: Reins of Power:
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC
The perfect card for when you are struggling to maintain a board presence or really get anything going and an opponent is going off and ready to kill you. I think this card is criminally underplayed and can be good in just about any table that has a lot of creature decks, being able to give your opponents nothing or very little and then swing out with their creatures. I think this card is super strong, and I am shocked this isn’t being played in more decks.
#5: Soldevi Adnate:
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC
This card is super sweet; I recently began playing this in my Meren of Clan Nel Toth
deck, and it does so much work, allowing me to cast bigger and better things earlier and have a decently reliable sac outlet, I think this card is criminally underused and can fit into most graveyard/sacrifice based strategies.
#4: Debt of Loyalty:
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 1800)
Debt of Loyalty is a card that will absolutely have your opponents asking what just happened when a great creature or commander dies to a removal spell and you bring it back just to take it, it certainly can cause chaos at the table, and this card works really well on decks that focus on certain creatures being on their board but can also function great when you just grab whatever the biggest target is. For only three mana this weird white spell has found its way into many of my decks.
#3: Spelunking:
Present in 4% of decks on EDHREC
Spelunking is the perfect card for a variety of decks; Its best application is likely a landfall deck. Being able to get an extra land drop and have lands enter untapped can be very strong, especially with lands like Gruul Turf
, I also love it in decks that have expensive commanders, I personally run this in Zangief which has a five cost commander and dropping this on turn three can really make a difference, while we very rarely get the cave trigger untapped lands and a free land drop is very worth it for only three mana.
#2: Crypt Incursion:
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC
The perfect card for mill strategies, but it has some other strong uses as well; I love this card in a deck focused on forcing your opponents to discard; any deck that fills the graveyard at all can get some decent use out of this, the three life adds up quick so even if you are just playing against a creature-based strategy you can easily gain twelve or fifteen life off of this card which can be a huge swing and keep you alive.
#1: Mirror Strike
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 1280)
The perfect card to counter a Voltron deck or any strategy that has huge creatures swinging at you; this card is so low-played; I would be shocked if most players at your table knew what it did when you dropped this amazing card. Being able to reflect a huge attack to the attacking player is really strong and since you are in white, almost no one will see this one coming, I love this card and the element of surprise it offers.
Conclusion:
Thanks for reading to the end! I hope you all enjoyed this part two of our previous article; there are still so many more awesome commander cards that go unnoticed. What is your favorite that I didn’t feature?