[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Samwise the Stouthearted

User avatar
RxPhantom
Fully Vaxxed, Baby!
Posts: 1513
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: Southern Maryland

Post by RxPhantom » 3 years ago

RxPhantom wrote:
4 years ago
I find that this spell is good for countering spells and not much else.
Still a true statement from aaaaaaaaaaall the way back in April, when Counterspell was the card of the day.
Can you name all of the creature types with at least 20 cards? Try my Sporcle Quiz! Last Updated: 2/18/22 (Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty)

User avatar
3drinks
Kaalia's Personal Liaison
Posts: 4832
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria

Post by 3drinks » 3 years ago

Thursday, August 6th, 2020; Lat-Nam's Legacy



Wow what a blast from the past, I used to jam this in some heavy control decks until my draw2 got stifle'd. Talk about some feel bads. But it's still an instant speed draw spell with a low cost, though it is technically a +0. What do you think? Are you glad they changed "draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep" to "draw a card"? The latter is certainly a cleaner wording.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

User avatar
3drinks
Kaalia's Personal Liaison
Posts: 4832
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria

Post by 3drinks » 3 years ago

Wallycaine wrote:
3 years ago
3drinks wrote:
3 years ago
DirkGently wrote:
3 years ago
If you want to have a heart attack, look at the price delta between the nonfoil and foil 7th edition counterspell...
All the 7EDs are like that. Check out Grave Pact|7ed I'm dumb and thought it was in 7th too 😐 and Birds of Paradise|7ed 😂😂
If I remember correctly, it's because they experimented with making the foil sheet black border in a white border set, and also had all new art in the set.
Hmm. They still retained their 7ED art, but yes the foils being blackborder and new art from their 6ED versions and then again in 8ED made them sought after commodities.

final fortune|7ed
worship|7ed
fallen angel|7ed

All follow similar price trajectories. Personally, I never bothered with this for Birds because my birdie of choice is always birds of paradise|4ed because Summon Mana Birds.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

User avatar
Mookie
Posts: 3461
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 47
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: the æthereal plane

Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Pretty sure I haven't run into someone running Lat-Nam's Legacy. If you treat it as 'draw 2, discard 1', it's alright - comparable to Chart a Course. However, this is.... significantly worse. For one, you have to lose the card first, and rummaging is much worse than looting. For two, it doesn't even do anything if you cast it when emptyhanded. For three, the card gets shuffled in, which means you don't get any graveyard synergies. However, I think my biggest complaint is that you have to wait a turn to get the cards - if I'm drawing cards, I usually want access to them immediately. There are some upsides to a delayed trigger - most significantly, setting up miracles, but the shuffle even shuts that down.

....yeah, I'm struggling to thing of a legitimate use case for this other than nostalgia. Hard pass from me. Nice art, at least.

User avatar
Dunharrow
Posts: 1821
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Montreal

Post by Dunharrow » 3 years ago

I could see playing it in a deck that A) Wants shuffle effects to manipulate the top of the library and B) has cards it cannot cast from hand effectively - for example a deck that wants to cascade into cards like Living End.
Does such a deck exist? Aren't there better options?
The New World fell not to a sword but to a meme

User avatar
Sinis
Posts: 2034
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by Sinis » 3 years ago

3drinks wrote:
3 years ago
Thursday, August 6th, 2020; Lat-Nam's Legacy
I actually like this card in terms of cards that want to be in your library. Stuff like trying to summon Spirit of the Night with Urborg Panther and friends or The Unspeakable with Sift Through Sands (probably in a 60x4 context).

I don't think I'd run this elsewhere, though.

User avatar
Hawk
Slayer of Threads
Posts: 1166
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Post by Hawk » 3 years ago

If you are trying to "cast" spells you don't want in hand (with stuff like Cascade or Miracle nonsense or the aforementioned The Unspeakable trickery), this card is actually quite rare. There are very few effects in all of MtG that will allow you to get a card you don't want in hand back to your library. There's the obvious Brainstorm but after that the next best cards are extremely budget-unfriendly in Scroll Rack and Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

From there, our options get real thin. AFAIK, it's just Amass the Components, Dream Cache, Riverwise Augur, Survivor of the Unseen, Cavalier of Gales, and our CotD Lat-Nam's Legacy. Legacy is arguably the most efficient of these (which are almost all all card neutral or worse, like Brainstorm), as an instant at only 2 CMC, with the drawback of being delayed and not immediate which is not true of any of these except survivor.

And yet, I suspect if I were playing a deck that REALLY needed to set up cascade Living End or make sure it was miracling Entreat the Angels, I'd rather just run Dream Cache (which can filter dead draws to bottom) and Amass the Components (which is card positive) after the Brainstorm. More likely than that, I wouldn't bother - I'd consider Brainstorm enough alongside the usual suspects in blue of library manipulation.

That's the real problem, right? Even in library trickery.dec, this card is still technically competing with the efficiency and speed of not just the 'storm but Opt, Preordain, Ponder, Serum Visions, and Portent for library manipulation even on a modest budget that can't afford for Sensei's Divining Top.

This is a good example of a card I'd love to see color-shifted. I suspect in Red, where it's only competing with Thrill of Possibility and could be played in decks like Atla Palani, Nest Tender and Mayael the Anima, this would be a staple. But in blue, it just faces too much competition.

User avatar
Sinis
Posts: 2034
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by Sinis » 3 years ago

Hawk wrote:
3 years ago
From there, our options get real thin. AFAIK, it's just Amass the Components, Dream Cache, Riverwise Augur, Survivor of the Unseen, Cavalier of Gales, and our CotD Lat-Nam's Legacy. Legacy is arguably the most efficient of these (which are almost all all card neutral or worse, like Brainstorm), as an instant at only 2 CMC, with the drawback of being delayed and not immediate which is not true of any of these except survivor.
See Beyond, originally from Rise of the Eldrazi is a lot like Lat-Nam's Legacy. I think that might be the only card you missed with this functionality.

illakunsaa
Posts: 251
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by illakunsaa » 3 years ago

I could see this played in some hulk combo decks.

User avatar
Treamayne
Posts: 591
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Treamayne » 3 years ago

What made this relevant when it was in Type 2 was:
- As an instant, you could hit this EOT if you didn't counter, and draw the cards on your upkeep.
- being card neutral, since permission had/has a tendency to keep a full grip you didn't want to have to discard from drawing "extra" (granted that was Alliances era Type 2 - with far far less recursion than now).
Mookie wrote:
3 years ago
I'm struggling to thing of a legitimate use case for this other than nostalgia. Hard pass from me. Nice art, at least.
I've enjoyed running this in U and Ux decks where I may want to trade something in hand for cards. Especially since the Legacy doesn't reveal what you shuffled back. Example, in my sphinx deck I will use it early game to trade a fattie I can't cast yet and mid/late game I use it to trade a dead removal card for something else. all without needing to have maximum hand size manipulation (since I may use it on my turn if I'm digging for an answer/counter).

It splashes well, since you don't need to have recursion back-up for what you are ditching, and dodges GY hate. So, depending on your meta, YMMV.
V/R

Treamayne

User avatar
3drinks
Kaalia's Personal Liaison
Posts: 4832
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria

Post by 3drinks » 3 years ago

Friday, August 7th, 2020; Firemind's Research



Sweet payoff for spellslinger archetype. But, also the kind of thing I'd have played passively in Nin during it's heyday. Handy little tool for a control deck.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

User avatar
Mookie
Posts: 3461
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 47
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: the æthereal plane

Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Firemind's Research is a sweet card for a spellslinger deck. Cast spells, get cards or damage. Still, it does feel a little inefficient to me. The strongest version of this effect is likely Niv-Mizzet, Parun, but I would say that Trail of Evidence also compares favorably. It's somewhat vulnerable to enchantment removal - if it gets blown up before you can spend the counters, you get nothing. Trail of Evidence at least leaves the clues behind.

Blasting things for five damage is certainly sweet, but casting five spells is... a lot. I wouldn't expect it to serve as a win condition - it doesn't stack quickly enough to burn opponents out by itself. For that, you need something that scales faster, like Sphinx-Bone Wand or Aetherflux Reservoir. Needing to pay mana to activate it is also somewhat annoying - if you're planning to cast a bunch of spells, you may not have the mana available to activate it repeatedly.

Still, I am running Inexorable Tide in my Mizzix deck, and proliferating Firemind's Research does sound pretty sweet. Five damage to any target is also a pretty solid rattlesnake once it's active, which can be relevant for low-creature decks. Seems fun for a more grindy spellslinger / control deck.

User avatar
Serenade
UnderKing
Posts: 1409
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Serenade » 3 years ago

Holding up mana with this on a few charge counters is fun.

For two mana, even if it can draw removal away from a later Primal Amulet // Primal Wellspring or Runechanter's Pike, it will have been good enough.
Mirri, Cat Warrior counts as a Cat Warrior.

User avatar
MeowZeDung
Posts: 1117
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by MeowZeDung » 3 years ago

It's nifty, and it does work, but the problem is that izzet spells decks have SO many tools available to them that, in my experience, this never quite makes the cut.

It's deceptive because its cmc and activations are so cheap, but in reality you are paying 6 MINIMUM for your first card, which is just replacing the research, or 9 MINIMUM for your first 5 damage. Unless you are on free infinite spell storm this is worse than it looks, and if you are storming infinitely you've probably already won.
Kykar primer and other active decks (click!)

User avatar
Dunharrow
Posts: 1821
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Montreal

Post by Dunharrow » 3 years ago

I always cut this card from decks. I just does so little. 4 mana to draw your first card, with a condition. I have also never used the damage - too slow.
The New World fell not to a sword but to a meme

User avatar
Hawk
Slayer of Threads
Posts: 1166
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Post by Hawk » 3 years ago

I've never built dedicated Izzet Spellslinger, but this didn't find the spot in Sevinne which is a spellslinger deck. That deck already runs so many 2-4 mana "do nothings" (Burning Vengeance, Secrets of the Dead, Catalyst Stone, Jace's Sanctum) that it was really tough to justify this. The real dealbreaker is the repeated costs to do anything imo. I can't imagine it being worthwhile in all but the slowest and durdliest of casual Izzet decks these days.

User avatar
Dunharrow
Posts: 1821
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Montreal

Post by Dunharrow » 3 years ago

I just wanted to add - I had this in my arena Niv-Mizzet, Parun deck and cut it because even the standard pool has a lot better things to do on turn 2. If it got cut from my Brawl izzet spellslinger deck I know it will never make it in commander.
The New World fell not to a sword but to a meme

User avatar
TheAmericanSpirit
Supreme Dumb Guy
Posts: 2195
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 1
Pronoun: he / him
Location: IGMCULSL Papal Palace

Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 3 years ago

I think if you're running a fair amount of proliferate, this and five alarm fire could do some serious damage
There's no biscuits and gravy in New Zealand.
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)

User avatar
3drinks
Kaalia's Personal Liaison
Posts: 4832
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria

Post by 3drinks » 3 years ago

Saturday, August 8th, 2020; Lord of Extinction



As far as big dumb beaters™ go...how you doin?.

This guy does the job pretty well at least..........

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

User avatar
Mookie
Posts: 3461
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 47
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: the æthereal plane

Post by Mookie » 3 years ago

Lord of Extinction x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord OTP?

Anyway, it's a massive beater. If you have some way to grant it evasion (or just Fling it), it will do a lot of damage. It also synergizes well with pretty much every green 'big creatures matter' card, from Greater Good to Grothama, All-Devouring.... possibly too well, since there is definitely a point at which you're liable to deck yourself. If you're in the market for a massive, non-evasive beater, look no further. This can easily get significantly larger than similar effects like Bonehoard - counting every card type is a pretty significant multiplier.

...still though, this format isn't particularly friendly to vanilla creatures, no matter how big they may be. Always interesting to consider how big you want Lord of Extinction to consistently be before you consider running it - 10/10? 20/20? 40/40? This gets into 'chump block or die' territory pretty quickly, but many decks have sufficient chump blockers to ignore it for a while, or just remove it outright. There are obviously also a lot of ways to power this up (via mill or dredge effects), but that comes with a vulnerability to grave hate.

I'll call out Consuming Aberration as a similar effect, in terms of being a massive beater. That said, I suspect Lord of Extinction to be a better card for most decks - milling opponents is often a pretty significant downside (and you're unlikely to want to be running enough grave hate alongside Aberration to mitigate that downside).

Overall, I'd say it's a splashy and scary card, but not actually that strong unless you can combo it with something that can benefit from its massive size. Again, if you're in the market for a massive body, it should be pretty obvious.

User avatar
Sinis
Posts: 2034
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted
Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by Sinis » 3 years ago

3drinks wrote:
3 years ago
Saturday, August 8th, 2020; Lord of Extinction
I habitually avoid Lord of Extinction for the reason that it's either a) part of a combo I have no interest in playing (like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, a Gemrazer mutate, or a simple Rogue's Passage), or b) is an ineffective beater that will get chump blocked a lot.

I find the card a tad too polarizing; it's either winning the game, or doing nothing. I think I'd view it more favourably if it had some utility (like Realm Seekers, or Apex Altisaur).

User avatar
Peterhausenn
Posts: 23
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Peterhausenn » 3 years ago

i always wanted to add this card to my the mimeoplasm mill deck but the price was always out of my budget. i eventually morphed the deck to being helmed by phenax, god of deception removing the green identity. now that the price is much more reasonable i would have to remorph the deck to include it and i just dont see it at as being worth it. other than being big it does nothing and the deck already has all the big does nothing creatures it needs.

onering
Posts: 1227
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 1
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by onering » 3 years ago

It's one of the more fair game winners out there. Giving it evasion is trivial, and it gets huge easily. If everyone has 3 dudes in the yard, it's a 12/12. The nice thing is that it's the sort of finisher that doesn't benefit from rushing out, since it gets better when the game has gone on and yards have filled up, which makes it even more fair.

Consuming abberation is also good, and the downside doesn't matter much. By the time you kill enough to actually help people, your should be killing the guy who benefits most. It's not a card to just play without a plan, but there's plenty of ways to grant haste and/or evasion, and decks that mill should always pack some non exile hate to mitigate the downside.

User avatar
cheonice
Sand is overpowered.
Posts: 450
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: NRW / Germany

Post by cheonice » 3 years ago

Yeah! I really liked him in The Mimeoplasm and Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel and Nikara, Lair Scavenger, where he serves a certain purpose, but otherwise it's "just" the biggest, baddest, evasionless beater you can imagine. For better or worse.

User avatar
3drinks
Kaalia's Personal Liaison
Posts: 4832
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria

Post by 3drinks » 3 years ago

Sunday, August 9th, 2020; Growth Spiral



Oh boy. This lil guy was just in all the news. It's kinda a rampant growth|mir. Kinda an explore|wwk. You're pretty happy to see this, right?

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Commander”