Imperial Recruiter / Recruiter of the Guard

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ISBPathfinder
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 3 years ago

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In the past, I kind of put both recruiters in most any list that they had the colors for and had creature targets. I have been finding of late that unless I really value a specific effect or have a wide toolbox answer approach though that I don't find myself playing them nearly as much anymore. In a lot of cases the targets for these two are 2-4 mana so paying somewhere between 5 and 7 mana to tutor for and then play a specific card needs to really pull a lot of weight and value for me.

Obviously there are those decks that plan to flicker, sac, skullclamp, birthing pod / etc value gen them at which point I think they are slam dunk amazing. My issue I guess is the other decks where you are playing them as a sorcery with a bad body that you don't expect to ever see trigger again. In the past, red and white sucked so much that it wasn't a question that they were going to likely make my list. I find that of late though, its a lot less likely.

I figured I would see where others were on them these days. There was a time I doubted I would ever not run Imperial Recruiter in a red deck but I guess that day has sort of come. Its a lot more likely in mono red but when looking at like a 3+ color red deck I almost never run it anymore.
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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

I'm a huge user of both of them, but it is still on deck-by-deck basis.

The criteria is normally;
  • Can they get multiple triggers in a game?..flicker, return to hand, return from graveyard, etc
  • Can they get combo creatures?
I've listed the decks I've posted on the forums of which do and don't have them, given that they meet the color-pie of White or Red.

Yes do have Imperial Recruiter or Recruiter of the Guard;
Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Winota, Joiner of Forces, Feather the Redeemed, Tayam, Luminous Enigma, Yorion, Sky Nomad, Keruga, the Macrosage // Animar, Soul of Elements, Radha, Heart of Keld, Niambi, Esteemed Speaker. Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Chulane, Teller of Tales, Umori, the Collector // Nethroi, Apex of Death, Heliod, Sun-Crowned.

No don't have them;
Greven, Predator Captain, Will & Rowan Kenrith, Zacama, Primal Calamity, Niv-Mizzet Reborn, Zirda, the Dawnwaker // Kenrith, the Returned King, Obosh, the Preypiercer // Vial // Kraum, Elsha of the Infinite, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Jegantha, the Wellspring // Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, Kaheera, the Orphanguard // Morophon, Kalamax, the Stormsire, Nikara, Lair Scavenger // Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel, Alela, Artful Provocateur, Ephara, God of the Polis, Kykar, Wind's Fury.

A lot of them that I include have flicker themes like Aminatou, Yorion, Feather or graveyard recursion Tayam, Teshar, Nethroi or return to hand Niambi, Chulane, and thus I can potentially get multiple triggers in a game from them.
Winota is a slam dunk with the Humans theme. Animar has the cost reduction so makes sense for that deck. Heliod specifically to get Walking Ballista for combo win.

I feel like the best two examples of decks that include them and don't include them for me is between Radha, Heart of Keld (does have Recruiter) and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King (doesn't include).
They both have lots of utility creatures that they could search for and even similar creatures.
Why in one and not the other? When talking about "Can they get combo creatures?" I don't just mean infinite "I win" type of combos, but what has synergy with the deck.
I consider Radha, Heart of Keld + Azusa, Lost but Seeking to be quite the combo, so Imperial Recruiter for Azusa is well worth it for example when I can recoup the cost potentially very quickly by playing out more lands. Recruiter also shuffles library which I have factored in when including it.
Now Korvold, Fae-Cursed King could easily have Imperial Recruiter included, but because the deck has so much draw and access to Black it has much more efficient tutors like Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Intent.
So Korvold is the example where the 3 mana cost just pushes it out of including.

I feel like a lot of the decision making besides recursion effects for ETB is whether you have access to Black or Green. Black has lots of mana efficient tutors and Green has lots of mana efficient creature tutors.
So often it comes down to if you are outside of these colors (Black or Green) then the Recruiters become much more appealing.

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pokken
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Post by pokken » 3 years ago

I like them in nongreen nonblack decks that struggle to find creatures. Or if I want to play Kiki and do the one card combo for some reason.

If you're not comboing I think they are pretty medium from a tempo perspective and far from autoincludes.

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Post by Sinis » 3 years ago

I think darrenhabib pretty much nailed it with the reusability angle. For all the same reasons Mulldrifter isn't all that exciting when you never recur it, the same is true for some limited tutor. That said, I'd still play these in a fair number of decks because red and white typically lack tutors for creatures, and there low-cost cards that could be important to strategies in those colours (the ole Imperial Recruiter for Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, for example).

I think there are also variants of these dudes that could/should see more play; Ranger-Captain of Eos and Ranger of Eos, specifically.

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Post by umtiger » 3 years ago

Sinis wrote:
3 years ago
I think darrenhabib pretty much nailed it with the reusability angle. For all the same reasons Mulldrifter isn't all that exciting when you never recur it, the same is true for some limited tutor. That said, I'd still play these in a fair number of decks because red and white typically lack tutors for creatures, and there low-cost cards that could be important to strategies in those colours (the ole Imperial Recruiter for Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, for example).

I think there are also variants of these dudes that could/should see more play; Ranger-Captain of Eos and Ranger of Eos, specifically.
In the decks that I have Ranger of Eos, I get huge mileage out of it. :)

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Post by schweinefett » 3 years ago

I use recruiters mostly as part of a toolbox hatebear package. I have a GW combo deck with saffi, but i use that rager of eos, captain of eos (i cant exactly recall their names) and recruiter for relevant hatebears like teeg, thalias and so on, or removal, like fiend hunter.

I tend not to reuse those effects much though. i tend to wanna just search for whatever is relevant then and there. There's always the potential for saffi shenanigans, but ive found that i don't need to flood the board with hatebears; one or two of the correct pieces tend to be enough.

imperial recruiter i've only ever used in legacy, not so much in EDH. I can't imagine it being bad though.

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JWK
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Post by JWK » 3 years ago

I use Imperial Recruiter in two decks. If I had more copies, I'd probably use it in a couple decks, but it's nowhere near an auto-include.

I use Recruiter of the Guard in four decks. I have a couple copies which aren't being used right now, Definitely not auto-include.

One of my decks - Alesha - includes both. They're fantastic there, very much working with the toolbox aspect of that deck's creature suite.

Overall, I consider them great cards in the right deck, but far from cruicial in most decks. I am contemplating building a dedicated flicker/bounce deck, and if I ever get around to doing that, I will definitely include the Recruiter, but neither card would provide enough value in most of my decks that could run one or both of them and don't already include them. I have taken Recruiter out of some decks that used to run it to make place for cards that synergized better with the rest of the deck.
I have 68 active EDH decks, with more in progress. I don't consider this a problem. Do you?
I am also one of those barbarians who enjoys winning by turning creatures sideways.

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