Your most hated cards

[Jemolk]

1: Strip Mine: BUT IT DEALS WITH PROBLEM LANDS yeah sure that's why you run that card and you absolutely have no plans to use it more than you need to. That's why you used it on a plains controlled by someone who had the audacity to hit you for 2 of your 40 lifepoints while the next player shrugged and played their Kessig Wolf Run or whatever.

Lol has that actually happened to you?

I don't know that it's fair to hate a card because someone once had very poor threat assessment. Any removal effect can be used badly but that doesn't mean removal is bad. In a multiplayer environment, strip mine is extremely fair imo. Sacrificing a land is a significant cost for the result.

I don't know about @Igzex, but I have definitely seen that scenario - more than a few times. That's why I dislike the Strip Mine effects and favor the Tectonic Edge\Wasteland. Just seeing strip mine, I have to conclude they plan to use them against basics if they can.

Really? I run Strip Mine if I can, but mainly because it deals with basics that have powerful enchantments on them. I've seen the Squirrel Nest/Earthcraft combo a few times, and if I can get the ability to stop that for free on the answer I'm already playing, I consider it very worthwhile. Tec Edge, Wasteland, Field of Ruin, and so forth are all also fantastic options, but the ability to remove the ability to make infinite squirrels at instant speed, or deal with other powerful land enchantments for that matter, is an edge case that I'd be quite happy to have my land answer be able to deal with at no increased opportunity cost.

[duducrash]

Maze's End for me. Is the one wincon I hate

I dont mind losing tbh, what I trully hate is when someone has a long ass turn and doesnt win/gets really close to winning it. I'll say I hate Captain Sisay because a player at my LGS always activates her tap ability and spends a while searching his deck like he never seen the cards before

[Treamayne]

Really? I run Strip Mine if I can, but mainly because it deals with basics that have powerful enchantments on them. I've seen the Squirrel Nest/Earthcraft combo a few times, and if I can get the ability to stop that for free on the answer I'm already playing, I consider it very worthwhile. Tec Edge, Wasteland, Field of Ruin, and so forth are all also fantastic options, but the ability to remove the ability to make infinite squirrels at instant speed, or deal with other powerful land enchantments for that matter, is an edge case that I'd be quite happy to have my land answer be able to deal with at no increased opportunity cost.

If that were a common use for Strip Mine, it might not bother me. Crucible of Worlds and kill all opponent lands is far more common in my experience.

[TheGildedGoose]

I will Strip your basic if it means I can win the game, but that is almost never the case in a multiplayer game. In all of my years of EDH I can remember exactly one time I did so, and it was to prevent a Scion of the Ur-Dragon player from having white mana to cast their commander and win the following turn.

Misplays and kingmaking are their own issue.

[DirkGently]

Really? I run Strip Mine if I can, but mainly because it deals with basics that have powerful enchantments on them. I've seen the Squirrel Nest/Earthcraft combo a few times, and if I can get the ability to stop that for free on the answer I'm already playing, I consider it very worthwhile. Tec Edge, Wasteland, Field of Ruin, and so forth are all also fantastic options, but the ability to remove the ability to make infinite squirrels at instant speed, or deal with other powerful land enchantments for that matter, is an edge case that I'd be quite happy to have my land answer be able to deal with at no increased opportunity cost.

If that were a common use for Strip Mine, it might not bother me. Crucible of Worlds and kill all opponent lands is far more common in my experience.

Crucible-ing 3 opponents out of the game is…difficult…

[PrimevalCommander]

Just seeing strip mine, I have to conclude they plan to use them against basics if they can.

I don't find this to be true at all. For many years Strip Mine was very affordable, only 1/4 or less the cost of a Wasteland, and strictly better as well. It was far and away the best version of the targeted LD lands in print, and only about $5 or less. That is why you will see many players who have been around a while playing many Strip Mines over Wasteland and Ghost Quarter, because they were cheap and did the job better than anything else. Not because they are out to "get" your basics. Heck, what would be the point targeting a basic when I can wait a turn or two and snipe a Gruul Turf for maximum troll damage? That used to be a regular occurrence in my group until utility lands outpace the power/tempo level of a bounce land.

I play a sprinkling of these lands, but only use them maybe 1 out of 10 or so games that I draw them because I'm usually the one doing annoying land things. As mentioned already winning the game by killing a basic would be a fair play whether it was a Strip Mine or a Vindicate.

With the proliferation of Wild Growth, Utopia Sprawl, and enchantress decks loading up a basic with 3 auras and tapping/untapping for 4-10 mana per turn, Strip Mine has a fail safe mode that most all other LD lands don't.

[PrimevalCommander]

Second post to give my best friend's most hated card these days.

Akroma's Will: I killed him with this "out of nowhere" because I had 20 power in play and cast this before combat with both modes active. He though he was safe behind some blockers and it turned into a one-shot. I'm calling it "White Craterhoof" because it is a great damage multiplier that is difficult to stop once resolved. The lifelink makes crack-backs much less threatening as well, even if your not killing the whole table.

I can see Teferi's Protection becoming very annoying if the price comes down to around $10. This would start showing up so often that board wipes would need to start increasing in frequency to counteract the reliance on Tef Prot and overextending. I tried it once and it is quite effective. Appear to overextend by flooding the board with a scary number of creatures. Bait a board wipe to turn our opponent's Austere Command into a Plague Wind after you phase out your stuff and untap for a big alpha strike. It is a good answer to Cyclonic Rift, so there's that.

I didn't even need Tef Prot. Guardian of Faith was enough to save my creatures from a Kaya's Wrath and allow me to kill one player on my untap.

[Lifeless]

Scrambleverse. I am absolutely fine with chaos decks in general but I'm not doing all that %$#%$#% work. You might as well just randomly decide the winner of the current game and then shuffle up for another. Honorable mention to Possibility Storm for being somewhere between an unbeatable combo piece and a worthless pile of trash.

[Igzex]

Strip locks are really difficult to pull off against all 3 opponents, but one can only imagine that being the one opponent that does get strip-locked (Thankfully no one has done that to m e. Yet.) is the worst thing ever so yeah my irrational hate over card people play badly continues

Anyways another card that I absolutely revile is Najeela, the Blade-Blossom. As a card, its design disgusts me. Like, I swear guys it's a warrior tribal commander that just so happens to be arbitrarily given an ability that gives her a 5 color identity and more combos going off than in a Guilty Gear tournament! What can possibly go wrong with something this absurdly pushed? Heck, even her visual design disgusts me. Her name and character design scream DM's pet Mary Sue waifu NPC complete with the fakest red hair you've ever seen. To say nothing of the card's ugly color palette (As much as you can call just grey and red a palette).

[hyalopterouslemur]

Let's be honest here: If you have all nonbasic lands, you're just doing it to yourself.

While I'll rail against Primal Order's color pie issues (and literally any damage to the face in green), stop hitting yourself.

[DirkGently]

Let's be honest here: If you have all nonbasic lands, you're just doing it to yourself.

Wait, in reference to Ruination? Ruination is ridiculously hard to recover from even with quite a few basics...

Also I reject the idea that a single card's existence should be able to dictate how you build your entire manabase. Blood moon, B2B, Primal Order I guess though I've never seen anyone play it...can all be removed by removal you should be playing anyway. Unless you're in blue, you're relying on niche answers at best to stop a ruination, and you need to have them in hand with mana up for them to matter. That is not a reasonable request for a 4 mana card that boots you out of the game otherwise.

[pokken]

Wait, in reference to Ruination? Ruination is ridiculously hard to recover from even with quite a few basics...

Also I reject the idea that a single card's existence should be able to dictate how you build your entire manabase. Blood moon, B2B, Primal Order I guess though I've never seen anyone play it...can all be removed by removal you should be playing anyway. Unless you're in blue, you're relying on niche answers at best to stop a ruination, and you need to have them in hand with mana up for them to matter. That is not a reasonable request for a 4 mana card that boots you out of the game otherwise.

Things that must be answered on the stack have a much, much higher threshold to be OK than things that are answerable by removal. That's probably one of the most fundamental aspects of creating good commander gameplay at non-competitive tables; things that end the game on the stack should generally be avoided because they create a barrier to entry of "you must play countermagic."

And if everyone has to play countermagic, we're on a different game.

[toctheyounger]

Theres so little that I never ever want to see to be honest in terms.of specific cards. I think I'm more salty when it comes to decks and the goals with which they're constructed. In that sense for me I really dislike a deck that spins wheels and can't close the game. Similarly a deck that locks interaction and can't win gets me too; playing hard locks or stax you still need a way to win, locking the board is NOT a win. Oh and superfriends lists. They tend to durdle while creeping slowly towards the finish line, and the archetype itself doesn't bother me, but decision paralysis tends to get in on those sort of decks so games really do start to draw out big time.

That said in terms of singular cards I guess Expropriate is there purely for the excess it offers. But otherwise I will pretty much play anything. I think part of my more relaxed attitude towards this is that these days my strong preference is to build control and stax based lists in general, so a lot of the cards coming up here are ones that I'd potentially use in the right place. I find boad control a challenge to play successfully and it requires skill to pilot well.

[Ardeyn]

Most of the cards mentioned in this thread don't bother me at all.
The cards I can get behind are Scrambleverse - to which I'd like to add Thieves' Auction. Both create a total mess of the game and make players entrust multiple of their cards to other players at the same time.
Also, I really despise Timesifter, as this inevitably leads to two players playing the game, while the other two watch, while hoping to get another turn, eventually, maybe, never.

As for cards not previously mentioned: I don't play against Krark, the Thumbless anymore, especially when paired with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. This is just so tedious to play against; watching all the coin flips, copy, return to hand, copy, copy., return, lead to... nothing?

As for Rhystic Study: Whoever does not pay the tax will be the focus of all in-game hostilities at the table, unless they do so because, for example, they needed to stop a combo or something similar.

Ardeyn

[Feyd_Ruin]

All I'm saying is that if Zur's Weirding isn't your topmost hated card, it's only because you haven't had one played at a table where everyone may or may not want to pay 2 life. >_<

[RxPhantom]

I try not to actively hate anything because when we all do it, we have to tiptoe around each other's pet peeves. It's annoying and exhausting. Having said that, I really don't like Altar of the Brood. It's not the mill, it's the incremental annoyance of it.

[DirkGently]

All I'm saying is that if Zur's Weirding isn't your topmost hated card, it's only because you haven't had one played at a table where everyone may or may not want to pay 2 life. >_<

I played it once in Thada Adel, Acquisitor. As soon as it hit the table, everyone started focusing me until I quit lol. Haven't played it since.

It is kind of hilarious that a 4 mana card can just deny all card draw though. Just "oops, no more cards for anyone anymore".

[Feyd_Ruin]

As soon as it hit the table, everyone started focusing me until I quit lol. Haven't played it since.

I had designed a deck, that I never actually realized, that played all the cards people didn't know they hated.
Teferi's Puzzle Box might be ok. But when you're also running Storm Cauldron.... >_<

[DirkGently]

As soon as it hit the table, everyone started focusing me until I quit lol. Haven't played it since.

I had designed a deck, that I never actually realized, that played all the cards people didn't know they hated.
Teferi's Puzzle Box might be ok. But when you're also running Storm Cauldron.... >_<

Oh damn, storm cauldron + Bootleggers' Stash is a pretty solid combo. Add Confounding Conundrum for extra annoyance.

[brainface]

As soon as it hit the table, everyone started focusing me until I quit lol. Haven't played it since.

I had designed a deck, that I never actually realized, that played all the cards people didn't know they hated.
Teferi's Puzzle Box might be ok. But when you're also running Storm Cauldron.... >_<

Oh damn, storm cauldron + Bootleggers' Stash is a pretty solid combo. Add Confounding Conundrum for extra annoyance.

This is why people ruinate you.

I'm starting to dislike inkshield, but really any card that's like "woah you spent a while building up an army there, aggro guy, yoink."

[hyalopterouslemur]

As soon as it hit the table, everyone started focusing me until I quit lol. Haven't played it since.

I had designed a deck, that I never actually realized, that played all the cards people didn't know they hated.
Teferi's Puzzle Box might be ok. But when you're also running Storm Cauldron.... >_<

Nekusar, the Mindrazer decks run Teferi's Puzzle Box to good effect, since it's, bare minimum, a Sudden Impact every turn, and a ping right after. But like MLD and other chaos cards, it's not good uses of these cards where the problem is; it's dumb uses of them which really raises eyebrows.

[Dunadain]

Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and all the other kill or be killed commanders, like, I feel bad and get all these dirty looks when I counter/kill your commander for the third time this game, but then you untap with it and just win.

On the flip side: nothing is wrong with Craterhoof Behemoth and that's a hill I will die on.

[PrimevalCommander]

On the flip side: nothing is wrong with Craterhoof Behemoth and that's a hill I will die on.

It will likely be a crater you will die in, a crater created by the hoof of an Enormous Hasty Beast and his friends.

Inkshield would be a very annoying card. I've never seen it, and 5 mana is hard to leave open. If I was paying attention, might be inclined to attack elsewhere if I see a player ominously having 5 mana open as I create a large board presence. A topic that was started on the "Threat Assessment" thread: One of the other reasons aggro players hold the big plays for a single strike. Building up slowly telegraphs a big attack and allows players to hold up interaction to counter. Aetherspouts Inkshield Aetherize Evacuation. Go from mildly threatening to table kill closes the window of opportunity for these cards unless played by a draw-go style opponent.

[Dunadain]

On the flip side: nothing is wrong with Craterhoof Behemoth and that's a hill I will die on.

It will likely be a crater you will die in, a crater created by the hoof of an Enormous Hasty Beast and his friends.

Lmao

[toctheyounger]

Oh, you know who can get in the lake? Chulane, Teller of Tales. And Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy. I'll play against them both but ill focus you out of the game the first moment I get.