Unplayable Commander Cards | Cut These Cards to Improve Your Decks 

I feel like it’s so common I’ll see like “This blue card sucks, use this red blue one instead” which is pretty useless to people who aren’t using the izzet one because they have a monoU deck or an Esper deck. So I’m happy there was none of that here.

swamp, dark ritual, vampire nighthawk was the ultimate opener 'in those days'

Black Market sees tokens, Pawn doesn't. Night and day difference

the cat butt censor being the blue mana symbol is amazing

Black Market has never failed me. Last time I used it I had 18 charges on it by the time my turn came around. I only have it in my Krrik deck though

In before Temple of the false God is on here

Imagine having black market on the battlefield and tapping preist of forgotten gods and your opponents sack a crewture each. There goes 5 counters on your black market.

I played with you guys at Magicon Chicago and even during the game I was eagerly waiting for the new nitpicking drop 😭🙏

Secret Rendezvous is crazy good in mono white, boros, and selesnya. It doesn't have a downside in Commander cause you just pick the opponent that can't beat your win condition

Honestly, I think Vampire Nighthawk shows the shift from old magic to new magic. Nighthawk was an absolute unit back in zendikar block along with bloodghast and lacerator. They held their own well until recently with ixalan and the newer sets. I think overall, having that kind of longevity is something the old guard have trouble letting go of. Sure there are better cards (hard to argue against vampire scavenger), but Nighthawk is just a quintessential staple of a rapidly fading era of late-2000's magic that people look at and go "man, those were the days".

Secret Rendezvous plays better than it looks. It's not the best card but in the right deck it's quite playable.

Embrace mono-black vampires, and take all the nighthawks AND Henrika because you can!

I’m playing Platinum Angel in my Liberator deck and it saved me from wincons numerous times ❤

I run black market in the new Judith and it generated me loads of mana to kill the table with torment of hailfire. Worth it

As an old fogey of the EDH format, it warms my heart to see the kids finally figuring out so many of the traps we had figured out years ago.

Black Market is an MVP in my shirei deck, usually gets 10+ counters on it by the time my next turn comes around.

Thank you for protecting miso's decency. Fitting blue mana countered that nonsense lol

Definitely won’t see Grave Titan here, best card in the format. Surprised it’s not banned yet.

As much as I love vampire nighthawk, you're absolutely right. It's keyword fodder in Kathril.

I totally get why you say cut platinum angel, however I play it in my kindred deck with quicksilver amulet and cryptic gateway so I can usually respond to when someone is about to win the game. And I'm glad you mentioned voice of the blessed, I have NEVER played Ajani's pride mate, it seemed very meh. Thanks for all your content! Keep it up!

I love this channel because I always get new and fun ideas from your videos. Cheers!

Love this kind of content. Knowing what is most likely a cut and options to replace those cards with it super helpful. I hope to see more videos like this!

Black market is insane in my friends Shirei deck

Black market is for aristocrats decks which is where I use it... otherwise yes then it's replaceable

Black market kicks in more time than you think. Decks that play it are build around stuff dying. Plus there is allways stuff that is getting removed.

I like watching these videos for ideas for new cards to use

Nighthawk is for when you need a baleful strix in a non blue deck. And yeah sometimes one blocker is just enough.

26:40 big fan of oubliette. The phase is much better than exile imo, while the rate isn’t great I play against purphurous a ton and it’s never disappointing

Excellent video guys!

7:35 You shoulda been there when Vampire Nighthawk was first announced. It blew our minds. 😂

Solid video, though I feel it neglects running worse version of cards for density purposes. In my decks with Nighthawk Scavenger, I’m also on Vampire Nighthawk. Alloy Myr is in my decks since it’s creature dork #8 in Syr Konrad. I get the title needs to be attention grabbing, but many of the cards are far from unplayable.

I like using platinum angel as a distraction because people tend to REALLY focus on it over the smaller engine pieces I put out. Oh noooooo. You used a removal spell on it? Shame.

I play Platinum Angel in my Kozilek 2.0 deck, and it has saved my butt quite a few times. Last time I played it with Void Winnower already out and my opponents only had even CMC removal spells... that was a lot of fun :D

It was nice to see you guys out and about in chicago. Thanks for the content. Appreciate what you provide to the community

It was nice meeting both of you at magiccon.. I mentioned how vicious shadows was a good suggestion

Secret rendezvous is a good niche card in Kingdom format where you and the king both draw three cards

Most of the cards you guys chose to talk about are cards that wouldn’t be first choice in the first place and the majority of players would only go with them if they want redundancy.

There are exceptions to the rules: I run Nighthawk in Indominus Rex, because "Discard one, draw 3" attached to a 6/6 Flying, Deathtouch Lifelink body is pretty good.

On the point about alloy myr i would suggest Scuttlutt it’s a 2/2 scarecrow that taps for one mana of any color but it can also tap to change the color of a permanent which is so much fun when you run things that give protection from certain colors or target certain colors

Thank you for the lower third during the ad read!

Never forget the menace of vampire nighthawk in my 5th grade lunch magic games. Was so hard to ever attack with that beast of a card blocking the way. All I could do was stall with platinum Angel until I could flip my Elberus, the binding blade

When mia said these days you 'gotta go quick' it reminded me of chun-li in street fighter six when you do that.... Rush mechanic.... Brain fart, I can't remember what the rush mechanic is called... Anyway, when she starts her rush she says 'gotta be quick!' Wow. That was the most roundabout way of saying what I was trying to say EVER. I would be good at a lord of the rings entsmoot

Pillar of Origins is an example of a card that aged poorly due to power creep and more options coming out. It used to fill a niche, where it was a way for 3+ color tribal decks can get a mana of any color for 2 mana. With Arcane Signet existing in the format, the niche is filled by an objectively better card. And Arcane Signet is only one card that has power crept the pillar.

I've gotten a Serra's emissary on the board at the same time as my Avacyn, and gosh it feels real good

"It's card o' clock" just doesn't hit as hard as "It's time to duel" but I support it anyways.

Definitely worth mentioning relic of legends for the 3 mana rocks. Being able to tap legends for mana even if it’s just your commander is definitely worth it.

I think I got a term to call a kindred deck that's 100% of that type of creature. "Puritan" is what I call these types of Kindred. I'm open to alternatives if "Puritan" is considered to be offensive.

Vampire Nighthawk was designed in a 1v1, 20 life meta... even with it losing effectiveness due to Cmdr format, it's still a viable card in certain decks. Imagine how good it was back then...

If you play Secret Rendevous you need to ask: What will you give me for three cards in return? It's a political card and it's realy good if someone else is the arch enemy at the table. Then it's like drawing 6 cards.

So I have at least 3 equavalents of ajani's pridemate in an ortzhov sacrefice deck with lurris as the companion (all permanents need to cost 2 or less). Most of them read something like: When one of your creatures dies, get a +1/+1. What are good and budget alternatives that allow for solid statsticks to happen, as the avarage flood of decayed zombies, servo's and spirits are mostly meant for value and are less well equid at deterring attacks

There are certain decks (like my mono black braids) that close The Game only with X spells and The whole Game They draw and tutor. Everybody starts to’ sweat when they see me play black market.

compare glorious anthem to flowering of the white tree, 2 mana to get all creatures +1/+1, and give your legendary creatures an additional +1/0 and ward 1.

Ultramarine honour guard got recommended. I can die happy now. Love that card

Platinum angel with a darksteel citadel and boots to give hexproof. If nothing else, it will pull out a lot of my opponents' removal to deal with, making them weaker in the end.

Serras emissary is really good bomb. Great when your ahead to push through damage and protect your board. Great when your behind to not get killed out of nowhere and gives you time to catch while being a great body. That card needs to see much more play. Very good in reanimator particularly.

i have platinum angel in my green omnath deck. i make enough mana where 7 for it, doesn't matter. you don't play it or allow it to hit the field unless you can protect it, so in my case i will normally have an archetype of endurance on board or some way of giving it indestructible, protecting my commander i don't really care about because i can always recast it at some point with the amount of mana i generate in that deck

Vampire Nighthawk was a unit when it showed in OG Zendikar 2009😮 nothing less than 15 years of powercreep will make that to a creature that was totally OP when it came out😅

Disagree with your view on Platinum Angel. In decks that already contain options to protect it, it’s a huge play under the right circumstances.

Great video as always nerds, but I gotta admit, this video felt unnecessarily long IMO. vampire nightmare was discussed from 5:07 to 11:27, aka 6 min and 20 sec. Idk if it’s just because I’ve been watching your content for a while now, but I just felt like some of these cards could have been summarized why they’re bad in a much shorter way. Doesn’t detract from the video or channel at all, just felt like some details were repeated or redundant

Vampire Nighthawk is in my Falthis/Halana 'deathtouch tribal' deck, and he is a beatstick.

Last time I saw Cherries was at the Post Malone concert floor…. Welcome new lady! I clearly haven't been around lol

Also, for a board wipe, pitiless plunderer would see them die and you would get the treasure tokens from your other creatures dying

Pillar of Origins is one line of text away from being playable, maybe even good. It needs the Cavern of Souls clause, that grants "can not be countered." Or, I guess more directly, it needed to be a 2-Mana rock version of Cavern (including the option to tap for colorless). I don't think that would be broken in any way. In 2024, that's the bar now.

I disagree with plat angel. The card itself is meh but when you get good synergies with it, it gets a lot of fun. My pod has a much easier time when I try to win with Tooth and Nail because they're armed with targeted removal to the teeth, but they suffer when I bring platty and Archetype of Endurance together, Since they can't try to combo off neither target me out of the game so the game turns into Find the Boardwipe. Platty also etb's with hexproof already with Saryth and/or Asceticism on the battlefield, and asceticism has the extra layer of defense of being able to protect it from a board wipe. Platty can also be used reactively with Monster Manual in response of someone trying to kill you or win with alt wincons. Slippery Bogbonder can give it a permanent hexproof counter reactively with flash. Just a card you need a deck built around to really shine. of course it's not cedh stuff but i love it in my yeva and stompy selvala lists. Single-handedly took my LGS out of single target removal tribal into more balanced decks with enchantment removal and exile/sac wipes (damn you Sunfall and Farewell)

Love cubing! One of my favorite ways to play magic.

Disagree with vampire Nighthawk I run it in my vampire decks & lifegain decks it does some work

I too, like to take extra napkins at restaurants/drive-thru's, and keeping some in my bag when i go play magic Might need those extra when you're eating at your LGS, or incase that one magic player spills their opened drink at the table 👌

another great video, thanks alot

Platinum Angel generally isn't great in most decks, but I wouldn't go as far as unplayable. I recently gifted a copy to a friend of mine who has an Artifact-tribal Emry deck that has lots of cards that allow you to cheat out artifacts or grant "affinity for artifacts." Platinum Angel feels a lot better when brought down for no mana or close to. I also gift that friend a Pact of Negation for good measure to get more use from the ideally free (or close to free) angel.

Bronze walrus mentioned, W video

Platinum angel can be your wincon if you find a way to make it a lock. But not very good in a random deck, true

Pillar of origins, wouldn't it play a tribal sorcery with the tribe you may have (examples a tribal elf sorcery) I know it's not a creature but it DOES have a creature type

Okay I was dubious on some of these but you are sooooo wrong about Secret Rendezvous - Have you ever played the card? It is absolutely insane. Draw 3 for 3 is super good, especially in mono white that really struggles with draw, and you get the political aspect to give someone 3 cards and get them to do stuff for you. Court of Grace just makes you get smacked in the face because you now have the Monarch, if you draw three cards off Court of Grace, you are seriously overpowering your pod. With Secret Rendezvous you can get people to board wipe for you, you can give the cards to the guy in dead last, you can give the cards to the guy with the big board in exchange for not hitting you. This is easily one mono white's best cards.

Dont let Richard know you think Secret Rendezvous is bad... seriously though, if you can make a deal with someone, lets say someone is way ahead and someone is way behind, and you need the help of the person who is way behind, now you've got "pay 3 mana, draw three cards, and gain an ally for the rest of the game". For three mana, I'd say that's worth it. And that scenario is not uncommon. I'd say its probably the most likely scenario to have, where one person is ahead of you, another is behind, and you're just doing okay. Because there's always someone popping off, and it's only a 1 in 4 chance it's you, and there's always someone behind, and it's a 1 in 4 chance it's you, so you have a 50/50 shot to be the one in the middle at any given moment, that's going to happen for sure at least once per game. You gotta use the politics correctly though. Just tell the person who is down, "look, you're probably doing nothing for the rest of the game without some help here. If I give you these three cards and don't attack you, you'll have a fighting chance to help take down the arch enemy with me, but you can't attack me until they are dead or neutralized as the threat. Also if you can remove X creature with the cards you draw, that would be great, thanks." I think pretty much anyone would take that deal, because nobody likes being stuck in a game where they can't do anything.

Cheers from Brazil! :)

They should made it so you get the color mana and made tap for colorless other wize you know 3:29

I need my platinum angel, how else can I cast my commander in my phage the untouchable deck

8:23 Vampire Nighthawk's shaman typing triggers Thornbite Staff's free equip ability, and as a rogue, Nighthawk Scavenger does not. Saving 4 mana pays for two whole activations with the staff, which is two creatures off the board AND 2 points of life thanks to Vampire Nighthawk's keywords. Nighthawk Scavenger is a trap for shaman decks with black mana, don't fall for it. Get nitpicked, nerds! (I just really like Vampire Nighthawk😭)

Platinum angel is pretty bonkers in a deck that plays a lot of ways to protect it, such as mono blue. It also stops opponents from just winning with cards like Thassa's/lab maniac. But outside of that, it's pretty bad.

In defense of Vampire Nighthawk: it's still great in decks that care about the keywords, like Kathril, the partner Akroma and Rayami

You sorta lost me when you said alloy myr should be swapped out in a myr deck. Unless I misheard alloy myr in an urtet deck is essentially a 2/2 body plus a 1/1 body. On top of that he will help any myr synergies.

Nighthawk Scavenger is a better type combo for what it is doing. The number of rogue cards that cause mill is pretty high.

I honestly wannafind a way to build a deck where I make 4 hexproof indestructible Platinum Angels and gift them around so nobody can lose or win... And fill the rest of the deck with counter spells so we all have so much fun! :D

I think pillar or origins is viable in sliver decks unlike most other kindred decks because often you need the colour fixing😊

Secret Rendezvous' evaluation is kinda equated to 1v1 card advantage math, but EDH is multiplayer. Yes, 1 person is up 3 cards for free, which is bad in a vacuum, but look at it like this (4 player pod): 2 opponents are down 2 cards over you and 1 opponent is up 1 card over you. It's the same reason why a Fleshbag Marauder is not a true 1-for-3, but the multiplayer equivalent of a 1-for-1, since all players are now down 1 card. Same applies here. And, politics are also a thing! Just say 'hey, I'm your friend now, have some cards and lets team up' and its gonna be a great source of advantage, though not as clear and cut as a simple draw 3.

Pillar is fine in 3+ color mana hungry kindred decks, especially those lacking green. Nighthawk is a cool throwback in vampire kindred or deathtouch matters decks. Platinum angel is typically a prison piece, or a strong player in Angel kindred decks. Alloy Myr I think is fine if you care about Myrs in particular, or just a critical mass of artifact critters. Black Market discussion is sort of insane to me; enchantments are harder to remove than creatures and artifacts, it gains counters off of any players' creatures (including tokens) dying, it can be incidentally proliferated, and is perpetual mana every turn for as long as it exists. Also generally online from turn 4 with an earlier mana rock. None of those replacements are even close... they are all creatures that require you to have other creatures... Banishing Light is just playable if your deck requires a critical mass of enchantments and generally falls into a preference based scenario. Secret Rendezvous is intended for GroupHug builds where you can use it to catch up a player or serve as kingmaker. Garruk I imagine is just fine in superfriends decks since the emblem pumping up opponents creatures can be relevant and stave off attacks directed at your walkers. Pridemate is always going to be "pet" card for soul sisters and cat matters decks. Glorious Anthem... I got nothing. There, I nitpicked the nitpicks. Just trying to point out potential explanations for running less than optimal cards in specific scenarios. I generally construct decks honed for synergy and cohesion over power; not to say I won't run powerful cards, but I try to approach EDH as a "place for everything" type of format. Finding a home for the weird offbeat rare from a forgotten set is the most rewarding experience in EDH for me. Doesn't help that I have grown a little tired of the "Keeping up with the Jones'" approach to deck maintenance, with players cramming a never-ending stream of "must-run" staples in every deck. Thanks for the content, keep up the great work!

What is your replacement choice for platinum angel to mitigate losing the game to your own one ring

Vampire Nighthawk was the first magic card I played with 2011. Is it good? Not really. But nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

Oblivion ring effects work great with blink decks, enchantment decks, and especiall panharmonicon effects. Most of this list (short of the pillar) are far from unplayable. Theyre just situational. Likewise pridemate is a pretty cheap creature in lifegain decks that is usually a 4/4 for 2 mana if you built well. There might be better cards, but still effective. Your arguments could really use more nuance. Better choices here than usual tho.

There's a new o-ring with ward 2. And original oring can be blinked to keep exiling stuff. Made Rhune dumb back in the day

Fun fact about ornithopter of Paradies: I Play him in my Hans deck because He is a 0/2 Mana dork. 1. Hans can Hit orni 2. Orni survives the fight with hans, 3. It does Not harm hans.

100% agree Vampire Nighthawk is not enough in 2024.

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Banishing Light is usually removal spell 6 or 7, but telling an opponent to slow down by 2 or 3 turns can really swing a game. Plus, triggering enchantress effects isn't nothing. Drawing an extra card can be a major benefit. I'm sorry, but you do kinda miss the mark on this one, to me.

I like black market specifically for my extreme proliferate deck

Everybody telling me to get rid of my Shivan Dragon from my Lathliss Dragon Queen EDH is getting attacked by it on turn 8 with while I have my Dragon Tempest on the field... It's not about the damage but about sending the message

black market is gas, if it see's 3 creatures die on a turn cycle and comes back around, it can literally ramp you into your game winning bomb. put you from 6 mana to 9. 8 and 9 mana spells win the game or drastically tilt it in your favor. even double spelling a 6 drop and a 3 drop can be enough. if you are playing black market and it did nothing, you played it wrong and should have just eft it in hand.

At first I thought this was gonna be a joke video with banned cards and cards with super niche targets like that card that destroys target creature with horsemanship

pillar origins wouldn't be good in a 4 or 5 color tribal deck..... i agree... but i feel like it has function as long as people are using it to overstock their ramp.. not if they are using it to fill the quota of ramp count

nighthawk still good