Duskmourn: House of Horror preview season is just around the corner. This modern horror-inspired plane is going to be perfect for the spookiest season of them all. I thought that also meant this would be a good time to take a look at underrated Commander cards from Magic’s first visit to the gothic horror-inspired plane – Innistrad.
Overall, Innistrad has had a big impact on Commander. Blasphemous Act is one of the best sweepers ever printed, the enemy-colored check lands are staples, and Kessig Wolf Run and Gavony Township are incredibly strong utility lands.
So, Commander players are well aware of Innistrad. However, this doesn’t mean that every good card in Innistrad has received its due in this format. In this article, I’ll discuss 5 cards in Innistrad that should see more play in the format than they currently do.
UNDERRATED COMMANDER: GEIST OF SAINT TRAFT
The 1049th-ranked Commander on EDHRec.
Geist’s attack trigger is amazing and hexproof makes sure he isn’t easy to kill outside of combat. But in combat he’s incredibly vulnerable because he’s so small. However, as a hexproof creature, he’s an excellent creature to augment using Auras and/or Equipment. Blue-White is more adept at doing things with Auras, so it’s probably better to go in that direction.
Auras that both protect and enhance Geist are the most attractive as they not only allow him to hit harder, they make it much harder for him to die in combat. Steel of the Godhead is probably the best Aura you can slap on Geist, but Hyena Umbra and Octopus Umbra are also pretty great. All of these offer a stats boost that makes Geist way harder to block, while also preventing traditional removal from being able to take him down.
Blue-White also happens to be particularly good at cheating insane Auras into play, and that’s a great direction to go with Geist, as he wears Eldrazi Conscription pretty darn well. Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Academy Rector allow you to tutor up strong Auras and put them directly on the battlefield, and Arcanum Wings can help you cheat them into play from your hand.
MOLDGRAF MONSTROSITY
Played in .05% of Green Decks on EDHRec.
It’s nice getting a big ol’ trampler up front, but Moldgraf Monstrosity’s real value comes from its death trigger.
It can be a little frustrating that the trigger is random, but the fact remains that it’s a 2-for-1, and if you’re playing a deck that is good at both loading and manipulating the graveyard, you can make sure that the Monstrosity’s death will bring back two powerful threats. This also makes the Monstrosity itself a nice reanimation target.
In recent years, insects have received two great Commanders in Grist, the Hunger Tide and Zask, Skittering Swarmlord. Both of them love Insects and the graveyard. If you’re using either of those popular commanders, you should seriously consider using the Monstrosity.
BURNING VENGEANCE
Played in .008% of Red Decks on EDHRec.
Burning Vengeance is one of the sweetest Limited build-arounds of all time, but it also has some serious potential in EDH. Tacking Shock on to anything you cast from the graveyard is no small thing, as it allows you to pick off small creatures or burn out your opponents. Obviously, this isn’t the kind of card just any Red deck should consider.
However, there are plenty of Red commanders out there who allow you to cast spells from your graveyard or pay you off for it. For example, Kess, Dissident Mage lets you cast a spell from your graveyard every turn, and Chainer, Nightmare Adept lets you cast creatures from the graveyard.
GARRUK RELENTLESS // GARRUK, THE VEIL-CURSED
Played in .04% of Golgari Decks on EDHRec.
Magic’s very first double-faced Planeswalker, Garruk Relentless tore his way through 60-card formats back in the day, but he hasn’t been doing very much of that in Commander.
Garruk, the Veil-Cursed comes with a suite of amazing abilities for Commander. The -1 is a sacrifice outlet that lets you tutor up creatures, and the -3 is a graveyard-based overrun. There are plenty of Golgari decks that can take advantage of both of those abilities to great effect.
However, the Garruk Relentless side is what holds this double-faced planeswalker back. He starts with low loyalty, and while churning out a 2/2 every turn is fine, it isn’t exactly game-breaking. And transforming it is very dependent on the boardstate.
The times where you can play Garruk and use his ability to kill a 2/2, and immediately transform him and then use one of the transformed Garruk’s loyalty abilities are insane. But if there isn’t a 2 or 1 power creature on the board, Garruk is going to be stuck on his weaker side.
Xavier Sal is a great Commander for Garruk, though. While the planeswalker’s ability is the built-in way to pull it off, Garruk doesn’t care how he gets to 2 or 1 loyalty. This means you can use Xavier’s ability to remove a counter from Garruk, while also adding another copy of his Wolf friend to the board. Then, Garruk will transform. That’s a very powerful sequence.
DEARLY DEPARTED
Played in .014% of White Decks on EDHRec.
Getting an effect for free out of your graveyard is a powerful thing and enhancing every single Human that enters the battlefield for 0 mana is a big deal. While Dearly Departed is worth a look in any Human deck, there are a few Commanders in particular that can really maximize the value they get out of Dearly Departed.
Katilda and Lier might be the best home for Dearly Departed. That Bant Commander is very interested in casting Humans and having cards in the graveyard to give flashback too. Dearly Departed is just another card you want to try to get into your graveyard so that you can make your Humans better.
If you’re using a Commander who can churn out lots of Human tokens, Dearly Departed is also attractive, because its trigger works on human tokens just as well as it does on creature cards. For example, Torens, Fist of the Angels is pretty perfect for Dearly Departed, since he not only spits out Human tokens, he also puts +1/+1 counters on them.
END STEP
Innistrad is one of Magic’s spookiest sets and it’s an incredibly strong set for Commander too. I hope this article introduced you to a few of the lesser-known cards from the set. If you think there are any underrated cards I left, let me know over on X.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.