[Resource] Niche and/or Budget Cards

[kirkusjones]

A card I've been really impressed by is Kraul Harpooner. It seems to have a rep as mostly a budget card for insect and undergrowth-style decks, but it is actually just really solid. Even with nothing supporting it, this is an ETB kill off a handful of top commanders (Kykar, Wind's Fury, Alela, Artful Provocateur, Kaalia of the Vast and a handful of annoying utility dorks (Aven Mindcensor, Birds of Paradise). With a bit of support the number of targets this hits grows considerably, smacking down a variety of threats. As an efficient body it is of course good in Insect/Warrior/Undergrowth decks, but I've found it really good in decks like Samut, Voice of Dissent "Fires" Momentum and suspect it's pretty good in EtB decks.

Ooooh! This is excellent. I'm going to have to grab one for Criminal Wilson.

[Treamayne]

Can you please quote this post with the Discord server link here? Especially because me and my friends want to join.

Welcome to the forums

I am unsure which Discord you mean since that link was not an "invite" to a specific "room." If you mean post it to the "Commander RC" discord, then I will have to decline. I'm sorry. Are you on the Nexus Playgroup Discord (since I have that and could post there)?

Otherwise, you seem to have no problem posting here if you want to submit a suggestion. Also, you had no problems quoting my post above, you could quote the content into whichever Discord you meant (you would have to use Notepad or similar to find/replace the forum tags ([card][/card]) with discord tags ([[]]) if you wanted to retain that function, or just remove the forum tags to make it more human-readable on a discord chat)

[PrimevalCommander]

Note: Sphinx of Lost Truths is included in the blue section 3 times.

[Treamayne]

Note: Sphinx of Lost Truths is included in the blue section 3 times.

Fixed(ish). Only one was a duplicate, the other two were separate nominations. I tried nesting them to see what the community thinks. . .

[illakunsaa]

Bladegriff Prototype

I think this card is pretty underrated. Sure the 3/2 statline for 5 mana, no etb and opponent chooses variance makes it look bad but that why it's good.

3 per turn isn't nothing but most people will just take it because they get to blow up something. Lot of the time Griff just gets to do its' thing. I like to play it stax decks. 3/2 gets to pressure life totals and just getting random permanents off the board is good and the griff isn't hindered by most common stax pieces like orbs. I've been adding haste and clone effects just to get more value out of Griff

The card is like 5 cents. 0% playrate

[Dunharrow]

Bladegriff Prototype

I think this card is pretty underrated. Sure the 3/2 statline for 5 mana, no etb and opponent chooses variance makes it look bad but that why it's good.

3 per turn isn't nothing but most people will just take it because they get to blow up something. Lot of the time Griff just gets to do its' thing. I like to play it stax decks. 3/2 gets to pressure life totals and just getting random permanents off the board is good and the griff isn't hindered by most common stax pieces like orbs. I've been adding haste and clone effects just to get more value out of Griff

The card is like 5 cents. 0% playrate

Wouldn't you just play Steel Hellkite? This can do some politics but the stats are pretty bad.

[DirkGently]

Wouldn't you just play Steel Hellkite? This can do some politics but the stats are pretty bad.

To point out the obvious, hellkite costs more to cast and costs to activate as well (might be pretty hard to kill that Avatar of Woe or whatever). Plus people are a lot more incentivized to block/kill the hellkite when it's coming after them, whereas even if all of your opponents have walls of flyers, the prototype can still get through because paying 3 life to destroy an enemy permanent is a good trade that most people will accept.

It is significantly worse when you're ahead, though, since people WILL block, and even if it gets through it'll just blow up a treasure or whatever.

[Hawk]

Bladegriff Prototype

I think this card is pretty underrated. Sure the 3/2 statline for 5 mana, no etb and opponent chooses variance makes it look bad but that why it's good.

3 per turn isn't nothing but most people will just take it because they get to blow up something. Lot of the time Griff just gets to do its' thing. I like to play it stax decks. 3/2 gets to pressure life totals and just getting random permanents off the board is good and the griff isn't hindered by most common stax pieces like orbs. I've been adding haste and clone effects just to get more value out of Griff

The card is like 5 cents. 0% playrate

Wouldn't you just play Steel Hellkite? This can do some politics but the stats are pretty bad.

I'll stan Bladegriff Prototype as well. I didn't mention it because I think it's a bit more niche. My prior mention was a card that I think is good for more than just Insect tribal and undergrowth.dec; Kraul Harpooner should have legs and lots of 'em in a variety of blink or counters-based strategies imo. Bladegriff is very good and has blown me away in Volo, Guide to Monsters to the point I may test it elsewhere, but it made it in Volo because:

A) As a simic deck that wants a high creature count, this deck has trouble removing 'walkers and creatures once they're on the board.
B) Types matter to Volo. Dragons are a competitive type (I took Keiga, the Tide Star and Steel Hellkite is also high on the list); this is really the only remotely playable griffin in Simic.
C) I mentioned it earlier but again, this deck wants to have its solutions be creatures not instants where it can help it - sure I could just run Beast Within + Song of the Dryads + Rapid Hybridization + Reality Shift + Pongify + Imprisoned in the Moon (and I do run at least a few of those) but I wanted a better critter count.

But again, it's blown me away and might just be the straight-up best card to curve into after Volo in the entire 99. Folks are often willing to take 3 to blow something else up wheras Steel Hellkite tends to be a kill-or-block-on-sight threat. Because "someone else chose", you don't draw as much heat. Once you get going players might "get wise" and start popping treasure tokens and saprolings instead of real cards but this card is way better than Meteor Golem if it gets even one real card. I don't think it should be run everywhere - in particular if your deck doesn't need a high creature count, doesn't have ways to copy/duplicate/reanimate Bladegriff over and over, doesn't have haste outlets, or has access to superior removal on a stick creatures in B/W, this is sorta meh for its cost. But it is much better in play than it looks on paper for sure.

[Treamayne]

Bladegriff Prototype
<snip>
But it is much better in play than it looks on paper for sure.

Added to summary description

[hyalopterouslemur]

While this is more than one card, they're connected. Story Circle, Rune of Protection: Artifacts, Rune of Protection: White, Rune of Protection: Blue, Rune of Protection: Black, Rune of Protection: Red, and Rune of Protection: White all have value against most decks. Story Circle lets you pick and choose, while the Runes have cycling, so if you don't need them, you can just pitch them. (And if you have Sun Titan out, you can pitch them then bring them back.)

The artifact one is really great if you also have Mycosynth Lattice.

Note that I am not a fan of Rune of Protection: Lands. There are very few lands I can think of where it's genuinely useful.

[Treamayne]

Proposed Organization:

Colorless

Show

Hide

General and/or CZ Synergy

Cultivator's Caravan in Kalamax, the Stormsire; ramps and allows Kalamax to tap outside of combat. Very important should be board get cluttered.

WinCon and Enablers

N/A

Utility

N/A

Interaction

N/A

Mana Production/Ramp

Victory Chimes in Talrand, Sky Summoner no creature, draw-go, drake beatdown. This can create or a turn cycle depending on what I'm casting. basically a free mana on my turn that will untap for interaction afterwards. Good for commanders with activation costs.

Draw

Book of Rass. Granted the up-front cost is not cheap, but it can be cheated into play and as incidental, at-EoT, colorless Greed-style draw - any deck with even marginal lifegain can get easy value, and it tends to slide below the radar of interaction.
about $1 for Chronicles and under $2 for The Dark version

Politics

Bladegriff Prototype
I think this card is pretty underrated. Sure the 3/2 statline for 5 mana, no etb and opponent chooses variance makes it look bad but that's why it's good.
3 per turn isn't nothing but most people will just take it because they get to blow up something. Lot of the time Griff just gets to do its' thing. I like to play it stax decks. 3/2 gets to pressure life totals and just getting random permanents off the board is good and the griff isn't hindered by most common stax pieces like orbs. I've been adding haste and clone effects just to get more value out of Griff
The card is like 5 cents. 0% playrate

I'll stan Bladegriff Prototype as well. I didn't mention it because I think it's a bit more niche. My prior mention was a card that I think is good for more than just Insect tribal and undergrowth.dec; Kraul Harpooner should have legs and lots of 'em in a variety of blink or counters-based strategies imo. Bladegriff is very good and has blown me away in Volo, Guide to Monsters to the point I may test it elsewhere, but it made it in Volo because:

A) As a simic deck that wants a high creature count, this deck has trouble removing 'walkers and creatures once they're on the board.
B) Types matter to Volo. Dragons are a competitive type (I took Keiga, the Tide Star and Steel Hellkite is also high on the list); this is really the only remotely playable griffin in Simic.
C) I mentioned it earlier but again, this deck wants to have its solutions be creatures not instants where it can help it - sure I could just run Beast Within + Song of the Dryads + Rapid Hybridization + Reality Shift + Pongify + Imprisoned in the Moon (and I do run at least a few of those) but I wanted a better critter count.

But again, it's blown me away and might just be the straight-up best card to curve into after Volo in the entire 99. Folks are often willing to take 3 to blow something else up wheras Steel Hellkite tends to be a kill-or-block-on-sight threat. Because "someone else chose", you don't draw as much heat. Once you get going players might "get wise" and start popping treasure tokens and saprolings instead of real cards but this card is way better than Meteor Golem if it gets even one real card. I don't think it should be run everywhere - in particular if your deck doesn't need a high creature count, doesn't have ways to copy/duplicate/reanimate Bladegriff over and over, doesn't have haste outlets, or has access to superior removal on a stick creatures in B/W, this is sorta meh for its cost. But it is much better in play than it looks on paper for sure.

Combat Interaction

Phyrexian Splicer - I love to use this card in decks that lack inherent defense against flying and trample (stealing the ability from a key attacker for defense) and/or in decks (playgroups) that want more politics and combat shenanigans.
Example: Currently in Gahiji, Honored One Beasts both for the lack of fliers and the ability to move Trample or First Strike after blockers. Politics on opponents' turns is a nice bonus
Uncommon - Tempest - $0.35

Baton of Morale - Banding! I'm not sure why anybody would need a reason other than that.
Example: I have this in my Tim deck, so my blockers can shift damage over to Chucky and Bride of Chucky (as well as other less-fragile options)
Uncommon - Ice Age- $0.35

Specific Synergy

Avarice Totem in Kurkesh, Zirda, or any other deck that can make lots of mana and/or save mana on the activation — stack shenanigans mean that you can exchange whatever useless junk you have lying around for the best nonland permanent on the table, provided they don't have five mana open. "I'll take that Grave Pact, thank you. You can have my Myr token."

Feedback and ideas welcome. If I slot something wrong - let me know. If we like this setup, then future submissions should state what category you are proposing the card's primary purpose to fill.

[PrimevalCommander]

I like this a little better than organizing by color. Yes the categories can be a bit vague, but I think sorting them by what they do is a bit easier to find something you may be wanting for a deck.

[Treamayne]

I like this a little better than organizing by color. Yes the categories can be a bit vague, but I think sorting them by what they do is a bit easier to find something you may be wanting for a deck.

I was planning to do both, Each color in it's own spoiler tag and organized by category inside. If you are building, for example, Boros, you can check the R, W, and RW spoiler tags for ideas. . .