[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Golgari Thug

[onering]

This performs very well in my flash tribal deck. Flash is an underrated ability, and being able to hold up Mana for interaction but still be able to advance your board presence right before your turn is really strong. The deck wins through damage, so countering something important and getting a 5/4 is nice. With the advent of the age of synergy, there's a strong chance the creature or artifact you need to counter won't be all that good in your deck, potentially useless, so a reliable 5/4 is often better (I run desertion and drawing whelk in the deck as well though). The shark is also useful in other ways, such as actually being useable proactively just as a beater to finish out the game (it's fail state really), or as a surprise blocker (which can take out utility creatures that get sent at you for chip damage because your open). It's a useful well rounded card that has no place in cEDH but can pull it's weight in the right decks. It's also just awesome

[JWK]

This performs very well in my flash tribal deck. Flash is an underrated ability, and being able to hold up Mana for interaction but still be able to advance your board presence right before your turn is really strong. The deck wins through damage, so countering something important and getting a 5/4 is nice. With the advent of the age of synergy, there's a strong chance the creature or artifact you need to counter won't be all that good in your deck, potentially useless, so a reliable 5/4 is often better (I run desertion and drawing whelk in the deck as well though). The shark is also useful in other ways, such as actually being useable proactively just as a beater to finish out the game (it's fail state really), or as a surprise blocker (which can take out utility creatures that get sent at you for chip damage because your open). It's a useful well rounded card that has no place in cEDH but can pull it's weight in the right decks. It's also just awesome

I think this pretty well captures the card's potential strengths in the right deck. It offers a lot of flexibility - counterspell, surprise blocker, moderately good beater - and to make the most of it, you have to be willing to cast it in a manner that might be right for the situation even if it isn't using the card to its full potential. For example, you have to be willing to cast it before your turn with the intent to attack with it on your turn if that will be advantageous, rather than holding into it as a counter. Best case scenario will always be to use it to stop a dangerous spell first, then use the body in some manner, but if that is the only way you are willing to cast it, you should be running a cheaper counterspell such as Dissipate instead of Voracious Greatshark in the first place.

Me personally, I generally prefer my counterspells to be cheaper, but I can see this fitting into decks that have high synergy with connecting the counterspell to a creature. Surrak Dragonclaw makes Sharky an uncounterable counterspell. Animar gets a counter and potentially makes Sharky a lot cheaper to cast. Chulane gives you a a card and a land drop along with the dude and the counterspell. I have considered putting this card in Animar, but the 5/4 body isn't as relevant in a deck full of hydras and I greatly prefer counters that exile or provide some additional value other than a body.

[3drinks]

Thursday, October 1st, 2020; Phyrexian Processor

I always wanted to play this with good trostani. Seems fair 👀

[Mookie]

Phyrexian Processor's classic use case is alongside Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - pay a bunch of life, make a token, then gain all that life back. Throw in Trostani's populate ability to make even more giant tokens and you have a pretty solid threat. I will note that there are other commanders that can make use of this ability as well - Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim can also regain the lost life (although at the cost of the token), while a commander like Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder can give it lifelink to gain life back that way.

As for commanders that care about massive tokens, Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer and Ghired, Conclave Exile are two others that come to mind. This also seems like a feasible win condition for many lifegain decks - turn your excess life into massive beaters. Even just spitting out a 10/10 every turn is enough to win many games, and that should be doable without even building around the Processor.

I will of course note Processor's massive downside - paying a bunch of life can be risky, and is significantly weaker if your life total is already under a lot of pressure. Similarly, if it gets blown up, you may be paying a bunch of life for no value. Or, even worse, setting yourself to a low life total may just result in your own death (also, Mindslaver is a card). Still, there are some ways to make use of a low life total - stuff like Axis of Mortality and Repay in Kind can share the pain with your opponents, or you could use it to set up Near-Death Experience.

Outside shenanigans, I'm a bit less impressed - eight mana invested for the first token is pretty expensive, and the tokens themselves are entirely vanilla (outside their massive size). Better than Serra Avatar or another big, expensive, non-evasive beater, but still a bit slow to get going.

[The_Hittite]

Gonna add Brion Stoutarm as a general that can both make good use of big vanilla creatures and gain the life back in the process.

[Rorseph]

I can remember a time when Phyrexian Processor was one of the better targets for Tinker and was somehow still one of the fairest cards in Standard at the time. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I still think it has a place in lifegain decks as a stylish (ok, janky) way to kick off some shenanigans. @Mookie's mention of Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim has me thinking of some ideas for a deck that I want to play.

[Serenade]

Love some Ron Spencer artwork.

[Sinis]

Thursday, October 1st, 2020; Phyrexian Processor

Cute in Trostani and Temmet, but, probably terrible elsewhere.

[umtiger]

Most players treat having to pay life as not really a downside at all. After all, EDH at times does not resemble a regular 20 life game of MtG. Fetch lands and shock lands are for all intents and purposes "free."

I feel the life payment is sorta an opportunity in EDH. Having a 20/20 tokens for 8 mana + the upside of untapping and token abuse is cool. When you play this, you're not paying 20+ life without a plan

I'm glad the OG art is featured here.
.

[3drinks]

Friday, October 2nd, 2020; Garruk, Unleashed

inb4 not the Garruk I was thinking of for commander use. ha.

[Mookie]

Garruk, Unleashed is one of the more forgettable planeswalkers. The (+1) is pretty unexciting - +3/+3 and trample is a reasonable combat buff, but not something I value very highly. The (-2) is decent token generation (and potentially acts like a (-1) if the condition is met), but a 3/3 token isn't super exciting either. The ultimate is very powerful - cheating out a creature every turn is quite strong - but you generally shouldn't base your evaluation of a planeswalker on its ultimate.

I'd say that the most obvious comparison is Garruk Wildspeaker, the original Garruk and another 4 mana option. Both have token generation as a (-1), but the original has a less clunky implementation. Mana generation as a (+1) is generally preferable to a pump effect as an action taken every turn. It's hard to compare ultimates, but Wildspeaker reaches it significantly faster than Unleashed, and Overrun is also capable of ending games on the spot, while cheating out a creature on your end step may take a few turn cycles.

....I assume there are some decks out there that value the +3/+3 and trample more highly than untapping two lands, but I can't think of any at the moment. I guess it makes more mana with Selvala, Heart of the Wilds? On the other hand, I feel like every Garruk WIldspeaker I see is played alongside Gaea's Cradle, so....

[JWK]

I like this Garruk. It isn't as powerful and efficient as Garruk Wildspeaker (which I would still argue is among the best planeswalkers for this format) and doesn't offer the huge card draw of Garruk, Primal Hunter, but I think it has its place in some decks, especially those which take a toolbox approach. The clause that makes his ultimate/emblem ability trigger only during the end step keeps him from being entirely broken, which I really appreciate.

I slotted a copy into Mayael the Anima, where he does a good job of pumping up threats for awhile until he gets to the point where he can repeatedly fetch utility creatures while shuffling the deck to offer new top-deck options for Sylvan Library, Mayael herself, Cream of the Crop and Lurking Predators to find and to give me another shot at drawing things that got put at the bottom of the deck by previous Mayael or Cream activations. He's worked out pretty well there, and I expect my other copy will eventually find a home somewhere in my suite of decks. Maybe it's time to do a Garruk Tribal subtheme.

[Hawk]

Garruk Wildspeaker is one of my favorite Planeswalkers in the format, and I think all 3-4 copies I own are in use. -1 for a Beast, +1 to be an Argothian Elder, and -4 to Overrun is all really good.

Garruk, Unleashed faces stiff competition from OG Garruk. If all you want is a versatile token-maker at 4, Wildspeaker wins hands down every time. If you are doing some sort of Superfriends thing, Unleashed is probably "better" in exactly the situation where you already control Doubling Season ...but if you are a superfriends deck, it's probable that the build-your-own Planar Bridge that is his ultimate isn't enough, not compared to insta-ulting someone like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon (nevermind any number of classic non-mono-green options like Tamiyo, Field Researcher or Jace, Architect of Thought).

I think my real problem is that that +1 is generally awful. I find myself often running OG Garruk explicitly to create a font of mana alongside my sole gold-bordered Gaea's Cradle or some Wild Growth and Mirari's Wake-enhanced lands, with the beast token being a fine fail state/protection in the midgame if I need to run out Garruk on a relatively empty board. Here, that +1 will rarely be super relevant and you won't be guaranteed that his beast token is just a -1. I know it's different colors, but comparing him to Elspeth, Knight-Errant makes him come up really short too - flying is almost always better than trample, and while a 1/1 is obviously worse than a 3/3, Elspeth gets to +1 to nab her dorks which makes it much easier to build to her ultimate (which is similarly one that is very very strong and should make it tough to lose but that doesn't win on the spot). I'd have liked this Garruk a lot more if it was a "0" to make that Beast and then you got the loyalty refund if you were behind, or even -1 that moved to "zero" if behind; as written it just creates too much tension across his abilities for him to be super good in our format.

With the legend rule changed for Planeswalkers, I could see running Unleashed alongside Wildspeaker in Samut though. That deck would have plenty of ways for the +1 to matter (pumping Samut for Voltron kills, pumping Selvala for ramp, making various early dorks into more threatening beaters) and doesn't go super-wide so the minus should still usually be a -1. Not something I would go out of my way to buy, but something that seems fun to try.

[onering]

Thursday, October 1st, 2020; Phyrexian Processor

Cute in Trostani and Temmet, but, probably terrible elsewhere.

You'd be surprised. Paying 10 life is pretty easy in this format, and being able to crank out a 10/10 each turn for 4 Mana a pop is a real threat. Its surprisingly effective even without synergies. You want to make sure you can immediately activate it though so you at least get a 10/10 out of it's fail state (immediately being answered). 8 Mana and 10 life for a 10/10 is bad, but that's it's absolute worst case scenario if played right and your still left with a real beater.

[Sinis]

You'd be surprised. Paying 10 life is pretty easy in this format, and being able to crank out a 10/10 each turn for 4 Mana a pop is a real threat. Its surprisingly effective even without synergies. You want to make sure you can immediately activate it though so you at least get a 10/10 out of it's fail state (immediately being answered). 8 Mana and 10 life for a 10/10 is bad, but that's it's absolute worst case scenario if played right and your still left with a real beater.

I find the lack of evasion to be the real trouble. People always have some Wood Elves or something to block. I think if the processor sticks, it's great, but, people in my groups tend to hold answers for the stuff they're really going to lose to.

[3drinks]

You'd be surprised. Paying 10 life is pretty easy in this format, and being able to crank out a 10/10 each turn for 4 Mana a pop is a real threat. Its surprisingly effective even without synergies. You want to make sure you can immediately activate it though so you at least get a 10/10 out of it's fail state (immediately being answered). 8 Mana and 10 life for a 10/10 is bad, but that's it's absolute worst case scenario if played right and your still left with a real beater.

I find the lack of evasion to be the real trouble. People always have some Wood Elves or something to block. I think if the processor sticks, it's great, but, people in my groups tend to hold answers for the stuff they're really going to lose to.

Start playing more Pyroclasm or, better yet, Pestilence. Cards that are critically under played and do a number on all these durdle decks that would rather play Sad Robot and exhume wood elves all day, than actually win the game.

[Sinis]

Start playing more Pyroclasm or, better yet, Pestilence. Cards that are critically under played and do a number on all these durdle decks that would rather play Sad Robot and exhume wood elves, than actually win the game.

I play Pestilence, Pestilence Demon, and Withering Wisps every chance I get

[Hawk]

You'd be surprised. Paying 10 life is pretty easy in this format, and being able to crank out a 10/10 each turn for 4 Mana a pop is a real threat. Its surprisingly effective even without synergies. You want to make sure you can immediately activate it though so you at least get a 10/10 out of it's fail state (immediately being answered). 8 Mana and 10 life for a 10/10 is bad, but that's it's absolute worst case scenario if played right and your still left with a real beater.

I find the lack of evasion to be the real trouble. People always have some Wood Elves or something to block. I think if the processor sticks, it's great, but, people in my groups tend to hold answers for the stuff they're really going to lose to.

Start playing more Pyroclasm or, better yet, Pestilence. Cards that are critically under played and do a number on all these durdle decks that would rather play Sad Robot and exhume wood elves all day, than actually win the game.

Wow, I feel so attacked

(Pyrohemia in Dinosaurs has absolutely sown chaos and despair in our meta and I'd wager Pestilience would do the same in many B/x midrange decks)

[3drinks]

Start playing more Pyroclasm or, better yet, Pestilence. Cards that are critically under played and do a number on all these durdle decks that would rather play Sad Robot and exhume wood elves, than actually win the game.

I play Pestilence, Pestilence Demon, and Withering Wisps every chance I get

I'd wager it's time to start aggressively tutouring for them then. And when they get popped? Well that's why they made Auramancer Hall of Heliod's Generosity. 🤔

[3drinks]

I find the lack of evasion to be the real trouble. People always have some Wood Elves or something to block. I think if the processor sticks, it's great, but, people in my groups tend to hold answers for the stuff they're really going to lose to.

Start playing more Pyroclasm or, better yet, Pestilence. Cards that are critically under played and do a number on all these durdle decks that would rather play Sad Robot and exhume wood elves all day, than actually win the game.

Wow, I feel so attacked

Perhaps it's time to switch things up so as to not feel so attacked/exposed. Stop durdling and start making power plays to win the game. Assert your dominance.

Adapt to the newfound pressure, or perish underneath it. <-- that's a challenge to you to reach such a point that my assessment becomes incorrect.

[Sinis]

I'd wager it's time to start aggressively tutouring for them then. And when they get popped? Well that's why they made Auramancer Hall of Heliod's Generosity.

I do, usually. Maybe I should do it *more*. I even got a beta Pestilence|LEB

[umtiger]

I'd wager it's time to start aggressively tutouring for them then. And when they get popped? Well that's why they made Auramancer Hall of Heliod's Generosity.

I do, usually. Maybe I should do it *more*. I even got a beta Pestilence|LEB

That card scared me when I was little. I've been playing for a long time.

[Sinis]

I'd wager it's time to start aggressively tutouring for them then. And when they get popped? Well that's why they made Auramancer Hall of Heliod's Generosity.

I do, usually. Maybe I should do it *more*. I even got a beta Pestilence|LEB

That card scared me when I was little. I've been playing for a long time.

I remember revised copies, but, I've never had that reflex. For whatever reason, I like the ABUR ones more than Urza's Saga one.

[3drinks]

Saturday, October 3rd, 2020; Krosan Grip

Everyone's fave 3cmc naturalize. This should be a good discussion day, I'm of the opinion the format has evolved to such a point that paying three for this effect is too much if I'm not cantripping. We all know Nature's Claim is superiour, and i suspect K-Grip doesn't even break the top five anymore.

Discuss!

[3drinks]

I'd wager it's time to start aggressively tutouring for them then. And when they get popped? Well that's why they made Auramancer Hall of Heliod's Generosity.

I do, usually. Maybe I should do it *more*. I even got a beta Pestilence|LEB

I wholeheartedly encourage it. Bonus points if you do it with a Darksteel Myr/Darksteel Sentinel around. Darksteel Brute would also be a stealth way to keep it around and dodge a lot of opportunities against it (I love Mishra's Factory with it personally).