[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Jetfire, Ingenious Scientist

[Mookie]

I don't think Krosan Tusker makes the cut for most decks, but I do occasionally find niche reasons to run it. Most of those reasons do boil down to 'I can't run Cultivate' though.

• I've run it in the past in my Primal Surge deck (although I do agree it is outclassed by Sakura-Tribe Elder and Wood Elves).
• More recently, I briefly tested it in Averna, the Chaos Bloom cascade.dec, which was minimizing cards with CMC 4 or less (to guarantee a hit on Unexpected Results).
• I've also brainstormed Possibility Storm decks that wouldn't want to run cheap sorceries.
• If you're running a bunch of cycling synergies, it may be worth consideration - there aren't that many cards that have cycling triggers.
• Can also be good with some graveyard synergies, like Genesis and Meren of Clan Nel Toth.

Otherwise... I'd say the biggest issue with Tusker is that it isn't actually ramp - putting a land into play is way stronger than putting one into hand unless you're consistently missing land drops. If you want this effect, I would strongly recommend considering Shefet Monitor, who actually ramps and also has the added utility of fetching utility Deserts like Scavenger Grounds.

As others have mentioned, Tusker does also draw a card, which means it isn't strictly outclassed by ramp effects that only fetch lands, but... Divination doesn't really excite me, and green has plenty of other options for card advantage.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, December 8th, 2020; Mangara's Tome

I love these obscure cards like this. Kinda has a Skyship Weatherlight vibe to it. Hard to imagine anyone getting upset to see this across from them, despite it being multiple tutours in one. {15} for five tutours in one package, without colour reqs, feels just about right to my assessment.

[RxPhantom]

I put this into my Kemba, Kha Regent deck years ago because white didn't (and still doesn't) have too much going for it, and it's actually done pretty well. It gets a few style points for being a weird old card with cool art, too.

[Dunharrow]

I could see using this to tutor a wrath - as long as your deck has 5 of them!
You could also do Sword of Feast and Famine, Bear Umbra, Nature's Will, Druids' Repository and Aggravated Assault.

[Guardman]

I play this card in my Etali, Primal Storm deck, mostly because it has a slight chaos element to it. There are ways to abuse it with having five redundant copies of the same effect, but even without that it is still pretty good as you sort of know what your next five draws are. Also it is a lot of fun if you are tutoring for that one card to see when you are going to get it.

[Sinis]

Tuesday, December 8th, 2020; Mangara's Tome

It's the Ring of Three Wishes (or Planar Portal... or Doomsday) before those got printed. It replaces your draw though; no card advantage allowed.

Honestly, I love these old cards with art featuring an object totally devoid of context (c.f. Disrupting Scepter|REV, Nova Pentacle, Sword of the Ages, Rukh Egg|ARN etc.)

[JWK]

I would worry about leaving this in play for any length of time, because I expect opponents would just blow it up to make you exile the cards.

I can see maybe playing this in decks with lots of card draw, in which you are paying mana to essentially replace draw with tutoring. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, for example. 15 for tutor 5 is pretty pricey, especially since you still have to pay to cast the tutored cards, but maybe it's worth it?

[Mookie]

Mangara's Tome is interesting - as others have mentioned, it's a colorless way to tutor a bunch of cards. However, the additional hoops you have to jump through make this look really clunky to me. Not only do the cards not go directly to hand, but you also have to pay additional mana to get them and replace a draw. I suppose it's cheaper to use than Ring of Three Wishes in terms of pure mana, but costing a card is a pretty significant drawback, as is the random nature of it.

My personal heuristic is that a tutor is worth approximately three mana and a card (ex: Fabricate). This is always going to be worse than that - at the very end, it costs fifteen mana and six cards for five tutors, with the rate being even worse if you don't finish reading the book. If you really want to improve your card quality, I'd favor something like Mazemind Tome instead. If I were to reach, I guess I would consider this for a Kozilek, the Great Distortion deck that both draws a ton of cards and has a ton of mana to burn, but I have no idea what that deck would even tutor up.

[Hermes_]

i love the old rusted look for artifacts

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Tuesday, December 8th, 2020; Mangara's Tome

It's the Ring of Three Wishes (or Planar Portal... or Doomsday) before those got printed. It replaces your draw though; no card advantage allowed.

Honestly, I love these old cards with art featuring an object totally devoid of context (c.f. Disrupting Scepter|REV, Nova Pentacle, Sword of the Ages, Rukh Egg|ARN etc.)

I wouldn't say this is totally devoid of context; Mangara was a pretty pivotal character in the mirage block lore. This is his book, for whatever that's worth.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, December 9th, 2020; Nissa, Steward of Elements|ps17

I like variable walkers that get better as the game goes on and still can be relevant early. Did this really have to be Simic though? Like Simic isn't already the "sixth allied colour". -_-

Show some cool love to the others, sheesh.

[JWK]

I have never run this version of Nissa, and I have rarely seen her in play. There are just so many good cards in U, G and U/G to choose among. That's why I haven't run her to date, and I expect it's the same reason she doesn't see a ton of play even though she's pretty strong.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, December 9th, 2020; Nissa, Steward of Elements

I actually liked this in various top-deck manipulation decks (Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, Intet, the Dreamer).

I actually kind of like how her abilities aren't super powerful.

I wouldn't say this is totally devoid of context; Mangara was a pretty pivotal character in the mirage block lore. This is his book, for whatever that's worth.

I meant devoid of context within their art. Each of these cards is an object (or creature) floating on a nebulous pattern behind it. I kind of like that Mangara's Tome is just a book on a green background.

[Mookie]

Nissa, Steward of Elements is the worst two mana planeswalker - with zero loyalty, she just dies immediately.

....she's alright when cast for more than two mana though. A repeatable scry engine lets you dig pretty quickly, while the (0) generates actual card advantage, and can easily be set up by the scrying. I could see her doing work in a deck like Intet, the Dreamer that cares about topdeck manipulation. Not so good in cascade decks (Maelstrom Wanderer) though.

As a planeswalker, she's obviously more vulnerable than other topdeck manipulation engines like Thassa, God of the Sea and Mirri's Guile. However, she also has significantly more upside if you can protect her. Also works very well if you happen to have other topdeck manipulation options available. The ultimate isn't that exciting, but it is ten points of hasty damage in Simic, which doesn't traditionally have a lot of options for that.

....anyway, I'd say the main reason why she doesn't see much play is due to how much competition there is for card advantage in Simic. If you have topdeck synergies, she's worth consideration.

[Dunharrow]

Seems pretty weak in commander. There are more reliable ways to cheat things into play.

[3drinks]

Nissa, Steward of Elements is the worst two mana planeswalker - with zero loyalty, she just dies immediately.

So what you're saying is, our lord and saviour, the devil-prince of the multiverse himself, Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded|sld is officially not the worst two cmc planeswalker anymore?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Nissa, Steward of Elements is the worst two mana planeswalker - with zero loyalty, she just dies immediately.

So what you're saying is, our lord and saviour, the devil-prince of the multiverse himself, Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded|sld is officially not the worst two cmc planeswalker anymore?

I'd say "ug, discard a card: get nothing" still beats tibalt in my book.

Edit for formatting

[Mookie]

Nissa, Steward of Elements is the worst two mana planeswalker - with zero loyalty, she just dies immediately.

So what you're saying is, our lord and saviour, the devil-prince of the multiverse himself, Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded|sld is officially not the worst two cmc planeswalker anymore?

I'd say "ug, discard a card: get nothing" still beats tibalt in my book.

Edit for formatting

I'll point out that you can just play Tibalt and never activate him, which gives significantly more utility than not having the option at all. One could also argue that playing a Tibalt is likely to ward off attacks out of pity, since doing so will generally reduce your perceived threat level. Still it is an interesting question whether it's better to have an extra permanent (for Smokestack / annihilator protection, or fueling The Elderspell) or an extra card in the graveyard (for delve / delirium synergies).

[3drinks]

Thursday, December 10th, 2020; Aetherize

Suck it, Craterhoof! 😂

But really I like this more than Evacuation|10E that single u is so clutch. It's also sub $1 vs the $5 for evac.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

It's situational, but underrated. The creatures don't even have to be attacking you, which can curry some significant political favor if the timing's right. The best Aetherize I've ever seen blanked a lethal attack by player B, which allowed player C to crack back on player B and player D for lethal and player A (who cast it) to wrath player C's board on their next turn, sealing the win. As player B in said game, I felt a confusing mix of betrayal and admiration to see such cunning machinations in action.

All that being said, I'm a Keep Watch kind of man myself.

[JWK]

What's to say? This card gets worse as you move up the power tiers of EDH, as more powerful decks don't tend to feature a lot of attacking creatures, but at the level most people play the game, it's very powerful, and can essentially end the game for someone when it's timed right. Solid card.

[Dunharrow]

I definitely prefer Aetherspouts. Also Settle the Wreckage is a thing.
Also plays similarly to Arachnogenesis

[not-a-cube]

It's situational, but underrated. The creatures don't even have to be attacking you, which can curry some significant political favor if the timing's right. The best Aetherize I've ever seen blanked a lethal attack by player B, which allowed player C to crack back on player B and player D for lethal and player A (who cast it) to wrath player C's board on their next turn, sealing the win. As player B in said game, I felt a confusing mix of betrayal and admiration to see such cunning machinations in action.

All that being said, I'm a Keep Watch kind of man myself.

[Hawk]

This is a curious card. I remember when it was released everyone (self included) oohed and awed over it as the next big thing. Since then I've been sorta underwhelmed by it; I run it nowhere currently and rarely see it.

Not sure it's underrated though - with almost 14,000 decks under its belt it is played more than Evacuation and Aetherspouts, and in general is played more than any mono-blue "Boardwipe" except for Cyclonic Rift. Heck, it sees more play than Settle the Wreckage! If we're comparing it to blow-out combat tricks it's also played more than Keep Watch and Polymorphist's Jest by, like, a LOT. If you are at an unknown table and a blue mage has 4 mana up, it's probably safer on average to assume they have this than that they don't.

This card is in the maybeboard usually, but I find it gets a bit crowded out. Personally, I've found that I prefer the nuclear options of Evacuation and Cyclonic Rift and after that, I tend to prefer a card I could use offensively (like Engulf the Shore or Wash Out). I'm also running Polymorphist's Jest in Sai, which has been sick every time I've cast it - just a total blowout for one less mana, and again, it is useful offensively as well as defensively or politically.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

It's situational, but underrated. The creatures don't even have to be attacking you, which can curry some significant political favor if the timing's right. The best Aetherize I've ever seen blanked a lethal attack by player B, which allowed player C to crack back on player B and player D for lethal and player A (who cast it) to wrath player C's board on their next turn, sealing the win. As player B in said game, I felt a confusing mix of betrayal and admiration to see such cunning machinations in action.

All that being said, I'm a Keep Watch kind of man myself.

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Because unless I was in the most battlecruiser-combat-damage meta, running two situationally dependent cards is one too many IMHO. At least you can use Keep Watch on your turn to draw a few even if no else attacks the entire game.