Cards that punch well above their asking price

[toctheyounger]

So with all of the SL nonsense recently and how disillusioned its made us a lot of the communits, I thought it might be worth celebrating some of the successful cards that have been printed, and remembering that it's not all bad and we don't always need to bow to the almighty dollar to win games.

Which are your, lets say, 5-10 favourite cards that cost you very little and punch well above their weight? I figure if anyone else stumbles across this and is new to the format it's nice to know what's good to pick up and pays dividends, as it were.

For myself:
Mirrorweave - the card is nuts in the right place.
Fact or Fiction - I generally think this is one of the most versatile blue instants, and it's almost like a small mini-game within the game. I love choosing the right person and I love being chosen for it too.
Shamanic Revelation - Really great mid-game spell.
Temur Sabertooth - Just a nice, versatile, resilient beater that helps spam ETB abilites and protect your pieces.
Emeria Shepherd - I know the reputation mono white has and I don't care, that reputation is wrong these days. This card is disgusting value.
Liliana's Standard Bearer - This ones new but has paid for itself in spades.
Fires of Invention - This one goes in the sort of deck that relies more on abilities or casts bigger spells and obviously fewer per turn, but I've had ridiculously good experiences with it. I run it in Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded, and bare minimum, it means I can cast my commander again for free plus commander tax, which is nuts.

What else is out there? What say you, Nexus?

[Myllior]

Negate|M15 - Easily my #1 counterspell, even over the O.G.. Others' experiences may differ, but if anything's threatening my board or to win on the spot, it's almost always a non-creature; for the price, you simply can't beat Negate. (More expensive, but also a shout-out to Dovin's Veto).
Stubborn Denial - OK I kinda lied; you CAN beat Negate, if your deck can consistently activate the Ferocious part of this card, such as by having a commander with Power 4 or more.
Kenrith's Transformation - The cheapest of the 'hard' commander removal cards (e.g. Imprisoned in the Moon). While it's also the easiest to deal with, it cantrips, so you won't be down a card.
Underworld Breach - Cheaper, better Yawgmoth's Will. Nothing I can say on this card that darrenhabib hasn't already said.
Wishclaw Talisman - This one is far more powerful in combo-oriented decks than in fair play; the ability to tutor a card for 1 at the start of a combo turn is busted.
Sun Titan - Repeated recursion on an impressive body; great offense, defense and value.
Archon of Valor's Reach - Requires a little build-around in deck construction, but can be absolutely crippling to your opponents. Liberally apply Clone effects to make your inner despot squeal with joy.

[toctheyounger]

Negate|M15 - Easily my #1 counterspell, even over the O.G.. Others' experiences may differ, but if anything's threatening my board or to win on the spot, it's almost always a non-creature; for the price, you simply can't beat Negate. (More expensive, but also a shout-out to Dovin's Veto).
Stubborn Denial - OK I kinda lied; you CAN beat Negate, if your deck can consistently activate the Ferocious part of this card, such as by having a commander with Power 4 or more.
Kenrith's Transformation - The cheapest of the 'hard' commander removal cards (e.g. Imprisoned in the Moon). While it's also the easiest to deal with, it cantrips, so you won't be down a card.
Underworld Breach - Cheaper, better Yawgmoth's Will. Nothing I can say on this card that darrenhabib hasn't already said.
Wishclaw Talisman - This one is far more powerful in combo-oriented decks than in fair play; the ability to tutor a card for 1 at the start of a combo turn is busted.
Sun Titan - Repeated recursion on an impressive body; great offense, defense and value.
Archon of Valor's Reach - Requires a little build-around in deck construction, but can be absolutely crippling to your opponents. Liberally apply Clone effects to make your inner despot squeal with joy.

A lot of these are great. I'm a big fan of transformation, I love these effects and sticking draw on it is a great cherry on top. The monkey paw, is great even outside of combo. If nothing else its a political tool, even if there are plenty of ways to not share. Titan having been reprinted regularly means its bargain basement too, and the value is top notch there.

[PrimevalCommander]

I will second Underworld Breach, as it is a great card and won't be $2 forever unless they get aggressive with reprints.
Corpse Augur is tutored for many times in my Karador deck and routinely draws me 3-10 cards depending on the game progression. My best turn was after milling myself over several turns with Altar of Dementia, then saccing this for 17 cards and casting Living Death. Good times.
Pitiless Plunderer is getting up there for budget, but is comparable to Smothering Tithe for value. Sometimes better depending on the deck.
Mystic Confluence is one of my favorite non-efficient counter spells. I favor this above Cryptic Command in many cases due to it's increased flexibility for only a single mana. I is really not very difficult to hit max value with Counterspell + Draw 2. The number of times that happens when I draw it makes me reconsider Mana Leak, if only for a split second.

I'm also going to call back a couple throwbacks that still get the nod in my decks. Maybe for nostalgia, but they still do work.
Archon of Justice is still a good white 5 drop flyer that clogs the sky and can take out any permanent on death.
Puppeteer Clique is really quite flexible if there is any green player at the table as it can grab ramp creatures early, or big haymakers late. With a sac outlet you can loop ETB's on opponents creatures a couple times. Even if it's not "max synergy" messing with opponent's graveyards is still fun, and it exiles the creature if you leave it in play.

I'm having a hard time thinking of a green card off hand. Most high impact green cards don't stay cheap for long. Maybe Elemental Bond for doing work in any deck that either blinks, casts, or creates creatures big enough to trigger it. Drew me about 5 cards in 2 turn cycles with Titania, Protector of Argoth and an Evolving Wilds

[JWK]

Lots of good mentions here. Hopefully some will find some of mine intriguing.

Ogre Battledriver. If you are playing red and have creatures in your deck, if you don't run this you may want to reconsider. He gives all your dudes haste and a +2/+0 boost when they enter the battlefield. In a format where creatures often die quickly, haste is good. Combine with anything that makes lots of counters for strong effect.

Gonna jump on the Negate/Dovin's Veto bandwagon. Some people prefer to play nonconditional counterspells only, and certainly there are some creatures you want to counter, but more often than not, the things that must be stopped before they resolve are non-creature spells, and this stops all those at a very nice cost. Plus, it's not like you can't run these along with Dissipate or whatever.

Lazotep Plating is a card I've been mentioning a lot lately, and I don't think I am likely to stop any time soon. It gives hexproof to you and to your board as a CMC 2 instant. It just plain shuts down so many things your opponents are trying to do. I have never, ever found this to be a dead card in any game, and it has straight-up kept me from losing piles of games.

Ogre Slumlord is so good. Things die a lot. When they die, the Slumlord gives you guys. The guys have deathtouch, which makes them punch outside their weight class as blockers or attackers, as well as providing more fodder for aristocrat sorts of decks. He'd be even better if he got rats in exchange for dead tokens, but that is probably asking a bit much. Leave the value-for-tokens to...

Pitiless Plunderer. This guy gives you treasure when your stuff dies. Tokens included. Great in combination with the Slumlord, btw, but even on his own, he will give you a lot of value. I have seen him outperform Smothering Tithe in some decks.

Shivan Harvest is an underplayed oldie-but-goodie. Some lands just need to die. Sometimes you want creatures to die. Wny not use creatures to make those lands die? Recurrable targeted LD can be very good. Just don't be a dick with it. Lands like Nykthos and Coffers need to die, but don't pick on the precon player's jank mana base.

Return of the Wildspeaker is probably my favorite card from Eldrane. Powerful and versatile, it's major card draw or a group combat pump as an instant. So good!

Gonna second Liliana's Standard Bearer. Just so, so good. Whether you are casting this after someone else wipes the board or whether you are sacing your board to one of the Altars and floating the mana for a huge turn following Living Death, if you are playing black you probably want to be running this guy a lot more often than not.

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds is my personal favorite of the War of the Spark planeswalkers. I have found most versions of Vivien to be pretty underwhelming, but this one is solid. She can draw you creatures to cast if your deck is built with high enough creature density, but I play her mostly for her static ability. She gives all my creatures flash and is cheaper to cast than Yeva, Nature's Herald, and she tends to stick around for awhile as she isn't high-threat enough for people to want to target her and won't die to most random boardwipes. I am always glad ot draw into her.

Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner is another of the War of the Spark planeswalkers I really like. Most U/G and U/G/X decks run some big stompy creatures, which means she will be drawing you cards. She can also untap any permanent, including lands like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to help you cast more stuff so she can draw more cards, and she has a whopping 7 starting loyalty, meaning she will likely stick around for awhile. She has become one of the MVPs in my Animar hydra tribal deck.

I don't really follow MtG investment stuff very much, but seriously, if you don't have plenty already, do yourself a favor and stock up on the Spark planeswalkers. Several of them are a lot stronger than their current, low prices would suggest., and I don't expect prices on cards like Vivien or Ashiok, Dream Render to stay low for very long.

[Outcryqq]

Rishkar's Expertise: my favorite draw spell in green, and I'm always surprised at how cheap it is.

Edit: wow, it jumped from a sub-$1 to over $6 some time when I wasn't looking. Ok...Sunbird's Invocation is incredibly powerful for the card's cost.

[Lifeless]

I'll just go with one for now - Master Warcraft I wouldn't exactly call it a hidden gem but it can generate some major blowouts and since you should always be playing Sunforger in these colors it has incredible offensive and defensive potential.

[Dragoon]

Mirrorweave and Radiate. If you have the room for it, you can never go wrong with those cards.

Also, for all you mono-green ramp players out there, you should take a look at Recross the Paths. It's a fantastic piece of ramp. You don't get to choose which land you get (hence why I recommend it most to mono-green players), but it will enter normally and not necessarily tapped. Also, if you're playing heavy ramp, chances are you have a higher curve, will win the clash and be able to reuse the card again!

[tstorm823]

Burnt Offering in any sort of rakdos reanimation strategy. It's $0.25, and it's an Ice Age common so it's probably not changing value any time soon.

[JWK]

Burnt Offering in any sort of rakdos reanimation strategy. It's $0.25, and it's an Ice Age common so it's probably not changing value any time soon.

Definitely underplayed. Good card.

[ISBPathfinder]

Mask of Memory - I actually prefer this card over Sword of Fire and Ice in a lot of places due to the increased digging and graveyard setup not to mention cheaper setup cost. It looks like its roughly $2.00 these days and that is primarily due to only having been reprinted a single time.

Phyrexian Furnace / Scrabbling Claws - I think a lot of people don't run enough grave hate. These cards aren't as powerful as Relic of Progenitus / Tormod's Crypt but I often use them as supplemental additional grave hate in that if they aren't what you need, they cheaply cantrip off.

Pithing Needle / Sorcerous Spyglass - Lots of new high powered activated ability commanders have come out in the last year. I love to shut them down.

[UnNamed1]

Bolas's Citadel - While it is finally climbing in price I expect it to go much higher. This is a disgusting combo piece and value piece all around. Get it while the gettin's good.

Midnight Clock - While a little slower piece of ramp than I would normally recommend, the single sided wheel ability is insanely strong. In our multiplayer format, it really only takes 3 turns, not 6 like it would 1v1's. I don't expect for this to stay under a dollar for long, its a solid rock with a wheel stapled on to it.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch - While I'm on the artifact theme, lets point out the second best mono U artifact commander of this year. Hugely overshadowed by Urza, but can be insanely strong with the right deck. Being able to recur your artifacts will often leave you ahead.

Cavalier of Gales - One of my favorite cards in my Thassa deck. Brainstorm with a big body that doesn't want to die. Everything I like on a creature.

[Rorseph]

I second a lot of the previously mentioned cards. Especially Negate, Stubborn Denial, and Fact or Fiction. So here are my favorites that haven't already been mentioned.

Angelic Renewal is a pet card of mine. I really like it in my Boros Voltron decks because it allows me to wrath without major consequences for me. Always a good trade for the best creature you have on the board, though.

Ilysian Caryatid is an underappreciated mana dork. If your commander has 4+ power, you should consider it.

Wall of Roots is another underappreciated mana dork. Remember that it's ability can be used once per turn, allowing you to potentially get multiple uses out of it per turn cycle. I really like it in conjunction with Scavenging Ooze.

[Sinis]

I'm going to plug Lazotep Plating again. Card's really good if you want to protect yourself, or your stuff.

Urza's Ruinous Blast remains solid.

Bring to Light is basically a free (or near-free) tutor with limited targets. Want to win with the board you have? Get your Overwhelming Stampede. Want to draw? Lots of options there, including Allied Strategies. Or, you can pick your choice of board wipe, like Urza's Ruinous Blast or Tragic Arrogance.

[pokken]

Here's a quick top 5 from me:

Risen Reef - always devastating, it's like $0.50 now and my first tutor target in my Elementals deck basically always.

Brought Back - Really powerful recursion spell that's quite cheap now. Takes some commitment but strong.

Skybind has been really good to me in a variety of decks.

Scrap Trawler does tons of work on the cheap in my various artifact decks.

Prophetic Flamespeaker - combat damage value is a bit of a pet project of mine, but I've really liked this card a lot. Generates a ton of value and especially off of equipment and other combat damage triggers. Dirt cheap and puts in outsized work if your deck supports it.

[toctheyounger]

I'm having a hard time thinking of a green card off hand. Most high impact green cards don't stay cheap for long. Maybe Elemental Bond for doing work in any deck that either blinks, casts, or creates creatures big enough to trigger it. Drew me about 5 cards in 2 turn cycles with Titania, Protector of Argoth and an Evolving Wilds

Bond is seriously good in almost any deck that runs green. Given that most of the comparable creatures that do this are 6 to cast (Beast Whisperer aside), Bond is immense value for a common.

I don't really follow MtG investment stuff very much, but seriously, if you don't have plenty already, do yourself a favor and stock up on the Spark planeswalkers. Several of them are a lot stronger than their current, low prices would suggest., and I don't expect prices on cards like Vivien or Ashiok, Dream Render to stay low for very long.

Narset, Parter of Veils and Ashiok, Dream Render are great control. Probably my favourite of the lot is Saheeli, Sublime Artificer - the value to be had from her is pretty bonkers in the right place.

To add a couple:

Soul-Guide Lantern - As ISB stated, grave hate is important. The eggs he mentioned are minimal cost to buy or cast and take very little space in your deck. This one, though, is SO versatile. Immediate value on cast, sac it to cantrip, or sac it to grave hate everyone but yourself. It's very good.

Palace Jailer - Monarch is a great mechanic, and this one is particularly well worded. If you blink it, you get to exile more stuff, and you keep the crown. So you could have most of the board exiled under this guy, and they still only enter the battlefield again once you lose the crown, which isn't tied to this guy at all other than his ETB. It's great value.

Eye of Singularity - Recommended to me by @ISBPathfinder, this is a really nice piece of control. It hoses tokens, which is cool, but it also means there's only ever one Sol Ring, Mana Crypt and whatever chase staples literally everyone who can afford them plays, in play at once. It's kind of interesting because lots of people don't really get how to play past it, so they just...don't play their stuff. Or they arms race each other to destroy each other's stuff, while you sit back and cackle maniacally.

Molten Primordial - This one has always been my least favourite in the Gatecrash pseudo-titan cycle, but having recently tried it in Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded, it's actually pretty crazy in this format. Its board control, a massive tempo swing and a huge combat step for you all in one card. If it's still not favourable to swing you can always sacrifice stuff that isn't yours for value. My favourite memory with this one is borrowing someone's Breya, Etherium Shaper as well as a couple of other artifact creatures and sacrificing them all (Breya is an artifact) to machine gun someone out of the game. Breya scooped right away. It was awesome.

Honor-Worn Shaku - This one used to be pretty much a corner case card, but these days everything is legendary, and all of that stuff will do what you want it to do whether it's tapped or untapped. This gets me like 7-8 a turn in my Grixis deck, and it cost me next to nothing. (Just checking prices now, it has risen somewhat, so maybe the jig is up)

Psychosis Crawler - This guy is kind of a win condition just on its own. You're going to draw, ideally as much as you can, why not set the goalposts a little closer while you do it?

Stitch Together - This is about as cheap to cast and to buy as you can get for reanimation. Threshold isn't that hard to hit in this format, you sort of get it for just playing the game.

Mystic Sanctuary - darrenhabib wrote a treatise on this card a while back, and for the minimal impact it has on one's land base there's no reason not to run it and plenty of cheap ways to reuse it, from Dimir Aqueduct to Kefnet the Mindful and various and sundry moonfolk.

Beast Within - Non-situational removal is brilliantly good, and a 3/3 is small potatoes in EDH. Great for green, and generally just a format all star. Generous Gift too, but I believe it's a little more pricy these days.

Wave of Vitriol - Sort of green's answer to Living Death...sort of. Why grizzle and feel down about everyone having premium land bases when you could just wreck those land bases, in the fairest way possible? Anyone who gets hosed by this has no cause for complaint so long as they run some basic lands. It'll also get those Theros Gods gone too. Criminally underplayed card, I've had so many blowouts with this.

[JWK]

Narset, Parter of Veils and Ashiok, Dream Render are great control. Probably my favourite of the lot is Saheeli, Sublime Artificer - the value to be had from her is pretty bonkers in the right place.

Narset and Ashiok are both incredible, with Ashiok being among the best grave hate out there, and Saheeli has been very strong in my Brudiclad deck.

Several of the others are good, too, though some are more narrow than others. Dovin is very playable, so is Ral. Ugin, the Ineffable is still only a couple of bucks, and it is great for Eldrazi decks, or just those playing a otn of artifacts.

[toctheyounger]

Ugin, the Ineffable is still only a couple of bucks, and it is great for Eldrazi decks, or just those playing a otn of artifacts.

I've had great mileage from Ugin, as the only version of Ugin I can afford, lol. If you're playing rocks he helps. He protects himself with his spirits and gives you pseudo-draw into the bargain, as well as virtually non-conditional removal. He's a really good buy for the price.

[plushpenguin]

Joraga Treespeaker is still $4 and one of the best mana dorks in the game, able to act as another Sol Ring for green decks.

[BaronCappuccino]

Chaos Warp, Bedevil & Feed the Swarm cover the removal bases with respectable versatility in colors that don't really do versatility.

Liliana's Standard Bearer is good draw with minimal build around and top tier draw in the right decks.

Bolas's Citadel a goblin fart away from being as broken as Paradox Engine and I'm surprised it's not abused more.

[Yatsufusa]

This is very niche, but if you play lands.dec with the likes of extra land drops and playing/returning lands from the graveyard and already play Realms Uncharted, consider Fork in the Road. Yes, it's inferior in almost every way (sorcery, 2 lands only and basics of all things), but it turns out 2 mana for 2 lands is still plenty of value for the same type of shell that utilizes Uncharted Realms. I might be a tad biased for the card though, it reminds me so much of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

[Peterhausenn]

insight, its not uncommon for it to draw me 15+ cards in games when i can stick it early plus it also pitches to force of will