Cards that can (and possibly should?) be used in any/all EDH decks to handle a number of situations.
Draw / Deck-thinning Cards:
Sensei's Divining Top
should need no explanation, but a fair amount of newer players don't seem to understand why it's great when I suggest it to them. It let's you manipulate your library. If that sentence doesn't put you at half-mast, then you're either an aggro player, or doing it wrong. The card isn't cheap though. :(
Font of Mythos
,
Howling Mine
, and
Temple Bell
are all basically the same card with a unique twist. The downside they share is that they help your opponents, but this also means you wont usually draw aggro for playing them. In the right hands, Howling Mine can be micromanaged to work ONLY FOR YOU, and Temple Bell can be used to make your opponents discard from having 8+ cards in hand. Be careful though, only run these cards if your willing to help your opponents AND can handle the additional cards in hand, otherwise you'll be stuck discarding at the end of your turn.
Urza's Blueprints
is another fun and old card. It's inexpensive (money wise) and colorless, but will probably throw off your mana curve. That aside, it is one of the few cards that allows ONLY YOU to draw each turn AND it can go into any color deck.
Evolving Wilds
and
Terramorphic Expanse
are no-brainers unless your a god of balancing your deck. I even reccomend putting them in monocolor decks. The downside is they set you back one turn, but the plus is a basic land of your choice, and 1 less card in your deck.
Blasted Landscape
is an interesting card that I rarely see used (maybe because it's old?). It's only negative is that is produces colorless mana. The biggest plus is that if you draw it late game, you can cycle it! Yay for colorless draw cards!
Drifting Meadow
,
Polluted Mire
,
Remote Isle
,
Slippery Karst
, and
Smoldering Crater
are useful for multicolor decks. The downside is they come into play tapped and can only be used in decks already containing colors of the mana they produce.
Barren Moor
,
Forgotten Cave
,
Lonely Sandbar
,
Secluded Steppe
, and
Tranquil Thicket
are better for monocolored or bicolored decks than for 3+color because they require specific mana to cycle them. Their only other negatives are the same as the five lands above; they come into play tapped and can only be used in decks already containing colors of the mana they produce.
Mana-Fixing / Accelerating Cards:
Gilded Lotus
... seriously, why the hell not? If you're one of the few people that can balance a deck perfectly, then i guess you could ignore this suggestion. But for the rest of us, Gilded Lotus is kinda amazing.
Sol Ring
I call it the poor man's lotus, which I admit does NOT do this card justice. There is a reason this card is included in the Commander 2013 decks....
Opaline Unicorn
and
Alloy Myr
are less useful in monocolored decks, but can still be useful if your color doesn't have mana generating creatures. As an added bonus I find the Myr kinda adorable.... For monocolor alternatives, consider
Copper Myr
,
Gold Myr
,
Iron Myr
,
Leaden Myr
, or
Silver Myr
. NOTE due to the EDH rules, these last 5 myr cannot be used in decks that don't share the color they produce.
Chromatic Lantern
is one of the best (if not outright the best) Mana-fixer I know of for multicolor decks. If you're running a monocolor EDH deck, and need a non-land mana generator, consider
Darksteel Ingot
instead.
Chromatic Sphere
and
Chromatic Star
are low cost, one-off mana fixers with the added bonus of giving you a free draw when you use them.
Barbed Sextant
also works, but the draw is delayed until next turn's upkeep.
Terrarion
can be useful, but I recommend against it; it comes into play tapped, so it can't be immediately used, and the effect costs 2 to use...
Anti-mill / "Reset Button" Cards:
If you have money to burn, and don't mind potentially screwing your mana curve, consider throwing
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
and/or
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
into your deck. It'll cost you an arm and a leg (money wise), but they are amazing for shutting down mill decks because as soon as they hit the grave FROM ANYWHERE, the grave gets shuffled back into your deck. Now some people will argue that the opponent can just use a spell to exile them from your deck, never allowing them to hit your grave. That IS a valid point, but by choosing to remove those two from your deck, your opponent just left two other cards that may be part of your deck's win condition.
Blightsteel Colossus
and
Darksteel Colossus
are kind of in the same boat as the Eldrazi; they will cost you a good chunk of money and will probably screw up your mana curve. Unlike the Eldrazi, they only shuffle themselves back into the deck, not the entire grave. That said, they are still big and intimidating, so there is a good chance your opponent will focus on getting rid of them instead of your actual win condition
Lich's Mirror
,
Feldon's Cane
,
Elixir of Immortality
, and
Thran Foundry
are other potential reset buttons eligible for any colored deck. Elixir has the bonus of being shuffled back in, which is why I would recommend it above the rest.
Legacy Weapon
seems like a fun choice, but there are two major drawbacks. First, it can only be used in a WUBRG deck. Second, it only shuffles itself back into the deck when it's milled. That said, it seems like it would be fun to use, if you have the mana to use it.
