Old, Hidden Gems in EDH
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Sept. 24, 2017, 5:33 p.m. by RazortoothMtg
After browsing decklists, comments, etc, I've came upon some random old EDH cards that are actually really good. I know there are a few article series about things like this, such as Dig Through Time by EDHREC. Anyway, these cards I found were Planar Void, a 1 mana and $0.32 Leyline of the Void, and Arboria which literally stops the game from progressing and is going into my Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis EDH deck as soon as I get one.
TL;DR, the point is, there are some really strong and cheap cards out there from older sets that see little to no play. What are some hidden gems for your EDH decks that you've found?
Jeweled Amulet is pretty unknown, loved and underrated in EDH. There are haters and lovers for this card.
September 24, 2017 6:06 p.m.
Ebonblade Reaper is fun. Especially if you can have it attack without actually declaring it as an attacker.
September 24, 2017 6:12 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #5
In my decks, the cards that haven't been printed since the modern frame that I had never seen played before I found them to put them in my deck are Caverns of Despair, Grip of Chaos, Hall of Gemstone, Holistic Wisdom, Primal Order, Titania's Song, Hunting Grounds, Ritual of the Machine, Steal Enchantment, Aura Thief, and Thalakos Deceiver.
September 24, 2017 6:21 p.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #6
Nice ones so far! Ebonblade Reaper looks sweet in an Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck, so you skip the attack trigger.
September 24, 2017 6:21 p.m.
landofMordor says... #7
redkhan pretty easy to do if you Morph it at instant speed after attackers are declared.
I really like Hibernation's End. Like, it tutors every turn. In green. And sure, you have a Yisan-like curve, but by T2 you're getting solid value from various ETB abilities and the toolbox nature of the card. I think it's also going in my K&T deck asap.
I also like Pledge of Loyalty. It's pretty powerful in the age of 4-5 color commanders.
September 24, 2017 6:24 p.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #8
I've seen a couple of those before, MagicalHacker, namely Hall of Gemstone and Grip of Chaos, but Primal Order looks like a sweet card against all these 5-color and Atraxa, Praetors' Voice decks in my meta, especially since I don't want to buy a Blood Moon. Also, Ritual of the Machine is like the black Mana Tithe- no one expects Mind Control from the mono black deck!
September 24, 2017 6:24 p.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #9
Pledge of Loyalty > Spectra Ward? Woah dude.
I've always wanted to play Hibernation's End, but usually the only creatures I play are Mana Dorks or Big Timmy Bombs.
September 24, 2017 6:27 p.m.
Steelspike says... #10
Angel's Trumpet EDH rec has it in 410 decks. Nice aggro-centric/anti-control card.
Familiar Ground 113 decks. Unblockable creatures if paired with anything that gives menace like Gruul War Chant
Kill Switch 187 decks. Troublesome Breya, Etherium Shaper or Sharuum the Hegemon deck? Drop this, HOSED!
September 24, 2017 6:47 p.m.
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt says... #11
Aftershock - Oh, so flexible. Puzzles me how this is not a mono- staple.
Rack and Ruin - Same goes for this card. With the amount of Artifacts in the game this will never be a dead card.
Dust to Dust - What can i say? I just love the cycle.
Peace and Quiet - A little more conditional as the artifact iterations, yet still super cheap for its effect.
Ashes to Ashes - Doesn't hit Artifact Creatures, other than that: brutal.
Wicked Pact - Not as great as the above card, but i've seen it do great things as a filler card in new brews.
Repopulate - Instant speed gy hate for decks that don't have access to , don't want to loose the element of surprise by running artifact solutions. Plus, it has cycling. Love it!
Bubbling Muck - Sorcery speed High Tide for mono- decks or decks that can get Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth on the board reliably.
Dauthi Embrace - Unblockable^2 plus insane political potential!
Soothsaying - Might not be a hidden gem exactly, still an awesome mana sync.
Erratic Portal - With so many people joking about EDH basically being ETB by now, this is easily abusable and somewhat political at times, too.
Deglamer/Unravel the Aether - Not as old as the above, yet heavily underplayed, as they can deal with the original gods and so many other things like Darksteel Forge. Total pet cards of mine!
Sudden Death - An instant speed creature removal that ignores indestuctible, get's rid of the vast majority or creatures in the format and hoses Breya, Etherium Shaper before activation. Just look at it!
September 24, 2017 7:05 p.m.
SupremeSnowSpork42 says... #12
Filth - great vs all those decks that run black or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Jolrael, Empress of Beasts - Wrath, ok all your lands are now creatures
I actually ran Ritual of the Machine in my Gonti, Lord of Luxury deck before I scraped it.
September 24, 2017 7:32 p.m. Edited.
Wolfsbane706 says... #13
Hurricane. I used to run it, but since a major synergy effect in my deck revolves around being the only one with flying, I took it out.
September 24, 2017 8:44 p.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #15
I am a big fan of Erratic Portal and it's friend Crystal Shard in my Inalla ETB deck. Also great in things like GOnti or Prime Speaker Zegana (or the new Tishana). Repopulate looks really interesting- if I reaaallly need to I can use it as a bad Elixir of Immortality as well as cycling or ruining someones Animate Dead.
One I forgot to mention above, that is very underplayed IMO, is Dance of the Dead. It sees moderate play, but it's an Animate Dead- almost. The tap thing makes it usually just worse, so I would always only play it alongside not over animate, but that +1/+1 is randomly relevant instead of the -1/-0. I got my 2 copies signed at this past GP Denver so I'm happy :)
September 24, 2017 9:40 p.m.
Matt_The_OGRE says... #16
Gustha's Scepter and Ice Cauldron are great cards for any deck that does a lot of wheeling. Plus even if you remove ice cauldron, you can still play the exiled cards.
September 24, 2017 10:34 p.m.
OneItsStarted says... #17
Telepathy let's you play around everything except topdecks
September 25, 2017 12:29 a.m.
shaistyone says... #18
Love the ones already mentioned. Some of my favorites you don't see very often:
Absolute Grace / Absolute Law - people tend to shy away because of their variability, but they can be absolute beatings
Gideon's Intervention - brand new, but woefully underrepresented - drop it, name Nekusar or Purpohoros, and feel excellent.. lol
Soul Sculptor - this is a very silly card that functions like a veritable toolbox of creature control
Meltdown - Oh, the things I've blown up on turn 2 (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, artifact lands, etc)
September 25, 2017 9:54 a.m.
strictlyWorse says... #19
Nothing matters in EDH anymore, in the face of the impending Sisaypocalypse.
September 25, 2017 10:05 a.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #20
I just picked up a foil Gideon's Intervention
for my Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis deck. Get rekt Narset! Also, on the same note is Nevermore, which sees a little play, and Declaration of Naught, which is super strong actually.
September 25, 2017 10:39 a.m.
strictlyWorse, are you referencing the new combo decks running Paradox Engine?
I think what I'm taking away from this thread is that urza's saga was insanely broken.
September 25, 2017 11:46 a.m.
strictlyWorse says... #22
@K34
Urza block was effin insanely good. by that i mean "broken as hell."
i am talking about those Paradox decks. i am so excited for the new Vraska, but that rule change messes with the format too much.
we shall see, yeah?
September 25, 2017 12:17 p.m.
scatteredsun says... #23
Reconnaissance Lets you attack with everything to get attack triggers without worrying about blockers. Plus you can activate it in the combat cleanup step and untap all your attackers
September 29, 2017 3:22 p.m.
I really like Death or Glory it can be a game changer.
Abeyance is only in 200 decks and is a white staple imo.
Mystic Decree can be extremely powerful, especially paired with Island Sanctuary, Moat etc.
October 9, 2017 6:28 a.m.
Forgot one more - Soltari Champion is definitely a favorite of mine. Works great carrying swords and beefs up your army.
October 9, 2017 6:37 a.m.
scatteredsun says... #26
Debt of Loyalty. Save your creature or get a juicier target...in white!
October 9, 2017 11:56 a.m.
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt says... #27
Righteous Aura - Hoses Voltron decks, even Hexproof and Shroud ones, as it doesn't target at all.
Hall of Gemstone - If you're playing enough mana rocks/dorks you can get all other multicolored players to cringe hard.
Teferi's Veil - Protects all aggressive creatures from Boardwipes. Insane with the new Token Ruling in Talrand, Sky Summoner decks.
Shimmer - Ever felt like screwing someone completely? Bring this in your Brago, King Eternal deck.
Tortured Existence - Insane card if you have reanimation schemes. Plus it allows you to cheat on commander tax if you allow the commander to go to the graveyard and have something to discard for it. Huge threat in my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck.
November 24, 2017 5:55 p.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #28
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt what new token ruling for Talrand, Sky Summoner? What did I miss?
November 24, 2017 7:33 p.m.
I think this might be what he's referencing
Teferi's Veil - Still not sure how this is helpful (never been too good with the technical aspect of MTG).
Also not too sure if Trading Post counts but I love it. Life gain, chump block/sac fodder, card draw and can prevent your artifacts from getting exiled.
Lastly, Hatred perhaps? Its not incredibly good, but its hilarious for commander damage or just finishing the game more quickly.
November 24, 2017 8:16 p.m.
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt says... #30
With the new Phasing Rules Tokens (due to Teferi's Protection) are able to phase in again after phasing out. With the old rules they disappeared completely after phasing out, similar to what happens, when you exile them "until end of turn".
Which means, that if your Talrand, Sky Summoner - or basically any X - build revolves around Tokens or going wide, you'll be able to save your board state from the end of your combat phase until the start of your upkeep.
November 25, 2017 7:02 a.m.
Glad to see this thread again!
Urborg Justice is a good one, I really enjoy it in Kuon.
Serenity can be a really oppressive card in the right deck.
Porphyry Nodes is another one that can completely disrupt a table.
November 25, 2017 12:19 p.m.
I was just about to make a thread about under-utilized cards or effects when I ran across this one.
My meta is curiously void of Fog type effects. They aren't really all that powerful, but the absence of them has made the (very) few we see seem more powerful as they stop some giant attack ("I use Ezuri to give all my elves +15/+15 and trample.....What? Fog?"), or stop double attacks ("You cast fog? Ok, well I still get my second combat phase from Aurelia.....What? Fog is this TURN? Not combat phase? Oh....).
Also, considering how broken he is, my meta is short on Deadeye Navigator shenanigans. It seems like I am more likely to see infinite mana from a Peregrine Drake being bounced by some other card than I am from the Deadeye.
November 25, 2017 7:10 p.m.
shaistyone says... #33
EDHrec shows it in a ton of decks, but I think I'm the only one I've seen cast Constant Mists. Repeatable fog is a very different proposition than a single use one.
And every time I see a white 'go-wide' type deck without Leonin Sun Standard, I shake my head. Repeatable overrun seems pretty useful... ;)
November 27, 2017 9:21 a.m.
RazortoothMtg says... #34
shaistyone I hate Constant Mists sooo much. Someone at my FNM runs a Karona, False God deck that plans to stall the game out for eternity, and Constant Mists is the most annoying card ever.
November 27, 2017 11:33 a.m.
If you use Leonin Sun Standard, then having Gerrard's Battle Cry for redundancy seems like a good idea.
November 27, 2017 11:42 a.m.
I'm a big fan of Morality Shift I run it in my Balthor the Defiled deck along with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and plenty of ways to make lots of mana!
February 7, 2019 2:05 p.m.
Sultai_Sir says... #37
Awakening: Seedborn Muse, harder to remove, political, cheaper mana cost, and cheaper cash cost. What's not to like?
Profet93 says... #2
Corpse Dance
September 24, 2017 5:37 p.m.