Malachite Talisman is an odd little card that I have seen be pretty devastating in the right decks. When I last saw it, it was used in a green devotion deck with big mana creatures to make some pretty nutty things happen.
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.
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.
Is there any reason why Gray Merchant of Asphodel is not on this list? He has single handedly won me many games. He is a must have for mono black decks and 2-3 color decks as well.
It is most likely because of the time of release rule that is on this topic. It was cutting off at Theros until very recently. Also Gray merchant is on the Top 50 lists which is another reason it did not make it to the list here.
My hidden gem for today is No Rest for the Wicked. I was actually a bit surprised it had not been mentioned sooner, its a fantastic card to play around in sacrifice decks like Jund.
I have been testing out a similar deck since Fate Reforged came out, here are a few cards you may want to consider (Suggesting only the budget friendly ones as I noticed your update about that):
- Belbe's Portal: A colorless and relatively cheap way to cheat dragons into play.
- Elvish Piper: Like the above but not colorless.
- Reito Lantern / Soldevi Digger: Use these as a way of putting the better dragons from the grave back into your deck for more uses with Scion.
- Vorosh, the Hunter: I would suggest this guy over Kilnmouth Dragon. You can use it very effectively with Scion if you can get an attack on a player to go unblocked, pay 2 to make scion into this guy then pay 3 to get the counters quickly and easily. Use with Reito lantern/Soldevi digger as above to rinse and repeat for fast GD deaths.
- Patriarch's Bidding: An absolute must for this deck. Very few revived types can stand up to an army of dragons.
Note: The Kamigawa dragons can be interesting when your general is about to be killed, you can quickly switch it to Yosei, the morning star for example and apply that effect as a surprise. You would have to let Scion hit the graveyard though so should only be applied if you have some revival handy or Gift of Immortality on it.
There is a bit of an issue with Pyramids and that is the oracle text which reads:
2: Choose one - Destroy target Aura attached to a land; or the next time target land would be destroyed this turn, remove all damage marked on it instead.
So essentially it may save your man lands but it will not save them from strip mine and the likes. I am unsure why they changed it to be honest as it is not overly powerful in its original wording.
Added a couple of cards to the list. I could've sworn we already had these but it seems not. Compulsion and Call the Skybreaker.
Compulsion is a great graveyard dumping card that I used extensively in my Bruna deck. Call of the Skybreaker of course can give a bit more beatdown to an otherwise spellslinger deck. It also gives you nice options to replace your land draws later in the game.
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 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.
It is most likely because of the time of release rule that is on this topic. It was cutting off at Theros until very recently. Also Gray merchant is on the Top 50 lists which is another reason it did not make it to the list here.
I am really surprised this isnt on the top 50 lists. Though honestly artifacts are hot competition for spots on there.
NOTE: I updated the main post's cut off time to Khans as it was still showing Theros.
Brute Force / Seething Anger can be nice as well.
Screaming Fury as a blow out card.
Sure Strike / Slaughter Cry/Fit of rage are boosters with the nice bonus of First Strike.
Titan's Strength yet another boosting spell but with Scry tied in.
Commando Raid and Tail Slash can wipe a decent amount of creatures without harming yours, especially potent with the above boosting spells.
I also found Forge Armor which can make for a nice permanent boost to your tokens depending on what you sacrifice.
From looking into this Zada could make a fun budget commander as well since these are mostly commons.
Soldevi Digger
A classic card forgotten by most players. Reito Lantern is more versatile but its never a bad idea to have a bit of redundancy in EDH.
- Belbe's Portal: A colorless and relatively cheap way to cheat dragons into play.
- Elvish Piper: Like the above but not colorless.
- Reito Lantern / Soldevi Digger: Use these as a way of putting the better dragons from the grave back into your deck for more uses with Scion.
- Vorosh, the Hunter: I would suggest this guy over Kilnmouth Dragon. You can use it very effectively with Scion if you can get an attack on a player to go unblocked, pay 2 to make scion into this guy then pay 3 to get the counters quickly and easily. Use with Reito lantern/Soldevi digger as above to rinse and repeat for fast GD deaths.
- Patriarch's Bidding: An absolute must for this deck. Very few revived types can stand up to an army of dragons.
Note: The Kamigawa dragons can be interesting when your general is about to be killed, you can quickly switch it to Yosei, the morning star for example and apply that effect as a surprise. You would have to let Scion hit the graveyard though so should only be applied if you have some revival handy or Gift of Immortality on it.
So essentially it may save your man lands but it will not save them from strip mine and the likes. I am unsure why they changed it to be honest as it is not overly powerful in its original wording.
Compulsion is a great graveyard dumping card that I used extensively in my Bruna deck. Call of the Skybreaker of course can give a bit more beatdown to an otherwise spellslinger deck. It also gives you nice options to replace your land draws later in the game.
EDH-wise im planning a deck for Yasova Dragonclaw, its been a while since I have worked on a Voltron style deck.
What have you guys been up too?