[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Sliver Queen

[BeneTleilax]

I've heard it's a good card. I don't have it anywhere, mostly due to a general aversion to tutors, but it's less prone to set up boring combo bs than most tutors in my experience.

[Serenade]

I'll probably pick up an MH2 copy. He grabs Drannith Magistrate for combo with Uba Mask.

I do like how cheery our main man is, though. Feels genuine.

[pokken]

I absolutely love this style of tutor for a variety of reasons.

1. encourages playing different cards

2. gives people mental shortcuts to know what they're tutoring for (there's a smaller subset of targets)

Things like Tribute Mage, Recruiter of the Guard, etc. are just fun deckbuilding stuff as far as tutors go.

I do think tutors are somewhat important to the format for enabling certain strategies but I have been trying to lay off them a lot myself. But I do really enjoy package tutors where you're like, oh, I've got 5 cards to choose from for this in my deck. Things like Expedition Map and Stoneforge Mystic are just fun.

So I try to lean on those when I'm building and cut back on the Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor and such.

[JWK]

Good card is good. Most decks that can run this probably should. If you have ways of flickering or reanimating it, it gets even better.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021; Imperial Recruiter

I've had a copy since Masters 25. I like that it's a powerful card in red, and can help search out some of the niche cards that don't get many functional reprints.

[toctheyounger]

I've never owned a copy, but it feels like the right move to try and track one down since it got reprinted.

Out of interest, what's your favourite search target with it?

[Hermes_]

Imperial Recruiter is what is on my playmat. And I finally ordered a copy since it was reprinted in Modern Horizons 2. Apparently, all of my friends agree that getting it was the perfect choice since I have a similar personality to the Recruiter. Not sure if that is something to be proud of... but come, join the army. Win glory for yourself and country. Death? There is always a risk of death. But then again, many people die in their sleep. And we are strong. Our cause just. Our enemies weak and cowardly. And with your help we will only be stronger. So will you do the right thing and join?

*insert saint crispin day speech*

[3drinks]

I should really try to flip my judge one into this new one, tbh.

I've never owned a copy, but it feels like the right move to try and track one down since it got reprinted.

Out of interest, what's your favourite search target with it?

It depends on the deck. In Alesha, it's Palace Sentinels/Thorn of the Black Rose all day. In WB Korvold, it's usually Anarchist|9ed so I can get Living Death|brb. In Kaalia, it's probably Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Ethersworn Canonist. Honourable shout-out to Esper Sentinel these days, I suppose.

[Mookie]

Imperial Recruiter (and Recruiter of the Guard is quite solid. My general heuristic is that three mana is a fair price for a tutor, and Imperial Recruiter comes with a 1/1 body, which is a pretty relevant upside, especially if you're fetching Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Red also doesn't have access to that many tutors (especially for creatures), which makes it somewhat unique. I suppose that Goblin Matron does something similar, but Imperial Recruiter fetches a much wider selection of targets.

Anyway, I'm a fan of both this and other toolbox-style tutors.

[hyalopterouslemur]

What can I say about the recruiters that hasn't been said?

Oh! I know! They can grab "enters with +1/+1 counters" cards like our old pal Trike. They can also grab things like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

[3drinks]

What can I say about the recruiters that hasn't been said?

Oh! I know! They can grab "enters with +1/+1 counters" cards like our old pal Trike. They can also grab things like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

Man, the day I first Alesha'd back ol Trike was a fun one.....they looked like I was crazy until they saw the p/t. To this day I still don't run walking ballista but keep running Trike.

[SocorroTortoise]

Out of interest, what's your favourite search target with it?

Dark Confidant. Greatness, at any cost.

[JWK]

I've never owned a copy, but it feels like the right move to try and track one down since it got reprinted.

Out of interest, what's your favourite search target with it?

I tend to use tutors of this sort to facilitate a "toolbox" sort of strategy. For example, in my Alesha deck, it can grab 26 of the 30 creatures in the deck other than Alesha, letting me pick from among creatures that provide removal, card draw, grave hate, targeted LD, recursion and other functions as needed in the moment. Probably the thing I tutor for most often in that deck is another tutor, Stoneforge Mystic , which can grab equipment to protect Alesha and/or to voltron her up. Probably the next most-fetched is Thief of Blood, which plays havoc on planeswalkers and on all sorts of counters strategies while providing me with a hefty flying threat.

[3drinks]

Thursday, June 24th, 2021; Sphinx Summoner

[JWK]

This was a solid card in my old Sharuum deck, and it continues to be good in the Rebbec/Silas deck Sharuum morphed into awhile back. Relevant and easily recurrable tutor on a flying body is pretty solid. In Rebbec/Silas, I most often seek out Magister Sphinx, which is one of the deck's' primary wincons.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Oooh, this conjures good memories of bonking people in alara block limited. Summoner → Sanctum Gargoyle, let summoner die, Gargoyle it back, grab another gargoyle or a Glassdust Hulk, proceed to board the train to value town and get seated in first class. Sip complimentary martini and relish the 4-0 (3-0-1 in my case, I'm not above splitting sometimes).

[DirkGently]

I could see this still being relevant in EDH, but it's very niche. 5 mana is a lot for a tutor even without the (very significant) restriction, and the 3/3 flyer probably isn't enough upside to justify it. So you'd probably better be heavily artifact-based AND have ways to blink/recur it. AND be dimir+. That's a lot of hoops to jump through.

[materpillar]

I used to run this for years in my Chromium deck which is incredibly heavily artifact based. I used to go find Master Transmuter which would then blink it for sweet sweet value.

I recently cut it for Bladegriff Prototype which I think is just a bit more neat of a card.

[Mookie]

I used to run Sphinx Summoner in my Sharuum the Hegemon, back when tuck was a thing - it was a reasonable way to fetch Sharuum if she got shuffled into the deck. Since the rule changed, it has gone down in value enough that I cut it - I simply didn't have enough artifact creatures to fetch. As mentioned recently, I generally consider three mana to be a fair price for tutors, so a five-mana tutor is a bit too slow for my taste. Maybe if you have a ton of synergies for the body itself - it's certainly possible for the 3/3 flying body to be worth the extra cost. Otherwise, I feel like it's often outclassed by Treasure Mage, who can also grab noncreature artifacts (assuming you're fetching up a finisher, which seems plausible for a five mana tutor).

[3drinks]

I used to run Sphinx Summoner in my Sharuum the Hegemon, back when tuck was a thing - it was a reasonable way to fetch Sharuum if she got shuffled into the deck. Since the rule changed, it has gone down in value enough that I cut it - I simply didn't have enough artifact creatures to fetch. As mentioned recently, I generally consider three mana to be a fair price for tutors, so a five-mana tutor is a bit too slow for my taste. Maybe if you have a ton of synergies for the body itself - it's certainly possible for the 3/3 flying body to be worth the extra cost. Otherwise, I feel like it's often outclassed by Treasure Mage, who can also grab noncreature artifacts (assuming you're fetching up a finisher, which seems plausible for a five mana tutor).

I remember the days of sphinx summoning my Big Gulp only to Frantic Search it away and then cast Sharuum. Pretty sure it stopped being cool after wurmcoil came out though >_>

[hyalopterouslemur]

Can grab a ton of artifact creatures. (Hey! Trike again!) The 3/3 flying body is somewhat better than Treasure Mage but it costs five instead of three. No contest if you're not in black (such as Animar, Soul of Elements) or if you have Sun Titan

[plushpenguin]

Still run it in robo-marchesa. Still really good there. 5cmc is a lot but being able to find the key piece to loop it and be loopable itself still makes it worth it.

[3drinks]

Friday, June 25th, 2021; All Is Dust|ume

One of the most all-encompassing sweepers you can get ahold of, if you can stomach the mana value.

[BeneTleilax]

Very strong card with either colorless or sacrifice synergies, and decent even without them. Unless you're playing a very low-to-the-ground deck or your meta is real fast, seven is not that hard for an effect like this, especially if you can turn it into a Plague Wind. Given how much play Cyc Rift sees, this should see more.

[Sinis]

Friday, June 25th, 2021; All Is Dust

It's my favourite green and blue sweeper!

I kid, but, I really like this in Green or artifact decks.