We’ve entered that time of the year when rooms are getting cleaned, RAs are getting trained, residence halls are getting opened, and universities are beginning classes. That means I become a super busy bee, and have a lot less time for writing Magic articles.
I have created a bank of articles for this month, written over the past few weeks. I will be sending these in one week at a time. Therefore, there will still be articles! I usually write my articles one week in advance, in order to give myself enough time to adjust to life-stuff in case it happens. Today’s article was written last week, but the next few weeks were not. I’ll be back to normal in September once things cool down, and well before Scars of Mirrodin heats up.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been digging the theme of using cards I rarely or never use. I love the cards that fall between the cracks of Magic and out of people’s minds. Today I want to challenge myself. I want to find ten cards that I have never used in my decks or advocated the use of in my articles. Then I want to look more closely at them, and talk about how they can be used in decks.
I view this as the Crown of Convergence Syndrome. I had never used it, or talked about it, and then here it is, about six weeks ago, finding a home in one of my favorite Commander decks (which was featured in article 348). There were certainly other cards I hadn’t used before in Le Vert — cards like Glory of Warfare and Juniper Order Advocate. But the Crown of Convergence seems like the banner card from that deck, especially of the underused section.
Then in 350 I found cards like Woodfall Primus, Necrogenesis, Goliath Spider, and Halo Hunter, that I had not used before, and gave them all roles in my deck.
That leaves me with today’s article. I have no idea what ten cards I will find — I have none in mind. Can I even find ten worthy of an article? I have no idea, but I think this is an interesting challenge. The card needs to be at least a year old in order to count. Cards from Zendikar block and M11 do not count as “Undiscovered Cards” for purposes of this article. Let’s see what I can do.
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Okay, I’ve spent two and a half hours poring through cards and card lists, and I’ve found six cards. Ugh. This is not easy. I’ve mentioned a lot of cards in the set review article, or used them in my Abe-Precons articles and whatnot, or the “200 cards that you are not using but should be” series, so I’ve already mined the field a lot.
Alright, after another hour, I am up to 19 cards I have never mentioned or used in my articles. Of these, one is a card that I played with a lot in my OSE Vintage deck for a year or so. Let’s move to other cards instead.
10. Rekindled Flame — I’m not sure why I missed it in my set review for Eventide, but I did. That’s a shame. I love cards that can come back to your hand for another go. This is like Punishing Fire or Hammer of Bogardan — it comes back for more. However, instead of you spending mana at certain times to do so, it comes back when a certain condition is met. Is one of your opponents cardless? If so, bring this bad boy back to your hand in your upkeep, for free. With more opponents, this is more likely to trigger in multiplayer, so its value rockets up there. I suspect its sorcery status won’t make a lot of friends, but it tries hard. It wants to be your buddy! Even if you only return it once or twice in a game, that can be enough between victory and defeat. Card advantage + burn is always a tool to victory.
9. Tilling Treefolk — I love this card for a number of reasons. It is mana-cheap, so you can play it early or late without mana difficulties (which is good, considering what it does). It is money-cheap, so you can acquire several for little outlay. This little guy has not one but two pertinent creature types. It fits in with Treefolk and it fits in with Druids. There is an emphasis on defense in his numbers, which works very well in multiplayer, where you often prefer defense to offense. Imagine if he were just a 1/1 with all of these other abilities. He adds to your density of creatures. He gives you card advantage. His ability can be used to counter land destruction strategies, from Armageddon and Obliterate on one side, to specific land destruction on the other. He can bring back utility lands for another go (fetch lands, Terramorphic Expanse, Quicksand, Gargoyle Castle, etc). Some lands require you to sacrifice others when they are played (Balduvian Trading Post, Heart of Yavimaya, Lotus Vale, Scorched Ruins, etc). You can get the sacrificed lands back. He can bring back dead land creatures. He is a great utility card without getting in people’s way. He is not going to upset too many people (unless you have two Wastelands in your graveyard you are trying to abuse). I doubt he gets countered that much. He is a perfect package for a variety of decks that you have. Whether working with Trade Routes or Barbarian Ring; Lake of the Dead or Phyrexian Tribute; there are a lot of places to play your Tilling Treefolk. Enjoy them!
8. Fathom Trawl — I honestly can’t remember why I’ve never mentioned this card in any of my articles. It’s a pretty obvious card, with an obvious purpose. When you want to draw three cards, guaranteed to have an ability to impact the game beyond what a land does, then this is your gal. Your opponents get to see what you draw, which is sad. But this card makes sure you draw business cards, and not a couple of Islands and a Ponder. There are times when you want lands, need lands, or are okay with lands. It happens. But how often in a duel, once you have five mana (to cast this), are you hoping that your card draw spell will give you more lands? I find that the reverse is the norm. I want to draw creatures, spells — cards that can win the game or stop this clown from winning. Fathom Trawl may not draw as many draw cards as Tidings, but it does make sure that they all count. When you need that Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Wrath of God, Fireball, Naturalize, or Vindicate, you’d much rather play Fathom Trawl. There is no shame in this card at all.
7. Living Inferno — I think I’ve come around on this card. I used to be a bit anti-Inferno, and I saw it get played a few times in multiplayer. Then someone would tap it to kill a few creatures, and it always got killed back. Stupid Inferno. I would stick with my cooler creatures that weren’t so fragile. At some point in time, I started to realize that killing a few creatures is good. Card advantage in multiplayer is precious, and having it on an 8/5 stick is rare. You can swing to get in hits, trade with creatures, and tap to shoot down guys. The best part is when you are tapping it to shoot down one or more smaller creatures that will not kill it back. If your opponent has out eight soldiers, tap it to kill four, then tap it to kill another four later. Don’t get greedy. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to tap it to kill a dangerous creature. I’m okay with trading this for a Rith the Awakener or an Oros the Avenger. If it is about to die to removal or combat, tap it and kill some creatures. There are a lot of decks that really fear this. It works with a lot of cards. Imagine playing this with Stuffy Doll, for example. Ouch. Binding Agony is another great example. As is Inflame. There are lots of great creatures out there that are unable to give you as much potential for card advantage as Living Inferno, and I don’t judge you (or your cardstock) poorly for playing it. Especially since now I might be playing it myself.
6. Equinox — I’ve always been soft on this card. I’ve had an artist signed set for a while. They are great as Land Destruction cancellers. That’s the obvious use for them. You can tap the land Equinox enchants to stop a Vindicate or Stone Rain that is aimed at your land. It would also counter Armageddon style effects, including Jokulhaups. It does not counter things like Upheaval and Strip Mine, though. Even as this, it is a clever card, because someone can’t just counter it back with a Cancel or some such. Where Equinox shines is post-Zendikar block. Suppose you have out a land like… Celestial Colonnade. Suppose you also have another land enchanted with this. Make the Colonnade a creature and attack. If it gets Terrored or Rend Fleshed or Chastised, then you can simply tap the land Equinox enchants and stop it. It won’t stop all removal (such as Path to Exile and Sowing Salt), but it will stop a lot. In the right deck, this becomes a powerful tool of protection for your creatures as well as your lands. It’s very clever that way.
5. Crush of Wurms — I think that 9 mana must be a lot easier to get to these days. I see a lot of players regularly playing these very expensive spells. In this post-Eldrazi world, you can find a lot of ways to accelerate your deck. We always had stuff like Rofellos and Gaea’s Cradle, but now it seems like our options have increased significantly. Llanowar Elves on turn 1, followed by Elvish Archdruid on turn 2 gives you six mana on turn 3. Add in Explore, Cultivate, and many more cards, and you’re at a high mana level in very quick times. Just play Farhaven Elf at you are at nine mana by turn 4. (Five lands, Llanowar Elves taps for one, Archdruid taps for 3). During a time when mana acceleration is so sexy, perhaps a good old fashioned spell from Judgment should be re-evaluated. I know a lot of us have relegated this nine-mana sorcery to the kiddie pile, but should we? Now that nine mana is a much easier path to walk, perhaps we should re-examine this card that has been in our crap boxes. Making a ton of 6/6s with the promise of future 6/6s is pretty sexy. One card = six 6/6s. In the above example, which is pretty modest, you could easily have out a triumvirate of wurms on turn 4. I don’t think Terminate-Boy is going to hold his ground against that. Wurms = rar!
4. Saber Ants — I could have sworn this card was in my 200 card countdown, No Rares Allowed, for articles 197-200. And yet I couldn’t find it when I looked. That’s sad for those articles, and great for this one, because I can give Saber Ants their time at last. I can also give them a bit more space in this article. Saber Ants are awesome. Like Mogg Maniac, they really plug up the ground because no one wants to attack into them. Feel free to chump block a big nasty, and then just make a bunch of insects. Yes, your Ants have died, but now you have a ton of these 1/1s to counter attack or chump block for turn after turn after turn. This card combos well. Regeneration on this thing is funny. (For you). I like a surprise card like Refresh, so your opponent cannot play around it. Slide it into an Earthquake deck. One of my favorite combos is Unhinged card Pygmy Giant. All of the sudden you have 487 insects. That is likely enough to kill everyone at your table in one attack. Combine one of my favorite cards of all time, Goblin Bombardment, and you have 487 damage to dole out. Perhaps you might win that game. In addition to its combo and defense potential, don’t forget that this guy can swing for two damage. Never be afraid to send your defensive creatures out there when you need to. I know it’s just two damage for four mana and creatures can be a lot bigger. Barring an obviously abusive creature like Pygmy Giant, people will likely leave those Ants alone and look for bigger fish to fry with their removal. People are more inclined to send Terror elsewhere, and Lightning Bolt is unlikely to get tossed its way. Enjoy this uncommon from Masques!
3. Honor the Fallen — Technically, I used this card once in my articles — in an Unhinged mostly-highlander deck built around Urza’s Hot Tub and tutoring for cards with the word “the” in them. I don’t think Unhinged articles should count. I remember when Don Haddix added this card to his deck one night, and Aaron and I were totally caught off guard by it in a White artifact deck. He gained something in the neighborhood of twenty life, and hosed the good stuff from our graveyard at the same time. It was awesome. There are still good cards to hose graveyards, beyond the basics you may be familiar with. Abuse of graveyards is often (but not always) reserved to creatures, with cards like Anger and Genesis and Wonder and Glory fighting recursion creatures, and fighting cards like Squee and Nether Spirit, and fighting stuff like Stinkweed Imp for attention. With so much junk in graveyards, giving them a good scour once in a while for a nice padding of life seems like a brilliant idea. Additionally, Honor the Fallen’s status as a two-mana instant means that you play it when it hurts someone. Play it in response to an Animate Dead, or someone casting Sutured Ghoul. The laughs (and curses!) will begin. This is a card you should consider with your multiplayer decks, and I consider rediscovering it while researching this article to be one of the pluses of writing this today.
2. Dire Undercurrents — There are not very many cards that are on this list that look like combo pieces. Sure, Saber Ants and Living Inferno can be used with other cards for powerful effects, but this is really the only card on the list that resembles combo-rific-ness. Let’s take a look at this. You can draw cards (or force someone else to) when Blue creatures enters the battlefield under your control. You can force a discard when a Black creature enters the battlefield under your control. Obviously, you can do both if it is both colors. That makes this quite useful in a lot of situations. Imagine a card like Living Death. That’s going to ruin a lot of people’s day as you force discards and/or draw cards. Even something simple like playing Sengir Autocrat will be a virtual Mind Twist against some players. Breeding Pit looks downright deadly. As do the Green Penumbra creatures that, upon dying, become Black creatures. Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII is another good addition to a Dire Undercurrents deck. The Blue side is powerful as well, and here you can really try to abuse the Blue Underused Hall of Fame card Homarid Spawning Bed. Imagine sacrificing something with a high casting cost with this card under your control. Other great cards include Benthicore, Marsh Flitter, and special mention to Oona, Queen of the Fae, because she makes tokens of both colors. (And from the same set too!)
1. Bull Cerodon — I knew as soon as I saw this card that it was going to be my #1 card on this countdown. I can’t tell you how many times I have grabbed this card for a deck, only to have it be one of the last cuts. I was reminded of this as soon as I saw the card. It’s got to have been at least four or five times since it saw print. The combination of vigilance and haste is very sexy. Just like flying and trample is often referred to as flample, I’m going to call this vaste. Vaste is great because you combine the surprise of an immediate attack with defense. There are a lot of times someone will leaves themselves exposed because there are few to no creatures on the board that can exploit it. You can drop your vasted Bull Cerodon and punish them for five damage. However, you get to keep it untapped and available for blocking. You will not be making the same mistake. Vigilance is more powerful in multiplayer, and combined with haste makes it a very tasty treat. The Bull Cerodon is a very simple card, but it does what it does well. Use it and I think you’ll agree that it’s a pretty handy creature.
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I hope that you enjoyed our look at these ten cards today. I may not have much availability to respond in the forums like I usually do. I’ll try, but I will be super busy. We’ll see you next week!
Until later…
APPENDIX — This week, let’s grab a deck that also uses Homarid Spawning Bed. This is a daily article from Mar 11, 2005. I think you might find the deck interesting, considering my comments in the Dark Undercurrents section. Enjoy!
Ah, good old cards, how I love thee. I was perusing my deck stock binder, trying to find an idea for today’s article, when I espied Homarid Spawning Bed. This gem from the past allows you to sacrifice Blue creatures for 1/1 tokens equal to the casting cost.
I immediately thought about good ol’ Scornful Egotist, the eight-mana 1/1. I’ve never actually built a deck with Scornful Egotist, but this feels like as good a time as any. I start with these two cards, and work from there:
Creatures (14)
Spells (46)
The ideal play for this deck is to drop a Spawning Bed on turn 2, a morphed Egotist on turn 3, and then flip and sacrifice on turn 4. That’s an ideal play, but there are other good plays as well, and other strong openings.
Vedalken Shackles allow you to take control of others’ creatures. If you can grab a Blue creature, sacrifice it to the Spawning Bed and grab another. You can easily grab any creature for defense, and then let it go back and take something better when it comes along. Not only can it feed the Spawning Bed, but it also provides both offense and defense.
Vesuvan Doppelganger is great in this deck, since it copies every aspect of the chosen creatures except for color. That means a Doppelganger will copy that Draco’s casting cost, and when somebody goes to kill it, you can sacrifice the Doppelganger for sixteen little 1/1 Camarid tokens. Such cute little baby Homarids.
Shoreline Ranger should give your mana curve a little help if necessary. With the four islandcyclers and 24 Islands, you should have plenty of mana for some of your effects. If you have enough, then the Ranger can be played a six-drop that’ll give you a bunch of tokens if necessary.
Illusionary Wall is a great defensive card. 7/4 flying, first striking walls are not exactly seen on a regular basis. It does have cumulative upkeep, so when you are ready to axe the Wall, simply sacrifice it for a quintet of Camarids.
I’ve included four major card drawing effects to help you find whatever piece of the deck you lack. Treasure Trove can provide major card advantage over time, and I regularly play it in Blue decks with a lot of mana. There’s a pair of Fact or Fictions for the emergency dig as well.
I’ve also tossed in eight copies of countermagic spells. The ubiquitous Counterspell is in the deck, alongside an old favorite in Dissipate. Play Forbid if you want, but I wanted an older, fancier counterspell for this deck, as well as the ability to hose the occasional graveyard-using card like Genesis and Glory – cards that you really don’t want in your opponent’s arsenal.
The secret tech of this deck is Tidal Influence. I suspect that most of you had to check the link to see what it even did. Here’s the rundown on Tidal Influence:
It’s really legendary or an enchant world, even though it doesn’t say that. You can only have one in play at a time. When it comes into play, you put a counter on it, so all Blue creatures get -2/-0. You may want to play a Tidal Influence after combat if you plan on attacking.
On the third turn, all Blue creatures get +2/+0, so you can get in a serious swing. Make sure you sacrifice as many creatures to the Spawning Bed as possible so that they can attack on this turn. Massive Camarid beats should ensue.
Normally, a Tidal Influence balances itself out. Imagine a 3/3 unblockable creature, for example. Normally, over the course of four turns, you will deal twelve damage. With an Influence out, you will deal 1/3, 3/3, 5/3, and 3/3 damage, so you’ll still deal twelve damage (unless you wait and play Tidal Influence after combat like I suggested, in which case you’d deal 14 damage.)
Now, 1/1’s are different. They will be 0/1, 1/1, 3/1, and 1/1, for five damage, not four, over the course of four turns (and they’ll deal six damage if you play the Influence post-combat). This is a bonus. We are playing with a bunch of 1/1 Camarid tokens, so we should really be able to use Tidal Influence. For Blue, this is about the best we can do, plus it enables you to plan for the critical turn.
I was considering Soul Foundry for this deck to pump out tokens with a casting cost in order to get more Camarids. However, I realized that imprinting a Scornful Egotist was really bad. Who wants to tap eight mana and an artifact just to spit out a 1/1 creature? If your deck has more creatures, you may want to consider the Foundry.
There are a variety of good defensive creatures in Blue, and you could easily add more. Wall of Tears and Fog Bank through Ophidian and more all abound.
I was considering Avatar of Will. It can be played easily in multiplayer and can be sacrificed for a lot of Camarids. I ran out of room, but you could try them out and see how they run. I wouldn’t be surprised if Avatar of Will ended up being an MVP, but in my first version of the deck, it’s obviously not in.
Another big Blue flyer that might fit is Keiga, the Tide Star. Sacrificing Keiga to a Homarid Spawning Bed will also give you control of the best creature at the table. That’s a pretty powerful swing in board position.
You could try and splash another color. One possibility I was considering was to add Green mana to my deck and run Dual Nature. Dual Nature is another way of creating an extra creature token with a casting cost assigned to it, so it could be sacrificed to the Spawning Bed for 1/1’s.
I’m sure that there are a lot more ideas out there, so have fun changing and adapting your Spawning Bed deck as needed!