Some were mentioned by the guys: Dreamscape Artist, Mystic Remora, Brooding Saurian and Spitting Image, but I have a few extra that I'd like to highlight here. Apologies in advance if any of these are everywhere in your playgroup.
Commons:
I have none worth mentioning that you're not probably playing already. So far off to a bad start. It's not that there aren't good cards out there, just none that I can honestly say "This is not getting played enough!"
Uncommon:
Uncommon is a different story however. I actually had to trim this list down to get my favourite 3 cards and what's on here is a combination of what's seemingly underplayed (and where it's seemingly underplayed) and the effect it has on a game.
You've seen this played by that big-mana, blue-based, artifact deck but that's generally it. You may not have seen it in Big Green or Group Hug or that annoying Chaos deck that just wants to screw with everyone's heads.
It's a very simple idea: You give someone the Totem and they give you a non-land permanent. In and of itself, the Totem is a blank card but has the potential to become ANY card and that's where it's base power lies. Much like Clone can be anything from a Bird of Paradise to an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Avarice Totem can be any other targettable non-land permanent in play. It's a classic Rattlesnake card: anything that comes into play can be stolen. The classic play is having someone try to destroy or bounce it with a CotB effect only for you to steal the source in response. They get nothing and you get whatever they just played.
There's more to the Totem than meets the eye. First of all, it's a permanent swap, you don't give anything back unless it's taken back. Secondly, it's an activated ability that can be activated in turn by whoever it is given to so choosing your moment carefully as to when to pass it on is advised. Thirdly, it's an activated ability that doesn't require you to tap it to activate the ability which means that you can activate it as many times as you want. This can be just the once if you want the Totem to be out there for everyone in either a Chaos or Group Hug setting, it can be multiple times in a big mana deck like Green that likes to steal multiple permanents to clear a passage to charge through for a turn, just be sure to pass items that can't block.
It is possible to activate this ability in response to itself and generate some odd combinations. For example, if you control this card and another permanent, you can use this card's ability and target the permanent you control. You can then use this card's ability again and target a permanent your opponent controls. The second usage resolves first and you get your opponent's permanent in exchange for this one. The first usage then resolves and swaps your other permanent for the Totem so you get it back. The net effect is that you can swap any non-land permanent you have for any of theirs if you can activate this ability twice. Note that your opponent does get the chance to use the Totem in between the resolutions of your two usages if they have the mana. You see what I meant about being good in a chaos deck? This requires paying strict attention when you are resolving the stack but is otherwise just a chaotic blast.
Can it be abused? Obviously yes, but it can be used to create a lot of fun situations too. Don't forget some important details if you decide to play the Totem:
1.) you can bounce it back to your hand when you want to get it back and you don't lose the item you received in return;
2.) you can play Brooding Saurian to "yo-yo" it back to you at each end of turn turn allowing you to profit for a turn and start afresh without worrying too much about what your opponent does with it. This is particularly good with Seedborn Muse as you can steal things every turn, you always have mana open. As creatures without haste are required to pass an upkeep under a player's control to lose summoning sickness, if you steal something and they take it back right away, they will not be able to attack with it that turn. This set-up essentially becomes an expensive Maze of Ith blanking huge threats turn after turn. It also stops people attacking you if they have two creatures as you can just steal one to block the other.
3.) Sacrifice effects and rendering untargettable become golden abilities as you will steal someone's shiney Bomb and either sacrifice it for fun and profit (saccing is generally in the payment part of an effect so, by the time an opponent can respond, their permanent is already dead) or make it impossible for your opponent to steal it back by adding a Lightning Greaves or similiar.
Altogether too many tricks in a 1cc artifact.
My pet hate in EDH (and all Magic) is being without mana whether simply land count or a colour requirement. My current Rafiq deck, which leans towards mid-game control rather than early game explosiveness, is an excercise in always getting the right mana at the right time. Even this deck suffers if someone decides to destroy all lands or play an Obliterate effect. Adding Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds can still be insufficient as both require you to have the requsite land in hand to play them out afterwards in order to recover. One means of getting around this is the effect that Seedguide Ash provides, when he dies you get +3 Forests directly into play tapped.
Now the first thing to note is that, one the face of it, this is not a very splasy effect outside of what I have just explained or simply using him to accellerate your mana off a chump-block or a sacrifice effect like High Market. If you allow that the "splashy" will happen elsewhere, then including the workhorse cards in your decks is perfectly acceptable.
What about the vanilla test? He's a 4/4 for 5 with no direct effect on your hand or the board. That's a bit weak. Even with Rafiq, he'll only get a boost to 5/5. For 3GG, there's obviously better around. However, no-one is going to want to kill this guy, he's a useless dork, and killing him is your plan so players will be even more reluctant to waste a creature or a spell on killing him unless they absolutely have to. This may occasionally even deter players from attacking into him. In addition, if you have him on turn 4 and an opponent kills him, they waste a card or ability to do so while you jump instantly to 8 mana, potentially 9 once you untap. There's a LOT more you can do with 9 mana in EDH than with 5 and players realise that. You have a vanilla 4/4 for 3GG that people will do their best not to kill.
Wait, there's more! He gets Forests, but not basic Forests, so he can find dual lands. As he puts them into play tapped in any event, it's the perfect time to search out Ravnica Duals and just forego the annoying choice of taking 2. He finds Dryad Arbor too, if that's your thing. Playing Seedguide Ash probably won't garner any "WOW!" from your playgroup, but it may put you in a great position to take over the game when needed.
It's unlikely you haven't seen this card at some point but, if you haven't, you're in for a real treat!
One of the things we're always harping on about in Magic is Card Advantage (CA).
One of the things we're always harping on about in EDH is graveyard control.
One of the things you never expect is the Spanish Inquisition.
Stonecloaker is all three (ok, maybe not the Spanish Inquisition but definitely unexpected.) He's a creature. He attacks, flies, blocks and, because of Flash, you can play him any time you want. Your only requirements are 3 open mana and a creature in play: your general, a good utility creature, something with a great CotB effect or just any old dork (obviously better if it's not just a dork) You want to re-use their ability or save it from combat damage or a removal spell or ability so you throw down the Stonecloaker and return the other creature to your hand. Stonecloaker doesn't target the returned creature so you can bounce something Pro-white or untargettable. Your opponent has use card or ability X for no gain. You have an untouched 3/2 flier in play and the one he wanted to kill is safe in your hand. You have paid 2W for +1 CA. Actually, you've paid 2W for something more.
One of the most powerful resources in the game is your Graveyard. If your deck is set up to exploit it, your Graveyard can function as an extension of your hand. When you have a hand of 7 cards and a Graveyard of 14 cards, you have the potential for an accessible resource of 21 cards. In addition, cards that you take from a graveyard to use in play will eventually return to the graveyard making it an open door of reusable creatures & spells. This is precisely the reason why it's important to pack Graveyard hate against your opponents' Graveyards and Mr. Stonecloaker now has his hand up.
In addition to saving your poor creature, Stonecloaker exiles a card in a graveyard. This can be in your own in response to somone's reanimate effect, or in an opponent's for the same reason. As Stonecloaker has Flash, you can wait patiently until someone starts targetting their cards and remove them in response. Here we get back to our CA again. Your opponent is using a resource (a card or activated ability) to get something back and you're paying 2W to prevent that with no loss of physical resources on your part.
It gets even better. Imagine if you don't want to return a creature, or you have no creatures in play when you want to remove a card from a graveyard. Stonecloaker swoops in, exiles the offending card and then you return Stonecloaker to your hand. As he doesn't specify "another" creature, he's as good a candidate as any to bounce back up to your hand, ready to swoop again.
Like I said, no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
That's it for the uncommons. Check back soon for my 3 rares.
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