“And I’m sitting alone again.”
Art:Heartwood Storyteller
by Anthony S. Waters
With all of the new sets and new cards coming out at a very fast pace, its very hard to see all of the cards that get added to the format; because of this you have a lot of strong cards that get overlooked and never really get a chance to shine, this list highlights ten cards that can work in a variety of decks and strategies but are quite underplayed overall. While some of these cards are set up to be used within a certain strategy most of these cards can be used pretty generally. Without further adieu lets get it!
Please note: This list is in no particular order
#10: Mystic Reflection:
Present in 2% of decks on EDHREC.
Mystic Reflection is a really cool card. It doesn’t see a lot of play, and there are a lot of comparable effects, but the shenanigans you can get into with this card are awesome! Being able to use this offensively to turn something small like mana dorks or tokens into a huge bomb creature you are about to play or use it more defensively as a great way to make an opponent’s bomb enter as a mana dork or a token. This card is cheap both price-wise and mana-wise and is a great include for a variety of blue decks or decks containing blue.
#9: Winged Boots:
Present in 2% of decks on EDHREC.
Winged Boots is a card that typically sees a lot of play in equipment-focused decks, but in my opinion, it works better in a wide range of decks. This card is quite cheap, and the Ward Four is awesome. It can make decks heavy on single-target removal have a really bad time. The flying is quite nice as well. Well, you don’t get a buff from Winged Boots, but the protection and evasiveness you get is well worth the three-mana investment.
#8: Isengard Unleashed:
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 6000)
Isengard Unleashed is an absolutely insane finisher; after testing it in a mono-red deck in the ten games I played all five times I played this card, I ended the game; at more optimized and quick tables, this card is not great, but at tables that are a little more casual this can be a great non-combo way to end the game. The damage being unpreventable also gets around some very popular cards in the format, like The One Ring
, which is floating all around the format.
#7: Chamber of Manipulation:
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 3000)
Chamber of Manipulation is the perfect card for a control deck, these decks often have an abundance of cards in hand and being able to take away an opponents creature even for just a turn can be very strong, taking a commander they want to use out of the picture or a huge creature who is putting a ton of pressure on you and your opponents this card is really cool and on I am surprised doesn’t see that much play.
#6: Nowhere to Run:
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC.
Nowhere to Run is a very new card, so it hasn’t had a ton of time to go into the format, but overall, i think it’s very strong against a lot of decks within the format; the -3/-3 is a great and cheap way to kill commanders or pesky creatures of our opponents. Blanking out Ward and Hexproof can be very strong; while there isn’t a crazy amount of ward cards that are actively being played, there is quite a bit of hexproof within the format.
#5: Vona’s Hunger
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC.
Vona’s Hunger is a card I have loved since I played it in a sealed event many moons ago, at its worst its three mana to sacrifice three creatures and at its best its a huge board wipe that can absolutely devastate the board, with so many tokens and permanents the city’s blessing gets easier and easier to get every set, you really dont even have to build around this card and can easily be triggered.
#4: Prosperous Partnership
Present in 2% of decks on EDHREC.
This card is the quintessential Boros card in my opinion, you get two tokens for three mana and the opportunity for a ton of mana production, this card is an auto-include in most token decks and can fit nicely into any Boros deck that is creature heavy.
#3: Modify Memory
Present in 0% of decks on EDHREC (Around 9000)
This card is a political machine! Being able to swap commanders or swap huge creatures and draw some cards is pretty great for only five mana; the beauty of this card lies in it being able to be strong no matter what combination you choose, giving your opponent a token and taking their huge creature and not drawing the cards is still perfectly serviceable. This feels like a true commander card and the political aspect is very nice as well, I am a big fan of political cards and swapping cards around, it just makes for a very fun game, at least in my opinion.
#2: Descent into Avernus
Present in 3% of decks on EDHREC.
I have been a fan of this card since its release and think it’s a great card for red decks that don’t care much about their board and win the non-combat way. This card snowballs very quickly and, in just a few turns, can produce a crazy amount of mana and damage, which can absolutely crush players that play fast and loose with their life total.
#1: Heartwood Storyteller
Present in 1% of decks on EDHREC.
Green has always struggled with card draw within the color with most of the available card draw being quite expensive, so being able to gain a ton for you and your opponents is a great asset for green. While this card is great in a group-hug-style deck, it’s pretty amazing in most green decks or decks that contain green. This card also helps build some political goodwill with your opponents as you are able to give everyone but the person casting non-creature spells cards.
Conclusion:
Thanks for coming along for the ride on this one! I have been experimenting and testing a bunch of these cards and have been having an absolute blast. With so many cards coming out these days, it can often be tough to evaluate and simply see all of them, so taking a step back and searching for underrated cards that won’t break the bank and can still perform very well is always awesome.