In this thread Post your top 5 most overrated cards from Oath of Gatewatch and your top 5 most underrated cards from the set.
Some guidelines to help you get started:
A card doesn't have to be bad to be overrated. For example Kytheon, Hero of Akros is obiously a very powerful card but you might have thought he was overrated because when magic origins was released there were not any decks that he obviously slotted into.
An underrated card may not be good. Maybe you saw beyond Invasive Species's limited fodder exterior and knew it would see fringe standard play because it's drawback was abuse-able.
Overrated and underrated are opinions so don't worry about being right just give use yours!
There are many different criteria for overrated and underrated so your reasoning can be completely different from anyone else's.
Because these opinions are intended to be contrary to the opinions of other people it's okay to disagree but please do not flame.
To get this thread started Here is my list!
Overrated:
1. Kozilek's Return. Don't get me wrong, the card is very good, and very playable in standard. The issue I'm seeing is it in Modern, particularly in discussion with tron in mind. While it has some definite advantages over Pyroclasm, the added CMC is not trivial; going from 2 to 3 is actually a big cost for Modern, particularly for the decks that want it and when they would want it. Pyroclasm on turn 2 is amazing when you need it; it can lose you the game on turn 3 as well.
2. Warping Wail. It's good, but I think people are conflating the colorless mana cost with it being splashable due to being colorless. It's no more splashable than any other colored card to be honest, and you need to devote a good amount of colorless produces to cast this starting on turn 2. It's good, but not great, and is reigned in by requiring a casting cost available through a very narrow subset of lands.
3. Nissa, Vastwood Seer. I hesitate to call it bad, but I also don't see it doing a lot in standard particularly currently. Her +1 is anemic, and her -2 requires a strong board density to work well. The fact she is a 3 mana walker, however, with decent abilities will mean she sees some play. Just not a format staple.
4. Chandra, I can't remember her name. It's just not as good as people are making her out to be, which is dissappointing. Her +1 ability can blank heavily on many boardstates, her 0 ability is fine, and her -X ability notably doesn't hit what you need it to hit that late in the game. I'm fairly unimpressed all-around with her, and don't see the relevance of the card.
5. Eldrazi Displacer. Don't get me wrong, the card is perfectly fine in general. However, this suffers from the same problem as Warping Wail. It's a very strong effect if you can use it, but the fact that it's on a body coupled with the fact that it requires a narrow type of mana restricts its utility.
Note that I'm not necessarily saying these cards are *bad*, only overrrated. I'll get to my underrated in a bit.
Overrated:
- Oath of Nissa: It's not Ponder. Don't play it unless you're playing mono-green Devotion.
- Stormchaser Mage: It's not Monastery Swiftspear. Besides, only two decks play Swiftspear (Burn and Suicide Zoo) and neither plays blue.
- Eldrazi Displacer: worse than Flickerwisp or Restoration Angel.
- Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet: he needs support to be good. By himself, a 3/4 lifelink for 4 mana is quite bad.
- Jori En, Ruin Diver: Young Pyromancer comes down earlier and picks up more on-cast triggers.
Underrated:
- BG and UR manlands: They might be fine just for mana fixing. Treat the "man" part as a bonus.
- Spatial Distortion: It's a removal option for UW decks after Path.
- Pulse of Murasa: Snapcaster/Jace + Kolaghan's Command is a grindy combo that works. Eternal Witness + Pulse of Murasa is similar.
- Nissa, Voice of Zendikar: she's the cheapest PW that makes tokens. I still think something like Kitchen Finks is better though. There's no green token deck at the moment.
- Sparkmage's Gambit: if you're playing an aggro deck that attacks with a ton of 1/1s, this gets large blockers out of the way and kills anything that would trade with your 1/1s.
The manlands are my pick for "underrated card most likely to see play". The rest are better than people think but still not likely to see play.
I am surprised that there is little talk about Dimensional Infiltrator.
This thing flashes, it is blue, it enables processors and for two mana you can poof away a divining top, or disrupt other shenanigans, namely the old instant speed tutors you see in EDH so often. I don't know if there is an application for it but it seems like it has a niche for sure.
too pricy for lantern. Lantern has plenty of 1 drops with 0 activation costs to mill, and lantern really doesn't need a flying bear even if kind of resilient. Without ramp, lantern can't casually reach that 2CC before it has impact, and before that it might as well be a dead card in hand. Plus, you can't even attack if you're running bridge.
2 cards on your list surprise me. Matter Reshaper looks really good to me. A 3 mana creature that provides card advantage on a relevant body is nothing to scoff at. The only way I could think of this as "overrated" is if you were of the opinion that it would go into every deck. It's not some overpowered monster that will force every deck to splash colorless, but it's good enough to find a home somewhere.
I also find Sylvan Advocate as underrated surprising. When this card was revealed, it immediately drew comparisons to tarmogoyf. I don't think this is going under anyone's radar. It's really, really good and everyone knows it.
I think its cool that Nissa shows up in overrated for some people and underrated for others. Same with Chandra. Thats a good place for planeswalkers to be. People will try to bust them and will get excited, but they arent the ONLY reason people are buying packs, and there is room for doubt (we have seen a six mana Chandra already...not everyones favorite version. Though I do like her:) )
In my opinion, people are going to remember how good manlands that fix your mana are soon. Wandering Fumarole? Forgetaboutit, thing is a beast methinks
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Overwhelming Denial - As many have stated, it doesn't matter that it can't be countered when you are first on the stack as they can always target your original spell with a second counter (not really talking about Standard here, but counter wars are a thing in older formats). It is still useful if you are simply trying to deny a play of theirs but you will often have to pay full price to do that.
Oaths - Oath of Jace is the best of the lot, but by and large there are other cards out there that do most of what these do. The real way to get value here is if you can pick up and replay these, and that is reasonably difficult to accomplish. Good utility, but these are not slam dunks or format changers.
Under-rated:
Grip of the Roil - It looks harmless enough at first glance, but Twitch this is not. Losing the option to untap hurts, but tapping things for multiple turns at a potentially discounted price and replacing its self? That's a hell of a deal. This is up there with Reflector Mage in terms of utility and that is saying a lot.
Umara Entangler - Prowess decks are trying to use Jeskai Sage or Jeskai Elder to fill in more cheap slots, but this card has what you really want: a base power of 2. That makes all of the difference in the world.
Inverter of Truth - The 6/6 flying body is just a bonus when the card reads "The best spells you have played already are now back in your library without any of the other stuff you don't want to use right now" in some decks. Probably a Standard miss, but anything that even vaguely resembles Doomsday is worth serious testing.
I'm thinking you must have misread the card. He needs you to have a graveyard when you play him, and leaves you without one afterwards. He completely eliminates your ability to run delve.
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I'm thinking you must have misread the card. He needs you to have a graveyard when you play him, and leaves you without one afterwards. He completely eliminates your ability to run delve.
You can delve the bad cards out of your graveyard before inverting, letting you draw straight gas for the rest of the game.
Yea I was thinking run some U/B control, get a few counterspells in the yard, Dig EOT exiling the fetches and whatnot, and then cast this guy next mainphase and have 3+ guaranteed counter draws to protect him while you proceed to win.
2 cards on your list surprise me. Matter Reshaper looks really good to me. A 3 mana creature that provides card advantage on a relevant body is nothing to scoff at. The only way I could think of this as "overrated" is if you were of the opinion that it would go into every deck. It's not some overpowered monster that will force every deck to splash colorless, but it's good enough to find a home somewhere.
Matter reshaper is fine but a 3/2 really isn't that much board presence. It trades with nearly every 1 and 2 drop played in standard and loses to anafenza, who also turns off the death trigger; Silkwrap is every where; there are cheaper cards for aristocrat decks to abuse; Finally most of the time the dies trigger is just going to be a Viridian Emissary which was only fringe playable on a 2 drop. Not that the card isn't effecient when it works but it seems horribly positioned in a world of anafenza, seigh rhino, silk wrap, and combo. To top it off adding colorless to mana bases is reasonably difficult for aggressive decks and 3-4 color decks. It's a good card but I don't see it making it outside of the kitchen table. Now I will take this moment to revoke my earlier notion that Thought-Knot Seer was over rated. Having 1 colorless on turn 4 is easier than 1 on turn 3, but more importantly exiling a card is absurd and even though occasionally it wiffs and later gives your opponent a free card it is game changing in so many situations. I think that that one might actually live up to the hype and at least make an appearance in some decks still in need of a good 4 drops and it will definitely be a card that people will be playing around.
I also find Sylvan Advocate as underrated surprising. When this card was revealed, it immediately drew comparisons to tarmogoyf. I don't think this is going under anyone's radar. It's really, really good and everyone knows it.
Sylvan Advocate is currently averaging at $3.04 while Eldrazi Displacer for example is $5.21. Not that displacer isn't good(it does a lot of useful thinks even if none of them are that broken), but Sylvan Advocate does suffer from being redundant in multiples meaning you can fill out a deck with a full 4 copies. That means more demand so the price should be higher.
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I'm thinking you must have misread the card. He needs you to have a graveyard when you play him, and leaves you without one afterwards. He completely eliminates your ability to run delve.
You can delve the bad cards out of your graveyard before inverting, letting you draw straight gas for the rest of the game.
The problem is if you're delving before you end up putting yourself on a really short clock. You may be down to all gas. But you're not getting through it any faster without killing yourself and your probably put yourself on a short clock. It's also a problem if you were using delve for the purpose of cost reduction becau your delve spells, which at least 1 was still in your bin since it can't delve itself, are now completely dead draws. I just wonder how you think this nonbo could possibly be useful before turn 50?
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For Modern, my bets (which are different from izzetmage's):
Overrated
Sea Gate Wreckage: After testing it in several decks that play lands that tap for C, the only deck where this drew 2 or more cards per game on average was Lantern Control (and, in Lantern Control, Sea Gate Wreckage was insanely good). In all of the other decks (GW Hatebears, Eldrazi Black variants, Junk Midrange), Sea Gate Wreckage often didn't draw any cards and tended to draw 1 card at best. And so many people on the Modern forum say it's got promise in several decks...
Reality Smasher: "Pseudo-Hexproof" (yes, I've seen an MTGS post with that adjective describing Reality Smasher) my butt. Opponents tend to discard a card and instantly kill this thing on sight. Eldrazi Black tends to start losing the game shortly afterwards because it isn't that threat-dense.
Kozilek's Return: There's a chance that it's actually underrated in other decks, but I found 3 mana to be that much worse than 2 mana in RG Tron. Pyroclasm actually has a fair chance of punishing Bogles (while K. Return whiffs too often), and 'Clasm hits Elves, Affinity, and most of Infect sooner. Make Spatial Contortion and Warping Wail punish those 3 aggro decks at instant speed instead.
Matter Reshaper: ...Alright, calling this overrated is a stretch, but unlike Kitchen Finks, people will actually aim Bolt at this guy because all it does when it dies is ramp or cantrip too often. Matter Reshaper is at its best when it cheats in a creature. Add in how surprisingly hard it is to support C costs, and I think this guy is a smidge overrated.
While coming up with 5 overrated cards was pretty hard for me, I can actually come up with more than 5 underrated cards:
Underrated
Oath of Nissa: I'm surprised how many decks aren't discussing this card. I see this card being played in Nykthos Green, Kiki Chord, Amulet Bloom if it still survives the impending Summer Bloom ban, Elves, Tooth and Nail Ramp, and more. Fixing opening hands and lower land counts are that good, even if Oath of Nissa is actually fairly poor at giving you the creature you want.
Slip Through Space: Trust me, the cantrip is worth so much more than Distortion Strike's pump and extra crack at unblockability...at least in an open meta, where removal is everywhere, Spellskites are too, and opposing creatures are plentiful, so you want to dig for removal and more creatures.
Bearer of Silence: I was surprised how many big creatures Bearer of Silence killed, and how irrelevant being unable to block is. In combo matchups, this is also a decent 2-drop.
Captain's Claws: In aggro decks, this may as well produce a token with Haste every turn. It's a nigh-shoo-in in Allies, and I can see this card in BW Tokens and even Affinity.
Essence Depleter: I started testing this card as a toy sideboard card in RG Tron. I then toyed with it maindeck, as I run Kozilek, the Great Distortion and quite a few threatening cards are 3-cmc. I was surprised how well this performed against Burn (this guy resists Skullcrack/Atarka's Command and lures Searing Blaze at worst) and Merfolk (which often ties itself in knots trying and failing to deal with this guy, and which often doesn't board in creature removal). As Wurmcoil Engine Lite, I'm keeping this guy for now even though it dies to Bolt, and it's highly amusing whenever I win a game with only it and/or Thought-Knot Seer.
Thought-Knot Seer: Speaking of Thought-Knot Seer, I can see this guy in more than just Eldrazi Black. I can also see GW Hatebears, Death and Taxes, and Kiki Chord picking it up. I'm already trying it in RG Tron, and it's been paying dividends (especially in multiples). Accelerating it out is just mean.
Wastes: Blood Moon is format-warping good, and cards like Thought-Knot Seer, Spatial Contortion, and Warping Wail are worth playing. This land is a great way to cast those spells through Blood Moon, especially if you maindeck land search (Tron and Eldrazi Black do).
Sphinx of the Final Word: Ad Nauseam and Scapeshift can both ramp into this Hexproof answer to opposing counterspells on their combos.
Jori En, Ruin Diver: Unlike Monastery Mentor, she fuels herself by drawing into more "second spells each turn". She's just as easy to guarantee she replaces herself as Mentor is. My Grixis Midrange-Control deck with 3 of her is doing fairly well. She just might sneak into faster UWR builds.
For Modern, my bets (which are different from izzetmage's):
Overrated
Sea Gate Wreckage: After testing it in several decks that play lands that tap for C, the only deck where this drew 2 or more cards per game on average was Lantern Control (and, in Lantern Control, Sea Gate Wreckage was insanely good). In all of the other decks (GW Hatebears, Eldrazi Black variants, Junk Midrange), Sea Gate Wreckage often didn't draw any cards and tended to draw 1 card at best. And so many people on the Modern forum say it's got promise in several decks...
Reality Smasher: "Pseudo-Hexproof" (yes, I've seen an MTGS post with that adjective describing Reality Smasher) my butt. Opponents tend to discard a card and instantly kill this thing on sight. Eldrazi Black tends to start losing the game shortly afterwards because it isn't that threat-dense.
Kozilek's Return: There's a chance that it's actually underrated in other decks, but I found 3 mana to be that much worse than 2 mana in RG Tron. Pyroclasm actually has a fair chance of punishing Bogles (while K. Return whiffs too often), and 'Clasm hits Elves, Affinity, and most of Infect sooner. Make Spatial Contortion and Warping Wail punish those 3 aggro decks at instant speed instead.
Matter Reshaper: ...Alright, calling this overrated is a stretch, but unlike Kitchen Finks, people will actually aim Bolt at this guy because all it does when it dies is ramp or cantrip too often. Matter Reshaper is at its best when it cheats in a creature. Add in how surprisingly hard it is to support C costs, and I think this guy is a smidge overrated.
While coming up with 5 overrated cards was pretty hard for me, I can actually come up with more than 5 underrated cards:
Underrated
Oath of Nissa: I'm surprised how many decks aren't discussing this card. I see this card being played in Nykthos Green, Kiki Chord, Amulet Bloom if it still survives the impending Summer Bloom ban, Elves, Tooth and Nail Ramp, and more. Fixing opening hands and lower land counts are that good, even if Oath of Nissa is actually fairly poor at giving you the creature you want.
Slip Through Space: Trust me, the cantrip is worth so much more than Distortion Strike's pump and extra crack at unblockability...at least in an open meta, where removal is everywhere, Spellskites are too, and opposing creatures are plentiful, so you want to dig for removal and more creatures.
Bearer of Silence: I was surprised how many big creatures Bearer of Silence killed, and how irrelevant being unable to block is. In combo matchups, this is also a decent 2-drop.
Captain's Claws: In aggro decks, this may as well produce a token with Haste every turn. It's a nigh-shoo-in in Allies, and I can see this card in BW Tokens and even Affinity.
Essence Depleter: I started testing this card as a toy sideboard card in RG Tron. I then toyed with it maindeck, as I run Kozilek, the Great Distortion and quite a few threatening cards are 3-cmc. I was surprised how well this performed against Burn (this guy resists Skullcrack/Atarka's Command and lures Searing Blaze at worst) and Merfolk (which often ties itself in knots trying and failing to deal with this guy, and which often doesn't board in creature removal). As Wurmcoil Engine Lite, I'm keeping this guy for now even though it dies to Bolt, and it's highly amusing whenever I win a game with only it and/or Thought-Knot Seer.
Thought-Knot Seer: Speaking of Thought-Knot Seer, I can see this guy in more than just Eldrazi Black. I can also see GW Hatebears, Death and Taxes, and Kiki Chord picking it up. I'm already trying it in RG Tron, and it's been paying dividends (especially in multiples). Accelerating it out is just mean.
Wastes: Blood Moon is format-warping good, and cards like Thought-Knot Seer, Spatial Contortion, and Warping Wail are worth playing. This land is a great way to cast those spells through Blood Moon, especially if you maindeck land search (Tron and Eldrazi Black do).
Sphinx of the Final Word: Ad Nauseam and Scapeshift can both ramp into this Hexproof answer to opposing counterspells on their combos.
Jori En, Ruin Diver: Unlike Monastery Mentor, she fuels herself by drawing into more "second spells each turn". She's just as easy to guarantee she replaces herself as Mentor is. My Grixis Midrange-Control deck with 3 of her is doing fairly well. She just might sneak into faster UWR builds.
1. Kozilek's Return. Don't get me wrong, the card is very good, and very playable in standard. The issue I'm seeing is it in Modern, particularly in discussion with tron in mind. While it has some definite advantages over Pyroclasm, the added CMC is not trivial; going from 2 to 3 is actually a big cost for Modern, particularly for the decks that want it and when they would want it. Pyroclasm on turn 2 is amazing when you need it; it can lose you the game on turn 3 as well.
2. Warping Wail. It's good, but I think people are conflating the colorless mana cost with it being splashable due to being colorless. It's no more splashable than any other colored card to be honest, and you need to devote a good amount of colorless produces to cast this starting on turn 2. It's good, but not great, and is reigned in by requiring a casting cost available through a very narrow subset of lands.
3. Nissa, Vastwood Seer. I hesitate to call it bad, but I also don't see it doing a lot in standard particularly currently. Her +1 is anemic, and her -2 requires a strong board density to work well. The fact she is a 3 mana walker, however, with decent abilities will mean she sees some play. Just not a format staple.
4. Chandra, I can't remember her name. It's just not as good as people are making her out to be, which is dissappointing. Her +1 ability can blank heavily on many boardstates, her 0 ability is fine, and her -X ability notably doesn't hit what you need it to hit that late in the game. I'm fairly unimpressed all-around with her, and don't see the relevance of the card.
5. Eldrazi Displacer. Don't get me wrong, the card is perfectly fine in general. However, this suffers from the same problem as Warping Wail. It's a very strong effect if you can use it, but the fact that it's on a body coupled with the fact that it requires a narrow type of mana restricts its utility.
Note that I'm not necessarily saying these cards are *bad*, only overrrated. I'll get to my underrated in a bit.
Did anyone else notice that Hedron Crawler and Pilgrim's Eye are the only Artifact Creatures in BFZ? The new Delirium ability could really use those two for ones. Hell, Pilgrim's Eye grabs a land which means that the card has access to 3 of the necessary 4 card types to trigger Delirium. Seems that those two cards may be rated higher in a world with Delirium.
1. Kozilek's Return. Don't get me wrong, the card is very good, and very playable in standard. The issue I'm seeing is it in Modern, particularly in discussion with tron in mind. While it has some definite advantages over Pyroclasm, the added CMC is not trivial; going from 2 to 3 is actually a big cost for Modern, particularly for the decks that want it and when they would want it. Pyroclasm on turn 2 is amazing when you need it; it can lose you the game on turn 3 as well.
2. Warping Wail. It's good, but I think people are conflating the colorless mana cost with it being splashable due to being colorless. It's no more splashable than any other colored card to be honest, and you need to devote a good amount of colorless produces to cast this starting on turn 2. It's good, but not great, and is reigned in by requiring a casting cost available through a very narrow subset of lands.
3. Nissa, Vastwood Seer. I hesitate to call it bad, but I also don't see it doing a lot in standard particularly currently. Her +1 is anemic, and her -2 requires a strong board density to work well. The fact she is a 3 mana walker, however, with decent abilities will mean she sees some play. Just not a format staple.
4. Chandra, I can't remember her name. It's just not as good as people are making her out to be, which is dissappointing. Her +1 ability can blank heavily on many boardstates, her 0 ability is fine, and her -X ability notably doesn't hit what you need it to hit that late in the game. I'm fairly unimpressed all-around with her, and don't see the relevance of the card.
5. Eldrazi Displacer. Don't get me wrong, the card is perfectly fine in general. However, this suffers from the same problem as Warping Wail. It's a very strong effect if you can use it, but the fact that it's on a body coupled with the fact that it requires a narrow type of mana restricts its utility.
Note that I'm not necessarily saying these cards are *bad*, only overrrated. I'll get to my underrated in a bit.
Warping Wail has been amazing for me in tron whenever I played it. It countered Scapeshift and Maelstrom Pulse. If I had it in hand while playing against a Liliana I could flash in a 1/1 to sac instead of whatever creature I had on board. It kills Bob and Snapcaster.
I mostly play limited, so I'll go ahead and post most overrated and underrated cards for the purpose of limited. To be more clear, these are the cards that I myself was personally overrating or underrating when the format was spoiled compared to my veiw of them now...
Overrated
Grasp of Darkness - Its a great card, but double color casting costs are surprisingly hard to meet given the format is effectively a 3 color format.
Tar Snare - The card looked fine when first spoiled, but just doesn't hit enough things to be a good removal spell and costs too much to be a good trick. It is only borderline playable.
sweep away - It is too expensive to work well as a tempo play and too restricting to be a time ebb. Its just ok.
Spatial contortion - Colorless is a more significant cost than I anticipated
Underrated
Zada's commando - It looked solid during spoilers. After playing with it, it is even better than I thought. This is a card I'm always happy to be playing in any red deck, and what as many as possible in all of my limited red decks.
Hedron crawler - I expected this to be a mediocre support card for colorless decks. In reality, two mana ramp, even the worst two many ramp spell imaginable, that is vulnerable to every form of removal in the format, is great. There are few things sronger in limited than curving out Hedron Crawler into Seed Guardian into Tajura Pathwarden.
Elemental Uprising - I don't like removal that exposes potential 241s, but this is the closest thing to just straight removal that green has gotten in a long time. I don't need any board whatsoever to kill attacking creatures or untapped creatures. The card still isn't great, but I'm comfortable running two in most green decks.
Saddleback Lagac - Support always seemed bad before playing with it. I had been evaluating Lagac as being similar in power to a 4/2 with upside. I thought even if you could reliably be getting 5/3 out of it, 5/3 isn't that good a deal at 4 mana. After playing with it, I've come to realize that a 3/1 with etb 2 +1/+1 counters is significantly better than just a straight 5/3. I now view it as one of the best green commons.
reality hemorrhage - Shock seemed really mediocre given the number of creatures that don't die to it. Red turned out to be very agressive though meaning early removal is essential. There are also two different first strikers at common that play very well with shock letting it serve as an efficient combat trick.
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Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
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To get this thread started Here is my list!
Overrated:
Underrated:
1. Kozilek's Return. Don't get me wrong, the card is very good, and very playable in standard. The issue I'm seeing is it in Modern, particularly in discussion with tron in mind. While it has some definite advantages over Pyroclasm, the added CMC is not trivial; going from 2 to 3 is actually a big cost for Modern, particularly for the decks that want it and when they would want it. Pyroclasm on turn 2 is amazing when you need it; it can lose you the game on turn 3 as well.
2. Warping Wail. It's good, but I think people are conflating the colorless mana cost with it being splashable due to being colorless. It's no more splashable than any other colored card to be honest, and you need to devote a good amount of colorless produces to cast this starting on turn 2. It's good, but not great, and is reigned in by requiring a casting cost available through a very narrow subset of lands.
3. Nissa, Vastwood Seer. I hesitate to call it bad, but I also don't see it doing a lot in standard particularly currently. Her +1 is anemic, and her -2 requires a strong board density to work well. The fact she is a 3 mana walker, however, with decent abilities will mean she sees some play. Just not a format staple.
4. Chandra, I can't remember her name. It's just not as good as people are making her out to be, which is dissappointing. Her +1 ability can blank heavily on many boardstates, her 0 ability is fine, and her -X ability notably doesn't hit what you need it to hit that late in the game. I'm fairly unimpressed all-around with her, and don't see the relevance of the card.
5. Eldrazi Displacer. Don't get me wrong, the card is perfectly fine in general. However, this suffers from the same problem as Warping Wail. It's a very strong effect if you can use it, but the fact that it's on a body coupled with the fact that it requires a narrow type of mana restricts its utility.
Note that I'm not necessarily saying these cards are *bad*, only overrrated. I'll get to my underrated in a bit.
1. Birthing Hulk - Works super well with Kozilek's Return and Sanctum of Ugin as the 7 drop and good enough to replace Oblivion Sower.
2 & 3. Corpse Churn and Pulse of Murasa look awesome for dredge, reanimator, and more.
Overrated:
- Oath of Nissa: It's not Ponder. Don't play it unless you're playing mono-green Devotion.
- Stormchaser Mage: It's not Monastery Swiftspear. Besides, only two decks play Swiftspear (Burn and Suicide Zoo) and neither plays blue.
- Eldrazi Displacer: worse than Flickerwisp or Restoration Angel.
- Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet: he needs support to be good. By himself, a 3/4 lifelink for 4 mana is quite bad.
- Jori En, Ruin Diver: Young Pyromancer comes down earlier and picks up more on-cast triggers.
Underrated:
- BG and UR manlands: They might be fine just for mana fixing. Treat the "man" part as a bonus.
- Spatial Distortion: It's a removal option for UW decks after Path.
- Pulse of Murasa: Snapcaster/Jace + Kolaghan's Command is a grindy combo that works. Eternal Witness + Pulse of Murasa is similar.
- Nissa, Voice of Zendikar: she's the cheapest PW that makes tokens. I still think something like Kitchen Finks is better though. There's no green token deck at the moment.
- Sparkmage's Gambit: if you're playing an aggro deck that attacks with a ton of 1/1s, this gets large blockers out of the way and kills anything that would trade with your 1/1s.
The manlands are my pick for "underrated card most likely to see play". The rest are better than people think but still not likely to see play.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
This thing flashes, it is blue, it enables processors and for two mana you can poof away a divining top, or disrupt other shenanigans, namely the old instant speed tutors you see in EDH so often. I don't know if there is an application for it but it seems like it has a niche for sure.
2 cards on your list surprise me. Matter Reshaper looks really good to me. A 3 mana creature that provides card advantage on a relevant body is nothing to scoff at. The only way I could think of this as "overrated" is if you were of the opinion that it would go into every deck. It's not some overpowered monster that will force every deck to splash colorless, but it's good enough to find a home somewhere.
I also find Sylvan Advocate as underrated surprising. When this card was revealed, it immediately drew comparisons to tarmogoyf. I don't think this is going under anyone's radar. It's really, really good and everyone knows it.
In my opinion, people are going to remember how good manlands that fix your mana are soon. Wandering Fumarole? Forgetaboutit, thing is a beast methinks
I invision a future where one is not mighty when he can silence a crowd with brutality,
but when he leaves them speechless with wisdom.
underrated: hedron alignment i want to see this played in a deck pls
URW PillowFort Stasis (costruction)
modern:
U Taking Turns combo
pauper:
UB Servitor Control
xenob8 : you know you are going to have a bad time when opponent starts with snow covered island
Overwhelming Denial - As many have stated, it doesn't matter that it can't be countered when you are first on the stack as they can always target your original spell with a second counter (not really talking about Standard here, but counter wars are a thing in older formats). It is still useful if you are simply trying to deny a play of theirs but you will often have to pay full price to do that.
Oaths - Oath of Jace is the best of the lot, but by and large there are other cards out there that do most of what these do. The real way to get value here is if you can pick up and replay these, and that is reasonably difficult to accomplish. Good utility, but these are not slam dunks or format changers.
Under-rated:
Grip of the Roil - It looks harmless enough at first glance, but Twitch this is not. Losing the option to untap hurts, but tapping things for multiple turns at a potentially discounted price and replacing its self? That's a hell of a deal. This is up there with Reflector Mage in terms of utility and that is saying a lot.
Umara Entangler - Prowess decks are trying to use Jeskai Sage or Jeskai Elder to fill in more cheap slots, but this card has what you really want: a base power of 2. That makes all of the difference in the world.
Inverter of Truth - The 6/6 flying body is just a bonus when the card reads "The best spells you have played already are now back in your library without any of the other stuff you don't want to use right now" in some decks. Probably a Standard miss, but anything that even vaguely resembles Doomsday is worth serious testing.
I don't believe in Inverter of Truth because of fetchlands. Every format uses them and they're practically dead draws once you Invert.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
EDH: UBRJeleva | GURSurrak
I'm thinking you must have misread the card. He needs you to have a graveyard when you play him, and leaves you without one afterwards. He completely eliminates your ability to run delve.
If you hate the deck, I'm probably playing it!
EDH: UBRJeleva | GURSurrak
Matter reshaper is fine but a 3/2 really isn't that much board presence. It trades with nearly every 1 and 2 drop played in standard and loses to anafenza, who also turns off the death trigger; Silkwrap is every where; there are cheaper cards for aristocrat decks to abuse; Finally most of the time the dies trigger is just going to be a Viridian Emissary which was only fringe playable on a 2 drop. Not that the card isn't effecient when it works but it seems horribly positioned in a world of anafenza, seigh rhino, silk wrap, and combo. To top it off adding colorless to mana bases is reasonably difficult for aggressive decks and 3-4 color decks. It's a good card but I don't see it making it outside of the kitchen table. Now I will take this moment to revoke my earlier notion that Thought-Knot Seer was over rated. Having 1 colorless on turn 4 is easier than 1 on turn 3, but more importantly exiling a card is absurd and even though occasionally it wiffs and later gives your opponent a free card it is game changing in so many situations. I think that that one might actually live up to the hype and at least make an appearance in some decks still in need of a good 4 drops and it will definitely be a card that people will be playing around.
Sylvan Advocate is currently averaging at $3.04 while Eldrazi Displacer for example is $5.21. Not that displacer isn't good(it does a lot of useful thinks even if none of them are that broken), but Sylvan Advocate does suffer from being redundant in multiples meaning you can fill out a deck with a full 4 copies. That means more demand so the price should be higher.
The problem is if you're delving before you end up putting yourself on a really short clock. You may be down to all gas. But you're not getting through it any faster without killing yourself and your probably put yourself on a short clock. It's also a problem if you were using delve for the purpose of cost reduction becau your delve spells, which at least 1 was still in your bin since it can't delve itself, are now completely dead draws. I just wonder how you think this nonbo could possibly be useful before turn 50?
If you hate the deck, I'm probably playing it!
Overrated
While coming up with 5 overrated cards was pretty hard for me, I can actually come up with more than 5 underrated cards:
Underrated
Overrated
While coming up with 5 overrated cards was pretty hard for me, I can actually come up with more than 5 underrated cards:
Underrated
Warping Wail has been amazing for me in tron whenever I played it. It countered Scapeshift and Maelstrom Pulse. If I had it in hand while playing against a Liliana I could flash in a 1/1 to sac instead of whatever creature I had on board. It kills Bob and Snapcaster.
Overrated
- Manite