No matter what kind of Commander deck you’re playing these days, chances are it’ll include at least a handful of draw engines. With how far power creep has come recently, these cards are essential to maintain the stream of resources you need to stay competitive. While many of the best MTG cards in this category are well-known, some bangers, like Dire Undercurrents, remain relatively obscure. Not only can this Shadowmoor enchantment draw you a boatload of cards, but it’ll help you drag your opponents’ hands down in the process.
Dire Undercurrents MTG
Right out of the gate, Dire Undercurrents is a phenomenal card for aggressive Dimir decks like Faeries and Ninjas. A major problem these strategies face is getting blown out by board wipes, and Undercurrents lets you build up the resources to ignore that issue.
With low-cost, on-type creatures like Silver-Fur Master and Likeness Looter, you can keep the cards flowing as you develop your board. If you run a lot of Dimir creatures, like these or Baleful Strix, the discard can also put extra strain on any removal your opponents are holding on to.
Since Dire Undercurrents triggers off of any creature entering under your control, it’s also fantastic in token strategies. Decks like Zombie Typal, that can field a ton of black tokens with ease with cards like Diregraf Colossus, fully removing opponents’ hands. Since the discard effect can target you as well, you can use it as an outlet to get your bigger Zombies, such as Rot Hulk, into the bin, too.
Likewise, blue token decks like Merfolk can pull way ahead on cards using generators like Emperor Mihail II and Deeproot Pilgrimage. If you’re feeling particularly nasty, you can even get double value from these tokens by using Darkest Hour to make all of their tokens fully Dimir, getting some extra discard alongside your draw.
If you prefer a slower playstyle, Dire Undercurrents is also excellent in blink and bounce decks. With cards like Conjurer’s Closet and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling in the mix, you can guarantee a trigger or two every turn. Creatures that bounce on entry, like Cavern Harpy, are also great fits here, nabbing you extra value while you recycle your enters and leaves triggers.
Luck Of The Draw
Thanks to the flexible nature of its trigger condition, Dire Undercurrents is also capable of powering some nasty combo lines. With The Watcher in the Water, for instance, it can create a massive token board while drawing your entire deck in the process. To set this off, all you need to do is draw a card on an opponent’s turn with both pieces in play. You can easily achieve this with instant-speed draw like Brainstorm, or even just by cracking a Clue token.
When you draw, you’ll create a 1/1 blue Tentacle token with Watcher, which will trigger Undercurrents and let you draw again. Repeat this as many times as you like to draw your deck, setting you up for a Thassa’s Oracle win when your turn rolls around. If you’re in Grixis colors, the same combo is possible with The Locust God, but even more open since you only need to draw on your own turn for that.
Dire Undercurrents is also capable of creating some potent sacrifice loops alongside Nadir Kraken. With Phyrexian Altar on hand, drawing a card will let you pay one to make a token, which will draw you another card. You can then sacrifice the first token to pay to make another, then rinse and repeat for enters and dies triggers equal to your deck size.
This isn’t a full-on infinite, but it should give you enough triggers for a win with Zulaport Cutthroat or Altar of the Brood. If you sub in Ashnod’s Altar as your sacrifice outlet, you’ll generate colorless mana equal to your deck size, too, which should be enough to close things out with a Torment of Hailfire.
Secrets Below The Surface
While it shines brightest when built around, Dire Undercurrents is broad enough that it can slot into pretty much any Dimir deck in Commander. As long as you’re running a good amount of creatures, this is a fantastic draw engine that lets you attack your opponents’ resources as well. Though other options may offer more on the pure draw axis, there are few with this kind of proactive potential.
Despite this usefulness, not a lot of Commander players are running Dire Undercurrents at present. According to EDHREC, just 5.58k decks include it, which is low even for a two-color card. While it sees reasonable play in Faerie and Ninja Typal lists, barely any other decks are running it, which is a crying shame.
Though it’s currently niche, Dire Undercurrents actually isn’t as cheap as you’d expect. Near-mint copies of the base Shadowmoor version will run you around $4, which puts it a bit outside of budget territory. This isn’t too bad when you consider the prices on staple draw engines like Rhystic Study, but it’s still higher than you’d expect.
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