FarewellFarewell | Art by Alice Xia Zhang

There are unspoken social agreements when we sit down at a table for Commander. I've discussed many different ones before:

• Should We Politic and Show Mercy in Commander
• Is My Deck Strong or Just Oppressive?
• The Etiquette of Removal in Commander

All of these have one thing in common: Salt. For this article, I don't want to talk about some ethereal, hypothetical concept of Salt. I want to consult EDHREC's Saltiest Cards and come up with my own list of The Worst Cards You Can Play Against a Commander Player in 2026.

This list isn't beholden to EDHREC's Top 100 Saltiest Cards. I referenced it for data, but there are some cards that don't make the Salt list that I've seen be far more upsetting than a silly ol' Rhystic StudyRhystic Study. I won't be including high value, efficient cards like Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe and Vivi OrnitierVivi Ornitier. I want to isolate the things that are in the frustrating category of denial. Others winning is important to me and powerful cards are the way. We all sort of do, when it's us.

The cards I'll talk about today are miserable in a lot of ways, but don't guarantee you win at all.

5. Aura ShardsAura Shards

This is a card that is deceptive in how incredibly stifling it is. It reads, "Whenever a creature you control enters, you may destroy target artifact or enchantment." You wouldn't think artifacts and enchantments are that problematic to lose, but with one or two creatures entering the battlefield on a normal turn, it is.

I didn't want to lean into cards that encourage a play pattern that is miserable, but by itself wasn't actually oppressive, but this one is a massive exception.

Most decks will put out 1-2 creatures a turn. That's not a play pattern, but a basic element of the game. Aura ShardsAura Shards could potentially pop 1-2 artifacts a turn cycle. That's a Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel gone because a 1/1 Rabbit entered the battlefield. If they're playing a token strategy, that's a full blowout of every enchantment or artifact on the board, including Arcane SignetArcane Signets and Sol RingSol Rings.

Don't get me started with if your commander is an artifact or enchantment. Goodbye Anikthea, Hand of ErebosAnikthea, Hand of Erebos. Goodbye Urtet, Remnant of MemnarchUrtet, Remnant of Memnarch. This is the sort of thing that can loop destroying commanders over and over. Artifact- and enchantment-based strategies are completely hosed, locked out of the game. It's the sort of thing to restrict value so much that it becomes oppressive and miserable.

How do you find a way around it? Artifact and enchantment removal is usually more difficult than creature removal, even though Aura Shards makes it look easy. And then does it win you the game? Maybe not.

4. FarewellFarewell

This card lives in infamy in most play groups. and you have a near-full reset of the game. It reads, "Choose one or more — ⋅Exile all artifacts. ⋅Exile all creatures. ⋅Exile all enchantments. ⋅Exile all graveyards." A trend in this list is going to be denial, but this is a board wipe of all board wipes.

The exile aspect turns off all the recursion strategies we build into decks to protect against removal. It hits the top main archetypes and strategies of Commander: artifacts, enchantments, creatures, and graveyards. I've seen the general groan of irritation when anyone plays this card.

One of the things that puts this on the list at all is how incredibly bad it is for the player of the card. Usually you take your whole turn to board wipe and pass. Everyone gets a chance to rebuild their board before you. It's resetting the game and handing it to whoever has the most lands. It's a weird board wipe that, because of its symmetry, often puts you behind.

Obviously, I'm speaking about choosing all modes. If you choose one or two of these modes you can potentially stop your enemies and not yourself, but what irritates us so much about this card is when it's all modes. We're already two hours into this game and now everything has been reset without you in the lead for all the trouble.

3. OublietteOubliette

I put this card so high on the list because of how targeted it is. It's not particularly good, but incredibly salt-inducing. It costs and reads, "When this enchantment enters, target creature phases out until this enchantment leaves the battlefield. Tap that creature as it phases in this way."

First of all, it doesn't do this to everyone's commanders like a similarly annoying and salt-inducing card called Drannith MagistrateDrannith Magistrate. The fact that it only stops one problem in a sort of efficient way is part of what makes someone salt out so much. It's not everyone, it's just me who has to deal with it. No one is corralling to help solve the problem. It's just your problem.

Additionally, unless you can find a Beast WithinBeast Within or an Anguished UnmakingAnguished Unmaking, that card can't be just destroyed by a board wipe. Your commander can't be be dealt damage and die. It can't even return to the command zone. It's similar to Imprisoned in the MoonImprisoned in the Moon in that regard that it basically makes your commander so hard to recover. Even if you do manage to figure out a way to remove the OublietteOubliette, you have your commander back, tapped.

So no combat, no entering triggers. It's a little insult to injury.

2. Winter OrbWinter Orb

There are various irritating ways that people can mess with your lands. Vorinclex, Voice of HungerVorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Blood MoonBlood Moon, and Back to BasicsBack to Basics jump out to me. Each one of these makes tapping lands difficult. Vorinclex makes your lands sticky for a turn after you tap them, whether or not he's on the field when you're usually able to untap them. That's annoying, but you get slowed down, not locked out. Similar to Back to BasicsBack to Basics and Blood MoonBlood Moon, basic lands are in our decks usually, so we can play around that. It's annoying and oppressive for a lot of decks, but it doesn't completely shut you out.

Winter Orb reads, "As long as this artifact is untapped, players can’t untap more than one land during their untap steps." It's the sort of symmetrical thing that the player of the card can abuse, but if they can't it just brings the game down to a crawl. In some small respects it might be more advantageous than a Blood MoonBlood Moon depending on how many basics you run.

What's notably horrible about this is that if you tapped down the turn before and they play this, you're cooked on your next turn. How much can you do for one mana on your turn? How do you reasonably answer this card in a timely fashion? Again, like OublietteOubliette, you're hoping for a Generous GiftGenerous Gift or something like it.

1. JokulhaupsJokulhaups

Why? Just why?

Why is anyone playing this card in Commander aside from an insatiable desire to infuriate? It reads, "Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and lands. They can’t be regenerated." Unless you're playing Avacyn, Angel of HopeAvacyn, Angel of Hope or Teferi's ProtectionTeferi's Protection, this is bad for you. All it does is bring the game from a fun environment to an upsetting restart of all major strategies. I guess the planeswalker and enchantment players are happier, but I doubt it matters with all of their lands gone. You have to hope you have CounterspellCounterspell or Swan SongSwan Song for this kind of card.

Again, it costs you so reasonably you're not doing anything else on your turn. So everyone will be rebuilding ahead of you. It's not even like ArmageddonArmageddon where you just get the lands out of the way and can swing for lethal with creatures. That strategy is annoying, but hopefully wins. It's the sort of thing that if you don't play correctly might blow you out even more than you suspect. It's ultimately not a fun way to play for anyone involved.

Conclusion

I thought for a very long time about what I would include in this list. It's the sort of thing where if you mess with people's commanders and lands, they're going to be upset. It's something that I think we should consider before including a card in our decks. I'm not saying not to play them, but understand what you're doing to people who play against it. If they don't want to play against that deck or against you, you have to understand why.

I prefer to enjoy the decks I play by not including too many salty cards in them. It makes for a more fun experience with my play pod, but that's up to you and your pod.

But that's just my two cents. Tell me if I was wrong about the order or the cards I selected. Are these the same as last year? Let me know. I'm @strixhavendropout on Bluesky.