Still a true statement from aaaaaaaaaaall the way back in April, when Counterspell was the card of the day.
[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Samwise the Stouthearted
Community Rules
‖ Commander Rules
-
RxPhantom Fully Vaxxed, Baby!
- Posts: 1513
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: Unlisted
- Location: Southern Maryland
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)
-
3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4832
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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.
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.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
-
3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4832
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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.Wallycaine wrote: ↑3 years agoIf 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.3drinks wrote: ↑3 years agoAll 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 😂😂DirkGently wrote: ↑3 years agoIf you want to have a heart attack, look at the price delta between the nonfoil and foil 7th edition counterspell...
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.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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.
....yeah, I'm struggling to thing of a legitimate use case for this other than nostalgia. Hard pass from me. Nice art, at least.
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?
Does such a deck exist? Aren't there better options?
The New World fell not to a sword but to a meme
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.
-
Hawk Slayer of Threads
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
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.
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.
Sufferer of EDHD
Commander: Current(ish) Arsenal
Daretti, Scrap Savant (Decklist) Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow Samut, Voice of Dissent The Gitrog Monster (Decklist)Quintorius, Field Historian
Volo, Guide to Monsters Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
----
Heliod, Sun-crowned Mirri the Cursed Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist Sygg, River Guide Jeska, Thrice Reborn // Falthis, Shadowcat Familair // Obosh the Preypiercer
Miara, Thorn of the Glade//Numa, Joraga Chieftain Arcades, the Strategist Phelddagrif Varina, Lich Queen
Daretti, Scrap Savant (Decklist) Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow Samut, Voice of Dissent The Gitrog Monster (Decklist)Quintorius, Field Historian
Volo, Guide to Monsters Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
----
Heliod, Sun-crowned Mirri the Cursed Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist Sygg, River Guide Jeska, Thrice Reborn // Falthis, Shadowcat Familair // Obosh the Preypiercer
Miara, Thorn of the Glade//Numa, Joraga Chieftain Arcades, the Strategist Phelddagrif Varina, Lich Queen
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.Hawk wrote: ↑3 years agoFrom 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.
-
- Posts: 251
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: Unlisted
I could see this played in some hulk combo decks.
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).
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.
- 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).
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
Treamayne
-
3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4832
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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.
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.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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.
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.
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.
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.
- MeowZeDung
- Posts: 1117
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: Unlisted
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.
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!)
-
Hawk Slayer of Threads
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
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.
Sufferer of EDHD
Commander: Current(ish) Arsenal
Daretti, Scrap Savant (Decklist) Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow Samut, Voice of Dissent The Gitrog Monster (Decklist)Quintorius, Field Historian
Volo, Guide to Monsters Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
----
Heliod, Sun-crowned Mirri the Cursed Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist Sygg, River Guide Jeska, Thrice Reborn // Falthis, Shadowcat Familair // Obosh the Preypiercer
Miara, Thorn of the Glade//Numa, Joraga Chieftain Arcades, the Strategist Phelddagrif Varina, Lich Queen
Daretti, Scrap Savant (Decklist) Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow Samut, Voice of Dissent The Gitrog Monster (Decklist)Quintorius, Field Historian
Volo, Guide to Monsters Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
----
Heliod, Sun-crowned Mirri the Cursed Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist Sygg, River Guide Jeska, Thrice Reborn // Falthis, Shadowcat Familair // Obosh the Preypiercer
Miara, Thorn of the Glade//Numa, Joraga Chieftain Arcades, the Strategist Phelddagrif Varina, Lich Queen
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
-
TheAmericanSpirit Supreme Dumb Guy
- Posts: 2195
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: IGMCULSL Papal Palace
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!)
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
-
3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4832
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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..........
As far as big dumb beaters™ go...how you doin?.
This guy does the job pretty well at least..........
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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.
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.
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).
- Peterhausenn
- Posts: 23
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: Unlisted
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.
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.
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.
-
cheonice Sand is overpowered.
- Posts: 450
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: NRW / Germany
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.
-
3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4832
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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?
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?
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ