@@slifer867 it's one of the best draw spells in my Kyler Sigardian Emissary deck because Kyler can easily make any human tokens big enough to trigger elemental bond.
It's criminal to see it on D tier, it's A at best and B at worst. The only drawback I can see is that you don't have a choice when a creature enters, you *must* draw a card; but that's it, it's so easy to put 3 power creatures or 3/3 tokens.
>Sign in Blood & Night's Whisper in C >Read the Bones in poop tier I play Read the Bones in non-blue decks that are thousands of dollars, I play it along side Night's Whisper. The ability to see up to 4 deep is well worth one extra colorless, and I'm always happy to see it in my hand and cast it.
@@mistysowards7365 i dont know about must have, but it is solid. Scry is definitely a nice bonus, but scry 2 is almost a full card and wont always be worth the extra mana for me. Things get a little different if you have cards like Vilis though to take more advantage of the life-loss
I thought they were a little too hard on it too. Foresee is honestly one of my favorite draw cards in U simply for this fact. Also if you love scry, look up "Cryptic Annelid." Thank me later.
I thought that, too. Read the bones looks good/OK. There must be a hundred (at least 50) black cards thst draw cards. . . . ‘Draw 5 cards, pay 5 life’. Lots of black cards that draw you cards printed over the decades. . .
I personally think read the bones isn't even that bad. It can help you smooth out your draws in the mid game, sometimes you just need to find your next land drop in time. Sure it might not be the best card draw in the format, but it gets the job done a lot of the time.
While I do quite like read the bones, I pretty much never play it, I prefer both sign in blood and nights whisper. There is also the 3 mana one that draws a card for each color of mana spent to cast it, the name eludes me right now, which is also better, it just feels like there isn't any room in most decks for it.
Cards like Elemental Bond and Kavu Lair are better for Token decks where you can reliably make larger tokens where beast whisperer and guardian project won’t work. Titania and Gruul Omnath come to mind.
Thanks for writing that. I was litteraly screeming at the monitor when this was not mentioned. Also Elemental bond and Guardian project triger on ETB not only casts so for me as a player who plays a lot! off reanimator decks that is a huuuge upside towards beast whisperer.
This, and what santaclawsui said too about Beast Whisperer being a cast trigger. Probably should've been evaluated separately, but also probably sits around the same spot because it has the extra synergy of being a creature itself.
The one aspect of elemental bond that you missed is that it triggers off of token creatures entering battlefield. So in the right deck, it can be better than both Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project. Not sure how much that would change the overall evaluation, but worth noting.
@@NitpickingNerds or in angry jellybean or Titania which both happen to be elementals. Now that I think about it, ELEMENTAL bond. What a time to be alive.
I discovered your guys' channel recently and have been binge watching episodes. I used to think think I didn't really like Commander, but I've learned a lot about how to evaluate cards and more effectively construct decks for the format, to the point I actually love it now. Just wanted to let y'all know! ☺
Great list as always, the only things I disagree on are Rhystic Study (definitely better than Jeska's Will and Bolas's Citadel), Archmage Emeritus (should be a tier higher, feels like a double standard to rate it down when you have stuff like Reconnaissance Mission which has the same issue of being a nonX type in your X type deck), and Toski (why are you rating this lower than Reconnaissance Mission when it's a creature in your creature deck, it's at least a net neutral at worst).
I absolutely love Harmonize. Lower ceiling than Beast Whisperer and such, but Harmonize is never dead. Unconditional draw, underrated. So too with Read the Bones. They're both examples of cards that tie the deck together (like The Dude's rug). Both are C tier for me, but they end up in a lot of my decks. At the works, they're place-holders in decks that need more on-theme draw options. Harmonize is in Trelassara, for example.
Yeah this is a massive underrating of Harmonize right here. In a green deck without access to blue or black, harmonize always goes in (ok maybe not sythis buy you get the drift). The reason being that the rest of green card draw is reliant on you having cards in hand. If I spend early game on removal and wipes and end up empty handed on turn 6, this is the card I want, even over Great Henge (which of course is a better card but just run both).
Unconditional draw is true, but I feel like it’s one of those situations where 99% of the time there are better options. Like in Trelasarra, if you can gain 2 life then Rishkar’s Expertise and Return of the Wildspeaker both will draw you more cards because of her power. I’ll take the high upside every time
I don't play a lot of commander because I live in a small town and our playgroup is narrow, but I could listen to you guys talk about cards for days and days
Putting Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project as the same card is a bit problematic. The cast vs enter the battlefield matters a lot, I’ve found myself choosing between the two depending on what the deck is trying to do. Besides playing creatures how they get to the battlefield matters, which in my assessment makes guardian project an A while Whisperer remains a B.
I play read the bones on my lathril elf tribal. Mana cost isn't too big a deal with typical green ramp and elves fairly low mana cost. If the mana is going to be spent to draw, it's a waste if you get 2 cards you don't need in the situation. So being able to scry and improve my odds of getting my gaming winning tutor, mana dork (priest/archdruid etc), or artifact (umbral Mantle/ staff of Dom) is worth it. Low b tier for me.
Huh, weird. I wast adjusting my deck to include more card draw just now and was about to look for a video on the topic. The nerds never fail to amaze me with their timing as I see this droped minutes ago. This is like the 3rd time that something like this has happend to me with their videos.
I think that people underestimate Vilis. He's insane on his own if you get him out normally, but if you can cast a reanimate on him, it's 1 mana, draw 8, and get a huge flyer that's gonna draw more cards than you can use.
I play read the bones not due to budget but mostly for power level reasons. My play group had a high level competitive phase and now we're kinda over it so read the bones is just kinda fun and decent
Elemental Bond is CRAZY in Ghired style decks; you draw too many cards but it's specific. I would rate Esper Sentinel and Sea Gate restoration in A. Esper sentinel is easy to remove, hard to pump for many decks so you can afford a pay 1 because it only affects the 1st casted non-creature spell each turn. I do like Sea Gate restoration, but that's so far behind the fish I don't see why it is rated this high. It's not a good card at top deck either.
Love your videos ❤! Stinging Study with 5+ converted mana cost commanders could be B+ to A+. Personally I use it in my Karador Ghost Chieftain deck to draw 8 card for 5 mana/-8 life at instant speed.
Loved this video and would really want to see a part 2! Card Draw and which ones you include in your deck are one of the more interesting parts of deck building for me
I love your content so much! Your rankings are always *chef's kiss*. I would love to see a video in the future where you rank the most fun new commanders that have come out this year!
Esper Sentinel > Mystic Remora. It has no cumulative upkeep & Blue has tons of card draw options. Plus as both an artifact & creature it an easy target for search & reanimation.
LITERALLY last night I was asking myself how to upgrade draw spells in my Veyran deck... and here you guys are right on time!! Wonderful vids as always
I believe the idea behind Biden of thassa was because mono blue was a very aggressive deck in that standard format, so forcing your opponent to attack you and then bashing on the crack back with a bunch of elemental tokens from a master of waves was probably the thought process.
I'm surprised you didn't include Phyrexian Arena and Black Market Connections to rate on this list. I think I'd have Phyrexian Arena as D tier and Black Market Connections as B tier.
Elemental Bond would be Amazing in my upgraded Draconic Rage deck I’m building. With the commanders ability it would make for a lot of card draw. Will definitely have to add this card.
@@Malverde888 I picked up that card while I was at a LGS, I was new to magic at the time but I thought it looked cool and would be good in my Draconic Rage deck 😂
I would love to see a list of your top card draws, because decks on sites typically go for the mid level pricing choice of less than $20 for anything that isn’t just famously busted S-Tier. Especially on utility spells where there is always a cheaper alternative
Elemental Bond is crazy because it doesn’t have the nontoken restriction that guardian project has and obviously beast whisperer being a cast trigger means elemental bond can be nasty in specific decks. Particularly its been INSANE in Miirym but that commander is nutty in general
Yeah, Esper Sentinel is insanely good... unless your opponents literally have (almost) no noncreature spells, which is what happened to me last night. I ended up just chump blocking with it. 🤦♀
would love to have part two of this. for example, what is Damnable pact, ancient craving, notion thief or deep analysis for you? there are so much card draws...
The thing I think being missed about how good Esper Sentinel is comes from the fact that it is playable in mono white. It was the only white card listed for a reason. Esper Sentinel is an amazing card for it's color set even if it is not even 1/3rd as good as Rhystic Study.
One of the things about cards like Read the Bones and Harmonize is they don't draw hate or counters because of their power level. Its nice to be able to let something resolve early, before your bomb spells, or after your bomb spell gets countered. Also, they aren't bad cards, but if you compare them to the best cards of course they're gonna suck. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Rishkar and Wildspeaker are S-tier in my buddy's Omnath, Locus of Mana deck. He doesn't draw 6 or 7 off them. He usually draws anywhere between 20 and 50 XD also runs greater good/life's legacy/momentous fall/soul's majesty/garruk, primal hunter for more of the same type of draw. it's gross deck ramps out of control and gets a huge body in the process so they're basically auto-include.
I run garruk's uprising in my Omnath, Locus of Rage deck and it basically translates to drawing a card whenever I play a land as long as I have omnath out, also helps a ton to give all those elementals trample
I really like Read the Bones because it can get you 4 cards deep which can be good in a pinch. Tons of cEDH decks are running Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood which are both two mana draw 2, and I think bones fills a similar space. You tend to get much higher draw quality which is often times better than an extra card.
I play Rishkar's expertise in my mono green omnath deck where it is so good I often forget I can cast a 5 cmc for free and still win. Huge on it in the right deck.
List is missing (from what I own at least): Yawgmoth, mono green Selvala, Twilight Prophet, Grim Haruspex/Midnight Reaper, Erebos, Plumb the Forbidden, Fecundity, Glimpse of Nature, Primordial Sage/Soul of the Harvest, Greater Good, Secrets of the Dead, Monastery Siege, Verity Circle, Greed, all of the Monarch/Parley Mechanics and everything in white besides Esper Sentinel. I hope they (or you 2 if you see this) cover a few newer draw spells like Lethal Scheme, Seize the Spotlight, and a bunch of new white card draw too (like Aerial Extortionist/Smugglers Share).
Bolas's citadel is so good. I think I've won twice by using its tap ability. If you have sensei's divining top you can draw a card for one life, add an aetherflux reservoir and you can gain massive life.
Read the Bones is godly, it's basically 3 mana draw 3 with the scry and unlike cards like Study (which don't get me wrong, is still better) is immediate, you don't have to wait to get the value out of it. No nonsense draw=to the mana you paid is amazing.
Harmonize isn't the best, but when you're playing 10-12 draw spells in Green/Gruul, it's nice to have a spell that isn't dependent on the size of your biggest creature, or playing creature spells, or how many creatures you have, or paying life. At least one unconditional draw spell is always nice.
"Theft of Dreams" and "Necrologia" are my personal commander staples that always perform super well. Necropotence sucks ass in reanimation decks and Necrologia just reads "Set up your best possible hand and fill up your yard" for 5 mana.
For sure! I love Necrologia! You nailed it with the graveyard point. I've been saying the same thing to my friends for years. It's like the Ad Nauseum for casual decks. If I'm casting it, I'm usually going to go off with a huge play using my graveyard the next turn.
Honorable mention to Moonlight Bargain as well IMO. The lack of timing restrictions is way less all-in and you get to pick and choose very freely, throw your graveyard stuff in the bin and draw everything else that you need.
I feel like throwing guardian project and beast whisperer together kinda overlooks the clear advantage/risk of Guardian Project caring about etb instead of cast. Guardian project becomes insane once you care about flicker or doubling ETB with panharmonicon effects. However it’s riskier because counters blow you out and you never get the cards
Garruks uprising is a staple in dragon decks. It is awesome in my ur dragon deck. Same with temur ascendancy. When you have big dumb dragons, those cards work really well.
I think the read the bones and nights whisper effects are way better than given credit for. They aren't board dependant which is super important. Rishkars expertise and similar cards have a very very high ceiling but can be blown out by removal and are dead cards early game. Having consistant resources to me is better than having a few big dumb draw spells
Harmonize is good in wort. Gruul spellslinger. Tho, if they keep printing the "discard card, draw some cards make some treasures" cards, itll probably get power crept in that deck as well. They've already made 5 and like 3 of those were printed in the last few standard sets. Edit: You guys brought up wort right after the part where I paused the video to write this comment lol. I still think it's good in wort, it's a way to generate card advantage without needing wort in play. a lot of the discard to draw effects go even in card advantage.
The reason we have so many S Tier cards is because cars draw is so powerful in a multiplayer 100 card singleton format. How nice is it when you have a full grip constantly?
Hot take: elemental bond vs beast whisperer. Bond may be better! Bond is one less mana Bond is harder to remove as enchantment and not hit with board wipes Bond draws on etb not cast- I think that’s huge- all the below are draws for bond and not for beast Tap your godsire Get a generous gift or a beast within Crack your ancient idol for the big creature
I think that skullclamp should be A their and not s because it is extremely powerful, but when you look at S tier all of the card up there (besides great henge imo) are staples that can be thrown into almost any deck they’re allowed to be in whereas skull clamp require a little bit of set up
Skullclamp I still think you could throw into most decks simply bc it’s a bit of boardwipe protection in that you still draw, and you usually have 1 toughness guys that you could sac if needed. The cheapness for its effect is really strong. I do think it’s like somewhere in between A and S so I’d give it A+/S-
Just want to chime in like others, seems a bit too hard on Harmonize and Read the Bones. I always feel underwhelmed when I slot them in a deck, but then when I play with them I tend to be pretty happy they're there. Even if I am running much more powerful draw.
Elemental bond is a creature entering the battlefield, not being played or cast. Makes it way better then a D. Also it survives board wipes and will rarely be the target of enchantment removal. I am a green player and the bond does so much work in a green deck. If you go into 3 colors it starts to fall off since other colors don't hit the 3 power often enough. Rystic Study goes in enchantment decks and Zur the Enchanter, but otherwise is just busted.
The only time i would play read the bones is if I already have both night's whisper and sign in blood and I still feel as though my card draw is lacking. Also can be fun in the new Sheoldred.
Midnight Reaper and Grim Haruspex are good in creature heavy decks and/ or aristocrats decks, I think we can agree on that. I don't think they are as good as Read the Bones in decks that are not creature heavy. I play Read the Bones in my Orzhov Punisher deck (highly optimized, 8/10) with Liesa as my commander and it never feels bad when I draw it or cast it and man, in this deck, the card hurts even more than it usually would, but the scry 2 and the fact that the card is usable at any moment of the game and doesn't depend on me sacrificing or opponents boardwiping is the reason why I'm running it and why other people love it so much. I really encourage you guys to try it out more.
I've consistently gotten incredible value out of rhystic study. Either I'm creating advantage by adding cost, or I'm creating advantage with cards. It pays off better than esper sentinel from my experience.
You forgot amber is card draw. When she walks all over the table, and spills drinks and cards, you'll have cards on the field you didn't have before, boom, card draw :D
interesting takes on pure card draw (harmonize, read the bones). i feel sometimes you just need card draw at decent rate. these two are like veggies - id put them in low C or D…poop tier seems harsh
Hey Guys, great list as always. But I have to say it reminded me that this kind of evaluation does not fit for every playgroup. In my usual playgroup for example Rhystic Study and esper sentinel are not considered card draw at all :D In 95% of cases you can count them as a stax piece which says: "your opponents spells cost one more". Which ist not a bad effect in general but it is definetely not a reliant piece of card draw in my playgroup...
C for cuttable IMO. Arena scales with Turns as opposed to creatures, opponent spells, lands, etc. If your games have a lot of Turns, fire it up. But you may want to include some looting to ditch it when it's dead and not include too many more Upkeep draw things. Balance in all things. Cheers.
Omg Read the Bones is awesome While it doesn't beat Night's Whisper for rate, when you put both of those scries to the bottom, it feels insanely good. The new 4 mana instant one is a bit overkill, but you do see up to 4 cards for 3 mana with Read the Bones :)
I actually think Bident of Thassa is better than Beast Whisperer. Draw spells that can be cast AFTER the creatures have been deployed tend to be stronger. Beast whisperer forecasts to your opponent that your about to start dropping creatures. Same problem applied to Guardian Project.
Harmonize is good card draw. 4 mana to draw three. That's great! Other than paying life with sign in blood or read the bones, harmonize gives high amount of card draw for the cost
In my Opinion, Jeskas Will, would put it in A-Tier because it makes only red mana and is less viable in multicolor Decks (4 and 5c/ 3c is debatable) because of that restriction. it is an insanely good staple, but compared to Bolas Citadel, Esper Sentinel and Rhystic Study a tiny bit less consistent.
Love the videos! Don’t agree with most of your opinions but I enjoy seeing what casual players use these days. Guardian project is draw on etb beast whisperer is on cast. Project is better. Some of these choices are kinda goofy to me jeskas will is good but under preforms the better your deck gets. Rhystic study is arguably the best card draw in the format. sea gate restoration is just a land that lightning bolts you. Mdfc cards have their places and it isn’t in higher tier decks. Also dig through time and treasure cruise are kinda bad in commander. XD
Why didn't get Windfall a mentioning? It's 3 mana for often 5cards or more.I want to put it in my 5c Deck, because often i ramp out and are left with max. 3 cards in hand. Additionally i have a Smothering Tithe in my deck which is bonkers with Windfall
What about kindred discovery!? Card can be bonkers in tribal decks or even cards that consistently generate a single type of token. Have drawn 30+ cards with it in my Ranar deck (it's not spirit tribal, he just makes a lot of spirits), same with Curiousity Crafter!
B for Build Around. Nothing worse than dropping it on an empty board and then it just gets blown up a couple turns later. However if you have a board and drop it, you still need to attack. Whereas a Shamanic Revelation effect doesn't require the attack. Still, the ceiling is so high that it's probably worth the floor, and can be better than Coastal Piracy effects since you don't need to do damage. Pretty nuts in UB or UBW Zombies
I wasn't paying attention the whole time, but I saw no Consecrated Sphinx up there. Show me a play group that doesn't immediately start sweating when that thing comes down.
I think you could have bern a bit tougher on the S tier, sentinel is good but probably only A. But at this point i'm nitpicking the nitpicking, list was solid but top heavy. 👍
I actually do play elemental bond. Not for budget reasons, but cards like guardian project dont draw of tokens. Titania makes a lot of 5/3 elementals which all draw cards with the elemental bond.
There's a few Phyrexian Rager effects that can also apply pressure or chump. But, by far the best way to see a lot of cards for cheap is to DREDGE my man. Then drop a big Yawg Will and chain some rituals. Cheers
Elemental bond is good cuz it draws off tokens. If your commander makes tokens with 3 power or greater (koma in my case) its good.. But beyond that you are right
Toski should have had Orhan Frostfang and Keeper of Fables tied to it. Hydroid Krasis is sweet, Sphinx's revelation? speaking of Sphinxes....... hello!
Necropotence is so good I don’t play it bc it’s just not even a fair card. I often read it as BBB: win the game now or next turn. At least citadel costs 6 and can get stopped by land-land
