<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Unagi of Kyoshi Island" href="#" target="_blank">The Unagi of Kyoshi Island</a> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CMiho+Midorikawa%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art">Miho Midorikawa</a>
Competitive Commander (cEDH) these days is dominated by one kind of effect more than any other: card advantage engines.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mystic Remora" href="#" target="_blank">Mystic Remora</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Esper Sentinel" href="#" target="_blank">Esper Sentinel</a>: these are the cards that define cEDH. That said, there are a ton more engines out there other than these three. So, if you want to run more than Rhystic and its clones, where should you start? Let's take a look.
<h2 class="md-p">#5 - <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Compost" href="#" target="_blank">Compost</a></h2>
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Kicking things off with the narrowest card on our list, we have <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Compost" href="#" target="_blank">Compost</a>. For , this enchantment lets you draw a card whenever a black card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere. That's a pretty low floor, sure, but also an incredibly high ceiling considering players are routinely chaining black tutors, rituals, and all sorts of format staples.
To top it off, Compost also does some insane work when a black player tries to pop off with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Brain Freeze" href="#" target="_blank">Brain Freeze</a>. Each black card they mill while targeting themselves with Brain Freeze copies is another card you can draw to try to stop them — or win over top.
<h2 class="md-p">#4 - <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Share" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Share</a></h2>
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Next up is a white card that has always been hovering around the edge of cEDH playability: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Share" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Share</a>.
For , <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Share" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Share</a> is an enchantment that, at the beginning of each end step, lets you draw a card for each opponent who drew two or more cards that turn, then create a Treasure token for each opponent who had two or more lands enter the battlefield under their control that turn.
That is a clunky chunk of text, but the core idea is pretty simple: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Share" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Share</a> punishes your opponents for doing things cEDH decks naturally do anyway. Players draw extra cards constantly in this format. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a>, Tymna triggers, cantrips, wheels, value creatures; it all adds up. The Treasure mode is less reliable, but it is far from flavor text. Playing and cracking a fetch land in a single turn is enough to trigger Smuggler's Share, and any extra mana is always welcome in cEDH.
The knock against <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Share" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Share</a> has always been speed. It doesn’t pay you back immediately, and three-mana enchantments are competing with, well, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a>. That criticism is fair, but in a slower meta, “doesn’t pay you back immediately” is less of a death sentence than it used to be. If the game is going to go another turn cycle or two, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Smuggler&#039;s Share" href="#" target="_blank">Smuggler&#039;s Share</a> starts looking a lot more respectable.
<h2 class="md-p">#3 - <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sylvan Library" href="#" target="_blank">Sylvan Library</a></h2>
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Our third pick is probably the least surprising card on this list, but nonetheless worth discussing again: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sylvan Library" href="#" target="_blank">Sylvan Library</a>.
For , <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sylvan Library" href="#" target="_blank">Sylvan Library</a> lets you — at the beginning of your draw step — draw two additional cards, then choose two cards drawn this turn and either put them back on top of your library or pay four life for each one you keep.
Even if you never spend a point of life, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sylvan Library" href="#" target="_blank">Sylvan Library</a> is one of the best card selection engines green has ever gotten. It smooths draws, fixes awkward openers, helps you dig toward interaction, and makes it much easier to keep sketchier hands that rely on finding one or two specific pieces.
<h2 class="md-p">#2 - <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Unagi of Kyoshi Island" href="#" target="_blank">The Unagi of Kyoshi Island</a></h2>
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At number two is the newest card on this list, and that's <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Unagi of Kyoshi Island" href="#" target="_blank">The Unagi of Kyoshi Island</a>.
For , <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Unagi of Kyoshi Island" href="#" target="_blank">The Unagi of Kyoshi Island</a> is a 5/5 legendary Serpent with flash, ward — waterbend , and “Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you draw two cards.”
Let's start with arguably the most important part — flash. Because Unagi has flash, you do not have to tap out on your own turn and pray that you'll live long enough to reap the rewards of any cards you draw. You can hold up interaction, wait for the right window, and deploy it when a Tymna trigger, cantrip, Rhystic exchange, or anything else is about to turn it on. That makes this five-mana behemoth all the more castable.
Moving to the actual trigger, drawing two cards in a turn is a pretty common feat in cEDH — I mean, just look at how popular <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Faerie Mastermind" href="#" target="_blank">Faerie Mastermind</a> is. In the wrong pod, this can still be clunky, sure, but slower pods are all the more common these days, so anything Simic should probably be testing this card out.
<h2 class="md-p">#1 - <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trouble in Pairs" href="#" target="_blank">Trouble in Pairs</a></h2>
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Taking the top spot is the card on this list that I think most cleanly rewards the current shape of cEDH: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trouble in Pairs" href="#" target="_blank">Trouble in Pairs</a>.
For , <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trouble in Pairs" href="#" target="_blank">Trouble in Pairs</a> is an enchantment that says if an opponent would begin an extra turn, that player skips that turn instead — basically a dead line of text, save for shutting off the occasional <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Final Fortune" href="#" target="_blank">Final Fortune</a>. More importantly, it also says that whenever an opponent attacks you with two or more creatures, draws their second card each turn, or casts their second spell each turn, you draw a card.
All in all, that is an absurd amount of coverage — and that's why it’s number one. Some engines on this list are pod-dependent. Some ask you to be in a particular shell. Some need the table to line up just right. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trouble in Pairs" href="#" target="_blank">Trouble in Pairs</a> is much broader than that. If you resolve it and untap with it, there’s a very good chance it starts snowballing almost immediately. Four mana, especially , is a lot, that's for sure, but cEDH still has plenty of lower-color, midrange strategies that will love this card.
<h2 class="md-p">Wrap Up</h2>
Not every value engine suddenly becomes playable just because cEDH has slowed down a touch. Plenty of cards are still too clunky, too conditional, or too low-impact to matter. But the threshold has moved, and I think that’s worth paying attention to. Keep an eye on these cards — you never know which one might be the diamond in the rough.

trouble in pairs

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