Underrated Commanders: Legendary Creatures that are Better than they Look

[@firstandlast.1254]

I feel no shame in admitting that my edh life needs some spicing up, and then you men come out with a gem like this! Gotta love it.

[@NitpickingNerds]

We are in your head

[@MustangMike52]

One tip to keep it fun that i always tell my buddy in my playgroup who says its getting stale: stop building every damn simic commander or commanders that already do what you like to do. Every deck I've ever built has been drastically different because I try to go full on into the archetype

[@bradycurtis668]

For some reason I couldnt read the word men like it just didn’t make sense to me

[@afspeellijstnaruto]

@@MustangMike52 Yup. Same here. And Simic ....I have fought plenty of simic decks by now, and they all feel the same. I got a Kicker deck with Verazol. And of course it synergyes AGAIN with the whole +1/+1 counter thing. But i limit myself to rly just play as many kicker spells as possible. I know a fathom mage is good, i know a Vorell of the hullcald is good...I know Zegana works in it. BUT. Flavour goes 1st in my book. I got 32+ decks and they all play different. The only ones that rly feel the same atm is my mono red dragon deck and my 5c ur-dragon deck...cuz well...dragons are dragons at the end of the day.

[@AA-sr5mr]

Check out the EDH Deckbuilding channel. Supercool and alternative deckbuilding and strategies to all super spiky channels. I mean I love the command zone and the NP nerds, but I do not want to play optimally all the time.

[@everythingisbizzaaaaaro3694]

I always thought Kardur was the one of the cooler uncommon commanders. Haven't run him yet, but I am planning on throwing him into a Thantis deck.

[@Kulreg777]

how do you flicker him consistently in Jund though? I have a thantis, but I dont know how to use Kardur

[@MustangMike52]

@@Kulreg777 conjurors closet works as a constant flicker in any color combo

[@Kulreg777]

@@MustangMike52 thanks! I gotta look for more, and reanimators

[@jackmcaninch4270]

He’s so much fun. Super fun commander

[@NitpickingNerds]

I think reanimating him is your best bet, probably not much flickering going on in jund colors

[@jaheski5548]

Only a couple of extra combat steps actually work with velomachus, as most of them require you to cast them during a main phase, which you cannot do with the velomachus trigger.

[@pauldyson8098]

This is absolutely true (I think there are exactly two extra combat spells that work of V's trigger), but I still think V extra combats is a super sweet plan.

[@whorcares123]

@@pauldyson8098 Velomachus extra turns would require you to be in Jeskai, since there are not a lot of extra turn spells in Boros, and those that do, usuaully make you just lose the game. He would be a good backup commander for people playing Narset, Enlightened Master, but outside of that, Velomachus extra turns doesn't work that well.

[@pauldyson8098]

@@whorcares123 I meant extra combats, of course, as that's what NPN were talking about with V decks.

[@whorcares123]

@@pauldyson8098 Ah, I was confused, cause you said extra combats, but then said extra turns.

[@matianlong7907]

Velomachus is better with mld

[@pauldyson8098]

"Dargo, who technically costs negative a thousand."

[@NitpickingNerds]

Truest fact ever

[@loganator326]

Now that you mention the instant speed matters commander my brain immediately goes to playing creatures with flash. Dimir already has plenty of instant speed interaction, but they especially have a lot of instant speed creatures

[@uncertaintitle4116]

Exactly my thought! You could have things like Cunning Nightbonder to make your flash stuff cheaper and uncounterable ^-^

[@Purgatog]

Kardur Doomscourge is low-key my favourite thing to bring back in my Gyrus deck, and in that case it’s almost always a one-time effect but even then it breaks some games wide open. Such a fun card!

[@demolisherman1763]

Fought a dude for a league game who used Athreos, man had value to space

[@justJOSHinBRO]

I actually built Nymris, and it quickly became the bane of my play group. Plus cards like Midnight Clock or pitching Echo of Eons to flashback it only lets you keep countering everyone best spells.

[@Jake-us5rv]

I think this episode should really be titled, "Run more interaction!"

[@breakingbinders2642]

First Grave Titan, then Phyrexian Arena & now its Wormcoil Engine... What's next Sol Ring lol

[@HomeCookinMTG]

The first three cards you listed are nowhere near the power level of sol ring but okay

[@olafthemoose9413]

@@HomeCookinMTG it's called "sarcasm"

[@mfitkin]

Malcolm so good with Breeches. I’m all about turning reckless fireweaver into a pirate 😄

[@NitpickingNerds]

Well is a win lol 😂

[@9998Fabi]

I started with Witherbloom as my first EDH Deck after I played Golgari Main in Modern for quite a long time and after seeing Dina, I immediately started to get Ideas what Combos I can start with her... She is soooo powerful for a 2 Mana Creature and can become quite quickly a big threat on the Board... Just wow!

[@emerson685]

Love this list! I've wanted to build alot of these commanders too. Also, I can verify that Nymris is very good. I went reanimator-focused for mine because you just have so much card velocity and control of your graveyard, it's crazy! Plus you can actually play desertion and feel good about it

[@JhonFrancioli]

Would you have a list for Nyrims? I'm trying to build her with control/reanimate

[@alanthepyro]

Love seeing Liesa getting the respect she deserves. I've played or have faced most of the commanders here and I can say I wholly agree with this list. The only way I've been able to beat the Dina player is with commander damage

[@jackmcaninch4270]

I love kardur. He’s my favorite commander. I’m glad he’s getting attention :)

[@ericreaper4008]

I just put a Kardur into my Marchesa Deck. And he is the Mvp and my fav card to tutor for. But after i saw the alt art in your vid now i gonna Build a Deck with him as Commander with that cool artwork. Also i finally can play Xantcha in a Deck then^^

[@ryanquinn1257]

Lol same path. Loved the artwork. Found it to be hilarious in a sort of enchantress / pillow fort / group slug marchesa that has some blink shenanigans and found it just ending games. Force the Kaalia player and the Elf player to attack each other or any other creature-y deck.

[@thadeusgold5592]

Dargo is the commander I was so excited to build buy never went through with. The entire goal was infinite casting dargo while having flamekin herald out

[@TheBlackabyss25]

Couple Things in regards to Velomachus... I've seen people talking about how only a couple of the extra combat spells actually work with Velomachus' trigger because of the way they are worded and the timing of when they're being cast... something about the ones that mention main phase don't... my friends all think its stupid, so we just ignore the difference... The second thing is the new Surge to Victory card... if you have an extra combat in the graveyard and you hit the spell with Velomachus... you exile it as part of the attack, and then if the attack deals damage you should, unless I'm a dummy and can't read... which is entirely possible, get infinite combats if you can keep dealing the combat damage... My buddy and I really like the showcase Velomachus art, so we've been trying to make a deck with him

[@Hashbrown1682]

I played kambal, and unintentionally made the game I played a living hell for my opponents

[@dmoore4520]

Lol damn!!! I literally just finished my Malcolm and Breeches deck last night. Got all the good stuff and running complete control and theft with it. True pirate style.

[@ColorwaveCraftsCo]

I love it when you guys do videos like this! It gives me ideas for new things to brew, and also a little heads up on what to watch out for on the other side of the table

[@NitpickingNerds]

Sounds like this video was a rousing success!

[@fatjonah]

As a player with a Vorthos-Spike psychological profile, this series excites me. Looking forward to more!

[@jeffrains495]

Nymris is very good. It has over performed an insane amount. And that 6 toughness is wild.

[@TheButlerofdeath]

my boy kardur getting love! as soon as I saw him I knew I had to build the deck, He's so much fun

[@dinchianghii3296]

I play Nymris. The win con is Consultation Thassa. Except of Thassa's Oracle and rocks, everything else in the deck has flash or is an instant. Its a hella fun (for me) to do draw go.

[@utburst]

I use Kardur in my ghen, arcanum weaver deck I use a combo of bitter feud with curse of bloodletting it gets bananas when kardur hits the field

[@ty_does]

Kambal was my first EDH deck back in the day! Glad to see him getting the respect he deserves

[@NitpickingNerds]

He is good!

[@wazzup764]

Nymris is solid for cedh and edh if you want a hyper reactive plan. One of my favorite cedh brews for sure!

[@emilysmith2965]

Nymris is soooo cool! 🥰

[@uphillwalrus5164]

Malcom is legit one of the best partners in the game. Arguably in the top 5

[@vicioushellsing]

I run a Liesa and an Inniaz deck! I am usually the first person killed with Inniaz. I normally get one "gotcha!" trigger and then the table go mob me faster than Frankenstein's villagers. However I did win with it last night. I run Kardur in the 99 with my Mardu deck. Some easy flickers makes it often an mvp.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Inniaz is brutal if your opponents don't interact

[@eelehtrikidd1002]

Multiple times I've brought my inniaz deck to the table and the other players just don't bother reading it lol the game always ends with ppl being salty 🤣

[@KromeDrone]

I have a Kardur deck that is an absolute house. Deck gives out creatures with things like the Hunted cycle, Slaughter Specialist, Varchild & her riders, and others with some goad synergies to make everyone just smack each other. Only thing is when you're down to 1v1, it's sometimes hard to pull out the win so I've got some decent fatties to pull out late game for it.

[@makesquash]

I threw in a lot of effects that drain opponents when they attack me like revenge of ravens. It’s a great way to close out the game by forcing the last opponent to attack into it.

[@itzmimz8238]

This video inspired my most powerful and consistent deck to date: Dargo + Silas Renn. Came back to say thank you!

[@Mat-bw3ok]

Love the dargo and nymris mentions. I pair dargo with tevesh to play all those sac combos and nymris is my new permission deck that hasn't had a game yet but seems good in theory. Similar to Rashmi but a bit easier to protect with the trade off of not being able to proc her on my own turn

[@fabriziolande4819]

Kardur Is crazy, I build him after this video and I had so much fun with it!!!

[@thevoid2117]

Nymris is actually pretty fun. Something that's kind of mean in a K'rryk deck, head games + Opposition agent. 8 mana anywhere else 5 mana and 6 life with K'rryk

[@G2teA2teB2]

I have a Malcolm breeches pirate tribal deck and it’s sooooo much fun (not so much for everybody else because of breeches) I’d recommend it to everyone.

[@shamtactics4712]

My job interview is on the first. I hope I get it so I can join the patreon

[@NitpickingNerds]

Best of luck with the interview

[@woola7895]

How’d it go

[@shamtactics4712]

@@woola7895 it went well. Still waiting on the offer though

[@afish8883]

You can make a super budget malcom combo deck that just slaps, making things into pirates makes it work

[@InsaneDemise83]

Conjurer's Closet with Kardur was an amazing combo. That was my first Goad deck that I had made

[@bignickenergy3525]

Hey neat, I run a Kardur deck. Been tweaking to make it a bit more consistent, but it's been a hoot. Doing the forced combat and giving tokens.l for myself and opponents

[@GKempire1]

I can’t wait to see that jump start gameplay guys! Also always like watching the vids it’s entertaining educational and fun

[@forleafclover]

"I've never seen Conjurer's Closet be good" is an attack on me personally lol

[@Steamboat2016]

I wanna bring up Karazikar, The Eye Tyrant as well. I was on the verge of taking the deck apart before I realized just how strong his card draw is. Any time one of your opponents attacks someone other than you you get a card. Combined with a goaf theme it's a very fun puppet master kinda deck and I've been having a blast playing it

[@joshwingart8188]

Can confirm, my Athreos deck gets harder to beat the longer you take to get rid of him. First commander deck I built and I love it so much

[@reitsukai169]

Ok, I finally have a list in mind to Nymris, it will be really fun to use

[@benjamin78987]

Dina doesn't even need to be in the command zone. I put her in the 99 of my budget Slimefoot deck without changing anything else and it's made a world of difference.

[@harrisonwulf8523]

I love Liesa. Absolute blast to get a few players low enough that they can't cast more than three or so spells. Plus, having her and Kambal on board is really, really fun. For the one round it lasts anyways. She doesn't attract too much hate my way (which is another thing I like) but no one's dumb enough to let that power couple cripple them any longer than a turn cycle.

[@kristennorth3268]

I built a partner deck with Malcolm and Breeches right away because I ended up drafting them together at pre-release and it was a hoot. Especially with Captain Vargas Wrath. And it does have Glint-Horn Buccaneer.

[@mshalefk.4750]

Everything you like about Kardur is true for Marisi. He is so disruptive and awesome. One of my favourite decks at the moment.

[@waynefeller8824]

Similar to Dina is Orah. You still play all the orzhov Soul Sisters. Then you get triggers not only when creatures enter from your hand, but also when they come back with Orah's ability.

[@ryanweston6182]

4000 views but only 370 likes?!?!?! There is something wrong with those like buttons. You guys do too good a job to have so few likes with that many views.

[@BIGNEILCOUSINS]

Conjurers closet is insane in my sons Yarok the desecrated deck.

[@tidus001]

Just finished my liesa deck, she is so fun but my games usually have her targeted many times but her ability allows her to be on the board almost all the time, goes so well with sunbond and light of promise.

[@justinjacobs1501]

Kardur seems like a fun group slug where you use lots of cards that give your opponents creatures and buff them before sitting back and watching as they tear each other apart.

[@Sdizzle7]

I run a Kardur deck, but I built it very silly, because I wanted to build a goofy deck when bored of playing my strong commander decks. I fill it with cards people never use like captive audience and other curses. and use karazikar, the eye tyrant, or Phage the untouchable, and even though its risky, you can abuse him with Mimic Vat. Its so fun to see peoples reactions when affected by these cards.

[@andrewkenny3544]

I have an Inniaz deck. It is the most controlly deck I have that is still fun to play against.

[@Maverickstyg]

These guys are funnier than I expected. Subbed.

[@jeffschulz1972]

I don't know if you guys remember this but when you guys did Commander Tune-ups, the Kambal deck you did a video on was mine

[@Fuzzlekinz]

My Malcolm and Breeches deck is really strong in my play group, especially because we often do 5-player games, so it's an additional treasure and card exiled.

[@kingginger3335]

Anowon the Ruin Thief is a sleeper as well. It's a Rogue Tribal deck and all the beat Rogue's are fantastic at stealing your opponents things. So I built the deck to steal your spells and permanents. Then I'll make you mill and then take advantage of your graveyards. It's a really fun and powerful deck!

[@spencerschmidt-rundell1612]

I already have a Malcolm deck partnered with a red commander. I hadn't even thought about infinite combos

[@killersamson7881]

I recently built a Malcolm/Dargo deck and it combos surprisingly well with my ham sandwich of pirates. Arrrr we be after treasures🏴‍☠️

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

I love commanders that come off not at all scary at first like my new Gyome food/clue (I use clues to find more recipes haha) deck. I have stopped/tapped Eldrazi titans in their tracks for a Gyome baked cookie or I play a boardwipe and have my creatures eat some food to survive. Damnation come to those that dislike Gyomes cooking! LOL THE FLAVOR and the ability to say repeatedly to your playgroup "What's Gyome cooking today?'' Obligatory GT comment: Conjurer Closet is hilarious in Kardur with Grim Titan also. I had a game where I played GT, gave it haste, attacked and blinked on end step to Conjurer closet totally 6 zombies in 1 turn ;p

[@mthlay15]

Athreos was my first box topper

[@edwardcowart5990]

Kardur is one of if not my favorite deck. Its so fun to flood everyone's board with tokens and then say "alright, now attack each other" 😂

[@nagekilamentation]

I love goad style decks

[@GreenNightlight]

My play group hates playing my liesa deck and it feeds my soul lol

[@NitpickingNerds]

They're only making you more powerful

[@nzephier]

Demo from edh deckbuilding has a series dedicated to this concept, he inspires me cause he looks at commanders that are either bad or don't appear good and comes up with interesting strategies!

[@Johnnyhitman411]

With Velomachus the problem with extra combats is that they way he manifests the spells there are only 2 of the extra combat spells that work with his ability, the other ones require you to be in a mainphase and it's during combat so they don't work.

[@a77ack69]

I think you cant use carmic guide as it has protection from back meaning you cant target it with the ability of athreos

[@olafthemoose9413]

The dargo combo is very interactable. Just murder Malcolm or lightning rig crew.

[@_gunter_]

I play Jeska Dargo in my commander playgroup (we mostly play competitive decks) and it performs super nicely! I can combo off in turn 2 with the good hand and it's a strangely resilient deck for mono red, given the plan B to kill opponent by hand

[@Kaisingsens]

I built Dargo + Ravos as Combotastic Mardu Aristocrats Deck. It has 5 Decks on EDHrec, but it's really fun and as you mentioned pretty strong

[@thekwjiboo]

Hamza is surprisingly good. As long as you have a draw engine (Guardian Project, the great Henge, beast Whisperer ect), just cast a Basri's solidarity or have a Cathars Crusade or have a Renata or that Unicorn that does the same thing and you can just pile the creatures onto your field rapid-fire.

[@Dinojar4k]

Woooo! I got Hard Evidence in my Crab Tribal deck! So one of those decks is mine haha! I am looking forward to the Game Play Videos on the Horizon!

[@Doomblaaade]

I myself have a Kardur deck. My build just gives creature tokens to other people. So they just demolish each other. It's glorious.

[@pauldyson8098]

I agree with you on basically all of these, Kardur in particular.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Makes me want to build more decks!!

[@Adjacent_2]

btw is there a video I missed on how y'all met/became friends? curious about the origin story haha

[@NitpickingNerds]

We have mentioned it before I don’t remember in which video.

[@TheGoodchildOne]

@@NitpickingNerds please, do reiterate for the ones who joined the class mid semester

[@manuelcamara6400]

Damn, Malcom looks lit

[@gr3asemunky_868]

I would definitely watch live gameplay produced by you guys!

[@jdogbemple1]

I got a Nymris flash matters deck. It’s super oppressive and it makes the game last like 20 turns.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Lame lol 😂

[@kjellegilhustad2095]

Thanks this was a fun video. Make more content like this.

[@MrThomasCWest]

I use Athreos The Shroud-Veiled in conjunction with Nevinyrral. Together with Erobos The Bleak Hearted, they make the best Perpetual Board Wipe combo.

[@viruse388]

O boy Nymris was one of my strongest decks I ever made.

[@rotemizhar8426]

Malcolm is a cedh staple, you pair it with vial smasher or kraum and it is working amazingly! and also teshar is nice in cedh

[@Dayyyjoey26]

Hey do you guys know if Athreos’ coin passive can return creatures off a fight mechanic. I would assume so but the one time I played against it on mtgo it didn’t work. And I’m not sure if that’s because of fighting in the cleanup step or if Athreos is just broken on mtgo.

[@caseywellington4761]

A coin counter means the creature should come back, no matter how it died

[@Dayyyjoey26]

@@caseywellington4761 yeah that’s what I thought. Guess it’s broken on mtgo

[@OmegaMTG]

One person in my playgroup plays Dargo and Malcolm. Best way to stop Dargo is the same as locking down most commanders, polymorphs like frogify, Kasmina's transmutation, etc.Even the ones that only last until the end of the turn break it, at least temporarily.

[@NitpickingNerds]

How does that break it?

[@OmegaMTG]

@@NitpickingNerds can't use dargo if he's a frog, fish or basic land with no abilities. *Edit: Reread it. Should have said stops the going infinite.

[@OmegaMTG]

@@NitpickingNerds Doh! Timing, bad examples should have said Turn/Burn to stop then frogify next turn to lock down.

[@NitpickingNerds]

@@OmegaMTG well they can just sacrifice it right?

[@OmegaMTG]

@@NitpickingNerds True if they have a sac outlet. With well over 20k cards there are ways around almost anything. Lol

[@samelol8149]

My favorite thing to do with teshar(not commander) is continuously saccing Burnished Hart to ramp 2 every turn(for some reason everytime i get teshar in that Raff capashen deck i also get burnished hart)

[@jamesgains6505]

the more i watch the more i love this channel

[@NitpickingNerds]

Thank you :D

[@AbyssArray]

I play Liesa a good bit, she's been very good Velomachus.. he is actually a lot worse than you describe him, of those 7 extra combat spells listed, some of them have a "after this main phase" written in it, which means that they won't function if cast during Combat. "Savage Beating" works and "World at War" works but only if it's the first extra combat.. it's really not great until more are printed

[@ashutoshmadhu9821]

Kept blinking kardur doomscourge no one was able to touch me.

[@krunkykong]

I built a Malcolm deck that is all about combos. I even have cards like Reckless Fireweaver that goes infinite if I make it a pirate with Maskwood Nexus or something. My playgroup figured out the trick and don't let me live long when I play it now lol.

[@NitpickingNerds]

That's pretty funny!

[@tomjeavons313]

Kardur partnered with Eater of Days on the same turn have won me many a game by just picking up the scraps afterwards

[@igorlemes1123]

just posting this cause it happened to me very recently. how to stop dargo? imprisoned on the moon/darksteel mutation cast that and watch the red player get really sad and start looking desperately for that chaos warp

[@KingKoral]

I'd love to see your top 5 budget commanders list, you've mentioned in the video ❤️

[@envysart797]

Definitely want to try nymris - potentially extremely annoying, and cheap enough that you could actually bling it out with foil cards

[@GorfWoodstock]

I play Malcolm and Breeches and it's my most competitive deck. It can get out of hand really quick or just win.

[@charliepeterson8171]

New subscriber here. Thank you for not taking 5 minutes of my time at the beginning of your videos to beg me for money. More youtubers could take note!

[@scottricks1676]

Recently made kardur, absolutely love the deck.

[@snowdazeTV]

I have a really goofy Nymris maskwood nexus if anyone wants to see. Uses haakon as well to avoid commander tax.

[@tacothursdays6546]

Definitely throwing Kardur in my Niv-Mizzet Reborn flicker deck >:)