I love tales of Magic – and I’m sure many of you do as well. I love stories that regale us with their wonder. One of my favorite things in all of Magicdom is to remember when I played with a card that no one else used, and then began to dominate with it. I love nothing more than to change my local metagame with some creature or spell. It’s a great feeling when others start playing a card from nowhere that you began using.
As you can tell from the title of this article, this is the fourth entry in an ongoing series where I choose some of the most underused cards of all time. Commons, uncommons, and rares alike achieve “retirement” by being placed in my Underused Card Hall of Fame.
Some of these cards are great, but have fallen out of favor. Others never were in favor. Some have even been released recently but don’t seem to be getting the play that they should. This all leads to a question – how do I know?
Remember that I am talking about the casual game here, not tournament play. Lots of great cards aren’t seen much in tournaments but get all sorts of love at a multiplayer table, for instance. I play all sorts of casual games, including at a local store where I play against a variety of people from a variety of metagames. I also read a lot of casual articles, so I know what is (and isn’t) getting played. A third way I know is by looking at the price. A card in demand keeps up its value!
Let’s take a look at some examples. Sneak Attack was always a popular card with casual players, despite only the occasional tournament appearance. A card with such limited competitive appeal should have a small price today, unless casual players are still picking them up. What is the current SCG price for a Near-Mint/Mint Sneak Attack? Fifteen dollars. (I mention this despite the fact that you can click on the link, because prices change over time, and a card might get more or less popular. I wanted to show a snapshot of the price at one time, just in case something happens.)
Now, let’s take a look at a previous entry on the Underused Hall of Fame – Frenetic Efreet. Frenetic Efreet was a very popular card to use in decks in tournaments for a limited time. Since that time, it still has had an occasional appearance in Type One and Legacy, just like Sneak Attack. It also has a casual appeal, because it is a very hard creature to kill at times, and can occasionally be quite frustrating to an opponent.
So what’s the current Near-Mint/Mint price for a Frenetic Efreet? One dollar.
That’s not just old cards, either. Take a look at casual favorites like Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Serra Avatar, and Phage. There aren’t many competitive Phage decks, yet the price for one is still as high as Gifts Ungiven. I don’t need to see Phage in my metagame to understand that she is still heavily played.
Remember that underused cards are underused because they are good. Baki’s Curse might not be played much – but that’s because it’s a bad card, not because it is underplayed.
I do have one major change. In the past, I kept Portal and Un- cards from being a part of the format. Since Portal will shortly be Type One legal, I felt it only appropriate to allow Portal cards to begin to chart. I didn’t choose any this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a card or two pop up here in the future.
There are some great deck ideas within these cards. Many previous entrants can be used in a large swath of decks. Most of these cards can as well. Let’s take a look!
Black:
The Black cards featured in today’s segment include a pair of creatures and a trio of enchantments. Normally, Black is dominated by good removal – and that theme continues today.
5. Sengir Autocrat (Uncommon, Homelands)
Yes, I just mentioned a Homelands card. I’ll probably put more in the Underused Hall of Fame before it ends. Sengir Autocrat’s ability looks minor, but then you consider many different ways to use the extra creatures. Sure, 0/1 tokens aren’t anything special, but you get three plus the Autocrat. An Autocrat can really help fuel numbers four and three on our list today, for example.
That’s not all an Autocrat’s tokens can do. With Black’s natural proclivity towards sacrificing creatures for various benefits, having a nice group of four creatures for a cheap price can be quite handy. From Hecatomb to Soul Exchange to Hell’s Caretaker, there are plenty of ways to abuse Serf tokens. With Black’s recursion theme, you can keep playing the Autocrat and getting more and more tokens with its “comes into play” ability. The Autocrat is easy to cast, easy to use, and easy to abuse.
4. Gate to Phyrexia (Common, Antiquities)
Allow me to explain why I like the Gate. I know that other colors can pop artifacts more easily with their fancypants Shatters, Naturalizes, and Disenchants. However, Black supposedly lacks artifact removal, which makes the Gate quite valuable, especially in our post-Mirrodin days.
Since Black has a lot of creatures that naturally recur, it’s easy to sac one during your upkeep in order to pop a vital artifact. A simple exchange of a creature for an artifact is a nice deal for Black, especially when compared to alternatives (like Phyrexian Tribute – ugh). You can use and reuse the Gate over time, although you can only use it once per turn. Black has all sorts of creatures that like to die, from Serf and Thrull tokens to Nether Shadow and Ashen Ghoul. You can even use Krovikan Horror, a previous entry in the Underused Hall of Fame. Between spare creatures and recursion, a pair of Gates can find themselves useful in an awful lot of decks.
3. Attrition (Rare, Urza’s Destiny)
Maybe I’m just on a sacrificing theme today. I think all three of these cards could fit in the same deck. I first experimented with Attrition in one of many tournament versions of Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy. I liked the ability to Sneak out a creature with Sneak Attack, get in a hit, and then sacrifice it to off another creature. There are a lot of times when Attrition really helps. You can cast Bone Shredder, taking out one creature, then sacrifice it and take out another. Block with a small creature, then sacrifice for a nice effect. There are some creatures you want to sacrifice, like Hunting Moa or Solemn Simulacrum. Attrition serves a variety of needs while also giving creatures one last gasp.
2. Oubliette (Common, Arabian Nights)
Seeing Oubliette on the list should be no surprise. I’ve already mentioned it in an earlier article, where I highlighted fifty cards that were underplayed. I still really enjoy the Oubliette, but it has diminished over time.
Oubliette used to be one of the few ways that Black could take out a Black creature without having to pay a lot of life or using a lot of mana. Oubliette’s only disadvantage is that, eventually, it could be disenchanted, and the creature could come back. You could use that to your own advantage, by, say, Oublietting one of your creatures just before popping a Nevinyrral’s Disk. Nevertheless, it was generally a weakness.
In the past, Oubliette’s sheer versatility more than made up for any possible disadvantage. However, since then, we’ve had Terminate and Putrefy that can pop any creature – including Black ones – for two colors of mana. They aren’t absolutely better, but they are pretty good. You’ll almost always want to play one over Oubliette. Then there’s Rend Flesh, which is better than Oubliette in most circumstances.
There are times when you want an Oubliette. It will permanently phase out an indestructible creature or a regenerator. It can take out any creature that it can target until the enchantment is dealt with (or someone casts Time and Tide – but seriously, when is that going to happen?).
1. Bane of the Living (Rare, Legions)
There was a time when I wouldn’t consider Bane of the Living unplayed. It was all over the multiplayer map. However, as time leaves behind the Bane, I have witnessed a significant drop in playing time. With this drop has come an additional drop in price.
Has Black fallen out of favor as an archetype? I remember when Bane of the Living was a powerful card in multiplayer to unfurl. If someone played a morph creature, then you suspected and played around four possibilities (Hystrodon, Willbender, Bane of the Living, and Exalted Angel). The Angel still gets plenty of play, and Hystrodon has already charted on the Underused Hall of Fame. Willbender’s still in many Blue decks.
Where has the Bane gone?
I still play with some, and they are still as dominating as ever. It’s great to flip at the end of someone’s turn, then untap and be the first to play new creatures. It’s also nice to flip and kill a few small creatures, then have a 4/3 beater. At worst, a Bane of the Living is a 4/3 that can swing on the fourth turn in order to bring significant beats. That’s still very strong.
Blue:
Blue brings with it several options, including one from the recently-printed Saviors of Kamigawa. There is no countermagic to be found here, and only a few utility creatures dot the list. Instead, there are some tricks that are among Blue’s most potent.
5. Mischievous Quanar (Rare, Scourge)
It’s no Willbender or Bane of the Living, but the Quanar has some serious potential. (And it’s downright broken in Type 4 – The Ferrett) I love controlling a Quanar while having opponents believe that it may reflect abilities or pop all creatures. Then when a vital spell is cast, I can get one of my own, and promptly turn it back over for more Fork action.
The beauty of the Quanar isn’t in its ability to flip and Fork; if that were all it did, it would be no great shakes. The power of this card rests in its ability to turn itself back over, allowing you the opportunity to Fork and Fork again. The sum total of possible Forking that can take place over a game can be quite powerful. Just one Fork, properly placed, can turn the tables on an opponent. Think what multiple Forks can do…
4. Dream Fighter (Common, Mirage)
Despite its 1/1 status, the Dream Fighter is one of the best blockers ever created. Better than Fog Bank, better than Dawn Elemental, better even than Commander Eesha. As a blocker, anything a Dream Fighter can block goes away. No abilities work – no trample, no indestructibility, no double strike, no regeneration, nothing. If the Fighter can block it, it goes away. Feel free to jump in front of Silvos or Darksteel Colossus with impunity.
Since Dream Fighter’s ability is so useful on defense, you might wonder why it doesn’t chart more highly. Well, there are two problems with Dream Fighter. Firstly, as a mere 1/1, it is quite easy to kill. Bosh, Iron Golem can throw a Sensei’s Divining Top at it and kill it. Secondly, since it doesn’t fly, it cannot block flyers. As such, despite having a better defensive ability than Eesha, it can’t block as many creatures.
Despite that, you have a blocker that can seriously clog the ground like no other creature can. Nothing can be blocked by a Dream Fighter and still hit the player. That’s a pretty powerful ability for a paltry common.
3. Pendrell Mists (Rare, Weatherlight)
One of the ways that I can tell if I really like a card is to see how often I toss it into the decks I build. I’ve already noted my tendency to find uses for Grand Melee in my decks, so I realized that Grand Melee was a great card. Therefore, the last installment of the Underused Hall of Fame saw Grand Melee get retired. There are a few other cards that I rely heavily upon when I build decks, and Pendrell Mists is near the top.
I especially enjoy the Mists in multiplayer. It plays so well with other cards. From Rising Waters and Winter Orb to Stone Rain and Wasteland, the first ability of Pendrell Mists is to work as a great adjunct to a mana denial strategy. From Limited Resources to Mana Vortex, there are a lot of decks that can abuse the Mists in this manner. But another way to use it is in control-based decks that want to slow down aggressive opponents with lots of creatures. Once you play your winning condition creature, you can easily afford one or two mana to upkeep it (based on how many Mists are in play, of course). Alternatively, you can swing with Genju and man-lands.
A Mists used in this way can easy supplement a Propaganda-based strategy. Between Propaganda, Mists, Ghostly Prison, and maybe even Collective Restraint, you can essentially keep creatures from ever attacking you. You could even try a Manabarbs strategy and punish your opponent for using mana to keep creatures around.
I find that a lot of my Blue-based deck ideas revolve around trying to win through methods other than the obvious creature-based strategies. In those decks, Pendrell Mists is a great tool. You can also use Fade Away as a nice adjunct to the Mists when they are tapped out. I’m sure that you can find plenty of uses for the Mists if you look around.
2. Kaho, Minamo Historian (Rare, Saviors of Kamigawa)
I always know that someone will protest when I list a card from a recently-released set. I got dinged for including Masako in my last article. However, I can tell that Kaho isn’t getting played. I cannot remember the last time I read him in a casual decklist, his price is nothing, and I have literally never seen him get played by anyone other than myself. You’ll see another such creature from Saviors in the Red entries later in the article.
There are a lot of reasons to like Kaho. In a multicolor deck, you might not get the mana that you need, so you can use Kaho to get a few instants and then cast them with colorless mana. Another option is to tutor your deck in a toolbox fashion for three nice spells that can really help you. Even something small like Naturalize, Rend Flesh, and Impulse works well.
Of course, Kaho can get really silly. Getting Vampiric Tutor, Intuition, and Ancestral Recall is sure to cause fits. That’s a pretty powered deck, but the point is that Kaho can get some really powerful cards. Even Enlightened Tutor, Swords to Plowshares and Fact or Fiction is really good. You can also get three of the same instant.
Remember Kaho, for when you need an instant or three. Kaho – answering all of your instant needs.
1. Reality Ripple (Common, Mirage)
Apparently this is phasing week here at the Underused Hall of Fame. We’ve had Oubliette, Dream Fighter, and now Reality Ripple. Let’s talk about the sheer versatility of the Ripple.
Firstly, you can phase out any permanent (except for enchantments). You can phase out a permanent of your own that is about to be destroyed and cause the spell to essentially fizzle. Another way to protect one of your things is to phase it out in response to a Wrath of God, Armageddon, Obliterate, and such. Since you can’t counter Obliterate, you can at least have your best creature, land, or artifact survive the blast. You even use it with cards like, say Balance. You’ll have one less card in hand (from playing the spell) and one less land in play (or creature) when you Ripple, leading to a more powerful Balance.
You can also use it very well on opposing stuff. Play it on a permanent that is about to be enchanted. Use it during a player’s upkeep on a vital mana source in order to slow them down a turn. Fog a creature in order to keep it from dealing damage to you.
There are scads of ways to use Reality Ripple. This card has uses from phasing out Braids for a turn in order to keep from sacrificing a permanent, to making a critical blocker or Maze of Ith go elsewhere while you swoop in for significant damage. I love it.
Green:
Today’s Green theme is apparently mana. Three cards on the list accelerate your mana development through different methods. One can play out your lands more quickly, another gives you extra mana each turn, and the third retrieves lands from your deck. We’ll add a powerful sorcery to our mana trio, and an old enchantment that can really help your deck against the casual metagame.
5. Carpet of Flowers (Uncommon, Urza’s Saga)
Did you know what Carpet of Flowers did before hitting that link above? Many of you might not have known about one of the worst hosers of all time. However, the beauty of the Carpet is that you don’t have to use it as a hoser.
Carpet’s best use today is multiplayer, where virtually every game will have at least one deck sporting islands. In that match, you target a player, and then get free mana. For a simple investment of one Green mana, you get an enchantment that can give you several mana back – and do it every turn. Note that not only can you choose the color of mana each turn, but you can choose how much to receive. There’s no potential for mana burn here, because you only have to get what you want.
Carpet of Flowers can seriously speed up your game. You can be playing the middle game while everybody else is still on the early game. When 2/2 creatures are getting played, you can drop Kokusho on the third turn. I consider that to be pretty powerful.
4. Hundroog (Common, Legions)
Everybody loves Hundroog. (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) Even Ferretts. Do you like Hundroog? (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) Do you play Hundroog? (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) Does the Hundroog speak to you? (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) Let’s see how many times I can Hundroog. (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) Will the editor write a comment after each appearance of Hundroog? (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) I guess we’ll find out about Hundroog at the same time. (Hundroog! – The Ferrett) Yay, Hundroog.
(*sighs* Hundroog! – The Ferrett)
4. (Seriously this time) All Suns’ Dawn (Rare, Fifth Dawn)
The only thing keeping All Suns’ Dawn from being the number one most underplayed card of all time in Green is that it gets some play. But it should be getting more play, and it’s not. I hope that with the rejuvenation of the three-color deck in Ravnica, that some of you will remember to play All Suns’ Dawn for all of your recursion needs. Returning three to five of your best cards for an investment of five mana is really good. We restricted it in 5-Color because it is that good. I’m sure that you can similarly find uses for it in your decks.
3. Budoka Gardener (Rare, Champions of Kamigawa)
As you can probably tell, I really like cards that do several things well. Budoka Gardener is another entry from Kamigawa block that simply hasn’t gotten the casual play that it deserves.
A lot of casual games, especially multiplayer games, will see ten lands in play from each player, so Budoka Gardener’s special ability can come in useful. He’s a great early drop who can trade with aggressive creatures when necessary. If you have a mana-heavy hand, he can really help accelerate your mana development. I love leading with a Budoka Gardener on the second turn, followed by a Kodama’s Reach on the third and tapping the Gardener for an extra land. On the fourth you can play a land, tap the Gardener, and have seven land in play, ready to be used.
The other useful ability of the Gardener is to flip him into a game-winning creature. Making 10/10+ creatures ad nauseam can quickly put you into a winning position. As anybody who’s controlled a Phyrexian Processor or Riptide Replicator for a large creature knows, making big token creatures can easily end the game with no hope for recovery by an opponent. As a quick 2/1 beater who can accelerate your mana development in the early game before winning the game for you later, I cannot recommend the Gardener enough.
2. Night Soil (Common, Fallen Empires)
There are so many great reasons to like Night Soil. I know that a simple common from Fallen Empires is hardly the flashiest card ever – but if you’ve never played with Night Soil, now is your opportunity.
Night Soil does two things well. Firstly, Night Soil is a great way to toss out a few extra 1/1 creatures for a cheap cost. Use them as blockers, get a few points in after a Wrath of God, whatever. A few extra 1/1 creatures can sometimes push your army size over the edge. Besides, in a color with everything from Overrun to Elvish Farmer, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to get some extra work in with your Saprolings.
In addition to that, Night Soil does one other critical thing: It hoses graveyard creatures. By removing creatures from the graveyard, it can stop annoying recursive creatures. From Ashen Ghoul to Bladewing the Risen to Shallow Graveing out Nicol Bolas and hitting for seven damage and a Mind Twist, there are a lot of strategies that revolves around the graveyard. The Incarnations, Squee, Krovikan Horror, and more freewheeling goodness abound in casual circles. Now you can stop all of that foolishness while also getting a handy 1/1 creature. Alternatively, you can remove creatures from graveyards in order to hose Mortivores, make opposing Living Deaths useless, or make your own Patriarch’s Bidding even better. There’s plenty to do with a Night Soil.
1. Avenging Druid (Common, Exodus)
Avenging Druid is like Green’s own Ophidian. Both are common and cost three mana. Both are 1/3 that get you a card when it attacks and is unblocked. However, the Druid gets you the first land and puts it into play. Plus, you get to deal damage.
A lot of people don’t consider the Avenging Druid to be a problematic card. You can easily get in a hit or three before everybody has blockers or someone kills it. However, during that time, you get several extra lands in play for free. Since the first land is taken, regardless of type, you can set up a little bit with a Divining Top, Soothsaying, or Sylvan Library to get a Maze of Ith or Kor Haven or something. Of course, you can also just get lucky.
Remember that the Druid is also a real creature. It can block, attack, deal damage, and so forth. I frequently see people attacking with their Ophidian in order to draw a card when they are close to death and really could use that creature to block.
Since it also fills your graveyard, the Druid can give you all sorts of goodies. With the aforementioned Library or Top, you can even get a brand new set of three cards to look at each time the Druid hits. Use the Avenging Druid to great effect, and you will be amazed at the power that it can wield.
Red:
Red gives us four creatures this time – two of which you won’t mind seeing die. The last card is an enchantment that I have mentioned numerous times in my articles. From small to halfway decently sized, the creature run the gamut. Four out of the five cards kill another creature or deal damage somehow.
5. Ghitu Slinger (Common, Urza’s Legacy)
I know that Ghitu Slinger has fallen out of favor in the last few years. Flametongue Kavu and Fire Imp have replaced it, but I can’t understand why. The Slinger can hit players when the other two can’t touch them. That makes the Shock ability of the Slinger way better then the Fire Imp, and sometimes better than the FTK (and sometimes worse). I can understand using the Slingers to supplement the FTK – but why run the Fire Imp? It’s like a poor man’s Slinger.
Echo was never as bad a disadvantage as some thought it would be. Even if you don’t echo the Slinger, you still get a 2/2 creature that hit something or somebody for two damage and then can jump in the way of an attacker or be sacrificed to the number two card on our list. The Slinger can be played when there are no creatures out. After all, you can just hit a player for two. Fire Imp can’t. I like the Slinger way better.
4. Subterranean Spirit (Rare, Mirage)
You often learn about yourself and your likes and dislikes when you are forced to build a lot of decks. Through my daily series of decks and my “bad rare” series of articles and more, I’ve built a lot of decks for StarCityGames in the past year. One of things that I discovered was that I like to lean on a few cards.
Pendrell Mists, listed earlier, was one such card. This is another.
The Spirit fills a niche that virtually no other creature can fill. As a Red creature, having Protection from Red is quite rare (Skirk Fire Marshal, Tok-Tok, Keeper of Kookus, and Beast of Bogardan are the other entries). It’s a very valuable ability. In fact, I’d say that no other protection ability is as important for a creature to have against its own color other than Red. With so many Earthquake effects out there, from Jiwari to Torrent of Lava, there are scads of ways that Red damages all creatures. Having protection means that a creature can survive its own explosions.
In addition to that simple advantage, the Spirit can also ting all ground creatures for a point of damage. It’s certainly not the best tap ability ever printed (that’s Vhati il-Dal), but it’s pretty good. You can easily clear out a lot of small creatures.
The best decks are those than combine both abilities. There are hordes of Red enchantments and creatures that deal damage in various ways. Aether Flash, for example, can deal two damage to creatures when they enter play. The Spirit is immune to that damage… But an X/3 ground creature that enters play can die when you tap the Spirit. The Spirit is immune to the burn as well as a nice supplement to it. The same is true of other effects, like Powerstone Minefield. It’s this ability to easily combine its two powers that makes the Spirit such an interesting card.
3. Homura, Human Ascendant (Rare, Saviors of Kamigawa)
One of my favorite cards from Saviors is another underutilized rare legend from the set. I love Homura because nobody wants to block and kill it. When you attack every turn with a 4/4 creature, eventually an opponent is going to have to kill it. Otherwise the defender dies. There aren’t many creatures that can block Homura every turn and survive without killing Homura. In multiplayer, if someone has one of those creatures, you simply attack another player instead of swinging into the one player’s Silklash Spider or whatever.
Once Homura dies, all of your creatures become known as “Creatures of Doom.” They fly, which is pretty good. They get +2/+2, which is great. They get Firebreathing, which is outstanding. Having 2/3 Firebreathing Birds of Paradise appeals to me. Pre-flip, Homura is an annoying attacker whom no one wants to kill but where someone needs to. Post-flip, Homura turns into make-my-creatures-broken enchantment.
2. Goblin Bombardment (Uncommon, Tempest)
I don’t know if there is any card I talk about more than Goblin Bombardment when I give out deck and combo ideas in my articles. This has been the cornerstone of tournament winning combo decks as well as popular enough to warrant an FNM foil. Still, you rarely see it in casual circles. The list of cards that the Goblin Bombardment works well with is staggering. From Firecat Blitz to Living Death to Sneak Attack to Homarid Spawning Bed to Decree of Justice, the GBB is simply amazing.
In fact, I’ve used GBB in general creature-based control decks. It’s great to use when someone tries to kill one of your precious creatures. Put damage on the stack, then sacrifice a creature that would have died anyway for another point of damage. It can really change the math on defense. GBB can also put creatures in your graveyard in response to another player announcing Twilight’s Call or taking the last counter off All Hallow’ Eve. The card has such synergy with so many strategies and cards that I find it incomprehensible why it doesn’t get more play.
1. Tahngarth, Talruum Hero (Rare, Planeshift)
I recently realized that Tahngarth was not getting the play it deserved when I played it at a large multiplayer game at a local card shop, and the other players didn’t know what he did. These are tournament players who were taking a break between rounds, not new players who didn’t even know what Planeshift was.
I took a look at Tahngarth’s price online and was astonished at how low it was. I did a few searches and could not find him getting much play anywhere. All of this leads me to one important question:
If you are not playing Tahngarth in your Red decks, what are you playing?
What’s more important? Arc-Slogger only gets a few hits in traditional sized decks. Kumano is nice and all, but he’s no Tahngarth. Tahngarth is great! He attacks, then before attackers are declared, he taps to take out the 1/1 creature that might have chump blocked him. He offs all sorts of X/4 creatures or less. Find a way to pump him and you’ve got an even more powerful creature. Even something as bad as The Brute will turn Tahngarth from a great card into a mono-Red house.
White:
White gives us a powerful removal spell, a large beatstick, two ways to prevent damage, and a miscellaneous fifth card. There are some real goods here for the list, and I’d put these cards up against the best that White has any day.
5. Lashknife Barrier (Uncommon, Planeshift)
I have extolled the virtues of the Barrier before, so its inclusion as one of the newest inductees into the Underused Hall of Fame should be no surprise.
One of the things that I like most about the Barrier is the subtle way it changes the game in your favor without being too splashy. On a table with much more visible effects, the Barrier will often go unmolested while other enchantments keep getting offed. After all, this enchantment is so bad that they had to make it a cantrip (sarcasm gear online). Its ability often comes in useful against burn decks or in combat math. You can even use it yourself with Starstorm and other cards that deal damage to all creatures – but the Barrier will keep yours kicking. For a simple card, there’s a lot of strategy involved in the Barrier.
4. Vengeful Dreams (Rare, Torment)
Our token removal spell in this class for White is one of its most powerful. (Token, as in we apparently have to have at least one removal spell in White in every article, not as in a card that can kill token creatures. Although this can do that as well.)
The ability to remove multiple attackers from the game for a cheap price is quite rare. Obviously, there is an additional cost with respect to discarding. However, few removal spells are as exact and powerful as Vengeful Dreams.
In multiplayer, you can often get attacked from several directions or by a horde of creatures all at once. You sometimes need more than an Expunge or a Swords to Plowshares. You need the ability to off multiple creatures simultaneously, in order to show that you are not a real target. There is only a small contingent of spells that serve this purpose: Starstorm, Firestorm, Wing Shards, and so forth. Vengeful Dreams fits the bill perfectly. By playing Vengeful Dreams, you tell people to go play with their toys elsewhere.
3. Prismatic Strands (Common, Judgment)
There’s no doubt: I loooove versatility. That’s why I love cards like Prismatic Strands, which can do so much for such a little price. It may not look like much at first, but peer more carefully under the hood.
Did you just get targeted by a Fireball or Consume Spirit? Cast Prismatic Strands to prevent the damage. Did you just get attacked by a horde of trampling Green beasts supplemented by someone’s Overrun? Cast Prismatic Strands to prevent the damage. Did someone try to clear the board by casting Earthquake? Cast Prismatic Strands to prevent the damage. Is another person’s Pestilence or Thrashing Wumpus going off in order to kill all of your nice, pretty creatures? Cast Prismatic Strands to prevent the damage. Is your opponent’s Iridescent Angel about to kill you a turn before you would have won? Cast Prismatic Strands to prevent the damage. Does Akroma give you nightmares? Cast Prismatic Strands to prevent the damage, but not the nightmares. Do you want your prevention effect to remain in the graveyard, able to be flashbacked at a single notice for no mana in order to keep others at bay? Cast Prismatic Strands once to prevent the damage, then allow it to linger.
You get all of that for one small little common.
2. Nomad Mythmaker (Rare, Judgment)
Another card from Judgment getting the nod, the Mythmaker got a little press after he was released… and then fell away into relative obscurity for no known reason. This is a fantastic creature that can allow you to use and reuse creature enchantments (er…creature auras) for a cheap price.
With the recently released creature auras that have various “comes into play” abilities, now is the time to brush off your old Mythmakers. Keep recurring Galvanic Arc, for example, in order to really punish opponents.
There are other creature auras that you can really abuse as well. Pattern of Rebirth is one of the best examples. Reusing a Pattern of Rebirth can allow you to pull any number of amazingly powerful creatures from your deck over and over again. There are plenty of other great choices for the Mythmaker to reclaim.
1. Patron of the Kitsune (Rare, Betrayers of Kamigawa)
In one of my spirit articles, I mentioned how good the Patron was, even without playing a single kitsune. Too many people get bogged down with the fox offering ability, and then dismiss the card as something that shouldn’t be played. Here’s what I want every reader to do: Click on the link to Patron of the Kitsune. Open it in another window or another tab or whatever your browser supports. When you read it, ignore the fox offering ability. Ready? Go ahead, I’ll still be here when you return.
Did you look at it? Of course you didn’t. If you had, here is what you would have seen. The Patron is a 5/6 for six mana. That’s no slouch, but you can get better. It’s a very playable fat creature. It’s Mahamoti Djinn size and casting cost. You don’t need fox offering in order to cast it.
Then it has an ability normally reserved for a three-mana enchantment, a.k.a. Orim’s Prayer. Only this ability is actually twice as strong as Orim’s Prayer in duels, and even stronger than that in multiplayer. That enchantment would cost four mana, at least, if it existed. You get a 5/6 creature for just two more mana. That’s a pretty good deal.
Whenever Eddie attacks Edith with four bear tokens from a Grizzly Fate, you get four life. Whenever you attack Edith with a bear token, you get a life. Whenever Edith attacks you with a bear token, you get a life. You also get a 5/6 creature – big enough to win a game or be a significant deterrent to people attacking you. Patron of the Kitsune is simply a great creature, and one you should be playing more.
Other:
In today’s other entry we have three gold cards, one split card, and an artifact. We only have one creature and two ways of blowing up stuff. After that, it’s card drawing a-go-go from two powerful permanents.
5. Asmira, Holy Avenger (Rare, Mirage)
Ah, Asmira, how I do love thee! Thou art unknown amongst the legions of legends available. Yet thy star doth shine brightly. For when others doth fall, thou doth taketh up their swords. Thy own resolve doubles as thy comrades are defeated. Thou art the holy avenger of their pain. Thy wrath is revealed from on high as your power flies overhead. Thou art a sight to pale the most blood thirty heathens. Lo, our enemies shall hide before thee as thou art wroth. Surely peace and prosperity follow in thy wake as thy enemies fall before thy righteous blows. Thou hast smitten our enemies with the summoned power of thy fallen allies. Our allies may lay broken, but their spirits ride with thee.
4. Skyship Weatherlight (Rare, Planeshift)
The Good Ship Lollypop can really overwhelm an unprepared opponent with an onslaught of attackers. You can play the Good Ship, then search your library for three to five good-sized attackers and slowly draw one a turn and play it in order to double your onslaught. (And double your fun – The Ferrett)
Another use for the Good Ship is to get an answer to a problem on the board. If there’s a troublesome enchantment out there, get a Cloudchaser Eagle. If there is a problematic creature or two, grab a Bone Shredder. You can also get several creatures that do the same thing, so you can continue to have answers in the future. Grab a pair of Bone Shredders and a pair of Nekrataals and use the Good Ship any time you need to pop a creature.
Alternatively, you can use the Good Ship to grab combo pieces. Lots of artifacts and creatures are parts of a combo, so you can use the Ship to grab whatever you need to finish a combo in your hand.
Be careful not to be too greedy. If the Good Ship is destroyed, then the cards removed from the game will stay that way. You’ll rarely want to leave yourself without further answers or combo pieces in your deck.
3. Order / Chaos (Uncommon, Apocalypse)
The great Order/Chaos can be your best friend or your best friend, whichever you need. If you are facing a gigantic stalemate, play Chaos and alpha strike for the game. Otherwise, remove an unsightly attacker for daring to attack your way.
There are always many benefits to having a card that can be used in multiple ways, based on the situation. Order / Chaos is no different; it’s just an absolutely fantastic card. Unfortunately, there’s not much more to say about it, so I’ll move on to the next card.
2. Reparations (Rare, Mirage)
When the Sixth Edition rules changes hit several years ago, some cards got drastic upgrades while others were rules-beaten into oblivion. The rules giveth and the rules taketh away. One beneficiary of the rules change was Reparations. Before the rules change, you had to let a spell resolve before you could draw a card. Therefore, Lightning Bolts had to hit you and creatures had to die before you got any benefit.
Those changes made Reparations actually playable. As a result, I expected to see Reparations get a lot of play with the rules change. Now, any time a player plays a spell that targets you or one of your creatures, you get to draw a card and then decide if you want to do anything about the initial spell. Maybe you’ll play Confound or Reality Ripple to protect your creature. Even if you do nothing, at least you got a card out of it.
For control decks, Reparations is a great card. Over the course of a game, you can draw a lot of cards for free. In multiplayer, some players may not even target you, and instead go after someone else. After all, who wants to Cranial Extract you when you draw a card off it, then get to counter it?
1. Aura Shards (Uncommon, Invasion)
Our last card for today’s induction class is a very powerful uncommon from Invasion. Aura Shards says that you get to destroy any number of enchantments or artifacts – and there is nothing anybody can do about it until they pop the Aura Shards.
Whenever a creature comes into play under your control, you get to Naturalize something. You are not required to, so if your Aura Shards is the only potential target in play, you don’t have to destroy it. Green/White can get a lot of creatures into play, so you’ll easily be able to keep annoying ones from staying around for long.
As a result, you’ll be the only one at the table able to have artifacts and enchantments of any power. While that means you’ll be the target of more removal, it also means that you won’t have to worry about problematic enchantments and artifacts. They can have a tendency to dominate a game, and with Aura Shards out, that potential drops.
Watch out for Leonin Abunas boy, though.
Well, that wraps another entry in the growing Underused Hall of Fame. Hopefully you’ll find some real winners here. I’m sure that there are many cards that you can add to your existing decks, or build something around. Good luck in your endeavors, and keep search for those great cards.
Until later,
Abe Sargent
Here are the previous cards in the Underused Hall of Fame. They are listed alphabetically by color.
Black:
Carrionette
Crypt Angel
Desolation Angel
Do or Die
Forsaken Wastes
Ill-Gotten Gains
Infernal Tribute
Krovikan Horror
Massacre
No Mercy
Planar Void
Tainted Pact
Tombstone Stairwell
Tortured Existence
Vile Requiem
Blue:
Alexi, Zephyr Mage
Aura Thief
Coastal Piracy
Desertion
Ertai’s Familiar
Evacuation
Homarid Spawning Bed
Icy Prison
Man o’ War
Portent
Possessed Aven
Riptide Mangler
Three Wishes
Tolarian Serpent
Whirlpool Warrior
Green:
Arboria
Forgotten Ancient
Greater Good
Holistic Wisdom
Hystrodon
Kavu Titan
Krosan Tusker
Mulch
Nature’s Resurgence
Reap
Scarwood Bandits
Silklash Spider
Spike Feeder
Veteran Explorer
Viridian Zealot
Red:
Ancient Hydra
Blood Frenzy
Desolation Giant
Earthquake
Goblin Marshal
Grand Melee
Illuminate
Lightning Surge
Mages’ Contest
Mogg Infestation
Reckless Embermage
Shard Phoenix
Starke of Rath
Wild Research
Wildfire Emissary
White:
Commander Eesha
Exile
Hand of Justice
Holy Light
Lieutenant Kirtar
Masako the Humorless
Null Chamber
Oblation
Pariah
Pursuit of Knowledge
Retribution of the Meek
Soul Sculptor
Spectral Lynx
Sunscape Battlemage
Witch Hunter
Other:
Aether Mutation
Captain Sisay
Elemental Augury
Frenetic Efreet
Mindless Automaton
Mystic Compass
Phyrexian War Beast
Rasputin Dreamweaver
Recoil
Snake Basket
Spite / Malice
Stormbind
Vhati il-Dal
Void
Yavimaya Hollow