2001)

The top commons for the white, green and red had enchantments, creatures, and utility. How will the next spectrum of cards and colors turn out? I think you will be surprised in the selection!

Blue:

Capsize is the real winner here. For six mana, you can get rid of most any permanent in the commons arena. If you make it to twelve lands, you can go for the every-annoying capsize lock. Bounce two lands over and over and then go for the permanents. You have seen Awakening and Tradewind Rider decks use Capsize to its fullest. It fits perfectly in any blue deck.

Counterspell is also a no-brainer for the ´´perfect-card´´. It is ultimate removal in the right hands. In the early game, it can stop a creature beating. It can halt a red removal spell. It will thwart a Blastoderm. Let's face it, who wouldn't fear a blue player with two open islands? The threat can even slow the game down for the opponent. With all of the great countermagic in the game, this common (reprinted numerous times) is well worth it.

The final power common is a power-Tim. The Stinging Barrier is a dream for blocking and damaging. Many Mercadian Masques drafts were designed for this plinker. You can block a medium sized creature with its awesome four toughness, and you can serve up some damage! What a great deal for four mana! The burn player will most likely have to use two cards (or two mountains: Fireblast) to rid themselves of an awesome goblin killer. Most other colors cannot stop a blue source of damage (bye bye pump knights)! It is the control creature of choice! Imagine Sigil of Sleep on this thing...Nice!

Honorable Mention: Bounce creatures like Waterfront Bouncer and Man O War are great choices for keeping the pressure on the opponent. However, Ophidian would be my dark horse candidate. If you were able to clear the board of creatures, you have the ultimate card drawing engine in commons! Other bounce and countermagic make blue a challenging deck to play and play against!

Black:

Hymn to Tourach is Fallen Empire's saving grace. Hymn to Tourach is two for one. ´´I play one card, you lose two!´´ It is almost unfair in its brutality. It can strip a hand that contains land, countermagic, burn, pumping spells, or a late game surprise that would ruin your day. If this card comes after a Duress, the effects are disastrous to the opponent. Imagine this opening play. ´´I play a swamp. I play Dark Ritual. I cast Duress. Now I play HYMN.´´ Granted, you have spent three cards for three of their cards, but who will come back faster?

Dark Ritual is the cheap Black Lotus in the common world. It makes suicide black decks win on turn four. Drop three Carnophage creatures on turn one! How about an Erg raider and an Unholy Strength? Skittering Skirge (with Unholy Strength) or Skittering Horror sound good? It causes a lot of pain really quick. Too bad the Phyrexian Negator wasn't a common. I know you may think this card is bad late game, but consider its main partner in battle - the Drain Life!

How good is Drain Life? Amazingly good! It is direct damage, life gain, and time advantage. Packed in the late game with a ritual, the card can swing the match. This card breaks stalemates and kills black creatures. It is quite a beating when going for the NERCO-style mega-drains on the opponent. Why do you think this common isn't reprinted anymore? A common card shouldn't cause this much havoc, but it does!

Honorable Mention:
The Order of the Ebon Hand (pump knight) and the ´´Skittering´´ creatures are great for beat-down games. Removal such as ´´Expunge´´ is never dead in your hand thanks to the cycling mechanic. Diabolic Edit is solid removal for even a Blastoderm. Black has control all over the board! Black has trouble with other protection creatures - which brings us to our next section...

Artifacts:

The only real power artifact common I find that I use in most every deck is the Serrated Arrows. When it was first played against me in a commons tournament, I was in disbelief! I didn't even think of it! As John Weldy used it in his control black deck, it killed elves, goblins, shadow creatures and pump knights. It really cleaned the board with great card advantage. Many times the card will kill two or three creatures sending the opponent to struggle for a new creature.

To add to the powerful nature of the card, it allows non-control decks some creature removal. Green and blue now have a chance to get some mid-game tempo and time to stop the rush of the creature attack.

Lands:

Desert, the Arabian Nights land, is the clear winner. It can plink a small creature and give colorless mana. Need four removal spells? Try four lands with built in creature control. The only drawback to the land is the scarcity and price of the card itself. The Desert land may not be necessary in many decks, but it could be the land needed to slow the army from crashing upon you!

Multi-colored cards:

This section is up for wild debate because, until recently, there hasn't been a pool of decent multi-colored cards to choose from. With Planeshift and Invasion sets, the quality and quantity have sharply increased. Since the beginning of the common tournaments, all top-class decks have been mono-colored. I see in the next few weeks, the inclusion of Terminate and Recoil into control decks fueled by these efficient cards.

I encourage you to see what a little money can buy (and I do mean a LITTLE money). When building a deck with these commons, you will sharpen your skills and challenge many with your deck. In weeks to come I will post common decks that utilize most of these power cards and their complementary cousins. I encourage all to submit ideas, suggestions, and ideas for the next power common card that I may have overlooked. In short, build the best deck that spare change can buy!

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