Not 100% how underrated it is but I really think monastery siege deserves more play. It's all around just a solid card, helps fix your draws every turn all while fueling delve strategies.
the problem is, that it costs 3 mana. and you want to play it in controldecks.
if you tap out on turn 3 with a controldeck you may really have a problem from there on.. thats probably why it does not see much play.
Not 100% how underrated it is but I really think monastery siege deserves more play. It's all around just a solid card, helps fix your draws every turn all while fueling delve strategies.
the problem is, that it costs 3 mana. and you want to play it in controldecks.
if you tap out on turn 3 with a controldeck you may really have a problem from there on.. thats probably why it does not see much play.
I'm not 100% convinced it's only for control decks. Playing it in a combo deck I've found to be invaluable as it helps dig for your combo pieces turn after turn.
Then again I'm basing this off of personal experience so I could be completely wrong.
LOl Thoughtseize isn't underrated.Everyone already considerers one of the best black cards is that no one is saying anything because everyone already knows that is one of the best
Not 100% how underrated it is but I really think monastery siege deserves more play. It's all around just a solid card, helps fix your draws every turn all while fueling delve strategies.
the problem is, that it costs 3 mana. and you want to play it in controldecks.
if you tap out on turn 3 with a controldeck you may really have a problem from there on.. thats probably why it does not see much play.
I'm not 100% convinced it's only for control decks. Playing it in a combo deck I've found to be invaluable as it helps dig for your combo pieces turn after turn.
Then again I'm basing this off of personal experience so I could be completely wrong.
I brewed a bunch with it and really just found it to be too underwhelming. Sure it enables delve and improves card quality, but as has been mentioned, casting a card on the critical turn 3 that does't affect the board is kinda suicide in this format.
Thoughtseize, along with Siege Rhino is one of these cards that have a very low skillcap and yet are super effective.
Its pretty easy to jam a thoughtseize on turn 1 and get value out of it, but most players don't use thoughtseize optimally. Hell, windmill slamming thoughtseize turn 1 is often the wrong play to make anyway. There IS a lot of skill involved in using thoughtseize properly, including knowing the metagame, what you expect your opponent to have in his deck, how you expect the game to proceed, etc.
But its such a high power card that you can "get away" with using it without any thought involved. But a skilled player will ALWAYS get more value out of thoughtseize than an unskilled one.
Yeah everyone knows thought seize and rhino are the 0 skill overpowered unfair cards of the format, no one is contesting that, and I'll be glad once they finally rotate out (although then they'll probably just get replaced with something else just as ridiculous)
I wanna put out another card here that's actually more relevant to this discussion: ensoul artifact. Sure it's a tad christmas-landy, but a t2 5/5 flyer (ornithopter) or a t2 5/5 indestructible (darksteel citadel) is just insane, and a lot of decks just can't keep up with that pressure. Maybe it's not as underrated as I think it is but it's just crazy good in the right circumstances, and you're almost never mad at seeing it at any stage of the game, in the right deck.
Ensoul Artifact shoehorns you into running a lot of artifacts, including some suboptimal ones just so you have an ensoul target, which is why people don't really like the card.
You're gonna tell me you can't pick at least a few cards to use along ensoul? All of the cards I listed range from semi-decent to amazing in the right decks, trust me, if you're having problems with ensoul being inconsistent, you're not doing it right.
Not 100% how underrated it is but I really think monastery siege deserves more play. It's all around just a solid card, helps fix your draws every turn all while fueling delve strategies.
the problem is, that it costs 3 mana. and you want to play it in controldecks.
if you tap out on turn 3 with a controldeck you may really have a problem from there on.. thats probably why it does not see much play.
I see where you're coming from, but Monastery Siege has saved my butt in FNM. I typically have it in as a one of to protect me in the critical moments (I run Jeskai).
I guess in general I have not seen a lot of talk about savage knuckleblade competitively. To me, he seems like quite the beater in the early game and works late game as a mana sink while still holding his own.
Figured I'd add in two others that I've found pretty awesome in home brew aggro/tempo decks. Warriors' Lesson - 1 drop, instant, that lets you draw some cards. great for decks going wide, also great for heroics, unblockables, evasive creatures. and with my most recent Gruul aggro, it was super fun to do a T1 Swiftspear or Satyr Hoplite, then T2 Swiftspear and Warriors' Lesson them both. also is nice to do in G/W after a T3 fabled hero, T4 Warriors and Gods Willing on fabled hero to trigger 2 heroic triggers, gods willing to give him unblockable, and swing, doublestrike for 8 life, and draw two cards just off him. bonus points if your other guy hits too.
Triton Tactics - I love this guy in a R/U or G/U aggro. Swing in, and let them think you have to eat the backswing... surprise, nope... and now two of your blockers are out of commission for my next swing. Also doubles as a lightning strike protection if needed.
Plus, you cant really beat hitting 2 creatures for 1 mana at instant speed.
While decks want to durdle he just flies right over them. Great if you want to get aggressive on turn 3 and never really bad because of bestow. I played BW for a while and would suit him frequently on seeker to just swing a game like that, or at the very least negate his only downside.
I've been surprised at how little Agent of the Fates is played seeing as how it's really backbreaking every time it is in the battlefield. I guess it just suffers from not having a proper home.
In the same vein, Disciple of Deceit sounded really good on paper, and it has proven stellar in the deck I play but, yeah, kinda difficult to find a home for that card.
Until very recently I'd have said Sultai Charm ... but now it's everywhere.
I think Prognostic Sphinx has more life left in it than people realise - I've been maindecking it alongside Tasigur for good results, and except against token decks I'd rather have it than Silumgar (though not PLA) in UB control, the Crux of Fate synergy not being all it's cracked up to be.
I want to call Necropolis Fiend underrated, as this card completely kills most red-based decks if it survives and is a faster answer to Stormbreath than any other creature in the format, but I've had too few opportunities to test it.
Bow of Nylea is still good in my online testing, and a card that can cause red players to just quit when it hits pre-board (or, if they're monored, just quit the match), but it's a victim of the more widespread enchantment hate in the format.
It's funny, standard is so open that even the 'underrated' cards can be plugged into any deck that needs them, and fulfill an important role. Cards like Hero's Blade don't seem that great, but when it's on the battlefield and you are casting legendaries, it just wrecks.
In the same vein, Disciple of Deceit sounded really good on paper, and it has proven stellar in the deck I play but, yeah, kinda difficult to find a home for that card.
That is one of my favorite cards in standard. What deck have you used her in? I would love to see what decks people are running her in. I keep trying to make her work, but its a struggle.
Not really something to brew AROUND, but every red-leaning aggro deck should have Collateral Damage, at least in the sideboard. It's right up there with Stoke in my opinion
Granted, it is seeing play now in R/W Aggro and Midrange but it's still only $2. It is crazy how efficient it can be.
Secondary price isn't much of a guide to how powerful a card is thought to be in Standard, not least because price is driven largely by older formats and by casual players. Whip of Erebos never went up in price even when it ruled the format for a couple of weeks. And even Siege Rhino isn't going for much despite having dominated both Standard and Modern since it was released.
That is one of my favorite cards in standard. What deck have you used her in? I would love to see what decks people are running her in. I keep trying to make her work, but its a struggle.
I want to make a list of all these "underrated" cards, and try to make some deck around them, lol. I mean, Knuckleblade, Monestary siege, TC, Temur Battlerage and Dissipate all seem like they'd make a solid Temur midrange deck. And Thoughtsieze, reaper, Whisperwood, and the XGG manifest seem like they'd make a solid Golgari skeleton, possibly with Sudden Reclamation. Add blue for Sultai Ascendancy and you have a pretty interesting sultai.... Wait a second.... Ascendancy with Manifest would be BONKERS !!!
It sucks that all of these cards are so obviously solid, yet so many of them arnt given the attention they deserve. (Totally agree that Thoughtseize shouldn't be on this list, maybe TC, but not Thoughtseize. IMO , every deck running blue should be packing at least one TC.)
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High Sentinels of Arashin is a very underrated card in my opinion. I find it to be a very useful card that quickly becomes a major threat if left unchecked.
Most decks that utilize red have it as a sideboard card, which I can understand if you're not mono, but really the card is amazing right now especially with the amount of popular 1 and 2 toughness creatures being played.
Nothing like a turn 2 removal spell that also bolts your opponent in the face.
if you tap out on turn 3 with a controldeck you may really have a problem from there on.. thats probably why it does not see much play.
I'm not 100% convinced it's only for control decks. Playing it in a combo deck I've found to be invaluable as it helps dig for your combo pieces turn after turn.
Then again I'm basing this off of personal experience so I could be completely wrong.
I brewed a bunch with it and really just found it to be too underwhelming. Sure it enables delve and improves card quality, but as has been mentioned, casting a card on the critical turn 3 that does't affect the board is kinda suicide in this format.
Its pretty easy to jam a thoughtseize on turn 1 and get value out of it, but most players don't use thoughtseize optimally. Hell, windmill slamming thoughtseize turn 1 is often the wrong play to make anyway. There IS a lot of skill involved in using thoughtseize properly, including knowing the metagame, what you expect your opponent to have in his deck, how you expect the game to proceed, etc.
But its such a high power card that you can "get away" with using it without any thought involved. But a skilled player will ALWAYS get more value out of thoughtseize than an unskilled one.
I wanna put out another card here that's actually more relevant to this discussion: ensoul artifact. Sure it's a tad christmas-landy, but a t2 5/5 flyer (ornithopter) or a t2 5/5 indestructible (darksteel citadel) is just insane, and a lot of decks just can't keep up with that pressure. Maybe it's not as underrated as I think it is but it's just crazy good in the right circumstances, and you're almost never mad at seeing it at any stage of the game, in the right deck.
When it works, its amazing, but that's a big if.
You're gonna tell me you can't pick at least a few cards to use along ensoul? All of the cards I listed range from semi-decent to amazing in the right decks, trust me, if you're having problems with ensoul being inconsistent, you're not doing it right.
I see where you're coming from, but Monastery Siege has saved my butt in FNM. I typically have it in as a one of to protect me in the critical moments (I run Jeskai).
Warriors' Lesson - 1 drop, instant, that lets you draw some cards. great for decks going wide, also great for heroics, unblockables, evasive creatures. and with my most recent Gruul aggro, it was super fun to do a T1 Swiftspear or Satyr Hoplite, then T2 Swiftspear and Warriors' Lesson them both. also is nice to do in G/W after a T3 fabled hero, T4 Warriors and Gods Willing on fabled hero to trigger 2 heroic triggers, gods willing to give him unblockable, and swing, doublestrike for 8 life, and draw two cards just off him. bonus points if your other guy hits too.
Triton Tactics - I love this guy in a R/U or G/U aggro. Swing in, and let them think you have to eat the backswing... surprise, nope... and now two of your blockers are out of commission for my next swing. Also doubles as a lightning strike protection if needed.
Plus, you cant really beat hitting 2 creatures for 1 mana at instant speed.
While decks want to durdle he just flies right over them. Great if you want to get aggressive on turn 3 and never really bad because of bestow. I played BW for a while and would suit him frequently on seeker to just swing a game like that, or at the very least negate his only downside.
In the same vein, Disciple of Deceit sounded really good on paper, and it has proven stellar in the deck I play but, yeah, kinda difficult to find a home for that card.
I agree with this. I've been using it in my Sultai deck and people get salty as hell.
Curse of the Swine is underrated, too.
I think Prognostic Sphinx has more life left in it than people realise - I've been maindecking it alongside Tasigur for good results, and except against token decks I'd rather have it than Silumgar (though not PLA) in UB control, the Crux of Fate synergy not being all it's cracked up to be.
I want to call Necropolis Fiend underrated, as this card completely kills most red-based decks if it survives and is a faster answer to Stormbreath than any other creature in the format, but I've had too few opportunities to test it.
Bow of Nylea is still good in my online testing, and a card that can cause red players to just quit when it hits pre-board (or, if they're monored, just quit the match), but it's a victim of the more widespread enchantment hate in the format.
That is one of my favorite cards in standard. What deck have you used her in? I would love to see what decks people are running her in. I keep trying to make her work, but its a struggle.
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Secondary price isn't much of a guide to how powerful a card is thought to be in Standard, not least because price is driven largely by older formats and by casual players. Whip of Erebos never went up in price even when it ruled the format for a couple of weeks. And even Siege Rhino isn't going for much despite having dominated both Standard and Modern since it was released.
Here's the Deck I use her in.
It sucks that all of these cards are so obviously solid, yet so many of them arnt given the attention they deserve. (Totally agree that Thoughtseize shouldn't be on this list, maybe TC, but not Thoughtseize. IMO , every deck running blue should be packing at least one TC.)
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Most decks that utilize red have it as a sideboard card, which I can understand if you're not mono, but really the card is amazing right now especially with the amount of popular 1 and 2 toughness creatures being played.
Nothing like a turn 2 removal spell that also bolts your opponent in the face.
Only 6 copies in the top 8 of GP Miami. I guess it needs to be a 4 of in every deck to be rated.
Just kidding with you durn thanks for contributing but that card is way too good to be underrated.
I think Steam Augury is underrated. Not many good draw spells in standard.