Hello awesome Commander fans! I hope that your day is going incredibly well today! Today I wanted to start a Top Ten series looking at Classic cards in Commander and other multiplayer formats that have fallen out of style. I am challenging that. Rethink them! They are still really strong. I have double checked their deck usage numbers at EDHREC and my impressions are true, they aren't getting the play they used too.

I was going to give you my normal Top Ten and then my normal trio of honorable mentions, but this was deep, so I am doing a full five honorable mentions, so this is really my Top 15. Also, a shout out to my 16th card Hamletback Goliath, which is a big beater that can win in one hit at Commander even with the inflated life total of 40, but lacks evasion or other keywords and needs to be paired with stuff to win.

Ready?

Honorable Mention #1 (#15 Overall) - Steel Wall

Ready? Let's kick things off with this one-drop. A colorless, artifact, 0/4 that rocks defender. This thing is awesome, and I once called it the second best common ever printed for multiplayer after Tortured Existence.

Let's do a deep dive into why this is making my list, as something that used to get loads of play. Since it's colorless, you can drop it on the first turn with any color of land that enters untapped, even colorless ones. Then you can block most dorks that are cast in the first three turns without worry, while you set up your mana and drop mana rocks and cast cantrips to set up your hand. Then you can eventually chump block with a bigger attacker. Who will attack you in the early games with their 2/2 and 3/3 when open players are around that they can get through? How much damage will this stop over time? And how many turns will it buy you? It's better the more colors you play, and you are likely to need more turns mana making your battlefield. It's also strong in three commonly played archetypes in Commander according to EDHREC.com. Artifacts (#1), Toughness (#17) Defender matters and the recent archetypes of artifact dorks from The Brothers' War. Nice right? So, why aren't you running this?

Honorable Mention #2 - (#14 Overall) - Bogardan Hellkite

Check out this fun Dragon. 8 mana but a 5/5 with flying, flash, and on ETB it spreads five damage out amount any number targets. Planeswalkers? Dorks? Players with the extra damage? With so many low toughness powerhouses in Commander this is an easy two or three for one. And then since it rocks flash you can do so after someone attacks you, or casts a planeswalker you need to answer before the positive loyalty ability they just used fires, or at the end of a foe's turn before you untap and attack with flying.

Also don't sleep on a 5/5 flashing flying as a combat trick, you can block and trade with the 2/3 Cloudblazer that just attacked you. Ideally, when this is timed well, you can block and kill an attacker that came your way plus two or three dorks or planeswalker, and then survives and can swing on your turn. That's how powerful this Dragon is. It dominated Standard when it was printed, and is a key card in multiplayer formats, and it's a Dragon, so it basically just gets played in that tribe today's Commander decks, but it shouldn't be, it's too good. It's also a powerhouse in Type Four with infinite mana and just one spell per turn with flash.

Honorable Mention #3 (#13 Overall) - Sphinx of Uthuun

Let's head to our middle scoring Honorable Mention. When this seven costed 5/6 flyer was printed, it was all over kitchen table formats like Commander. It also has an ETB trigger, to have your foe place the top five cards of your library into two piles and then you take the pile of your choice. So, it's a Fact or Fiction on a stick, one of the best card-drawing spells ever printed, and so good it was restricted in...Vintage! I know! So, you can imagine what this on a dork would do to the games. Sure, it's a seven drop, but that's just one more mana than the 5/6 flying Mahamoti Djinn so you are only spending an extra mana for a Fact or Fiction. That means you can typically draw the three worst cards from the top five of your deck. Nice right? It's a dork, its card flow, it wins, it blocks, it's strong. Love this thing loads! But it's not getting the play it should, why? Rethink the massive card flow of this fun Sphinx!

Honorable Mention #4 (#12 Overall) - Simic Sky Swallower AND Darksteel Colossus

Check out this pair of trampling game winners. The former is a 6/6 with flying, trample, and shroud. It's on curve, rocks two evasive abilites, and protection from removal of a targeted nature and things like Cyclonic Rift. Nasty!

The latter is an 11/11 11 mana artifact that rocks indestrucible and when it would be put into a graveyard, shuffle it into your deck. It's also on curve, and rocks an abilty to keep it alive from destruction and removal. Nasty! They are each heavily played game winners. They are a game winner powerhouse duo with evasion and protection, and were both heavily played during their day, and are both just as good today as they were then!

Honorable Mention #5 (#11 Overall) - Leonin Abunas

Let's finish off our honorable mention section with this Cat Cleric! This four-drop 2/5 gives all of your artifacts hexproof to protect them! We used to run this in normal decks with artifacts in them like Mindslaver, Mind's Eye, and loads more. Most Commander decks have artifacts they want to protect, but today we only see this in artifact brews (#1). Why not treasure-matters (#3) equipment (#4) or vehicles (#19) too? Also note that most decks run a key 12-20 artifacts and artifact dorks. Also note that this protects against Vandalblast that targets! Nice!

#10. Scion of Darkness

When this fun thing was printed it was the Mayor of Casual Town. This 8-mana 6/6 trampler has cycling and then when it deals combat damage (likely with trample) you can Zombify a dork from the player you smashed. That's reanimation on your foe's over time, so it's a version of card advantage. With cycling you can put it into your graveyard on turn three and then Zombify it on turn four and swing. This is designed for reanimation and graveyard sensitive brews like threshold or delirium or cycling matters alongside Archfiend of Ifnir or self-discard. Nasty. It's very powerful today, and I still use the Mayor in my Commander brews pretty regularly. Also don't forget that this is fetchable with a Dark Supplicant!

#9. Shadowmage Infiltrator AND Looter il-Kor AND Avenging Druid

Let's turn to this trio of one-powered cheap dorks with combat damage triggers that net card flow. The first is the Infiltrator, a 1/3 with fear so it's evasive, but the Dimir color identity, so it's harder to play in Commander with that dual identity. When it smashes face, you draw a card. Nice card flow over time, and tethered to an evasive dork, and there are players at the kitchen table who will just let you hit for a card even when they can block it. The Looter is a two-drop 1/1 with shadow, so it's harder to block, and cheaper and just one color. One started in my Commander Cube and I still have it there since it's so valuable. When this deals combat damage to a player, draw and then discard. That's card flow, but not advantage. It's nice for setting up reanimation, madness, setting your hand by trying to find or get rid of excess lands, and loads more. It's the cheapest and the best evasion, but the worst draw trigger. The Druid is a three-drop 1/3 with no evasion, but when it smashes face, it's got the best combat damage trigger. You reveal from your library until you get a land, ramp the land, and put the rest...into your graveyard. Ramping your land instead of putting it into your hand and filling your graveyard are both really strong here. It's very nice to smash-ify your foes. All three are similar so I took the time to look at the trio here. Check them out!

#8. Avatar of Woe AND Avatar of Fury

Hitting at about halfway is this Avatar duo, each of which can be cast for just two mana quite cheaply. They cost 8, rock evasion, and have 6 power. The Woe dominated tables with fear and then can tap and bury anything. It's very strong, and it can be played easily off two mana in builds like opposing milling, self-milling, reanimation with things like Buried Alive.

Then the Fury one is a better evasion in flying, a better toughness, someone is ramping at every kitchen table so they'll have seven lands quite relaibly, and then it adds firebreathing to win the game quickly. It's a game winning powerhouse in multiplayer formats like Commander. These two are quite destructive little dorks and they are both dominant powerhouses in Commander...so what happened? I likes them both here in this format loads. The Fury is a bulk rare. Have ramp decks in your metagame? Then this will punish them!

#7. Guiltfeeder

Ah yes. The Feeder of Guilt has arrived. It used to get heavy play at the kitchen table. When this 0/4 feared attacks and isn't blocked? Then your foe loses life equal to their graveyard count. Just forcing them to lose 6-9 life in the later game each attack is very strong. And it rocks evasion with fear to slip through and smash. Also note that it does not deal combat damage to have that effect, just life loss, so traditional ways to stop it like Fog effects and Maze of Ith won't shut it down.

This has elevated ability to kill in mill decks where you give them a fat graveyard to kill with. Even without it it's good. This is amazing after a board wipe with haste from Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots since no one can block you and people just got fatter graveyards. It's also strong with some evasion like Rogue's Passage or Access Tunnel since most have artifacts and/or black creatures in their decks, even just a Solemn Simulacrum or Burnished Hart. It's also brilliant in life gain decks alongside Exquisite Blood. And yet, no one is running this game winner anymore. Why?

#6. Multani, Maro-Sorcerer

Multani take one is our final card before the Top Five begin. This rare from long ago has power and toughness equal to the card count of all players. The more players there are, the bigger this will be, so it scales up in multiplayer. When you drop it in the midgame, assuming everyone has three or four cards in a four-player game, it should be around a 14/14 or so. Then you'll note that it has shroud, so no one can target it for removal. Nasty. Game winner and protection in one card. Now what it lacks is evasion, and you cannot give it with self-targeting things like Rogue's Passage. It's very strong after mass removal on a blank board with haste from something like Fires of Yavimaya and then smash. It also has something else worth noting...this is a legendary, so you can build a deck around it in Commander. But it's only played in 844 decks these days over on EDHREC.com. Not leading 844, which would make sense since this is a game winner in Commander form with a powerful Commander Damage ability. Just 844 total. How is that possible? No clue!

#5. Tradewind Rider

This four-drop 1/4 flying Spirit can tap untapped dorks you control and then bounce any permanent, even lands, from your foes. It was heavily played in Standard in a deck archetype called TradeAwake alongside Awakening. Everyone untapped their things, and then you got another bounce in their turn, so that's two bounces each turn, and in multiplayer that's four. It scales up. Also note that you can bounce a land. That led to a deck where this was combined with things like Armageddon to destroy all lands and then bounce what lands they played. That was pretty nasty as well. Two powerful Standard archetypes, is it any wonder that it made it to Commander as well? Well, it did! You could definitely bounce answer anything, and note that the tap won't cost you anything like mana, just tapping three to bounce one. It's pretty strong. It's good in many places and dominated many archetypes and would be useful. However, it's just run in 613 decks over at EDHREC.com. Why? It's very strong at bringing the bouncery!

#4. Glory AND Genesis

Both five-mana rare Incarnations in the cycle have graveyard abilities for 3 mana. Of the two, Glory is less played. only clocking in at 1377 decks. It's five mana, 3/3, rocks the useful flying evasion to block and die, or attack over ground pounders. Then you can spend three to give your team protection from the color of your choice. That's good for loads of things. Alpha strike a foe with low life and then kill them, stop anything of yours from dying due to blocks, prevent your team from most removal. And you can do it multiple times a turn.

Genesis can spend three in upkeep and then return a dead thing to your hand from your graveyard. It's a 4/4 body with no abilities. It's card advantage and the better card, but after getting reprinted, it's gotten a second life with around 10,927 now using it. That's a big increase but I still don't see it. It's very strong against counters, since you can recur, cast, get countered, then recur, cast, get countered, then eventually you'll outdraw their counters with it and your natural card drawn. This pair is very good getting discarded or sacrificed to things in an Aristocrats (#6 archetype) or sacrifices matter (#11) as well as Wheels that discard your hand and draw more (#9) or self-discard matters (#22) or madness (#51). It's very strong just blocking, and the Glory is better in Aggro and Tokens going wide brews since it protects the team.

#3. Krosan Tusker AND Eternal Dragon

This pair was heavily played after getting printed in the same block, but they are just no longer played. The common is a bit slow but with cycling to draw a card and then grab a basic from your library to your hand, it's still strong. Blue has to spend three at sorcery speed to draw two (Divination et al) unless they have a disadvantage like discarding. Here you are up two cards, no discard, and one is a land. And if you draw it later after your mana is set, rather than being a dead card like Rampant Growth, you can just play it as a beater. It's very strong in any Green deck that is looking to combine ramping with card drawing and creature beating into one card. I really love this in decks with more colors since you can always use an additional color even if you have every four or five colors you need for two cost cards like Farewell that cost two White while also cantripping.

The rare is also a seven mana, but this is a 5/5 flyer, so he's a better body but no card advantage here. He cycles for any Plains for two, even nonbasics. Then you can put it back into your hand for five mana in your upkeep to recast it later or cycle again. Then you can again get a real body that can do red zone things like attack, block, grab equipment, and more. Nice pair, right?

#2. Liliana's Specter

Our penultimate card and top scoring Black card and common is this three-drop 2/1 with flying. Discard in most forms only works on one player, so it's not great in multiplayer formats like Commander. However, this was printed and changed everything. A 2/1 flyer for three is on curve for black - see Feral Shadow as an example. Here we haven't added anything to it, you just can force everyone else to discard. It scales up the more players you have. With evasion you can chump blocker attackers after it arrived, or grab a piece of equipment and fly over non-flyers. This can net you more cards than Mulldrifter in a four-player game. It's also in the color of reanimation and discard support and small power and small costs-matter, like Meekstone, Karmic Guide, Retribution of the Meek, Megrim, and Waste Not.

It's very strong in recursion since you can recur what was discarded. It's broken in blink where just a few blinks will Mind Twist your foes of all cards. It's very strong in cheap stuff getting saved by Austere Command and brought back with Sun Titan. It's a great body to sacrifice and then to recur with Aristocrats and strip out answers over and over again. It's too good! So why haven't I seen them in a while? Is it just the local metagame? I checked EDHREC.com and it's used in just 4,468 decks despite how good it is. Rethink this!

One card left! What Green rare hit my top spot?

#1. Silklash Spider

This five-drop 2/7 Spider with reach is amazing. It can block any flying or grounded attacker with 6 power or smaller and not die. It has +3 toughness for one mana from Giant Spider, so it's better there, and you can block grounded dorks like Frost Titan. It's very strong at the blocking with the reaching and the high toughness. Then you can spend X and sweep the sky of flyers just like Hurricane, which is a lot of dorks. Since it's in the color without flying, you can get past your stuff without dying.

For example, how many creatures in the above list are kill-able with this? 4 of the top 5 and 8 total. Now you can set the X to kill your foe's stuff but keep your higher toughness flyers alive or just combine it with things like protection from creatures (Commander Eesha), protection from Green or you choose (Voice of All, Iridescent Angel) or other ways to prevent damage. It's a repeatable sweeper that will keep people from recasting their flyers until they answer it. It's nasty good in any deck with the mana to activate it reliably, but just two will sweep a lot of commonly played flyers. This is also game winningly great in X-matters brews around Rosheen Meanderer, toughness matters brews like Doran, the Siege Tower, Spider brews, and more. Also note the combo with this and Light of Sanction where you can prevent all of this sweeper's damage to your stuff! Check it out here!

And there we go! So...what did you think about my choices for Forgotten Commander Classic Dorks? What are yours? Next week we'll look at instants and sorceries! Think about what would make your list and see if they are in accord.