What are the most powerful/viable cards that you think are underplayed?

[Sporkcore]

How about Lim-Dul's Vault? The card used to see some play and is seeing some play in Legacy decks.

[Lurker101]

How about Lim-Dul's Vault? The card used to see some play and is seeing some play in Legacy decks.

Lim-Dul's Vault is already on the list. I added Serenity and Life from the Loam + Raven's Crime to the list.

[TinkerAcademy91]

There's a lot of cards listed here I agree with so I will try to add some others I've always liked and apologize if I have duplications.

Survival of the Fittest / Recurring Nightmare -I've always loved this combo and would love to see another build if viable in vintage.

Mind Over Matter -Since Time Spiral, Mox Diamond were recently unrestricted, I could really see a viable academy deck resurfacing with Tolarian Academy easy to get out with the likes of tolaria West, Crop Rotation, and all of those tutors around. You can use 4 strokes or brain geyser, Voltaic Key, plus all of the fast artifact mana, Scroll Rack, force, yawgmoth's will, one windfall, intuition. The only worry I'd have is wasteland on Academy but hey there's always crucible of worlds.

Pros/Bloom -Another old deck, This deck is way too slow for type 1 but it might work in Legacy which I know defeats the purpose, but maybe someone could make this deck work again. 

[Lurker101]

What about Bribery for use against Oath and DSC?

[bluemage55]

What about Bribery for use against Oath and DSC?

Or you could just play Tezzeret and win.

[Jura]

There was never any love for Paradise Mantle. You can equip it to a creature without summoning sickness and it doesn't require green (it's not perfect, but it does what it does). I still hear people prefer Masticore over Razormane Masticore when it's not mana hungry or weak to Null Rod. Oxidize was always my preferred artifact removal spell which prevents regen.

[Lurker101]

What about Bribery for use against Oath and DSC?

Or you could just play Tezzeret and win.

Fair enough

[urweak]

Back to Basics
Moat
Choke
Tombstalker
Hymn to Tourach
Mind Twist
Regrowth
Channel
Price of Progress
Ghost Quarter

what about NIX, counter target free spell.  or FORK in storm/draw seven decks

or elephant graveyard, ha JK

Elephant Graveyard + Chameleon Colossus = GG? lol

[Lurker101]

What about Shaman's Trance? It works really well both with yawg will and against yawg will.

[bluemage55]

What about Shaman's Trance? It works really well both with yawg will and against yawg will.

If you were able to resolve Yawg Win, you probably don't need it.  The fact that it costs 2R, and the fact that you usually are using all your mana for a Will turn means that it might not even be of any benefit even if you could use it.  At best, it's win more, but more likely it will be a dead card most of the time you are casting Will, let alone when you're not.

[neotrophy]

The preview of Master Transmuter today reminded me of another card with a possibly ridiculous effect, at a fairly playable  , Vedalken Archmage.  Zero power is a bit of a downer, but "Whenever you play an artifact spell, draw a card" is an amazing effect.  Given that we're already paying for +1 card (albeit at instant speed), this seems like a possible engine in decks such as the "affinity" Tezzeret builds.

[bluemage55]

The preview of Master Transmuter today reminded me of another card with a possibly ridiculous effect, at a fairly playable  , Vedalken Archmage.  Zero power is a bit of a downer, but "Whenever you play an artifact spell, draw a card" is an amazing effect.  Given that we're already paying for +1 card (albeit at instant speed), this seems like a possible engine in decks such as the "affinity" Tezzeret builds.

The difference between  and  is quite significant.  A Drain deck is happy to use TfK as a Drain sink precisely because it entails tapping only one land.

Secondarily, the Archmage is problematic because at 4 mana, it's likely that you've dropped your artifacts already, either for mana or to help you with Affinity.  This unsynergistic effect will force you to make tough decisions as to whether or not to drop your artifacts or hold them back to cast Archmage first.

[nineisnoone]

Though it ended up not making the cut in the deck I was working on, Rishidan Port is a solid card.

[bluemage55]

Though it ended up not making the cut in the deck I was working on, Rishidan Port is a solid card.

I concur.  It definitely doesn't belong it most decks, but it synergizes nicely with decks that run AEther Vial, and plays nice with some Shop Aggro builds.

[Lurker101]

I can't remember who it was but someone on this site came up with a combo deck that ran Ill-Gotten Gains as well as a combo of Magus of the Jar and Shallow Grave that is pretty solid.

[bluemage55]

You and I must define solid differently. 

I'm not aware of any competitive decks that utilize Magus of the Jar or Shallow Grave, but Ill-Gotten Gains is a solid card in certain Grim Long builds.  It builds storm nicely, and additionally defends against discard.  It's also the foundation of the "IGGy Pop" deck in Legacy, but IGGy Pop isn't exactly Vintage material.

I'd consider IGG viable, but certainly not Magus of the Jar or Shallow Grave.

[BruiZar]

Cateran Summons

[bluemage55]

Cateran Summons

Are you in any way going to back that up with some serious explanations, or are you simply violating site rules for the fun of it?

[Lurker101]

I can't remember who it was but someone on this site came up with a combo deck that ran Ill-Gotten Gains as well as a combo of Magus of the Jar and Shallow Grave that is pretty solid.

I checked and it was Harlequin who came up with that combo. He was running it in a reanimator combo shell, I made a deck that runs it in a TPS shell and the combo works pretty well in there, I could see it being viable. I'll post the list I made later and illustrate why it works if you want to look in the vintage improvement forum.

[honestabe]

Lim Dul's Vault and Impulse


Impulse is the new brainstorm

[bluemage55]

Lim Dul's Vault and Impulse


Impulse is the new brainstorm

Nice of you to not even give any reasons at all.

Vault is pretty terrible, with a clunky mana cost, negative card advantage, and an average of 3 life for a bad vampiric tutor.  I'd also be interested in hearing why you think Impulse is the new Brainstorm, given that it fails to eliminate bad cards from your hand, doesn't protect you from Duress, and doesn't fix your 1 mana hands.

[Purple Hat]

Lim Dul's Vault and Impulse


Impulse is the new brainstorm

Nice of you to not even give any reasons at all.

Vault is pretty terrible, with a clunky mana cost, negative card advantage, and an average of 3 life for a bad vampiric tutor.  I'd also be interested in hearing why you think Impulse is the new Brainstorm, given that it fails to eliminate bad cards from your hand, doesn't protect you from Duress, and doesn't fix your 1 mana hands.

Lim dul's vault is pretty impressive in the right deck.  If you've ever cast it in dragon for example, you can use it to find multiple cards you need to combo off.

[Thisson]

Telepathy. 

Great for knowing if opponent has Drain/FoW in hand, and only 1 blue mana to cast.

[bluemage55]

Lim dul's vault is pretty impressive in the right deck.  If you've ever cast it in dragon for example, you can use it to find multiple cards you need to combo off.

I've tested Lim-Dul's Vault in Drain Tendrils and TPS lists, and found it to be viable only as a singleton when I didn't have something better to run.  To be honest I've never played Dragon, so I'll have to take your word for it in that case.  I'll repost the list I had a few pages back with Vault added.

Viable Underplayed Cards

Balance
Chains of Mephistopheles
Commandeer
Cunning Wish
Demonic Consultation
Fire/Ice
Gamble
Gilded Drake
Land Tax
Lim-Dul's Vault
Magus of the Unseen
Manamorphose
Mind's Eye
Mox Diamond
Rite of Flame
Skeletal Scrying
Thrumming Stone

Viable Underplayed Combos

Avarice Totem + Culling Scales + Rings of Brighthearth
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Umbral Mantle
Impulse + Panoptic Mirror + Savor the Moment + Serra Sphinx

[bluemage55]

Telepathy. 

Great for knowing if opponent has Drain/FoW in hand, and only 1 blue mana to cast.

Or you play Duress/Thoughtseize instead, and avoid the card disadvantage of Telepathy and possible cause significant disruption as well.

[Little Joe]

How would Time Vault combo with Umbral Mantle?

[bluemage55]

How would Time Vault combo with Umbral Mantle?

It wouldn't, since Time Vault is not a creature.

[policehq]

How would Time Vault combo with Umbral Mantle?

It wouldn't, since Time Vault is not a creature.

Then why did you post it as a viable underplayed combo?

Lim dul's vault is pretty impressive in the right deck.  If you've ever cast it in dragon for example, you can use it to find multiple cards you need to combo off.

I've tested Lim-Dul's Vault in Drain Tendrils and TPS lists, and found it to be viable only as a singleton when I didn't have something better to run.  To be honest I've never played Dragon, so I'll have to take your word for it in that case.  I'll repost the list I had a few pages back with Vault added.

Viable Underplayed Cards

Balance
Chains of Mephistopheles
Commandeer
Cunning Wish
Demonic Consultation
Fire/Ice
Gamble
Gilded Drake
Land Tax
Lim-Dul's Vault
Magus of the Unseen
Manamorphose
Mind's Eye
Mox Diamond
Rite of Flame
Thrumming Stone

Viable Underplayed Combos

Avarice Totem + Culling Scales + Rings of Brighthearth
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Umbral Mantle
Time Vault + Umbral Mantle
Impulse + Panoptic Mirror + Savor the Moment + Serra Sphinx

[Thisson]

Telepathy. 

Great for knowing if opponent has Drain/FoW in hand, and only 1 blue mana to cast.

Or you play Duress/Thoughtseize instead, and avoid the card disadvantage of Telepathy and possible cause significant disruption as well.

You can, but those are 1-shot deals.  Being able to persistently read your opponent, without devoting 4+ deck slots to duress can be worth 1 slot in the deck.  And the "Card Disadvantage" can be more than offset by the information advantage.  JMHO.

[InfectedMushroom]

Because you drew and played Telepathy, all you did was see what your opponent is now going to kill you with. Duress is essentially a proactive counter, which gives you information and knocks out an important card in their hand. There is a reason why Glasses of Urza was never played, it does nothing to advance your game plan or stop your opponents.