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.

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?"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 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

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.

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.

I'd never heard of Planar Atlas. I need to get hold of a few of them.

I LOVE the Impetus cycle! More of that please!

I'm a few days late! First of all, great content. Y'all are my favorite MtG content creators. Matt was on the money with Port of Karfell. I'd run it in every UBX deck if it tapped for U/B instead of just U. I love backgrounds (and CLB) so much b/c of y'all. So much so, that I collected all of the backgrounds in etched foil. Guild Artisan and Popular Entertainer have been absolute houses in my Slicer deck.

Ive stuck valakut exploration in several decks and cut it from all of them. Impuse draw is already tricky, you have to be able to play the card and want to play the card. Having to play it that turn is a big downside. If you miss your landrop, it does literally nothing. If you hit a land drop off of it, it does almost nothing. When you play it, it might do nothing. Outpost siege is phenomenally better.

All of the commons need a serious look from the D&D sets. When partnered with the uncommon legendary commanders, they make some seriously amazing Pauper EDH decks that play so well together. You've been missing out on these commons folks.

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.

In my mono white tokens/ramp deck I’ve never used myojin of blooming dawn for less than 25 (and then untapped and played the commander elesh norn)

Joey, thank you for the Planar Atlas suggestion. I didn't know about this card until you mentioned it, it's a perfect fit for mono or dual color commander decks!

I'd love this as a long-running series. I'm sure you three bring a lot of cards to light this way. Also, you can bring more that three to the front every time.

I love Candlekeep Sage and all the backgrounds. I realized Abdel Adrian was WAY better at just closing games than Brago, and wanted to switch him out for my commander. I needed a blue background to keep my Azorius going, and, when I saw Candlekeep, in a blink deck, I knew I'd found exactly what I'd been looking for.

Oops! All Chalange the Stats! episode

So I have a budget Omnath, Locus of Rage deck and cut Valakut Exploration from my deck. I found in my build that when I played VE early, like turn 3 or 4, it would feel bad when I exiled a card that was very powerful for my deck like Warstorm Surge or Where Ancients Tread and couldn't play it because I played a ramp spell and then didn't have the mana or lands came into play tapped or something. Late game, I may not necessarily have a land in hand and am top-decking for land, ramp, mostly anything and not hit in which it's a do-nothing card until something enables it. VE can really pop off if the setup is there, but I didn't find it consistent enough to really like it. I think if I was playing a pricey build where I had access to more Exploration effects, the card would be stronger and there would be less worry about exiling strong cards since there would be a higher density of them in the deck.

The backgrounds are underrated. Passionate Archaeologist is getting expensive. And I’m surprised Tavern Brawler and a few others haven’t caught on yet.

Public Enemy from New Capenna is a hugely underplayed card. 3cmc uncommon blue aura that, most times, swings a LOT of damage at the chosen player, removes the creature it enchants and cantrips. Putting it on an indestructible creature in colours that cant remove auras usually ends up with that player dying. Not bad for 3 mana. In blue.

The Impetus cards are great adds for any Jon Irenicus deck. Very "on theme" with what the deck is doing.

The note on Backgrounds in the 99: I play Flaming Fist in my Cadira deck and it's *so good*. Not only does it double up her ability since it triggers upon dealing combat damage, but it also makes it more difficult to block her profitably. Definitely put some consideration into backgrounds in the 99!

This is the first time I heard of Planar Atlas. I already have 7, one for each of my commander decks, in my shopping card for the next time I buy cards.

Council of Five seems great, thanks for reminding me about it!

baldur's gate was straight fire of a set

Noble hertiage in the 99 of a deck with 2 commanders is insane pump value

MDFCs, anyone? A few see decent amounts of play, but i'm blown away cards like Malakir Rebirth, Bala Ged Sanctuary, and Valakut Awakening aren't in way, way more decks than they already are since they literally splash into just about everything. Haagra Mauling, Ondu Inversion, Jwari Disruption (only 1%), and the list goes wrong. Given their utility and ability to smooth out land drops, at this point you should be running at least one in nearly every deck.

6:44 If a land is coming into play tapped, it has to do something impactful when it hits like Bojuka Bog does

Coronation of Chaos is a fun one to run in my Krenko Tin Street Voltron deck. It opens up Krenko against blockers, while putting my opponents under pressure.

As someone who was super excited for Machine God's Effigy, 100% the problem is that blue mana symbol in its text. If it tapped for generic it'd be a good option for every non-blue deck, but since it only taps for blue its only value is in consolidating a mana rock and a clone into one slot, and honestly any blue deck with room for it already has enough room for better rocks and better clones.

I think Planar Atlas's issue is its a Jumpstart 22 card, and at least in my area JS22 is hard to find. That being said, I love the card, and I told my play group when it was spoiled that its eventually a non-green cultivate.

I think a big hold up for me on Machine God's Effigy is that so many of the creatures I play are legendary. With the push over recent years to make more and more commanders, many of the really cool creatures we now want to play for abilities are now legendary and then die due to legend rule with the effigy

One thing I love about the Impetus cards is that you can still stick them on your own creatures, Martial Impetus has won me games because my army needed to be just a little bit bigger. That dual purpose pushes them over the edge for me when deciding if I should include them in a particular deck or not.

I'm so glad that Coronation of chaos gets a quote in there. I wanna try it in my Zanghief/Maalika deck because it fits this build so well ! This commander must be blocked if able. Coronation helps you remove blocking choice of your opponents so you do hit the blocker that you really want... or to just finish a player off by going through. The goad is extra juice as well. Love it !

On a similar topic as Planar Atlas, I love the crap out of a card nobody knows called Gilded Pinions. Since I tend to make decks where the commander likes to swing, Gilded Pinions has a double use in the form of a temporary ramp/fix with the treasure token it makes, as well as the evasion it applies by giving the equipped creature flying. You might say it "flies" under the radar, yet has proven to be an invaluable asset to many of my decks, surprising many different players.

Masterful Replication is extremely surprising to me. That card is bonkers, ESPECIALLY in an artifact deck. My buddy plays Mishra, Eminent One and this card wins him the game almost every time he casts it. That card is crazy strong.

on one hand I miss matts usual dad joke on the other the intro was fantastic :D

I have a background in the 99 of my Liesa, Forgotten Archangel deck! It has done a fair bit of work.

I can imagine that most decklists aren't updated over the time. I guess thats why Grim Hireling is in JUST 34% of the Anowon decks. Outdated decks still beeing in the data which "falsified" the data.

As someone who plays Ganax/Agent of the Iron Throne, YES backgrounds are ridiculous. If you don't answer Ganax or Iron Throne. The table will get clocked for at least 10.

Here's a tip nesting ground and any of the dominus creatures from phyrexia. Like mondrak. You can move the indestructible counter

That meta intro! Love it!😂

I play valakut exploration in my landfall deck, and just the other day i discovered a funny interaction. The cards don't have a timer on when you can play them. As long as they are exiled, you can play them. So if valakut gets destroyed, the cards aren't put into your graveyard and you can still just cast them normally. obviously normal timing restrictions apply but this interaction actually led to a win when my phylath deck got more time to cast the cards from valakut since it was destroyed

You say Ghalta with Choose Your Weapon (first mode). I say Ghalta with a Vampire conquistador riding her, holding a sword in each of her tiny T-Rex arms.

With synergies (landfall, impulse theme), Valakut Exploration feels great. A few years ago, when it was one of the only sources of mono-red draw, it was the worst. I'd invariably only hit lands off it & be mana screwed every other turn.

Yoo, Matt's beard threw me off for a sec. Love yall and hope you are having a beautiful day!!

Bonus of coronation of chaos is that you force blocks for everyone whereas disrupt decorum the last person won't have their creatures blocked since everything else had to attack. At its best it's like a soul shatter. I'm going to have to try it

I tried Valakut Exploration in a Naya lands deck (Hazezon, Shaper of Sand) and I cut it because it never felt good to play. It always felt like it exiled cards that I didn't want to cast. I'd rather have that card in hand so a white or green draw effect was preferable.

Well since you shared it now, they will be popular soon! 😄

Never seen planar atlas before. Definitely going into some budget builds to smooth out the mana base.

Baldur's Gate is such a cool jam of a set, and my recently edited Akroma//Kraum Jeskai keyword soup deck loves the heck out of backgrounds. Also, my Gluntch group hug deck loves Raised by Giants.

Baldurs gate was seriously underrated set. Picked up a box of draft boosters for 80$ usd. Great hits. Also part of the issue might be if you play at competitive or casual leagues. Great casual cards not so much cedh

Ghalta is my favorite and most played deck. I tinker with it constantly. I have a tab open on my phone for my arkidekt just to look at and think about my deck. Choose your weapon has been in my maybeboard since the card got spoiled and it's never been able to make it in the deck. There are so many amazing cards for monogreen. I just can't justify running it over any of the other awesome gems for the deck.

Coronation of chaos definitely goes into my Magar deck. I wish there was more goad cards for that deck.

Really fun episode! Loved the topic.

Played Tomb Fortress in Syr Konrad for months and never ended up using it. Always had better things to spend 5 (or 6 since you have to tap it too) mana on. Ended up replacing it with a basic Swamp.

The card I'm most surprised doesn't see more play is encroaching mycosynth. It turns every card you own minus lands into artifacts. Would work really well in a deck that's running masterful replication.

I imagine a rather big reason most of these don't see more play than they do is that we've had so MANY new cards and so QUICKLY that most people don't realize these cards exist yet, just white noise drowned out by the rapid fire spoilers and 'leaks'.

Here's a stats challenge. Only 88 magus lucea Kane decks are playing reality spasm. In this deck reality spasm is a one turn double mana, double lucea Kane's ability (triple if you include activating the ability to cast reality spasm)

I play "council of four" in my tribal knights deck. It's a power lv.8 and this card isn't what anyone would want in hand - from the start. It's a 0/8 Toughness and only provided assistance for when ANY opponent draws 2 or casts 2 spells. Alot of commander games sets this card off and it's saved me twice recently. I had 1x card in hand after passing and then my 2nd and 4th opponent set it off 3x so I ended up with 4x cards and then the draw phase 5x 😂. I would remove this card if I can find an alternative that covers draw for a blue/white.

I wish there was a discussion about information and availability around Jumpstart and precon cards. So many 1 or 2-years-old cards within a huge product influx, they unfortunately just don't stand out and/or aren't so easy to come by.

Grim Hireling is 🔥 in Korvold too 😊

Goldwarden’s Gambit might actually work well in my Astor, Bearer of Blades deck. That deck wants to make Astor really big and scary, so it tends to not have many other creatures out, so this one might be a good way to just make bodies

Lol the open credit steals XD

Port of Karfell is actually really good for my Runo deck. I run expensive sea creatures so it works out well for me potentially

Port of Karfell is a godsend playing toxril. My deck is really focussed on casting Toxy and getting it into play and keeping it there, and after it inevitably gets killed for the 4th time in a game, I usually start having to let it go to the grave cause 15 mana is not so easy to reach in dimir.

Eisenhorn is amazing. Quickly becoming one of my favorite decks

I had completely misread Machine God's Effigy before this. I totally thought it was just a Clone that was also a mana dork if you cloned, not that it basically copies the words on a creature while remaining a rock.

I don’t know what happened, but I remember looking at Valakut Exploration for an Obuun deck, and I remember it costing $20 at one point? And I didn’t include it because I couldn’t afford it.

My favourite underrated card has to be moonsilver key. Early game? Fetch a basic no problem. What about tutoring for a sol ring though? Or an arcane signet? Or for the graveyard enthusiasts out there, a phyrexian altar or ashnod’s altar? Or a metalworker for some artifact combo? Urtet with all the mana producing Myrs can search one out at a moment’s notice. Or perhaps my favourite interaction, pulling out a forsaken monument, since it technically has a triggered mana ability on its second ability, meaning it’s eligible for the key. Massively underrated card that has so many useful applications

I have myojin of blooming dawn in a proliferate deck. The entertainment value is off the chain. (Boat load of mana in white tho)

My issue with Planar Atlas is it can wiff... and often does if you run ways fetches etc to thin your deck. Or am I wrong?

I've copied Kodama of the East Tree and Terror of the Peaks with Machine God's Effigy in Mishra. It felt so, so good. Effigy always feels good to play. Brilliant card.

Favorite thing I ever did with Myojin of Blooming Dawn was proliferate that indestructible counter

I play choose your weapon along with other stat/power doublers in my Otrimi mutate infect deck to reach over 10 power. So a card Dana loves in a deck he probably doesn't like :D

Planar Atlas is kinda okay in early game but in mid to late where you're looking for your wincon, it's a dead mana rock until your next turn, of course this is assuming your lands isn't part of your wincon. Although, the real main reason I don't want this is because I don't have enough space. I already have all the good mana rocks I need.

Valakut Exploration is a cute piece of tech in Ob Nixilis

1. Goldwardens' Gambit is an extra Reckless Crew 2. I have two Planar Atlas but no where to put them for now :/

Literally me with knight-errant of eos as March released, felt it was undervalued when I got mine, but that changed in an instant

When are you ever playing versus a Voltron deck and it doesn’t have hexproof or shroud ? Martial impetus is a decent card but I cannot see it being much use versus a Voltron commander unless they are already struggling…

Notably Choose Your Weapon makes any Walls deck hit very very hard.

Port of Karfell doesn't just restrict you to the milled cards, so it could be much better than you think.

yoo choose your weapon is great for my skullbriar deck and it even helps with the flyers if needed!

Masterful Replication is going in my Urtet deck. Mass Myr Battlesphere for giggles? Mass Darksteel Myr (or some non-creature) to duck a board wipe? Yeah. This is going to be funny.

As someone who is bad at card evaluation, I 100% agree with Matt about Planar Atlas

I play Mazzy, Truesword Paladin and I absolutely run the Impetus cycle in Naya. It's so much fun to force opponents to attack and break the battle cruiser mentality. I slap the Green Impetus on a 1/1 and it's suddenly a 6/4 that has to be blocked. If the creature dies, I just put it on a creature the other player controls and start again OR put it on one of my payoff creatures and take someone out. Also Curses are Auras. I can just move them or recast them onto another player. Maddening Hex is my favorite to drop on people. It's low on generating table threat and always doing something. @edhreccast what do you think about that for Mazzy, Joey?

I run the Myojin in my Mardu Isshin Deck. They aren't optimal, but they are fun, and the deck is all about fun and just swing, swing, swinging.