Magic: The Gathering's Commander format is enormously popular and has a truly vast pool of diverse cards for all kinds of strategies. For the most part, Commander is a casual format where fun comes first, and brutal, highly competitive decks are not the norm. That said, the format has some salt-inducing cards, and EDHrec.com knows it.
Salty MtG cards are those that make the opponents upset or exasperated at the player's actions, such as annoying cards that needlessly slow down the game or shut down entire decks at a time. Salty cards aren't always strong enough to win the game and can usually be dealt with, but they'll still make the entire table groan in irritation when they're cast — and they're infamous for it.
10 Stasis
Stasis is one of MtG's oldest cards, harkening back to a time when WotC wasn't yet sure how to balance trading card games for power levels and fun. Such cards often had awkward or game-breaking effects in that experimental era, such as Stasis shutting down the entire game to suit blue mana's defensive nature.
Stasis is a cheap blue enchantment that completely skips everyone's untap step, which will bring most games grinding to a halt. This card is often played in defensive "Stax" decks with blue and white mana, whose goal is to stop anything from ever happening, and that's aggravating to deal with.
9 Armageddon
Armageddon is a board wipe effect that only affects lands, which makes it unusual in many ways. For one, land destruction is now red mana's domain, not white's, and current MtG cards are designed to not destroy too many lands too easily because that leads to unfun gameplay.
Armageddon is a scary old card that wipes out all lands, which partially resets the game. Any Commander player would be aghast at losing their much-needed manabase, and rebuilding that mana base slows the game down for no good reason.
8 Jin-Gitaxis, Core Augur
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is a notorious Phyrexian creature who gives its controller an overwhelming advantage with cards and spells. Having access to cards is the core of any MtG game, and drawing seven of them on the end step will make other Commander players bitterly envious.
That's a bit salty, but the real saltiness comes from Jin-Gitaxias' effect that reduces everyone else's hand size by seven cards. Now no opponent can keep their cards after their turns end, shutting down all instant-speed plays on other players' turns and causing many cards to go to waste.
7 Dockside Extortionist
Dockside Extortionist is a cheap but effective red Goblin that can fit into any Commander deck with red mana, meaning players will see it everywhere. Unlike many other salty cards, Dockside Extortionist doesn't disrupt the opponents, but it does have a famously overpowered effect.
Dockside Extortionist will make treasure tokens according to how many enchantments and artifacts all opponents have, which will usually be a lot. Getting so much flexible mana allows the player to quickly cast massive spells, which often puts them in a position to win the game right away.
6 Smothering Tithe
Smothering Tithe has established itself as one of Magic's most obnoxious and effective "tax" effects, similar to Rhystic Study in blue. Smothering Tithe may be a tad costly, but its ability to rapidly make treasure tokens in multiplayer Commander games makes up for it.
Commander players often draw extra cards, and those draws convert into treasure tokens unless the opponents can pay 2 for each card, which isn't easy. Commander players also find it annoying how Smothering Tithe's controller must ask, "Will you pay 2?" every single time a card is drawn.
5 Blood Moon
The red enchantment Blood Moon sees ample play in competitive formats like Modern, where it shuts down greedy manabases, and it's just as effective in Commander, where dual lands, tri-lands, and utility lands are often used. Blood Moon turns those lands into Mountains, which are largely useless to many decks.
Blood Moon switches off all man-lands and utility lands, while color-fixing lands will lose one or more colors, which may make certain spells impossible to cast. Decks with no red mana will be totally salty when Blood Moon disrupts their mana base and shuts them out of the game.
4 Cyclonic Rift
Cyclonic Rift is a powerful and costly blue sweeper from the Return to Ravnica set and has since become an irritating Commander staple. It's almost never cast for 1IU; players would rather overload Cyclonic Rift and bounce all of their opponents' nonland cards.
This devastating, one-sided effect can put Cyclonic Rift's caster in a strong position to attack on an empty board and knock out a player. The ultimate salty move is for a Cyclonic Rift player to cast this when they're unable to follow up on it, stalling the game just because they can.
3 Void Winnower
Void Winnower is one of EDHrec.com's strangest cards in the salty card list. Void Winnower is a noxious Eldrazi partially shutting down all opponents in an unexpected way by making evenly costed spells impossible to cast. This renders many cards in each opponent's hand useless, which is sure to infuriate any player.
In addition, Void Winnower shuts down blockers with even mana costs, which makes it easier for huge threats like the 11/9 Void Winnower to attack. Such bizarre but effective effects may be why players say, "Your opponents can't even" when Void Winnower is on the battlefield.
2 Vorinclex, Voice Of Hunger
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger is a Phyrexian Praetor creature with inverse abilities, like Jin-Gitaxias. Vorinclex will double its controller's mana from their lands, which is serious mana ramp, but its opposite ability is what makes it such a salty Commander card.
If an opponent taps a land for mana, that land won't untap on its controller's next untap step. This seriously slows down each opponent by making lands unusable on alternating turns, and not every opponent will have enough mana dorks or mana rocks to offset this effect.
1 Tergrid, God Of Fright
Tergrid, God of Fright is a double-faced black creature from Kaldheim, and its effect is far saltier than what the other Gods can do. Tergrid will seize control of any sacrificed non-token permanent and do the same for permanent cards that the opponents discard.
This effect will rapidly build up a formidable board state of stolen cards, and players won't like having their best cards used against them. Being a black creature, Tergrid easily fits into decks loaded with sacrifice effects like Torment of Hailfire, Fleshbag Marauder, Plaguecrafter, Dictate of Erebos, and much more.