Hello folks! I hope you are having a great Tuesday today. I was recently struck by how a few heavily played cards in the past (which are hitting at #10, #7, and #1 in today’s list) have all but disappeared in the various Commander game-age I’ve been getting in Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, West Virginia, Nevada, and Arizona. There are some key tools out there that are not getting used much anymore

But then we also have some cards that just never caught on. They should have, but they didn’t. And we also have some newer cards that haven’t got the publicity they should, and I don’t want to see them go down the same path. For whatever reason, these ten cards are great tools for your Commander deck that aren’t getting played much. They deserve better. Well folks, let’s start using them!

Let’s take a look at the Top Ten Tools You Need to Add to Your Commander Decks!

10. Squee, Goblin Nabob

There was a time when Squee was heavily played pretty much everywhere, as the perfect creature for a lot of key things you are doing in Magic. The fact that Squee can return from your graveyard to your hand, for free, during your upkeep is awesome. For example, you can use Squee to great effect in a deck with a simple Merfolk Looter and other similar effects. Tap Looter, draw a card, discard Squee. Get Squee back, tap the Looter, and wash and repeat. Merfolk Looter is now a cheap Archivist. And that’s just one little synergy. Red has this stuff too, like Tormenting Voice or Academy Raider, and discard outlets like Fauna Shaman. It fights discard by going back to your hand, provides a powerful blocker that will always be available to cast again, and has durability beyond mass removal or something. And yes, I haven’t seen Squee in years, despite some good solid shells in Commander I’ve seen people play him in. So why not?

9. Gift of Paradise

Other than myself, I have yet to see this card make the transition to Commander from, say,Limited or other places. And it should, because it does a few things well. First of all, due to its types, we already know the sort of deck that wants it. There are a small but powerful number of Green auras that enchant lands and give you more mana options from it, such as Wild Growth that makes a Forest tap for . Some will let the land tap for other colors, and some increase the bounty of the land itself. Now, let’s break down this list:

Abundant Growth — My #1 for multicolored decks as it replaces itself. Because it gives the land the tap ability, you can use it on something like Maze of Ith to let it tap for mana.

Dawn's Reflection — A 4-mana enchant land that will get you 2-mana of any combination of colors. Sometimes used in combo decks to get a land with enough mana to tap and untap over and over again for infinite mana.

Fertile Ground — 2-mana option, one extra mana of any color when tapped for mana.

Lush Growth – 1-mana, turns enchanted land into Forest, Mountain, and Plains to tap for Naya mana

Market Festival – The same as Dawn's Reflection.

Nylea's Presence – 2-mana enchant land, replaces itself, land is every basic land type.

Overgrowth – 3-mana, when you tap enchanted land for mana, get two more

Sheltered Aerie – 3-mana, enchanted land can tap for two mana of any color

Unbridled Growth – 1-mana, enchanted land can tap for any color, you can sac the aura to draw a card

Utopia Sprawl – 1-mana, enchanted land makes the mana of your choice when you tap it.

Weirding Wood – 3-mana, make a clue when it arrives, land can tap for two mana of one color of your choice.

Wild Growth – Make a free when you tap it, 1-mana aura. The classic.

Now, many of these aren’t useful tools for most Commander decks where Gift of Paradise is pertinent. You aren’t running the mono-colored Overgrowth or Wild Growth, and the Market Festival and Dawn's Reflection are too expensive for most decks. Some of the others are cute, but hard to use outside of very specific builds, like Lush Growth, and I’d rather run Abundant Growth first, and Utopia Sprawl second, before I ran Lush Growth, even in a Naya build. But you can see some great options above. Gift is clearly one of the best two mana of any color options. It suits enchantment and aura builds that are looking for cool enters-the-battlefield triggers, and such a deck with Weirding Wood, Abundant Growth, Nylea's Presence and Gift of Paradise as their sort of mana rocks would be pretty useful. Don’t sleep on the three life that Gift of Paradise gives you in a 40 life format. It’s very good as a way to keep you in the game, and since you may be tapping on turn two or three to drop this, it’s good to have a little life bump, in case someone wants to come over and parse down that life of yours. Also, the enchanted land gets the ability, so like Abundant Growth, you can put it on that Maze of Ith or Island of Wak-Wak, and such to give you a cool option for tapping to make two colorless mana of one color to help cast some cool and big stuff. I run in Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy(a 3500+ card highlander, multiplayer deck with all five colors), and the three times I had it, it did not disappoint.

8. Consuming Vapors

After being introduced in Tempest with Diabolic Edict, these Edict effects have become pretty common and powerful. We know how they play out, and they can be an interesting and valuable way to take out a giant, beefy, or indestructible creature, although they have to be timed right. They are perfect alongside mass destruction, such as Damnation. If someone over-commits creatures to the battlefield, Damnation and punish them. If they under-commit to the board, then play an Edict and punish them. Consuming Vapors is one of the best Edicts out there for multiplayer and Commander. Now, like most, it’s a sorcery, and some will prefer the instant of Geth's Verdict or Diabolic Edict. And I get that, I run those both, but most Edicts are sorcery speed. So, cast this and then an Edict effects fires off, only you get a little life from the death. If you timed it right and killed a big bad, like Darksteel Colossus or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, then you are about to reap some serious life. But even a Serra Angel’s four life is great as a nice adjunct to the card. But the great part here is that cool rebound. During your next upkeep, you get another Consuming Vapors for no additional mana. You have a few options. You can turn it on someone else, or hit the same player again, and more. Often people will play around it for a turn, and hold off playing something good, so you can impact the board immediately. Two-for-one from one card, and you’ll get a nice life boost as well. Vapors is a great Edict effect.

7. Recoil

Given that every single person in existence knows how unique and powerful Recoil is, and given that many stores are sold out (Coolstuffinc.com is not one of them, though) and its foil is incredible expensive, why is nobody playing it in real life? I have no idea. It’s awesome. We know it. WotC is unlike to print a card this good, this cheap, ever again. And we know. Our Commander decks just aren’t showing it, even in places where Recoil is an amazing addition to the deck.

6. Blazing Hellhound

Blazing Hellhound has a few things going for it. First of all, it’s on curve. You can play it for four mana, and swing for four damage, which is reliable at Commander Night. Then, don’t forget that you will also have the body as a red-zone threat for blocking, grabbing equipment, crewing up a vehicle, and more. And then for a single mana, you can sacrifice your creatures as a walking Goblin Bombardment to shoot a creature or player for a damage, and that piles up over a game. Sacrifice a creature about to die or to get creatures into your graveyard for delve or threshold, trigger morbid, get ready for a Living Death, and more. Deal that last damage to pick off a creature, or shoot someone to bring them down just a little more each time until they look down and wonder how their life got to 23. This card has the chops at Kitchen Tables everywhere.

5. Guardian of the Guildpact

I want you to do me a favor. Think about your favorite Commander deck for a moment. It’s a lot of fun when you play it, right? You really enjoy it? Now, go over your creature list in your mind and roll call them off one by one. How many creatures have just one color in them? 70%? 80%? Even more? The only creatures that aren’t only one color are either those that are purely colorless, like Solemn Simulacrum or with devoid, like Barrage Tyrant, or those that cost two or more to play, such as Dimir Guildmage or Rith, the Awakener. Thus, on the battlefield, Guardian of the Guildpact tends to have protection from most creatures played. But unlike your normal “Protection from Creatures” ability like Beloved Chaplain, Guardian of the Guildpact can’t be targeted by Murder, Vapor Snag, Capsize, Lightning Bolt, nor can it take damage from Hour of Devastation, Pestilence, and similar damage-based removal effects. It’s surprisingly durable in play. That creates a real conundrum for foes. When they attack you with three or six creatures, there’ll be one you can block and shut down easily. It’s a magic silver bullet versus any mono-colored decks you run into, and often people have to decide about “wasting” their great multicolored removal on this little 2/3 as they are the only options available, like Vindicate. The tension the Guardian creates is palpable, and it has a highly pertinent Spirit creature type as well, in case you have something that cares about it. This is the real deal.

4. Flesh Carver

I think there must be a number of players out there who either have forgotten that Flesh Carver exists or never knew due to its limited print run in one Commander deck back in 2014. So folks, this is Flesh Carver, a powerful three-mana sacrifice outlet that you can sacrifice creatures onto and build it up with +1/+1 counters instead of the normal temporary pump, that has intimidate to swing past defenses after you do, and when it dies will replace itself with a Horror token. Flesh Carver, these are your new Commanders. They will be putting you into their various builds, like reanimation and self-sacrifice. I‘ll leave you to it.

3. Do or Die

Do or Die has a few good things going for it. First, it’s fun. It’s an event at Magic night. People will remember the card and its effect, so if you like fun and eventful cards, then this is perfectly lined up for you. It’s also a lot more powerful than it looks, and I have run it for more than a decade of play and gotten great results, and I think people are confused by how it runs, so let me delve into it for you and unpack it. Read the card? Great, then you know how it works mechanically. You split the creatures of target player into two piles, they choose one to be destroyed, the other remains. What does that mean in reality?

Against One Creature — Don’t play it, it won’t work.

Against Two Creatures — It’s a funky worded Cruel Edict. They’ll destroy the worst one always.

Against Three Creatures — You put their best creature in a pile by itself, and the other two in separate piles and force them to choose the one they want. You’ll either kill their best creature or their other two, in both ways, this acts better than a normal Edict effect.

Against Four Creatures — The typically way to split this is to put their #1 and #4 creature in one pile and their #2 and #3 in another, and then force them to pick one to let go, thus giving you a 2 for 1 trade guaranteed. I have done the #1 creature by itself and the other three pretty often too, especially when they have a powerful creature out like Akroma, Angel of Wrath, and you will get 3-for-1s occasionally with it too.

Against Five Creatures — At this point, stack making becomes more context related. I can do #1 and #5, and then #2, #3, and #4 pretty commonly, or #1, #4, #5 if #2 and #3 are pretty even to #1, and I want them to go. Typically they will want the 2-for-1 over the 3-for-1 smash, so you can break the way you want by putting them in those stacks. I have done the 4-for-1 a few times as well.

Against Six or More Creatures — Usually by six or more creatures, you’ll just play math games, barring an unusual context. Put 1 here, put 2 there, put 3 there, put 4 here, put 5 here, put 6 there, put 7 there, etc.

Forcing someone to give up half of their creatures when you make the stacks is a very powerful effect for a simple 2 mana, and Do or Die is a powerful, and fun card as a consequence. Don’t sleep on it.

2. Countervailing Winds

Circular Logic was a heavily played card in its day as the madness cost of just could get you a (virtually) hard counter for cheap with a mana-free discard enabler such as Wild Mongrel. It’s still good in casual landscapes, although not as much as it used to be, due to the madness requirement being harder to jump through or less powerful in a Commander context, which is where Countervailing Winds steps in. I have been very impressed with it so far. In any deck that runs Blue and reliably puts cards in the graveyard, this is a no brainer that is a hard counter cheaper on the mana with the single commitment against two generic mana. The cycling ability early works as well. But I have found it strong in other shells too. Mana Leak for 3-mana with a “Counter or pay 5” is rough and easy to get to. And you can cycle it when you either can’t counter due to the lack of a graveyard (or against heavy graveyard removal) unlike many other graveyard-based cards. It’s a great addition to the counter suite for a lot of decks, and as a common just printed, you can get them for pennies.

1. Simic Sky Swallower

What is wrong with you people? Giant, evasive, beaters that have a built-in level of protectiveness, like the SSS, are some of the best finishers in the game, especially in multiplayer. Simic Sky Swallower is just as much of a beat-stick and winning condition as it has always been, and it’s just powering out the beats. What happened to you? What possible reason could you not have for running this tried and true defeater of life totals? It’s a 6/6 creature for 7 mana. Once again, let’s go over those three keywords again.

Flying – It’s hard to block. Only creatures with flying or reach will usually do so

Trample – And when you do, you have to deal with the roll-over potential for damage

Shroud – And nobody is targeting this thing for removal barring something like an Arcane Lighthouse

I don’t know what is going on here or why, but you need to run this stuff. I have not run into another person not named Abe Sargent playing a Simic Game Ender in more than a year. Are you kidding me? In decks that are perfectly suited for it? Are you kidding me?

All right, and there you have it. Ten tools for removal, beatings, mana, sacrifice outlets, and more that really aren’t getting the play they should out in Commander right now. Anything in there you see that sparked you? Anything that has fallen off the map or needs to get put on there that I forgot? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, I’ll try to answer as soon as possible.

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