Magic the Gathering (MTG) Commander's Toolbox - Overburden from Prophecy

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Overburden is an Enchantment from Prophecy that can be pretty mean. Even better, there's an errata that clarifies what this card actually does. You see, this Enchantment only affects players who play nontoken creatures. For decks that don't play a lot of creature cards, your opponents are going to have to pick up a land every time they play a creature, whether it's cast or not. 
 
The Commander who uses Overburden the most is Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. Oloro decks don't play a ton of creatures, and those that Oloro does play are worth picking up a land for anyway. Besides, Oloro himself gives you 2 life every upkeep whether he's on the field or in the command zone, so you're usually playing ahead most of the time. So making sure that other people have to play from behind just to play their creatures gives Oloro decks an extra tempo boost. 
 
Another Commander who likes to use Overburden is Patron of the Moon. This Commander lets you put up to two land cards into play tapped for only 1 mana! While not the most popular Commander, this Moonfolk Legendary leads a pretty good tempo deck that gets better with Overburden in the 99. 
 
Overburden has been slowly ticking up overtime, hitting over $4 for a stretch. As an older rare from Prophecy, this is a pretty good investment. While it's not on the Reserved List, this isn't the type of Enchantment you'll likely see reprinted in a regular expansion set. It feels pretty safe, although it could end up in a future limited release set or preconstructed deck. In any case, it's relatively cheap enough that it's worth keeping around in your collection as part of your Commander's Toolbox.

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