20 Great Commander Cards From Last Year That Aren't Getting Enough Love

[@DoctorCataclysm]

A lot of New Capenna commanders are really fun and interactive. I think that set got slept on in general

[@YenSnipest]

I will turn the jund rhino into a otk infect dragon appraoch deck...somehow....some....how

[@joshhutchins6747]

It was a set that went into a new theme (mafia families) and hit at a peak set release moment, caused a perfect storm of people ignoring the set. I agree that it's too bad as the set was really fun and had some incredible cards.

[@John_Smith_Dumfugg]

Rocco is the patron saint of all secret commanders in Naya

[@fernandob2275]

Capenna is just a flavor fail. The set as a whole is a failure even if a handful of cards are “decent”

[@DoctorCataclysm]

@@fernandob2275 disagree on the second point.

[@dylanvolckaert404]

I didn't know Fraying Line existed, but now it's probably one of my favourite designs. It's so flavourful! :o

[@prob094]

We definitely need this to be an annual video Demo. With so many cards coming out, we need reminders. Thanks : )

[@brennonschultz2534]

Love your videos. I swear everytime I watch another video I'm pausing and adding cards to my cart multiple times each video

[@hanschristopherson8056]

Yeah I didn’t know pyre-sledge arsonist existed, that card should definitely see more play for sure

[@redbirdriot]

I agree and really do like Endless Detour as well. Flexibility doesn't always get recognized, but this thing serves as a temp counterspell, bounce/removal for any non-land permanent, or (third use case) instant speed returning something from your graveyard to the top or getting rid of someone's Anger/Wonder/etc from their graveyard. I think it's good, just rough that it only goes in Bant+ decks.

[@KeithJ166]

I love Altar of Bhaal in my Athreos Shroud Veil deck.

[@charliemarlow647]

Spiteful Repossession is amazing! Worth mentioning as well that if you have a deck themed around increasing damage dealt (e.g. Torbran, Obosh etc.) then that's another way to get great value out of it.

[@johnathandavis7006]

Yeah New Capenna I'd argue, was one of the most banger sets for commander. There was a solid few days I kept finding random good cards

[@zbaschtian]

Awesome, keep 'em coming! We have for sure enough hidden gems from last year to last us for the entirety of this year, and both WoTC and us need a break from buying EDH for a bit if we want the format to remain relatively healthy.

[@tsurugi12]

Totally true. There are so many cards coming, that you can't remember, no need to talk about testing, them. I forgot about so many cards, because I'm only able to play games every few months.

[@BardtheHowler]

I feel for my own self that new capenna was the most consequential commander set last year. Only weird part being that the best cards were mono colored in a three color set. I mined that set super hard for so many cards, and my Jolene deck is my current favorite. Pyre sledge arsonist is a player remover for sure. Also shout out to void rend! No one's talking about that card...

[@raccoonhatcity7627]

I hear a lot of people hating on new cap, it was my favourite set of the year by far.

[@JessBritvec]

Same, it was my favorite set this past year, and often the one I returned to when a following set didn’t sate my interest.

[@Megabit12]

I feel like Ruthless technomancer doesnt get enough love. It is perfect in my Umbris combo deck though.

[@srenrasmussen9789]

Spirit-sister's Call is going straight into my Athreos, shroud veiled deck! Can just put a coin on the reanimated creature, and it will come back after exile.

[@chrysmurphy3974]

Altar of Bhaal is amazing in the Necron deck

[@seanredmond1366]

Wow I'm shocked I'm not the only one fully in love with Spirit-Sister's Call. That is my new pet card I'm just waiting for the right commander to come along.

[@imbanks4188]

Finally, some frayjng line love. Its actually so good for politicking or for decks that only revolve around their commander

[@mrnekomaneki01]

Endless detour to a person's commander sounds funny since most likely they'll put it on top library. If they do follow up with some like field of ruin effect and shuffle the commander away.

[@BFG93]

Corspe explosion has done me so much good in games can recommend!

[@jacobbest398]

I might play unleash the inferno if it said destroy target creature or planeswalker and destroy target artifact or enchantment, but the conditions on the card kill it. I’d rather have a two mana spell that could hit any nonland permanent like assassin’s trophy instead.

[@JohnTalbane87]

I think the exile clause on Spirit Sisters Call is what turns players off of it. Personally I know it’d suck to get a beater back only to lose it permanently to an unsummon.

[@TheEr910]

Good list. If Forge Boss was not limited to once each turn, I would play it.

[@jmanwild87]

I'd play it in braids arisen nightmare as a cheeky way to add a ton of threat to the easiest to pay for sacs as with braids it early on becomes at the end of each of your turns draw 3 cards and deal 4 damage to each opponent except he's rakdos

[@diegoperezsommariva2509]

Spiteful repossesion goes very well with the new red dominus card. Dealing double damage and creating double treasures

[@Amascut]

Man, so many of these cards are ones that I tested in decks last year and found they were rather underwhelming or more cute than good. Mirror of Life Trapping is no joke though. That one’s a major hit in my flicker and blink deck! Scheming Fence is so reliant on your opponent’s deck that I’ve found it to be super hit or miss. I keep trying it out though. Robaran Mercenaries is cool, and I think it’s solid in really specific decks, at least. Hidetsugu Consumes All let me down hard. It seemed cool and powerful, but ended up just being slow and overly cute. Way more limited than it seemed like it’d be. You seem to have severely overestimated the board wipes you have on this list from last year though. Turns out it’s hard to compete with the big staples, and a lot of these kinda end up being weaker options that end up dead in hand when facing down a major threat. Super cool list though - fun to review the stuff that by and large got “almost there” from 2022, and hopefully will find real homes going forward!

[@joshuasaeger4981]

fraying line is an auto include in a Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter deck right? cast it on-curve at opponents endstep and then at your upkeep exile each creature but the thopter? colorless damnation that exiles, and keeps your commander alive? Also Mirror of Life-Trapping in the same deck? If you have a sack outlet you can just wait until the big bad creature is exiled onto it and then sac it to something like a Krark-Clan Ironworks to keep that creature exiled forever?

[@anthonymitchell6322]

Worth noting that Spiteful Repossession makes treasures equal to the damage dealt this way, Torbran or other damage increeasing effects means you would make that many more treasures.

[@jefferymuter4659]

Altar of Bhaal is amazing!! I have to add this to my Dane deck. Steal my opponents creature, exile it, get my own back from the grave. I love it

[@phillk8351]

Great vid. I feel like EDHrec is getting into a pretty big feedback loop where new cards rarely break into the deck lists. So many of the decks there are just the same 50-70% defined by their color identity :(

[@laharlfan71]

Spiteful Repossesion goes great in a Torbran deck, if you get a Fiery Emancipation, Furnace of rath, Dictate of the twin gods etc you can probably kill the landfall deck and get 12+ treasure as well

[@Buberte]

Docksite and board wipe, right?😁

[@egoish6762]

Forge boss feels a bit high cost for aristocrats, criminally underplayed though but there are so many similar effects. Pyre-sledge just feels a bit slow needing to untap with it or have a haste enabler in a deck that probably doesn't focus on combat.

[@ImNotReal47]

Tried running both unleash the inferno and structural assault and they both just felt lack luster. Maybe it was the builds I had it in, but in the case of unleash the inferno it felt super unfun to try and pull off. Keeping a jund and a colorless open to optimize it at instant speed felt like it was hurting more than helping, and most of the time I’m not really getting full value out because if I have that much mana, there’s a good chance someone’s already played big creatures and if I want to pop the big threat I usually don’t get the secondary artifact/enchantment removal, but if I pop a small creature to also pop an enchantment there’s a good chance the enchantment is a 5,6cmc if not 4 or 3 yes, and that usually leaves other big threats un dealt with. Felt suuuuper clunky and restricted to what it could actually hit, could just run like a naturalize and a terminate and it’d be much more effective. Structural assault I wanted to love, but idk either it’s 5 mana clear all art and creat board wipe, or it’s this absolutely dead card that’s going to lose me the game if I cast it (been there)

[@dylanfarley8136]

Fraying rope is a great card for a Traxos deck. There are quite a few limitations to a non-eldrazi colorless decks, so fraying rope Is a good quasi stax/board wipe card. I agree that it's a great card depending on the deck build.

[@wyatt5450]

Fraying Line helps with Food Chain, Squee/Eternal Scourge, and Dockside or any powerful etb.

[@jongailey85]

Scheming Fence is one that, from the beginning, didn’t receive as much attention as I felt it deserved, glad that one got a mention.

[@ChristiantrospectiveGamer]

"I cast Structural Assault. In response, I cast Teferi's Protection" GG.

[@benturtl9076]

I love eldritch pact. I play it in my Anowon deck and I've never cast it on my self lol. I finished off so, so many people out of nowhere with this card.

[@willofkhonshu7287]

sphinx good in a wheel deck. usually play stuff with flashback or graveyard recursion

[@engineersplay2537]

I have fraying line in a flash deck, play it on last players' end step and get a free one side wipe since you don't pay on your turn! Vedalken Orrery

[@ricardardevol9720]

Thanks as always by highlighting these cards which we may have overlooked, some hidden gems in there indeed! I am a bit surprised though because I almost always agree with your views 99%, but I had a lot of disagreements this time! :O - My problem with Fraying Line is my opponents get to choose when it goes off and which creatures can be saved, which I do not like at all. - Spirit Sister's call is a bit of a nonbo in graveyard decks since it exiles whatever you bring back, preventing further recursion. - In a mono red deck, Structural Assault blows all your ramp, which can be a real problem. - Some of the other picks, they are ok, but they just do not make the cut most of the time due to sooo many options being available... Which makes me think more and more about ditching staples just to play more of these fringe cards instead. What do you think?

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Exactly this. None of these are really better than most of the “staples”. So. They’re cool, but there’s an efficiency/power trade-off for most of these compared to other cards.

[@drummerboy0511]

I feel that Structural Assault is a real sleeper hit. Nobody sees it coming, and I never see anybody play it.

[@redgeko181]

Alter of bhaal just became the no 1 card for dimir steal decks where u steal opents creatures then exile them never giving your opponent a chance to get there creature back + you get ur creatures back to battlefield is awsome

[@joshholmes1372]

Sphinx is 5 mana, has to connect. There are better 5 drops. Maybe mono blue or dmir. Forge boss is 4 mana for a kinda bad sac payoff. Most decks don't run enough multi colored cards to make mana canons work. Might add eldritch pact to my captain n'gathrod mill deck. Endless detour is just a bad counter/removal. Spirit sister's call might find a spot in my sefris reanimation/sac/cycle deck. Pyre-sledge might slot into my prosper. It's pretty tightly crafted ATM, so we'll see.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

saying "there are better 5 drops" is a really silly argument. this just says that you only put the best of everything in your deck and nothing else will do. most players don't think that way. and dealing 2 damage to each opponent isn't bad sac payoff, it's actually pretty good since it's in addition to whatever else you're getting from the sacrifice.

[@joshholmes1372]

@@edhdeckbuilding let me rephrase..I personally don't think it does enough as five drop, but I don't run many mono blue or blue heavy decks that need this. I also generally don't run too many basics in multi colored decks. Many players do think of cards in context of their power level compared to similar cards of the same cost. This is easily proven by 1. This card not being popular and 2. The prevalence or "commander staples". Forge boss is crippled by once per turn imo. If it didn't have that, it would immediately be slotted in all rakdos sac decks, particularly prosper for me.

[@bamby3144]

I loooovvveee fraying line. Pretty much smothering tithe except they NEED to pay or there is a board wipe

[@AndrewSmith-es1tq]

I’m already theory crafting a deck for vishgraz the doomhive blink deck with mirror of life tapping in it!

[@luketargett2233]

lots of great 2 colour (1 of each pip) cards for my niv miz reborn + jegantha companion deck

[@jeroenvaneekeren]

Great video! Missed a lot of those cards.

[@nycstreetpoet]

Another interesting feature of Hidetsugu Consumes All is that the Vessel doesn’t need to do 10 combat damage, which gives you more options for pumping it to 10.

[@coryirvin6651]

Lists/videos like this make me realize how flooded the format is. I see cool cards, but when i go to add them to my lists, i have a hard time wanting to replace something I already have. The only reason I'd try these new cards is if i was tired of something in my deck. But with the flood of product we have, it's hard to get tired of any of it.

[@coryirvin6651]

There's multiple cards in here that I'd love to put in Prossh, but just don't see me taking more synergistic cards to have new "fun" cards in there.

[@idkjustleavemebeplease]

Mirror of life trapping is a double edged sword. However, if you have instant artifact removal, or even flicker. You can delete an opponents commander if they let it go to exile.

[@EMMYMXNC]

Sphinx of clear skies is a new staple for Kamiz especially. Should go in every Kamiz deck

[@punkypinko2965]

Mirror of Trapping. It exiles your opponents' creatures, too. Sounds like a pain in the ass to keep up with lol.

[@Amascut]

Only ever one card exiled with it though, so it’s really not that bad!

[@tycehancock3369]

Definitely throwing Robaran Mercenaries in my Winota deck, no questions asked.

[@gammarayrjs]

New Capenna and the DnD sets were slept on, great cards but i can tell ya why these board wipe/removal spells from new capenna aren't played much and it's the overall cost including sac's some of my favourite cards on this list tho

[@NerdJake]

I play unleash the inferno and it is so good, it typically just takes a sol ring with it.

[@InsomniaticVampire]

Lots of interesting cards. I'm surprised forge boss is getting any play. Mayhem Devil cost one less and triggers every time anything is sacrificed.

[@anthonyi8484]

22:04 favorite part of this card is the art lol

[@ChristiantrospectiveGamer]

Mana Cannons is good in a Feather deck, or if you want to go mono-red, Torbrand makes it good, especially if you add in doublers like Dictate of the Twin Gods and Gratuitous Violence.

[@thrasherftw]

It only works with multi colored spells, it won’t work in mono red.

[@Bryan-T]

I wish you would release some of your gameplay videos to youtube, even if it's a month after or something.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i'll consider it.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

i do have some already though

[@Bryan-T]

@@edhdeckbuilding Thanks.

[@SirGrimLockSmithVIII]

I feel like Forge Boss isn't as used that much because of the "once each turn" clause. Hard to combo off with that restriction and it's easier to just use Blood Artist or Syr Grim for the same purpose.

[@strangebynature2798]

Vessel of the All-consuming would really like kusari-gama or similar equip/aura

[@ivernedit]

I love activated sleeper

[@julianseidel7926]

Oh my god, this list make me want to build like 10 new decks :))

[@mrnekomaneki01]

The problem with red board wipes is nothing has been released better than blasphemous act which is basically a board wipe for 1 red. Altar of Bahl is an auto-include in basically any deck that runs black anymore. I might have lost a good creature and now sitting on something less useful and just swap token or otherwise. If someone milled a key piece even better.

[@edhdeckbuilding]

nothing will ever be better than blasphemous act. but you need more than one boardwipe in your deck.

[@jmanwild87]

@@edhdeckbuilding yeah and usually i just go something like Chain reaction or Hour of Devastation if I'm stuck in mono red if not i'd rather any number of other wipes that destroy or exile rather than deal damage because unless undercosted or versatile damage based boardwipes just aren't that great

[@KennethIHansen]

Unleash the Inferno is actually my fav. card for 2022. I just dont really play Black...But I love the card (i like a lot of cards that contain black, I just am not good in the color)

[@crshanerable]

One of my favorite cards in the set. I like it so much, I bought what may be one of the rarest cards in existence. A Russian copy

[@aldrikvoldus585]

Forge boss pairs really well with blood artist and zullaport cutthroat and bastion of remembrance

[@jmanwild87]

For the first trigger, each turn. Which can be awkward when you sac multiple times which aristocrats decks are wont to do. If you're able to consistently sac multiple times, you're probably better off with bastion of remembrance, the meathook massacre a falkenrath noble or any of a dozen of options. I'd stick this in braids arisen nightmare as you get a very threatening clock out with turn 3 braids turn 4 boss and fodder but he's rakdos

[@aldrikvoldus585]

@@jmanwild87 yeah I run a token deck with aristocrats effects with blood artist, zullaport cutthroat, bastion of remembrance, asssult intercessor, graven pact and dictate of Erebus

[@Dataloss484]

I absolutely LOVE spirit-sister's call, but the deck I'd be most exited about playing it in really does NOT like the exiling clause it has.

[@SwedeRacerDC]

Also, you can't forget about a card you didn't even know about. How can anyone really keep up with all these cards. It's exhausting. Thankfully, I opened a lot of them and am using them. But some of them I haven't seen. I do have two Jund commander decks and I may have unleash the inferno in both. It's a 2 for 1, almost automatically.

[@rightmerk4192]

Forge boss is pretty bad considering the abundance of zulaport cutthroat type cards there are which trigger more than just once

[@Vyse86]

I think the problem with Temporary Lockdown is that people are building decks that are too reliant on mana rocks. Some decks need them, especially if you have a high cost commander, but my builds usually only have Sol Ring and Arcane Signet for the 2 MV or less rocks.

[@sheahon1179]

I'm surprised to see Scheming Fence has almost 4,000 decks. This card is boom or bust and doesn't synergize with very many decks. It might be "not bad" in decks but it doesn't advance your game plan. A card that can go in any deck has to be doing something my deck *needs* like draw, ramp, removal, etc. If it isn't then I always ask "would I rather be playing a card that helps my deck?"

[@dalefrankliniii4701]

I really like Hostile Takeover and other on sided board wipes

[@mattratcliffe2181]

Spiteful repo is going to my Torbran deck.

[@blueheartorangeheart3768]

Forge boss deals 2 damage a turn max. So yeah all you have to do is sacrifice 20 creatures over 5 turn cycles to win

[@victormiller1420]

Wouldn't land type count snow and if you add a couple basic colorless lands just a few then wouldn't you draw more? Never mind I found out

[@okgut2033]

The backside of Hidetsugu Consumes All, dont even say combat damage... You can pump chandras ignotion xD

[@mikelogs7680]

Fraying line is sooooo fun

[@masonex490]

Spiteful Repossession is awesome in my jan jansen deck

[@hanschristopherson8056]

For forge boss I think people are getting thrown off by the “once each turn” that’s not much of a downside because you can do it on opponents turns as well so with a free sac outlet you can be doing 8 damage to each opponent each go around which is pretty good

[@Belena711]

I disagree. Some aristocrat decks are content to sac once a turn, but the vast majority want to be sacrificing a bunch of creatures, or even looping the same creature.

[@jmanwild87]

@@Belena711 yeah like my aristocrats decks aren't just saccing a creature a turn but multiple fodder creatures so when you're actually pushing for a win you're better off with a Falkenrath noble in the early game sure it helps chip folks, but it doesn't help you win as much as it seems.

[@jmanwild87]

Also i would put it in my Braids, Arisen Nightmare deck because I'm not doing a ton of multisaccing without setup and it turns my braids Trigger into a very awkward timer for folks (turn 1 and 2 set up turn 3 braids turn 4 boss.) Except the boss is rakdos and not mono black meaning i can't stick it in the one deck that i want to

[@Belena711]

@@jmanwild87 💯

[@Zaelkrie]

Spirit Sister's call would not go in my graveyard decks since I'm constantly sacking and reviving things and I don't want them to get exiled.

[@hugeladchad]

Would be nice to see the card prices as well

[@edhdeckbuilding]

yeah i don't do that anymore. card prices change all the time so it seems pointless.

[@TheChronoG]

Mana Cannons looks like a great card for my Rienne deck

[@John_Smith_Dumfugg]

The forge boss once per turn clause is just too punishing, plenty of cheaper cmc options that do similar. A shame, they could've allowed it to trigger at least 2 or 3 times at 4 cmc. Scheming Fence does surprise me though, it looks pretty good.

[@JakesFavorites]

We are getting over a thousand new cards a year now. They can't all fit in our decks. And worse, the more decks we build (or even buy) the less time we get each week to play with each of them. I only have 12 decks and some haven't seen play in months. I'm thinking of taking one apart, and then there's even more good cards salvaged from that deck for the new cards to compete with. The fewer decks you have, the less space to put new cards. Because most EDH decks come fully formed and playable, there's almost no room for improvement compared to the amount of new cards. We have ten slots and a thousand choices! You just have to accept that the amount of bulk rares did not go down this year.

[@Turkin4tor]

I'm kinda noticing a pattern where it's cards that only do stuff once a turn that people look over. I'm guilty of it myself, "only once per turn? nahhh" I think honestly we were spoiled with the repeatedly usable older cards, and people are stuck in their ways

[@tomallan9615]

I’ve got Spirit-Sisters Call in my Rodolf deck which is great! But, I’m wondering if I can Robaran Mercenaries too the deck? Rodolf’s ability is trigger not activated though right?

[@Amascut]

Correct, the Mercenaries will not let you use Rodolph’s ability.

[@Koios90]

You are correct, it's a triggered ability so Robaran Mercenaries would not work with Rodolf... If you have a lot of other legendaries with activated abilities in the deck they might still be decent, tho =)

[@nikolamatasin3877]

Unleash the inferno is way worse than decimate. It's 4 mana removal, in black, that's not guaranteed to even remove a creature. If I have access to black, I want proper removal too lol Pyre Sledge Arsonist has no haste, and is an obvious red flag, so even if you have enough things to sac you may not do anything worthwile by the time you can tap it.

[@SwedeRacerDC]

I like to copy Hostile Takeover. Then, you're pretty much wiping the whole board and 4 creatures that could survive now won't. So easy to do in grixis

[@scaredycat3146]

To be fair there are about 500 auto-includes for a Prosper deck. You can't run them all sadly.

[@SwedeRacerDC]

Forge Boss: "Triggers only once each turn" Not so much of a boss, more of a supervisor...lol. Still, you could do it once per opponents turn so that's 24 damage total each trip around the table

[@cortesdogodoyzera6998]

Would like to see your personal decks updated :)

[@edhdeckbuilding]

Coming soon!

[@casketbase7750]

Temporary Lockdown was an include in my Ghen deck. Since he can sac and recur Enchantments, I can reuse the card and keep ransoming my opponents' weenies.

[@reubenkriegel7639]

"[spiteful repossession] fits in any mono red deck because you're probably going to have a couple opportunities who have more lands than you" lol not my mono red decks. I have two mono red artifact decks that abuse Burnished Hart and Solemn Simulacrum and sometimes even Wayfarer's Bobble

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Forge boss is just less good at what he does for the price as a lot of other cards, unfortunately :/. That “once per turn” is rather a rough limitation on a 4 cost body. It’s cool, but unless it’s on theme I’d go with something else. Some of these look like a lot of fun! Some I definitely understand why they’re not seeing much play.

[@TheAngelRaven]

Wait, for Scheming Fence... Does the permanent need to be on the field? 'I name Time Vault-'

[@scaredycat3146]

Only cards (or tokens) on the battlefield are ever considered permanents. You can't chose anything else.

[@demonicmachina]

There's been too many cards all at once, I honestly don't even remember streets being released 😢🤔

[@EMMYMXNC]

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think too many cards were printed last year. I loved almost all of last years sets.

[@danielscott9960]

Scheming fence sees a good amount of CEDH play. Casual still hasn't seen it much

[@adrianmarquez5462]

Pretty cool idea for a vid

[@jj-sc1kq]

As someone who doesn't play commander, I hate the fact that I can watch a cool video like this and think "That card sounds awesome, i want to use it." And then discover that it's not legal in the format I like to play in. 😞

[@RaubkatzHimself]

Pineapple Pizza :)

[@littlemrdoom5997]

Death sentence

[@DrexSinister]

So many of these I feel are just not costed efficiently enough for the average player. Not saying they're not good cards. Just that with how powercreep has been, good cards are being passed up for great ones.