Use for amounts of crappy commons?

[pooispoois]

In my collection sit hundreds of commons and uncommons that I almost never use, and they're just earning dust sitting there. Most are pretty terrible, other pretty good, but the fact is that a lot of potential is going to waste. So can anyone help me by suggesting a format where I could make use of those cards? Thanks, and keep in mind that the power level among those cards is very unevenly spread, what kept me from trying out draft-type formats.

[Ephraim]

Not exactly a format, but I've been digging through my commons and uncommons lately, building decks loosely based on the precons that Wizards sells with each set, and giving them away to new players. You could also build a Public Library deck. That's a stack of 240-280 cards, balanced between all five colours (I maintain equal numbers of cards and an equal balance of rarities) designed for play by 2-6 players at one time. All players draw from the same library and discard to the same graveyard. Some cards — like those with threshold — don't really fit in the format, but on the other hand, cards like Metamorphose, Forcemage Advocate, and Reclaim are all really interesting. Moreover, because nobody has access to any different cards than anybody else, you can use cards of any calibre in the deck. This makes it a great format for somebody with piles of commons and uncommons that they want to use, but can't justify playing in a constructed deck. I have discussed various editions of my Public Library deck in this thread. Of course, you can take the idea in any direction you'd like to go.

[Jank Golem]

I have been able to find several uses for my random commons. With the bad commons you can play mental magic. Mental magic is where you have 2 decks with cards of assorted mana costs and colors. You play like you normaly would except when you play a card it can be any other card in the game as long as it has the same mana cost. For instance gaint growth could be a fastbond. I play with the legacy Banned list but you could play it with any other format.

With your better commons you could play peasent magic. Peasent magic has the same rules as normal magic except that you can play with no rares and only 5 uncommons, the rest of your deck has to be commons. The rarity of the card is decided by the lowest rarity it was ever printed in. For example, Loxoden war hammer was an uncommon in mirrodion, but a rare in 9th so you would go by it's lowest rarity making it an uncommon.

[Ephraim]

I didn't mention Peasant Magic because it's really a lot more competitive than the idea seems at first. For example, my Psychatog deck runs Gush, Deep Analysis, and Fact or Fiction in addition to the 'Tog itself. Those are all tournament-quality cards that just happen to be common or uncommon. A lot of potent, popular decks pack three or four copies of Isochron Scepter or Skullclamp. You could play Peasant or Pauper as a curiosity with miscellany, but to play the format well, there's a surprising amount of acquisition required.

[vartemis]

Other than formats, there are other things you can do with them.

I take my commons and a bunch of that full page sticker paper and create proxies with them.  I create all the major decks for a current guantlet.  I can then use them to playtest against, or I can take em down to my local card shop and let vintage virgins play with them. So I have someone to play against.  Or you can just give them away to people that are just getting into the game.

If you are artistic, you can make 3D cards with the mulitple copies of ones with cool art.  If you havent seen one, they look sweet.  Just cut out the pictures and layer them to create a 3D effect.

If you get really bored, you could wallpaper a wall in a games room with them, but i dont have that many... yet.


j

[Matt]

Give them to new players, who will LOVE THEM and also you.

[pooispoois]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely try some of those. I have already made some 3D cards that were OK (and donated them to the store's owner who put them in display ), but it takes a lot of patiente and I rarely have it. Mental Magic I had tought of but I wolud have a definite advantage over people I normally play with since they don't know a lot of the older cards.

[Godder]

Give them to new players, who will LOVE THEM and also you.

I wholeheartedly endorse that idea, particularly with regard to kids. Pre-releases especially are great times to unload cards you don't want to keep, so if you have lots of crap to get rid of, consider asking the TO of the next pre-release to put something on his advertising material offering free cards to people who want them. Also, to avoid accumulating crappy cards, give them away more regularly. I go through my teams' cards at all sealed events we play in, including pre-releases, and give away all the crap cards – it's so much easier than taking them home.

[Liam-K]

Only commons, only combo decks.  Now that's hilarity.

I'm also partial to burning things.  Not just cards, that's things in general.

[forests failed you]

You could always put together a mental magic stack.

[Othersider]

I'm also partial to burning things.  Not just cards, that's things in general.

Always a good idea. 

[TJ-Whoopy]

I've been known to use them as targets for my 9mm