50 Best Underplayed Magic: The Gathering Blue Commander Cards

Curfew is such a versatile card. For starters, it doesn't target, so if your opponent has a Voltron Commander in play, they'll have to return it to their hand regardless. Not only that, it hits all of your opponents. In the early game, this is a powerful tempo play to buy you the time you need to secure resources. It can also return your own creature to play, either saving it or re-using an ETB trigger.

Learn phasing. It's a powerful effect, and there are powerful phasing cards you'll see in Commander. Shimmer punishes basic land decks heavily and can remove a lot of your opponent's resources every other turn. FYI: Phasing reads: (It phases in or out before its controller untaps during each of their untap steps. While it’s phased out, it’s treated as though it doesn’t exist.) There are some pretty powerful combos that work with Shimmer. For instance, running an Urborg and naming Swamp.

As far as one mana cantrips go, Disrupt is one of the best. Drawing a card for one mana is a fair effect and getting to tax your opponent's mana base or countering a spell in the process is pretty sweet. Essentially, you're paying one mana and your opponent is paying one as well, so it's practically a 0 CMC draw effect in terms of tempo and resource allocation. If you're the kind of player that plays Lonely Sandbar, you should definitely be playing Disrupt. I don't think this card has been discovered by most Commander players, but it's time it should be.

Everyone knows about Bribery, but only 3% of Blue decks run it according to EDHrec. Run this card! There is no reason not to run this in Commander. It grabs the most powerful card in your opponent's deck for only 5 mana. There's bound to be some shroud, hexproof, indestructible or huge creature with evasion you can get. Playing this early off a mana dork usually leads to a quick win. It's one of my favorite and most powerful Commander cards and should be played way more often than it is.

Dream Tides is one of those annoying lockdown cards that people dread playing against. It has a lot of upside in conveniently locking down all green regardless of the untap tax.

Mist of Stagnation is another untap lockdown card that often gets overlooked. Combo this with cards that keep cards out of graveyards like Leyline of the Void.

Yes, you are probably going to run Rhystic Study, but that card get's annoying after a while. People don't enjoy having to decide every time they cast a spell whether to pay the cost or not. Insight, on the other hand, will draw you a lot of cards if anyone on the table is running green. It also draws you a card regardless of their action, so opponents won't find it so annoying. Hence, it is likely to stick around on the table for a bit longer.

Reins of Power is such a great Commander card. You can gain control of a player's army to save yourself from lethal, take lethal power from an opponent to knock out another player, and so much more. I recommend adding this to any blue Commander deck.

I often run Mulldrifter in my blue Commander decks, but Whirlpool Drake cost 1 mana less and is a worthy consideration. Although it doesn't represent any actual card advantage, being able to reset a bad hand at any time can really help you dig for combo pieces and answers.

If you're running Blue, you're running Ponder. But why run one, when you can run two Ponders? If you want more one mana draw cards, you can't go wrong here. Plus you can stack and shuffle any players deck, which is quite useful if they just tutored something on top. You can also combine this with cards that put things in play on top of their owner's library, then shuffle them away.

I think Personal Tutor is often forgotten or overlooked for all the other powerful tutor effects in Commander. It's definitely worth considering. There are a ton of powerful and sometimes game ending sorceries in Blue, such as Bribery, that you will want to with Personal Tutor.

Why yes, I would like the best creature or artifact in play, thank you! You're already running plenty of mana rocks, so you're bound to get some good upgrade value here. A nice bonus with Juxtapose is that the effect is permanent. It doesn't require an enchantment or creature to stay in play for the effect to continue on.

Aether Barrier essentially makes your opponents' creature spells cost 1 more mana. If you're running a prison-style or lockdown deck, Barrier is worthy of consideration. 

Mystic Barrier fits into any mono-blue commander deck perfectly. It's an island itself, which means it can be tutored, and you're bound to have some powerful instants or sorceries you'd like to recast.

Blue doesn't have many removal spells. Mana Chains is one of those rare low mana cost ways for Blue to kill a creature. It causes your opponent to sacrifice it as well, which is a neat trick around indestructibility.

Zur's Weirding is one of the most fun and powerful political cards you can play in Commander. It gives everyone perfect information and the opportunity to stop combo draws. Because it hits everyone equally, it's unlikely to make you much of a threat.

Rayne is a 1/1 and doesn't draw any cards if left alone. For this reason, it's a strong political card in Commander. It dissuades people from targetting you, while also not making you any more of a threat.

For 2 mana you can draw spells for the rest of the game. This card is insane! Once you get into mid-game, cast this for extreme value. It's going to make draws more consistent and stop mana flood. As a side note, I love the flavor text, name, and art on this card.

Drain Power is a good way to temporarily boost your available mana in a turn while also shutting off your opponent. I prefer High Tide overall, but Drain Power is a good utility card and blue doesn't offer mana ways to mana ramp.

There's bound to be some powerful lands on the battlefield and giving your least useful land for their best land can be a strong tempo play. Often times, you will end up ahead on mana and set your opponent back. For instance, trade your basic land for a bounce land! 

It's not uncommon for creature-based decks to tap out by the end of their turn. If they do, you essentially get to kill every creature they control. Thankfully, Fade Away gets around indestructibility, protection, and hexproof. Of course, they could sacrifice their lands instead.

Mana rocks and creatures don't untap. Period. Combine this with a way to lockdown lands and you've got yourself a devastating strategy. Two life isn't too much of a cost, and can easily be negated with some form of persistent life gain.

Sometimes new cards are slow to make their way as Commander staples. Force of Negation will eventually become a staple in blue decks. A free counterspell, although conditional, can swing the game back in your favor and stop a combo from going off. It's a great tempo card.

Castle Vantress is going to enter untapped the vast majority of games. As far as untapped lands go, it has got a lot of upside going for it. As a blue deck, you often have mana available at the end of turns if an opponent is holding back a powerful card from getting countered. This gives you the opportunity to scry away bad draws, which should eventually lead to better draws in the stalemate.

Three mana to take an extra turn! Need I say more? This card does need a little bit of synergy with your deck to take advantage of it. If your deck has upkeep triggers, vigilance creatures, and abilities that don't require tapping, you should add Savor the Moment to your build.

Energy Field is one of those overpowered combo cards you need to run. For two mana, you can stop all damage that would be dealt to you. I usually combo this with cards like Wheel of Sun and Moon and Rest in Peace, 

Hesitation is a clever way to buy time in a multiplayer Commander match. Nobody wants to be the player to throw away a resource. They will be content to draw a card, play their land, and pass the turn. Nobody will be deploying their Commander or any large resources to play with Hesitation on the field.

Rites of Refusal is a bit of a niche card, but quite unknown. It's perfect for a reanimator deck that uses blue. You get to discard that big creature and counter a spell in the process. It also works well with madness abilities.

Winter's Chill is another way to destroy creatures by taxing an opponent's mana base. Good for a lockdown style deck. If your opponents know about your deck beforehand, it may also deter attacks in the blind against you.

Ice Cave is another card perfect for adding political complexity to a game of Commander. It gives everyone an equal opportunity to counter any spells being cast. It can make a game go long, but make it so much more interesting. Since it doesn't particularly benefit or punish anyone, it doesn't draw much attention to yourself either.

Treachery is a well discovered and often played card. It's a free effect, and a powerful one at that. Getting an opponent's creature for free is a two for one at no cost to tempo. You can also use this card with bounce lands or other lands that tap for two, so it can ramp you when you untap. I run Treachery in basically every Blue commander deck I have. It should be right up there with Rhystic Study and Brainstorm.

I'm a big fan of cards that can be played for 0 mana in Blue. The idea here is that you use your mana to draw cards. This card advantage lets you use Force of Will style effects, such as Misdirection. In a multiplayer Commander game, there's plenty of worthy targets to change that have big effects.

One blue mana and 1 card to have everyone else's cards visible for the rest of the game. That's great value. Opponents will be able to have near-perfect information, other than your hand of course. This will heavily hinder combo decks and shenanigans.

Archmage's Charm is a staple for mono-blue commander decks. It's as good, if not better than the Alara tri-color charms. I'm particularly interested in the last ability. Stealing a Sol Ring is always a joy.

Most Commander's are creatures that cost more than 3 mana, so I'm always happy to counter a Commander and draw a card. You don't lose card advantage or tempo and their Commander tax increases.

I love pairing this card with a tutor like Personal Tutor. For one blue mana you just put this on top of your library. Extra turns can be the difference between winning and losing, and you get this one for only two mana the majority of the time.

On paper, Somnophore isn't anything amazing. It shines in the nuances of Commander play. If you are able to tap down a pesky creature, opponents may think twice about killing it, in order to keep other creatures in check.

The stats are impressive for Vantress Gargoyle at two mana. You get a 5/4 flyer that can attack the majority of the time. Vantress makes a good blocker early, and a good attacker in the mid-game. As far as value goes for mana spent on a blue creature, it doesn't get much better than this. 

The Magic Mirror is a quasi delve card. On your first upkeep, it draws one card, then two, then three, and so forth. You don't have to worry about discarding cards though, because it also gives you an unlimited hand size.  I like to pair this with cards in my deck that cost no mana to play, such as Misdirect. The biggest downside of running The Magic Mirror, is it quickly becomes a target for artifact removal.

Any creature-based deck that runs blue must run equilibrium. You'll get to keep bouncing Commanders, tokens, and other creatures back to their owners' hands every turn. Trading one of your own mana for your opponents 3,4,5,11, or more mana is a huge tempo advantage. You can also bounce your own creatures for valuable ETB effects.

Most of the time Knowledge Exploitation is a seven mana card, which means it can be difficult to cast. Even though it's a premium mana cost for Commander, you'll be nabbing the best Instance or Sorcery in any player's deck. It also lets you play powerful cards for less mana, since you could grab something like a Worldfire or Obliterate.

Green Commander and creature-based decks absolutely hate this card. If you play this turn two, how can any creature deck come back from this? If you're finding your blue deck having trouble vs aggro, Overburden is underlooked answer. 

Set the pace of mana resources with land Equilibrium. Pair this card with plenty of mana rocks so that you can build a mana advantage.

Vedalken Plotter is a Political Trickery with the bonus of a 1/1 body. It's quite a bit better though since you can combo it with cards that interact with ETB triggers, such as bounce spells that let you recast it.

Combo this with Rest in Peace and similar cards. It will prevent anyone from attacking you for the rest of the game!

Legacy's Allure, when played early, is a two-mana Mind Control with the added benefit of permanently gaining control of a creature when used. Hard to argue with that kind of mana cost to effect value.

Let your opponent do the work for you. Just choose the player with the most card advantage on display, and target them. Psychic Possession often flies under the radar because it doesn't do anything until an opponent actually plays something that provides themself with card advantage. I'd avoid playing this in 1 v 1, but in a multiplayer Commander game, it can pay dividends over the course of a long game.

High Tide sees play, but not as much as it deserves. I auto-include this in any Mono Blue Commander deck. There's plenty of back-breaking cards and X spells that can win you the game quickly in blue. Just make sure there aren't any other blue dominant players with mana untapped when you cast it.

Transmute Artifact is a swiss army knife tutor. You're bound to have a mana rock or two to sacrifice and there's plenty of choices of powerful artifacts you could grab with this. Need a Pithing Needle for a specific threat, Skullclamp, a combo artifact piece, etc...

Last but not least is Puca's Mischief. In a Multiplayer Commander game, there's plenty of juicy targets to trade for. Plus, you can trade away your global enchantment effects that hit everybody equally. For example, trade away a Dream Tide for the best 4 CMC card in play! The Dream Tide has the same effect, but you wind up with a free permanent.