Underrated Commander
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Aug. 13, 2014, 5:45 p.m. by Steven_Fuckin_Hyde
Hey guys so I'm making a commander deck and I'm looking to use a commander that is underrated and strange, yet good. I do not want a control element to the deck, but rather more of a creature based deck. 2 to 3 colors is preferred. I don't have a very extensive knowledge of magic before the RTR block, unfortunately, so I'll need help. I've got quite a bit of money so anything is worth a suggestion as long as its not completely outrageous. So if anybody has a good idea of something, that would be awesome. Thanks everyone!
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #4
When it comes to colors I prefer, I'd have to say RUG, Junk, Dega, or Simic. RUG is probably my favorite, Ulvhedner. I was thinking about playing Animar, Soul of Elements but I wanted to see if there was another commander I liked more first. But underplayed seems like it fits better than underrated, so thanks for that AntiShisno,
August 13, 2014 5:51 p.m.
angrychains says... #5
Maelstrom Wanderer tons of fun--not really underrated.
August 13, 2014 6:09 p.m.
quesobueno123 says... #6
Here is a list of all R/U/G commanders if you wanna look through.
August 13, 2014 6:09 p.m.
aFriendlyAlly says... #7
Animar is the perfect general for a creature based. I don't really see the problem in it, even if he's one of the more popular.
August 13, 2014 6:14 p.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #8
Yeah... Thanks for the list quesobueno123! The thing about Animar is that I don't know how to put a combo aspect into his play (I'm not super great at magic pre-RTR). My buddy Andy has a great Maelstrom deck that is so much fun to play, so I was thinking Maelstrom Wanderer as well. I want some kind of combo aspect in this as well, besides just focusing on just slamming down as many creatures as possible. Riku is too much of a target and I don't want to run infinite combos so he's out. So Maelstrom might actually be the way I go... I forgot about him honestly.
August 13, 2014 6:20 p.m.
FancyTuesday says... #9
Here's some multi-color Commanders I don't see a lot of that are still playable and lend themselves well to creature based decks:
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born - Not entirely unheard of, but rare in my meta. Great colors and removal built in to your Commander.
Teysa, Orzhov Scion - Cheap to cast and great synergy with creatures. Also includes removal but colors aren't as strong.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped - He's no The Mimeoplasm but he'll bloody an opponent or two. Golgari colors are great with his ability.
Vela the Night-Clad - Could be interesting to build around. Not having green hurts when you're trying to overrun your opponent quickly but Dimir has the best card advantage in the game to make up for it.
August 13, 2014 6:34 p.m.
angrychains says... #11
Animar excels at creature based infinites: Cloudstone Curio and any etb eff ;D
Maelstrom wanderer is also a great combo enabler--cheating pieces into play with each casting
Also if youre going for a creature heavy build I recommend wanderer for the 7/7 body and mass haste. From experience--animar is a deceptive "creature" commander: the non loop creature build gets hosed by wrath effects
You really cant go wrong with these guys.
August 13, 2014 6:39 p.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #12
angrychains Yeah I love the Cloudstone Curio combo with some of the Eldrazis cause its super cheap and funny xD Maelstrom Wanderer is probably my favorite now to be honest though. @Thesaman I tried Edric but I didn't like him too much honestly. Thanks for the suggestion though man!! :) @FancyTuesday Teysa seems awesome... Cause you can sacrifice the three spirits she made from the previous sacrifices and get rid of another creature right? So I pretty much have my opponents creatures on lockdown. But what would I put in the surrounding deck. What do you think would be my best strategy to win?
August 13, 2014 6:44 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #13
From what I see, you listed some of the colors that have the lowest options for commanders, which explain why they are linked with underrated/undervalued/underplayed. The fact that there aren't many choices make them overlooked. At the same time, there are plenty of other color combos that have creature-based combos with a strong commander that is overlooked because of another commander in the same colors that is more famous. Would you be interested in hearing about those color combos?
If not, I'm going to go into all the good commanders (imo) for those four color combos you did list (Really, underplayed has to do with your meta! In fact, there are multiple decks for each of these commanders where I play. People are just drawn to three color decks in general I guess.):
Animar can let you get your entire library onto the field if you run a bunch of colorless creatures in a gradient from 1 to 12. Combined with a Glimpse of Nature , you play a creature for free, draw a card for free, play another creature for free, etc. until you have a ridiculous board state: MagicalHacker - Animar, Soul of Elements
Riku of Two Reflections let's you abuse ETB effects of creatures. This can lead to quite the combo-based deck: MagicalHacker - Riku of Two Reflections
Doran, the Siege Tower both nerfs some strategies employing high power + low toughness creatures and takes other cards and makes them OP because of their low power + high toughness design. Quite the creature-based combo deck: MagicalHacker - Doran, the Siege Tower
Ghave, Guru of Spores isn't really underplayed, but since I'm going into each commander that is good in these colors, might as well talk about him. The combos with him can be sorta convoluted, so look here: MagicalHacker - Ghave, Guru of Spores
Karador, Ghost Chieftain is definitely a creature based dude, but letting you reuse creature ETBs from your graveyard is going to make for a combo somewhere along the line. Check it out; MagicalHacker - Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Kaalia of the Vast is the only Mardu commander I would recommend, but she is anything but underplayed, imo. Again, you may have 0 players that play her in your meta, and if that's the case, I'd suggest you be the first. She can be kind of a target, but if she doesnt say creature combo, I don't know what does: MagicalHacker - Kaalia of the Vast
Edric, Spymaster of Trest is in the same boat as Kaalia, but if you have plenty of unblockable creatures, you can get tons of value from him: MagicalHacker - Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Kruphix, God of Horizons is a creature-based combo general in two ways. First, he stores mana so that you CAN cast those expensive eldrazi each game. Second, creatures with the Maro effect become super huge for very little amounts of mana if you can draw a ton of cards each turn: MagicalHacker - Kruphix, God of Horizons
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary can let you tutor for creatures EACH TIME YOU CAST A CREATURE. Infinite combos, here I come: MagicalHacker - Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Vorel of the Hull Clade can do wonders in a counter based deck, so lots of creatures with counters will love this guy. Just imagine him with Primordial Hydra : MagicalHacker - Vorel of the Hull Clade
August 13, 2014 7:05 p.m.
One extremely underrated commander is Tariel the Reckoner Everyone has to make a freaking Kaalia of the Vast deck, leaving this guy overlooked. I don't know why, cause he's really good. Another is Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund . Every one makes a Prossh, Skyraider of Kher , Shattergang Brothers , or Kresh the Bloodbraided deck, but Karrthus is fun in a dragon tribal deck. There are certainly enough, and with the dragon element in the second or third set in the khans block you can build on it.
August 13, 2014 9:54 p.m.
biggestmtgnerd says... #15
Celestial Kirin is highly underplayed. I made a deck with it, and it's really fun.
There's also Phage the Untouchable . Pop in a Lich's Mirror , Platinum Angel , and Torpor Orb , then some tutor effects, evasion, and removal, and you've got a deck!
August 13, 2014 9:58 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #17
katarhero, I'd make the argument that a commander becomes weaker the more expensive it is because of three things: 1, it can't be cast soon enough in comparison to other commanders for the deck to take advantage of it quickly; 2, when commanders die, recasting them becomes a problem if you had to ramp just to cast it the first time; 3, other cards building around it are going to not to combo until it comes out or when it leaves, so cheaper = more present. Because of those three reasons, I'd make the argument that a good commander costs five mana or less. Obviously if the commander infinite combos as soon as it hits the field (Mikaeus, the Lunarch and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind are two examples), then more mana is fine, but a lot of commanders are sub par because of their mana costs, and I think Tariel's one of them. Especially since I played Tariel, I know he's rather lame. He could have been five mana and still be fair.
August 13, 2014 11:01 p.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #18
@MagicalHacker, Momir Vig looks really awesome!! Where do the infinite combos apply though? What cards allow for that, if you're willing to explain. Doran was another consideration, along with Karador, but decided not to, because I don't know many dredge cards besides Buried Alive (not really considered dredge actually), Deadbridge Chant, and like Grisly Salvage. I also don't know good cards to add to a Doran deck to make it work well, so he didn't make the cut with Karador. I don't like Ghave for some reason, but whatevs though. Kruphix looks fun, but not as combo-ish as I'd like minus the tons of mana thing. I kinda just realized I want a deck that has really good synergy with itself. I heard Maelstrom is really good with the whole synergy thing, with cards that work well together and let me drop some combos. But I honestly don't know.
August 13, 2014 11:33 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #19
Maelstrom is just good to maybe get a combo piece with him. To be honest, he seems like a commander for a good stuff deck that needs no creativity. That's not my cup of tea, since I like to prove that good cards don't have to cost 10 bucks each. As for combos, he's just card advantage like Prime Speaker Zegana , but they don't really combo with anything.
August 13, 2014 11:58 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #20
Oh and I almost forgot! Just click on the deck links if you want to know more about a particular strategy, including the Momir Vig deck I posted and the Karador deck I posted above.
August 14, 2014 12:32 a.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #21
Cool thanks a lot man!! Lets see what seems awesome.
August 14, 2014 1:10 a.m.
Right. Go to sleep and when you wake up, the whole TO community has helped meanwhile. Nothing more to add here that haven't been mentioned
August 14, 2014 6:23 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #25
Personally an underplayed commander to me in real life decks is Angus Mackenzie . Mostly due to his price. He is awesome, and can make all sorts of decks. He is good with everything, and does not have to be control. You can run combo, voltron, anything you want with him.
There are alot of normal commanders out there. Ramp, and draw commanders seem to have a leg up, but you were looking for ones off the beaten path.
Adun Oakenshield
, Tetsuo Umezawa
, Lady Evangela
, Gwendlyn Di Corci
all do fun different things.
August 14, 2014 2:31 p.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #26
Isn't there a grixis commander that deals with sacrificing when he attacks? Was he already mentioned and I missed him. He sounds like a lot of fun.
August 14, 2014 6:28 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #27
Thraximundar , but he is not a fringe general. He is fairly common.
August 14, 2014 8:37 p.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #29
Oh ok... Damn. I was hoping otherwise. I think I'm pretty set with Teysa or Maelstrom Wanderer at this point. Thanks for all of the input everyone!!
August 15, 2014 12:06 a.m.
HorrorAvengers says... #30
If you want an underplayed teysa deck, if extremely casual, I made a shadowborn apostle deck with her as the general, using angel of glory's rise and Elesh Norn to pump out stupid powerful creatures. Rune-scarred Demon links the strategys exceptionally well. Throw in a blood artist or harvester of souls and the opponent will be hardpressed to answer it.
August 15, 2014 8:13 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #31
Maelstrom Wanderer is not underplayed either. There are not going to be many hidden gems for commanders. Just pick who you like the most, and build that deck.
August 15, 2014 8:29 p.m.
Steven_Fuckin_Hyde says... #32
Yeah Teysa seems awesome. The first thing that came to mind actually was Shadowborn Apostle, and it seems cheap too. I think that's what I'm gonna go with, just cause why not. And yeah I figured that out. Its pretty disappointing. Thanks everyone! :)
AntiShisno says... #2
If a commander is "underrated", most likely it's a poor choice. But there are UNDERPLAYED commanders, though none come to my mind instantly
August 13, 2014 5:48 p.m.