MND Regional Review: The Underneath

Magi-Nation Card Review

Underneath
by Kroodhaxthekrood

Rating Scale

Magi-Nation Duel has only one traditional format, Constructed, where all cards are legal except for a limited few. Cards will be rated in this context with the rating scale shown below. These grades do not tell the whole story and should be viewed in the context of the writing which accompanies them.

1: Unplayable. Actively bad or detrimental to your board own board in some way.

2: Low-Impact. Not actively bad but doesn’t do a whole lot. 

2.5: A little better than “meh”.

3: Role Player. Cards which are simply not played as much but either could be good given

    support or are at least decent or fun options.

3.5: Very strong with the required support.

4: Staple. Strong cards which see lots of play (or should) but are not completely busted.

5: All-star. Practically an auto-include in most if not all of decks from that region. 

Now, on with the show:

Magi

Bronk – 2

Conceal is not very useful. The best thing you can do with it is try to get a Freep to go off, and that would be quite useful except they can kill it with any sort of small removal. Conceal even specifies Underneath creatures so there’s no splashing shenanigans that are possible with him either. It’s a shame because this could have been something cool.

Celebrated Hero – 3.5

Mr. Muscles is a very cool magi. As long as you’re not going first, 10/7 is much more manageable than 10/6, especially in regions that have the ability to defend for a second. Starting with a way to draw cards in Gogor’s Spade is really nice for Underneath, as it has little access to extra card draw in region. The creatures are fine as well. Pump You Up requires Celebrated Hero to play dual-region KT creatures (like Akkar) or be in a Burrow deck (oh no), but this is a relatively small cost. Skipping your draw step does hurt most decks a lot, but Gogor’s Spade can help make up for that. If you’re not building your deck to take advantage of Pump You Up, you shouldn’t be playing Celebrated Hero, so he gets a 3.5 out of me. Also, you can run a full KT/UD deck as there are 3 magi to support it.

D’Jarvish – 3.5

Here’s another magi who goes in Burrow decks quite well. Strengthen is a small effect but boosting Burrowed creatures goes quite a long way since the energy tends to stick around for a while. Escape is nice but you still have to spend the energy to play the creature again so it’s not incredible. It does become pretty nice if he has a Motash’s Staff in play, since this will provide him the energy to play the creature again, and it’s obviously good with Sikra as well. In Underneath, Sikra is really the only Illusion worth mentioning but it is a very good card and he starts with it. There’s no d’Resh/UD deck so don’t waste time trying to figure that one out.

Emaal – 3

This magi is very annoying in the middle of your stack (obviously don’t play her last!). Sabotage makes it so your magi can flip over, play Ormagon and revenge kill them and digs you one card further into your deck in the process. She’s still not incredible.

Fossik – 2

Would you play a 10/8 (ish) magi that draws only one card per turn in a region that struggles with drawing cards to begin with? I wouldn’t, but it’s not the absolute worst. Not being able to gain that three energy during your turn to, you know, attack with it or what have you is a drawback as well.

Fossik, Ringsmith – 3

On the other hand, I would play this version. 12/6 is acceptable and Strengthen lets you actively make use of the extra energy. There’s also an enormous difference between seeing only one new card per turn and choosing to discard one. At least this way you can see more cards from your deck and actually have the normal amount of options.

Gogor – 3

Gravel Storm is really expensive but it can be a game winner. Again, this magi only goes in Burrow decks and is generally worse than the other two we have looked at so far. They get to use their powers and effects every turn. OG (Original Gogor) does not, and his energy numbers are overall worse than the others to boot.

Gruk – 2

How the mighty have fallen. When MND was brand new, Gruk was the most powerful magi in the game. There were a lot of tricks you could do, but Gloves of Crystal + Vulbor after locking down the board was so good 2i hit her with an errata, errata’ed just about every Undream-type ability there is, printed a gazillion cards that punish hand discard, and stopped printing creatures with hand discard abilities (more or less). Discard was so effective, even though you draw 2 cards per turn, because you draw them at the end of your turn. The opponent therefore had the opportunity to prevent you from ever having a hand to do anything with your energy. It doesn’t matter how big your magi’s energize is if they don’t have any cards to play. This was also an environment in which nuking your opponent’s hand size was more possible as most of the things that allowed players to draw enormous amounts of cards had not yet been printed. Turns out when you can make your opponent not play the game at all, it’s not a very fun game. I’ve been Vulbor Locked before. It’s horrible. As for nowadays, I can’t think of a single thing that makes Gruk worth putting into your deck. I’ll still give her a 2 because reasons.

Gulg – 4

This decrepit old man doesn’t play around. Fortify is a very strong power in any deck with reasonable creatures and is pretty nuts if your army is Burrowed. He also just starts with Strag’s Claws which is quite a silly card and also encourages you to attack stuff.

Gyrg – 2

Why? Why does he have to be 10/5? Yes, Digging Mastery does nothing in the region’s central theme because Burrow supersedes it, but he could have helped make non-Burrow control decks more of a thing. Starting with a Grakanden is so cool. I’ve said it before, but 10/5 is awful.

Motash – 2

She has a 4 energize which is awful but at least she has some energy on the flip. I really have no idea why she has a 4 energize though, because Escape isn’t all that powerful. All it does is allow you to conserve some card economy in a region that needs to make their cards count. This is not nothing, but your magi need to DO STUFF!

Myka – 5

Oh Myka, we adore you. You just never die. Underneath is a slow, methodical region that needs lots of time to assemble the Voltron of burrow cards or whatever else it’s doing. Myka gives you that time, first by being 14/6 which allows her to out-energize many magi over the long run and second by shrugging off turns that would certainly kill other magi. She doesn’t actually do anything, relying 100% on her cards for any actual impact on the game, but she gets a 5 anyway because every time I flip her up my opponent groans. Every time. Also, her quote is a reference to Mystery Men, one of my favorite movies. That’s neither here nor there but I just wanted to mention it.

Prek – 3.5

Here’s the second KT/UD magi, thanks to Kinship. She can’t play Kybar’s Fang though, which is a shame since she wants to be using relics. Thankfully, Tech Savvy does not have a “minimum of one” clause in there so she’s just encouraged to play all kinds of relics and to use them. Both KT and UD have some really nice relics and relic synergies, so Prek can do some cool stuff. She also draws lots of Parmalags for that Radget deck.

Radget – 3.5

All her metrics check out just fine, so that’s a good start. Refresh is a waste of time unless you’ve got a Parmalag in play, in which case it’s great. This means Radget only has one home: the Parmalag theme deck … which is more for fun than very competitive. Still, there’s enough Parmalags out there.

Sorrowing Ogar – 3.5

UnderCore decks are quite real thanks to Urhail and Cleansing. It’s also probably the best thing you can be doing in Underneath: playing non-Underneath cards! I joke but in all seriousness, Underneath decks that aren’t Burrow decks have to play some questionable cards to fill out the 40. An UnderCore control deck gets to play all the really silly Underneath cards and supplement them with good Core control spells backed by Urhail and Mantle of Shadow if necessary. Sorrowing Ogar is far and away the best choice for those type of decks thanks to Vile Memories.

Strag – 4

I’ve played more hours with Strag than with any other single magi in MND. While he might look innocuous, let’s review. 13/5: not amazing but checks out. Bottomless Pit is a nice little removal spell and he starts with Strag’s Claws and Strag’s Ring, both of which are incredible. Just don’t have Strag as your opener and he can draw a nice little bundle of cards when he flips up. As for Defense, it makes attacking his board a chore if he’s playing straight up and if he’s got a burrowed team it makes it actively bad. Sometimes the best tactic against Burrow players is to just suck it up and chip down their creatures with attacks. Burrow players try to make you think this is a bad idea (and I mean you’re never happy about it) but Underneath is so slow that by the time you get through their thing they might not be able to punish you. It’s when you stop pressuring them that they’re able to build up and if they can do that, enjoy your difficult game against them. Strag blocks this line of play more or less completely. In any other region, he wouldn’t be incredible but Underneath has to take it where we can.

Trug – 3

This guy is a meme. He can’t actually use Cataclysm when he flips up and if not then, when? The old-school combo was Mobis + Trug to give him enough energy but you can also try to do the same thing with Lady of the Sky or by leaving him an energy boost with Trygar. Funnily enough, this means Trug has more of a chance being seen out of Underneath than in it. In Underneath specifically though, giving him at least three extra energy (which you can do with Trygar + Freep) allows him to play Hidden Door before using Cataclysm.

Trygar – 4

The only true setup magi Underneath has access to. He doesn’t draw extra cards. What he does is have a 6 energize and sit behind a wall of Pylofuf while he draws the normal two cards per turn. Then, when he dies, Avenger lets him give your next magi a little help. Leaving an Ormagon out there if you have a Dream Balm in hand is a nice welcoming gift, or perhaps gifting his buddy Trug a nice little Freep, maybe even getting a Tunnel Hyren into play so you don’t have to spend 9 energy on the silly thing. As a side benefit, his starting cards give you a Burrowed attacker right away, so he can even put on a bit of pressure.

Ulmi – 3.5

As far as theme decks go, Crystal Affinity is quite a good payoff. Here’s what she discounts: Crystals Jile, Parmalag, Hyren, Saris, Twinklet, Lascinth, and Arboll for creatures (which [except for the Parmalag] also benefit from Resist) as well as the spell Crystal Shield (Goblet already costs 1). Plus there’s more support from Daybreak and an Unreleased Promo. The big draws here are that Crystal Arboll is already quite a good creature and is completely bonkers if it costs 1, and the fact that Crystal Goblet is a draw engine of sorts which UD desperately needs. Then you just have to figure out what you’re doing with a bunch of other medium creatures in your deck.

Ulk – 2

The Korrit theme magi, Ulk suffers because other than the basic one, Korrits are not good at all. Also, even if they were better than they are, Strengthen means they would have to survive an enemy turn before you get any value and that’s just bad.

Ulk, Prodigy – 3

While Korrits still stink, she now gives them a much more immediate boost via Fungal Bloom, as well as protects them some with Resistance. That’s an improvement for sure. The biggest improvement to Ulk was starting with Spore Vashp and Amulet of Ombor which are both excellent cards.

Magi: TLDR

5

Myka

4

Gulg

Strag

Trygar

3.5

Celebrated Hero

D’Jarvish

Prek

Radget

Sorrowing Ogar

Ulmi

3

Emaal

Fossik, Ringsmith

Gogor

Trug

Ulk, Prodigy

2.5

N/A

2

Bronk

Fossik

Gruk

Gyrg

Motash

Ulk

1

N/A

Creatures

Agovo – 2.5

This card is not remotely good enough, even in Underneath which wants all the help drawing cards it can get. Lore is exactly on rate at 2 energy for 1 card. The problem is, your Agovo will never survive to do it twice, in which case you’re out 4 energy for 1 extra card and that’s paying double. I don’t want to pay double.

Akkar – 4

This creature is extremely solid. In Big Underneath (decks with most creatures around 6 energy, magi around 6-7 energize), this is probably your best creature because Rolling Thunder will almost always be active and because it’s turning a 6-7 into an 8-9, which is at or above Nar level. Invulnerability (2) means Akkar is quite durable as well. The only time this disappoints is when you can’t play it, but even with normal energize rates this comes up somewhat rarely.

Athik – 2.5

This is one of the better anti-Core creatures, because Smite is enormously strong (RIP All-High King Korg). However, it’s still very narrow.

Bisiwog – 2

Not a threat. Additionally, Burrow decks need to be playing abilities that let their team attack anyway, so having a small creature that can do this on its own is low-impact and redundant. They’re cute though.

Brub – 2

Speaking of low-impact and cute, Scrubbing Bubbles here does nothing at all. No one plays Korrits, and even if you’re playing a Korrit deck with Ulk you’d rather keep your Korrits around than feed them to this thing.

Cave Hyren – 2.5

There’s nothing really wrong with Cave Hyren. It’s just extremely generic and doesn’t advance any of Underneath’s typical goals.

Cave Rudwot – 3

Defense is actually pretty nice if they have to attack this guy and synergizes well with Underneath defensive abilities. Good enough as a starting card some of the time.

Crystal Arboll – 3

If you have deck space for this card, it can be quite impactful. Four energy is a big boost. The issue isn’t whether Crystal Arboll is effective, it’s whether you want this kind of one-shot growth ability and can find room for it in your 40 cards. I’ve found I often can’t but it always feels good when I play it.

Crystal Hyren – 2.5

This card is an odd design. There aren’t that many spells that stay in play (though the ones that do are usually pretty annoying). Illuminate therefore doesn’t matter a lot of the time, as it doesn’t have targets against many decks. Ricochet also doesn’t matter a lot of the time, because your opponent controls when it triggers and they can manage the energy loss somewhat easily. Overall, do you want a 6-energy creature with very low impact on the board? Unless you’re Ulmi I don’t think you do. She might play it as a one-of for those few times where Illuminate comes in handy.

Crystal Jile – 3.5

Earthbond has some potential for giving your magi lots of energy. At its worst, Crystal Jile is a free 2-energy creature, and that’s really not bad. If you can support it to ever use Earthbond a second time, you’re really far ahead.

Crystal Lascinth – 3

Since Spines triggers whether they attack the Lascinth or something else, it’s not too bad. It also gets better against Core and synergizes with other Underneath defensive tactics. This is a hate card that’s worth playing, especially if you run Ulmi.

Crystal Parmalag – 3

In some ways, this is a miniature Colossus. Only Radget and Ulmi would really be interested in this card though, since 7 energy is definitely not 12 and because it doesn’t have synergy in a Burrow deck.

Crystal Saris – 2.5

Even if it’s burrowed, they can just attack into it to stop Regenerate from happening. Effects like this get better in multiples because they can only attack so many creatures in a turn, so if you have a lot of them you’ll probably get at least some of the triggers. Four energy is a bit of an awkward spot as a result of Crushing spells though.

Crystal Twinklet – 3.5

This is probably the most interesting of the Crystal creatures. As opposed to a little energy boost on Crystal Saris, drawing a card from Dream Charge is wonderful. This also helps protect itself with Deflect, which can bounce most spells and powers back onto enemy creatures. If you can protect this, you’ve got some card draw!

Freep – 2.5

Obviously a 4-energy boost to your magi is great. The difficulty is in actually getting this card to stick around long enough to use Refresh. It’s even too small to benefit from Burrow, so that’s a pretty tall order. Mostly used with Trygar because Bronk is bad.

Ghost Bwisp – 3

Digging Goggles is the preferred way to get this effect. However, Ghost Bwisp appears as a starting card enough that you’ll probably play one in your Burrow decks and you’ll be perfectly happy to do so. He won’t last very long in play most of the time, so enjoy it while you have access.

Giant Korrit – 3

Pack Hunt allows Giant Korrit to trade its attack for +5 damage on another creature’s attack. This is clearly only useful for killing big stuff and that’s actually where Underneath needs more help (they’ve got small stuff covered). Thing is, Korrits are very slow because of how the phases of play are structured. There are just so many less expensive options to accomplish a similar job.

Giant Parmalag – 2

Outside of Radget, who can kind-of stall with this thing, nobody want this power because decks don’t have problems killing 2-energy creatures outside the Attack Step.

Giant Vulbor – 2.5

In combination with other hand discard abilities, you have a decent creature. As far as Giant Vulbor is concerned, it’s a shame those are so thin on the ground nowadays.

Grakanden – 4

This card is awesome. Interaction is pretty rare and, while they can play the spell again on their next turn, they’ve still paid the energy for it. Most spells you’re interested in “countering” with Grounding cost more than three energy anyway, so you’re probably also getting an advantage this way. The only hurdle with Grakanden is actually playing one as he’s an expensive bugger.

Granas – 4

This card hits all the right notes. It’s good on defense thanks to Burrow. It’s good on offense thanks to Pummel, even after they chip it down a bit. Any magi with a reasonable energize rate can play it in a turn. What’s not to love? The only bone I have to pick with this card (in Underneath specifically) is the fact that so many people play it in their Burrow decks. That’s not necessarily bad, it’s just not burrowed on your turn so a lot of the synergies there will frequently turn off.

Gum-Gum – 2

Does nothing. They just won’t attack it.

Hubram – 3.5

Drawing a card is worth 2 energy, which is the cost of a Hubram. Hubram allows you to draw a card, it just happens to be a very specific card. Underneath has some very strong spells even though most of them suck. I’ll be honest, the only thing you’re ever going to Dreamfetch is a Crushing Fungus. Your opponent is never coming back from 6 Crushing Fungus over the course of a game. They probably can’t come back from 2.

Jore – 3.5

Obviously super good in Burrow decks and only in Burrow decks. You only need two other creatures that benefit from Nourish because energy on burrowed creatures goes a long way.

Kier – 2.5

It’s like a Granas that is too expensive and requires a lot of work in order to Burrow itself. Also, it doesn’t un-burrow when you might want it to. Pass.

Korrit – 3

Like a Giant Korrit except cheaper and smaller. You’ll find more spots where you can play this one and the combo with Parmalag is nice, but it’s still slow.

Magma Parmalag – 2.5

Unlike in Cald where this could be a fun build-around, Underneath has Burrow decks where this ability is pretty useless. Yes, it still does stuff there but the cost is pretty steep. This would have to go in some sort of non-Burrow Underneath aggro deck starring Gulg but I’m not sure that deck exists.

Muggum – 3

Here’s a cheap way to get your key creature(s) burrowed for a short amount of time. It is vastly more energy efficient than the actual spell, Burrow, so any deck that is thinking about playing that spell can think about playing a Muggum instead. However, being a creature, it’s more limited when you can play this during a turn. Also … Bronk synergy! Oy.

Mushroom Hyren – 3

Don’t get confused by the errata on lackey, you still have to bounce the creature. For some reason they removed that text on its lackey entry in which case this card would be obnoxiously broken. This can combo with Gloves of Crystal + Ormagon but that’s expensive as hell. Mostly what you can do is turn a small energy profit from bouncing Sikra, but also allows you to reset Granas or Pylofuf that have fallen low.

Ormagon – 5

Speaks for itself. Though I will say the fact that people splash this thing in a lot of non-Arderial decks (they have Cataclysm) is one of the most persuasive reasons for playing an Underneath deck I can think of.

Ormalet – 3

This card is fine but between regular Ormagon and Thunderquake you just don’t seem them in play too often.

Pack Korrit – 1

Korrit deck isn’t a thing, effectively discards itself to its own power, then has to have another two Korrits in play to be useful. Nope.

Parmalag – 3

This is a card that is worth boosting up with other cards. Shield is very strong but suffers from being on a low-energy creature. If you have Korrits or Crystal Arbolls this thing can put in work. The problem with that is then you’re playing all kinds of medium cards against people with much higher card quality.

Phosphor Hyren – 2.5

This art is incredible. This creature isn’t. It isn’t actually difficult to get higher than 7 energy or to chip this down with direct damage or to just discard it from play. Also, you can’t burrow it so it doesn’t fit into a Burrow deck, where it might otherwise be kind-of cool to protect your Tunnel Hyren except, oh wait, it doesn’t do that anyway. Bottom line, this is paying a lot of energy for a defensive ability that is pretty easy to get around.

Pillar Hyren – 3

You can actually burrow this for good effect, not that you really need to. This is a much better pseudo-Colossus but doesn’t see play because of its high cost. It’s probably worth messing with a little.

Pylofuf – 5

This is the best Underneath card draw spell we got. It just sits there, letting you stall out the game until you draw enough cards the fair way to be able to do what you’re trying to. Unlike Granas, this card doesn’t even really tempt you to attack with it and fits better into Burrow decks because it’s always active. Also, for whatever reason, people do not play aggressively into this thing when most of the time they should.

Rabid Bisiwog – 3.5

If you can get this slavering beast to attack, it’s well worth it. Needs Warrior’s Boots but that’s a decent-sized swing. This is another card for those Korrit decks, because when you can get a double attack out of a Korrit, that’s value.

Sarazen Keeper – 2

This card asks too much of you and will therefore never do anything. You have to have 12 energy cost worth of creatures (unless you’re splashing for the Outcast in which case it’s still 10) to draw a card from Strength in Union. Never happening. Forged Alliance requires this plus a hyren, which is more doable but you’re probably only getting one energy onto itself. Big deal.

Sikra – 4

As long as you can manage to not die to the Illusion text (much easier in Underneath than in d’Resh because of its defensive nature), Sikra is extremely efficient and durable.

Spore Vashp – 3.5

Like Hubram, this card allows you to continue to generate value from cards you’ve already played, which is important since card draw is limited. True Form is a great build-around power, because you need to engineer situations where both options are bad for your opponent, otherwise they’ll just give you the low-threat option. If you’ve already shown your opponent a Dream Balm or you’re playing as Celebrated Hero, let’s say, they can’t just let you have an Ormagon back so you can almost get anything else.

Striped Korrit – 2.5

They’ll just attack this first or, God forbid, Crush it. I’m not sure Pack Defense has ever triggered in the history of the game.

Syre – 3.5

This card is amazing in Burrow decks. Card draw is good.

Trogovo – 3.5

Ok, so obviously against Core this guy is a liability. However, is it good against non-Core decks? Let’s examine. Inspire reduces your magi’s energize by two, effectively causing you to pay two energy to draw two extra cards. That’s actually good. If they kill it on their turn (unless they’re Core) it’s all upside. If they don’t, you get to draw more cards. To minimize the drawback, you’ll want to play magi with larger energize rates to begin with, magi like Celebrated Hero, Emaal, Myka, Trygar, and Fossik, Ringsmith. That’s a list of some of the better Underneath magi, so I’m not all that disappointed to put them in my stack either. Obviously, Trogovo is best with the former two magi on that list because they’ll still have a normal 5 energize even through Inspire.

Tunnel Hyren – 3.5

Here’s the one card that really lets you Burrow your entire team. This card is a Burrow deck, but not by itself. You have to somehow get it into play with its large cost, and then you have to somehow protect it. That’s a tall order, but if you can set it up it’s righteously powerful.

Tunnel Parmalag – 3

This guy is big and dumb and just fine if you’re in the market for big, fair, slow creatures.

Urhail – 4

If all you do is play one Urhail, you’ll have access to it three different times over the course of the game and that’s powerful. Tainted Dreams is one of the reasons an UnderCore deck is possible and there are lots of good Core spells that are worth playing.

Urigant – 3

This card is odd, burrowing itself at the expense of your other burrowed creatures. Invulnerability (2) is great. This guy is mostly useful against Underneath thanks to his Dig Up effect. As a result, it’s more of a Kybar’s Teeth card but is still cool in non-Burrow Underneath decks.

Venomous Korrit – 1

Narrow and not even incredible. Doesn’t do much against Burrow. It’s another Korrit for Ulk decks I guess…

Vulbor – 2.5

See Gruk.

Weebat – 2.5

An anti-Naroom card they have to play into? Surely not. It’s not strictly terrible because there’s a lot of random things that make it annoying to attack Underneath creatures, and Grounded synergizes with those, even against non-Naroom opponents.

Creatures: TLDR

5

Ormagon

Pylofuf

4

Akkar

Grakanden

Granas

Sikra

Urhail

3.5

Crystal Jile

Crystal Twinklet

Hubram

Jore

Rabid Bisiwog

Spore Vashp

Syre

Trogovo

Tunnel Hyren

3

Cave Rudwot

Crystal Arboll

Crystal Lascinth

Crystal Parmalag

Ghost Bwisp

Giant Korrit

Korrit

Muggum

Mushroom Hyren

Ormalet

Parmalag

Pillar Hyren

Tunnel Parmalag

Urhail

2.5

Agovo

Athik

Cave Hyren

Crystal Hyren

Freep

Giant Vulbor

Kier

Magma Parmalag

Phosphor Hyren

Striped Korrit

Vulbor

Weebat

2

Bisiwog

Brub

Giant Parmalag

Gum-Gum

Sarazen Keeper

1

Pack Korrit

Venomous Korrit

Relics

Amulet of Ombor – 3.5

This is a rare instance of an errata giving a card a buff and I appreciate those. If you’re playing Gate to Ombor, this card will now net you a tutor effect and six energy, which is absolutely crazy. Energy Boost is a 50-50 so if you’re feeling lucky you can get very good results. The negative result isn’t even that terrible if they have two or fewer creatures in play and you can therefore make plays to minimize the risk of a negative result. With the Gate out, you have 2/3 to get the good rolls, so you don’t even need to play Loaded Dice. The real question is, does your deck want Gate to Ombor?

Crystal Goblet – 3.5

This is really the card that makes an Ulmi deck interesting, because card draw.

Digging Goggles – 3.5

Every Burrow deck needs at least two of these, if not the third.

Gate to Ombor – 3.5

Since you don’t want to pay full price for this, it necessitates playing Amulet of Ombor. Ulk, Prodigy does allow you to guarantee this draw with her starting cards. Every Underneath magi starts with Urhail, so in addition to your magi’s printed starting cards, that guy’s always an option. The fact that you can get Urhail on the cheap means this card is most attractive in UnderCore, but it’s fun to brew with even in straight Underneath. Prek can get big Parmalags with it, for example. In decks that run this card, you also want ways to kill magi without attacking, maybe something that makes use of these free creatures, maybe Impact…

Gloves of Crystal – 2.5

See Gruk. This card is still marginally useful, and I guess is funny with Rabid Bisiwog, but there aren’t too many shenanigans you can get up to with it anymore.

Gogor’s Spade – 4

Card draw! It’s better than Crystal Goblet because you A) don’t need to play a Crystal theme deck and 2) get to control when Paydirt triggers.

Gremm’s Hammer – 2.5

It’s so slow but it does let your energy accrue interest over time. If they don’t kill it while you’re charging up that is.

Gremm’s Helmet – 3

This card is hilarious. Unfortunately, some of the best powers specify regions, O’Qua’s Conjure for example or Kalius’ Wind Spawn. Still, there are a lot of good magi where copying their powers and effects can be a big upside. Good examples of this would be stealing Evil Evu’s Devour or Barak’s Prophecy. I’ve never seen anyone else play this card but I’ve had it do good things in a few decks.

Kiesel’s Hammer – 3

A bit weird and situational but can be powerful against regions like Naroom.

Motash’s Staff – 2

When are they ever going to return one of your cards to your hand to begin with, much less with this on your field? That said, it is a combo with exactly D’Jarvish.

Rumble Stones – 3

It’s expensive, but it does hit enemy magi in the process. As long as your first use of Mini-Quake is removing 4+ energy from their field (3+ enemy non-Underneath creatures) this relic is fine.

Staff of Korrits – 2

Do you even want this in Korrit decks? I’m not sure it’s worth the card slot. Pack Hunt is already good value and this doesn’t improve it by much. Pack Hunt is already very rare and this doesn’t make it any easier to get there.

Strag’s Claws – 5

This relic is bonkers. It pays for itself after making one attack (or two if your creature doesn’t survive). How much energy can burrowed creatures lose in a turn? Oh yes, 2. This gives them 2. Even without burrow, this card is still super strong. This is what Underneath does, they have a bunch of pretty medium things going on and then some of their card quality spikes through the roof.

Strag’s Ring – 3.5

One of the better Purity rings. Your Burrow deck needs a way to burrow your Tunnel Hyren and your Celebrated Hero deck needs burrowed things to use Pump You Up, so even in non-Burrow decks starring HansnFrans there, this ring is great. You can’t play this in UnderCore and it does mean you can’t splash for Tradewinds if you would have been inclined to do so, which means the cost is more real than some other regions have to pay.

Tremor Stones – 3

It’s free, so although you must wait a turn, it’s still pretty decent. Plus, if they spend relic removal on this or hit it with Rayje’s Belt, they’re not disrupting your other good relics.

Trygar’s Will – 2.5

Kind of a funny card. It boils down to one energy to blow up one of their things, and that’s likely very good. The problem, obviously, is that your magi has to die before this becomes useful and they’ll see it coming.

Tunneler’s Boots – 3.5

Insane in Burrow decks.

Underlord’s Shield – 2

No one plays enough hand discard for this to matter. If they did it would be pretty cool.

Relics: TLDR

5

Strag’s Claws

4

Gogor’s Spade

3.5

Amulet of Ombor

Crystal Goblet

Digging Goggles

Gate to Ombor

Strag’s Ring

Tunneler’s Boots

3

Gremm’s Helmet

Kiesel’s Hammer

Rumble Stones

Tremor Stones

2.5

Gloves of Crystal

Gremm’s Hammer

Trygar’s Will

2

Motash’s Staff

Staff of Korrits

Underlord’s Shield

1

N/A

Spells

Aglow – 2.5

Burrow decks are pretty darn slow, and what they want is to build up layers and layers of synergy that make their board unstoppable. Aglow gives your Burrow deck a temporary power boost, but that’s not really what it’s looking for.

Atekkia’s Gift – 3

Meh. The big issue here is not with the spell’s text, though it’s not as good as a lot of the other Gift spells already. The issue is, what are you bouncing? A lot of the good Underneath cards either discard themselves to their own power, cost real amounts of energy, or want to stay in play long term. The best you’re getting here is to re-buy something that’s been worn down and you have to wait until that happens to be happy about the energy exchange.

Bottomless Pit – 3

As long as you’re hitting a 3-4 energy creature with this, you’ll be happy with the exchange. There are some really annoying creatures in that energy range and most decks will have enough targets. I wouldn’t play three in a deck, but one is certainly fine.

Burrow – 1

This card is pretty horrendous. It’s a single-use energy-inefficient way to burrow one creature. The only time I’ve ever seen this card be good was in an Orothe Interchange deck. In Underneath, find a better way. Even Muggum is a better way.

Carnivorous Cave – 1

This card costs you 4 most of the time because it’ll hit you too. Not worth it, even in a Burrow deck.

Cave In – 2

This is the same thing but not quite as bad.

Cleansing – 3.5

Here’s another enabler for the UnderCore deck, which is the only one I’d run it in. Since you have some ways to play Core spells already (Urhail and Mantle of Shadows), you can use Cleansing to play Core relics or creatures alongside your powerful Underneath cards. It’s also randomly good against Core if you happen to run into them.

Crushing Fungus – 5

This is the most powerful card left in the game. It is also incredibly un-fun to play against. If you get the bonus effect to go off, you’re not only getting a 4-for-9 energy advantage (on average, often more), you’re usually also preventing them from playing new cards on their next turn. If you ever have 4-energy creatures on the table against Underneath, look out.

Crystal Shield – 3

Unless you’re against Paradwyn (who often pack Spell Pulse), this card is a way to protect your key creature (Tunnel Hyren, Grakanden, etc.). Unlike most of these type of abilities, this one doesn’t fall off after a turn, so it’s actually all right as far as that goes.

Enrich – 2.5

Unlike the cards most similar to this one (Shooting Star and Submerge), your magi don’t start with this and you have to meet the condition of burrowing a creature. Also, like Aglow, your Burrow decks are interested in long-term function rather than one-time boosts.

Entrench – 2

This one has a very low impact on the game. It’s cute that you can Entrench their creature to prevent it from attacking or use it to give one of yours some added defense, but it doesn’t do enough.

Gorgle’s Curse – 3

So your Underneath deck doesn’t have to splash Storm Cloud to kill a Colossus. Then again, your Underneath deck can Burrow and wear down those big dudes over time so it probably doesn’t need this. At least, I’ve never seen one of these played by anyone.

Ground Breaker – 2.5

A somewhat unreliable way to damage magi. I’ve also never seen anyone play this card.

Hidden Door – 2.5

There are plenty of good Underneath relics to go get with this spell. The problem is, unless you’re Trug, you have to play three copies of Hidden Door to have a decent chance to draw this, at which point you have two dead cards in your deck because you probably don’t want this effect twice in one game.

Impact – 3.5

This is a good way to kill magi after you’ve used an Ormagon, and it’s a good way to do it in general. You see this played a decent amount in d’Resh decks because they have big Illusion creatures and almost no natural way to damage magi. It’s fine in Underneath too, but just make sure it’s something your deck wants.

Mudslide – 1

Symmetrical but you’re out an extra 2 energy. This means your creature and relic have to be substantially worse than your opponent’s in which case, what’s wrong with your deck? In multiplayer, this isn’t even good because it makes enemies but doesn’t win you the game.

Resonate – 1

Here’s my biggest soapbox moment in MND. You should not play this card. Ever. I did it for years, thinking, “I like the fact that this card is very flexible”. Unfortunately, it’s cost is prohibitively expensive for any of the modes. To wit: it costs 1 simply to play the card, then you can choose 1, 2, or 3 of the modes. Each choice makes it cost another 1 energy, so you’re paying 2, 3, or 4 energy respectively. Paying 2 to discard a relic sucks. Play Relic Stalker instead. That’s the most common mode. Paying 2 to deal 1 to a creature is obviously bad. Paying 2 to deal 2 to a magi is at least breaking even, but the impact of that is very low. Paying 4 to discard a relic (should have cost you zero), discard 1 energy from a creature, and discard 2 energy from a magi has you behind an energy. Paying 3 to do any two of those things is a 1-for-1 exchange as long as you’re not discarding a relic, but that’s what people put this in their deck to do. This card is garbage. Play Relic Stalker or even mess around with Tremor Stones.

Spirit of Ombor – 3.5

This one wins a Razzie for ugliest card art in the game. That said, there are Underneath decks where Resilience is a very strong effect. These are the Big Underneath decks that I’ve mentioned on a couple cards, so if you’re considering Trogovo, this card should also be on your radar. It should not be in your Burrow deck, because what you’re trying to do there is build up a big army of creatures and Resilience won’t ever trigger unless you’re dying.

Thunderquake – 4

It’s probably better in Cald decks than it is in Underneath, because they have synergies with it, but it’s still a really nice card. Unlike Resonate, this one actually is flexible.

Tunnel – 3.5

I know I’ve said that Burrow decks aren’t looking for power turns necessarily, but this card is so low cost and so high upside, that you’ll want to consider it. Getting a bundle of energy back on your magi can allow you to keep playing out synergistic creatures for your Under-army, and hitting their magi for a chunk is often good too.

Unmake – 4

Unless they have multiple copies of a creature or are playing a theme deck, you won’t get the second part too often, but you don’t need to in order for this to be decent. This is basically a single-target Thunderquake with the upside of directly discarding the target rather than removing the energy.

Spells: TLDR

5

Crushing Fungus

4

Thunderquake

Unmake

3.5

Cleansing

Impact

Spirit of Ombor

Tunnel

3

Atekkia’s Gift

Bottomless Pit

Crystal Shield

Gorgle’s Curse

2.5

Aglow

Enrich

Ground Breaker

Hidden Door

2

Cave In

Entrench

1

Burrow

Carnivorous Cave

Mudslide

Resonate

Find all the regional reviews on the Magi-Nation Duel hub page. Explore Ombor, wherever you are!