Underrated Commander Gems | Unpopular Cards that Deserve More Attention! | MTG

The Commander's Quarters is your Magic the Gathering source that helps you Command Your Budget! Today Mitch talks about Underrated Commander Gems!
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[@HauntedCorpseGaming]

LOVE Fade Away, nobody sees it coming, most people don't even know it exists and its so great for keeping token decks honest.

[@jonathanstead5135]

Fade away with price of glory is one of my favorite things to do

[@Aaron-cs3xl]

Fade away looks so good in Nezahal too!

[@iremiagaming]

Edge of Autumn, don't forget you can float the mana and then sac it for the draw.

[@chillinon3263]

Necrologia is one of my all time favourites! A while back I picked up a copy of the foil 7ed version for my Kagemaro, First to Suffer deck (criminally underrated commander, has less the 100 decks on edhrec and has the ability to nuke the board at instant speed as soon as it’s played) and I always draw like 15+ cards from it.

[@tylerrassi4148]

Combine it with Sheoldred The Apocalypse.

[@oxpolitik]

My favorite kind of upload...EDH hidden gems!

[@proto204n4]

Verdant Mastery: oops, this creature has forestwalk. Side note: "Standstill" is absurdly fun politics in Commander. Blue enchantment (1)(U) "When a player plays a spell, Sacrifice Standstill. If you do, each of that player's opponents draw three cards."

[@solus0184]

I can see the verdant mastery potentially being relevant in merfolk decks, you can just give a non-blue player an island and all your creatures with islandwalk can simply bypass their defenses

[@warrensharp6681]

Bless you for putting the card list in the description 🙏🙏🙏

[@jacobarnborgforss]

Good one! U found cards other channels hasn’t mentioned, what I know of at least!

[@rocker1296]

I think that the red, black, and green mastery portion of the cycle from Strixhaven are all really good, and I'd love to see more effects like them in commander

[@mattwilliams2675]

Drain Power and Energy Tap are two really weird forms of ramp in blue, worth checking out

[@emiel122191]

Guttergrime is such a pet card of mine, I really like using it with Colfenor, the last yew. It pairs really well with perilous forays.

[@bouncingbeebles]

Perilous Forays is a big favourite of mine. Here's a tip I initially missed. The wording is very particular, and doesn't appear on many cards. It doesn't say "search ... for a basic land card." It says "search ... for a land card with a basic land type." This means you can get your Zagoth Triome or your Temple Garden for fixing or your Undercity Sewers for a surveil or your Mystic Sanctuary for recursion. Granted most of these are not budget friendly, but the Mystic Sanctuary cycle and Mistveil Plains cycle at least offer you more than a regular basic would.

[@nopickles420]

I wonder if you could break this with Dryad Arbor.

[@gtfawaynotnow]

great picks...........ive used lifetap with yavimaya cradle of growth myself, :) (the errated text applies to all opponents)

[@michaelhurst5403]

Some good ideas there. Thanks for sharing.

[@reeces.8777]

1) I love this kind of content and finding cards that are fun to play and different. 2) An Emily Dickinson quote on Soul Barrier means she canonically existed on Dominaria, right? 3) The flavor text on Reap is such a sassy slam! 😂❤

[@thavionhawkmkii4509]

Card: Raking Canopy Cost: 1GG Color/Type: Green Enchantment Set: Shadowmoor Function: Whenever a creature with flying attacks you, Raking Canopy deals 4 damage to it. TCG Plater price: $0.15 A static 4 damage effect to flyers attacking you can shut down a shockingly large number of creatures in the urly to mid game and can help with larger creatures later on. An example would be Alela, Artful Provocateur, a 2/3 flying Esper commander seen in this video. Raking Canopy can both one shot her if she attacks, but also kills all the 1/1 Faerie tokens she creates.

[@TheMorbidHobo]

Hunting grounds is really crazy, but the color combo means I don't have a deck for it. Still I can see it going wild in most abzan decks.

[@gavinbrandon283]

Perilous Forays is part of my staple combo in my omnath landfall deck. Pair it with any creature token landfall and lotus cobra and boom, you just played 30 basic lands for free

[@d.a.d.-ohgosh]

Solid list. I think The Irencrag has a wording issue that scares people away. It's really easy to read it and think that the equipped creature loses all abilities. Which we know that text refers to itself so it can't tap for mana anymore. I think if they made this a double faced transform card then it'd likely see more play. It's a very solid mana rock.

[@tylergee1405]

I can see Thoughtleech going in a Xolatoyac deck. It kind of wants to give island counters so you can untap your lands but it can also give those island counters to your opponents for easy islandwalk.

[@joedoe7572]

Good point about Verdant Mastery being a politic card

[@etlou5921]

Yo ! that timing couldnt be more perfect : I'm building a Bilbo lifegain deck, and there are some cool cards I'll be looking for, thanks a lot! :D

[@sjp3249]

You can also use cauldron haze to double down on death triggers, because it it happens AFTER it dies, then returns it. If you have a counter doubler or something like an OG elesh norn effect that reduces opponents creatures by more, so bear minimum you're killing mana dorks. You can also use this for an explosive turn with pitiless plunderer when you dont need dorks anymore, pretty wild card!

[@guidom3419]

more of this format pls

[@randomdbagwithguitar5691]

My omnath locus of rage deck loved perilous forays, could get so much damage going

[@Werewolfoverlord12]

Also realized oblation is a protection spell too. They want to path or swords, i oblation. Thanks for the cards! Also for the "if a land of this type is tapped" there are cards that turn lands into islands or forests so you can MAKE SURE those cards do their thing. And if your deck loots and you dont have someone playing blue or black at the table guess what? Free discard! Youre not discarding a card you want to keep. AND LASTLY Spelunking exists. You pair it with perilous forays and a token producer and suddenly all your basics/multi lwnds are in play for the same result. Its nuts!

[@dakotamcintire7419]

Soul barrier is a personal favorite. Especially with isolation cell out.

[@dimitriid]

A simple series that I find doesn't gets nearly enough use are the Diamond artifacts: One for each color at 2 CMC tap for the color of choice but ETB tapped. Most people usually prefer the 3 CMC rocks with some other plus (sacrifice for draw, do some other util, etc.) because they come untapped and consider 3 CMC for a 1 each color 'faster' but when it matters the most on the early turns, paying 3 to get a single rock is basically the same as paying 2 and keeping that one open anyway and being able to drop 2 of them (Or one with another 2 CMC rock) seems better to me than just dropping one.

[@doomofthedestiny8065]

Love necrologia, been using it in my shirei deck for ages

[@jacobanderson1024]

Darkest hour and reap work together well.

[@snowdazeTV]

Perilous forays is the "golden pig" of my phylath deck. Highly recommend it

[@nopickles420]

I love using Promise of Power to enable Lilianna's Contract.

[@Requiem_13]

I love Verdant Mastery… it’s a staple in my green decks

[@deanboman]

Domineering will should go straight into my Hinata deck.

[@simplesandcastle1182]

Welp...my cart is full again. 🙄 Thanks Mitch 😂 also...how about soot imp for some crazy life drain value!

[@supremecourt4131]

Can i use Fanatical Devotion as often as i want? Because it would be bonkers in my Sythisdeck

[@shadei1142]

Love this deck so much

[@simonchi5372]

God pharao's gift is nice also, reanimation in any color.

[@Blacklionguitarist]

Damn. Urga would love fade away. Just tap an artifact to pay the one. I’ve went more towards a blink/construct build so I can win through huge creatures if I have to. Fade away would work great

[@alexnope1]

My favorite underrated card at 1300 decks (0%) - Oust. A budget Swords to Plowshares (or a second copy).

[@Syncopiia]

I'm running Hunting Grounds and Gutter Grime in my Polukranos Reborn deck. Gutter Grime is a good token backup if Polukranos dies, and Hunting Grounds can either cheat out a big hydra or a 0/0 that immediately dies and nets me two 3/3 hydra tokens off Polukranos. Hunting Grounds is also great in dinosaurs. People will think thrice 'about casting stuff.

[@pierrehelie521]

OH MY F****** GOD! I have a bunch of gate to the afterlife and you are so right! I skipped all the time the first part as I never remembered it and in my head it was an artifact that just tutored a specific card so it was in my trash list... reading the text as you showed it I was like "how the HELL am i not playing this gem?"

[@ivanernestomujicarios8647]

You can use Oblation against oracle combo, make them draw to empty library 😅

[@IneptCardCollector]

cauldron haze, reap, hunting grounds, gutter grime, Verdant mastery, edge of autumn (*SLIGHT DOWNSIDE*) got added to my list. Lol I'm one of the people with Compost in my deck.

[@taylormeisman7521]

Far Wanderings is a great common. Yeah, 3 mana for one land at sorcery speed is trash but if you have threshold you get 3 lands for 3 mana, which is really good. Combining perilous forays with something like rampaging balaths is great but if you add lotus cobra or tireless provisioner you can grab every basic land in your deck. If you're running a token deck Cultural Exchange can be brutal. Either that or use it to switch around your opponent's stuff. Radiate can be very powerful, especially if your opponent casts a removal spell which will bring a one-sided board wipe for 5 red mana at instant speed. This could also be super janky as well (ie create token of target permanent)

[@joshuamark1646]

I really like Winds of Abandon. If you not doing the overload cost it is a much worse Path to Exile but with the overload cost it's 6 mana to Path all your opponent's creatures. It does give them a ton of mana but it can more than make up for it by exiling all your opponent's creatures. And with the mana they get it's a basic land for each creature so can punish people who are not running basic lands.

[@bryceduyvewaardt8136]

Verdant Mastery RULES if you have landwalk creatures related to basics you play with. It’s great in Chatterfang to give mono red decks a forest for example

[@tobiaskick9220]

Min. 26: Hallo. I am playing domineering will and use it all so to remove blockers out of my way. It does not say that you can't play it during your turn and if you control the three creatures they can't block your creatures... If they have a tap ability even bedder😊 do I use this card wrong?

[@MortonFMurphy]

This works

[@vilpef9162]

very good video

[@vekskunk2685]

I feel like Gutter Grime will see more play sure to slime against humanity.

[@Shoyro]

Perilous Forays is RIDICULOUS. Mitch, you misread that card. It says *Search for a land card with a basic land type.* Umm... Tango Lands, Shock Lands, Surveil Lands, Triomes. *THOSE COUNT!!!*

[@chummer2060]

Moonlight Bargain is amazing in Vilis, Broker of Blood. You just get 15 cards in your hand.

[@mathieubrebouillet714]

never going to use edge of autumn, too many times i couldn't play it and cycling it was too expensive.

[@Just-a-Canuck]

Domineering will is nice with a sac outlet, steal three creatures, block something, oh creatures left? Sac to ashnods alter 😂

Oblation saved me on crucial moments in my Mayael deck.

[@fsfreturns5242]

Ah, a Mayael enthusiast ! I run Sarinth Greatwurm in it, so the Powerstone tokens it generates will help in activating Mayael's ability much more easily :D Although I wish I had more cards in it that had activated abilities so these Powerstone wouldn't just be used for Mayael.

[@tylerrassi4148]

With Sheoldred The Apocalypse out, you'll net gain 1 life for every card you draw allowing you to draw as much of your deck as you'd like. Make sure you have Reliquary Tower or Thought Vessel and you'll be able to keep all those cards as well. Just don't accidentally lose the game because you drew your entire deck!

[@johngarbagebullshit838]

Lifetap is a mirrored version of Thoughtleech in blue that combos with Yavimaya, Cradle of growth, which is much easier to get off than something like a combo with Thoughtleech and Stormtide Leviathan.

[@alexcurtis6180]

Fanatical Devotion is one of my favorite cards in the game, it makes board wipes impossible for your opponents to play profitably

[@sdawg35]

Verdant Mastery is great in my elf deck. I give a forest to an opponent, and not all my elves can't be blocked by them thanks to my elf lord. 😂

[@thelegendarysolocard]

My commander zheng FEI is the all time champ at underrated

[@nikolibarastov4487]

Dude!!! Play a Stormtide Leviathan with that Thoughtleech... money!!! 💰💰💰

[@Todtodtodtod]

Verdant mastery seems good in a cascade deck

[@lewish1248]

Member of playgroup really drank the reanimation kool aid and reap is good tech to rob that player as a niched use

[@PaoloBonacina]

My personal pick is Arena of the Ancients. Every creature in EDH is legendary nowadays. Just shut them all down. I use it in my Traxos deck, which makes him the only creature that can untap at will.

[@brandonmartin2301]

98 comments is criminal, I love this idea of video

[@papparok]

isnt death match a may though?

[@johnny_crash]

Death Match is my Go to Meme Card in my Acererak deck - getting stupid pretty fast

[@zackkelley2940]

I have it in a golgari tokens deck which has easy access to hexproof. It's considerably less of a meme when they can't target your creatures.^^

[@johnny_crash]

@@zackkelley2940 yeah, It’s the Meme in the deck

[@yoshitheonly]

Great, now i gotta get these cards QUICK before they skyrocket the way my boy did Wayfarer's Bauble 💀

[@OdinMagnus]

Lifetap is fantastic if you have a Yavimaya that makes every land into a forest also If Edge of Autumn didn't say "basic" I would consider, but as it stands it sucks... sorry Mitch

[@mirkoaj4299]

Of all the useful things you could target on your own board to turn it into more cards with Oblation... you really chose a clue? :-D :-D no offense, though, the card's flexibility is great. Thanks for many innovative ideas!

[@metalgauntlet3731]

The greatest undervalued card is Barrier Breach. No further questions.

[@estebanperez5363]

In my opinion, most of them are rated good, they are straight bad! Some are just ok but none of them will survive the last cut off any of my decks! ''gate to the afterlife'' is very cool though!

[@jameskirkland6916]

Irencrag goes right into ruhon

[@ANitschkeProduction]

I have Isolation Cell in my life draining Liesa, Shroud of Dusk

[@somejerk5662]

Run Verdant Mastery with Elvish Champion. Give problem opponents a forest and landwalk all over them.

[@ghostcritic8508]

Now you have underrated gems, its so great to also have overrated germs card that need to scrub off majority decks 'cause it's so underwhelming and way too expensive for such effect.

[@LongTurnLarry]

Best cards are the ones least used!

[@helxeen2607]

I have Deathgrip in my Rakdos deck, so I can just say no to green players trying to over run the board.

[@thearn65]

Death Match says "May" that means the opponent can decline to do so.

[@Just-a-Canuck]

Soul barrier!!???! Where have you been all my life???

[@joeydawson911]

No red love? :(

[@animatichunter4906]

Moonlight bargain to me equals pay 5 draw 15

[@ilgian9315]

m-m-MOVING OOOOOON!!!!!

[@ninodover9024]

A lot of these cards are far too situational and can result in a very bad draw/dead hand. The reason the cards aren’t played at all imo is that they just slow down your deck.

[@dachugadakelley650]

Meh, I think there is also an issue where Net Deck individuals just choose whatever everyone else is running. Resulting in the compounding of cards being used over and over, which could even promote poor deck building habits. But it could be that as well. It really depends on the deck being built.

[@dirtyfrench2926]

Fanatical Devotion is another awesome political card that can save anyone's creatures.

[@dirtyfrench2926]

2W Enchantment- Sac a creature: regenerate target creature (for those not familiar). And it even falls in the 1% or less category on edhrec.

[@thriftypsgr]

1- mana, three sided board wipe….. Wizards - wait till 2027 🤣

[@demonicmachina]

Playing "politics" in commander is a garbage way to play

[@savinobalducci6148]

Cauldron Haze and Compost are great cards!