Underplayed Auras In Commander
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Auras are an extremely popular subtype in Commander that can vary not just in abilities and direction but in enchanted targets. While most of the top Auras on EDHREC are fairly affordable, there are tons of affordable and overlooked cards that can fit perfectly into most decks. Here are some of my favorites that can substitute out popular staples or can be great unique includes in your next deck.
Tarmogoyf Nest
The once infamous modern staple,
Tarmogoyf Nest is also a great inclusion in any decks that care about filling the graveyard or making your opponents discard/mill. If you're running blue, you can run a fairly easy infinite combo with
| Tarmogoyf Nest | ||
| Tarmogoyf Nest (Extended Art) |
Chamber of Manipulation
Gaining control of an opponent's creature is a very powerful effect, even if it’s for just one turn. The downside to Chamber of Manipulation is the activation cost of tapping the enchanted land and discarding a card, but if we look at the cost of similar control spells this repeatable effect is well within reason.
Add in the ability to activate Chamber of Manipulation on your opponents turns, and you now have a land that can play offense and defense with your opponents’ best creatures. With a few untap effects and established card draw, your opponents' creatures are now their biggest nightmare.
| Chamber of Manipulation |
Stasis Field
For two mana, Stasis field gives the creature defender in addition to its other replacement effects, thus limiting any threat the creature may have of swinging out. While
In general, most decks should run one or two of these Auras, since they’re a great way to interact with your opponents’ boards without having to worry about them reanimating it from a graveyard or recasting the creature after a bounce spell.
| Stasis Field |
Cloak of Invisibility
Phasing is an old mechanic that can be great for keeping a high value creature out of harm's way until your next turn, and for one mana, Cloak of invisibility not only does this but gives the attached creature unblockable except for by Walls. While the attached creature will return at each of your upkeeps with all attachments and counters, you won’t benefit from any etb triggers like flicker spells, and while the creature is phased out you won’t be able to activate or trigger any of its abilities during your opponents' turns. But in most cases this is ok, and you’ll be able to protect from any interaction your opponents may have for that creature during their turns.
| Cloak of Invisibility |
Invocation of Saint Traft
If you're already planning to attack with a creature, why not attack with a 4/4 Angel token as well for only three mana?
Now obviously Invocation of Saint Traft synergizes highly with
| Invocation of Saint Traft |
Dragon Breath
If you're looking to turn any creature into a
On top of this, if Dragon Breath finds its way into your graveyard, it might not stay there long since it can return to the battlefield attached to any six or more mana value creature you cast. Repeatable haste on entry for your biggest creatures is great, and any leftover mana you may have can buff an attack for even more utility.
| Dragon Breath | ||
| Dragon Breath |
Unnatural Hunger
Unnatural Hunger can be a great way of limiting an opponent's board state by making them sacrifice a creature or take damage equal to the enchanted creature's power every upkeep. While this card sucks against a token deck that doesn’t care about sacrificing a creature every turn, it can be valuable to attach it to big creatures and put your opponents in a tough position between damage and sacrificing key creatures.
For five mana, you win no matter if they take two or three hits of damage or sacrifice an
| Unnatural Hunger |
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Further Reading
Hidden Gems for Deadpool, Trading Card
Kaspar Renken
Kaspar Renken is a graduate of Western Connecticut State University, and has been playing Magic since War of the Spark. He began playing Standard for a short time before finding EDH and the friendships that come from multiplayer formats. When he’s not playing or building decks, he can probably be found working on his Mustang.
