5 Underrated Commander Cards in Fate Reforged

Tarkir: Dragonstorm is just around the corner. In fact, Card Kingdom’s presale kicks off today!

In this much-anticipated set, we’ll be returning to the plane of Tarkir for the first time since 2015. To get us in the mood for the set, I’ve written a few articles recently about the older Tarkir sets.  A few weeks back, I took a look at some underrated Commander cards in Dragons of Tarkir, and I’ve also done the same for Khans of Tarkir. 

That means it’s time for Fate Reforged, the middle set in the original Block, to get the spotlight. In the story, Sarkhan Vol goes back in time to a period where the Clans are much weaker and attempting to defend themselves against the plane’s powerful dragons.

Because of the story, this set is markedly different from other Tarkir sets which focus on the three-color Clans of Tarkir and have a prominent multi-color theme. Fate Reforged only has 10 multicolored cards.

Apart from a couple of reasonably popular commanders – Alesha and Tasigur – Fate Reforged has not had a major impact on Commander.

However, there are some cards in Fate Reforged that are being seriously underrated, and that deserve serious consideration for your Commander decks.

UNDERRATED COMMANDER: SILUMGAR, THE DRIFTING DEATH

The 1,674th Most Popular Commander on EDHRec

Dragons are very popular in Commander, but Silumgar isn’t. I get it, you can just build a 5-color Dragon deck with The Ur-Dragon. However, if you’d like to do something a little bit different, I highly recommend Silumgar.

Silumgar’s attack trigger is super potent. Even at its worst, it’s going to wipe out a bunch of small creatures, and if you have other dragons joining the fray, you can really annihilate your opponent’s board. 

Because Silumgar has hexproof, it’s also quite difficult to take the big Dragon down, so keeping that trigger from occurring is a tall order. It also means you can go in a bit of a Voltron direction with Silumgar, since suiting up a huge hexproof creature with Equipment and Auras is a nightmare scenario for your opponent.

It is true that there aren’t an overwhelming number of Blue, Black, and Colorless dragons, but at this point there are more than enough to support a Silumgar Commander deck. It’s also a safe bet that we’ll be getting more of them in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, so Silumgar is likely to only get better.

UGIN, THE SPIRIT DRAGON

Played in 1% of Decks on EDHRec

I was shocked to my core when I saw that this insanely strong Planeswalker is only in 1% of all the decks on EDHRec. You can play him in literally every Commander deck because of his colorless identity, but 99% of you aren’t using him.

His most powerful ability is his -X, which you can use to wipe away most permanents. If you’re able to use it and keep Ugin around, things can get even more out of control, since you can start using the +2 to push your advantage.

While 8 mana is certainly a lot, and that does preclude it from being in many Commander decks, basically any Green Commander deck should be playing Ugin, since it’s so easy to produce the mana in that color.

Ugin’s also great if you’re using a colorless Commander, as you can make the -X into a one-sided effect. Combine Ugin with some colorless payoffs like Zhulodok’s Cascade trigger, and things can get truly absurd.

TORRENT ELEMENTAL

Played in .03% of Sultai Decks on EDHRec

Torrent Elemental is not the most imposing creature around. It has very medium stats and an attack trigger can sometimes allow you to really smash in for a ton of damage, but only if your board is already pretty formidable.

It’s the Elemental’s ability to return to the battlefield from exile that makes it really interesting, though. After all, there are very few creatures in Magic with this ability. This means that any time the Elemental gets exiled, it effectively gets added back to your hand. Adding “draw a card” to every exile effect is no small thing.

If you’re using a Commander who likes exiling things – like either incarnation of The Mimeoplasm, Torrent Elemental is going to be a really good card for you.

It’s also worth noting that Torrent Elemental can generate infinite mana alongside Food Chain. The Chain lets you exile a creature you control to add X +1 mana to your mana pool, where X is the exiled creature’s mana value. This means that you get 6 mana every time the Elemental gets exiled. You can use 5 of that mana to put the Elemental onto the battlefield from exile, and just keep going from there.

ORC SURESHOT

Played in .009% of Black Decks on EDHRec

The Sureshot has an ugly stat-line. Paying 4 mana for something that dies to lots of 1 mana removal isn’t usually where you want to be. However, the Sureshot’s triggered ability is very powerful.

If you’re just giving something -1/-1 once a turn or less, then the Sureshot isn’t worth it. However, if you’re going hard on creature tokens, you’ll find that the Sureshot can pick off creatures of every shape and size. 

So if you’re using a Commander like Chatterfang or The Mycotyrant, you should really think about adding this Orc Archer to your deck. Turning your tokens into removal spells is a great way to take over the game.

SOULFIRE GRANDMASTER

Played in 1% of Jeskai Decks on EDHRec

If you’re playing a spell deck with a Jeskai identity, you should probably think about using Soulfire Grand Master. It has two abilities that are fairly unique. Admittedly, they are both a little bit niche, but hugely powerful in the right situation.

Giving your instants and sorceries lifelink gets pretty spicy when you combine it with board sweepers. You haven’t lived unless you’ve cast a Miracle Bonfire of the Damned or Blasphemous Act with Soulfire Grand Master in play. Those cards already have massively powerful effects, but if you’re also gaining an insane amount of life, your opponents are going to be in a ton of trouble.

The Grand Master’s other ability can be a little bit harder to take advantage of, because you need to cast a spell and have four mana left over to get that spell back into your hand. Typically, that’s the kind of thing you only use when you’re flooding out and don’t have anything else to do.

However, if you’ve got a Commander who excels at decreasing the cost of spells – like Hinata, Dawn-Crowned, it becomes a lot easier for you to have that mana left over. And if you’re returning a powerful spell every turn, like a very cheap Magma Opus, you’re going to be on a pretty sweet value train.

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I hope I showed you that there are some overlooked cards in Fate Reforged. What do you think? Are there any hidden gems I left out? Let me know over on X.