Unsung Heroes: 2023’s Most Underrated Cards for Commander
You know how new cards that are a perfect fit for the Commander format get talked about ad nauseam? They generate discussions, threads, brainstorming and combo-busting sessions and all manners of hype. I’m here to talk about the cards that did not get their time to shine.
The cards that came out in 2023 which people do seem to run — some of them quite often even — but did not come with the regular go-to associated hype. Cards that showed up because ‘naturally, they’re a great fit for our format’ but did not get those overwhelming responses from the community for some reason. Let’s take a look at this year’s cards that deserve their time in the spotlight!
Dauntless Dismantler
I expected this card to get way more praise! Artifacts your opponents control now enter tapped, just like with Blind Obedience, Kismet and Manglehorn. On top of that, you can absolutely pay 0 for x and wipe all artifacts with a mana value of zero, which seems ever more relevant with this year’s increase in Clue, Food, Map and Treasure tokens. Strip away someone’s free Dockside Extortionist value, either by having their treasures enter tapped, or sacrificing it on X equals zero for just one white mana afterwards.
The amount of one- and two-mana artifacts our format relies on for decks to get ahead early feels quite high nowadays. Being able to pick and choose how you clear the board and keeping your own higher mana value pieces intact without having to rely on the nuclear options like Farewell and Austere Command could prove beneficial as well. Selective wiping can mean you come out on top. If only this card had flash ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
Stroke of Midnight
While it can’t destroy a land, it can destroy everything else, for the same mana cost as Generous Gift. I truly believed people would talk about this card more often, then again, it’s only been printed a few weeks ago. Wait, we’re in December? When did that happen? This feels like a card we’ll see in many precons to come. I’m unsure if this will grow into a staple since it’s ‘ever so slightly’ worse than Generous Gift, but if you’re limited to mono-white, this should find a slot in your 99. Three mana to destroy (almost) anything at instant speed isn’t bad, and the 1/1 token seems too insignificant to not run this card.
Cyber Conversion
This is a great way to deal with indestructible creatures! It can be difficult to get rid of cards like Avacyn, Angel of Hope or Zetalpa, Primal Dawn. Flip them over and have them be a 2/2 instead. And let’s be honest, how often do you expect your opponent to have a way to turn their creature face up again? That’s not an effect you’re used to seeing ‘casually’ in the 99. If only we had more options to deal with indestructible creatures for 2 mana in blue. What’s the next card on the list again?
Eaten by Piranhas
Even if we disregard indestructibility, sometimes destroying someone’s commander with cards like Rapid Hybridization or Pongify is less desirable because it means they can put it back in the command zone and cast it again. Stripping a commander of their abilities entirely can often be the better choice over removing it.
As long as the table is smart and doesn’t block the 1/1 commander so it never dies, it can be a Skeleton for as long as you need. And while there’s no shortage of these cards that have a similar effect — remember people trying to type out Ichthyomorphosis correctly the first time? — usually those types of ability stripping cards do not have flash and aren’t this low to the ground in mana value.
Infernal Sovereign
Granted, it’s a hefty mana cost, but the potential return value you get is quite high. Any land you play or spell you cast now draws you a card. Turn the life loss into a benefit with cards like Rowan, Scion of War or Vilis, Broker of Blood. If you run this card in a Grixis shell, you should have no shortage of rituals and cantrips to ensure that once Infernal Sovereign resolves, you’re going to keep drawing cards and casting spells. Add your own Sheoldred, the Apocalypse to the 99 to offset the life loss and prepare for the inevitable Orcish Bowmaster triggers to get pointed your way.
Nasty End
I believe this card is a little overshadowed by both Village Rites and Corrupted Conviction, since those will guarantee you two cards for one mana. While it’s true there’s restrictions on Nasty End, in a format where you have access to a legendary creature in your command zone, the condition to draw three isn’t that hard to meet. Drawing three cards at instant speed for two mana comes close to some of the strongest card draw effects we have seen on a singular card in Magic as a whole. Until we see a new Ancestral Recall type card get printed, this is probably as close are we’re going to get in modern day magic.
Path of the Pyromancer
I talked about this card at length in my March of the Machine precon article, and I still believe that it's being slept on. I don’t know if it’s because people disregard it because of the ‘Will of the Planeswalkers’ part of the card — which will only work in Planechase — but this should see way more play than it does. Discard your hand, ritual equal to your hand size, then draw your entire hand plus one. Is five mana too high a cost for this effect? Not to me, but Jeska’s Will being only three mana might have something to do with the unpopularity of this card. Maybe Decaying Time Loop will see more play over time instead?
Uncivil Unrest
A Rhythm of the Wild-adjacent card in less colors, meaning you can add it in decks without green AND a damage doubler on top. The choice of haste or a counter becomes a little harder knowing the counter means your nontoken creatures will deal double damage, but red has no lack of other haste-granting effects to fall back on. Note how it’s any sort of damage, not just combat damage. If you already have Gimli, Toralf, or Torbran in your deck, I’m sure you can find a slot for Uncivil Unrest. Quite a fun card to put in your Gishath, Sun’s Avatar deck as well since it already has haste! Take the +1/+1 counter, slap someone for 14 and start flipping into more Dinosaurs!
Elven Farsight
Turn one scry three then potentially draw a card. Have you ever been in a situation where you kept your opening hand and it turned out to not be all that great compared to others after seeing everyone take their turn one? Or, let’s be honest, you kept a greedy hand and your turn 1 draw didn’t end up being what you hoped for — you really should stop doing that by the way — so now you’re in trouble and need to know which draws you’re making next? Granted, it’s not Brainstorm, but it’s very close to being Ponder, one of the most played blue one-drops in the format. Do make sure to mulligan properly and don’t rely on Elven Farsight to fix your opening hand all the time!
Legolas's Quick Reflexes
This card does so much for so little mana, I’m still surprised to see this isn’t getting played more in Commander. The split second makes this card so good. Your creature will get that hexproof almost always unless they’re able to play around split second — I see you, morph players — and it’s weird to me this card is relatively unplayed in our format, especially when comparing it to some of its counterparts, like Snakeskin Veil and Tamiyo’s Safekeeping. And that’s just looking at the hexproof part of the card.
It untaps a creature, meaning you get to block with it. It gains reach, which also helps with blocking. On top of that, if your creature has a tap to activate ability, activating the ability now makes your creature deal damage equal to its power to another creature. There’s no lack of green creatures with activated abilities in our format that would want this effect. Snipe down someone’s Esper Sentinel with your Llanowar Elves, get a second uncounterable Legendary spell out with Delighted Halfling or float even more mana with Selvala or Marwyn. It’s not ‘just’ a split second protection spell, it can be so much more.
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