Secret Tech: Green | Underplayed and Undervalued Green Cards in Commander

Secret Green technology to help power up your commander decks!
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Welcome to our Secret Tech series, where we talk about green cards in commander that are underrated, undervalued, and underplayed. These cards are secretly good in edh and might even make some of your personal decks. Hope you make some commander discoveries in this episode!

[@HienNguyenHMN]

The reason why turning face up is a special game action is because morph doesn't work if it isn't. Every (other) ability of the game requires the players to show the source of the ability. For morph, if it is an activated ability, it would play like "I'm pay this cost to turn this face up. Trust me, I'm not cheating." or it would read very oddly ", turn this card face up: " No other ability in the game is unverifiable the way morph is.

[@Nitrox_Costa_]

Regarding the City of Solitude and morph interaction. I would like to point out that City of Solitude doesn't exclude mana abilities, so you can morph only if the cost doesnt require mana, since you can't activate any ability that provides mana

[@andrewhoward6946]

Not to mention if it was an activated ability you could check what cost they paid and look up what it was about to turn into, to see if it was worth Bolting in response to the morph.

[@losersandwich3712]

You guys are currently my favourite mtg channel. Nice work

[@NitpickingNerds]

Omg thanks!

[@magnusberge]

i 2nd that statment!

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

Night soil in secret tech, nerds are acknowledging fungus superiority at last.

[@NitpickingNerds]

The card was a meme in my old deck originally because it was amazing in one game, but then it ended up being pretty good every time

[@fenixiliusstrife1253]

@@NitpickingNerds There is a downside to it, if they only have 1 creature in their graveyard,. You cannot target them. Requires two creatures in a single graveyard, so it can be worked around. Rare but possible.

[@natureboy95]

gotta love the Regal Begemoth, especially if you can make a token copy of it through various shenanigans!

[@NitpickingNerds]

That is some cool ETB value!

[@Winterhe4rt]

Playing Gaeas Touch in my Titania deck since day 1. Its just amazing.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It really is! :D

[@meatrace]

Congrats on figuring out Monstrous Onslaught! Such a hidden gem. Want to know where it's absolutely busted? Dinosaurs. So you have like some giant like Galta let's say, but you also have a bunch of smaller dinos. Well, you can selectively remove your opponents threats and/or just trigger all those Enrages!

[@-RTC-]

Great list, I use Gaea’s Touch in my omnath locus of mana deck. Lots of forests in that and that card always comes through! Happy thanksgiving guys cheers

[@NitpickingNerds]

happy thanksgiving!

[@mattdeters8306]

I played Regal Behemoth in one of my Muldrotha builds. It was a mana doubler that didn't draw near the hate that Vorinclex did.

[@crawdaddy1234]

I bought, like, eight Gaea’s Touches a couple of years ago. Since it’s an activated ability, you can use it to put multiple Forests into play if you have a way to recur it in a turn.

[@NitpickingNerds]

That is a weird way to take advantage of the errata, love it!

[@Milo_1010_]

on a muldrotha deck, it should be definitely cool as you can sac' it each turn, to add 2 green mana, play an additionnal forest in addition to the other effect of muldrotha, you get a lot of value here !

[@crawdaddy1234]

@@Milo_1010_ I thought about putting one in my Muldrotha deck, but I don’t have enough basic forests.

[@Milo_1010_]

@@crawdaddy1234 yes it has its own limits as it is also a third color deck but its can still be better than a simple ramp spell

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

Gaea's touch is my vote for one of the most underrated cards in edh, like, ever. There's no way it should only cost 2 dollars when dumb ol' wayward swordtooth is a SIXTEEN DOLLAR CARD.

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

@Bo Kuen Tao didn't say one was better than the other

[@OdysseyAquarius]

Titania'a Song. A very relevant and overlooked green enchantment nowadays in an EDH time frame that is dominated by artifacts. Turning things like treasure tokens, Vault, Crypt and other cancer into creatures with P/T equal to their CMC and losing their abilities is very good, especially if you also have a means of board wiping.

[@Atanar89]

Thanks, Yavimaya Granger definitly goes into my Miara, Thorn of the Glade deck. Dying on its own is an upside there.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Who is her partner?

[@Atanar89]

@@NitpickingNerds Don'T know yet, just needs to be green. The xx +1/+1 counter elf is ridiculously overcosted, the 3 mana-manadork doesn't seem great, Kamahl would just scare people into thinking there would be an overrun any second (whcih the deck is not about) and Kodama has minimal value in an aristicrats/elfball hybrid. Leaning towards Tana without the intention of adding any red cards in the maindeck.

[@chef2chiefchef2chief61]

Great choices, and im glad you didn't just stick to budget options. Job well done

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thanks, we wanted to go for unknown moreso than budget for this series

[@crawdaddy1234]

Random thing about being able to look at the top card of your library “at any time”, this includes WHILE you are resolving spells or abilities that draw cards and require you to do something with your cards such as Brainstorm or Dak Faydon. Of note, it does not work with Ponder or Preordain, as those cards “look at the top three cards”.

I think you should be able to double-look in Two-Headed Giant =P

[@Skablergen]

Do a whole secret tech video in the whisper voice, the ASMR magic youtube niche has a lot of room to be explored!

[@alslayer18]

Thank you for pointing out road of return. I thought this card was so good when I got it from the kadena precon and have been so confused as to why no one seems to use it. It functions a lot like regrowth, but also gives you the option to cheat on commander tax, or better yet, do both!

[@NitpickingNerds]

It seems a little niche since you have to care about both halves, but I could see it finding homes, especially in budget!

[@alslayer18]

@@NitpickingNerds Yeah I probably should have clarified that a bit better. I think in any green deck where you are running command beacon, I would likely include road of return as well. It's going to be most useful in voltron decks, but really any deck where the commander is a core integral part of the deck (like in the kadena pre-con it came in :P). If the commander is more incidental to the gameplan (like maybe with thrasios) it's not as good.

[@kk_33]

Love it, I haven't seen quite a few of these. Especially love night soil, genuinely think that should be a staple A couple more suggestions: Greenseeker - this little elf helps you hit land drops early and can fill up your graveyard in decks that care about that. Frontier Guide - overpriced land ramp on a stick. If you're in a landfall deck its great. Or if you just want a mana sink for turns you want to hold up interaction or can't use your mana effectively. Reap and Sow - its not efficient, but the flexibility is really good. Important that it just says land, meaning if you're playing powerful lands like Cradle or Coffers/Urborg combo, this can grab them, or it can deal with your opponent's powerful land. Or both if you have the mana to do so

[@Feyamius]

Mana Bloom is awesome in Zaxara as well. Play it turn two as ramp into Zaxara turn three and turn four it's an x-spell that makes a hydra and ramps into an even bigger turn five x-spell. It scales so well throughout the whole game.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Wow that's awesome! It's also easy to quickly remove multiple counters since you can make random mana on opponents' turns

[@waynefeller8824]

What a lot of people forget about cards with Echo is that cards that care about sacrifice, like Korvold, count the Echo sac.

[@crovax1375]

I was hoping that Seedtime would have made this video. It does have that restriction, but I think blue interaction is encountered enough to risk a 2 mana extra turn spell that doesn't exile itself. Seedtime appears in 573 (0%) of decks so I think it makes the guidelines of being secret tech

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's secret but I don't want to recommend it unless you can somehow cast it more reliably, or if you have a bunch of ways to discard cards for when it is not relevant

[@yumyumeatemup]

This is gonna be an interesting one for sure as I personally feel green has just so much to choose from its got an embarrassment of riches to the point where the things that aren't getting used might be that way for good reason. Lets see what you got Nerds! Blow my mind for me!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Hopefully we blew it!

[@yumyumeatemup]

@@NitpickingNerds Did it within the first two cards! LOL It never dawned on me because of the way things are worded with the graveyard hate card that they can't respond to it. So you get selective hate on your opponents graveyard and a 1/1 saporling for chump blocks, sac outlet etc. Really nifty card actually. I also like mana bloom as recursive draw/ramp for enchantment decks and gaea's is always a nice *puts on shades* Touch.....YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[@rmcminiking]

Currently feeling good that I already have a diligent Farmhand in my collection 😅 my dad taught me to play when I was a teenager (about 13yrs ago). It's cool to be picking it up again, seeing these old cards of mine still pulling their weight 👍

[@agustinprosello4687]

Loved that Nikya of the Old Ways shout out

[@swazykinss3430]

If yall dont mind I would like to add compost i believe it's a 1% 2 drop green enchatment whenever a black card goes into an opponents graveyard draw a card. Usually helps me draw cards kinda slow early game but the recurring value is really helpful.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yeah that might be worth it in some decks, especially ones already playing painter's servant

[@johanahlberg9452]

Another great list! Hope you can do more of these in the future with hidden gems. The Commander's Quarters used to make videos like these called "Quest 4 Quarters" and they where great, but he stopped doing them back in 2019 :( Hope you can continue recommending less played cards like these :)

[@NitpickingNerds]

We are at least going to round out the series with colorless and multicolor, and potentially lands if we can find enough genuinely good ones

[@j.moonstorm3158]

Honestly what I don't understand how Abundance is only in 3% of decks on EDHREC

[@oliviersoable]

The cast trigger on monstrous Onslaught is awesome. I tried out just for fun and this card is no joke.

[@PeliPelaaja]

20:49 Gaea's Touch seems really neat. But hey, you missed Mwonvuli Acid-Moss!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Ehhh it's a little slow for our tastes :p

[@earthbowser1493]

I believe that drawing your card during the draw step is a special game action as well.

[@TheBigBird11]

I have run City of Solitude in my Prossh deck for ages now, that card never fails me!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Glad it works for ya!

[@Malverde888]

Awesome video boys! I’d like to add Thornscape Familiar, it’s pretty decent early ramp for a multicolor deck.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's not too bad but a ramp spell might just be better

[@sethhale8828]

You guys have a light-hearted way of incorporating rules-law into the meta of the story

[@NitpickingNerds]

I’m not sure what that means lol

[@sethhale8828]

@@NitpickingNerds nonsensical compliments are best. Hard to refute. Loving the channel.

[@robertshuff3569]

Look at the fine point print on internet pricing, they say up to this speed. Then you can look up, there’s a maximum speed available in your area, but they will charge you for any speed. It also plummets depending on your neighbors usage

[@jperry253]

Skyshroud War Beast is great late game value for almost no cost at that time

[@NitpickingNerds]

Seems neat in like a Ghalta or power matters deck

[@PawzBrownMTG]

These were some great choices keep up the great content

[@NitpickingNerds]

TY Pawz

[@conorkerr1673]

Good luck Joe, hope your internet gets sorted

[@NitpickingNerds]

Here's hoping!

[@mella4376]

Hey I'm here for the soapbox segment

[@NitpickingNerds]

Love you for it!

[@schlaackmusic]

This was very enlightening. Thank you!

[@NitpickingNerds]

So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for dropping a comment

[@orgazmo686971]

I had to pause just after 13 minutes. "This is my favorite mana doubler that is out there" "I literally don't know of a mana doubler that I value more than this" That's a strong endorsement Joe. I'd put it 14th out of 15 available in green ahead of only Overlaid Terrain which requires you to sacrifice all of your lands.

[@golgariguy]

Nice, I play both Diligent Farmhand and Yavimaya Granger in my Meren deck. And also Dawntreader Elk, but just in Meren. It's pretty decent there!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Do you play Muscle Burst!?

[@golgariguy]

@@NitpickingNerds I should do it just for the flavor! :)

[@Malidala]

The word you were thinking of is Oligopoly, but what ISPs have is regional monopolies, which is much worse. In the grocery store all of the food is sourced from 6 corporations who own all the brands you see, that is an oligopoly.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Riiight thank you that IS the word.

[@toctheyounger]

Officially the best reason to run Night Soil is its a euphemism for poop. And Nissa is precisely where I run Gaeas Touch. Beezy follows my nexus primer confirmed? Card is really good anyway. In mono green theres a case for it being better than exploration. The tempo hit of 2 lands then sac for gg is undeniably great.

[@golgariguy]

Necrogenesis is another somewhat underplayed card which does a similar thing to Night Soil. Also, both give you a *ton* of death triggers with an Altar.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's similar, but the split-second style of night soil might be better. they are different though

[@golgariguy]

@@NitpickingNerds yeah, I actually never thought about the fact that in Night Soil the exile is a cost. That's pretty cool.

[@toddhall7218]

One green card I came across is Ritual Of Subdual. It’s the perfect card for a Muldrotha deck. You play it on the end of turn, sacrifice it at the beginning if your next turn, and replay it again. Not sure if it counts as a secret deck tech because I have no idea of another deck it would fit in. It’s played in zero percent of decks according according to Edhrec.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's pretty niche but seems cool for Muldrotha lol

[@toddhall7218]

@@NitpickingNerds 6 mana is a little expensive every turn even in EDH but the card does come in handy when you see something coming and need to find an answer

[@samuelvandekloetje]

Thanks for the Tribal Forcemage. my Playgroup will hate it in my Golgari Elfball

[@thelunchlady8276]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned City of Solitude with Fade Away.

[@damonlouis6536]

I play most of these. I stopped playing night soil due to it being clunky as grave removal. First off it only hits creatures, second off it can be played around by only having one creature in your grave, at times I wouldn't activate it because I needed to keep multiple creatures in my opps graves.

[@thomasaquinas2912]

Thank you for the insightful video

[@psychozen7169]

You need to get a square piece of equipment but it stops them from throttling you I forget the name of it but it at radio shack. The cable internet will throttle you all the time. It about 20 bucks

[@satanicpanicentertainment3061]

0:05 can't believe they made it political

[@crawdaddy1234]

Seedguide Ash seems bananas with Greater Good.

[@NitpickingNerds]

That's a spicy draw+discard 3

[@nicolaslarranaga8721]

That's cool and all, but why isn't Beast whisperer in the thumbnail?

[@NitpickingNerds]

Because he isn't whispering in the art! We went with Hush

[@nicolaslarranaga8721]

@@NitpickingNerds I think he's whispering to the bird on his shoulder, but Hush works as well!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Check your facts his mouth is CLOSED

[@nicolaslarranaga8721]

@@NitpickingNerds Oh yeah, couldn't help but notice the lady in Hush has her mouth open. OH WAIT

[@RaulParis21]

City of solitude or dosan the faling leaf

[@suntitan4419]

Nice picks wasn’t sure if you were even born yet in 94 must have done your research on some of these

[@NitpickingNerds]

I certainly wasn't I was born in '97 -Beezy

[@jordonpohl7393]

Love me my gaeas touch .. it was an original in my elf deck when I was 8 and playing my favourite card taunting elf 🧝☺️

[@HienNguyenHMN]

The counterpart to a monopoly is an oligopoly. (An oligarchy is when the ruling class is a few people)

[@NitpickingNerds]

That's what I said!

[@ptp1999]

I feel smug, Seedguide Ash is the only one i'm not plying in a deck.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Paul Papworth you are too smart for us 😄

[@pastelcia42]

Dilligent farmhand, Font of Fertility and Wayfarer's Bauble are just the same card in creature, enchantment and artifact form

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yep! Pick and choose depending on what your deck wants/needs

[@James-fq3yz]

I've been waiting for this video

[@NitpickingNerds]

How long?

[@James-fq3yz]

Since secret tech white lol great series! Keep up the awesome vids

[@marktardiff7013]

Personally I like monstrous onslaught in my green omnath deck 😉👌

[@MasonSheffield]

Oligopoly is the word you were searching for.

[@kablamio5736]

Talk about Mind Harness!!

[@Maezhughes]

Green doesn't need board wipes. It can do just about anything else.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yeah it draws and removes things very well

[@Maezhughes]

@@NitpickingNerds exactly! Thats why I'm not butt hurt that green doesn't get good board wipes. If u want good board wipes, go to white. Its the only thing it does well anymore.

[@Ankhakaru]

Hey guys im wondering if you guys have knowledge of a green card that regenerates all creatures? Does it even exist? Thank you.

[@shawnpanzegraf5642]

Like regenerate everything on your board simultaneously, or give you the option to regenerate any/all of your creatures with enough mana? Asceticism is a 5-drop Enchantment that gives all your creatures Hexproof, and for 1G 1C you can regenerate target creature you control. I just checked, and other than a couple even more expensive Trolls that have the same 1G 1C cost to regenerate target creature or target green creature, and a couple 3-drop instants that target a creature and then returns to your hand, that’s pretty much it for Green. I didn’t look as closely at Black, but White doesn’t even go as far as Green. I think WotC sort of moved away from Regeneration after they started printing Heroic Intervention-style Make All Creatures Indestructible Instants/Activated Abilities. Sorry. If it helps, Smuggler’s Surprise has a Spree-mode that Indestructibles everything power 4 or greater, along with some mill-then-pick and cheat-two-creatures-out modes.

[@ring1313]

Compost: in .66% of decks, if there is even a black deck in your pod let alone an aristocrats deck this thing is a powerhouse and it's only a couple of bucks

[@NitpickingNerds]

Seems like a good spec for if they mess around with more painters servant designs

[@mrnixon2287]

Diligent Farmhand is hard to find. needs a reprint.

[@andrewhulle3069]

Excellent!!

[@user-qn1up8ml6t]

Yep night soil is good nuked a meren deck with it today

[@Josh-ck7qi]

2/2 Creatures are not worthless in commander. They can trade with Tymna

[@Eric-nh2gl]

City of Solitude stops a lot more than Grand Abolisher. For example, an opponent can cycle during your turn. With City of Solitude out, they can't cycle during your turn. In fact, they can't even tap a land for mana during your turn!!!

[@NitpickingNerds]

Oh really it stops lands too?

[@Eric-nh2gl]

@@NitpickingNerds yes it does :)

[@diegomeringer3953]

the best green card is thelon of havenwoood OBVIOUSLY

[@NitpickingNerds]

It is a saproling card

[@sharlockshacolmes9381]

I think City of solitude's price rise is due to Yurlok existing now.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Yeah it might be that too

[@PeliPelaaja]

There's no way this can top the Red cards. Did you already make the multi-colored Secret Tech?

[@NitpickingNerds]

Not yet!

[@monktribal951]

Secret tech multicolor!

[@NitpickingNerds]

It coming!

[@heavenbot]

Monopolies being illegal and Oligarchy being legal is literally the reason I'm not full AnCap, gotta get me Teddy Roosevelt trust-bustin' breeches on and start swinging my big stick!!! Wait this is about Green cards, I should just take a rhinoceros to Charter Spectrum's corporate office! BORBORYGMOS WAS RIGHT

[@NitpickingNerds]

I love this comment

[@MikieG141]

The Value!

[@NitpickingNerds]

It is incalculable

[@elitheworrywort]

How the hell is regal behemoth in under 2%..? In my group it's not secret tech, it's a mana echoes-esk remove on sight boogeyman, as should be any mana doubler

[@NitpickingNerds]

Mana doublers are usually clunky but too scary

[@moedark4390]

how the hell is magus of the library in 0% of decks, its library of Alexandria stapled to a creature

[@krisdaschwab912]

Universal internet? That's SoCiaLiSm! Poland is quite messed up in many ways, but at least we don't have the bullshit internet (and health care...and education...) of the US. -American expat in Poland.

[@certaingloom3797]

Cream of the Crop is only used in 1% of decks and a great green secret tech. A completely underrated card for any deck running creatures. As long a creature has 1 power you're getting a draw. Anything with power 2 or more, is like playing Anticipate. Play many tokens with at least 1 power, net a lot of cards. "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may look at the top X cards of your library, where X is that creature’s power. If you do, put one of those cards on top of your library and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order." scryfall.com/card/mor/117/cream-of-the-crop

[@danielowens609]

Why don't you guys have more subs

[@NitpickingNerds]

We will one day 😜

[@alexmendoza9645]

Build that Wall! to keep green player out. And we need to deport blue players

[@ygaudreault]

Internet is a cartel :D

[@NitpickingNerds]

Is it?? My goodness

[@mazzaj89]

Yeaaaah secret tech

[@NitpickingNerds]

Shhhhhh secret tech

[@mazzaj89]

@@NitpickingNerds you guys are fucking great :D AND TODAY IS MY B DAY, sorry, shhh secret tech

[@NitpickingNerds]

Pablo Mazza shhhh... happy birthday friend

[@the_names_rob]

can beezy give me a green card?

[@NitpickingNerds]

No sorrry 😂

[@the_names_rob]

@@NitpickingNerds shucks

[@XNamelessXNill]

Y'all should re-record the intro and reupload this, that green card comment is not going to sit well with people.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Are green cards a sensitive subject?

[@XNamelessXNill]

@@NitpickingNerds given the context it can be. Like bad boy gaming constantly saying "My Naga" it clearly has racist undertoans and it's an insensitive comment.

[@NitpickingNerds]

XNamelessXNill who is it insensitive towards? This is the definition: (in the US) a permit allowing a foreign national to live and work permanently in the US.

[@XNamelessXNill]

@@NitpickingNerds imagration is a sensitive topic. You might offend some snowflakes

[@oni-waban]

What... Diligent Farmhand is a 1/1, Elk is a 2/2, both are shit anyway but there's no way Farmhand is better. The curve is irrelevant, it already sucks to be banking on playing it turn 1 as a relevant atribute. Rest of the cards mentioned are still crap and not worth mentioning.

[@obadijahparks]

Wrong green cards..... I was mislead.

[@NitpickingNerds]

But we clarify in the beginning :p

[@obadijahparks]

@@NitpickingNerds all in good fun. I was amused. I took a snapshot of every card on this list. These are perfect for edh decks like mazirek, kraul death priest. Sacrifice is opening this season. Evil laugh insues.

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Cards to tiny

[@sammyf1567]

first

[@NitpickingNerds]

hi sammy

[@sammyf1567]

hi beezy

[@a_delinquent431]

second i think

[@NitpickingNerds]

yep! nice