Sometimes when doing a search of one kind or another, a list of cards will spawn a thought. That very thing happened when I was searching for an instant that had “destroy all artifacts” on it. There’s one: Fracturing Gust. The list suggested another few searches, and I saw a large list of cards that seemed really good, none of which I was playing. The list is long enough and the cards interesting enough to talk about. Most of them are situational and aren’t going to simply dominate games (if so, we would have found them already, I imagine) but nonetheless have some legs.
Before we get to the list, I want to thank the Alabama guys (Will Besant, Brian Guess, Blair Simpson, and Zak Whyte) for dropping by Armada to join us for EDH League last week. They were on their way to judge at GP Orlando and decided to take the extra day to sling the 100-card decks with us. I also want to thank Canada’s Eddie Cheung for doing the same, although Eddie chose to drop out of round 2 to play board games, so I wonder about his dedication (which I may consider mitigated due to his facility with off-color jokes).
I had played Rith and Karrthus during the course of the day (having shown up at around 13:30), so I elected to once again play Ruhan for the League. The first game was shaping up to be pretty good when someone (not naming names, but for once it wasn’t Ben McDole—so the boot is officially off of Ben’s neck) elected to not nuke Blair’s already-immense graveyard (due mostly to Recurring Insight and Scroll Rack) when he had the opportunity. Blair of course cast Praetor’s Counsel on his next turn, and the rest of the game was pretty miserable (in that it took quite a while to finish, and most of the next hour involved only one player doing much playing; although there was a Radiated Time Warp). His mostly non-Sliver Sliver Queen deck was pretty strong but not what I’d call over the top. Like good decks, it can sometimes get out of hand, which I don’t really think is a sin. The problem comes when a deck gets out of hand every time. Anyway, Blair ended up with a zillion-card hand and eventually got Seedborn Muse and Sliver Queen going with a sufficient amount of protection, and that was that.
Game 2 showed me clearly where the Ruhan deck needs a little work. If I’m going to run Sunforger, I need to take a little better advantage of it. I’ll probably end up putting 4-6 new red or white instants (of CMC 4 and lower) in there. As it was, before someone blew up the Sunforger, I probably prevented 200 points of damage from Shea alone. It was a fun game with some tense play but also a lot of laughs, which is exactly the kind of game we really want.
Onto the list:
Aether Snap: How am I not playing this killer of planeswalkers and token swarms?
Brightflame: The downside is that the target can get removed, ruining your nefarious plans, but most of the time, Brightflame will deal lots of damage and gain you lots of life. If you just want to kill stuff, there are probably better choices, but if you want to preserve some creatures while you’re doing it and gain a bunch of life, this is your card.
Calming Verse: OK, so you have to tap out, but since it’s a sorcery, you can do some planning around it. Blowing up everyone else’s enchantments and saving your own is pretty good stuff.
Cloud Key: Certainly seems better than any mana rock that taps for colorless, although there’s probably some gamesmanship in what you name. Its acceleration for more than one spell per turn is limited by what you can use its bonus for. Still, seems full of possibilities.
Curfew: There are enough people who rely on single creatures and enough of your own that have good EtBs (Enters the Battlefield) that for one little blue mana, this could be huge. A common thread on this list will be things that deal with stuff you can’t target, and this helps.
Curse of Marit Lage: Playing Ice Age cards is tech. Playing Ice Age cards with confusing art is super tech. Keeping Islands tapped down is ftw.
Decimate: One of the best cards that nearly no one is playing, probably due to the fact that you need one of each target. Mid- and late-game, there are always targets.
Dirge of Dread: We played the hell out of this card in the early days of the format, but it fell out of favor, more I think because newer, shinier stuff came along than better stuff came along. Whether it’s getting that one really important attack through or making your whole army get through, Dirge of Dread can do the job.
Door of Destines: Naming Zombie, naturally.
Dread: Is it that I’m too thematic with the heavily-black decks (like Lord of Tresserhorn and his Zombies) or that there are better choices at the six-mana spot? That it can’t be a reanimation target is a small issue. The ability seems pretty good—although it encourages people to attack you with Solemn Simulacrum.
Dread Cacodemon: I thought about this guy a few times when it first came out, but it hasn’t made it into decks. Obviously cast post-combat, it’s pretty much a beating for your opponents. It’s not quite as good as Plague Wind, but Plague Wind doesn’t come with an 8/8 body attached.
Essence Filter: Another one that can leave you with your own Mirari’s Wake but get rid of things that are bugging you, Essence Filter needs a little care to play with, but it’s pretty cheap.
Everlasting Torment: I love cards that change the way the game works even more than I love cards that operate to extremes within the confines of the game. Everlasting Torment is one of them. It changes the game’s paradigm, and you’re the only one prepared for it.
False Cure: I haven’t actually even ever seen this played in an EDH game, but it seems like a giant blowout. I think my ‘latest thing’ is cards that come out of nowhere to really wreck people—and this is without a doubt one of those.
Fight to the Death: Wrecking a large number of creatures for two mana is serious value. Like Spore Cloud, casting this in a combat in which you’re not involved is crazy.
Forced March: For just killing tokens, Aether Snap is better, but Forced March gives you some flexibility as well.
Forcefield: Sure, it’s $100, but it’s insanely undercosted for what it does (mana-wise). Time to pull one out of the box, I think.
Guan Yu’s 1000-Li March: The Sunblast Angel Sorcery would be especially good in my Ruhan deck that runs Angel’s Trumpet. Wait…that gives them vigilance. Back to the drawing board. Guess you have to play it with Cryptic Command.
Hammer Mage: You need a little setup to make it worthwhile (how about some madness cards for extra value?), but I believe people don’t run enough artifact destruction. Having repeatable flexibility in what you destroy is good, and you know you’re not going to miss the card, since you’re living out of the graveyard anyway.
Hush: I would play this simply because it makes people think of the theme to Shaft.
Insist: Worst case, it replaces itself and lets you dig for an answer. There are times when you really want to force through something. Perhaps putting it on Isochron Scepter?
Maelstrom Pulse: I had initially considered this a 60-card deck-only card, but the more I think about it, the more likely it is to be really useful. It’s obviously a token-killer, but there are any number of permanents that are so popular you will end up having multiple targets. The downside to that plan is that you have multiple people motivated to not let it resolve.
Mogg Infestation: It picks on one person, but in red, having something that can destroy without dealing damage is quite rare (without going so far as Jokulhaups or Obliterate).
Multani’s Decree: Not quite as good as Fracturing Gust unless you’re playing piles of artifacts, in which case, it’s probably better.
Necroskitter: Even not built around or in a deck that does stuff to take advantage of its ability, Necroskitter seems pretty good since it has wither and since there are a number of really good persist creatures that get played.
Overmaster: See insist. Probably even more significant, since sorceries are probably the biggest game-changers.
Paraselene: I don’t even know how to pronounce this. Is it “pa-RA-se-lene” or “pa-ra-SEL-ene?” Anyway, opponents’ enchantments are generally bad for you. Get rid of them and gain a little life.
Plunge into Darkness: People are eventually going to blow up your dudes. Why not get some value out of them?
Pure / Simple: Limited to your Naya and 5-color decks, this is another card with a great deal of flexibility. There are enough good Swords running around the format that you’re pretty likely to get more than one thing at a time if you use that mode. If you’re in Naya anyway, you’re probably running Mirari’s Wake and Beastmaster Ascension, so you don’t really have to worry about destroying your own Auras. Speaking of which, how many Auras actually get played in this format? Rancor and…?
Purify: Slightly narrow, it shows its colors in creature-heavy decks. I’m too fond of my artifacts and enchantments to play this willy-nilly, but I think it’s situationally outstanding.
Rain of Daggers: There is probably some significant political value to being able to target a single opponent. The life loss can be mitigated simply by some life gain. And Portal cards are TECH.
Reality Strobe: Chronomantic Escape saved my bacon so many times, it seems like I should consider the other spells that suspend themselves—but the rest are just awful. This one has some value, especially in something like an Isperia deck.
Remove Enchantments: I’d play this just to make people read all that text. I’m still not 100% sure what it does.
Retaliate: No Mercy is a rattlesnake. It will keep people off of you. Retaliate is something they don’t see coming and if played often enough, make them shy about attacking you.
Righteous Fury: Another Sunblast Angel variant, you get the added bonus of gaining some life. I like this kind of “global effect but I know it’s coming” kind of card.
Rivals’ Duel: One card that can get rid of two annoying creatures, although it can’t force hot Dragon-on-Dragon action.
Root Greevil: More-than-awful flavor text aside, getting rid of all the Propagandas or Ghostly Prisons on the board in one fell swoop seems spicy.
Ruination: I keep threatening to play it but still haven’t. I wouldn’t play Armageddon, but I think Ruination is reasonable protection. People can’t play without lands, but they can make a choice to play a balance of basics and non-basics. With so many good non-basics in the format, there has to be the threat of a downside to not play nearly 100% of your land base that way. See also Primal Order and Price of Progress.
Savra, Queen of the Golgari: A favorite General when Ravnica came out, I think there’s a pretty good spot for her in Kresh, where I’m sacrificing a fair number of creatures. There has to be room to work her in, even if just for the Grave Pact ability.
Season of the Witch: I’m also currently on a “must attack” kick, so this one caught my eye. It’s actually kind of terrible, but I’d like to see what kind of chaos it creates.
Seeds of Innocence: I would play this in a deck with some artifacts, but not artifacts as a strong component—like something with a few mana rocks and not much else—where the opponents’ artifacts are likely to be better than yours. Of course, combo’d with False Cure.
Sigil of the Empty Throne: One of the guys in the League plays this Sigil, and I like very much getting stuff for no mana cost. Playing enchantments that keep coming back—like Rancor—make this even more valuable.
Sigil of the New Dawn: White isn’t quite as good as black when it comes to reanimation, but this helps tip the scales in that direction. You’re playing some board sweepers anyway, so having a nice plan in place to get them back when you destroy the board or when someone else does is a great option.
Spring Cleaning: Talk about your hidden gems! It’s enchantment removal that has a considerable upside opportunity. Library control decks, like my Intet or anything else with Scroll Rack, could make a good deal of hay out of this.
Time of Need: The way I look at Time of Need is that you can play it without having the same dirty feeling you get when you cast Demonic Tutor.
Torrent of Souls: You can only play it in a deck that has both black and red, so you’re going to pay both every time you cast it. Haste is an extremely valuable ability, especially in a format that likes its board sweepers. Getting to choose which of the dead live again is awesome.
Tranquil Grove: You have to give up on playing other enchantments of your own, but it’s viable to stay off that path—although when you have groups that don’t pack any enchantment removal, it’s also viable to punish them for it.
Unstable Footing: When it got played in Standard, I’m sure the kicker got paid every now and then. Probably not so much in EDH, but I think this card would be a serious blowout because what it does is rare (although I’ll concede a little narrow), and no one will see it coming. Probably not going to replace Red Elemental Blast in my R slot but might have some possibilities.
Void: One of the best things about it is that you can pick a CMC of an untargetable creature (like with shroud or protection) to get rid of it. The discard part is a great collateral benefit.
Void Maw: With so many great graveyard recursion strategies running around the format, some graveyard hate is nearly mandatory. You need to make sure it doesn’t bite you with your own guys, but you can always just bring them back before Void Maw dies (although you and everyone else is a little screwed with a Wrath, excepting your Void Maw). The exile part is important enough that it might give someone pause—or someone reason—to Wrath.
Wave of Indifference: Another card that was pretty techy back in the early days of the format, it hasn’t seen play in forever.
Whirlwind: Another way around protection and shroud/hexproof guys, this seems like a real gem in mono-green, since you probably don’t have flyers anyway.
Sometimes there is a sameness to EDH decks, especially since there are many favorites and cards commonly recognized as ‘best.’ It’s helpful to search outside the box for cards that don’t immediately spring to mind when we’re building decks but function extremely well in either the types of decks we’ve built or as the bases for new things we’d like to try out.