Everyone has that friend who always brings some weird MTG cards to Commander. For a while, they look totally terrible, and then, they just… work.
There are tens of thousands of MTG cards out there. Many cards get their opportunities in the spotlight. Others are known as Commander staples, commonly showing up in a multitude of different decks. These, however, are generally pretty expensive since everyone plays them.
Everyone wants to find the ‘next big thing,’ and Magic is no different. There are some powerful, yet incredibly cheap hidden gems that haven’t caught on with the larger Commander crowd. While you may have seen a few of these cards before, it is our hope that at least one card on this list is something that you may not have considered yet.
Energy Flux
- Mana Value: 2U
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Type: Enchantment
- MTG Sets: Mystery Booster 2, The List, Mercadian Masques, Fifth Edition, Antiquities, Revised, Fourth Edition, Summer Magic, Rivals Quick Start, Introductury two-player set
- Card Text: All artifacts have “At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this artifact unless you pay (2)”
Energy Flux is ultimate artifact hoser. If you’re tired of your opponents getting ahead with fast mana like Mana Crypt and Sol Ring, Energy Flux shuts them down. Food and Treasure Token decks get completely hosed by Energy Flux, as your opponent is basically forced to sacrifice a majority of their tokens. Any artifact Commander decks will lose their entire boards to this card. If you aren’t super dependent on artifacts and are running blue, Energy Flux will not disappoint. The card even gets a Mystery Booster 2 printing in an alternate frame! Seeing play in 0% of decks according to EDHREC, Energy Flux card is truly a Commander diamond in the rough.
Recycle
- Mana Value: 4GG
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Enchantment
- MTG Sets: Tempest
- Card Text: Skip your draw phase. Whenever you play a card, draw a card. During your discard phase, choose and discard all but two cards.
Like Energy Flux, Recycle needs a specific type of deck to shine. Fortunately, that Commander just so happened to appear in Bloomburrow. This goes quite well with Flubs, the Fool, but that card is strong enough to be a cEDH Commander. Recycle costs a hefty amount to deploy, but between this and Flubs, you will never run out of gas.
It is important to let players know that Recycle will draw cards on both lands and spells you play. This makes the card playable, frankly, since this would suck if you couldn’t draw cards off lands since you skip your draw step. This, instead becomes the major strength of the card since drawing lands will consistently provide gas. Flubs also allows for a second land drop, which can allow Recycle to go the distance. Similar to Energy Flux, Recycle has a 0% playrate on EDHREC as well.
Wishclaw Talisman
- Mana Value: 1B
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Artifact
- MTG Sets: Mystery Booster 2, Wilds of Eldraine
- Card Text: Wishclaw Talisman enters the battlefield with three wish counters on it. (1) (tap), Remove a wish counter from Wishclaw Talisman: search your library for a card, put it in your hand, then shuffle your library. An opponent gains control of Wishclaw Talisman. Activate this ability only during your turn.
This tutor can be a great way to get your key cards while making alliances at the table. This is much more popular than other cards on our list, but Wishclaw Talisman can be used in a variety of different ways.
The nastiest ways to utilize Wishclaw Talisman is to either untap it multiple times in a turn and tutor three times, or regain control of the Talisman from opponents before you get a chance to use it (with something like Homeward Path). Five mana to, effectively, tutor three different cards is absolutely insane on-rate. While this is the dream when using a card like this, using it for politics is potentially even more fun.
If there is an archenemy at your Commander table, Wishclaw Talisman can do a lot to take them down. Not only do you get to tutor for an answer to something, but an opponent who’s essentially on your team can use their resources to deal with something problematic if you let them find it. Wishclaw Talisman becomes unexpectedly wicked in this sense. Instead of dealing with the issue yourself, allow your opponent to use their resources instead. Just make sure their ‘solution’ won’t kill you in the process.
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Rebuff the Wicked
- Mana Value: W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Type: Instant
- MTG Set: The List, Time Spiral Remastered, Planar Chaos
- Card Text: Counter target spell that targets a permanent you control.
Rebuff the Wicked is a bizarre counterspell that can help protect your Commanders that are white, but don’t have blue in their color identities. Of course, there are other options that can protect your cards in these colors. Cards that grant your creatures keywords like Hexproof and Indestructible can help out here, but Rebuff the Wicked can stop larger spells that do more than just target your Commander. You can also stop cards that target any permanent you control. If you want to protect more than just your Commander, Rebuff the Wicked can do that, too.
Mercadia’s Downfall
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Type: Instant
- MTG Sets: The List, Mercadian Masques
- Card Text: Attacking creatures get +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of nonbasic lands defending player controls.
Of all the MTG Commander sleepers on this list, Mercadia’s Downfall is the biggest sleeper of them all. A sneaky instant-speed pump spell for three mana, Mercadia’s Downfall is commonly enough to end games on the spot. As long as you have a decent number of creatures attacking, its not uncommon for them to get seven or more power as the game goes on. Multicolor Commander decks are not in the habit of playing a lot of Basic Lands, and Mercadia’s Downfall takes advantage of that.
Sure, there will be times where this card underperforms, but if you’re looking for a cheap win condition that players will not see coming, you can’t get more obscure than a card like this.
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