This is the second part of a series on the worst cards in each of my decks. If you’re interested in reading Part 1, you can find that here. To recap, this series looks at an individual card in each of my commander decks and asks two questions: Why is it in the Deck? Why is it the Worst Card? Part 2 has a lot more decks that are built from a mechanical rather than a flavorful perspective. That means many of the cards in this list will be analyzed not from what they flavorfully add, but what they mechanically lack. Similarly to the original post, I won’t go into great detail on the decklists, so let your mind wander on what else could possibly exist in these lists. Sai, Master Thopterist Why is it in the Deck? My Sai deck underwent a facelift not long ago. When Sai was first spoiled, I absolutely loved the Adam Paquette art. It captured my imagination and made me want to build a deck with only cards from the plane of Kaladesh. When I started playing the deck further, I discovered I don’t just love the art of Sai, but I love the abilities as well. From that realization, the deck evolved by adding various artifacts from outside the restriction to which I had access. Why is it the Worst Card? There’s nothing exceedingly wrong with Darksteel Ingot. Compared to other cards from my previous list and this one, it’s completely playable. Essentially it comes down to the fact that Darksteel Ingot feels like filler in this deck. It’s completely replaceable and uninspired. In a deck unrestricted by theme, it would be the first cut and that makes it the worst card. Grenzo, Dungeon WardenWhy is it in the Deck? There aren’t many cards in magic that actually care about the bottom card of your library. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden and Cellar Door are two exceptions. While most commonly, my decks lean toward the Vorthos aspect of deck building, the focus being on flavor, this harkens to my Mel side. There aren’t many decks where Cellar Door would feel at home and this is the only one I own. Why is it the Worst Card? This deck is a combo deck, and as such the effect from Cellar Door, though easy to trigger, is somewhat irrelevant. While I can take advantage of the 2/2 zombies, the deck is not built around exploiting the tokens. Further, removing a card from the bottom of your library before activating Grenzo doesn’t come up that often since the only time you know the bottom card is when you put it there for Grenzo. So while the effect is fun, it’s still probably unnecessary if I were trying to optimize the list. Radiant Archangel Why is it in the Deck? Pilgrim’s Eye does a lot of things well for this build of Radiant. First, it’s a flyer which Radiant obviously wants. Two, it search for a land and there are a surprising number of flyers in this deck that care about landfall. In that same vein, an early creature that can ensure a land drop is always nice to help ensure a smooth start. Why is it the Worst Card? While a nice roleplayer that can definitely be justified, it’s also not anything special. In a deck that isn’t making room for flavor accommodations, that means that Pilgrim’s Eye finds itself at the bottom of the pecking order. Add to the equation that this list features hatebears like Hushbringer, Hushwing Gryff, and Tocatli Honor Guard and that means sometimes it’s a dead card. Daxos, Blessed by the SunWhy is it in the Deck? This was an experimental addition. Isolated Watchtower looks kind of interesting on paper. It only takes up a land slot so the opportunity cost appears to be relatively low. The upside is that should you fall behind this card can do some filtering and possibly ramp you. Why is it the Worst Card? I said I included this card because the opportunity cost “appeared” low. In practice, I’ve found the cost of playing this card over a basic plains has been high. I’ve actually not been behind enough to activate the card with any frequency. When I have been behind, it rarely does enough to catch me backup to my opponents. The clunkiness of this card earns it the dubious distinction of being the only land in this list. Dakkon BlackbladeWhy is it in the Deck? Dakkon Blackblade was the first deck I built and as such has undergone many iterations. My current list is primarily made without flavor in mind, but I couldn’t help but include some flavorful pieces for one of my favorite magic characters. In his story, Dakkon is a blacksmith so it only makes sense that I include an anvil in his deck. Why is it the Worst Card? Anvil of Bogardan is the most expensive card on this list. It’s also arguably the best card on this list. However, just because a card is good doesn’t mean it’s universally good in every deck. In this deck, Anvil is definitely a strong card, but it definitely enables my opponents more than it does me. This list is a traditional control list that wins using commander damage. As such, I don’t take advantage of the loot ability as much as some of my opponents and the symmetrical draw can help keep opponents in the game. Nonetheless, I don’t plan on cutting this card soon. NebuchadnezzarWhy is it in the Deck? I’m not a huge fan of foils, but occasionally I find a fantastic one. Psychotic Episode has an amazing foil treatment. The ability itself is also fairly unique. It has madness, which this deck cares about, and can not only take a card from your opponent’s hand, but you also get to check the top of their library too. Why is it the Worst Card? This deck was designed to be a discard deck in a format that normally doesn’t care about discard. There aren’t many targeted discard spells in the deck, but this is one survived because of its art. Targeted discard is obviously weaker in commander because you have more opponents, but Psychotic Episode gets special consideration. Atris, Oracle of Half-TruthsWhy is it in the Deck? Dralnu Lich Lord is a sweet Dimir card and having ways to take advantage of the graveyard is definitely something that Atris wanted. Similar to my Alela deck from part 1, this list was made of cards I had. I’ve had Dralnu for awhile but never found a good deck for it to go into. Being that Atris can at least take some advantage of the lich, I had to include it. Why is it the Worst Card? For Dralnu to be fun you kind of have to like high risk cards, and I do. That said, this is certainly not an optimal list for Dralnu and chances are that you’re going to be sacrificing some permanents to the Lich Lord. Luckily he can sacrifice himself as well to ensure that feel bads aren’t too severe. ConclusionIf you have a lot of commander decks, I highly recommend you try this exercise. Not only was it rewarding to reflect on some of my pet cards and pet decks, but it’s also a helpful exercise to understand the weak points in your decks. Perhaps after this exercise, making that next cut won’t quite be as difficult, but I doubt it.
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AuthorMonoWhiteBorder -- A man who loves MtG and his small dog. Archives
June 2021
Categories"MonoWhiteBorder" and corresponding content is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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