Most Obscure/unknown commanders/cards for the format?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Jan. 21, 2017, 10:48 p.m. by Crayonmuffin
Playing popular or too powerful commanders and decks gets a bit boring. Looking for something that is still good but more on the fun side that I may have not heard about. Cards for the 99 as well as it's always fun to surprise people with silly cards they've never heard of.
Welcome to my area of expertise. I love building decks nobody has ever thought up and using cards that are purely jank. I'll name a commander and then couple cards people have either forgot or think are useless and a general theme you could play (no pressure to play it that way).
And those are just the "A's" when I searched on gatherer for all legendary creatures. I could go on, but it's up to your creativity. If you like what I'm pitchin, feel free to either take one of these ideas or do some research of your own on a commander you might want to do something phunky with.
January 21, 2017 11:44 p.m. Edited.
Coinman1863 says... #4
So, this commander is well known, but the strategy is rather odd.
Welcome to Belcher for EDH. Belcher Test
Yeah, this deck might be pricy, but the concept is there. I personally have won multiple games with the deck and I find it real fun to pilot. If you have any questions about the deck please ask! I will be glad to answer them.
January 21, 2017 11:51 p.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #5
All good suggestions. That Asmira looks pretty neat. The only off the beaten path commander I play is Feldon of the Third Path. He's fairly recent and not the most unknown general but he flies fairly well under the radar until you start dropping 4 Wurmcoil Engines a turn out of nowhere.
I thought about something with Saffi Eriksdotter and all the combos that go with her but then...then she got bought out. Sigh. I guess not that much still for a good card.
January 21, 2017 11:57 p.m.
I have no creative ideas for Saffi Eriksdotter herself, but you could easily run her in the Asmira, Holy Avenger idea you mentioned you liked. The synergy there would be quite impeccable.
January 22, 2017 12:53 a.m.
Will361405 says... #7
Id you're going tomens consider my favorite card Crush of Wurms add a token doubler for added fun
January 22, 2017 1:02 a.m.
CastleSiege says... #8
A bit mean, but a lot of people overlook Sunder when they are making the kind of deck that would go into.
January 22, 2017 1:04 a.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #9
Sunder is a mean thing, but awesome. Right up my alley.
January 22, 2017 3:16 a.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #10
Toshiro Umezawa can be very fun. Not for the people he's facing of course. But he's not overpowered, and he takes to tinkering and tuning to get right. Good for the bored deckbuilder.
January 22, 2017 6:07 a.m.
Here you go:
[List - Multiplayer] EDH Generals by Tier
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 331 | 4553 COMMENTS | 310204 VIEWS | IN 302 FOLDERS
January 22, 2017 7:25 a.m.
Hey Crayonmuffin. There's some great suggestions here from people, and really like Eiti3's brew ideas. I brewed mine on a similar line of thinking. I took a look on EDHREC for commanders with few decks and picked out Adamaro, First to Desire and brewed it around "cards in hands and artifacts matter". It's got fun cards, a few bombs and some interesting effects:
Shoot that Adamaro: Adamaro EDH Primer
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 98 | 94 COMMENTS | 9161 VIEWS | IN 39 FOLDERS
The Kamigawa legends are generally quite good to brew around in the way that some are a bit odd. For example if you're looking for something that makes games interesting then cards like Horobi, Death's Wail that subtly change how opponents have to play can be fun.
Angry Gray Beard did a good blog series about obscure Commander tech here which I found quite useful for stuff you don't always see:
http://irememberbanding.tumblr.com/post/3503732321/good-day-commander
January 22, 2017 8:11 a.m. Edited.
griffstick says... #13
I always liked Reclamation in think this card is very useful and forgotten about
January 22, 2017 9:18 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #15
Allow me to suggest commanders I found didn't have the number of decks they deserve according to edhrec.com:
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch: Let's play Rakdos +1/+1 counter themed aggro-control featuring cards like Oona's Blackguard, Cauldron of Souls, Contagion Engine, and Grave Betrayal.
Rhys the Redeemed: This is Holgate elf tribal featuring Prowess of the Fair, Well of Lost Dreams, Cover of Darkness, and Patriarch's Bidding.
Munda, Ambush Leader: Lastly, let's take a look at Ally tribal featuring Scroll Rack, Door of Destinies, Konda's Banner, and Mana Echoes.
These have less than 50 decks built each, but they deserve more.
January 22, 2017 10:44 a.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #16
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch was actually one of the first commanders I played with with just a bunch of random red and black cards I had. Special place.
Rhys the Redeemed I've seen quite a bit of actually. A tuned Rhys deck is frightening.
While not obscure, some partner combinations I haven't seen. Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder paired with Tymna the Weaver actually seems pretty powerful as their abilities compliment each other well.
Stitcher Geralf also looks like fun with the potential to be powerful but nothing too threatening.
January 22, 2017 12:17 p.m.
griffstick says... #18
I think Farsight Mask could see and should see more commander play. This card is totally underrated
January 22, 2017 11:38 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #19
griffstick, agreed! It's one of my pet cards, along with Helm of Possession and Mind Stone!
January 22, 2017 11:51 p.m.
Do you like Sunder? Do you like unusual and very underplayed commanders? If so, then try out one of my favorites: Patron of the Moon. This surprisingly synergistic and unique commander can combo off or play it safe with cards like Storm Cauldron, Flooded Shoreline, Overburden, Thwart, Gush, and Mana Breach. Bonus round: Chain of Vapor, Ovinomancer, Uyo, Silent Prophet, Trade Routes, and Amulet of Vigor.
I'll be posting my list soon.
January 24, 2017 1:58 p.m.
Aftertherevolution says... #21
Don't think Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter gets played too often, though she is relatively new. I put it into a green counter/card draw/trample/beast type deck just as a placeholder until I got a better card and it's done quite well for me as a commander who's there for me when I need it.
The low cost means I always have something to play on turn one.
It also seems to be looked at as an unworthy target for most opponents removal spells as it's so cheap to bring back. And if they do kill it off 3-5 times, that's a lot of ammunition and attention drawn away from my other plans. :)
So it often comes out, sits as an early deterrent blocker, and mostly gets ignored until the battlefield starts getting a little bigger and then if I need them, constructs start appearing.
If I'm flush with cards & creatures, she often isn't needed, and seems a bit of a waste. But if the opponent throws a late game board wipe with each of us having little in our hand. Who do you think recovers quicker :)
January 25, 2017 11:54 a.m.
god_dammit_nappa says... #22
WINNER OF THE MWONVULI JUNGLE BEAUTY PAGENT
Enter Stage-Left:
If you love mono-green decks, but are looking for a different playstyle, Jolrael, Empress of Beasts is the Commander for you.
She focuses on putting lots of lands onto the battlefield and staying below the aggro table. And because of her signature ability, you'll find yourself taking a break from the usual green deck-building strategy of stuffing 30+ creatures in the deck while giving you opportunities to put in answers like Beast Within, Scour from Existence, Boompile, and Desert Twister.
I made a deck list and uploaded it to TappedOut. My deck list tends to not focus on putting too many permanents onto the battlefield (usually just the artifacts or enchantments that you needed early in the game like for ramp or whatever).
Because of this, board wipes like Planar Cleansing or Wrath of God aren't as detrimental to your strategy as other traditional green decks. You can still have fun and be in the game before and after a board wipe.
OH!! OHHH!!! OH WAIT! THERE'S MORE!
THE SHITS AND GIGGLES OF IT ALL:
Not to mention that she's probably the only general you will ever come across who can get a Craterhoof Behemoth'ed army and not die to the control player's overloaded Cyclonic Rift. Rift returns all NON-land permanents to their owners hands, but since your creatures ARE lands the table dies anyway!
Dude. Think about it. How hilarious will your opponents' facial expressions be when they realize they can't do anything about angry lands attacking them?
HOW TO WIN:
Jolrael is incredibly fun to play and easy to build around. The way you win is you stuff Eternal Witness and Noxious Revival effects and untap tricks like Early Harvest and Vitalize after turning your Lands into creatures with Jolrael's ability. Then you cast Shamanic Revelation, draw all the cards, and 'Hoof for the game-ending swing.
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION:
Check out my deck list that I'm currently working on: Queen of the Mwonvuli Jungle. I haven't finished the description part yet, but I'm still working on that. The deck, however, is in working order.
January 25, 2017 11:43 p.m.
god_dammit_nappa says... #23
PREVIOUS COMMENTER IS AN IDIOT WITH AMNESIA
I forgot to mention the ALTERNATIVE WIN CONDITION
You can also win with 3 cards: Nature's Revolt + Ezuri's Predation will wipe out all your opponent's lands and creatures below Toughness 4 or less. Then give those 4/4 Beast tokens haste with Akroma's Memorial.
YOU WIN!
January 25, 2017 11:48 p.m.
Crayonmuffin says... #24
Love Jolrael, didn't know of that card. Might start building immediately. Another land theme deck that I don't see too often is Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper. He makes a lot of dudes really quick except they stay dudes which may be a bad thing to some. I say someone's deck where they get things like memorial and a ton of lands into play before ever playing Noyan Dar and then dropping him and playing like 15 cantrips, kind of storming off, and basically assassinate a couple players right off the bat. Pretty cool.
Arvail says... #2
The least played commanders are all some shitty cards or 7 mana vanilla creatures. What you want is a build-around general that you can tune to some degree. Think Celestial Kirin, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, etc.
It's also possible to build popular commanders to be pretty easy going. I have a thopter Breya build, for example, and my friend pilots a Daretti deck that's pretty much nothing more than a busy box for adults. You can pull lots of levers and knobs, but they don't do anything.
January 21, 2017 11:27 p.m. Edited.