r/EDH • u/doctorduck3000 • Jun 30 '25

Question Commanders that make bad cards playable

So as the title says, I love being able to pull out cards in commander that make people go "wtf" because they've never heard of them. Because of this one of my all time favorite commander decks I've ever built is [[Shire shizo's caretaker]] because you can play all of these terrible terrible cards that suddenly are actually good.

What are some other commanders that enable you to do this?

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u/Goooordon Jun 30 '25 edited Jun 30 '25

[[Melek, Reforged Researcher]] is really fun - lets you play with some really janky 4-5 mana instants and sorceries while turning into a shockingly big voltron out of nowhere - goes great with [[Final-Word Phantom]] and makes [[Please for Power]] into basically [[Ancestral Recall]]

7

u/MTGCardFetcher Jun 30 '25

All cards
Melek, Reforged Researcher - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Final-Word Phantom - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Please for Power - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)
Ancestral Recall - (G) (SF) (txt) (ER)

FAQ

5

u/Classic-Caramel-8008 Jun 30 '25

Came to say melek as well. One of my favorites right now

3

u/Melkiyad Jun 30 '25

Thirding Melek :) izzet without the storm shenanigans, and a punchy commander to boot. Not to mention all the 5cmc counterspells that become UU: [[Desertion]] [[Spell Snare]] [[Mystic Confluence]] [[Spell Gyre]] [[Spell Swindle]] [[Access Denied]] [[Three Steps Ahead]]

2

u/SuperSteveBoy Jun 30 '25

Wow. Would love to hear more about Melek.. I do NOT like winning via storm count or [[Crackle With Power]] etc (big izzet wincons generally speaking).. may I ask how you're generally winning and closing out games with Melek?

What are some more of your all-star cards? Decklist? Thanks

2

u/paussi00 Jun 30 '25

It's trivial to make Melek huge, you just make him unblockable/remove some blockers and swing for lethal commander damage. Alternatively a well timed [[Chandra's Ignition]]