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(Articles in the From the Vault series are repostings of articles and primers or reviews I have written in the past and personally enjoyed.  Since this article came out EDH's banned list has changed and the format had grown alot.  I only ever got through the letter 'R', if people seem to like this analasys and/or want to see some decks with unusual generals, leave comments here on the blog.  I may just reboot the Unsung Heros of EDH Series - Shoe)

Below is a list of Legendary creatures that no one on MTGS or on the EDH Forums will admit to having used as a general. In this thread I will write a bit on each one over an extended period of time and present possible card choices that would make that general good/fun.

Akuta, Born of Ash

An interresting ability, if it werent for the fact that generals are recursive anyway, and at much less of a cost. Akuta is definately a sub bar choice most of the time. It seems like Akuta could be playable with Some kind of Land Recursion, but with the banning of Crucible of Worlds, this card just seems like a CMC 4 3/2 haste general.

Seems to me that any kind of black deck wouldnt be horrible with Akuta at the helm, but generally there will always be a better choice since generals can keep on coming back anyway by the nature of the format

Arashi, the Sky Asunder

Arashi is a good card, he is removal in and of himself, but his channel ability is mostly non-exsistant. Arashi isnt really a build around me general, for a green deck that cannot handle fliers, he is a solid choice for a general.

Axelrod Gunnarson

Mr. Gunnarson suffers badly from power creep. certantly a 5/5 trample general in B/R is good, but OH at WHAT COST!? CMC 7+ generals need to make a huge impact on the game when they hit the table or they will just be removed once never to return. I dont think this big guy will see a hell of a lot of play no matter how casual you are. His second ability will rarely even do ANYTHING in EDH. this guy isnt even something I would play and I have tried alot of stupid generals.

Ayesha Tanaka

Ayesha could be a decent metagame choice...banding is a much more powerful ability than people give it credit for and her second ability shuts down alot of good cards without an option to even pay the W in EDH. However, there are ALOT of strong options in UW these days and she is only a 2/2 for 4 CMC that is all colored mana. If there are alot of annoying activated abilities of artifacts at your table, and not alot of White...this might be a good play, otherwise, leave this in the trade binders.

Barktooth Warbeard

One of the craptastic expensive old "Vanilla Monstrocities" as i have dubbeed them. play only if you just want to be in RB, and even then dont play this card....or any of the Vanilla Monstrocities for that matter.

Boris Devilboon

Once agin there are alot of better choices, but i could see Boris being alot of fun. i actually have a copy and I think i will give building a Dr. Devilboon deck a try. he has an ability that is pretty unorthadox in B/R and it could be alot of fun to try and throw around a B/R tokens deck like the one that saw some time in standard, with some heavy modifications. a deck with Boris will always have SOMETHING to do with its mana, even if it only makes a 1/1 dork its still virtual CA. This is the first one I can say I am suprised no one uses.

Bounteous Kirin

one of the few green flying fatties without a drawback, Bounteous Kirin isnt a very good card to begin with as it is REALLY overcosted. Along with that it requires you to play alot of Kamigawa block and limits card choices alot to benifit from its second ability which is mediocer as well because of general damage.

I could see a spiritcraft deck popping up because of hanna kami and kodama's reach, but overall, I am not impressed. I may try to make a deck for this guy sometime too, but its not at the top of my list

Brothers Yamazaki

Really boring in a highlander format. just a 2/1 bushido for 3. not impressed, leave these at home

Celestial Kirin

the only other tolerable Kirin, this one is Repeatable removal...however, most spirit/arcane cards that are white suck and thus are not likely to make his ability do much. Worth a shot for an extremely casual concept deck, but dont expect alot of wins.

Eron the Relentless

Eron is big and hasty, but that isnt a big deal for red. his regeneration is ok, but its actually almost more cost effective to REPLAY him that it is to regenerate. With most of red's board sweepers preventing regeneration anyway, Eron isnt that great.

Gallowbraid

Gallowbraid has a CRIPPLING cumulative upkeep just like his cousin Morfien.

General Jarkeld

to me, the good General is another sleeper. He can make your non flying guys block fliers, switch blockers between your Solemn Simulacrum and Akroma to get rid of Pro white guys and much much more. I build a deck with him once, but never played it and it was subpar at best. will DEFINATELY try Mr. Jarkeld out in the future...keep checking here for all the decks i am promising

Gerrard Capashen

gerrard might be a viable option in a control deck now that white is getting counterspells. he can swing in and tap as many blockers as you like, as well as keeping you alive from all sources save General Damage. His major drawback is the lack of Blue in his mana cost. This is another card I am suprised that no one has built around. Throw in alot of card draw and a Reliquary Tower, a dash of Storm Herd, and there is a clear deck forming.

EDIT
It has been brought to my attention that i cannot read. Gerrard gains life for your OPPONENT's hand. so in that case:

There could be a deck out there for Gerrard with Temporary Truce, Truce, Bargain and Obliation, but only time will tell if someone can pull it off and make it work

Gosta Dirk

Uhg, like his brothers, Ur-Drago and some other guy i completely forget, Gosta's abilities are not useful. Landwalk sucks now a days and rarely shows up. and you can do way better than a 4/4 first strike for 4UUWW

Grandmother Sengir

Grandmother Sengir is repetable crappy point removal in a color that already has it. if you have a Grim Lavamancer/Priest of Titania/Goblen Welder problem then MAYBE this card is playable. generally though, taking out a couple of toolbox creatures can be done better with Visara the dreadful for a +1 CMC and a free activation.


Greel, Mind Raker

Targeted discard sucks in multiplayer...this guy will never see multiplayer play IMHO

Hazduhr the Abbot

the Hazduhr has a goofy abilitiy that is VERY limited...it also screams COMBO ME at players like me. Someone somewhere will try this guy out once. Likely he will loose, but there is a chance that the Hazduhr plus some sort of shenanigans will do something goofy FTW

While I am writing this i am digging for inspiration. I am tired of playing with and against all of the same legendary creatures. I just dont enjoy playing Niv-Mizzet, Jhoira and the rest of them like i did when EDH was new to me. Now a days I want a challenge and this is how to do it. Using a general NO ONE will (admit to having, anyway) use is a thrill, and winning with that deck an even bigger one.

He Who Hungers

Discard is generally bad in multiplayer, but cheap repeatable discard can be useful. Things that Generate alot of Spirit tokens are harder to find in black, but there is always Baku Altar, but it is sub par and the only repeatable way to make spirit tokens for black. Still i could see trying it out with a Volrath's Lab and alot of spirits. He does have Soulshift as well after all. Also Flying 4 power generals can get in for general damage. A deck for He Who Hungers may follow shortly.

Hisoka, Minamo Sensei

Repeatable counters are GOOD, but this one is REALLY Specific. If there was alot of card draw, a Scroll Rack and Sensi's Divining top, he might be playable, but Ertai, Wizard Adept will be better 90% of the time.

Hivis of the Scale

Hivis is a metagame choice for a general. Stealing dragons is fun, cool, and likely to happen in EDH more than in regular games and even FFA multiplayer. However, he becomes REALLY boring and/or a card that prevents theft of your dragon by a blue deck in some circles....then again every color has at least 1 playable dragon.

Ihsan's Shade

Ishan's Shade use to be a REALLY great card, then another couple of sets came out. I could maybe see this as a decent general in a white heavy meta, but otherwise play with something else. definately better than Gallowbraid though.

Iizuka the Ruthless

I could see this guy in samurai tribal. Give him trample (with something like the red charm from planar chaos) and he could get in for general damage REALLY early. Double strike is a house no matter how you look at it. But is 12 samurai on color enough. exspecially when one of them is Sozuken Renegade? I guess there is always Riptide Replicator.

Infernal Kirin

The second worst of the Kirin, there are a few spirits in mono black, but the discard effect that this guy gives will often just piss people off or do nothing. He is a 3/3 flying for 4 in black which makes him a bit of a speedy beater, but i think you can always do better with generals with relevant abilities.

Irini Sengir

Wow...just wow. a G/W hozing Black legendary dwarf. This is the least synergistic card in all of MTG. I doubtthis card will ever be played as a general...Unless i play it just for the laugh factor. Painters servant and this chick can at least make enchantments expensive....i guess.

Isao, Enlightened Bushi

Isao is a good, quick little beater that can regenerate other samurai in a color that has no other samurai. He IS uncounterable and has 3 semi-useful abilities ( he can at least regenerate himself and Chamelion Colossus), but i think green can do better as a 3 drop. He is far from unplayable though, just not synergestic with the format

Iwamori of the Open Fist

This guy could actually be good. When he CITP he will NOT let your opponents play generals, and the chances that an opponent has a Legendary Creature in hand are pretty low on turn 4 and even turn 6 in 100 card highlander. This guy is worth a 2nd thought. Mono-Green is a little hard to handle, but it has answers for almost everything. (think Dezert Twister)

Jedit Ojanen

Vanilla Crap from Legends...he IS a cat warrior that allows blue for a w/u cat deck, but i would rather drop blue and use Rakasa Golden Cub

Jerrard of the Closed Fist

More Vanilla crap.

Jeska, Warrior Adept

I dont see Jeska as a particularly good general. She is small, her ability is small and she just isnt that impacting on EDH. She has alot of semi relevant abilties in 2 player normal 4 copies 60 cards, but 1 toughness makes her easy to kill and she isnt even that impacting. DIES TO EVERYTHING is a common phrase that applies

Jiwari, the Earth Aflame

Fireball a non flier is good...for the Whole game. this guy is worth another look. Channel isnt particularly relevant if he is a general, but its not that powerful anyway. This guy is worth a a try.

Jugan, the Rising Star

The only playable big green flier. Jugan isnt hard to cast on turn 3 or 4 in green in EDH so he is very playable in a color that has no flying fatties. I will likely try a Jugan build as well.

Kasimir the Lone Wolf

More Vanilla Crap

Kaysa

Gaia's Anthem as a general? sounds good to me, although i think i remember someone using this general before, so its not exactly an Unused General

Kei Takahashi

Double Samite Healer as a general seems pretty underwhelming. Not TOTALLY worthless, but close.

Keiga, the Tide Star

Of the 5 Kamigawa dragons, Keiga is probably the second best. She is a threat on the board and a gives you a new threat when she dies. The sad truth of the Kami-dragons is that thier abilities do not work if they are the general unless you let them die. Blue is not a color known for its creature recursion, so Keiga just isnt a good general choice. In the deck as a normal card its AWESOME, not so much as a general.

Kentaro, the Smiling Cat

Well...this guy pretty much does already something that EDH's rules do for you. YOu can only play white cards in his deck, and he makes it do you can play samurai for colorless mana. Well, its not like you have any cards that you can't play if you already have white mana to play him in the first place. He is marginally useful, and is cheap and efficient enough to maybe get through for general damage, but i think other mono white samurais do a better job of being general for that deck.

Kiyomaro, First to Stand

Now, this guy is actually pretty cool and I am not sure why no one has tried this guy out. I know, i know, white card draw sucks, but there are always artifacts. This guy is a flying beatstick that likely has vigilance, comes out early and has the potential to keep your life total up as well. I definatley want to give this dude a run as general.

Kodama of the Center Tree

I dont know what to think of this dude. Him potentally having a high enough soulshift to recur himself is potentally breakable as you would never have to use the general rule, keeping his cost down. However, I'm not sure mono-green has a good way to abuse that. In spirit tribal this dude is totally playable.

Kodama of the South Tree

As a 4/4 for 4 this dude isn't terrible, but there are many better choices. Green has some good spirit or arcane choices and with Kodama's Reach, Hanna Kami and stuff that brings back any type of card from the grave i could see this guy as a decent option, but again for a spirit (and arcane) tribal deck.

Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse

The black Craw Wurm is not at all an impressive card. This guy isnt even better than the black Kirin, but has a similar ability. I would never use this guy as a general. There will always be a better choice.

Lady Caleria

Lady Caleria costs too much mana, like most Legends legends do, but she does have a recurring lightning bolt to attackers/blockers in GW, a color pair that severely lacks good removal. There might be a deck here, but it seems like there will likely be a better general for a GW deck.

Lady Evangela

Evangela's ability is a little narrow, but it can make for some interresting combat scenarios. My 1/1 dude trades with your 6/1 guy becomes a slaughtered 6/1 and an alive and happy 1/1. Worth a second look at, but not really a build around me general, and with black in the picture, repeatable spot removal is easy to find.

Lady Orca

More Vanilla crapola.

Latulla, Keldon Overseer

Back when general damage just had to have come from the general, and wasn't only combat damage, Latulla was at least playable. She can turn 2 cards in your hand into some pretty sweet burn, but that kind of card disadvantage hurts even more in a multiplayer environment, and Red isn't exactly the color known for its graveyard recursion.

Lieutenant Kirtar

THis one suprises me ALOT. The Lieutenant is some of the best spot removal, and with the general rule, easily recurred. This guy should be seeing play. I will have to scoop up a copy and build a deck. This guy takes care of Akroma the white, Darksteel Colossus and many many more. And he can do it MULTIPLE TIMES with the general rules in place!

Linessa, Zephyr Mage

Ignoring Grandeur because it is useless in EDH, the repeated bounce is a nice abilitiy. Someone, somewhere will abuse this card someday. Combined with good 1-8-7 dudes like Man-'o-War, Draining Whelk and the like could bear some fruit, it does, however, eat up alot of mana.

Livonya Silone

Sylvester's little sister isnt as bad a card as one would imagine. Legendary lands are actually quite popular in EDH and thus this is often an unblockable 4/4 in RG. Colors that tend to be worse at evasion. On a side note, the First Strike is good for blocking and for attacking players with swarms of little dudes and no legendary lands. Livonya is worth a shot in a RG deck.

Llawan, Cephalid Empress

Llawan is a color hozer. The color she hozes IS the best color, but its also the color that uses the least # of creatures, the card type that she hozes. If she bounced your blue dudes too, this could be playable, but in the end this is not a good general.

Lord Magnus

Uuummm...wow, this guy and his Ilk are just laughable. He costs a ton of mana and allows you to block a very small number of theoretically evasive creatures. Usually there are better choices...unless your buddy loves to play with Jedit Ojanen of Effevra.

Major Teroh

Wow...this guy is not a very good general. His ability is only rarely good and being in mono-White is a drawback in and of itsself. I could see this in a SUPER black metagame, but otherwise, its a flying 2/3 for 4.

Mannichi, the Fevered Dream

This dude has some serious potential, even more if he werent mono-red. Switching power and toughness is a neat build around me ability and i really want to make this dude into a deck now. I cant think of many ways to break this in red though. Maybe with wither and walls or something.

Marhault Elsdragon

Wow, that's alot of mana for a RG dude with just Rampage 1. This guy isnt a good card. He doesn't even trample and 4/6 for 6 isnt good at all, exspecially in RG.

Marton Stromgald

So, Marton is basically having Overrun be your general in red, minus trample. This guy has alot of potential to be a cool general if you just build around it right. the deck will want to be an aggressive deck, and attack with alot of guys. Goblin tokens are what come to mind immediately. Another fun dude to try out as general.

Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker

Michiko is a decent choice for a mono-white general. Sure she dosnt get in for damage often, but she punishes attacking you, and with white having all the lifegain that it does, Michiko can be a good defense in and of herself. Another general worth trying.

Morinfen

See Gallowbraid, but at least he flies.

Nagao, Bound by Honor

Nago could make a decent general in samurai tribal, but due to a limited cardpool of creatures, and General Takeno always being a better choice, i doubt he will see the light of day in EDH.

Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo

Of all the generals i have reviewed, Opal-Eye is the hardest to evaluate. He obviously can't win via general damage, but with LOADS of mana, he can keep you alive for a good long time. I want to try and make an Opal-Eye deck, but I am not even sure where to begin...other than with 40 Plains, darksteel Ingot, Coldsteel Heart, Sol Ring, Thran Dynamo....you get the picture.

Orim, Samite Healer

Not the worst card in the universe, Orim is a little underwhelming as a general. She comes down early for a general and prevents a whopping 3 damage a turn to ANY creature or PLAYER, but that ability quickly looses power as more 6/6 and 7/7 creatures slam down on the table. She also has a toughness of 3, which doesn't survive ALOT of burn.

Oriss, Samite Guardian

Oriss is a little better and a little worse than her mom. Her ability to prevent all damage for a whole turn to a creature is pretty good, but leaves protecting you, the player, out of the question. Oriss can mess with combat something fierce and is a good political general, but without politics, Oriss is just as spayed as her mother.

Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens

Another of the infamous 'Monocolor Spiritcraft Legends', Spiritcraft was just far too undersupported to be played in 100 card highlander in only one color. 3/3 fliers are nice, but the cards you have to put in your deck to get them in white usually are crap. Not totally worthless, but not what I would call good

Patron of the Kitsune

Patron of the kitsune is a 5/6 for 6 which seems good, and its ability to gain life for ANY attacking creatures is good in multiplayer, but its lack of evasion and restriction to white only makes it sub par. On a side note i REALLY doubt anyone used Fox Offering in EDH, and likely no one ever will.

Pavel Maliki

WOW! 6 for a 5/3 Fireswamp breathing!!! THIS GUY IS SO AWESOME...but seriously, this guy will likely never see play as a general unless he is the only B/R legend you own.

Princess Lucrezia

Ha Ha...sometimes I forget cards like this ezsist. Princess Lucrezia is a Blue Llanowar elf for 6 mana and has +4/+3. This card helps accel your mana while wanting to attack as well. Not what i would call good, but its playable i guess.

Purraj of Urborg

Purraj is a good card, and a good general. People play black, and when they do, your general hits harder. Its easy to give this bad boy (girl) fear and swing in for general damage hard and fast.

Ragnar

Ragnar wasn't awful in his day. There were much fewer cards that Buried (didn't allow regenration) creatures. Now a days 3 mana for a 2/2 that can regenerate a dude with UWG isnt so hot. However, he isn't as bad as Pavel Maliki.

Rakka Mar

Rakka Mar seems like a good general choice to me. If Boris Devilboon is a decent card, Rakka is better, if not multicolored. She creates a decent threat each turn and haste keeps the pressure on. Throw in a Goblin Bombardment and this becomes good removal too.

Rashida Scalebane

A metagame choice, Rashida is really great if everyone around you is running say...Invasion and Planar Chaos dragons as generals. Otherwise she is just another Legendary Creature in your trade binder

Rashka the Slayer

Rashka is overcosted and a color hozer, she will NOT see alot of play as she is strictly worse than Major Teroh and fills a similar niche.

Reveka, Wizard Savant

A blue tim mixed with shock and Rootwater Depths, Reveka is a Dwarf out of her element. Blue has some FANTASTIC legendary creatures to choose from, and a shock every other turn isn't worth using up your general slot now that only combat damage counts as general damage.

Rohgahh of Kher Keep

So, this dude has a HUGE drawback, no evasion and can pump 2 dudes from your deck (Kobolds of Kher Keep and tokens from Kher Keep itsself.) This guy has no place in EDH. He isn't even big for his cost and/or evasive.

Ryusei, the Falling Star

Another of the Kamigawa dragons who's abilities do not work when the general rule is used, red does not have enough reanimation ( or any that I am aware of) to use this guy to any effect. Keep this one as a card in your R/B decks.