Do you have a pet card...

[WWolfe]

Do you have a pet card that you love to put in a deck while not optimal just gives you joy to play?

I've found myself doing this with Archangel of Thune in my Varina deck. The lifegain from Varina can trigger it and make my other zombies bigger, but it really doesn't fit the theme of the deck. This is all because the card is a favorite of mine with fond memories of playing it in standard.

[bigdogdch]

For me it’s Arcbond. Have one in my Zurgo Helmsmasher deck. It’s a fun combat trick. Attack with Zurgo, opponent blocks, cast arcbond, 7 points of damage to everyone. Essentially a board wipe for 3 mana and Zurgo is the only one still on the board.

[GoliathIII]

Whenever I draft a deck with red in it, I have to fight the urge to throw in a Blistering Firecat.
Since I started playing Magic during 'Onslaught' it's obvious why it's been a favourite of mine all these years... but it's such a good card and a real shocker for every unsuspecting enemy

[robort]

Mine is definitely mana flare. I don't care if it helps everyone else I just like that it speeds up games and it allows people to do stuff. Any commander deck that has red in it and rest assured it has mana flare in the deck.

[ApothecaryGeist]

I'm fond of Pyxis of Pandemonium.  It's a really fun chaos card.  And as a one-drop artifact, it slots easily into any deck.


The really fun part is that the exile is face-down.  So your opponents have no idea what they are losing.

[The Golgari Guy]

Not sure if it's a pet card or just an underplayed good card, but I really enjoy Sarkhan's Unsealing in Xenagos.

There are probably better cards to play than a 4-mana enchantment that does usually nothing on the turn it's cast, but I just really enjoy wiping my opponents' board when slamming down a huge dragon. Also, it's very on theme since my Xenagos deck is basically dragon tribal 

[CashEntropic]

My pet card in the traditional sense (I slam it everywhere I can) is Ghostly Flicker for sure.

My pet Card in a non-traditional sense is Niv-Mizzet Reborn I have always wanted to make an all guilds matter deck and that was basically ludicrous till that showed up and now i have 5 different commander decks with reborn at the helm.

[Aetherium Slinky]

My pet card is the commander of my pet deck: Merieke Ri Berit. I am aware that there are probably better options out there for a high power deck but they're not on flavour for untapping since MRB is the only* Esper commander that cares about being untapped. Love the art, love the mechanic (it's a bit broken, not OP broken), love the card overall. When I play her I feel like I'm asking for this lady of the woods to come and lure stranded travellers to an embrace of death. Great stuff!

*There's also Lady Evangela but she's even less powerful.

EDIT: I also like Reality Ripple and I play it in some of my decks. Phasing is a surprisingly powerful mechanic allowing me to remove threats for an entire rotation or it protects my stuff from wipes and targeted removal for a rotation. The good thing about it is that it also protects stuff that care about imprint because the target doesn't leave the battlefield.

[Shafi5557]

Everflowing Chalice

I dump all my mana into this cup. Tapping this card feels like pouring out a drink for myself.
I bought 24 copies of this card even though I only have 6 active commander decks.

I feel great sadness when someone destroys my holy grail or worse: turn it into a raven or beast.

I also love Gilded Lotus but that card is optimal in all decks.

[Potato Chop]

Etali, Primal Storm. Just flipping those cards from the tops of everyone's libraries... The supense, the value, the intrigue!

It's just a really fun card, and I'm putting it in every red commander deck I own. I don't care if it isn't on-theme, I'm more of a casual player anyway.

[Morganator 2.0]

I guess my pet card is Humble Defector. The trick to using it is to give it to someone who you know will give it back. If they choose to give it to a player other than you, you never give them Humble Defector again... even in future games.

[Korlich]

In Pauper I have Ornithopter, just an amazing card.

[Eryx92]

My favourite pet card is 'Volcanic Vision'. It can turn around games easily and I really like the artwork. You'll like the baffled faces of your opponents after playing it.

[ToonRune]

Steal Enchantment is my #1 favorite pet card, and probably card in magic. its closely followed by Mind Harness, however in Xyris, stealing an opponents smothering Tithe with steal enchantment has won me more games then i can remember

[Landale]

Serrated Scorpion in anything with a lot of recursion. It doesn't seem to draw anywhere near as much attention as Kokusho, the Evening Star or the Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but it can still end up racking up a ton of damage before people shift from "that's annoying" to "that's a threat".