The 25 Most Underrated Cards in Magic Ranked

Wake the Dead | Illustration by Christopher Moeller

Terminator 3. Final Fantasy 8. The Green Bay Packers. What do they all have in common? Well… they all suck. But to someone out there, they’re underrated gems that the masses just don’t seem to appreciate. MTG also has its share of underrated cards, and if I know anything, it’s that Magic players are highly opinionated and never wrong about card evaluation.

Today we’re exploring the underdogs, the underappreciated, the runner-ups, and so forth. We’re looking at rock-solid Commander cards that absolutely hold their own in-game, but don’t have the overarching support of the player base. If you’d like to skip to the comments and tell me how wrong I’m going to be, now’s the time.

What Are Underrated Cards In MTG?

Price of Progress | Illustration by Yohann Schepacz

First off, “underrated” doesn’t mean bad, nor does it mean top-tier. Calling a card underrated simply means it’s not played much relative to how good it actually is. It means a card is a solid 7/10 while most players seem to value it around a 5/10 or worse. My goal isn’t to suggest cards that you absolutely should be playing in Commander, but rather to spotlight some lesser-valued cards that I believe overperform expectation.

My very perception of what counts as underrated is subjective to my own experiences. Just because I don’t see a particular card being played at my LGS, despite believing it’s actually quite good, doesn’t mean it isn’t played by every single player at the LGS down the road. With that in mind, I’ve enlisted some help.

I’m using EDHREC's card popularity ratings to reinforce my commentary here. For the purposes of this article, I’m considering a card underrated if it appears in 1% or less of all Commander decks online. For one, this gives me a broader understanding of how often a card is being played outside of my own personal circles. Second, it shows me that some cards I believe to be underrated actually aren’t. For example, I’d initially earmarked Tragic Arrogance and Bolt Bend as cards I wanted to mention, but they actually both appear in over 3% of their respective possible decks, which is a pretty healthy showing.

Finally, I’m soft-avoiding cards that first released in the last year. It’s hard to consider something truly underrated when it just recently came out, since players may not have discovered it yet or simply haven’t bought their copy. I’m aiming for known factors, cards that have existed in the card pool for quite some time and either dropped off or never really took off in the first place. This is by no means an exhaustive list, more of a darts-on-dartboard approach to highlight some cards in hopes that people might consider giving them a chance.

#25. Standstill

Starting off with a goofy pet card of mine that always seems to work better than I’d hoped for. Standstill is appropriately named, bringing the game to a screeching halt until someone casts a spell and quite literally breaks the standstill. That nets all their opponents three cards each, which means the spoils are shared, but you’ve put one player incredibly behind on card advantage.

Of course, you might force yourself into a situation where you have to cast a spell, so be sure to bolster a reasonable board presence before running this out. Or play Notion Thief before Standstill and draw all the cards!

#24. Edge of Autumn

There are plenty of better Rampant Growths out there. Nature's Lore, Farseek, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and so on. Edge of Autumn is a unique spin on 2-mana ramp, working exactly how you want it to until you hit more than four lands. At that point it won’t actually do anything, but you don’t really want or need your Rampant Growths past that point anyway.

Instead, it gives you the option to trade it in with a land for a new card, which is nice utility on an early-game ramp piece. You won’t always want to sacrifice a land to do that either, but you should definitely consider this in decks that care about lands going to the graveyard.

#23. Hallowed Moonlight

This one’s a bit of a meta call, but if you find yourself running up against reanimator or blink decks often, Hallowed Moonlight can ruin those players’ day. I wouldn’t normally recommend such a narrow hate-piece, but the fact that this cantrips means that it’s never a dead card. And when it’s not dead, it’s absolutely hosing someone’s trickery. In fact, you could mess people up proactively by casting this and then blinking their creatures.

True that Containment Priest has this base covered, but Hallowed Moonlight punks tokens entering the battlefield too, which Priest doesn’t do.

#22. Viridian Revel

Quick shout-out to Viridian Revel as a card I’ve never actually tried myself, but one that’s often cited by other players as an underrated way to fight against the Treasure menace. It seems like an interesting way to combat decks full of trinkety artifacts, which only seem to be getting more and more popular, though the specific interaction against Smothering Tithe is pretty hilarious.

#21. Honor-Worn Shaku

It’s hard to recommend Honor-Worn Shaku too highly now that Relic of Legends exists, but Shaku can pull off some neat tricks. Whereas Relic produces any color of mana, Shaku’s limited to only colorless mana. However, Shaku can tap any legendary permanent, including planeswalkers, artifacts, enchantments, etc. It’s a great way to eke some extra mana out of permanents that work just fine whether they’re tapped or not.

#20. Dream Devourer

Dream Devourer lets you pay more now to pay less later. It’s like less scammy layaway, and you pay the same total amount regardless. Foretelling cards early for a discount later does a few interesting things: One, it lets you cast expensive spells a few turns earlier than normal. Second, you can stockpile a bunch of cards in exile, where they’re safe from discard and wheels, then rattle off a flurry of powerful spells all in one turn.

While the natural home is demon typal decks, I’ve personally found success with Dream Devourer in artifact decks looking to play expensive colorless cards. Use your mana acceleration early to foretell cards, then cast them for cheap later on. Just note that Devourer doesn’t work with most X spells the way you’d expect.

#19. Fae Offering

Tchotchke artifacts have gotten out of hand, but there are so many of them that they’ve become the centerpiece of entire decks. If you’re one such deck that cares about trinkety artifacts lying around, Fae Offering’s worth your time.

As long as you can diversify the types of spells you’re casting, Fae Offering rewards you each turn with a pleasant cache of goodies. Cast it on the same turn as a creature, and you get that payday right away.

#18. The Celestus

People are cutting 3-cost mana rocks more than ever, but I assure you they’re still fine if they offer real utility on top of tapping for mana. The Celestus randomly loots and gains life with basically no extra effort needed, and those small advantages add up. It does require tracking day/night, which for some players is a deal-breaker, and I absolutely get that.

#17. Crystal Shard

Crystal Shard looks a little gimmicky, but it’s quite effective. If a player ever taps out of mana, you can use this to bounce a creature back to their hand, or at least tax their mana to the point where they can’t effectively tap out. Even better, you can target your own creatures and just opt out of paying to pick up and reuse valuable ETB effects, or save something from removal. Erratic Portal also fits the mold, but at a higher mana value.

#16. Pir's Whim

“But I want all my ramp to cost 2 mana so I can optimize my decks.” Yes, I know. But I like to play fun and interesting cards that don’t always cater to deck optimization. Also, I just love politicking. Pir's Whim tutors the best land from your deck into play, while essentially casting Tribute to the Wild. That’s usually a solid 4-for-1, though you can always foster goodwill by letting an “ally” ramp instead. Don’t do that without good reason, though.

#15. Currency Converter

New Capenna Commander is a goldmine for underrated gems. Currency Converter converts all your discards into extra value by creating Treasures and 2/2s. It's a self-fueling token generator, but it also nabs any discarding you do through other means, making it a fun addition to cycling decks or decks that just do a lot of looting in a game. Take that, Tinybones, Trinket Thief!

#14. Stunt Double

Did the world fall asleep and forget how good Stunt Double is? Clone with flash is about as good as copy-creature effects get, and while that’s a crowded category of cards, Stunt Double always does good work. It’s nearly always at least tied with the best creature on board, and it operates entirely at instant speed. Malleable Impostor released very recently, but even that one can’t copy your own creatures.

#13. Sinister Concierge

I kinda get why Sinister Concierge isn’t played too much; it reads like a sacrifice payoff (and it is), but blue doesn’t offer as many homes for an aristocrats-style card outside maybe Kels, Fight Fixer or Anhelo, the Painter. While it excels there, it’s actually just a great deterrent from attacks in any deck looking for more interaction. It deals with tokens like no one’s business, and it comes back in three turns to threaten something else. That’s an eternity in Commander, so I wouldn’t expect Concierge to come back more than once per game, but that also means the other creatures you’re suspending in limbo also become non-factors most of the time.

#12. Ghouls’ Night Out

Ghouls' Night Out released at the peak of the “Too Much Product” era, so I’m not shocked to find out it hasn’t quite found its niche. Reanimating four targets for 5 mana is phenomenal, even if you have to split your zombies across different players.

Decayed is certainly a drawback, but it’s so easy to just get four value targets all at once and more than make up for the fact that those creatures can’t engage in combat effectively. Or reanimate creatures with strong static abilities and ETBs and disregard decayed altogether.

#11. Vedalken Shackles

Assuming you keep that island count high enough (which includes non-basics), Vedalken Shackles becomes an on-demand threaten effect, stealing creatures on a whim. It can grab creatures that are attacking you and remove them from combat. It can snag blockers to chump those attackers. Or you can play politics by “borrowing” something that needs to die and jamming it into another player who’s willing to eat it in combat.

#10. Thaumatic Compass / Spires of Orazca

Thaumatic Compass might be deemed “too slow” for a more optimized deck, but I’m a huge believer that Commander decks don’t need to be optimized. Compass helps hit your land drops if you get stuck, and by land number seven it becomes akin to Maze of Ith that taps for mana. The ramp is still appreciated even after you’re set on lands, and Spires of Orazca comes in very handy.

#9. Dogged Detective

I love an unassuming little value engine. Dogged Detective filters your draws and pitches cards to your graveyard through surveil, and it returns to your hand from the ‘yard any time an opponent double-spells. That makes it great for decks looking to fill up the graveyard and decks in search of repeatable sac fodder. It might not look like much, but it upgrades from card selection to actual card advantage if you pick it back up even once in a game.

#8. Reins of Power

Reins of Power has a couple different applications. You can pull a switcheroo with the player who has the best board and kill them (and maybe others) with their own creatures. You can borrow blockers from a completely different player and throw their creatures under the bus. Or you could simply swap with the person attacking you for a pseudo-fog effect. You’d rather have Aetherize in that last scenario, but Aetherize doesn’t have other utility. It’s very hard to lose the game if you’re holding up Reins of Power, and sometimes it flat-out wins the game for you.

#7. Berserk

Green removal’s sparse, but Berserk (sometimes) does the trick. Use this on an opponent’s creature, preferably one attacking someone else, double that creature’s damage and blow up the attacker after combat. Win-win from your position. And of course, you can use it as a 1-mana Temur Battle Rage on your own attacker to mow down a player in combat.

#6. Bloodthirsty Blade

Bloodthirsty Blade has saved my skin more times than I can count. Not too impressive given I can only count to four (yes I’m referencing that song). The Blade attaches to an opponent’s creature, buffing and goading it, which is a two-fold benefit. One, you can ward off large threats by sending them elsewhere. Two, you can attach it to a small utility creature and send it to its demise in combat. Blade becomes more of a liability when it’s just you versus one other opponent, but an adjustable goad effect is great up until that point.

#5. Price of Progress

Greedy mana bases need to be kept in check somehow, but I’m not a fan of locking people out with Back to Basics or Blood Moon. Instead, I’d rather run a card that punishes playing too many nonbasic lands in a way that still lets people play game. Enter Price of Progress, a hugely underrated burn spell for Commander. If you’re playing any semblance of a burn deck, which we all know is difficult to do in Commander, Price of Progress usually has one of your best damage-to-cost ratios.

There’s a chance you’re against all basic-heavy mono-colored decks, but even those decks run a healthy number of utility lands. Price of Progress also dings you for damage, but you have the express knowledge of knowing it’s coming and can build your deck accordingly. I’ve seen Price plus a damage doubler end games often enough to warrant the PSA for this card.

#4. Warlock Class

Once upon a time Wound Reflection was a black Commander staple and highly sought after, and now we’re in a world where people treat a 6-drop like the plague if it’s not named Bolas's Citadel or wins the game on the spot. Well, I’m thrilled to showcase Warlock Class, a huge overperformer in my estimation.

It becomes close enough to Wound Reflection with enough mana invested but starts out as a passive enchantment that pings players and replaces itself on level 2. Think of it like a Ransack the Lab that deals residual damage and eventually turns into a wincon.

#3. Gut, True Soul Zealot

Ranking a legendary creature is difficult because EDHREC tracks different stats for how many decks run that card as a commander, and how many have it in the 98/99. There aren’t many Gut, True Soul Zealot decks registered on the site, and it’s showing less than 1% inclusion in the main deck. We should do something about that.

Gut deals damage fast, turning spare Treasures or expendable creatures into 4/1 hasty menace tokens, hitting as early as turn 3. Those tokens don’t sacrifice or exile either; they stick around, often surviving combat, and live (?) to bash with another skelly friend next turn. It’s one of red’s most aggressive 3-drops, provided you’re in a deck with enough sac fodder.

#2. Heartless Summoning

This is one of my secret tech pieces for any big-dumb-creature deck. If you’re playing demons or dragons or something similar, this is some of the best mana acceleration you can ask for. Yes, your creatures get smaller, but the difference between casting 5/5 fliers instead of 6/6 fliers is marginal, whereas the difference between them costing 6 mana and 4 mana is huge. I also consider Urza's Incubator to be highly overrated, so it’s strange to me that people haven’t caught onto or straight-up avoid Heartless Summoning.

#1. Wake the Dead

I’ve been championing Wake the Dead for a while now and will continue to do so until people realize it’s one of the best mass reanimation effects in all of Commander. The timing restriction seems to turn people off, but you can get absolutely incredulous amounts of value off this spell, at instant speed, during someone else’s turn. The creatures only stick around temporarily, but that never stopped Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Sidisi, Undead Vizier from being the menacing threats that they are.

Best Underrated Card Payoffs

Payoffs for underrated cards, you ask? Well, that’s a strange question, but I suppose if the cards themselves are underrated, the payoffs probably are too, right?

There aren’t very many specific in-game rewards for playing off-beat, undervalued cards, though there are plenty of social reasons to do so. For one, I love seeing cards I’m not familiar with on the opposite side of the table, so I imagine playing a few lesser-known cards might expose something cool to one of your opponents and inspire them to either play it or build a deck around it. The best way to show a card is worthy is to demonstrate that in a game.

It also gives you a chance to showcase cards that don’t get much time in the spotlight or cards you have sitting around that haven’t found a home since the last Standard rotation. Commander’s more interesting when players are shaking things up, playing outside the meta, and introducing their own cool tech into the format. We put far too much emphasis on staples and must-play cards, and underrated cards like the ones featured here can stir up your games without sacrificing power.

Perhaps Properly Rated Now?

Spires of Orazca | Illustration by Yeong Hao Han

I want to reiterate: “Underrated” doesn’t mean “amazing” or “Tier-1.” I’m not urging anyone to go out and jam a copy of Crystal Shard in every blue deck they can. Underrated simply means the card is better than its average play rate suggests.

Again, this is mostly a hodgepodge of cards, not an exhaustive list. Just something to get the cogs turning and the juices flowing. If you’ve got a card that you personally find underrated, I want to hear about it! That is, if you’re willing to give away your super-secret tech. Let me know what y’all got in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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