#underplayed

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The Revenger special chapter 2 by me

Slash and Silver by @xnzlian

Goth by @nekophy

Scoundrel by @draw wolf

You should be playing #4 - Tortured Existence

Tortured Existence is the black Survival of the Fittest - but no one gives it the respect it deserves.

15 years ago, this card was bonkers. You could trade a random mana dork for a bomb late game. Or you could do the opposite and make sure you hit all you ramp by trading out late game cards for your Sakura Tiber Elders. It could easily bin your Anger and recur a Plaguecrafter. And it could super charge your Dredge engine.

It's only gotten better since then.

These days you don't just trade creatures between zones. You also get to abuse "goes to the graveyard" effects, "leaves the graveyard" effects, and "when you discard" effects. It's also a pretty amazing madness enabler.

Tortured Existence is a value engine in a can - and you should be playing more of it.

Pairs nicely with:

Golgari Brownscale

Squee Goblin Nabob | Master of Death

Tormod the Desecrator

Archfiend of Spite

Syr Konrad the Grim

Muldrotha the Gravetide

Bone Miser

Containment Construct

b and nate ruess singing a love song with lots of alice in wonderland references to each other about wanting to see the other’s smile, not wanting to go to sleep alone, wanting to get lost together... it sounds like fanfic, but it actually fucking happened. let’s revel in that fact.

You should be playing #9 - Author of Shadows

The biggest rule in deck building that players don't take seriously enough is this: You should always run more graveyard hate.

People run plenty(ish) of creature removal. This makes sense because creatures kill you.

People run some amount of artifact and enchantment removal. This makes sense because these are often value pieces that vault a player into the lead OR are combo pieces that end the game.

People have started running targeted land removal. This makes sense because Gaea's Cradle exists.

But in my experience, people don't run enough graveyard hate. You might see a piece or two in decks, but that's it.

And yet, the graveyard is one of the most abusable resources in Magic. It's basically an extra hand. How many games have you seen a player recast a Plaguecrafter over and over again? Or reanimate an early-game bomb? Or abuse Eternal Witness?

The graveyard is the most valuable resource in Commander, and no one seems to really care about that. It makes no sense.

Enter Author of Shadows.

This warlock shade exiles all opposing graveyards, leaving yours untouched.

He effectively draws you a card - and it should be amazing, not just a random land like you get with normal card draw spells.

And he can be abused with flickering, reanimating, bouncing, ninjitsu, etc.

Sure, a 3/3 for 5 is under curve as a body goes, but Mulldrifter is a 2/2 flier for 5. Author of Shadows is essentially a black Mulldrifter that more often than not wrecks someone at the table. You should be playing him.

Pairs nicely with:

Belbe Corrupted Observer

Animatou the Fateshifter

Erratic Portal

Prosper Tome Bound

Brainstealer Dragon

Okiba-Gang Shinobi

Altar of the Brood