#underrated cards

[nehebthewordy]

Underrated EDH Cards #3: Behold! I Am Immortal!

Hello everyone, welcome back to our third selection of underrated cards to use in your commander decks. This week, we’re taking a look at my top favorite cards that continue generating value even after they’ve died (the first time.)

WHITE Starting us off, let’s look at my top pick for white. Originally from Amonkhet and only reprinted in the 2019 Ghired precon, Angel of Sanctions is a moderately-sized flier with an Oblivion Ring effect stapled onto it. What makes this one in particular useful is its embalm ability: for one mana more than its CMC you can create a token clone of it, which adds further functionality in a deck running populate effects.

BLUE Next up we’ve got blue. Now blue has tons of options for flashback, jump-start, and retrace, but we’re going a different angle with this one. Dragon Wings is a fairly simple aura: enchanted creature has flying. What makes it significant, however, is cycling paired with its final ability, attaching itself from your graveyard when a high-cost creature enters. While not particularly useful for your own large fliers, it can put a Blightsteel into the air or even be used politically to grant someone else’s beater flying.

BLACK Of all the colors, black definitely has its pick of graveyard interactions. From the combo powerhouse Gravecrawler to the simple and effective Reassembling Skeleton, it’s best known for creatures that continue to empower your board after they’ve died. Our pick, however, will be slightly higher on the curve: Scourge of Nel Toth. This 6/6 flier may cost seven mana, but for the small cost of two sacrifices and two mana you can cast it from your graveyard. This is useful both for throwing a large, recur-able beater onto the board and as a sacrifice outlet for your death triggers.

RED Finally, we’re at the top of the list. This one is the best Magic has to offer. Never have we been given such a boon. That’s right, our pick for red is Squee. All joking aside, this three-drop Dominarian legend is legitimately useful in both of his cards: Squee, Goblin Nabob returns himself to your hand from your graveyard on your upkeep, fueling all kinds of rummage shenanigans without losing value while Squee the Immortal can be cast from both your graveyard and exile, making him almost impossible to get rid of. Both can be pitched instead of a more useful card, Nabob almost infinitely, and as one-toughness creatures they play well with Skullclamp to grant your mono-red or white-red deck plenty of card draw.

GREEN And lastly, we have our pick for green. Seconding black for from-graveyard value, this pick was tricky, but finally came down to Genesis. This five-drop 4/4 isn’t particularly valuable for combat nor does it have any effect on board, but once it lands in your bin it’s value begins. On your upkeep, you can pay three to get a creature from your graveyard to your hand, including Genesis if you want.

[nehebthewordy]

Underrated EDH Cards #1: Amonkhet Monuments

Hello again and welcome back. We haven’t done an article in a while so we’ll ease into it with the first in what I hope to be a series about my favorite cards that I never see played.

Heading up this series is the Gods’ Monument(s) cycle of three-drop artifacts from Amonkhet. At face value, you discount your creatures of a particular color and gain an additional benefit for casting them; a 1/1 vigilance token for Oketra, preventing a creature from untapping for Kefnet, draining each opponent for 1 life for Bontu, rummaging for Hazoret, and giving a creature a small pump for Rhonas. What is often missed about these five cards is that while the first ability only benefits a specific color, the second applies whenever you cast any creature regardless of color, and additionally none of them have any colored mana symbols so you can run them in literally any deck. Let’s take a look at them in WUBRG order.

Oketra’s Monument The monument to the god of solidarity often stands out most once players realize you can run it in any deck, because who doesn’t want to get an extra creature with their creatures? Any list with a high creature count or the ability to recast often can use this both to throw out tons of blockers and build a vigilant token army, ensuring a full swing never leaves you defenseless.

Kefnet’s Monument Probably the least I’ve seen of the bunch, Kefnet’s Monument can absolutely stall a voltron player out and even hamper anyone with so much as a tap ability. Rhys loses the ability to double your board. JVP stops being able to loot. Feldon stops cloning his owner’s graveyard. It’s particulaly effective if you include other ways to tap down creatures, making it especially good if you have white access. This effect seems small, but never underestimate how useful it can be on the right board.

Bontu’s Monument Bontu’s Monument is probably the second most used of this cycle. There’s not a lot to say here: cast creatures, your opponents lose life, you gain life. It’s most often played in mono black, but any reanimator deck such as Muldrotha or Chainer is likely to abuse it, and it can even see effective play outside black decks entirely.

Hazoret’s Monument This here is my favorite of the cycle. Overlooked next to more obviously powerful cards, the god of zeal’s monument can provide much-needed value in all kinds of decks. Mimeoplasm wants to fill his bin a little faster? Want to pitch those high-cost creatures to reanimate them later? Mono white card selection? It can do anything from providing Feldon more fuel to giving your Emeria a solid target while digging through that high-CMC finisher you probably won’t cast anyway.

Rhonas’s Monument Unlike the others, I don’t really see a place for this one outside green. Other colors can get stompy, sure, and any kind of voltron will welcome the trample, but the small temporary buff doesn’t seem like much to me. Then again, I may be wrong, and if any of you have any great stories to share with Rhonas’s Monument I’d love to hear them.

And that’s a wrap. At the time this article was written, each of these came in at 50 cents or less, and it’s entirely likely they’ll stay that way for a long time. Keep on getting that overlooked value and you’ll be one step closer to your next victory (or a fun game regardless). Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

[nehebthewordy]

Underrated EDH Cards #2: Vows and Impetuses

Welcome back for another collection of my favorite cards for commander that I just don’t see played that often. This week we’re taking a look at ten auras that I use as sort of political removal options, keeping a powerful creature pointed towards someone else. Unlike last week’s article, we’ll look at these by cycle.

Vow of (Color) First released in the original commander products way back in 2011, the vows are three-drop auras which provide a buff to the attached creature, give it a keyword, and prevent it from attacking you or your planeswalkers. While they eventually lock the creatures up as blockers once there are no more opponents in the game, they still serve a vital purpose of keeping large creatures (Galta, Blightsteel, etc) pointed away from you. In WUBRG order: Vow of Duty grants vigilance, Vow of Flight grants flying, Vow of Malice grants intimidate (which on a colorless creature only allows it to be blocked by artifact creatures), Vow of Lightning grants first strike, and Vow of Wildness grants trample. Among these, Duty may be the worst because vigilance leaves the creature up as a blocker, but all of them can be useful in a tight spot.

(Color) Impetus Released only this year in the Ikoria commander decks, the impetuses vary in size but each provide a small buff, goad the creature, and provide an additional buff or penalty (depending on the card) when the creature attacks. For those of you who don’t know goad, it essentially boils down to the goaded creature must always attack if able and can’t attack you if there’s another player or planeswalker it could attack. If you become the only player/planeswalker left for the creature to attack it can be a disadvantage for you (except for forcing a blocker out of the way), but early game they can force your opponents against each other or make a small utility creature like Zulaport Cutthroat swing into a board full of blockers. In WUBRG order: Martial Impetus gives all other attacking creatures that aren’t attacking you +1/+1, Psychic Impetus lets you scry 2, Parasitic Impetus drains the creature’s controller for 2 life and you gain 2, SHiny Impetus gives you a treasure, and Predatory Impetus forces the creature to be blocked if able.

Though susceptible to enchantment removal, I enjoy using these as a way to answer a threatening creature without drawing its controller’s ire. They play really well into a political deck and can give colors with few ways to deal with creatures. As always, keep a mind on threat assessment and you may snag a few more wins (or wacky, political games). Until next time, see you on the battlefield.

[clash-royale-with-dave]

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See the video here: Clash Royale Minions

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