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

[pokken]

Ancestral mask also counts your opponent's enchantments too. So if you know your playgroup has a decent amount of enchantments (one my friends play a rb group slug deck which has tons of enchantments) having ancestral mask can be really strong. ive had it come into play with only one other enchantment on my side of the field, but my friend had 5 on his so i was able to kill other people with commander damage before i turned to kill him. I use it in sigarda who naturally has evasion and protection so cards like eth armor, while cheap in mana dont really add much else outside of the pt buff

Yeah I know but it costs 3 that's 300% more mana than 1.

Much like Blackblade Reforged costing minimum of 5 to cast and equip (or some kinda enabler), I ain't got time for that.


Krark, the Thumbless

I struggle to imagine a worse designed card, honestly. Like what were they thinking? Does anyone actually enjoy storm and coin flipping more than once?

Monopolizing game time is like the cardinal sin in EDH, and this one is designed to ridiculously maximize that. Resolve extra spells and also resolve coin flips to enable them. I'll just go get some food while you finish up.

[maeos]

i use it to play storm in edh. making inf mana into either a Fireball or a Grapeshot. obv the partner is Sakashima of a Thousand Faces to make all the copies of krark. its my jank deck that i play with people who dont want to take the game too seriously. The game generally ends when i have 4 copies of Krark's Thumb

[The_Hittite]

No synergy with Krark's Other Thumb. 0/10 literally unplayable. /s

[Mookie]

On average, Krark, the Thumbless makes your instants and sorceries cost twice as much and be copied, which is pretty good for a lot of spells. Lightning Bolt, Preordain, Night's Whisper... there are a lot of very efficient spells to copy. As a result, Krark seems pretty good for any deck that plans to be casting a lot of cheap spells. Krark can also be good for copying bigger spells like Cruel Ultimatum, but the tempo loss when you lose a coin flip on those spells is pretty harsh compared to cheaper spells. There are also some types of spells (mostly counterspells and board wipes) that don't do much when copied.

Because Krark lets you cast the spell multiple times (when it gets bounced to hand), he also works particularly with anything storm-ish (such as Aetherflux Reservoir and anything that copies spells (such as Swarm Intelligence). And obviously, as a coin-flipping card, he also works well with Krark's Thumb.

That said, I haven't had the chance to actually play with Krark myself yet, and I could definitely seem him drawing a lot of ire from the rest of the table. Coin flipping tends to slow down the game a lot, and copying spells is an ability that forces the rest of the table to be on guard. Still, Krark definitely allows for a very different coin flipping build than Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos.

[toctheyounger]

Coin flipping tends to slow down the game a lot

This has been my experience. He's a good, flavourful, powerful card, its just that everything takes forever. He's strong enough that he can really dominate games, and I'm mostly ok with that, I just don't want it taking a long time. As you say though, preferable to Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos - that deck does exactly one thing and its not even that exciting the first time.

[Lifeless]

As someone who plays a Team 1-Eye deck (Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos ) that's actually Okuan OTK I'll freely admit that it monopolizes game time and I try to play it sparingly because of that. Krark seems even more annoying.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021; Burning-Rune Demon

Its brand new, but what do we think? Certified format hit? Or just another middling overly specific card good in certain decks?

[Ruiner]

It is 1 cheaper than Rune-Scarred Demon and gets an extra card. However you get no choice over what you actually end up with in hand. If you can work it in a way that you genuinely don't care which is in hand or graveyard then I could see it working, like in a reanimator deck. If you have an easy discard outlet to get both in the graveyard or a Phyrexian Reclamation effect to get both in hand then maybe it is a consideration.

No deck I currently have is really psyched about including this. It is neat though.

[BeneTleilax]

I think it's going to replace RSD in recursion-heavy decks, and complement it in a few (Yarok, for instance). In that regard, I think it's in a good place, diversifying card choices based on archetype and player preference. I'm not wild about new goodstuff tutors, but I think this guy won't noticeably increase their presence.

[Mookie]

Burning-Rune Demon seems quite good. I've always found Rune-Scarred Demon to be a little clunky - seven mana is a lot for a tutor. Six mana isn't that much less, but getting a second card out of your library is pretty significant. Your opponents do control which goes to hand and which goes to your graveyard, but there are ways around that. If you're running a graveyard-aligned commander like Kess, Dissident Mage or Muldrotha, the Gravetide, that's pretty much pure upside. And of course, it's possible to brute force the choice by choosing redundant effects, or sidestep it entirely with politics.

I will note one downside to BRD over RSD: your opponents get to see what you fetch, which gives them a turn of setup to play around it. Not a big deal if you're using it the turn you play the demon, but that usually isn't the case. You could also put that to your advantage - fetch Swords to Plowshares or another removal spell as a rattlesnake - but that feels like a waste of a tutor in many situations.

[Dunharrow]

It will be a welcome addition to Rakdos, Lord of Riots. Probably search out Artisan of Kozilek and whatever fatty I want most of the time. Or both Ulamogs. I realize it won't help me combo out with Cloudstone Curio since people will put it in the yard, but it will still be a big flyer that keeps the rakdos train going.

[folding_music]

I'm a big fan of mythic demons but I'd characterize this one as being on the "boring and too linear" side of the pool, with Grizz and Razaketh, the Foulblooded and all that. I prefer the insane Rakdosian ones =P

[capitacommunist]

As mentioned I think it can serve a good purpose in recursion heavy decks, or with redundant effects (e.g two removal spells, or two demons for kaalia). Outside of those I would hesitate to play this for the tutor side, so then you would really need to want the body as well (which brings it back to decks such as Kaalia or Rakdos). In those decks I think it is actually quite a bit better than Rune-Scarred Demon by fetching two cards and costing one less,
Outside of those archetypes it doesn't seem good enough generically, which is a good place to be for such a card.

Edit: given that it's sorcery speed, is very telegraphed, and costs six mana, I think setting up Intuition like piles (guaranteeing you a certain card), are not worth it.

[toctheyounger]

It's in a little bit of a strange place, but I think it could be great. It fits into a fairly specific deck that lives out of the graveyard a lot, though.

Revealing the cards tutored hurts, so I think in some respects Rune-Scarred Demon is better, but being slightly lower on the curve is nice too.

I can see scope for fitting it into decks I currently have built, mostly Dralnu, Lich Lord, but I don't think it's going to be a format staple necessarily.

[3drinks]

I'm a big fan of mythic demons but I'd characterize this one as being on the "boring and too linear" side of the pool, with Grizz and Razaketh, the Foulblooded and all that. I prefer the insane Rakdosian ones =P

What I'm reading here, is "moar Hellcarver Demon pl0x", yes? 👀

[pokken]

I really like this guy for its Final Parting impression, which is already a card I have considered more than once as a one-card combo in some situation. Obviously it's a bit less effective than parting it can be easily recycled with Volrath's Stronghold and so on. Being able to use it to tutor for Unburial Rites and a creature based sac outlet is neat.

It's a little slow but it's a really fun The Mimeoplasm target as well.

[Hawk]

My first thought was that this seemed just worse than Rune-Scarred Demon, a card that has generally really fallen off in my excitement to include it over the last five years - sure its one less, but your opponent gets to choose? Hard pass on punisher effects.

I think some part of my brain parsed that the unchosen card went to exile or bottom of library - on second reading, seeing that it goes to graveyard (thus making this an Intuition / Final Parting /Jarad's Orders impersonator), it seems reasonable enough. It is more than all of those cards, but it does come to a totally relevant 6/6 flying body, one that can itself be recurred/blinked/looped. For most decks, a card going to the 'yard is all upside. I don't think it'll be a staple, but for any graveyard-based deck currently running Rune-scarred (like Araumi of the Dead Tide, The Mimeoplasm, Sedris, the Traitor King, Sheoldred, Whispering One), this seems a rock-solid upgrade.

[Sinis]

Tuesday, January 19th, 2021; Burning-Rune Demon

It's not as good as Rune-scarred Demon, but you an easily get a desired card plus recursion, so, I doubt your opponents will have much agency in stopping you.

[toctheyounger]

I think the only concern I have over this is that it lays bare your plans fairly overtly. It's not like Fact or Fiction where the decision made by an opponent is clouded by a larger number of cards and they might well misconstrue your intentions or have decision paralysis just cause them to choose the wrong stuff. Two cards that you've hand chosen is overt, and if you need one in hand and the other in the yard you're not gonna get it.

Granted, this is closer to Intuition than Fact or Fiction, and I've never owned or had the opportunity to play with the former, so I don't know how often the whole 'oh so THAT's the plan - well in that case you're boned' actually comes up. I'd love to try it out of course, but RL cards are expensive, yadda yadda. So I'll probably try this and see how it shakes out, price depending.

[ilovesaprolings]

karador be like: "yeah rune-scarred demon, i don't want to play with you anymore"

[PrimevalCommander]

Great with graveyard synergies. Fine everywhere else. Rune-Scarred is better in a vacuum since you don't reveal and don't have to pay 2+ extra mana to get the card you really want back from the graveyard. My first thought was Life from the Loam as a potential target since it's good either place. But it would likely go to hand given a second target, unless you pick a removal spell for another players threat, or wanted to durdle with Loam + Tranquil Thicket. B Karmic Guide + Reveillark?? I'll see myself out

Look at Sidisi, Undead Vizier if you want a Demonic Tutor on a body under 7 cmc.
Doom Whisperer has also done good work for me as card selection + graveyard filling with Flample at 5 cmc.

My Karador deck would like it, but I'm trying not to over saturate with tutors after Demonic, Vampiric, Survival, Sidisi, and Recruiter of the Guard.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, January 20th, 2021; Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

inb4 standard players everywhere groaning at what is the least diverse format in standard history.

[materpillar]

inb4 standard players everywhere groaning at what is the least diverse format in standard history.

I've never seen it as a general or in the 99. I'm sure it's good enough to play. It's just boring sooooooooooooooo boring. If you're going to play goodstuff at least play old nostalgic goodstuff.

[pokken]

It's basically the simic version of Krark, the Thumbless. The only real profitable way to play it is to figure out how to spam it and it's really difficult to stop. I've played against it a few times as a general and as goodstuff ramp, and hated it every time. Watching someone cast Explore 10 times is not my idea of fun magic.

It's a really tedious commander, waiting for people to pick and choose what they exile to escape it and then resolving all their freexplores, and all the graveyard management in general. Yuck.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, January 20th, 2021; Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

I like playing this card naively. Where I occasionally pay the escape cost, but it's kind of a bad Explore. I think it only really goes sideways when you play it with stuff like Greater Good.