Super Secret Sunday #2: 'Trippin

Hello there youngsters! It's time for another Super Secret Sunday. In case you missed the inaugural edition, here is the short version: It's Sunday and we talk about super secret tech. It's all about the underused cards. Oh and under-thought thoughts! That part is important.

The mantra for today is, "Draw a card." Three magic words. This little phrase takes useless junk and transforms it into a Magic card.

We are talking about cantrips. Cantrips are cards with a minor effect, but also allow you to draw a card to replace them. Think Preordain. Some are more expensive versions of a basic effect with the card drawing tacked on as a bonus. Counterspell -> Dismiss. That's a big difference. Cspell stops their spell 1-for-1. Dismiss stops it and puts you UP a card on the exchange. The beauty of cantrips is that many of them seem innocuous, but have the ability to get very filthy if you play them right. They tend to generate pretty absurd advantages because they are cheap and usually instants. The surprise factor will be important later so stay tuned. No matter how silly the card is, the benefits are just free value because you draw a new card anyway. As Uncle Landdrops will tell you: it doesn't matter how bad a card is...as long as you get to draw another one; and it doesn't matter how good a card is...it can always be improved by drawing an extra card. "Draw a card".

Second, you can usually just cycle these cards if the effect isn't going to be useful. Worse comes to worst just cast it up front, get your card, and move on.

If there is at least 1 Swamp in my deck, I will play this card 100% of the time. Graveyard hate is main deck material in Commander and for good reason. Reanimation strategies are very good...unless they have nothing to dig out. Spellbomb is a tricky card to play with and against. Graveyard decks have two options. Either they can try to play fair, hit land drops, and cast their dudes on curve....or they will have to run a reanimate into this, get it countered when you exile their graveyard, and they watch you draw a card. THEN they can start filling it up again. For best effect you want it in play early. It feels weird when it just sits on the battlefield, but it is making their cards bad, even if you don't know it yet. If the threat of reanimation is low: {T}, Sac, B: Draw a Card.



This really illustrates why surprise is so important. You can easily generate card advantage off of Flash creatures.  They attack, you cast this and flash in a monster blocker and just eat their attacker. HAUMPH. So...now you gave a guy Flash, they sacked a guy, and you drew a card....for W? Deal.












Turf wound and his old friend Solfatara are fantastic early game plays that slow your opponent down when you don't have much going on yourself. I am not sure why this card is Red. It feels White to me. Either way, you force them to miss a land drop, draw a card, and if you are on the play then there is a good chance they will have to discard down to 7 at the end of their turn. Pretty spicy.













"Grandpa grandpa, what was it like when Shadow was printed?" It was stupid then too, but hey who am I to complain. Make your guy unblockable, draw a card. Done. If you have a bunch of guys, make their best one unable to block. Bonus points if your opponent actually has a Shadow creature and you use this to ambush them. BOOM!










This card has been printed several different times with different names and slightly different effects. I won't list them all out for you, but if your planning on playing the Feast you may want to look them up to get some redundancy. This number lets you stack the top of your library with bullets and even puts on of them straight in your grip. Fantastic way to set up a win in the late game. In the early game you can just cycle it away and look for more gas. Genius.











OOOOOhhhWEEEEE. The tricks are here folks. Shut down planeswalker ultimates, Fetchlands, janky stuff like Sensei's Top, equip abilities, you name it. This card is a real beating. It is a bit clunky and reactive though, because you have to wait for something to target, but that shouldn't be much of a problem. This card scales to the power level of your opponent's deck. They better their weapons, the more this hoses them. Bind is just an excellent counter in the war or interaction advantage. Popular complaints about this card are that whatever you are stopping they can just try again (unlike with other iterations of this card like Interdict). Keep in mind they still have to pay the costs, which often involve tapping, or sacrificing permanents. Sometimes they even  have to discard cards or worse.



Oh. Jeez. I saved the best for last here people. Shadow is just insane. Read it. Read it again. Hi kids, do you like Fetchland?! Sinkhole is now an instant...oh and you draw a card. This is a hard counter to three of the best kinds of cards in EDH: Fetchlands, Land ramps, and Tutors.

It is just so nasty. Shadow of Doubt is a perfectly designed card in my opinion. Its name is even perfect; it certainly makes some (normally) good cards look pretty shady.

My best story for Shadowing somebody: they activate their Survival of the Fittest. I flash in an Isochron Scepter (courtesy of Leyline of Anticipation) imprint Shadow and...well you can imagine the expression on his face. The casual 3-for-1....oh and your deck doesn't do anything any more! GG. NO RE.



Well that's all for today. Come on back anytime you please. Ol' Grandpa has plenty of wisdom to share.

Ship it to you.