[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Archfiend of Depravity

[DirkGently]

EDHrec says nobody is using it.

It's just way too mana intensive I suspect. Could maaaybe work in something like prossh, but he's got so much more powerful things to do. For shattergang or anyone else with a mana cost attached to the sacrifice, that costs an absurd amount of mana to use effectively. I mean, at such a poor rate, how many times do you have to ping for it to be worth it? I think the answer is "a lot". Too many.

Is bad.

[Mookie]

Furnace Celebration is certainly easy to trigger a bunch of times - it could go in Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, or any one of many other sacrifice-based decks. Two damage every time you sacrifice something adds up quickly. The fundamental issue is the mana cost - two mana is a lot to pay, especially if you want to do so repeatedly. Even though they do slightly less damage, I'd go with Havoc Jester or Mayhem Devil pretty much every time. I'm not going to say that getting a Shock with every sacrifice is bad, but I'll usually have something better to spend my mana on.

...I guess you could run it alongside Ashnod's Altar, but that feels needlessly complicated (and says more about Altar than it does about Celebration anyway).

[Ginuqu]

I've played Furnace Celebration in a four-of casual deck with all the Visions chimerae (eg. Iron-Heart Chimera) and I've played it withDevastating Dreams and it has always felt like the activation cost is too much. A really beautiful card that's thoroughly my type of thing, anyway!

[3drinks]

Monday, September 7th, 2020; Sever the Bloodline

I use to play this back in the day if I had a big mana deck. It plays out similarly to chainer's edict|tor. Four is a lot on the front end, but it is b exile with no downside that is a natural two-for-one.

But what do you think?

[DirkGently]

As a general rule, if I'm playing sorcery-speed removal it better have a really big upside. Like being a board wipe or generating lots of extra value, or at least attached to a body.

This has none of those things and has rotted in my collection since I first got it - wiping out monolithic token armies is too niche of an upside, and the flashback cost is too high to be much of a bonus. Maybe if Sevinne, the Chronoclasm was black. As-is, black has too many superior options and - so far as I can think - no commanders with enough synergy to make up the difference.

[Mookie]

Sever the Bloodline is a rather expensive 2-for-1. I suppose if your opponent is playing a bunch of tokens or clones you could potentially get more value, but... I generally favor more efficient removal, and you're definitely paying a premium for this. I suppose one upside is that this exiles (unlike most of black's removal options), which means you can also hit indestructible creatures, but... I don't think that is worth an entire extra mana over Hero's Downfall (or two mana over Heartless Act & friends).

If you absolutely have to kill two things, consider Ashes to Ashes or Malicious Affliction. I might consider Sever if I were in an incredibly slow meta and expected to have time to flash it back, but in that case I'd favor Dregs of Sorrow (or Decree of Pain).

[RxPhantom]

I've actually been reconsidering Sever the Bloodline lately. I've encountered a lot of tokens lately, even in decks where token swarms aren't the main strategy. But even if I wanted it, the decks that like it can run Declaration in Stone.

[abel88]

Bile Blight or Echoing Decay seem like they would be better options for wiping out tokens. sever seems a bit slow

[onering]

Was ok when it was released but has since been outclassed. It's slow removal that is an expensive 2 for 1 in a vacuum that randomly dunks on tokens and clones, and exiles. In the battlecruiser age, this was nice, as the meta was slower and exiling big threats was important, and the versatility of taking out token armies when needed was sweet. Today it's just too slow.

That said I think it's a mistake to write it off entirely, as it has meta applications. It is still solid against token armies, especially of those armies are boosted out of the range of the mini sweepers that usually deal with tokens. It also deals with gods, both the indestructible variety and the bolasified kind that goes to hand or library. In a meta with lots of gods or tokens, it's worth a look if you aren't in white (I'd prefer whits mass removal against tokens and path/swords against gods).

Phantom mentioned Declaration in Stone as superior, but it really depends on the meta. Two fewer Mana vs being able to flash it back and not leaving an opponent with a buttload of clues, the former only wins out in fast metas, and token swarms tend to not do well there.

[Wallycaine]

Was ok when it was released but has since been outclassed. It's slow removal that is an expensive 2 for 1 in a vacuum that randomly dunks on tokens and clones, and exiles. In the battlecruiser age, this was nice, as the meta was slower and exiling big threats was important, and the versatility of taking out token armies when needed was sweet. Today it's just too slow.

That said I think it's a mistake to write it off entirely, as it has meta applications. It is still solid against token armies, especially of those armies are boosted out of the range of the mini sweepers that usually deal with tokens. It also deals with gods, both the indestructible variety and the bolasified kind that goes to hand or library. In a meta with lots of gods or tokens, it's worth a look if you aren't in white (I'd prefer whits mass removal against tokens and path/swords against gods).

Phantom mentioned Declaration in Stone as superior, but it really depends on the meta. Two fewer Mana vs being able to flash it back and not leaving an opponent with a buttload of clues, the former only wins out in fast metas, and token swarms tend to not do well there.

I'd note the "nontoken" clause on Declaration in Stone. If you're wiping out a token army, they don't get any clues at all.

[ilovesaprolings]

Bile Blight or Echoing Decay seem like they would be better options for wiping out tokens. sever seems a bit slow

*laugh in Ghired's rhino and wurm tokens*

[DirkGently]

It also deals with gods, both the indestructible variety and the bolasified kind that goes to hand or library.

God-Eternal Oketra

I'm afraid bolas foresaw this eventuality and gave his minions protection from exile. Unfortunately for him, he failed to foresee those meddling kids.

Works against all the other god-types though (if they're creatures, at least - which isn't always likely of course).

[onering]

Was ok when it was released but has since been outclassed. It's slow removal that is an expensive 2 for 1 in a vacuum that randomly dunks on tokens and clones, and exiles. In the battlecruiser age, this was nice, as the meta was slower and exiling big threats was important, and the versatility of taking out token armies when needed was sweet. Today it's just too slow.

That said I think it's a mistake to write it off entirely, as it has meta applications. It is still solid against token armies, especially of those armies are boosted out of the range of the mini sweepers that usually deal with tokens. It also deals with gods, both the indestructible variety and the bolasified kind that goes to hand or library. In a meta with lots of gods or tokens, it's worth a look if you aren't in white (I'd prefer whits mass removal against tokens and path/swords against gods).

Phantom mentioned Declaration in Stone as superior, but it really depends on the meta. Two fewer Mana vs being able to flash it back and not leaving an opponent with a buttload of clues, the former only wins out in fast metas, and token swarms tend to not do well there.

I'd note the "nontoken" clause on Declaration in Stone. If you're wiping out a token army, they don't get any clues at all.

Nice, missed that

[Sinis]

Monday, September 7th, 2020; Sever the Bloodline

I played this a fair bit when Innistrad first came out - back then it was novel; exile-removal for black in EDH was all but non-existent. Just (what was then) Oubliette, Duplicant, OG Karn, and the actually-awful Brittle Effigy, while Gild and Silence the Believers would appear in Theros block more than a year later.

I liked that it banished tokens, but it always had a problem with people using a sac outlet in response. If you can't successfully exile one token, the rest would remain. The Flashback was also good in a pinch, but I can only recall casting it that way once or twice.

[JWK]

Over the years, I've occasionally used Sever the Bloodline to deal with token swarms, and it once really ruined the day of a Relentless Rats player, but I think I've used it most often as a recurrable way to deal with annoying Theros gods, who back in the day seemed to show up in about 3/4 of the decks I'd go against. The Flashback cost is high, but having something in black that could deal with both Purphuros and Mogis (or Karametra and Nylea, or whatever) was pretty important back then. I probably kept it in decks forlonger than I should have because of those days, and should probably reevaluate it if the world ever changes to allow one to go to stores and once again play against a wide range of opponents. Token decks are currently quite prevalent among the small group of people I regularly play against, and use of Spark Double to copy annoying legendary creatures - or commanders - such as Yarok has also been a thing, so in this small meta, Sever the Bloodline has continued to be pretty good.

[Hawk]

Yay, I can still comment on this!

I ran this in Crosis, the Purger "Flashback Matters" years ago and it was...fine, but eventually cut since even with the #value of drawing cards or burning stuff it was just too slow.

As noted, I really resist playing 4CMC+ sorcery-speed removal unless it is a boardwipe or has a lot of utility (most often coming attached to a body, like on Ravenous Chupacabra). I used to play Aftershock a lot more and that's been phased out too even in a deck desperate for creature removal like Daretti, Scrap Savant. The fact is that we have so many alternatives nowadays - in Monoblack, even assuming you simply must have Exile, you have Ashes to Ashes for one less for two targets, you have the incomparable Deadly Rollick, and you have a variety of "premium removal of Standard's yesteryear" like Silence the Believers, Hour of Glory, Eat to Extinction, and Vraska's Contempt which all even offer some sort of small upshot as well as being instant speed. And I'd note I currently run none of those (although that's due to lack of access to Rollick), as I prefer my removal at 1 or 2 CMC, 3 tops - I'd only really look at those spells for a deck like Toshiro Umezawa or Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed control.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, September 8th , 2020; Stasis

I feel awful.......and after seeing the RCotD for today, only part of that awful feeling is from the garbage drinks I had last night.

[Sinis]

Tuesday, September 8th , 2020; Stasis

I feel awful.......and after seeing the RCotD for today, only part of that awful feeling is from the garbage drinks I had last night.

ngl, I adore this card, and have ever since I started playing. I loved when Ice Age rolled around and we could add Despotic Scepter to the Boomerangs and Kismets we played with to keep the game locked up forever.

It's not something I want to play in EDH though. Prison/Stax seems unfun to me, and I want my opponents to enjoy themselves.

What did you drink last night 3drinks? How many did you have?... was it 3?

[Guardman]

On the bright side it has some of the best art in all of magic.

On the dark side, I've seen incarnations of pure evil that I've rather see on the other side of the table than this card.

[3drinks]

It was definitely three. And it was a new drink I wanted to confirm all the hype around. I didn't get wasted though, just woke up with a headache and lost my oatmeal this morning. Never again.

I'll go back to sleeving up islands before trying this crappy cheap booze again.

[Hawk]

I don't want to turn this into a "rail against STAX" day, but I will say - I am shocked we've never seen a modern black-border printing of Stasis. It encourages deeply miserable and unfun play patterns, so it makes sense why we've never seen it in a Commander product (in fact, it has the highest "Salt" score of every card in Magic's history by a significant margin). But we're deep into Masters series at this point with no printing in sight which seems a shame for a card that is infamously important to MTG's greater history. Maybe we will see it in Time Spiral Remastered?

[Mookie]

Stasis-ohol: Side effects may include groaning, slow play, and headaches. Consult your playgroup before playing. Do not use if in a casual meta or expecting to play in a casual meta. If games last longer than four hours, consult a judge.

Anyway, it's not a particularly fun card. It's usually only run as part of a lock (alongside something like Tezzeret the Seeker to untap mana rocks).... and at that point, you might as well just run a combo that will actually just win the game. Obnoxiously, unless you combo it with Kismet or another way to tap down permanents, it's not an actual hard lock - people can just play untapped lands until they eventually draw an answer. As a result, it's not even very good at prompting concessions, just making the table miserable.

One of my key ethos for EDH is 'let people play their cards'. If you don't let your opponents play the game, then there really isn't a point to playing at all.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

On topic: Stasis is fine, I think. I like that the effect exists in magic, if only as an example so current and future game designers know what not to emulate. It's a card that fundamentally removes the "game" quality from a card game, reducing one of the world's most complex recreational activities into a staring contest.

It was definitely three. And it was a new drink I wanted to confirm all the hype around. I didn't get wasted though, just woke up with a headache and lost my oatmeal this morning. Never again.

I'll go back to sleeving up islands before trying this crappy cheap booze again.

Off topic: Do tell, which brand did you in? Was it some kind of foreign cocktail or simply an unadulterated brown bag of demise? Or perhaps those inexplicably popular hard seltzers (made for a previously untapped market of people who apparently want the alcohol content of PBR with even less flavour)?

[Hawk]

Stasis-ohol: Side effects may include groaning, slow play, and headaches. Consult your playgroup before playing. Do not use if in a casual meta or expecting to play in a casual meta. If games last longer than four hours, consult a judge.

Anyway, it's not a particularly fun card. It's usually only run as part of a lock (alongside something like Tezzeret the Seeker to untap mana rocks).... and at that point, you might as well just run a combo that will actually just win the game. Obnoxiously, unless you combo it with Kismet or another way to tap down permanents, it's not an actual hard lock - people can just play untapped lands until they eventually draw an answer. As a result, it's not even very good at prompting concessions, just making the table miserable.

One of my key ethos for EDH is 'let people play their cards'. If you don't let your opponents play the game, then there really isn't a point to playing at all.

Well said as always. While there's obviously a thin line (counterspells and Dust Bowl-ing people off their colors feels fine to me but I know not to a lot of other players), Stasis and its fellow salt-lord cards like Winter Orb are near-impossible to use for anything other than grinding the game to an unfun screeching halt and preventing people from playing Magic. I pondered today if maybe it was possible to use Stasis "fair" in, say, superfriends as a way to just but a turn or two (like a Fog or Sleep while grinding value) and concluded that it was unlikely to do that in practice - in practice, one would land it alongside someone like Tezzeret or Garruk Wildspeaker or Estrid, the Masked or Teferi, Temporal Archmage and just oppress the table into a sleep.

[plushpenguin]

It makes me extra glad that Force of Vigor exists to be able to more easily answer these kind of cards.