Cards that I completely overlooked but ended up being quite good

I always make assumptions about the newest mtg set and which cards from it will be the best ones in duel commander. These cards mostly end up quite solid and sometimes even become a part of the metagame but I sometimes also overlook some really good cards. In this article I want to look at some cards that me and even the playerbase didn't see coming and why they are good.

Forth Eorlingas! is probably my most overlooked card ever. Coming from the LotR: Tales of Middle Earth set, it didn't really see it's potential as so did many other poeple. Outside of Yoshimaru there weren't that many boros decks that wanted to play this card, or so I thought...

Forth Eorlingas! now sees play in pretty much any deck that is able to play it. Aragorn, King of Gondor and Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful both play it and they are one of the most popular commanders in the format. The card is extremly powerful and can turn the game in your favor, especially in the later parts of the game. It has become one of the staples of boros and you can expect to see it quite a lot in the foreseable future.

I actually saw Slimefoot and Squee as a pretty solid commander back when March of the Machine came out. What I didn't expect though was that the card would overperform every other card I mentioned in that article. I saw more potential in cards like Baral and Kari-zev or Goro-Goro and Satoru which didn't really turn out that great.

Slimefoot and Squee didn't really see that much play at first, only a little bit of experimentation. It was a solid but underplayed deck until recently when it finished in top spots of various tournaments. This has in turn put the deck on the radar for many poeple. It plays similarly to Grist, the Hunger Tide decks, playing for tempo while bringing back powerful creatures to overwhelm your opponent.

The other commander that I didn't see coming was Ertai Ressurected. I wasn't playing duel commander for very long and I didn't know that dimir control deck could be viable in the format. The effect of card didn't also seem that great to me as it was overcosted counterspell that also gave your opponent a card.

Turns out I was completely wrong and Ertai is nowadays one of the most popular contol commanders in duel commander. Always having a removal/counter spell at your disposal is just so good, your opponent is pretty much never safe to play any card as long as Ertai sits in the commander zone. The deck is full or removal and counterspells to stop your opponent from playing the game and plenty of threads to finish the game with like Hullbreaker Horror or Murktide Regent.

Hoarding Broodlord is probably the least popular card in this article but I wanted to mention it anyway since the card quite surprised me. I didn't see the apeal of the card at first, just a big body which also damages you as a part of it's effect. I quite undervalued the effect and didn't expect the card to see any play meaby outside of EDH. 

To my surprise the card sees play in more than one deck. All of the reanimator strategies are more than happy to play it so you can find it in Aminatou, the Fateshifter and Old Rutstein decks. You can also sometimes run against it if you are playing against Grist and other similar decks. Having a tutor on top of a giant body makes it a great inclusion in these strategiest and as long as reanimator decks exist in the format you will probably see it get played.

Author: Tomas Solovic

Date: 26th of September 2023