Hidden Gems - Atraxa's Long Lost Friends

Welcome back to Hidden Gems, where we seek out unappreciated or overlooked cards for Commander and try to convince you that it’s fun to do weird things. I mean, who doesn’t like playing a card that makes all your opponents go, “What on earth are you doing over there?”

$15.01$16.99

According to EDHREC, Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is the most popular commander of the past two years - the Regina George of the format, if you will. Naturally, there are many ways to assemble the 99, but its popularity leads to homogeneity. So, let’s fix that. There are approximately seven billion cards that use counters, and here are four that I think you should test out, just for kicks and giggles. (And yes, I see the irony in telling a bunch of people to be unique with my choice of cards. It’ll be our little secret.)

1. Recantation

$0.50$0.49

This little gem from Urza's Saga has never been reprinted. It’s not highly competitive, but can do more work than you might think at first blush. Think of it less like a way to answer threats and more of a way to scare off opponents. Once the counters get going, it’ll steer them away from targeting you as long as you leave one blue mana open. But if no one bites the bullet and makes you sacrifice this enchantment, it only gets harder to deal with. No one wants to be singled out by having their permanents bounced, but someone will need to or the enchantment can swing the entire game in your favor. Just sit back and watch them argue with each other about who’s going to deal with it.

#2. Spike Weaver

$4.67$4.49

I am shocked - SHOCKED - that only 5% of Atraxa decks play this little guy. He’s a selective Fog for infinity unless someone removes him and/or his sweet, Phyrexian Angel mother. Like Recantation, Spike Weaver incentivizes your opponents to attack each other over you. Scare them off with this little bug…er, gooey caterpillar monster? Is it an insect? A slug? What is a Spike? Other than amazing, I mean.

#3. Night Dealings

$1.00$0.59

Repeatable Diabolic Tutor? Yes, please! Sure, you gotta jump through some hoops to get there, but that’s the fun part. And if you’re playing Atraxa, you’re probably already Proliferating a lot. First, tutor ramp. Then Proliferate cards. Soon enough, you can tutor for whatever silver bullet card you need in any given situation - assuming you included everything you might need in a deck like a good, little night dealer.

#4. Thallids

Obviously, this is more about being awesome than ever winning a single game in your entire life. Fungus isn’t known for its competitiveness, but how many Fungus decks have you seen? Need a new identity? Be the Fungus player! Everyone will love you. It’ll be super casual, no one will be threatened by you, and you might even win with the power of saprolings, fungi, and spore counters.  Do yourself a favor and order up a Sporesower Thallid, a Thelon of Havenwood, a Utopia Mycon, and all their friends.

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$0.75$1.29

That’s all for this edition of Hidden Gems. Don’t forget to check out our Premium Membership for more market insights and entertainment.

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