Dies to Removal

What strange cards do you run that hardly anyone else seems to know about?

My number one favorite is Orcish Settlers. Not every deck is set up to profit from a mass land destruction sweeper, but pretty much any deck with a decent mana ramp will love to punch out XX lands from its opponent of choice. Very low initial mana investment, as a critter it can be easily recurred, it's instant speed, use it to punch out nonbasics, color-screw, or just put someone so far behind on mana they can't recover. Vary it up and do multiple players' lands, if the situation calls for it.

#2 Phyrexian Portal. On the one hand, this card is really enjoyable when it comes to outwitting your opponent on picking the right splits. It's also a little bit like Fact or Fiction on a stick. Early on, it's pretty slow and unwieldy compared to other options, but with
sufficient mana (say, monoblack or monogreen) the ability to repeatedly multi-tutor can just crush the game.

#3 [card]Mangara's Tome[/card] - See above, minus the fun mind games, but with a little bit more control over what you get.

Other picks: Viashino Heretic, particulary in Nin. Goblin Flectomancer - same deck. True Conviction(in Zur, for lifegain and massive damage).

Walking Atlas is an absolute powerhouse for ramping, especially when coupled with card draw, Journeyer's Kite, and even Armillary Sphere. He's pretty much an auto-include in Blue or Black big mana decks.

I use him in my Nin deck. I'm planning on writing a Primer as well for that deck.

Also, Amulet of Vigor does some good work in conjunction with Terrain Generator and Thawing Glaciers.

I haven't seen a lot of people run Chromatic Lantern, but it's absolutely fantastic for mana fixing. I'm assuming it's catching on by now, as I haven't played EDH in quite some time.

Also, Amulet of Vigor does some good work in conjunction with Terrain Generator and Thawing Glaciers.

Walking Atlas is an absolute powerhouse for ramping, especially when coupled with card draw, Journeyer's Kite, and even Armillary Sphere. He's pretty much an auto-include in Blue or Black big mana decks.

I use him in my Nin deck. I'm planning on writing a Primer as well for that deck.

Had no idea either Terrain Generator or Atlas existed. Those are definitely going into my mono-colored decks, a few others besides. Good stuff.

I've enjoyed Skyshroud Ranger, Sakura Tribe Scout, etc. in my green decks, and it's good to have an analogue for the rest of the pie.

Glad I could be of some service.

And of course all of the above mentioned things get even more value when you start abusing Rings of Brighthearth. Suddenly [card]Wayfarer's Bauble[/card], Expedition Map, Thawing Glaciers, Walking Atlas, Fetchlands, and Terrain Generator start doubling their output.

Also, a lot of people don't like to include these, but they've never let me down: Brittle Effigy and Pithing Needle. The former for its ability to get rid of bothersome things like Avacyn, Iona, Darksteel and Blightsteel Colossus. The latter for neutering generals like Rhys or Ezuri and even stopping an O-Stone can be huge.

I've considered adding Pithing Needle before, I just thought it would be frowned upon in my playgroup as it would shutdown certain specific generals but not others.

Dropping extra lands sounds great . Terrain Generator would be easy to fit in any deck, but in what kind of (non-green) decks would you consider running the extra Walking Atlas for example? Mono-blue or blue/white/black seem like obivous choices, but I can imagine it would be less spectacular in say mono-red or mono-black. Thoughts?

Also Rings of Brighthearth is awesome!

Atlas is great in Mono Black ramp because you'll also play Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun, Nirkana Revenant, that new ramp guy from GTC, Lake of the Dead, Cabal Coffers, Terrain Generator, and Thawing Glaciers. In Mono Red, he's not so good because you'll be boardwiping with fire a lot (and sometimes playing Wildfire and D-Force depending on the build).

I have a long-standing partnership with Magus of the Moon right now. In EDH, it's your second Blood Moon, And it's got legs. I don't know why so many people hate it just because it's a creature.

I have a long-standing partnership with Magus of the Moon right now. In EDH, it's your second Blood Moon, And it's got legs. I don't know why so many people hate it just because it's a creature.

Honestly, when I've played, I've found that people really exaggerate the fragility of creatures in EDH, and thus think less of creatures that they play simply for abilities. Sure, Magus dies to a wrath where Blood Moon doesn't, but it's a lot easier to find and play Magus than Blood Moon and a lot easier to get it back if it does die. Shit, my own words are convincing me to pick up a copy of this guy and play him in Riku. That deck plays nearly 30 basics.

Also, [card]Druids' Repository[/card]. I play it in Rhys, and it really helps you re-establish yourself as the greatest presence on the board after a wrath.

Also, [card]Druids' Repository[/card]. I play it in Rhys, and it really helps you re-establish yourself as the greatest presence on the board after a wrath.

Yeah I played this card in Ezuri and it was really good there too.

In my mono red kumono, master yamabushi deck I had really good luck with price of progress. Likewise my aboshan deck rocked back to basics for great justice. Finally hinder: the ultimate answer to your opponent's general (along with spin into myth, but hinder is actually good on it's own merits).

All of these cards are known to be good.

All of these cards are known to be good.

Shows how little EDH I play. Honestly no one in my area plays, so I effectively have 100 card highlander decks that have ultimately become tuned for regular play and would probably perform terribly in any actual game of the formt for which they were created. I'm still conviced that kumano is a good commander though.

I'm still conviced that kumano is a good commander though.

I don't get it. What does he even do that you couldn't do better with someone else? Most notably Heartless Hidetsugu?

I'm still conviced that kumano is a good commander though.

I don't get it. What does he even do that you couldn't do better with someone else? Most notably Heartless Hidetsugu?

Hidetsugu does nothing to creatures, and kmy offers repeatable burn to creatures, and that burn is exile burn, and is even greater when he's holding a blight sicle. Given the number of reanimate effects I see in lists, and from what few games I have played things don't stay dead if they just go to the 'yard. Also hidetsugu
pretty much flushes anychance of playing a diplomatic angle down the toilet.

While not fantastic, I've found that Codex Shredder is particularly useful. It makes every top of library tutor useless and is also a very good card to counter Sensei's Diving Top. If they find something that they like and try to draw it, you can mill them in response, giving them the second card. While attentive players will realize this and put the card that they want at position 2, most players just don't pay that much attention to a Codex Shredder. It can also mill the top off the top your opponent's library after the draw ability resolves, which can be very useful as well.
Also, the card's second ability is Regrowth.
I've tried Shedder in the muli-player version of Krenko in the past and will try to incorporate it into Ashling.

Codex Shredder is great tech. I put it in Jaya.

Giggity.

Codex shredder was cute, but the new pandora's box analogue is fantastic. Will it win you games, probably not, but it will do wild and crazy things which is argubly better depending on your edh group. My niv mizzet, dracogenius deck has little actual possibility of winning other than chainbreaker devils, the rest of it wildly playing the rest of the deck for goofs.

While not fantastic, I've found that Codex Shredder is particularly useful. It makes every top of library tutor useless and is also a very good card to counter Sensei's Diving Top. If they find something that they like and try to draw it, you can mill them in response, giving them the second card.

Assuming the opponent has [mana]1[/mana] open, couldn't they just top in response to Shredder to put a card they don't want on top and the card they do want after?

That being said, I think it probably is still pretty hot tech.

Contagion clasp can go in just about anything, it's colorless removal/debuff, and I'll bet that almost every deck can use proliferate to some end.

[card]tatsumasa, the dragon's fang[/card] is a significant bump for equipment, and after a board wipe it can be a 5/5 flyer. In what little edh play i've had it surprises people in a good way. I run one in a couple different decks.

[card]tenza, godo's maul[/card] if you have a red general this thing is a big boost for cheap, and trample.

Whoa, how did I not know about Tenza, Godo's Maul? I mean...I played Godo, Bandit Warlord as a general for a little while and everything. /facepalm

Yeah I've never actually run godo, but making jaya ballard a 5/5 trampler is immensely satifying.

Yeah I've never actually run godo, but making jaya ballard a 5/5 trampler is immensely satifying.

I'd prefer if she could get out of Inferno range.

That's what [card]tatsumasa, the dragon's fang[/card] is for.

That's what [card]tatsumasa, the dragon's fang[/card] is for.

I played with it for awhile. It just didn't do enough for me. I think I ended up cutting it for Batterskull, which doesn't keep me out of Inferno range unless a Gauntlet/Caged Sun is out, but the life gain and bounce ability is pretty relevant.

Yeah I've never actually run godo, but making jaya ballard a 5/5 trampler is immensely satifying.

I'd prefer if she could get out of Inferno range.

I kind of want to build Jaya just to have a deck to jam Armageddon Clock.

That's what smash effects are for.

That's what smash effects are for.

I used to play Armageddon Clock in Braids, Conjurer Adept with Paradox Haze. I didn't have very many friends when I played that deck.

If you find the idea that your friends like you to be unacceptable you could run karn liberated, your opponents will probably start off pitching land to it thinking it won't go off, and as you get closer you can start pitching your own stuff. When you finally do have the ultimate ready (probably won't happen, but it will get the haet off of your life total for a while, especially considering his discard ability is +3) you can restart the game with whole mess of land in play. One of the few games i've won was because I started with numot, the devastator, one of my opponent's commander, and enough mana to activate him. Needless to say that game ended pretty visciously (I did lose numot to a selesnya charm, but by that point the damage was done).

Akroan horse is a massive politcal card, everyone wins. One dude gets a [card:
w5pgj29o]steel wall[/card] and everyone else gets a constant stream of expendable bodies.. I haven't actually played it yet, but I have some expectations for it.

I don't really like Akroan Horse. Sac outlets are so prevalent that giving my opponent control over my token production (and giving all my other opponents tokens as well!) makes me wonder why I'm not just playing [card]Honden of Life's Web[/card], Awakening Zone, Goblin Assault, Bitterblossom, Assemble the Legion, Creakwood Liege, Dragon Broodmother, or any of the other token producers out there. Not only is Akroan Horse much easier to kill (particularly for the person in control of it), you need to make sure you're getting more advantage out of those tokens than your opponents are.

Karn Liberated is obviously good in the right deck. I've never used the ultimate though. Going +4, -3, +4, -3, +4, -3... for the rest
of the game usually seals it pretty quick.

I wouldn't want Akroan Horse in any multiplayer game where things like Carnage Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Skullclamp, Phyrexian Tower, High Market, Attrition...could hit the table. There's almost always a sac outlet in every deck as a way to make use of squandered resources.

Don't see why do you need to bother to make her a 7/7. Just give the babe Darksteel Plate and go to town.

I wouldn't want Akroan Horse in any multiplayer game where things like Carnage Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Skullclamp, Phyrexian Tower, High Market, Attrition...could hit the table. There's almost always a sac outlet in every deck as a way to make use of squandered resources.

Luckily/unluckily I am by far the best player in my usual casual playgroup (we don't play much edh, but lost of chaos multiplayer), so the rapid sac is actually unlikely, and since I am the best I have a target on my head unless I seem meek or make diplomatic moves.
The horse falls under the latter, aand if the person who recieves it does break it, there is likely to be retribution. I have been known to play forbidden orchard in a monocolor deck for similar reasons, and [card]varchild's war-rider[/card] makes you all sorts of friends.

I'm a proponent of Xathrid Gorgon. I have never been disappointed with her.

I have some actual tech I am testing. With a 5 color commander you can run all 10 gates and maze's end, as a fixer and back-up win condition. I'm currently testing it in my high concept progenitas charm control deck. The idea is that I'm running all 10 guild charms, all 5 commands, all 5 shard charms, all 5 dragon charms, and select single color charms along side mana rocks, a couple mana dorks, and some durdle protection. The idea is that with a handful of charms you should be able to do something meaningful. It's probably god awful, but it has angles (and door to nothingness), and with 3+ players I can hopefully politic some advantage.

trading post is a card I'm surprised I don't see more often in the format.

It's a mana sink that does 3 1/2 relevant things; dump crap into your yard for GY tricks, makes tokens, gets back artifacts with said tokens, eats itself or artifacts that have out lived their usefulness to draw a card.

I've been checking around to see how love there is for Entreat the Angels, but it seems as though it's not listed on any of the reputable "staple cards" lists, or unusually popular otherwise, when it should probably be a tier 1 white staple. With Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Cruel Tutor, Insidious Dreams, Jace the Mind Sculptor, Liliana Vess, Scroll Rack, and Vampiric Tutor in the format, it's can be a pretty easy way for me to put 20-40 power worth of angels on the table without much hassle. If your deck is ramping well, I think it's one of the strongest win cons in the format.

A card that's probably an easy shoe-in for the underlooked category though is Skyshroud Poacher. Up until a few months ago, I was just using it primarily in a Gaddock Teeg list, doing things like Elvish Piper, Fierce Empath tutoring for some obnoxiously large dude such as Ulamog, kill you. Or, maybe grab a Mirror Entity if you had
enough critters on the board.

Then, I figured out that it could alternately fetch Trostani's Summoner and/or Deranged Hermit, then grab the Mirror Entity, which does higher damage, can be significantly harder to disrupt, and works nicely with token strategies.

Very nice way to add some solid punch to G/W/X strategies.

I like King Crab a lot, especially in conjunction with Tidal Force. Aetherize is incredible.

trading post is a card I'm surprised I don't see more often in the format.

It's a mana sink that does 3 1/2 relevant things; dump crap into your yard for GY tricks, makes tokens, gets back artifacts with said tokens, eats itself or artifacts that have out lived their usefulness to draw a card.

Trading Post is disgustingly good.