These are some of the best commander cards out there, and should see way more play than they already do. Patreon / edhdeckbuilding TCGPlayer Affiliate Link www.tcgplayer.com/?...
I'll disagree that Bear Umbra is harder to remove than the Sword. Bear Umbra needs a creature removal card to be destroyed and those are the most common. If it's an exile card it's even worse, since it nullifies the Totem Armour as well.
Bear Umbra has the simple but impactfull disadvantage to the Sword that it is a two for one if your creature for instance is exiled. The sword stays in play. AND you can switch it to another creature if needed. This is huge and shouldn't be taken out of the equation!
it's effect being on attack is disgusting in some decks though. Like my tovolar. tap out to make one creature +x/0 and trample, untap everything and see where blocks are to respond once again with tovolar effect :3
On Ornithopter of Paradise: I agree with all the pros you listed, and also agree that it's underrated. But you left out its biggest flaw: having two cards types makes it much more likely to get swept up in a board wipe.
Yeah creature based wipes are so common, at least in my playgroups that manadorks like these don't live that long and then I'm down a mana and lost card. And if I tap it for mana it isn't better als a manarock.
Which is exactly the time that you really need that extra mana to rebuild. I will never understand why people will play OOP, but completely ignore the Myr dorks. The advantage of Mana dorks is their speed of getting dropped, or their ability to produce ridiclous amounts of mana. Once you're on pace with regular mana rocks, there isn't much advantage to playing dorks. If you want your mana to also kill, run man lands instead
Yeah ain't no way bro thinks Ornithopter is better than Arcane Signet. Signet is better turn 2, better mid game because it won't have summoning sickness, and equally as good late. Ornithopter gets the benefits of also being a creature but it also has the downsides of being a creature
I’m a longtime proponent of Ornithopter of Paradise and I’m glad to see you talk it up! I would say that when I draw Arcane Signet in the mid game, I almost always tap it immediately to double spell. When Thopter dies to a board wipe it’s sad, but having a flying creature to chump, get attack triggers with, or load up with equipment or counters in a pinch, is good value. In any deck where I want to put creatures in my graveyard, doing it multiple times has diminishing returns because I’m finding my best resurrection target the first time and I’m only gonna bring back so many things. I don’t run corpse connoisseur, which gets a couple things in the graveyard faster. I keep considering running one or the other in my Scarab God deck, my only one that wants to steadily fill the yard, and the in-tribe card just seems better in that case. I’d absolutely run it in Whisper or a similar deck. I don’t know if my play group is just broker than most of them (I don’t think so), but I don’t see fetch lands cracking constantly at my tables. It’s been years since I ran a ramp spell that I have to wait for other people to do things to make work. In some games, it would get me 5 lands and be amazing. In others, it would get me 1 a turn or two after casting (let alone holding the mana up, I wanna develop my board here), and maybe a second a few turns later. Whenever I think about running it, I end up just using a 2 mana rock instead. I know that’ll give me mana right away every time without assuming every commander player has $80 worth of fetch lands in every deck. Commander RU-vidrs constantly tell me Deathrite Shaman is a mana dork because I can always assume someone will put lands in the graveyard, and that’s not true at all IME, so I have trouble trusting this. More importantly re: the Terramancer for me, though, it’s fatigue. In the past 3 years they’ve printed like 5 or 6 of these white cards that conditionally provide value based on your opponents’ choices. Some of them are great, some of them are unplayable, most are somewhere in between, most of them come out in a commander precon and if you didn’t buy that precon, you have to think to go online and buy yourself a copy. If nobody at your table has one, you don’t see it in play and see how it actually goes. Many of these cards preorder at $10+ (Smuggler’s Share was over $30 and I see it at $6 now), suggesting some people are super bullish on them and then usually disappointed. I’ve just kinda checked out of that whole genre of card, and occasionally go back for one when it’s got specific synergy with a deck. Maybe I’ll cut the Knight of the White Orchid from my Liesa deck and give this guy a shot instead, he should be at least that reliable.
As a Karador player I do think the argument that Oriq Loremage is a slow removal magnet does hold weight. You used the line “because something dies removal is no reason not to play it” it’s true that everything non emblem dies to some kind of removal, so I understand that but I think the line should be “don’t play things that die to removal before they get a chance to do anything”. The cards you mentioned that are similar were Smothering Tithe and Rhystic Study. While those are both huge removal magnets odds are pretty good that you will get some value out of them because some players at the table are going to draw or cast spells before they are removed and in a really good scenario you get back a lot of value. Also when using that comparison Enchantments are so much harder to remove then Creatures *cough* red *cough* and people have to be more discerning with their enchantment removal about what they take out, so I don’t really think it’s an equal comparison. The problem with the Loremage is that it provides no initial value and likely everyone at the table has an opportunity to untap and evaluate what my next turn will look like and figure out if I can make a new splashy enough play with the Oriq Loremage and remove it if they think it’s enough of a threat. Meanwhile, with something like Corpse Connoisseur or Gravebreker Lamia I get I similar effect on an ETB and removal is no longer an issue. Also Fauna Shaman and Feind Artisan also have similar effects and I would rather draw out removal with my 2 drops instead of a 4 drop that everyone is going to get a chance to kill. Whenever I tried it my experience was that my opponents will only let me have the Loremage if I can’t do anything good enough with it. If I could really do something good they can remove it with plentiful, single target creature removal. I only had it in for a few weeks, but it never worked out and lead to me really falling behind in tempo. All that said, thank you for your content. Appreciate your insights.
With regards to the Gnome: I think there are two major issues with it. 1. It is ramp that relies entirely on your opponent's actions. And not just common actions like "when a creature enters the battlefield" or "play a land", but you specifically need them to play (and have drawn) either spell-into-land based ramps, which is basically limited mostly to green decks, or fetches. Depending on your playgroup, that might just be like, 2-3 cards tops in the other's decks. They might not play the pricier fetches and just one Terramorphic, one Evolving, maybe a Capenna fetch. In some playgroups, you might reliably ramp because everyone fetches or plays green, but if you can't, like getting into random pods in some LGS, it might just completely whiff. Which is, imho, exacerbated by the second issue. 2. Timing. Deep Gnome costs 2. Players that have a fetch in their opening hand tend to play it turn 1. Gnome misses all those. And if you are going last or second to last, you miss those turn 2 cracks as well (unless opponents wait with the crack and you can gotcha them with flash, even if they go before you). Both of those combined, at least to me make this thing...unreliable. Yes, the ceiling is high. In the right games, you can get a huge advantage out of it. But in other games it can and likely will just simply whiff. A ramp spell that might completely fail to ramp you. Not because it is interacted with but because opponents accidently did not play into your plan. Most people would just rather play a mana rock (or ornithopter) that reliably ramps them by one, really.
For me, ornithopter of paradise is less good, because of board wipes. They make you effectively lose mana and a creature with thopter, not if it isn't a creature. I only use it in décks in which having a creature is important (decks that target, count number of creatures, attack/death triggers...) there are a lot of decks that have less use for a little mana creature and are afraid of losing it to a creature wipe. ^^
Since a lot of players are NOT in the US, and the price and availability vary, yet theyt still register lists and use edhrec, some cards will get skewed statistics. I know that for me that is the case. In my country, a deep gnome terramancer is worth about the same as a smothering tithe, give or take. And since the amount of money I can put into cards is somewhat limited each month, choices have to be made
Bear Umbra also untapping on attack means you can use that mana *in combat* if you need to, too. Saves your enchanted creature from board wipes, is just generally phenomenal.
I’ve had poor experiences with DGT. If no one is playing searches (or when no one is in green), it feels like it just sits in your hand. Oriq Loremage is crazy good in my Magar deck though.
DGT is still a sneaky blocker and sac fodder. Sure it's not gonna get the value that you'd want but a 2/2 flash for 2 is still decent value. The effect pushes the card from decent value to crazy good.
omg, I tried to point out 'Thopter of Paradise to people when it came out- so much snooze button. Just a few years ago people went nuts over Arcane Signet, lol. Maybe people are so fickle about Thopter of Paradise because they compare it against Birds of Paradise, rather than compare it to Arcane Signet. I especially love the card because I don't play a lot of green, so I have a fair amount of decks that rely on mana rocks to have any kind of "ramp"....and Thopter of Paradise is a good 2 CMC mana rock, and in a pinch it can be used for combat. Great card.
I think in most decks, Arcane signet is better. You would need to be playing a deck where being a creature is actually a good thing, rather than just making it easier to remove (assuming you are looking at it as an either/or situation with Arcane Signet). Arcane Signet is more difficult to remove and not subject to summoning sickness, which in most decks is going to be more advantageous than it being a creature. Not all, but most.
I like Oriq loremage but compared to Entomb, Buried Alive, Unmarked Grave, Vile Entomber and Gravebreaker Lamiah it takes so long to really get him going. There are tons of ways to get what you want either into your hand with normal tutors or into the grave with entomb effects. If you need a specific card in the graveyard play one that does it instantly. If you just care about having stuff in the graveyard play efficient self mill. Not saying he's bad but the niche for tutoring multiple specific cards into the graveyard over a couple of turns just isn't that big Imo and if he dies to a sweeper before activating twice you're really not getting a good deal. Not being able to reanimate him and immediatly get something else into your yard (like the Lamiah or Vile entomber) can be annoying too.
Deep gnome is too dependent on your local meta. I know that in my LGS, it actually just doesn't very trigger much in the average game (outside of the cEDH guys). A lot of the non-green decks aren't playing fetches, and a surprising number of the green decks are using mana dorks or enchantment ramp instead of land ramp. It's just weaker and more inconsistent than the tax cards that are based on something which is guaranteed to occur (e.g. smothering tithe or rhystic study). I think it scales up in power very well though.
Even more budget decks are running cards like Evolving Wilds, Myriad Landscape, or Mitch's Bauble, and lots of green decks still run 3 Visits, Nature's Lore, Wood Elves, ect.
Bear Umbra! I use it all the time! Also, it is NOT easier to remove a Sword of Feast and Famine. All you have to do is destroy the enchanted creature and bear umbra is gone. Also, also, Umbra is a lot less desirable in a green deck where you have access to lots more ramp. Sword is really good because it helps out an esper deck, or a non-green voltron deck.
Except of course if you 'destroy the creature' you won't destroy the creature, only the Bear Umbra (which is a Totem Armor). Most times you'll need to use a second removal spell to actually remove the creature; and in general, it is still harder to remove enchantments than artifacts and most of the time I think players will find the sword more threatening than the umbra.
I love Ornithopter of Paradise. It's in pretty much all my non-green decks, and even some of those that like throwing counters around (placing a half dozen +1/+1 counters on a flying mana dork is so sweet). Sly instigator is cool. I really like the concept of Maeve Insidious Singer (goad as many times as you can pay, then draw a card each) and I wish I could figure out a fun deck with her as commander (I tend to avoid heavy control decks, which is tough to do in mono-blue).
@@wEakling1918problem is you get the same result with the equipment except with the equipment they have to have two different types of removal also 2 different colors can remove the creature without the armor helping, also you can equip over multiple turns and it's 1 mana less
Because of you I'm an oriq loremage believer. In my grimgrin deck i think ive won everytime i cast him. And i need to try bear umbra in my kruphix deck, never thought about it before
Gotta say on ornithopter v. Guild signet, ornithopter is surprisingly good and easier to track than the signets but i have seen a fringe use case where the signet is better ramp, when you have to filter mana either because it's not on the colors (like with off color rituals) or because it's colorless or conditional (like to filter mana from a powerstone)
I have Oriq loremage in my Olivia reanimator deck... ABSOLUTE HOUSE in that deck. He's also fantastic with Chainer, Nightmare Adept who is also in my Olivia deck. I don't have any haste enablers in the deck to keep room open for etb creatures/value, but having chainer on the battlefield, using his ability to discard Oriq Loremage, then using Loremage's ability because Chainer gives them haste is awesome.
Bear Umbra is a great card but is not remotely comparable to sword of Feast and Famine. The only circumstance where it might be preferred, is in an enchantment deck.
Next two Golgari board wipes after Toxic Deluge ? Probably Damnation and Pernicious Deed… … Meathook Massacre, Extinction Event, maybe a Living Death or Ezuri’s Predation (depends on the Deck archetype).
I think what the tracks against bear Umbra is twofold 1 hitching green and there are better cards that ramp in green that fetch lands so instead of looking at one of the top ramp cards in the format it's maybe 8910 or a little further down on the list and I think a lot of those green decks aren't going to use feast and famine as well the second is the totem armor aspect means you can Target a creature and remove the effect so essentially it's a creature or an enchantment removal to eliminate the effect it's a better effect but it's more vulnerable neither card you're really getting to 4 1 unless it's an exile creature effect. I think these are the Dynamics behind the two cards and why they are selected forgive any typos I'm dictating this while driving
Not to mention, if you're running an "equipment matters" deck, you'll likely be in white with stuff like Ardenn or Sigarda's Aid to cheat the Equip cost.
I use Oriq Loremage in my Olivia, Crimson Bride deck, basically with it in play it’s attack with Olivia>put any creature from your library into the battlefield tapped and attacking, kinda nice :)
I agree the bear umbra Is good, but saying that destroying and aura which dies when the attached creature would die is easier than destroying an artifact which can be shuffled and attached to newer permanents while stricking on the field Is not accurate.
On Bear Umbra: Yes, artifacts are easy to remove. You know what's even easier to remove? Creatures. If one of your opponents points a removal spell at the creature enchanted by Bear Umbra then Bear Umbra is going straight to the graveyard one way or another, either because Totem Armor triggered and you had to sac it or because it falls off when the creature gets exiled/bounced/etc. SoFaF provides a layer of protection for the creature while requiring you opponents to target it specifically to get rid of it. Bear Umbra is a great card, but nowhere near as good as SoFaF and thus is in less decks.
Although, I think most players will see a sword, particularly the ones that offer protection from their deck's colors as more of a threat than the umbra in most cases, and prioritize it for removal first. And yes, you might want to blow some of your premium edicts or whatever on the bear Umbra's wearer or even expend two removal cards on creature in some cases I can see a lot of cases where it's going to get through a couple of times and 4 mana isn't a bad exchange for a couple of cards, 4 points of additional damage, and maybe a removal card or two.
dude, do you know why I don't play Deep Gnome Terramancer? Because when it came out, I just figured it's going to be hella expensive (at least for my personal budget rules) like Smothering Tithe or Land Tax. I just never bothered to look it up again after the few weeks it came out! Turns out It's well within my budget! Can't believe it's not even near the price range of what I thought it would be. (at least not yet) This is why I'm subbed to your channel. As for Nightmare unmaking, which I have in my collection, but I don't play it because i hate exiling my own creatures and I couldn't really figure out a way to apply it, but you gave me some suggestions here. I can give it a go, see how it works out. Your video's make me want to buy cards every other week, I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it sure is fun.
Guardian Augmenter & Stinging Study are two of my absolute favorites. I play a lot of black, and stinging Study is literally I think my favorite straight up draw spell. Guardian Augmenter is, as you said, an auto include for me in any voltron or voltron-ish deck with green. I do find Oriq Loremage a little slow, just has been for me. Draws a lot of attention (because it is so good when people see what it does & what I'm trying to do) so it usually dies immediately OR people deal with my graveyard before I get to activate it. Deepgnome Terromancer just never did anything for me, so I removed it from all decks I tried it in 🤷♂️. Main thing is that it's an incredibly useless late game draw...feels bad to hit off the top in the mid to late game. Although part of that is just my luck and not really a reflection on the card...I'd love to draw it in my opening hand, just never did lol
Nightmare unmakeing is hard to control for unless you play a lot of carddraw(at will). Also because black is THE graveyard color I'd assume most people prefer the -×/-× , sacrifice or just regular destroy boardwipes it has. Edit: some examples, also in creature form to make it reuseable: Archfiend of Deptavity, Massacre Girl and the new archon from eldraine for cheaper options. More expensive but likely onesided ones are reiver demon and dread concordon( i belive that was the name) just in the creature department.
I really need to shout out Wandering Archaic, it's become a pet card for me in EDH and I consider it a staple for every deck I make unless I have good reason not to run it. It's a colorless 4/4 for 5, which has the triggered ability that whenever an opponent casts an instant or sorcery, you copy it unless they pay 2. It's a fantastic card to have sitting on your field that can really limit counters by making them cost 2 more (or letting you copy them to counter the counter) and it can also catch things like tutors or removal. Being a 4/4, it's also just a solid statline. On top of that, it's a dual sided card, with the alternative being a sorcery for 3 which lets you dig through the top 5 cards of your library for an Instant or Sorcery. Fantastic card all around and I really think it should see more play, it's an incredibly solid 5 drop and can find a home in most decks.
Totally agree with stinging study. Play it in aaaall my black decks. With Anikthea it draws 5, with Savra it draws 4 and in my Bladewing deck it draws 7 cards. I love it!!! Thx for the content. Greetings from Germany!
I never use the filter signets because I have to pay one to filter it. Also I like using treasures that I can use for any color. I think it's the cost that Orriq that put people off. Paying 4 for an ability you might get to use next turn. There is a lot of exile that is played in the pods I wander around in.
I think the reason most of what you like or feel is less played or less seen is because most people are not playing edh "casually" anymore. My lgs have a edh night and the only people not playing midpower or higher are those who are just learning magic or just staring edh. Its just too easy to have access now to better cards. We dont play cedh but we play mana crypt, mox diamond, chrome mox, etc for or decks. Like i think when most people play that way, you want to be able to compete so you start playing the same way. I just dont know very many people who play edh for "sh¡ts and grins" anymore
I dont play cards like ornitthopter personally because so many ppl run boardwipes and losing mana sucks id rather have it on and artifact which is least likely to be removed. all of those pesky “any target” or orcish bowmasters just gun them down and its just not really my thing to play those myr style cards personally
Yeah the fact it is a mana dork and not a mana rock makes that it is incorrect to compare them with each other in my opinion. Dorks are just more fragile and come with summoning sickness. I really don't think the ornithopter is worth it unless you are playing a deck which leans heavily into creatures
You haven't live your best you until you've killed an opponent with orni of pair-o-dice and Hatred. The first time I did this the whole table of five busted out laughing for 5 mins non-stop.
I also greatly prefer land ramp. I even have a mono blue land ramp deck. That said a ton of decks really care about creatures for etbs, sacrifice, blockers, etc. In those cases I usually add 2-3 extra creature ramp over my typically ramp ratio and never regret it.
12:00 Oh hey, Nightmare Unmaking! I love that card in my Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck, since most of the creatures that make the deck work are low power (like Nekusar). You can also stack an instant speed wheel after casting, drawing you a full set of cards and now exiling all creatures with power less than 7.
Why ornithopter of paradise is far worse than arcane signet: Tapping for colours outside of your commander identity isn't relevant. Being a creature makes it a lightning rod for early removal because it stands out on an empty board, and people have it ingrained in them to 'bolt the bird', whereas a 2 mana ramp artifact attracts zero attention. Being a creature means it incidentally dies to wraths and makes rebuilding harder, whereas an arcane signet is wrath resistant. Being a creature means it functionally enters tapped, which is hugely relevant because there are often double spell turns when you'll go signet into another spell. If a 2 mana flying blocker is more important to you than the downside of not tapping on the turn it's played, you must play in extremely slow, weak pods where that becomes relevant. Just my 2 cents, but I'm 100% confident in my assessment here. Creature versions of powerful permanents are usually worse, fauna shaman is far worse than survival of the fittest for example.
The honest reason I run ornithopter in most of my decks is because of one particular game I had. I was playing ghyrson starn kellermorph, 2 of my opponents were out of the game and the remaining opponent had 3 life remaining. I had no more spells to ping them with and had I end turn I would have lost. Lo and behold I remember I have ornithopter of paradise on the board and skull clamp. So I tap my one remaining land, equip the skull clamp to my ornithopter, turning it into a 1/1, then I swing for one flying damage to the face, which of course ghyrson turned into 3 and I won the game. Had that been any other mana rock, or any other creature without flying, the game was over. Sure this was a very fringe scenario, but the memory stuck with me and since then, ornithopter has become a personal staple in all my non green commander decks.
Mizzium Transreliquat. You need to be in Izzet colors, but it's only in *600 decks* and copies any artifact on the battlefield, your own included, and can change after it hits the table. It's fantastic at keeping pace with the table.
I can confirm just how backbreaking Oris Loremage can be in both Lazav and Greasefang, I’ve used it to tutor both a Parhelion 2 and a Void Beckoner for kills before Another thing that people don’t play near enough to keep an eye on: Gorex the Tombshell, who can act like that in the command zone!
I think most people run feast and famine over bear umbra because of the fact that it isn't color specific. Im also of the opinion that both are on the same or similar power level. Sure feast and famine costs one more mana, and is harder to make your lands untap, but it gives your creature protection from black which is most removal spells as well as green which is also popular at most tables so chances are its getting through, the discard effect is just a slight bonus
I’m definitely putting Aether Snap in my Tom Bombadil deck. I get to remove the counters from my sagas, and destroy everyone’s tokens while I’m at it. Thanks for showing the card!
Stinging study is an absolutely intsane card to me and i do not understand how other people aren’t as fascinated with it as i am. At 4 cards it’s playable, 1 more mana, 1 more card than those 4 mana draw 3 black spells. At 5 it’s very good, 5 mana draw 5 at instant speed gets you into a game fast. At 6+ mana it’s absolutely amazing and criminally underrated
I think you make some awesome points in the Bear Umbra versus Sword comment, however the sword giving pro black and green allows it to attack without fear of being blocked more consistently. But otherwise, the argument really makes you think.
yes orinithopter of paradise and oriq loremage really need attention i know a big factor for orinithoper is wipes but that applies to all mana dorks loremage they refuse to let go of the stupid "its summoning sick and remove it" thing but mine wasn't being removed and its gotten me wins with "timestream navigator" for infinite extra turns (i keep putting it inside the graveyard with loremage but then i get it out with kennrith and give it haste as well.) infact this talk might inspire me to try to get the oriq loremage added to my "Tazri stalwart survivor" deck and see if it works there. infact "Necrotic ooze" is in the deck so when that's out i can just tutor the christmas card for the win.
I hope we get a list based on cards in commander decks. Specifically the ones made for precons - some are very achetype specific but some are really cool and interesting
Dead of winter, Black Suns Zenith, Bontu’s Last Reckoning, Massacre Girl are my favorite black board wipes; love Nightmare unmaking and Crux of Fate too
Ornithopter of paradise gets blown up by creature board wipes, which are the most common board wipe. You don't want your mana base being blown up, which is why Mana dorks tend to be worse than mana rocks, and mana rocks are worse than land ramp. It's not a bad card, but it's appropriately played and ranked among mana sources. I'd take signets and talismans over the ornithopter unless I had other synergies that help the bird.
Decree of Pain is my favourite black board wipe: expensive, but kill all and draw a ton. I tend to run Deathbringer Regent and Necromatic Selection, since they leave a body behind to advantage me. But I agree Nightmire Unmaking is an interesting choice.
As far as golgari board wipes, after deluge, my choices are probably like Massacre Girl and Pernicious Deed. Honorable mention Calming Verse. Nightmare Unmaking seems spicy though, I'll give it a try
I absolutely love Ornithopter of Paradise and play it all the time. I'm just as shocked as you with Oriq Loremage. When i first laid my eyes, I thought it was stupid good, and anticipated it being a super expensive card, so I tried to buy as many as I could before it went up, but it never really did. My guess as to why its not played as much is because people focus on that last part too much, and think they have to play instants and sorceries to get full use out of this card. That last part is basically just the icing on the cake. And that point about people saying its "slow", this is commander, the format that is THE home to slower cards like this.
DGT is so unbelievably good every time I draw it. People worry in the late game that it won’t be useful, but having a flash blocker to chump a lethal swing and get an extra turn is incredibly good. I usually get 2-3 lands off of it if I cast it in the early game too. It’s just a nuts card
Plus, you’re in white so you’re probably on path, winds of abandon, demolition field, etc. which all trigger it as well (unless your opponent doesn’t search but that’s still a win). It’s still definitely high variance but usually I get 1-3 lands, but some games I get 6-8 if this thing sticks for the long term
I play mainly 2-4 mana commanders so stinging study is never on my radar . However I’m looking to make a shelob or Lord of the nazgul deck so maybe I’ll pick it up for those two
Awesome recommendations here, that Gnome is awesome along with weathered wayfarer for my Nahiri deck. I play games with a 1 or 2 land hand keeps cause of them lol Edit: I think the reason people are not playing Deep Gnome is because he only comes from the party time commander deck (not sure if he appears in the collector booster) and the only reason I have him is bec. I got party time.
I have a mono black demon deck I'm considering putting Aether snap in. The problem is it's only good against a couple of the decks I usually play against, because I'm the one who usually makes all the tokens.
Arcane signet is better than ornithopter of paradise because it's a mana rock that won't get caught in a board wipe. Ornithopter is better than the other signets in 5, 4, and sometimes 3 color decks. It's definitely a good card but it isn't the best rock in the game
I agree that Bear Umbra is a little underrated, especially in terms of monetary cost compared to SoFF. But I think saying “it’s harder to remove enchantments” is a little disingenuous, when any Doom Blade effect (or even Unsummoning the creature) will knock the aura off. Bear Umbra gives free value there through Totem Armor, but even then, the Doom Blade stops the untap effect from going off it it’s played before combat. If someone snipes the creature from under a Sword, the sword stays in play. For most decks, I prefer Nature’s Will for the same price, since it’s not an aura. As long as some creature of mine can connect, I’m untapping. Also if you connect with multiple players, it’ll stack multiple untap triggers, and if you have an instant speed mana sink, that’s a lot more value. The card used to be pretty scarce until the Commander Masters reprint, but now I see it going for a dollar and I’m gonna need a couple more copies. Guardian Augmenter I keep looking for spots for. My only real voltron deck is enchanter so it’s hard not to just run an enchantment for that purpose. Road of Return I might try, but I’d say in opening hand it looks terrible. Paying 2 to get your commander back from the command zone isn’t great until your commander tax hits like 6. If I’m averting a tax of 4 by spending 2, a 2 mana rock (or an Ornithopter of Paradise) is helping half as much while also doing other things. The biggest problem is probably that this competes with Bala Ged Recovery, which can get any card or just be a land. In a deck that cares about landfall, the land option is big. Nightmare Unmaking does seem strong, I’ll think about where I might be able to fit it. Mass exile in black could really come in handy even if it misses some things.
Deep Gnome Terramancer has pretty severely underperformed for me. I was expecting significantly more value out of it. Its a ramp option that costs 2 and MAY get you one or more plains, but you dont have any idea of when you'll get the triggers. Most people want ramp that they can control as they try to curve out and cast spells. The celing for the card is high, but in my experience it just doesnt get there and I've been actively cutting it from lists.
I also think space marine scout is super SUPER underrated. 2[W] for a creature that etbs and tutors for a plains into play. In any blink deck, it's the best ramp in white change my mind.
i love bear umbra, its just a bit more sequential. you need to have the creature out before playing it and pay more up front in one go, nightmare unmaking is a theme pick, but with black why go for selective removal when black has 10+ boardwipes, if it was opponents control(not all) then yes absolutely, deep gnome is just an almost worst knight of the orchid or something similar, its just a dead card in casual mid tier level tables.
I play a lot of these and it’s wild thinking these are underrated because of how well they perform. Stinging Study in my Edgar Markov and Atraxa, Grand Unifier decks is insane card draw.
I guess i need to upload my deck lists to edhrec to help the stats there. I have stinging study in my mono black decks. Also ornithopter of Paradise goes in every non mono deck of mine.
I'm a golgari deck I try to run creature based wipes as much as possible. Deluge is great, but I prefer Massacre Girl, the new Spectre of Mortality, Bane of Progress, or a creature denial effect like Butcher of Malakir. BG should be as creature focused as possible unless you're in a rare spellslinger build.
I'd like to raise a question though : it's basically common knowledge that "enchantment is the hardest permanent type to deal with". But my question is : "how much so ?". Right now on scryfall I see 518 cards that either say "destroy" or "exile" artifact, and 343 cards that either say "destroy" or "exile" echantment. Yes there is a significant difference, but to be honnest I would expect a bigger one. Now is it possible that getting rid of enchantments is getting easier with all those new cards WotC is stuffing in our throat ?
Its cause if players use removal: - most boardwipes are not enchantment removals. Outside of white and green no color can really touch all enchantments. - also from your removal cards most of them should hit alot of permanents. But its difficult to have the right amount. Depending on color and meta it might be that from all players maybe 10-12 of all cards hit enchantments => that goes down if your meta isnt as optimised by maybe 6-9 and if it is we reach a good amount of answers for everything. Oh and if you play against enchantress decks those numbers need to be alot higher!
kindred dominance is number 2 boardwipe for me in black, but obviously you probably want to be in a tribal deck. But get to keep your commander or best creature if not
"Bear Umbra is an enchantment, and it is harder to remove enchantments" --> Bad argument. I can just remove the creature. Sword of Feast and Famine sticks to the board if the creature is removed, and creature removal is ubiquitous.
Ethereal Absolution is a criminally underrated card. It's in less than 9k decks and really overperforms when out. The added bonus is that it also works as graveyard hate but I wouldn't rely on the 2nd ability for that. Figured this would be a card up your alley.
I've always felt like the two-color signets are awkward, but I don't know how to articulate why. I'd rather play diamonds over the signets. Also Oriq Loremage is amazing. I run it in my Grenzo, Dungeon Warden deck.
