Blinking in Magic: The Gathering is where you temporarily Exile a permanent before returning it to the battlefield. This creates opportunities to reuse powerful Enters-the-Battlefield triggers and it allows you to protect your Creatures. The strongest Blink enablers can turn these interactions into a repeatable engine, allowing a deck to extract more value from its permanents while maintaining flexibility throughout the game.

Best Underrated Blink Enablers

These are the top 10 cards that will help keep our Blink engines running without actually being the cards that say "when this Creature enters."

1. Avatar's Wrath
2. Radagast of Rhosgobel
3. Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
4. Guardian Project
5. Dour Port-Mage
6. Semester's End
7. Virtue of Knowledge
8. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
9. Parting Gust
10. Scroll of Fate

Below, we will take a closer look at each of these Blink enablers to find out why they are so powerful.

10. Avatar's Wrath

As a delaying board wipe, Avatar's Wrath helps us on two different axes. It removes all Creatures our opponents control from the field, so they can't attack us (while stalling their recast for another turn) and lets us recast our own Creatures for cheap, allowing us to reuse our Enter-the-Battlefield abilities again. We're always on the lookout for cards that let us play offense and defense at the same time.

9. Radagast of Rhosgobel

Having Flash on Creatures makes for a very terrifying situation for our opponents to deal with, as we can drop in a blocker or a nasty ETB effect at any time. What makes Radagast of Rhosgobel even better is that the first Creature we cast each turn costs two mana less.

For a mass Blink deck, this may not be super impactful, but for a Blink deck that wants to capitalize on bigger impact effects like Agent of Treachery or Gruff Triplets, being able to Flash these cards in at a discount has a huge impact. Blink decks tend to be mana hungry, and this card offsets that a bit.

8. Thassa, Deep-Dwelling

Thassa, Deep-Dwelling tends to go under the radar, as similar cards like Conjurer's Closet don't have a color restriction. Thassa is a favorite for one reason: she's Indestructible. She's not going to be removed by a Bane of Progress and can even become a strong blocker if we get our devotion high enough.

On our end step, we can Blink a Creature we control and return it under our control, not its owner's control. So, if we have cards that allow us to steal a Creature for the turn, we can instead Blink them and keep them for good. If we're flooded with mana in the end game, we can also pay four mana to tap down our opponent's Creatures to prevent them from attacking or blocking.

7. Guardian Project

Guardian Project is very similar to Beast Whisperer with one very important difference. Beast Whisperer draws a card on cast, while Guardian Project triggers on a nontoken Creature entering play. This means when we Blink a Creature, we'll be able to draw a card again, which provides us with a lot more value.

6. Dour Port-Mage

While Guardian Project draws us cards as Creatures enter, Dour Port-Mage draws cards as they leave, assuming they aren't going to the graveyard. We also get the added bonus of an Activated Ability for two mana to put a Creature we control back into our hand.

Since we are showing this ability in play, it's rather difficult for opponents to target our Creatures with removal, as we can bounce them in response. This means they have to waste a removal spell to draw out the ability or bide their time for a window that may never present itself. Either option is a win for us.

5. Semester's End

With Semester's End, we can Blink any number of Creatures and Planeswalkers we control at Instant-speed for just four mana. Blinking Planeswalkers to reset their Loyalty Counters is incredibly strong and can allow us to get the absolute most out of them.

When our Creatures and Planeswalkers return to play at the beginning of the end step, they all come back with a +1/+1 Counter for the Creatures and a Loyalty Counter for the Planeswalkers. That little extra support can turn a wide board into a viable combat threat.

4. Virtue of Knowledge

Virtue of Knowledge is an Adventure spell and Enchantment that lets us double up Enter-the-Battlefield effects. The Adventure side is an Instant for a one time use in the early game, while the Enchantment can be played in the later game for five mana. No matter what ETB effects we want to play, it's rarely a bad idea to either reuse or double their effects.

3. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is a really interesting Commander and card for the 99 of our deck because we can Blink our cards or an opponent's cards to get a blocker out of the way.

Blinking an opponent's Creature could even be backbreaking depending on their strategy. If we Blink a Voltron Commander that had a stack of Auras or Equipment on it, that might be enough to completely end their game. Having Flash so we can cast it before our turn and start attacking right away is a nice touch.

2. Parting Gust

Parting Gust is a card that isn't the best in class at anything, but it can be used as either a single target Blink spell or as a removal spell for . Blink players tend to make the mistake of having more of their removal attached to their Creatures.

It's synergistic to build a deck this way, but if any opponent plays a Hatebear like Doorkeeper Thrull, then the entire game plan completely folds.

Adding removal that's made up of Instants and Sorceries is great, but it can be difficult to find spots in the 99. Playing Parting Gust in place of a card like Cloudshift is great because you keep the Blink enabler while having an extra removal spell in your back pocket.

1. Scroll of Fate

When a card is Morphed or Manifested, it is turned upside down. When that card is Blinked, it returns to play right side up. So, Scroll of Fate in a Blink deck is a way to sneak cards into play without having to pay for them or cast them, which would leave them vulnerable to counterspells.

We don't even have to Manifest Creatures. Scroll of Fate can be used on Lands, Planeswalkers, Artifacts, and even Enchantments. There's nothing quite like Blinking a manifested card only to have it return to play as an Omniscience.

Wrapping Up

Blink is not a perfect archetype. It is a very defensive method of play that uses a lot of finesse. But like a well-choreographed dance routine, every movement has a purpose and works together. There is still plenty of space to explore when it comes to Blink Commander decks, but these cards can serve as a foundation to take those first steps.