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

[Mookie]

Sanctum Prelate is an interesting card, but I'm a bit underwhelmed by it in EDH, mostly because people play pretty wide mana curves in the format - it's pretty likely for an opponent to be running cards at every spot on their mana curve from zero to six, or even higher. Contrast that with Legacy and VIntage, where choosing zero or one (or even five for Force of Will) can shut out some decks entirely. It's certainly still possible to annoy your opponents with some careful number picking, but I also feel like most decks run enough creatures to play around it. I suppose clone effects are a thing, at least - it's a lot easier to lock things down if you have multiple instances of the effect. Still, I'd probably just go with Gaddock Teeg most of the time.

[3drinks]

Sunday, July 25th, 2021: Embercleave

"Excalibur", huh?

[Sinis]

Sunday, July 25th, 2021: Embercleave

I kinda love this card. When Eldraine was being spoiled, I preordered one, and later opened another in a box.

Anyway, it's exactly the kind of trick I'd want to play in EDH. Big keyword action, scaling cost, and persistent. It's just kind of neat, I guess.

[Moonlighter]

In my Xenagos, God of Revels build, Embercleave + Godo, Bandit Warlord is an all-star combination. It's based largely on @plushpenguin's design, and it is a serious killer. Whenever I drop Godo people ask if I run Helm of the Host, which I don't because no infinites, but I don't need it. If these two don't kill my remaining opponents, then they have to be answered or I win. It's a super fun card.

[Jemolk]

Sanctum Prelate -- I kinda want to find a spot in a deck for this just because of that beautiful art on the MH2 promo version. Not actually going to happen in any of my EDH decks, though, because it's just a lockpiece, and I'm not actually interested in running Stax in a casual format. Ah well.

Embercleave -- Too bad it's a nonbo with a bunch of the Swords of X&Y. Makes it a little hard to find a home for. Still seems like a kinda cool card, and I haven't been terrorized by it in Standard, so I'm not tired of it, but it's just a little difficult for me to find a place that wants it more than the other options available.

[3drinks]

I just removed mine from Kari Zev in favour of a Jitte since I'm taking a stance toward more disruption than raw beats. Often it would cost four which is a lot, and I'd never want to reequip it at that cost. It's unfortunate.

Tbf, I should play it over my beat to crap Tenza, but that's signed by a friend that had it for years, so I'm really carrying that card now to continue it's legacy.

[Igzex]

Flash AND instant Equipping on entry. Yep. Of course this came from Throne of Eldraine.

[DirkGently]

This is the sort of card that feels kind of %$#%$#% in standard but is good clean fun in commander (imo). If you're smashing face with equipment, you're playing on hard mode, so I think it's pretty fair to get a sweet payoff like this.

Tricky to take full advantage since many equipment decks are going all-in on their commander, which means you probably don't get a big discount. But that's probably nitpicking.

[hyalopterouslemur]

This is kinda useful in token decks. I could see playing it in Rith, just as another way to grant trample and double strike for her saboteur ability. Saskia can also use it for infect, of course. So if you go wide, yeah, this has a purpose

But alpha strike is a token deck's failure mode most of the time: Nice to be able to do, but if you're in red, you have Purphoros, God of the Forge, Pandemonium/Warstorm Surge, and Goblin Bombardment. If you're in green, you have Cyptolith Rite/Earthcraft. If you're in black, you have Pontiff of Blight, Hecatomb, Blood Artist/Falkenrath Noble/Bastion of Remembrance/Zulaport Cutthroat

[3drinks]

Monday, July 26th, 2021; Omnath, Locus of Creation

Tell me you're busted without saying you're busted.

[Rumpy5897]

To nobody's surprise, I can confirm Omn4th is ridiculous. A guy in the group built him without even putting anything busted in there, just generic mid efficiency 4c goodstuff, and the deck immediately became one of the best ones around. Its main use these days is if I need to playtest something in Feather, as those decks have a reasonably close match-up and somewhat meaningful evaluation games can be had

It's a testament to just how crazy the Class of 2019 is that this guy doesn't immediately come to mind when one thinks of busted new designs.

[DirkGently]

They just HAD to add the stupid cantrip, didn't they?

[3drinks]

They just HAD to add the stupid cantrip, didn't they?

"Unplayable. Needs to have draw a card on it." - from the same people that claimed YawgWin was unplayable, probably.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was an actual message in R&D about this, assuming there's any real playtesting going on at all.

[materpillar]

They just HAD to add the stupid cantrip, didn't they?

I understand, it's kind of flavorful. Omnath has 1 ability related to eachEach color of mana gets an ability on it.
W - Gain life
G - Gain mana
R - Deal damage
U - Draw a card

That being said, U seriously needs some identity that isn't "draw cards". Also, aren't you super excited for WUBRG Omnath in the next zendikar set?

[Sinis]

I wouldn't be surprised if that was an actual message in R&D about this, assuming there's any real playtesting going on at all.

There is probably very little.

[Jemolk]

Another "do all the things" card. So... it's sorta like a 4 mana Cruel Ultimatum that can be your commander. Gross. It even has its effects passively, without costing extra, so it's probably not even possible to build a low-powered version even if you wanted to. I'm glad this era of design seems to be coming to an end.

[3drinks]

"If a land would enter the battlefield under a player's control, if it's not that player's first land that would enter the battlefield this turn, instead return that land to it's owners hand."

That's really all you'd have to do to help curb nonsense like this. C'mon WotC, you cowards!

[Mookie]

Generates card advantage, ramps, provides access to four colors... Omnath, Locus of Creation isn't doing anything particularly broken, but it's an incredibly efficient card. It does have the "downside" of needing four colors of mana to justify its stats, but that's a restriction that is very possible to work around in other formats, and an upside in EDH.

Anyway, in EDH, I don't think that Omnath is that exciting - it doesn't really pull in any direction that isn't already covered by commanders like Omnath, Locus of the Roil and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim (landfall / value pile). I suppose it is somewhat unique in that it cares about the number of land drops you get, but.... the lifegain and damage abilities aren't really conducive to being built around, meaning you mostly just want to get the mana ability, which is trivially covered by playing fetchlands.

...I sort of feel like Omnath's primary use case in EDH is providing a more generically useful commander in its color combination than Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, who tends to be pigeonholed into group hug decks. I'm not a fan of 4C decks in general, so not really my thing.

[onering]

I mean, just that fact that it's super easy to have it pay for itself is busted. If you cast it off Mana rocks or ramp, then play a fetch land, youve basically made a 4/4, drawn a card, and gained 4 life for free. Then in subsequent turns, he just provides insane ramp. Any fetch or land based ramp spell adds WURG to your pool, and it's fairly easy to then hit everyone and any random walkers for 4. Turn 3 off a signet means you get 9 Mana turn 4 if you untap with him and play a fetch. Dirk also rightly points out the cantrip on etb, because its just needlessly added value but also somewhat blunts the effectiveness of removing him as the controller can then just draw another card with him. Encouraging a heavy amount of land ramp means that recasting him is also easier, and being able to make WURG right away further blunts the limiting factor of commander tax.

Overall, this is just a ridiculously efficient value commander. It does too much too well, combining CA, ramp, ramp payoffs, and a non combat wincon in a single, cheap package. It's a clear design mistake, and yet maybe doesn't even crack the top 5 of design mistake commanders from 2019. As for play testing, R&D admitted a while ago that they only playtest for standard now (which is hilarious given how often they screw up with standard). Quality control hasn't existed in R&D for nearly a decade. They realized %$#% sells even if they don't make sure the product is sound, so they decided to not give a %$#% and fix any problems with bans.

[Igzex]

Look WOTC you really don't need to make "spicy" (where did that stupid term even come from) new commanders to appeal to commander players. Let us be creative and stop causing problems in Standard AND Commander.

[toctheyounger]

Hes not interesting to play against, so I can't imagine him being fun to pilot either. That being said he's very good. Value for doing what you normally want to do anyway is always tough to match, and there's a lot of value here.

Hes not broken, just pushed enough to be wildly uninteresting.

As an aside, I'm pretty sure he's in 2nd place for most reiterated legendary character that isn't a planeswalker. I think Niv-Mizzet takes gold.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Gotta say, my biggest issue with this is the nonbo with Boundless Realms: You only get three triggers. Seven 5/5s off Rage or drawing seven cards off Mind is pretty much why aren't you winning? Seven landfall triggers should be enough on a lot of landfall cards.

It's by no means bad, it just bugs me.

[pokken]

I was traveling recently and because I felt comfortable with lands decks I played this guy from my buddy's collection.

It was nice to find out that my read of this card was correct that it's insanely boring.

[Venedrex]

Yeah, even as far as this guy getting banned in Standard, I have to laugh that Wizards prints a bomb 4 color legendary that is no doubt supposed to be "balanced" by being so hard to cast... in the same set with Lotus Cobra.

Of course the card is busted regardless of the mana requirements, but it tickles my funny bone to see Wotc design an entire card around the premise of needing all four colors of mana to cast, and then it ends up being casted as if it costed , especially when you cast it off another Omnath, Locus of Creation.

[Mookie]

As an aside, I'm pretty sure he's in 2nd place for most reiterated legendary character that isn't a planeswalker. I think Niv-Mizzet takes gold.

I believe Omnath and Niv are tied, at four versions each. Teysa, Neheb, and Rakdos are next, at three each. There are probably a few other legendary characters with 3+ versions, but none I can think off the top of my head.