Thanks to the format’s slower nature, long-term value is often the most effective strategy in Commander. With so many threats constantly impacting the board, it’s very rare that removal alone can clean up everything. Because of this, unknown value generators that can sneak by unaware opponents can really shine in the format. Felhide Spiritbinder is a fantastic example of this, as it can create a nauseating amount of copies in the right deck.
MTG Felhide Spiritbinder
Felhide Spiritbinder offers a cheap, repeatable copy effect, but it requires you to untap to use it, which also requires you to tap it. While you can naturally tap the Spiritbinder by attacking, your opponents will likely kill the Spiritbinder once they figure out your antics. To avoid this, you can use cards like Springleaf Drum and Paradise Mantle to tap the Spiritbinder safely.
Once you have a safe way to tap Felhide Spiritbinder, the card works best when you can untap it multiple times per turn. While cards like Umbral Mantle can do the trick, it’s difficult to beat Intruder Alarm. Since Felhide Spiritbinder will be creating creatures when untapping, Intruder Alarm can put more untap triggers on the stack.
With this setup, Felhide Spiritbinder can easily find a home in all kinds of different decks. Whether you’re making copies of Etali, Primal Conqueror to cast tons of spells, or Deadpool, Trading Card to steal the text of your opponent’s Commanders, Felhide Spiritbinder can quickly take over a game. Notably, unlike most cards with this effect, you can even copy your opponent’s creatures, allowing you to steal their massive beaters on a whim.
Sadly, Felhide Spiritbinder’s tokens do disappear at your end step, but this isn’t the hardest downside to get around. Ending your turn with cards like Sundial of the Infinite and Obeka, Brute Chronologist will allow your tokens to stick around permanently. Alternatively, The Master, Multiplied will prevent your tokens from sacrificing themselves, while Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds can create permanent copies using its activated ability.
Going Infinite
While Felhide Spiritbinder can just do work as a value piece, it can also go infinite with just one other card. Since Felhide Spiritbinder turns the cards it copies into enchantments, it can do some silly things with Ondu Spiritdancer. This card can recognize itself as an enchantment, meaning that each Ondu Spiritdancer copy will trigger itself, making another copy. This repeats infinitely, granting you as many creatures as you want. From here, a Haste effect like Mass Hysteria will close the game.
If you’re running Felhide Spiritbinder in an Izzet deck, the card can create a few different infinite combos with Freed from the Real. Palinchron, Great Whale, and Peregrine Drake all untap five or more lands on entry, allowing a Felhide Spiritbinder enchanted with Freed for the Real to tap, create a copy, and untap infinitely. Unlike the Ondu Spiritdancer combo, all of these creature copies are created using Felhide Spiritbinder, so they’ll all have Haste naturally.
An Underplayed Gem
With so many ways to use Felhide Spiritbinder, it’s shocking that the card doesn’t see more play. Sure, the card makes frequent appearances in Minotaur typal, but even with other extremely synergistic Commanders, this card barely sees any play at all. Thanks to this, the Minotaur Shaman only sees play in about 6,060 decks according to EDHREC.
Due, in part, to its unpopularity, Felhide Spiritbinder is a true budget gem. Despite only appearing as a rare in Born of the Gods, this card is only worth $0.50, making it a fantastic addition to any decks that can use it. Frankly, if you have Ondu Spiritdancer in a deck that can run this card, you should probably pick it up.
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