Why Aren't These Cards More Popular??? | EDHRECast 265

Matt is right. Its not that these cards are "bad" or unplayable. There's just too many cards to play and not enough slots and these cards definitely seem like the first cards I would cut.

I can only imagine the sheer mass of released cards recently being the reason for those cards being played so little. I know that I have to order a few tomorrow

Tbh i think the low Numbers May be connected to the fact that most of the cards you mentioned were released in the eternal spoiler season that gas A LOT of people burned updating decks.

You guys usually evaluate cards with the thought process of "If you're playing this, why not play this?" I think you need to start thinking in terms of "What would we cut to make room for this?"

On the topic of the auras that goad, the last episode of Shuffle Up and Play absolutely changed my mind about the power of goading. It's crazy how long creatures stick.

Tbh planar atlas should be a precon staple to make sure you get smoother turns in case you don't have lands on hand. The effigy I didn't even consider it for my cline deck but if I make a copy of omnath with sakashima I basically have an artifact that says the legend rule doesn't apply

I play Port of Karfell in Muldrotha deck as a budget version of Command Beacon. Muldrotha gets removed a lot, so just let her go to the gy, then bring her back and play the Port again. Basically negates command tax.

Checking out Machine God's Effigy on gatherer, and I learned that if it becomes a copy of a Planeswalker that has become a creature, MGE would not enter with loyalty counters but can activate 1 loyalty ability per turn. The interesting bit is the fact that MGE would not lose loyalty counters when damaged if it too were to become a creature. This leads me to believe that a permanent with loyalty counters must also have the Planeswalker card type to lose said counters through any means of damage; therefore meaning a permanent with damage assigned to it is not criteria enough. That's nutty and I wanna do some shenanigans. Can't lose counters through traditional means, and MGE doesn't die when its last counter is removed. There has to be a crazy line of play that you just don't see anywhere else.

I used to have Port of Karfell in my Kels deck, but it enters tapped, you have to pay 6 mana, tap it, then sacrifice it, all that dance just to get an ok effect. In the end, it got replaced with a basic island.

2-mana rocks that enter tapped are usually better than 3-mana rocks if you commander costs 4 or your curve peaks at 4.

oh wow i've just never seen Planar Atlas before, had no idea that card even existed, a lot of the new cards from jumpstart kinda flew under my radar without me taking too close a look at them. Definitely gonna pick up a copy or two next time i order cards

Valakut Exploration is not only great in landfall decks, it's also awesome in graveyard decks that use red! I love it in my chainer deck

Problem with Port of Karfell is simply that is ETBs tapped, and that's something at least some of the Dimir decks (Yuriko, Anowon) don't want.

I use the Backgrounds in the 99 all the time. Master Chef is doing everything I want in Ghave, Tavern Brawler and Passionate Archeologist rock in Laelia, Inspiring Leader goes well in any token deck (especially Iroas, since no one ever removes him if I don't have enough devotion to make him a creature), and Guild Artisan is excellent ramp for any commander that is cheap and likes to attack (it's especially nutty in Isshin, as it gives you 4 treasures each swing instead of 2). In Edric, Feywild Visitor gives you more Flying Men to draw cards with, while Sword Coast Sailor allows him to actually attack with the team and not die. Candlekeep Sage does a bunch of work in Brago (though I wasn't as impressed with Far Traveler, since when I'm blinking with Brago most of my creatures return untapped anyway), Folk Hero and Haunted One are great in any tribal deck in the appropriate colors. Clan Crafter in Breya is just hilariously good. The trouble I have is that I have only so many slots for utility enchantments like these, so while I find there are ones I'd like to try in certain decks, I have to weigh that against what's already in there. It's the same problem I have with a lot of new cards...nothing has time to breathe before the next set drops.

For Planar Atlas, availability is also an issue. None of my LSG have it. Might have to order them online

The big issue I've found with Machine God's Effigy is that it basically requires some powerhouse static ability on board to work, and since it's not a creature, it doesn't really provide board advantage in a pinch if you need it. If your deck relies on a lot of great static abilities its a great fit, but outside of that I find you're almost always better off just running a clone since having the body tends to be more beneficial if your deck isn't built around doubling down on a certain static ability. I run it in my Muldrotha clones tribal deck and 7/10 times I draw it I'm just thinking to myself "I wish you came with a body because I could really use that body right now or a copy of that old gnawbones or ancient dragon with an attack trigger". As for Myojin I think the real issue with it (and the entire cycle) is the triple pip making it really difficult to slot into any deck running more than 2 colors and in a color that has difficult with ramp, you really have to choose your high curve cards and there's a lot of cards I'd rather see in its place.

I think part of the problem with baldur's gate was that none of the cards are always include. Synergy matters more, as you guys have pointed out, but patriar's seal doesn't go in decks over signets in a vacuum.

Planar atlas’s “extra effect” as a 2 mana rock is not unique enough to be compelling. There are so many other different utility rocks that are more handy than “make more mana happen” to want to give other utility. This is especially if that rock comes into play tapped, since most other utility 2 mana rocks don’t. Atlas is just not good enough.

Even before i watch the video, i saw Myojin of Blooming Dawn on the thumbnail. I literally just put that card in my Lae'zel/Master Chef deck that focuses on counters and tokens.

Although, I may be a bit late to the party on this episode, I wanna challenge the stats on Ezuri, Claw of Progress, more specifically, in Xyris, The Writhing Storm decks. For those who don't know, for each card your opponents draw that isn't the first card they draw that turn, you make a 1/1 snake. Also, if Xyris deals combat damage to a player, you and defending player each draw cards equal to Xyris's power. This synergizes really well with Ezuri, Claw Of Progress as whenever a creature with power 2 or less (i.e. those snake tokens for example) you get an experience counter. At the beginning of combat, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature for each experience counter. This is great because you can put those +1/+1 counters on Xyris, you swing in for big damage you and defending player draw cards, you make more snakes, and Ezuri readies your commander for next turn with even more snakes that entered. And with cards like Font of Mythos, Kami of the Crescent Moon and Howling Mine seeing play in Xyris builds, you're getting experience counters from snakes on each turn. Giving you either a lot of card draw on your next turn or just outright killing an opponent. The fact it's seeing play in only 94 of the 5123 builds of Xyris just blows my mind to me.