[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

[hyalopterouslemur]

I once saw someone playing this in a Daretti deck. I still don't know why to this day.

I could see some lands deck using it, but again, not Daretti.

This is pretty good, especially if you have ways to exploit those counters. (Doubling Season and proliferate cards come to mind.) There have been attempts (Masques depletion lands, vivid lands) to repeat that, but they aren't as good because they're taplands, though they have the benefit of producing two mana. Vivid lands are basically played with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice or Reflecting Pool.

[onering]

I used to see this all the time, back when Rav bounces were more common. In practice, it didn't usually go the the graveyard and stay there. Either it got bounced and replayed or it got recurred from the yard. It's a classic, but nowadays it should be relegated to certain decks, specifically proliferate and lands. Though 5 color might still want it if the pilot isn't running a full fetch/ABU (or shock) suite.

[lyonhaert]

The rules prevent me from playing this in Zedruu. It's almost formatted perfectly that you could make a mana and then donate it before sacrificing and leave someone with a land of yours that doesn't make mana, but unfortunately the sacrifice is built into the mana ability, and you can't respond to a mana ability. If it was a separate line that said "when the last counter is removed, sacrifice it" I would play it in Zedruu.

I don't see much benefit to running it even if it did read that way (with a trigger). About all we could do is steal a land (which is okay). We couldn't draw cards cards with it using Zedruu's upkeep trigger.

[tstorm823]

I don't see much benefit to running it even if it did read that way (with a trigger). About all we could do is steal a land (which is okay). We couldn't draw cards cards with it using Zedruu's upkeep trigger.

If it was a separate triggered ability that triggers when the last counter is removed, you could respond to the trigger and donate it. Much like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker tokens, if you don't control something when the game tells you to sacrifice it, you can't. And you can't remove the last counter if there are no counters left to remove, so they wouldn't be able to make mana or sacrifice it to itself. But alas, I can't respond to a mana ability.

[Mookie]

Gemstone Mine is a card I don't see played that often. It is at its best when the game is short and you don't expect the game to last long enough to run out of counters. At that point, it's effectively a second Command Tower. Still, even if you are using it as a painless City of Brass, I don't think I would run it in a two or three color deck - plenty of untapped fixing options exist. Does become more appealing if you're running four or five colors though.

If you're not running 4+ colors, there are two cases I can see for running Gemstone Mine. One is if you have some way to ignore the downside, either by using something like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to grant it another mana ability that doesn't cost counters, or bouncing it back to hand to reset the counters. Alternatively, proliferate the counters with Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. The other way is to turn its sacrifice trigger into an upside - The Gitrog Monster and Titania, Protector of Argoth both seem like they may be interested. May be too slow for them though, since you need to burn through all the counters.

[3drinks]

Friday, November 8th, 2019; this was reflecting pool but I distinctly recall getting that card here (or shortly before the jump over), so with that said, let's jump on another series of cards that are seemingly always under debate; the Ravnica Karoo Lands. For reference, these are;

[ilovesaprolings]

Good casual cards that help mitigate mana screw.
Sadly it just requires a jerky friend with acidic slime to ruin everything

[MeowZeDung]

I like them and run them. They fix your colored mana and play nicely with effects like frantic search or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Of course I don't like that they enter tapped and return a land to hand, but the fact that you get to tap that land for mana, to play a mana rock perhaps, before bouncing it takes the edge off. It's also worth noting that I mostly play decks loaded with cheap spells and it's not uncommon for me to have a t1 play other than sol ring as a result, so I either don't encounter the downside of discarding to hand size, or with most decks find that I can offset the disadvantage by pitching something that's relevant in the yard.

[3drinks]

I always love these things when I play with Thawing Glaciers. Nowadays, I'm able to play a 10 fetch 3c mana base so I can't ever fit these in. But they aren't bad like people insist they are, rather like any other card they require a reason to play and a strategy to use effectively.

If you have a garbage curve and/or a precon mana base, these are not the lands for you. If you're spending a wasteland on these over a Cradle. Maze, or Volrath's Stronghold, you probably could do with another semester's worth of threat assessment class.

[Serenade]

If you can flash one in, it's good protection for your Very Important Land. Also can reset abilities (B.Bog, Deserted Temple, etc.) for use later or in the same turn (if you have a second land drop). Back when my friends and I started playing EDH (Zendikar block), I'd always reset Halimar Depths (our decks were simple back then).

If you will not have all of these interactions, I would stay away. The CIPT is big.

[Sinis]

the Ravnica Karoo Lands

I would only ever play them in a) a deck with so many additional land plays that it's a functional CIPT Ancient Tomb, b) a deck with so little card advantage that you will not use all your land plays in a game (and even Boros isn't this hard up, unless you devote zero slots to cards like Tithe/Land Tax/Gift of Estates), c) a deck that loots (but doesn't draw) so much that you need to squeeze every card for what it's worth (I think these decks are a subset of b) ), or d) I want to play it bouncing itself for landfall shenanigans (like, in a deck with landfall cards, and maindecking things like Azusa, Lost but Seeking).

For casual metagames, I don't believe they're useless or especially awful. I just don't believe they're very good and their application is somewhat limited.

[onering]

I always love these things when I play with Thawing Glaciers.If you're spending a wasteland on these over a Cradle. Maze, or Volrath's Stronghold, you probably could do with another semester's worth of threat assessment class.

Or you just don't have them in your meta, or have land recursion. I don't run these in my paper meta simply because they are too often the target of incidental ld that lacks a better target, unless the one dude with a cradle is running the one deck he has it in. Im more comfortable running them online where there are usually better targets (unless, as I said, someone has crucible and is just blowing up nonbasics every turn).

Once you get a $$$ Mana base these are obsolete for their main purpose as duals, but they served me very well while I was getting into the format and did me good in paper until a couple years ago. They are, meta dependent, a very good budget option.

When you start looking at them as more than duals, and start taking advantage of them tapping for 2 and bouncing lands, then you can start evaluating them on a new level. They obviously have great synergy with anything that untaps lands, and are worth the effort to find a spot for them if you are loaded on those effects. They are also great to look at in decks that make use of etb ability lands, as being able to replay something like bojuka bog or mystic sanctuary is a lot of added value to a land that's already doing a lot on its own.

It's important to keep in mind that these can be traps though. They aren't traps in the traditional sense, but in the same way that Sol Ring can lead people into keeping risky hands. Although when played they don't put you behind on Mana, you shouldn't evaluate hands with them as of you have an extra land in hand because of this. It is possible that keeping a hand with a Rav and another land will play out like a 3 land hand, but relying on it sets you up for a blowout. A wasteland will utterly cripple you, as will an unlucky random discard, and playing one turn 2 hand having to discard to hand size is bad. Evaluating these as a single land let's you evaluate it in its fail state, and steers you aware from risky hands, and when everything goes right it's just gravy.

[3drinks]

Yeah, I agree, I think a lot of people misevaluate them and blame poor planning on their part as the fault of the land when the reality is - at least on my part - you do much better with them if you evaluate them as spell slots.

I even play a couple in my modern deck because <3 mystic sanctuary (yes, it's the Bolas i have linked though that link isn't current).

[Sinis]

playing one turn 2 hand having to discard to hand size is bad.

Unless you're ready with a Reanimate or Exhume.

[materpillar]

I've a 5 color dredge deck that plays all 10 of the bounce lands, they do really good work there but the deck has warped quite a bit to take advantage of them. This deck is much for a chill meta-game but they have a ton of utility purposes.

Some of the plays that stick out to me are. T2 Bounceland → Discard Stinkweed imp because of hand size.

I love mana in-efficient card advantage like casting Faithless Looting, discarding Drownyard Temple. Return the temple to play. Bounce the temple with a bounceland. Flashback Faithless Looting, discard Drownyard Temple.

I've also reset Vivid Grove and Shelldock Isle.

I also aggressively reanimate Azusa, Lost but Seeking and the bounce lands are great to make sure you're maximizing her land drop hits.


On the other side of the coin, I've seen someone play a bounceland T2. It got hit with Wasteland and he just straight lost.

[Mookie]

The Ravnica Karoos are a little slow, but they're generally a reasonable inclusion. They generate a bit of incidental card advantage in the land slot, since they help you hit your next land drop. This makes them pretty good for making up for a mulligan, or helping out a deck that has difficulty hitting land drops. (although if you're consistently missing land drops, adding a karoo or two won't solve that by itself) Also lets you re-trigger any ETB effects of lands you may have, reset hideaway lands, and trigger landfall an extra time. Plus they're pretty good to untap. I used to run into the downside of them being targeted with land destruction effects, but as better utility lands have been printed, that has become significantly less common - people know to save their land destruction for lands that actually matter.

I've also used it to bounce a commander that has been hit by Song of the Dryads / Imprisoned in the Moon. Can be a relevant move if you otherwise lack enchantment destruction and those are common in your meta.

[schweinefett]

ive never really had great use for them unfortunately.

crop rotation to save a gaeas cradle could be ok i guess? but there are other more effective ways to protect lands.

Dunno... im sure there are cleverer ways to abuse the bounce/tapping for 2, but i can't think of any off the top of my head. Is there a torpor orb for lands?

[hyalopterouslemur]

ive never really had great use for them unfortunately.

crop rotation to save a gaeas cradle could be ok i guess? but there are other more effective ways to protect lands.

Dunno... im sure there are cleverer ways to abuse the bounce/tapping for 2, but i can't think of any off the top of my head. Is there a torpor orb for lands?

Karoo, Retreat to Coralhelm, Sakura-Tribe Scout and friends. Trigger landfall to your heart's content.

If you want the mana, add Amulet of Vigor. (But at this point, Lotus Cobra is also a possibility.)

You can get around the downside by simply playing them last as well.

[Sinis]

On the other side of the coin, I've seen someone play a bounceland T2. It got hit with Wasteland and he just straight lost.

I once played Primal Command on a ravnica karoo and tutored a green creature on turn 4, and while I was searching for the creature, I glanced at my opponent and saw him just die a little inside.

It was a quality dunk.

[Rorseph]

Karoo, Retreat to Coralhelm, Sakura-Tribe Scout and friends. Trigger landfall to your heart's content.

Speaking from experience, this is an incredibly satisfying line of play. 10/10, would recommend.

[3drinks]

Saturday, November 9th, 2019; Bind

As unexpected as the Spanish Inquisition.....

[Serenade]

Bummer is, unlike interdict, they can do it again.

[Mookie]

Colorshifted Squelch! Except this one came first.

Either way, Bind is a card your opponents will never, ever play around. It's also pretty narrow - while activated abilities are reasonably common, I don't actually think many are worth countering. Obviously you'll occasionally stop something like an Oblivion Stone crack or planeswalker ultimate, but those aren't events that happen in every game. It's more likely that you'll burn it on a fetchland activation - not totally useless, but not something I would be excited about either. Looking through my own decks, the number of cards in them with activated abilities tends to be fairly low. Additionally, of those abilities, most aren't worth countering - on the scale of preventing a card draw. Which is fine, but not exciting.

Bind's primary utility will probably come from how unexpected it will be. I wouldn't run it without a plan and good knowledge of my meta.

[MeowZeDung]

I had no idea this card existed. Sick! I would only run it in mono G I think. It's going to be either a blank or "pay double for that activation" tax so much of the time, but the fact that it cantrips is nice. It's almost worth running just for the times you nail an opponent running Mayael the Anima, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, Chulane, Teller of Tales, Roon of the Hidden Realm, or Krenko, Mob Boss.

[3drinks]

It's more likely that you'll burn it on a fetchland activation - not totally useless, but not something I would be excited about either.

Speak for yourself lol. The classic stifle your t1 fetch is a classic play that I take solace in. The tempo it generates as it totally destroys their opening hand, the mulligan, and the bewilderment factor, can and will often times take them out if the game.

He says, the guy that played stifle tribal in modern 👀👀