Weekly Recs - 08/26/24

Each of these cards I have come across either through searching online card databases or seeing how effective they are in real life, and are cards I will be adding to my decks whenever USPS gets around to delivering it!

Perilous Forays

1 year ago - $1.95

Today: $1.02

I cannot take full credit for finding this card, as a guy in my playgroup slammed this down and proceeded to pull out 10+ lands from his deck in a single turn. He did this with the following cards in play

• The Necrobloom (his commander)
• Amulet of Vigor
• A single land

It would also work with

• The Necrobloom, Emeria Angel, Maja, Bretagard Protector (any card that creates a creature token when a land enters)
• Lotus Cobra (any card that generates an extra mana when a land enters)

The gist is to play a land, creating a creature token. The mana from the land or the Lotus Cobra is then used to sacrifice that creature, which tutors a land into play, repeating this process.

Note that Perilous Forays searched for any land with a basic land type. Shocks and duels with basic land types are fair game! This is a fair combo to add to your deck because it does the thing a lot instead of infinitely and requires quite a bit of set up, perfect for a budget deck.

I will be putting this into any landfall deck asap!

Types of decks to put it in

• Lands matter
• Creature token strategies

Wear down

1 year ago - N/A

Today: $0.16

Gifting a card seems worse on paper than it actually is. Because your opponent draws a card as the spell resolves, you are not giving them an extra chance to draw a counterspell or something to disrupt whatever you are casting. Wear Down becomes "destroy 2 artifacts and/or enchantments, have an opponent draw a card." Whatever you are targeting will likely be more important to remove than whatever card an opponent draws, and for 2 mana this is an amazing rate. I'll be picking up a few copies to put into a few green decks.

Types of decks to put it in

• Any deck with green that needs artifact/enchantment removal

Pillar of Origins

1 year ago - $0.66

Today: $0.27

As commander speeds up, most mana acceleration has to be in the 2-3 range. 4 manage is a bit too slow these days unfortunately. In a tribal strategy, Pillar of Origins is an untapped 2 mana rock that generates any color of mana. How is this card not played more!?

For some reason, Eldrazi really appeal to me, likely because they were introduced into the Magic multiverse a few sets before I started playing and I never got to play with them. Their raw power is enthralling, so naturally when Modern Horizons 3 was released I wanted to see how busted of an eldrazi deck I could build, and Pillar of Origins was an auto-include.

Types of decks to put it in

• Tribal

Pitiless Carnage

1 year ago - N/A

Today: $0.26

Pitiless Carnage is reminiscent of the old Reprocess or somewhat newer God-Eternal Bontu. In token heavy strategies, this can draw you upwards of 5 cards easily. Do not just limit yourself to creature tokens. Think treasures, clues, blood, food, etc. I recently added this Gyome, Master Chef with the intent of sacrificing tons of food to draw cards. What really makes this card shine is the ability to plot it. For 3 mana, you can plot it in the early game and then later cast it for free once you have enough stuff to sacrifice.

Types of decks to put it in

• Token strategies

Ellivere of the Wild Court

1 year ago - $19.93 (artificially inflated as this card was released around this time last year)

Today: $0.42

Ellivere of the Wild Court is somewhat unassuming. A 4 mana 4/4 that adds an enchantment and draws only when a creature connects. Those Virtuous Role tokens quickly build up, however. Since they buff each other, the more creatures you have enchanted with a role, the larger they are. I have seen 4-6 creatures each buffed by 10+ power/toughness, all swinging in very early in the game. I added Elliver to my Dogmeat, Ever Loyal deck as a source of card draw plus an easy way to add an enchantment to him. If you want to have her as the head of your commander deck, trust me she is very powerful and faster than you think.

Types of decks to put it in

• Enchantress

End step

The vast number of products coming out these days has an upside that people move on very quickly. Every card on this list was released in the past 2 years, and in some cases has power crept out EDH staples. But because of the rate of releases, cards that should replace old ones may go unnoticed. Doing a little digging on Scryfall can reveal some really cool gems. These 5 are all going in my decks, and maybe this will inspire you to do some digging to find some cheap cards people forgot about due to endless spoiler season!