Hello again! This is Ariel once again, I have been away for a little while, but as promised here is the second segment on underplayed cards. This time we are looking at the lower converted mana costs which means I will also be considering older formats when relevant. Lets get started.
Starting us off today we have
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. These may not be the oppressive days of
Nightveil Specter, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be playing with the closest thing to
Gaea's Cradle we may ever see in standard. Mono green has made great use of it of course, but we still have strong devotion in white and red. Also it is amusing that
Singing Bell Strike on
Kiora's Follower,
Voyaging Satyr, or
Karametra's Acolyte can and will go infinite with enough devotion. Looking at modern, both black and green can do some very gross things. I'm looking at you
Genesis Wave and
Phyrexian Obliterator.
Crater's Claws is a very powerful
Fireball effect. The two extra damage for maintaining pressure is great. In this age of board stalls, putting your extra mana straight to their face is great. I'm not saying this should be a four of or start replacing
Stoke the Flames, however having a few in the at least in the side board is helpful in those more grindy matchups.
Icy Blast is a huge blow out for all the same reasons.
Barrage of Boulders is another way to break out of board stalls, but I can't say for sure it it would play in standard anywhere as amazing as it does in draft.
Embodiment of Spring is a fun little guy. I have a bit of a soft spot for it from the days of four color midrange. Being able to block and fix your mana is great. When paired with
Courser of Kruphix you can hold onto one or two ramp effects and then get some added life off of your patience.
Hero of Leina Tower is a warrior. I have already seen some Abzan warrior lists with protection spells, but I have yet to see anyone add in this explosive creature. Before rotation I saw it do tons of damage out of the blue in some mono green aggro lists.
Stubborn Denial has slowly been creeping it's way back into decks as removal has proven more and more powerful. Most all threats these days are four power making this the catch all when protecting your board.
Brain Maggot is also very effective at protecting your advance. With so many ways to invade your opponent's hand, adding one more that can also attack is a very rude way to shut your opponent out. Adding to our list of great protective plays is
Quickling. In smaller aggressive decks it lets you keep the pressure on, and in larger beat down decks it lets you maintain powerful card advantage with enter the battlefield effects and sheer power.
The biggest surprise play since Khans has come out has got to be
Deflecting Palm. Throwing their alpha strike back at them or their board has got to be one of the most amusing things to do in standard. I also can't wait to see someone through it back against a modern
Jeskai Ascendancy deck.
Eidolon of the Great Revel is no big secret however it doesn't seem to see much standard play. With Jeskai Tokens seeing more play and
Sorin, Solemn Visitor's plus ability lasting a whole turn cycle now is great time to bring them back into standard. To a lesser extend
Eidolon of Rhetoric is quite amusing against these spell spamming decks.
Godsend is worth a look now days. Sticking one on a
Siege Rhino is a great way to deal with those pesky
Hornet Queens. Keeping with the trend of breaking board stalls it might also be time to give
Thassa, God of the Sea a good look.
Reaper of the Wilds may not have the life drain of the rhinos, but it does win the rhino war and dodge removal.
I am happy to say that many of the cards in my original list have since begun to see more play. I am excited to see where the meta goes. So far no one deck seems to be holding the top position for very long, but perhaps their is something we have all over looked. Until next time, thank you for reading.
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