Delaying Shield by Luca Zontini

Play this game for long enough, and you wind up with a library of obscure spells. Relegated to dusty binders and bulk bins, these forgotten pieces of cardboard yearn for future synergies. All it can take is one new card to elevates these lost souls out of purgatory and into a beloved niche. There's a reason Zuberi, Golden Feather shot past ten dollars once Dominaria United rolled out. A fellow griffin by the name of Zeriam, Golden Wind injected new life into the creature type, causing players to seek out fellow winged warriors to join their kin.

Besties

So, what does this mean for you, dear reader?

When a new set releases, the all-stars like Liliana of the Veil and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse rocket to the top of everyone's list. Once the Standard metagame adapts, some cards from a previous set like Reckoner Bankbuster, who may not have received a lot of initial attention, suddenly find some action. But the vast majority of rares go unplayed. Not considered powerful enough for sixty-card formats. Perhaps their designs were bizarre, experimental, or incredibly niche in scope. Or maybe the cards were great, but didn't have enough support to find a home. Into our bulk-rares they go, getting more forgotten as time rolls on and Wizards releases their 25th new product. That week. *Sigh*

Commander was partially invented as a bastion for said misfits. As such, that plastic storage bin full of ancient Rares and Mythics holds untapped potential, especially with the aforementioned frequency of new sets are coming out. Take a second look through the chaff and you may just find a sprig of wheat or two.

In that spirit, here are some overlooked Commander cards that are better than they appear at first glance. You may very well already have them in your collection, but if not, take heart in the knowledge that most have a price tag that matches the height of their reputation. Or rather, the lack thereof. As such, our adventure is a budget-friendly one. At least, at the moment. Fervent Charge was less than a dollar before Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, but once the land of samurai made its triumphant return, the Mardu enchantment leapt up to ten dollars. Who knows what the next overlooked gem might be? Time to explore the depths of the obscure and forgotten in search of (future) treasures.

These are Commander cards that are better than they look.

Delaying Shield

We start off with a little number that'll only set you back $4. Delaying Shield is an oddball Enchantment from Odyssey designed to postpone damage, then give you a chance to sink mana into itself as a band-aide. Four mana may seem like a big ask for what appears only temporary defense, but look a little closer into how Delaying Shield protects you, and funky applications start to pop up.

No one-shots for you.

Delaying Shield employs an instead-clause, replacing any damage a creature would deal you with a corresponding number of Delay counters. You now have until your next Upkeep to remove those counters, or you'll lose 1 life for each that falls off. This does far more than delay the inevitable. It completely shuts off Commander damage/Voltron strategies (Rafiq of the Many, Uril, the Mist Stalker, etc.), makes you immune to Poison counters (Fynn, the Fang Bearer, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon), and nixes saboteur-abilities (Phage the Untouchable). In addition, because damage isn't technically prevented, cards like Leyline of Punishment and Everlasting Torment don't work on Delaying Shield. You'll also never lose the Monarch ability, so Commanders like Queen Marchesa will keep right on drawing you cards.

And those are just applications the card has on its own! Add some synergy, and the Enchantment turns into a soft-lock Pillow-Fort decks would be proud of. Solemnity generates the best protection, not even allowing Delay counters to hit the Shield in the first place. You simply cease to take damage. Bringing other colors to the party enables Counter-removal (Vampire Hexmage, Hex Parasite, etc.), flickering effects (Zur, Eternal Schemer + any number of creature-blink effects like Eldrazi Displacer, or sacrifice-outlets to rid yourself of Delaying Shield if it accumulates a lethal number of counters (Ghen, Arcanum Weaver). If you'd prefer to stick to Mono-White, consider throwing Flicker of Fate onto an Isochron Scepter for a similar blink effect, or using Faith Healer to recycle away an overly-hot Delaying Shield, or animating the Enchantment to keep counters off it (Starfield of Nyx + Suncleanser). The possibilities abound.

Noble Benefactor

Consider yourself a generous person?

Just how generous?

It's one thing for a Group Hug strategy to gift extra cards drawn, but something else entirely when free tutors enter the equation. Drop a Noble Benefactor (~$0.40), and your opponents will be positively salivating to kill it and reap the rewards. So how best to utilize this card? We can start by doing the dirty work, ourselves. Keeping a sacrifice outlet like Ashnod's Altar on hand ensures we decide when the Benefactor meets their maker, allowing us plan accordingly. Opponents can tutor up big creatures to their hearts' content if we're winning the game that turn with a newly-fetched combo piece.

Oh sure, we could assign Noble Benefactor to the services of classic Group Hug Commanders like Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis or Braids, Conjurer Adept, but why not exercise a little more discretion over who gets to tutor for what? Opt for something like The Ever-Changing 'Dane, Ertai, the Corrupted, Kels, Fight Fixer, or Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, and some decidedly anti-generous options crop up. We could simply limit our opponents' ability to tutor via Aven Mindcensor, Leonin Arbiter, or Ashiok, Dream Render. Or we could have some really nasty fun and punish our opponents for tutoring by dropping Opposition Agent and Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. If we're not feeling so bitter, playing Noble Benefactor alongside Archivist of Oghma ensures everyone benefits, but we benefit the most, bringing us full-circle back to Group Hug.

Death Match

For any deck able to churn our tokens, Death Match (only $0.50) represents a veritable tommy gun. Sure, one that can hit your creatures, too. But when you're employing the likes of Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, odds are that most of the firepower will be in your hands. Black is also the color most adept at working benefitting from its own dead creatures, either for profit (Dark Prophecy, Pitiless Plunderer), life (Zulaport Cutthroat, Blood Artist), or pure revenge (Dictate of Erebos, Grave Pact).

It doesn't take much support for Death Match to utterly tyrannize the board's creature count. Prossh, Skyraider of Kher practically drops a Wrath of God upon arrival. Aristocrat-style generals like Toxrill, the Corrosive, Teysa, Orzhov Scion, and Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools (who Partners quite nicely with Tana, the Bloodsower in this case) are already in the business of recycling minions for profit, so even if an opponent points a Death Match trigger in your direction, you'll likely already have some sort of sacrifice outlet to ignore the effect. Elf-tribal, when in a moody Goth phase, can call upon Lathril, Blade of the Elves or Nadier, Agent of the Duskenel + Miara, Thorn of the Glade to generate large swaths of Elf tokens. If you prefer the more slow-and-steady approach, classic Saproling Commanders like Ghave, Guru of Spores and Slimefoot, the Stowaway grow token after token, trigger after trigger, just be mindful to keep them safe from the onslaught.

Within the 99, cards like Skeletal Swarming, Golgari Germination, Tendershoot Dryad, and Abhorrent Overlord keep the tokens coming. Zombies alone have plenty of synergy like Diregraf Colossus, Grave Titan, Headless Rider, and Ghoulcaller Gisa. Under the expectation that plenty of your own creature will also be in the crosshairs, cards like Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth, Revel in Riches, Spider Spawning, and Lolth, Spider Queen reward you for opponents taking aim at your army.

Burning Sands

Let's address this right off the bat: Burning Sands is not here to make you friends. No one is winning any popularity contests with this card. Drop this, and all eyebrows will furrow in your direction. Land destruction is perhaps the most rage-inducing mechanic in Commander. All aggression will shift towards you. That means you'll aim to end the game quickly - very quickly - once you decide on playing Burning Sands. If you can't end things quickly, your end will come quickly.

For a card that's only $2.50, that's a lot of drama.

To be clear: we're using Burning Sands to essentially win us the game, not slow things down for everyone. Commander is supposed to be about fun, after all. Using cards like Thantis, the Warweaver or Daryl, Hunter of Walkers can create some interesting scenarios for opponents to play around. In these cases, Burning Sands changes the entire dynamic of combat. Blocking is seldom likely to occur unless absolutely necessary. More dramatic is using generals like Rakdos, the Showstopper, Oros, the Avenger, or Malfegor alongside Burning Sands to transform one-sided 'wrath-effects into crippling mana destroyers. Once enemy lands and creatures are swept away in equal measure, there's little opposition to stand in the way of your demon/dragon/all of the above.

If you're looking for a second copy of Burning Sands, Ice Age's Earthlink does an excellent impression, albeit at a much steeper mana cost. Despite its Reserved List status, Earthlink can also be found on a budget, coming in around two dollars. We're also vulnerable to these effects, ourselves, so before you drop that Blasphemous Act or Damnation, keep a Heroic Intervention up to ensure our lands don't go up in smoke alongside everyone else's. One-sided sweepers like Ruinous Ultimatum and In Garruk's Wake are another solid way to avoid getting burnt by our own sand. It's rough, and coarse, and it gets everywhere. Anakin knew what he was talking about.

If our lands do hit the graveyard as a result of Burning Sands, there are plenty of options to mitigate, even benefit, from the fallout. Recursion via Crucible of Worlds, Ramunap Excavator, and Splendid Reclamation ensure our real-estate isn't gone for long. If our opponents are short on creatures, we could always gift them a few via Forbidden Orchard or Goblin Spymaster to ensure they don't miss out on all the fun. If we really want to get nasty, combining Burning Sands with Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern or Titantia, Protector of Argoth can make for quick win conditions in the wake of a sweeper.

Tranquil Grove

What if I told you, that for the modest price of $2.50, you could keep your table free of groan-inducing cardboard like Rhystic Study and Smothering Tithe? Or how about utterly ruining the day for an Enchantress or Voltron deck? Enchantments are potent tools in Commander, able to stick for constant effect and requiring specific forms of removal to deal with. Tranquil Grove is unique in how it offers not only a solution to Enchantments, but total complete and total control over the permanent type.

If your strategy relies heavily on creatures, with little regard to other permanent types, Tranquil Grove offers a lot of board-control for little investment. It's presence alone can deter opponents from playing Enchantments, and whatever's already on board gets put on a tight clock. Creature-centric strategies led by Animar, Soul of Elements, Chulane, Teller of Tales, Jetmir, Nexus of Revels, Radha, Heart of Keld, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, and Niyka of the Old Ways (make sure to cast those last two before dropping the Grove) stand to lose little from frequent Tranquil Grove activations, provided multiple activations are even needed in the first place. Spellslinger-centric Commanders like Kalamax, the Stormsire see no disruption to their plans. Even Dragon Tribal led by Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm can safely drop a Tranquil Grove with little fear of losing cards.

Tranquil Grove by Dylan Martens

Next time you sit down to craft a Commander deck, remember to take an extra minute to dust off that box of bulk in the corner. Your search might yield only crickets. Or it might turn up forgotten treasure. Magic: the Gathering grows ever more complex by the set, so who knows what forgotten sliver of cardboard may next find its due? It's kind of exciting, to think that even the most outwardly boring or pointless cards could only be a set or two away from having their true potential unlocked.

Thanks for reading, and may you discover a hidden gem or two.

Check out the previous article here:

-Commander Cards That Are Better Than They Look

-Matt-

@Intrepid_Tautog