Today’s is an article that follows up to yesterday’s article on Assessing the Heat Index of permanents in a multiplayer game. Cards are rated based on their Actual Power Level on a scale of 1 to 10 vs their Perceived Power Rating. The cross section of a card’s Actual vs Perceived power is where you want to hone in and here the Heat Index arises. Subtract the Perceived from the Actual rating. Negative ratings are those that have less heat than their power level. Positive ones are running hot and get more attention than they should. Most cards are zero. Cards with identical ratings across the board play as they feel.

So finding cards with a low Heat Index is how you can play cards that look fair, but play hard, and the stronger the difference, the better it is to run that card. If you can find a card that’s -2 or even -3, then you have a winner and should run it until the Heat Index of your playgroup is adjusted and returns to normal for that card. And you’ll generally want to stay clear of cards that are +2 or +3 and aren’t staying around.

Anyways, we are looking at ten cards that (mostly) are currently taken care of at a rate below their power level would suggest. All of the cards here have an established level of power but which are either played against or perceived as weaker than they really are.

Honorable Mention - Akroma, Angel of Vengeance

Akroma is really more like #25 on this list or so, but I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who is currently sleeping on her. Did you all collectively take stupid pills or something? She is getting some serious table time in a lot of play groups over the last year or so. Maybe it’s because of power creep of creatures since she’s been printed or a new generation of players that never really played during the Era of Akroma Dominance. But folks just don’t have her on their Must Kill Radar like they used to, and her heat Index has subsequently dropped. You know what that means! If you were keeping her on the sidelines due to her impending death, well, it’s time to unfurl her again.

10. Survival of the Fittest

I don’t get why one of the best cards of all time suddenly has a negative Heat Index. But this one does. I haven’t seen a Survival killed on arrival for a few times now. Usually the player uses a turn or three to do some stupid stuff first. I don’t get why Survival is allowed for a few turns but Deadeye Navigator somehow can’t get to first base. But that’s the world we’re living in right now folks. Deadeye Navigator is dead-on-arrival but Survival gets to run multiple triggers.

9. Kokusho, the Evening Star

The major issue with Kokusho is that folks often don’t want to pop it as they will lose the life. I’ve found this true of many cards with powerful death-triggers, and you’ll see more as our list continues. You’ve already lost the life. They’ve already gained it. Just kill the Dragon and move on, and stop taking damage in the meantime or letting it block your stuff. Did you come to play Magic or Patty-Cake?

8. Nevinyrral’s Disk

Dealing with a Disk is easy in theory. If you don’t want it to go off, you destroy it before it untaps. You have that window. On the other hand, if you do want it to go off, wait until it untaps and then destroy it with a Naturalize or something. The person usually destroys the Disk in response, and you’ve swept the board. I like doing this at the end of someone’s turn, just before I untap and go, so I’m the first to play stuff post-removal. But the problem is that this Disk Handling Theory invariably seems to get mucked up in practice. And that causes the board state to stagnate while everyone holds off playing permanents, or you get swept immediately when you should have done something else. Don’t be distracted by the glitter and flash of other cards out there. The Disk is no joke.

7. Liliana Vess

I have called Liliana Vess the best Planeswalker for multiplayer a few times. She has a great combination of quality (the discard is great for making everyone dump their hands as soon as you run in once or twice while the tutoring is a key ability as well) and you can use the tutor + discard to get a lot of card advantage and quality. And despite the number needed, I’ve probably fired off her ultimate more than anyone else’s. (Unless you count Sorin Markov’s second ability as an ultimate in Commander). She dominates the board, and yet, to this day, never gets the respect of flashier ‘walkers like Garruk, Apex Predator or Karn Liberated.

6. Mimic Vat

No card on this list confuses me as much as Mimic Vat. Folks, Mimic Vat is a serious problem. Barring a card with an Actual Power Level of 1-3, there really aren’t many creatures in the history of Magic that aren’t broken in multiples. I’ve seen folks let a person keep a Solemn Simulacrum Mimic Vat or a Serra Angel one too much. Don’t forget that someone can change from the imprinted creature to another one that dies, and there is no good swap you’ll want. Don’t let someone pile up a ton of creatures, enters-the-battlefield triggers, or synergy. Just kill the Vat and move on. Unless it’s mine, in which case you can let it go!

5. Mindslaver

I think the main reason why people don’t mess with Mindslaver is the same as Door to Nothingness. It comes into play tapped, but then when the Door untaps and someone has the mana, you don’t want to get killed. So you let the Door player alone. I think people fear the Mindslaver the same, but it’s no Door. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and smash the ‘Slaver for the good of the table. And if you can, exile it. No one wants to see that thing come back with Academy Ruins or other artifact recursion.

4. Domri Rade /Garruk, Caller of Beasts

I have to admit that I telegraphed Domri Rade yesterday as a good example one of many Planeswalkers that are currently going under the radar well in excess of their ability. I think he’s got a current Heat Index of -2, giving you a lot more power than people realize. And you can pick him up cheap right now post-Modern Masters 2017 printing. Remember that he’s a powerful 3-drop in the ‘walker oeuvre. And you can +1 to look at the top card of your library and it’s a creature show and draw it. So there’s a solid and reliable form of card advantage slowly and surely while growing that loyalty. (And it’s a rare deck that doesn’t have a lot of creatures and thus a good chance of hitting). And Domri provides some removal with the fighting of a creature and another’s. And his ultimate is very good. Now the great thing about Domri is that you can drop him so much earlier than earlier stuff, impacting the battlefield immediately. He’s good, and not respected. Another great under-the-radar guy right now is Garruk, Caller of Beasts. Free creatures to your hand like Domri, although more reliable (and for twice as much mana). And then free creatures to the battlefield like a little Elvish Piper. And again, still outside of the normal purview of Cards Killed on Sight. Folks, you need to respect these more!

3. Academy Rector / Pattern of Rebirth / etc

Much like Kokusho above, these cards are ones that provide a powerful trigger when they hit the graveyard from the battlefield. But unlike the comparatively gentle life loss of Koskusho, these go and fetch a big giant, fat permanent and toss it right onto the battlefield exclusive of anything restrictive such as casting cost. You get the biggest and fattest card out for free. And folks really do fear these once they hit the battlefield. Just a couple of weeks ago, one of my Commanders had an Academy Rector hold down the fort by itself for turns without anyone attacking into me. But folks had counters or exiling removal and didn’t turn them these dorks ways. Folks, Void Shatter that Academy Rector when someone tries to cast it. Terror the crap out of a creature before the Pattern of Rebirth hits it. Just handle it! (Oh, and it’s not identical, but folks, kill that Defense of the Heart before it goes off. Thanks!)

2. Vedalken Orrery / Leyline of Anticipation

As any player of flash-enablers can attest, turning a sorcery, creature, artifact, or enchantment into one that can be played at any time a massive amount of flexibility and options. Now I think the reason these are often allowed to stick is the lack of obvious card advantages and such. But the subtlety here is incredible.

Take the humble Nekrataal as a good example. When I play a Nekrataal with flash to kill something I often acquire card advantage by taking out a creature as it was being targeted by an aura or to add the tempo loss of equipping it, or after it attacked and I needed an answer is obvious. The value of cards as instants grows and surmounts typical conventions of card advantage on the multiplayer battlefield. I’ve found the Orrery and Leyline (and other cards like Winding Canyons and Yeva, Nature's Herald) to be underappreciated by foes right now. Kill them!

1. Sylvan Library

This card is eternally on lists like this. It’s arguably more abusive than Sensei's Divining Top (particularly with the starting life total in Commander) and it’s bizarre mechanic wording still works wonkily with other cards. You draw the cards, and then either spend the life or put them back. So cards like Abundance or Words of Wilding that replace your card draw with other things get triggered three times but requires no life loss or card returning. Or you get three triggers from Psychosis Crawler. Words of Waste? From abusing Alhammarret's Archive to racking up the dredges to getting three of our cards under a Parallel Thoughts, to drawing seven cards with Pursuit of Knowledge, you can just downright break the Library so easily. And yet, despite all of that, the Library is still a card that is allowed to go wild so often it’s sick. Folks, stop the footsie, and just kill the Library. Dead.

And there we have it! Cards that oddly aren’t getting the kill or attention they deserve and are flying way under the radar right now. You really should be taking this stuff out when you have the chance. So get out there, and take out these (and similar) cards when you can, before the battlefield blows up and you are too far back in life or card advantage to deal with it. Good luck out there!