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

[3drinks]

Hey, Primal Order exists. Doing 8 or more damage every turn because yall put too many nonbasics in your decks is something.

Primal Order is sofaking legit.

[onering]

Hey, Primal Order exists. Doing 8 or more damage every turn because yall put too many nonbasics in your decks is something.

Yep, missed that one

[3drinks]

Sunday, April 4th, 2021; Squee's Embrace

[The_Hittite]

There are probably better versions of this effect (I'd probably use Gift of Immortality first) but I like the idea that getting hugged tightly enough by an immortal goblin also grants you immortality.

[folding_music]

got foils of this one :3 lovely in Tiana, probably the most acceptable Giant Strength! Funny that it has a similar effect as Angelic Renewal, by the same artist. I've used them both together.

[JWK]

I've never used this card, but it's not terrible. It clearly has potential uses, and the art is beautiful, as is almost always the case with Rebecca Guay's art.

[Hermes_]

but I like the idea that getting hugged tightly enough by an immortal goblin also grants you immortality.

Never let go.

[Dunharrow]

There are probably better versions of this effect (I'd probably use Gift of Immortality first) but I like the idea that getting hugged tightly enough by an immortal goblin also grants you immortality.

But this is better if you have things you want to cast. Adventure cards for example.

[NZB2323]

Squee's Embrace is good in Uril, the Miststalker.

[Hermes_]

If you wanted to run all the cards with squee you'd need

[3drinks]

Monday, April 5th, 2021; Qasali Slingers

I dub thee...Catra Shards.

I'm not even sorry :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Feels like a great pick for changeling tribal, but aura shards is better if you can support the colors.

[Wallycaine]

The big upside this has over Aura Shards is that it triggers on itself entering, so you don't have to play an additional creature. That said, the 2 extra cost and limitation to Cats means it's only worth it in Cat tribal or Changeling tribal, and it fights with Harmonic Sliver in the latter (though the benefit of being optional should not be overlooked).

[Dunharrow]

I am actually running this in my Mina and Denn, Wildborn. I like that it has combined 8 power and toughness for Wild Pair, and I like that I can tutor it with Mwonvuli Beast Tracker.

Reclamation sage is a better card, generally, but Qasali Slingers just fits my deck better.
Also run Temur Sabertooth and plan on putting Masked Vandal.

[materpillar]

Feels like a great pick for changeling tribal, but aura shards is better if you can support the colors.

The big upside this has over Aura Shards is that it triggers on itself entering, so you don't have to play an additional creature. That said, the 2 extra cost and limitation to Cats means it's only worth it in Cat tribal or Changeling tribal, and it fights with Harmonic Sliver in the latter (though the benefit of being optional should not be overlooked).

I ran this in my Changeling tribal deck for a few years but 4G just feels so very slow now and I just wasn't very happy with it. That's just too slow to disrupt the Sol Ring → Dimir Signet explosive garbage opening hands. Against enchantress/voltron decks that it should excel against, it usually just immediately eats a removal spell. On board removal threats like this tend to scare people into burning removal on them faster than they necessarily should. Harmonic Sliver is way better for a Changeling deck, but the sliver can awkwardly blow up your own stuff every now and again.

I rate it as "ok" in a Changeling deck.

[Hawk]

Great in cat and changeling tribal and passable in a Warrior tribal deck that features some amount of Cats and Changelings, where it's comparable to or better than Aura Shards and provides nice redundancy. In a vacuum it still "does something" even as the only cat in your 99, but at 5 CMC it is competing with Acidic Slime which I find better in almost every conceivable way (Wild Pair shenanigans notwithstanding).

I can't imagine having that many decks that want multiple 5 CMC disenchant creatures - after Slime, I'm going to be more inclined to look at Reclamation Sage, Caustic Caterpillar, Thrashing Brontodon, or Wickerbough Elder (and that's just creatures at the same or a lesser CMC; we aren't even looking bigger or looking at any number of great instants or sorceries that nuke non-creature cards). This is better than the random 4/4s that do this effect most of the time though, so if you do care about a bigger P/T line for Wild Pair or whatever these are some cool cats and kittens.

[Mookie]

Qasali Slingers is, amusingly, one of the better cards in my cube. The format is pretty midrangey, with a significant number of value-generating artifacts and enchantments, plus a fair number of small flyers. As a result, the Slingers are a good value-generating creature.

In EDH, Slingers are a bit weaker. There are a lot of other options for Naturalize-on-legs, such as Reclamation Sage. Additionally, while a 3/5 reach creature is still good, it's not a giant roadblock like it is in my cube. Slingers does go significantly up in value if you're running other cats or changelings - if you expect to get multiple triggers, I'd definitely consider including it. Definitely interesting to contrast with Acidic Slime - I think I would lean towards Slingers in a vacuum, since green decks often struggle to deal with flyers. Still, if you have fight shenanigans or expect a lot of big ground creatures in your meta, could go the other way.

...I'll yield to the experience of those that have actually run it in changeling decks though - five mana is certainly a lot for this effect.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, April 6th, 2021; Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

[Sinis]

Tuesday, April 6th, 2021; Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

This card was hot fire with mutate. Vadrok highly liked it, but I bet it'd be even crazier in Illuna.

And it's probably garbage the rest of the time.

[DirkGently]

As far as 3-drops go, one that spirals out of control pretty quickly is hard to discount. OG krenko gets more insane, but shaving off a mana is a big deal, and outside of best-case-scenario situations, this guy does pretty good. Especially nasty with any kind of buff - swords of X and Y protect him, help him swing, and get him started with 4 gobbos right out of the gate.

I wouldn't say he scales well enough to overcome the aggro hurdle in commander on his own, but if you want to play aggro, he's a valued member of the team.

[Dunharrow]

I really liked this Krenko in brawl, but it would not do well in Commander. too many boardwipes! Too many opponents!

[3drinks]

Wednesday, April 7th, 2021; Cry of the Carnarium

Pound for pound the best Infest effect I've seen, that is a lot of value strapped into the three mana value.

[DirkGently]

It's a good infest, but I don't think I've ever felt like I wanted such a narrow sweeper in my decks. I guess I haven't run the numbers, but I don't think -2 kills enough of the format to make it worthwhile.

And ofc, in black the exile can easily be counterproductive.

[Mookie]

Re: Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin - I've died to it on turn 4 or so off a Sol Ring opener. Krenko is capable of pumping out a lot of power if left unchecked.

Cry of the Carnarium - I'm not really a fan of Infest variants - it feels like they don't kill enough. They can be good if you're facing down an army of token goblins and don't expect to live until turn 4 to cast Damnation, but how often does that happen?

More seriously, I've been coming back around on Languish and other -X/-X effects in decks, specifically in decks running high-toughness creatures. Asymmetric board wipes are pretty nice, and while -2/-2 or -3/-3 may not kill everything, it is usually enough to thin the herd so you can clean things up with spot removal while leaving your own beefy creatures alive. On the other hand, if you're mostly running small creatures or are pretty creature-light, I'd just want to kill everything.

I'll call out Dead of Winter and Toxic Deluge as more flexible options. Witch's Vengeance is solid against tribal / token decks. Drown in Sorrow and Golden Demise are also worth consideration, but I would lean towards Cry of the Carnarium's exile over them.

[Dunharrow]

I don't think I have ever run a -2/-2 effect in commander. There are clearly better options, and if I wanted something like this I would need it to have another mode or have cycling or something. It's too narrow!