One of the most enjoyable aspects of EDH is getting to incorporate unique, underplayed designs into your deck. Seeing the look on each of your opponent’s faces when you jam a card they’ve never seen before is priceless, and getting tons of mileage out of the card is a rewarding feeling.
As such, it’s no surprise that Commander enthusiasts are always looking to discover new tools for their decks. Thanks to a recent Reddit thread, many players took the opportunity to share their pet cards with the world, helping others get acquainted with a variety of intriguing options. For anyone looking to add some spice to their Commander shells, these underplayed cards could be right up your alley.
MTG Faces of the Past
As a card released in Scourge 23 years ago, it’s understandable that Faces of the Past would fall under the radar. Despite its niche effect, in the right deck, this enchantment can easily pull its weight. When paired with Azami, Lady of Scrolls and Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, for example, both enable you to tap your board of creatures to generate card advantage. With Faces of the Past also in play, if an opponent goes to kill any of your other creatures, you’ll get to untap your whole squad and get more value from your Commander. Add a sacrifice outlet into the equation, and things can get really out of hand.
Some sacrifice outlets even open the door for infinite combos when played alongside Faces of the Past. You can produce infinite Rat tokens, for example, by jamming Faces of the Past and Marrow-Gnawer. Each time you sacrifice a Rat, Marrow-Gnawer untaps, ready to be activated once more. As long as you have a couple other Rats in play besides Marrow-Gnawer, you’ll net extra Rat tokens each time you sacrifice one.
Alternatively, you can even use Faces of the Past to kill all opposing creatures by combining the powers of the enchantment with Amoeboid Changeling and Spirit Mirror. All you have to do is turn an opponent’s creature into a Changeling, and then blow it up with Spirit Mirror, thus untapping Amoeboid Changeling and allowing you to continue the chain.
MTG Endless Cockroaches
Continuing the trend of underplayed EDH typal support cards with combo potential, Endless Cockroaches is the perfect addition to a variety of decks. As a recursive Insect, this is a premium card to sacrifice over and over in a Fumulus, the Infestation shell. Similarly, continuously sacrificing Endless Cockroaches and replaying it makes it trivial to take advantage of Amzu, Swarm’s Hunger‘s triggered ability.
Perhaps the best home for this Insect, however, is in Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder decks, thanks to an infinite mana combo between these cards and Phyrexian Altar. That said, something similar can also be accomplished by equipping Endless Cockroaches with Deathrender and repeatedly sacrificing it to Phyrexian Altar. In either case, any infinite mana payoff or Blood Artist effect should end the game on the spot.
MTG Fatespinner
When it comes to annoying cards that put your opponents in a bind, Fatespinner is an extremely underrated tool. While your opponent is given a choice about how they want Fatespinner to affect them, all options are quite punishing. Most decks won’t want to miss their draw step, and losing out on main phases means your opponent won’t be able to play lands or cast sorcery-speed spells. Considering how many Commanders also rely on attack triggers or dealing combat damage to get value, it’s hard for Fatespinner to go wrong.
In this sense, while there aren’t any amazing synergies to be had with this Human Wizard, the creature does a lot for three mana. Any archetype with a Stax theme would be happy to include Fatespinner, so make sure to give it the respect it deserves.
MTG Soothsaying
All things considered, Soothsaying isn’t the strongest card on its own. Its ability to manipulate the top of your library is nice, but maximizing the enchantment does require a lot of mana input. Nonetheless, in Commander decks that rely on having powerful cards on the top of your deck to thrive, Soothsaying can definitely pull its weight.
This enchantment is at its absolute best in Marvo, Deep Operative decks. The reward for winning Clashes is huge with Marvo at the helm, so even if you have to sink some mana into Soothsaying’s abilities to set things up, you’ll undoubtedly pull ahead. The enchantment similarly ensures that Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign, or Animatou, Veil Piercer‘s triggers reveal a powerful card.
MTG Far Wanderings
It may be a simple, straightforward design, but Far Wanderings still gives you plenty of bang for your buck. This card has the potential to be significantly stronger than EDH staples like Cultivate, and Threshold isn’t difficult for a lot of decks to reach.
Unsurprisingly, Far Wanderings is a strong inclusion in Lands decks centered around Lord Windgrace or The Necrobloom that help fuel your graveyard. Even without major Lands synergies, this sorcery is powerful enough to warrant its inclusion in Sidisi, Brood Tyrant decks or any other self-Mill strategy. Don’t let its $0.25 price tag fool you. Getting three lands for three mana is an insane rate for any MTG Commander deck.
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