[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Rishkar, Peema Renegade

[Hermes_]

Card: Good
people who use it: bad

[3drinks]

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)?

It was definitely one of those "popular" hard seltzers. I decided to see what all the fuss was about (I much prefer cocktails - long island iced tea, espresso latte, white russian), but wow did these suck. They felt empty and tasted like air. No substance to them and I cant imagine how anyone finds them attractive. Ugh.

Least I tried them before brushing them off. Need to get that taste outta my memory now 🤮

[umtiger]

Why do people slow play when Stasis is on board?

You play your land or you don't and then you say go.

[onering]

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)?

It was definitely one of those "popular" hard seltzers. I decided to see what all the fuss was about (I much prefer cocktails - long island iced tea, espresso latte, white russian), but wow did these suck. They felt empty and tasted like air. No substance to them and I cant imagine how anyone finds them attractive. Ugh.

Least I tried them before brushing them off. Need to get that taste outta my memory now 🤮

That %$#% will make you sick. I get sick from them before I get a buzz. The combo of carbonation, alcohol, way too much sugar, and whatever other %$#%$#% they put in them just screws up my stomach. Never drank enough to puke from them, just enough to feel like I ate glass. I used to be able to drink one and be fine, like with dinner or something, but now even one with food leaves my stomach upset. Now I stick with good beer or a decent whiskey on the rocks. Enjoy it going down and don't pay for it afterwards.

Anyway, wrt stasis, I don't hate stax. Stax is either a combo or control. Combos win games. Stax wins games. You play it to win, its only as bad as any other combo win con. You build your deck to get the lock asap and its no different than building the deck to combo off asap. You build the deck to use stax effects to control the game, the game can still be enjoyable. You build the deck to control the game and maybe draw into a lock, its no different than playing control and maybe drawing into a combo. When its used as control, it feels a bit different because its a proactive form of control, which adds to the salt level but also means you can answer it.

Its not for every playgroup, but imo if your playing high power casual or above you should be ok with it. There's enough degenerate stuff happening in this format that's just as able to shut down the game as stax at those levels of play. The only difference is that stax gives opponents more of an out, a chance to get out from under it. Yeah, they could have just won for that much work, but the anti stax gameplay is interesting every once in awhile. I think its at its worst when its misplayed, when someone just tries to lock the board with no way to win or throws powerful stax pieces like stasis or winter orb in a deck with little synergy with them. THAT just slows down the game and makes it miserable. When I see stax played well, the pilot has a way to leverage their position to a win. It may take 10 turns, but those turns should be significantly faster than normal turns since options are limited for everyone.

But, as I said, Stasis is one of those cards that has the most potential to just randomly wreck games without winning, or making a serious attempt at winning. It should only be played out if it combos for a hard lock (gg) or you can leverage the soft lock to likely victory.

[Peterhausenn]

stasis is in the top three favorite cards of mine along with counterspell and island. my beta version of the card is probably my most prized mtg card. its not the most expensive, but definetaly the most prized. i used stasis in my first ever mtg deck using a quirion elves with an instill energy attached to it to cover the upkeep cost. the win usually came from a bay falcon or if i was really lucky a serra angel. when i look at what mtg has become in the last few years i really miss those days. i often want to try to run it when i build a new deck but it has a high cost, both in terms of gameplay and the enjoyment of other players. i am not a fan of prison decks in a casual setting which is what i consider edh to be. i dont think its a good card for the format which is hard for me to say because it does almost everything i want a card to do.

im not a big fan of the artwork, but i appreciate it and enjoy the story behind it. it is unique in terms of card art which i also value. while i would never own a print of it if i owned the original painting i would proudly display it. 10 out of 10

[3drinks]

Wednesday, September 9th, 2020; Hostage Taker

In a fan. Why let you have a sol ring when it looks better on me? I keep it if I cast the card before you kill my pirate right? The wording suggests that's how it works, but I'm always a bit shaky on this type of thing.

[DirkGently]

Yep, it's a race to cast the spell before the pirate leaves the battlefield. If they kill him in response, you never get the card. Once you've cast it, it's yours (until the bounce it, ofc).

This can create tricky spots where you have to decide whether to wait until you can cast it right away, or take it and hope they can't deal with the hostage taker.

Overall cool card, and a solid pirate with good flavor. More interesting play patterns than your run-of-the-mill Control Magic which tends to be "do you have enchantment removal or not?" Real bastard in limited, though.

[3drinks]

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)?

It was definitely one of those "popular" hard seltzers. I decided to see what all the fuss was about (I much prefer cocktails - long island iced tea, espresso latte, white russian), but wow did these suck. They felt empty and tasted like air. No substance to them and I cant imagine how anyone finds them attractive. Ugh.

Least I tried them before brushing them off. Need to get that taste outta my memory now 🤮

That %$#% will make you sick. I get sick from them before I get a buzz. The combo of carbonation, alcohol, way too much sugar, and whatever other %$#%$#% they put in them just screws up my stomach. Never drank enough to puke from them, just enough to feel like I ate glass. I used to be able to drink one and be fine, like with dinner or something, but now even one with food leaves my stomach upset. Now I stick with good beer or a decent whiskey on the rocks. Enjoy it going down and don't pay for it afterwards.

That's exactly what triggered the reaction. I shot three back to back like I do my cocktails and thought nothing of it. It was only latre i realized my mistake...never again, lesson learned. Shame it cost me $15 to learn it. If people are drinking these to have a drink and not the calories....whew, their poor iron stomachs. I salute them and simultaneously feel sorry for them.

[3drinks]

Yep, it's a race to cast the spell before the pirate leaves the battlefield. If they kill him in response, you never get the card. Once you've cast it, it's yours (until the bounce it, ofc).

This can create tricky spots where you have to decide whether to wait until you can cast it right away, or take it and hope they can't deal with the hostage taker.

Overall cool card, and a solid pirate with good flavor. More interesting play patterns than your run-of-the-mill Control Magic which tends to be "do you have enchantment removal or not?" Real bastard in limited, though.

Great to know it works like I thought. And yeah the flavour is supreme.

[ilovesaprolings]

A really good card that is still fair and interactible.

[Dunharrow]

Bonus points for being Reveillarkable.
Didn't make my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck though. a lot of 4cmc bombs in these colors.

[Stapler]

If I'm playing U+B/x, this card goes straight into the deck unless I have a specific reason not to run it. Getting to play a somewhat versatile, if slow, piece of interaction that can also generate card advantage or even steal someone's win condition for myself (Craterhoof Behemoth etc.) is awesome. Being a creature makes it easily recurrable and tutorable, and it has additional utility in protecting an important creature from a wrath if you can play it at instant speed, or reusing an ETB in combination with a sac outlet. It even has some janky infinite combos: two Clones copying Hostage Taker lets you create an Oblivion Ring-esque loop for unlimited ETBs and LTBs, and Hostage Taker + Muldrotha, the Gravetide + Phyrexian Altar + Animate Dead enchanting a token-making creature (like Izoni, Thousand-Eyed) gets you infinite mana.

It's definitely a bad idea to avoid instant-speed interaction and only play Ravenous Chupacabra/Duplicant-type cards as your removal, but Hostage Taker is a card that's too fun for me not to include.

[Hermes_]

I remember when it could target itself....

[Mookie]

Hostage Taker is sweet. It's a pretty unique Control Magic variant, since those colors usually don't get Oblivion Ring effects or the ability to get rid of artifacts. I've been meaning to pick up a couple of copies for a while. Unlike most theft effects, the card doesn't even return if the Hostage Taker later leaves the battlefield (assuming you've cast it), which is quite nice.

I'd say that my one critique of Hostage Taker is that it seems really rare for someone to use it without immediately casting the stolen object, which is slightly annoying. No option for negotiations or paying ransom, unlike Soul Ransom.

[RxPhantom]

She's a rock star in my Yarok deck (duh). Great card.

[not-a-cube]

Great card!

It's versatile, targetting the two most played non-land permanents.
It gives incentive for interactive play or else that creature/artifact is mine.
It's on a body, so it can be reused easily.
It's a big flavor win, taking hostage, stockholm syndrome.

On of my favourite cards of the last years.

To bad it needed an errata on release.

[3drinks]

Thursday, September 10th, 2020; Silent Sentinel

It's hard to recur single enchantments typically. Skull of Orm is expensive. Auramancer effects are one shot. Replenish is a shotgun rather than a scalpel. sun tits is limited in targets. In that vein, I like today's RCotD. But mechanically, I never ever would want to be casting this at the rate, + not have haste, + needing to attack safely, for something that probably isn't winning the game.

It's in an awkwardly unique spot where it's all you have for the job but it's not the tool you want to see in the toolbox.

[not-a-cube]

Con's;
- It's an attack trigger, which makes it harder to trigger.
- It doesn't have haste, so it needs to survive a turn before it becomes active.
- If you have a really good enchantment in the bin, this will have a target on it's head. If not, who really cares what it does.
- 7 cmc

Pro's:
- Enchantment recursion is good, and to the battlefield is better.
- It has flying.
- It's in white, which has reconnaissance.
- If you can keep it, it's reusable.

I think it's to much of a hassle to be usefull, it's also 7 cmc, so it might be the only play you make that turn and everyone knows creatures die easily in commander.

[Mookie]

There are some cards that are pretty obviously intro pack rares.

Ties into set mechanic? Check.
Big and splashy? Check.
Horribly overcosted? Check.

Silent Sentinel isn't necessarily bad, but... the payoff you get for the investment really isn't worth it. I won't disregard the card entirely - reanimating stuff is always open to being broken, especially if you can cheat out an Omniscience - but hoping your seven mana creature with no protection survives a full turn cycle so you can attack with it is... optimistic. I would much rather just run Starfield of Nyx or another reanimation effect instead.

[3drinks]

Friday, September 11th, 2020; Nuisance engine|mrd

A nice, simple, no-frills colourless token creatour. Also the only thing that actually uses Pest creatures. Compares decently to Kher Keep, but takes up a spell slot instead of a land.

[Ulka]

I used it In the Rube Goldberg Machine deck I ran ages ago. was solid but not outstanding. 4/10 may run again one day

[Hawk]

I think I ran this in Karn, back when I had a Karn deck right after New Phyrexia's release. It was a fine way to "forcefield" chumpblock back in the halcyon early days of the format, but it eventually got phased out for better cards, and then the deck became a Daretti, Scrap Savant deck that had even more access to early game defense. At release this felt pretty good compared to past artifacts like Hornet Cannon or Volrath's Laboratory or Phyrexian Processor that cost a billion mana every turn in addition to their upfront cost.

Even back then I came to the conclusion that Myr Turbine was usually better - sure, I could cast Engine ahead of time to contribute to Affinity or count towards Blinkmoth Urn, but on balance both were 5 for the first token and required a tap. The difference was that Turbine made 1/1s of a more relevant type, had the trinket text of sometimes tutoring Myr Battlesphere, and was cheaper every turn after - five for the first token, but for the second Turbine is still just five wheras now I'm in for 7 on the engine. That free activation was huge and allowed Turbine to combo better with stuff like Clock of Omens. Unwinding Clock, or Voltaic Construct (after a Karn, Silver Golem activation, natch) to spit out a ton of tokens in a hurry.

Since then, we've seen a few more solid cards printed if you are in the market for a dork:

• Trading Post is the gold standard - also five for your first 0/1 dork token (and 1 life!) but cheaper every turn after and has many other functions. One of my favorite durdle engines of all time .
• Retrofitter Foundry is only 3 for your first token and makes 1/1s. It also has many other functions and it's Trinket Mage-able.
• Animation Module is 5 for first token too, and it can be expensive every round to pump out more tokens, but it is pumping out tokens and counters and it can combo off with some things and it is also a Trinket. All solid upside imo.
• Acorn Catapult and Throne of Empires don't make artifact tokens, but if you don't care about that they end up being cheaper over time to make more relevant tokens (and sometimes you get to snipe X/1s or play politics with Catapult).
• I'd also mention Mimic Vat as a card that is a little different and slightly more costly, but generally much more powerful if you're looking to make token protectors every turn.

Given that all of these except for Foundry are reasonably budget friendly and we haven't even looked at options one may have in-color, it's hard to imagine a deck for Engine nowadays. Good memories though!

[3drinks]

Saturday, September 12th, 2020; Cytoplast Manipulator

Hello Experiment Kraj, my old friend...........

[ilovesaprolings]

You gain style points everytime you play original Ravnica cards.
This one is strong but get stopped by a removal. I think the power level is fine

[JWK]

I had forgotten about this card. Looks like it might potentially be good in lower-powered Kenrith builds, but that is true of an awful lot of cards.