I am really surprised this isnt on the top 50 lists. Though honestly artifacts are hot competition for spots on there.
It's asking to get yourself stone rained in a lot of groups. Mana doublers are a prime target for removal and that one eats one of your lands when it comes in. It's saving grace is that it's cheap enough that it can be effectively used as a ritual, but that's still not really getting everything you were hoping out of it most of the time.
Yeah, I once played a game where the guy just wouldn't learn (and he was not a newb). He dropped Extraplanar Lense, eating a land, and I Capsized it with buyback. Next turn, he cast it again. And the next turn. After the fourth time of eating a land, someone finally told him to stop casting it.
suggesting worn powerstone, not on the top 25 colorless noncreature list. I guess people see it as a bad sol ring, but it's still a good ramp piece.
I would not consider it especially hidden considering it was in at the premade commander decks (both 2015 and 2014).
Necrologia is my submission for today. A lesser known card draw for black that is rather restrictive but handy if you just emptied your hand anyway or if you have a Spellbook effect in play to keep whatever you draw.
I am really surprised this isnt on the top 50 lists. Though honestly artifacts are hot competition for spots on there.
It's asking to get yourself stone rained in a lot of groups. Mana doublers are a prime target for removal and that one eats one of your lands when it comes in. It's saving grace is that it's cheap enough that it can be effectively used as a ritual, but that's still not really getting everything you were hoping out of it most of the time.
Yeah, I once played a game where the guy just wouldn't learn (and he was not a newb). He dropped Extraplanar Lense, eating a land, and I Capsized it with buyback. Next turn, he cast it again. And the next turn. After the fourth time of eating a land, someone finally told him to stop casting it.
I feel so sorry for him. I use it in mono blue Patron of the Moon with 20+ snow covered islands, and I mostly use it as a 2nd High Tide, exiling the island I used to cast high tide and casting it with thran dynamo or something similar. Running it in mono blue control makes it far easier to defend, but not forever. I use it to go infinite with patron, Meloku the Clouded Mirror and Amulet of Vigor
I was surprised to not see Rack and Ruin on the first page list. I've found that I always have two good targets for it, even relatively early game – e.g. to blow up a signet and a Sol Ring. It's also just three mana and instant speed, and can be more political than something like Vandalblast.
I'd like to mention sigil of sleep, whether you put him on a pinger, unblockable or combo him with something like nekusar he usually replaces himself and offers you more value than he costs to play. You can also politic with other players by enchanting their creatures.
Disciple of the Ring currently running her in a domain deck with lots of sorceries and a handful of instants, her 2nd ability isn't super useful, her other three however....if your opponents have low hands, are relying on large creatures and/or are casting big, she feels pretty busted at times. Lotta good archetypes she could fit into.
I'll add another, one I'm surprised to see not mentioned much despite how good it is....good ol' common Negate easy to cast and hold back will probably net something awful most games, comes in multiple different arts now and foils are fairly cheap. Excellent card budget or not.
I have reviewed the OP and removed some entries that have climbed their way out of obscurity into the latest iterations of the top 50 list.
I also added a card I found while doing research for my Gitrog deck: Terravore. The fact that it counts all lands can make it quite surprising, fetch lands are all the rage after all.
I don't suppose smothering abomination or wake the dead would be considered "hidden?" Seeing one in a list seems pretty rare. Definitely some of my favorite cards from recent times.
Wake the dead can be a one-shot value spell with etb/dies triggers, or combined with seedborn muse/palinchron effects and recursion to create an engine.
I don't suppose smothering abomination or wake the dead would be considered "hidden?" Seeing one in a list seems pretty rare. Definitely some of my favorite cards from recent times.
Wake the dead can be a one-shot value spell with etb/dies triggers, or combined with seedborn muse/palinchron effects and recursion to create an engine.
Wake the Dead is such a beating. One sided mass recursion is a powerful effect, and saccing eot gives you stacks of triggers and lets you do it all over again. That and Rally the Ancestors are a couple of my favorite late game cards.
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I have a hard time justifying them as 'hidden' since they're so new, but they are rarely seen. I run both in my Karador deck, and they can be huge blowouts.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Now that's it been out for a while, I'm surprised surveyor's scope has made basically no impact and can be picked up for a quarter.
It's been good for me in pretty much any nongreen deck, as pretty much always someone is playing green which means you can crack scope for at least 1 land. At 2 mana and putting the land into play untapped, that's already good enough.
I would suggest Helm of Chatzuk as a hidden gem. Bear with me on this one.
Let us say you have a 4/4 and a 1/1 and your opponent attacks you with a 5/5. You can give banding to either one of your creatures, block his 5/5 and you get to assign all damage to your 1/1 instead of your opponent choosing to kill both. The same goes for when attacking and can be especially handy when attacking with your commander and an expendable creature. You can choose where to assign the damage and save your commander.
People in EDH sometimes forego combat tricks for bigger plays but some smaller commanders that need to attack, like Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Alesha, Who Smiles at DeathAnafenza, the Foremost, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant etc. could benefit from a cheap method of tossing a smaller creature to save their important one. Alesha and Sidisi in particular are good for this, as they give you the creatures that can act as fodder.
Baton of Morale is a repeatable version but the cost for banding more than two creatures together may not be viable or efficient for most decks. If you want to band three creatures together it would require 4 mana to give it to all of them except one (so two of the creatures in this case). Helm just needs one mana to band two creatures and that seems the best use.
More importantly, though, is the opportunity to win a combat because of Banding, an ability which has been mocked for so long that losing a fight because of it can be funny and embarrassing for your opponent
EDIT: The downside of using the Helm is that you may have to explain Banding to someone.
Remember that it shuts down removal for everyone, not just for you. Lifeline's propensity to backfire keeps it out of a lot of my decks that would otherwise take a lot of advantage of it. Along the same lines as the Myr, I stick Darksteel Sentinel into more decks than I should. Six mana is rough, but those keywords are just so sweet for walling off creature strategies. It invariably gets cut for not being high enough impact at 6 CMC, but I have faith that I'll find the right deck for it someday. Maybe Odric, Lunarch Marshal?
I'm also like 75% sure I've mentioned that card before in this thread, so I'll throw in Beloved Chaplain and Commander Eesha as other cards that wall off creatures pretty well. They also carry equipment well and function on both offense and defense if you can give them vigilance (Brave the Sands is fun here).
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It shuts down spot removal, but not wraths. As long as you wipe out all their guys, you're fine.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I've already edited my Helm of Chatzuk post enough so I will add some more information about Banding here, as it may convince some players of the usefulness of The Helm and possibly Baton of Morale.
Another good point to remember about Banding is that you can basically negate Trample damage with a blocking creature that has Banding, even a single one. You can use the Helm to give Banding to a 1/1 creature you have, and it can block a 10/10 trampler and if you decide to assign all 10 damage to your blocker, there is nothing left to damage you. Trampling creatures are not obligated to assign damage exactly to a blocking creature's toughness (lethal) although it is very rare that an attacking player would do otherwise. Banding allows this rare situation.
Also, specifically when blocking you do not need all creatures minus one to have Banding. As long as a single creature that is blocking has Banding, you make damage assignment decisions. So to re-use the last example, if you have ten creature tokens that are 1/1 and your opponent has a 10/10 trampler, give Banding to one of your guys and then assign them all as blockers (they do not form a "band" as multiple blockers can already be assigned to block a single creature). You will do ten damage and kill the attacker, while you can assign the ten damage it deals to any one of your creatures, still negating Trample damage. You lose a 1/1 and the opponent loses a 10/10.
Archon of justice is surprisingly good IMO in metas where infinite combo is discouraged. It plays really well with the political nature of multiplayer EDH. It's really good at directing attacks away from you, and gives you a bit of board presence to beat on planeswalkers.
It's really good if you're in the market for a defensive card. Way better than something like soul snare.
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I've already edited my Helm of Chatzuk post enough so I will add some more information about Banding here, as it may convince some players of the usefulness of The Helm and possibly Baton of Morale.
Another good point to remember about Banding is that you can basically negate Trample damage with a blocking creature that has Banding, even a single one. You can use the Helm to give Banding to a 1/1 creature you have, and it can block a 10/10 trampler and if you decide to assign all 10 damage to your blocker, there is nothing left to damage you. Trampling creatures are not obligated to assign damage exactly to a blocking creature's toughness (lethal) although it is very rare that an attacking player would do otherwise. Banding allows this rare situation.
Also, specifically when blocking you do not need all creatures minus one to have Banding. As long as a single creature that is blocking has Banding, you make damage assignment decisions. So to re-use the last example, if you have ten creature tokens that are 1/1 and your opponent has a 10/10 trampler, give Banding to one of your guys and then assign them all as blockers (they do not form a "band" as multiple blockers can already be assigned to block a single creature). You will do ten damage and kill the attacker, while you can assign the ten damage it deals to any one of your creatures, still negating Trample damage. You lose a 1/1 and the opponent loses a 10/10.
It should also be noted that when using Banding in defense you assign blockers per normal rules (i.e. regarding evasion).
It should also be noted that when using Banding in defense you assign blockers per normal rules (i.e. regarding evasion).
If you mean that non-flyers cannot block flying creatures, then yes of course that still applies. There is no such thing as a "Band" when blocking; it is simply a creature that has banding allows you to choose damage assignment.
Otherwise, I am not sure what you are referring to.
Okay, we know Mycosynth Lattice is tons of fun with Aura Shards, but here's another card that makes it lulz: Viridian Revel! Draw your deck while destroying your opponent's.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
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I would not consider it especially hidden considering it was in at the premade commander decks (both 2015 and 2014).
Necrologia is my submission for today. A lesser known card draw for black that is rather restrictive but handy if you just emptied your hand anyway or if you have a Spellbook effect in play to keep whatever you draw.
You cannot outrun the beast within.
I feel so sorry for him. I use it in mono blue Patron of the Moon with 20+ snow covered islands, and I mostly use it as a 2nd High Tide, exiling the island I used to cast high tide and casting it with thran dynamo or something similar. Running it in mono blue control makes it far easier to defend, but not forever. I use it to go infinite with patron, Meloku the Clouded Mirror and Amulet of Vigor
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I also added a card I found while doing research for my Gitrog deck: Terravore. The fact that it counts all lands can make it quite surprising, fetch lands are all the rage after all.
You cannot outrun the beast within.
Both require some building around to be good, but when they're good, they're really good.
Wake the dead can be a one-shot value spell with etb/dies triggers, or combined with seedborn muse/palinchron effects and recursion to create an engine.
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Note that it doesn't stop everything. Wave of Vitriol, Living Death, Mutilate, and Black Sun's Zenith still get through, as do cards that exile, bounce, counter, or force discard.
On phasing:
It's been good for me in pretty much any nongreen deck, as pretty much always someone is playing green which means you can crack scope for at least 1 land. At 2 mana and putting the land into play untapped, that's already good enough.
Activating it in response to activating your own fetchland/evolving wilds/bad river/myriad landscape is potentially very powerful.
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Let us say you have a 4/4 and a 1/1 and your opponent attacks you with a 5/5. You can give banding to either one of your creatures, block his 5/5 and you get to assign all damage to your 1/1 instead of your opponent choosing to kill both. The same goes for when attacking and can be especially handy when attacking with your commander and an expendable creature. You can choose where to assign the damage and save your commander.
People in EDH sometimes forego combat tricks for bigger plays but some smaller commanders that need to attack, like Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death Anafenza, the Foremost, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant etc. could benefit from a cheap method of tossing a smaller creature to save their important one. Alesha and Sidisi in particular are good for this, as they give you the creatures that can act as fodder.
Baton of Morale is a repeatable version but the cost for banding more than two creatures together may not be viable or efficient for most decks. If you want to band three creatures together it would require 4 mana to give it to all of them except one (so two of the creatures in this case). Helm just needs one mana to band two creatures and that seems the best use.
More importantly, though, is the opportunity to win a combat because of Banding, an ability which has been mocked for so long that losing a fight because of it can be funny and embarrassing for your opponent
EDIT: The downside of using the Helm is that you may have to explain Banding to someone.
Everything combos with Tombstone Stairwell.
I'm also like 75% sure I've mentioned that card before in this thread, so I'll throw in Beloved Chaplain and Commander Eesha as other cards that wall off creatures pretty well. They also carry equipment well and function on both offense and defense if you can give them vigilance (Brave the Sands is fun here).
On phasing:
With the exception of tokens.
Another good point to remember about Banding is that you can basically negate Trample damage with a blocking creature that has Banding, even a single one. You can use the Helm to give Banding to a 1/1 creature you have, and it can block a 10/10 trampler and if you decide to assign all 10 damage to your blocker, there is nothing left to damage you. Trampling creatures are not obligated to assign damage exactly to a blocking creature's toughness (lethal) although it is very rare that an attacking player would do otherwise. Banding allows this rare situation.
Also, specifically when blocking you do not need all creatures minus one to have Banding. As long as a single creature that is blocking has Banding, you make damage assignment decisions. So to re-use the last example, if you have ten creature tokens that are 1/1 and your opponent has a 10/10 trampler, give Banding to one of your guys and then assign them all as blockers (they do not form a "band" as multiple blockers can already be assigned to block a single creature). You will do ten damage and kill the attacker, while you can assign the ten damage it deals to any one of your creatures, still negating Trample damage. You lose a 1/1 and the opponent loses a 10/10.
Everything combos with Tombstone Stairwell.
It's really good if you're in the market for a defensive card. Way better than something like soul snare.
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It should also be noted that when using Banding in defense you assign blockers per normal rules (i.e. regarding evasion).
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If you mean that non-flyers cannot block flying creatures, then yes of course that still applies. There is no such thing as a "Band" when blocking; it is simply a creature that has banding allows you to choose damage assignment.
Otherwise, I am not sure what you are referring to.
Everything combos with Tombstone Stairwell.
On phasing: