Hello awesome folks! For the last few weeks, I've been bringing you my choices for some of the most underused cards in Commander, from all cards, to planeswalkers to equipment and now to the most overlooked card type - the aura. Now to be fair to auras specifically and enchantments generally, there are commonly played Archetypes that run them (Voltron for auras to pump up a Commander, Enchantress enchantment heavy archetypes that have been around since Alpha). The aura subtheme of EDHREC.com is the 13th most common archetype, and enchantments are right behind at 14th, but you have to build in a lot of infrastructure to make it work, since auras are innately card disadvantage so you need ways to build around it. Today I am looking at Auras that have fewer than 5000 decks registered over at EDHREC.com and I will not be including Curses. In fact, after pulling my list, just one has more than 4k, and it's on the low end of things. Like our previous lists, no card released in the last year will be on this one.

Ready?

Honorable Mention #1 - Annex

490 are used by this four-cost uncommon. You can steal any land if you control Annex. There are tons of lands running around for you to steal like Academy Ruins, Maze of Ith, Gaea's Cradle and more that massively enable decks, so take the land that is really causing your multiplayer metagame to lose, and then get it yourself! This is another reason to run lands and mana rocks that tap for any color of mana over your commander's Identity since you can tap for something you can steal. If you stole Volrath's Stronghold in your Azorius deck, you cannot activate it with Azorius Signet and Commander's Sphere, but you can with Fellwar Stone and Darksteel Ingot. If you don't have the right color of mana, you can steal a Command Tower to get yourself that mana. However, stealing lands doesn't work in every playgroup (although I'd prefer a land stolen with this so I can get it back rather than a Wasteland hitting it), so even though the decks registered is fewer than 500, this hits my Honorable Mention since it can be a feel bad moment to have your Hall of Heliod's Generosity that you are abusing stolen.

Honorable Mention #2 - One with Nature

Our only one with more than 4k is this one that I run in Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy. This one drop will ramp a basic land into the battlefield tapped from your library whenever the enchanted dork deals combat damage. I love this in decks with cheap commanders where you can swing before others have blockers up and running, as well as evasive commanders later on. Examples of these include the flying Rith, the Awakener and the cheap Skullbriar, the Walking Grave and any of the Simic 2-drops like Gretchen Titchwillow or Thrasios, Triton Hero. Drop the two drop on turn two, this on turn three, swing and ramp a few lands before blockers arrive. Since Simic typically loves ramp, this seems really strong there.

Honorable Mention #3 - Armored Ascension and Claws of Valakut

Coming in at 3,804 and 1,376, respectively. The first gives your Commander flying and a +1/+1 boost for every Plains you control, which gives a ground pounder flying as well as a big giant Commander Damage boost loves Voltron styled decks with enough Plains to matter. The Claws is one cheaper and just gives +1 power for your Mountains and then gives it first strike, so it's worse lacking toughness boosts and evasion, but it's also cheaper and both are very strong win cons in Aura form in decks with enough of those lands to count! Might I suggest the latter with a deathtouch Commander in Rakdos since just two colors should let you have a bunch of Mountains to pump since first strike is nasty with it, like the commonly played Prosper, Tome-Bound.

#10. Faith's Fetters

3,558? I think this is the best Pacifism variant ever printed, being able to enchant any permanent from lands to planeswalkers. They cannot block, attack, and activate abilities, and then you gain four life. I run this in Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy where this is a fun answer. Life gain brews will love this thematic answer and that's the second most common theme in Commander on EDHREC.com. You can use this in Aura decks, Control brews, and Blink decks that can blink-non dorks like Brago, King Eternal. It should definitely be getting more play.

#9. Treefolk Umbra

This common 2,412 Aura double pumps toughness and deals toughness damage in combat. Toughness-matters is the 17th most-played theme, and this works there. I also love it on Commanders with toughness and least two bigger than their power just randomly like Ishkanah, which is also good since Spiders often are bigger butts. From Chulane, Teller of Tales to Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa to Phabine, Boss's Confidant we have loads of Green higher toughness leaders to toss those this thing onto. Also it has totem armor to save your commander from one death.

#8. Prison Term

There are 2,799 in this uncommon Aura. This is a nice Arrest as well, for three mana your foe's creature cannot block, attack, and activate, and when another dork arrives you can move the Term over to them for free. I run this all over the block in places like Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy. I love this as once people get mana for their commander, they often won't play it and they won't cast that nasty game ender. Nice! It's very strong at the kitchen table as Arrest style removal that scales up in multiplayer.

#7. Sigil of Sleep

I adore this common, played in an even 2,222 brews! Enchant your dork for one mana. Then when it deals damage, bounce a dork they control. Note that it does not say "combat," so it works on pingers like Prodigal Sorcerer that tap and shoot a foe. I also like it in decks with quick aggro evasive stuff like Edric, Spymaster of Trest's turn-one evasive dorks followed by this on turn 2. I also like this in Mono-Blue Aggro builds that had have tempo elements like Winter Orb to back this up with. In any Commander deck with blue and evasion on the Commander this makes sense, as well as combat damage trigger Commanders that already run the expected Rogue's Passage and Whispersilk Cloak cards to get in hits, so you can run this. Love it loads!

#6. Fists of Ironwood

Just 1,576? Really? Did you forget that this card existed? Two mana, two 1/1 Saproling tokens and the enchanted dork gains trample. A form of evasion. Two mana is exactly what you would expect to spend on two 1/1s like Dragon Fodder, only here you can do it with a trample to your Commander that is blinkable, bounceable, free droppable, and recursive with Hall of Heliod's Generosity and similar stuff. This is really strong in token decks that also would benefit from kitting out a Commander. Don't sleep on the power of this card in things like Selesnya tokens. It's also amazing in the recent token matters dorks like Jaheira, Friend of the Forest with the background choosing or something classic like Chatterfang, Squirrel General that would love trample to add to his Forestwalk.

Top Five Time! Three of them have fewer then 1k cards and two are just above it. We have one rare, two uncommons and two commons and all are cheap!

#5. Quicksilver Dagger

Our only gold card and Red Aura is this common with just 832 decks registered. Izzet is a very popular color combo in Commander, so there are lots of places to run this thing. I still run it in Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy. Three mana, you can tap the dork to shoot a player and draw a card. Win cons and card flow in one card, and I rarely see the creature with this on it highlighted for removal, so you'll usually get a few cards drawn and damage done. Did you see the synergy with this and Sigil of Sleep that just hit a few slots earlier? I really love this in decks with an untap theme that can really draw the cards and deal the damage, or as a win con in untap/combos with Sword of the Paruns or Umbral Mantle. Nice right?

#4. Spawning Grounds

Want a win-con in aura hands? I've got you and just 1,130 decks, out there run this admittedly high 8-drop but in Green, the color of ramp. You enchant a land, tap it, and then make a 5/5 trampling Beast and can do it over and over again. I like this with a few genres. In an aura or enchantment deck this is on queue and a win con. In a token deck generally, this is nice, and in a populate deck, specifically that clones a token you control this makes a nice sized trampler. This does a lot of work and is in the right color for ramping to help with that mana cost. Just like the previous card, this likes untappers of lands or permanents and combos with Earthcraft to make infinite 5/5s that are tapped.

#3. Enslave

This 6-drop Control Magic is in mono-Black, so it breaks the color wheel, hence it being here since many likely have forgotten that this thing exists. This will also force the owner of the creature you stole to take a damage each of their upkeeps, so this is a slow clock as well as a stealing effect. I really like this in control builds looking to grab something and win with it, sacrifice matters decks where you can steal and then sacrifice for value, and in Orzhov enchantment and aura brews where this can act as a Control Magic outside of the colors and thus answer a key card. With Cabal Coffers and similar cards in Black, six mana is easily done, and this is just one more mana than the commonly printed Control Magic like Mind Control and Persuasion. Don't forget about the power of this card!

#2. Take Possession

The first steal anything enchantment was Confiscate, and it cost 6 mana and could take anything from a planeswalker about to go off to a key land or a Consecrated Sphinx. This costs one more and then adds in split second so it cannot be answered. This is the best Confiscate ever printed, and I still run it in Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy. It's in just 600 decks despite how good and flexible it is at the kitchen table since it can answer any permanent problem your foes might have dropped. It was also reprinted as an uncommon and is thus now a cheap option on the secondary market. Love it loads!

What barely played common hits the top of my list?

#1. Flight of Fancy

Going into this article, this was the first Aura I looked up since it seems classically underplayed from where I am sitting. I saw that this was only run in 297 which is the fewest in my countdown and it started in my top spot. This gives flying (nice for Voltron's that need evasion and card flow) and draws two cards. This is the Mulldrifter of auras, and that's on a five drop, 2/2 with the ability to cast it for three mana and draw two cards. This costs one less mana, isn't as synergetic as that classic common card, but remains heavily useful. Mulldrifter is in 68,238 decks and this doesn't even crack 300, and yet are they really that different? This likes flickering brews just like it, (Brago, King Eternal?) This likes self-bounce to recast it and net more cast triggers from Enchantresses as well as more cards from the aura, like Drake Familiar or Dream Stalker that will reload it. It's very strong card flow, flying giving, and works well in loads of places, yet no one is running it. Will you?

And there we are! Be honest, which ones of these have you run? Or played against? What did you think of my list? Anything missing or that I got in the wrong order? Just let me know, and have an awesome day!