For the most part, MTG Commander games go exceptionally long. Thanks to players having 40 life and plenty of board wipes, it’s rather common for game plans to get knocked down a few times before succeeding. Because of this, it can become frustratingly common
If you’re looking to play a longer game, making sure you have resources after the dust clears from a board wipe is important. Card draw, for that reason, is essential to keep up with your opponents. Sadly, some colors, like blue, are much better at card draw than others.
If you’re struggling to find some card draw options that work for your Commander deck, there are a series of cards that should refuel your resources, no matter what deck you’re playing. Aside from some obvious Game Changers like The One Ring and massive all-stars like Skullclamp, these MTG cards could be worth a try.
The Apple of Eden, Isu’s Relic MTG
The Apple of Eden, Isu’s Relic may only offer a one-time effect, but it’s a fantastic way to reload on resources. Casting multiple spells from your opponent’s hand, Apple of Eden can play a bunch of powerful spells in one go. Better yet, if one player is clearly ahead of the rest of the table, you can use Apple of Eden to strip their best resources out of their hand.
While this can be a great way to spend a ton of mana in any MTG deck, some decks want Apple of Eden more than others. Any deck that benefits from casting opponents’ spells, like Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, will get additional value from using this. Alternatively, Commanders that have artifact recursion, like Daretti Scrap Savant, can essentially turn Apple of Eden into a repeatable card advantage engine by bringing it back after use. Finally, if you have ways to punish your opponents for drawing extra cards, like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Apple of Eden can also do double duty.
Memory Jar MTG
Between Apple of Eden and Memory Jar, this is undoubtedly the more powerful card, drawing you and everyone else a temporary fresh seven cards. If you can find ways to recur Memory Jar repetitively, you could even draw your whole deck in a single turn. Thanks to this, and a very scary reputation from a competitive stint decades ago, opponents are more likely to blow up Memory Jar on sight.
If you manage to use this with lots of resources at the ready, however, Memory Jar can allow for extremely explosive turns. This is especially true when used with draw and discard synergies like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Megrim. With both in play, your opponents will take 28 damage, assuming that they don’t play anything from their hand before the end step, while you gain 14 life and have a fresh hand of cards to use. This card is exceedingly easy to break, but even if you’re just using it as a card draw piece, you won’t be disappointed.
Mind’s Eye MTG
In Commander’s infancy, Mind’s Eye was considered a staple. That said, as the years have passed, this card shows up less and less at Commander tables. This doesn’t mean that the card is unpopular, but it is likely a lot less popular than it should be.
Mind’s Eye essentially offers you a Rhystic Study-esque card that can turn your mana into card draw. Even if your opponents aren’t drawing extra cards in a turn, spending three mana to draw three cards every turn cycle is incredibly powerful.
Palantir of Orthanc MTG
Palantir of Orthanc is, basically, the strongest Phyrexian Arena variant currently available, and it’s a card that any Commander deck can play. Not only can this reward you with card draw every turn, but the extra Scrying will set up your future turns. Better yet, if you’re playing cards with big mana values, Palantir of Orthanc can occasionally cause excessive damage to an opponent.
Your opponents have the option of making you mill cards instead of drawing them, but realistically, you won’t be milling more than a few times with this card. Once your Influence Counters pass 3, unless you’re clearly playing a deck with a low mana curve, it’s generally too risky for the opponent to let you mill cards. If you are playing a deck that’s relatively low to the ground and doesn’t otherwise want to mill, you’re likely better off with different card draw engines.
Notably, the mill function of Palantir of Orthanc makes it a particularly lethal option if you’re playing a Commander deck that uses its graveyard. Reanimation strategies, like Terra, Herald of Hope, or Flashback decks like Iroh, Grand Lotus can use Palantir of Orthanc as a way to dump powerful spells into the graveyard to recur. Even if you aren’t using your graveyard, however, Palantir of Orthanc, like the other cards found here, will do lots of work in all kinds of Commander decks.
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