[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Xander's Pact

[materpillar]

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021; Noble Benefactor

When you want to tutour but you try to make it fair.

I really enjoy this card in lower power settings a lot. It creates an interesting dynamic of do I find something great or something to answer all the absurdity that's about to happen.

Would not recommend in playing with people that have easy, infinite combos.

[onering]

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021; Noble Benefactor

When you want to tutour but you try to make it fair.

I really enjoy this card in lower power settings a lot. It creates an interesting dynamic of do I find something great or something to answer all the absurdity that's about to happen.

Would not recommend in playing with people that have easy, infinite combos.

Don't need to worry about opponent's infinite combos if you use it to grab an easy infinite combo *taps forehead*

[Outcryqq]

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021; Noble Benefactor

When you want to tutour but you try to make it fair have an Opposition Agent.

FIFY

[RxPhantom]

I love Noble Benefactor. He's kind of an embrace-the-chaos card in my Lord of Tresserhorn death trigger tribal deck. It always gets a cool reaction, too.

"Ok, when he dies, everyone Demonic Tutors."
"All of us?"
"Yes."
"Straight to hand?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes."

Last week I got a ton of value off of him with Skullclamp and Plumb the Forbidden. It's also kind of cool to watch all four players searching their libraries. Do you find a threat or a potential answer to what's about to go down? I dig the art quite a bit too.

[Dunharrow]

This could be interesting in Marchesa, the Black Rose. Everyone can tutor their combos or bombs - I just need to tutor Jokulhaups or Bearer of the Heavens.

[Mookie]

Hmmmm.... Noble Benefactor definitely seems interesting. Best-case scenario, you use it as a three mana Rune-Scarred Demon in a combo deck, since blue doesn't have access to many unconditional tutor effects. The downside is negated if you win immediately, after all. On the flip side, letting all of your opponents tutor seems.... extremely bad. On the other hand, if several of your opponents fetch answers instead of threats, then things cancel out somewhat. Definitely an interesting Prisoner's Dilemma variant - do you fetch up your own way to win, or do you fetch an answer? It's further complicated by turn order - I suspect it's correct for the controller and the next person to fetch up threats, while the later people should fetch up answers, but that would require further analysis.

[hyalopterouslemur]

You could use [card]Aven Mindcensor[/card] or [card]Stranglehold[/card] to make it unfair, or even [card]Ob Nixilis, Unshackled[/card] But going to that much work sounds seriously depressing.

[Legend]

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021; Noble Benefactor

When you want to tutour but you try to make it fair.

Wow it triggers no matter which graveyard it's put into from play!

[MeowZeDung]

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021; Noble Benefactor

When you want to tutour but you try to make it fair have an Opposition Agent.

FIFY

1. Hilarious (No sarcasm)
2. Being at the table while this resolves... ugh

[materpillar]

Tuesday, May 4th, 2021; Noble Benefactor

When you want to tutour but you try to make it fair have an Opposition Agent.

FIFY

1. Hilarious (No sarcasm)
2. Being at the table while this resolves... ugh

Noble Benefactor is a may ability, so everyone would just elect not to search.

[MeowZeDung]

FIFY

1. Hilarious (No sarcasm)
2. Being at the table while this resolves... ugh

Noble Benefactor is a may ability, so everyone would just elect not to search.

Ah, tricksy

[Outcryqq]

Noble Benefactor is a may ability, so everyone would just elect not to search.

Opposition Agent has flash, so you just wait until they elect to search.

[Wallycaine]

Noble Benefactor is a may ability, so everyone would just elect not to search.

Opposition Agent has flash, so you just wait until they elect to search.

You can't cast spells during the resolution of an ability, and that's the point at which they'd make decisions like that. Your options are "cast Opposition Agent before the ability resolves, everybody makes a choice knowing that it's out there", or "cast after the ability resolves, look very silly"

[Outcryqq]

You can't cast spells during the resolution of an ability, and that's the point at which they'd make decisions like that. Your options are "cast Opposition Agent before the ability resolves, everybody makes a choice knowing that it's out there", or "cast after the ability resolves, look very silly"

Fair enough! Not as great as I'd thought.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, May 5th, 2021; Polukranos, World Eater|ddl

Happy birthday to me, haha. Easily one of the best guys in that Goreclaw deck. Good times.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, May 5th, 2021; Polukranos, World Eater

Happy birthday to me, haha. Easily one of the best guys in that Goreclaw deck. Good times.

Happy birthday!

I'm actually glad this came up as a RCotD; I was looking around for things to include in my new Jorn deck, and I think this is a good candidate...

[Wallycaine]

Polukranos is pretty neat. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for him was hurt by an incorrect spoiler back when he was first leaked: instead of "becomes monstrous", someone misunderstood it as "puts any number of +1/+1 counters on him", which was incredibly tempting for my Ghave counters deck. So the actual card getting previewed dashed my hopes for a repeatable machine gun creature. He's still really solid, and has some neat combos with deathtouch. And obviously the bigger you can make the X, the more value you can get out of him.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Wednesday, May 5th, 2021; Polukranos, World Eater|ddl


Happy birthday to me, haha. Easily one of the best guys in that Goreclaw deck. Good times.

Goreclaw is basically the home of green's fallen heroes of standards past. I play Polu, OG Rhonas, Questing Beast, and thragtusk in my version as homage to their former glory. Nothing like a >4/x for a MV =< 5 for that deck.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, May 5th, 2021; Polukranos, World Eater|ddl


Happy birthday to me, haha. Easily one of the best guys in that Goreclaw deck. Good times.

Goreclaw is basically the home of green's fallen heroes of standards past. I play Polu, OG Rhonas, Questing Beast, and thragtusk in my version as homage to their former glory. Nothing like a >4/x for a MV =< 5 for that deck.

Oh man, dropping Rhonas for G was so savage. Territorial Allosaurus was pretty good as a 5/5 for five that eats something, but Thicket Elemental was the real hidden gem no one had heard of.

...Don't get me started on Verdurous Gearhulk shenanigans though. Stupid sabretooth.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Wednesday, May 5th, 2021; Polukranos, World Eater|ddl


Happy birthday to me, haha. Easily one of the best guys in that Goreclaw deck. Good times.

Goreclaw is basically the home of green's fallen heroes of standards past. I play Polu, OG Rhonas, Questing Beast, and thragtusk in my version as homage to their former glory. Nothing like a >4/x for a MV =< 5 for that deck.

Oh man, dropping Rhonas for G was so savage. Territorial Allosaurus was pretty good as a 5/5 for five that eats something, but Thicket Elemental was the real hidden gem no one had heard of.

...Don't get me started on Verdurous Gearhulk shenanigans though. Stupid sabretooth.

See, my favorite is the free Myr Superion. Nothing beats t1 land, dork, t2 land, kavu lair, t3 land, drop claw and his iron giant, draw 2.

[3drinks]

.....damn I should have used myr superion. The one place he actually shines!

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Dude, throw up your list sometime. I'd love to compare notes on the One True Bear! She's probably one of the most viable aggro decks in the format tbh.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Why u instead of y? I don't know!

Regardless, this guy is fun. Think of him as a better Fireball. If you're in white, just give him Unquestioned Authority and Basilisk Collar and go.

[BeneTleilax]

I think Polukranos as a commander is a clear sign that the deck is very battlecruiser and so is everyone else at the table, or something very hipster is happening.

[Mookie]

Polukranos, World Eater is a cool card. Stompy hydra, efficient stats, interesting ability. The monstrosity cost is pretty steep, so you usually won't do much more than pick off a few mana dorks... but if you have infinite mana, it's a Plague Wind, which is sweet.

In a vacuum, I don't think Polukranos is amazing - a 5/5 for four mana is certainly above the curve, but that isn't quite as valuable in this format. Simultaneously, the activated ability is pretty expensive to use, and it's also vulnerable to removal - if you kill a creature in response to its monstrosity ability, the 'when it becomes monstrous' trigger never occurs. I've blown out a lot of Polukranoses (Polukrani?) and Hydra Broodmasters.

Still, if you're doing a stompy deck (such as Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma or Ghalta, Primal Hunger, Polukranos seems like a reasonable include. Also a good inclusion in Gargos, Vicious Watcher hydra decks. Crucially, this style of creature tends to result in really fun gameplay - smashing with beefy hydras is always very satisfying to both do and watch.