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

[JWK]

The good Baron should've been what Razaketh is, change my mind. Sacrificing the thralls for his own untold powerrr...

Mechanically, I think you're pretty much spot-on there, Razaketh would probably be a better match thematically and for the Baron's power level than the version we got.

And again, I do want to reiterate, this version of Sengir was very strong in Commander Legends limited. He was great for that context. Unfortunately, he doesn't really fare as well in constructed commander, where there are any number of other options that offer more flexibility or are more cost-effective. He's not unplayable, but he's going to be niche more often than not. For the same cost, I am much more likely to want to slot Massacre Wurm into most decks before I would the Baron (both are actually in my Szat/Kodama deck, but if I had to choose just one, I think I would go with the Wurm).

[Dunharrow]

I have wanted to try and build a GB Indestructible Wrath commander with him and Anara, Wolvid Familiar, some indestructible creatures like Toski, Bearer of Secrets and a bunch of board wipes like Damnation and Crux of Fate. It seems fun, if a bit annoying. And I worry I would get bored with it after a few games.

That sounds like an Avacyn, Angel of Hope deck I built a long time ago.

But you could make it more fun by playing Forbidden Orchard and some hunted cards in there, and maybe some Pestilence effects?

That would help grow the Baron and have some political angles.

[hyalopterouslemur]

About 40 lands. It's a start. If your curve's high, you're playing four or more colors, or you're using a mana sink, you need more.

Anyway, the Baron mostly seems to be what we've seen before for cheaper (because Homelands) plus some trinket text about lifegain.

[3drinks]

About 40 lands. It's a start. If your curve's high, you're playing four or more colors, or you're using a mana sink, you need more.

Anyway, the Baron mostly seems to be what we've seen before for cheaper (because Homelands) plus some trinket text about lifegain.

T: regenerate target creature you don't control. If a creature would be regenerated this way, gain control of that creature and untap it. It becomes a vampire instead of any other creature type. (this effect lasts indefinitely.)

That's all I'd want, ideally. So on point.

[materpillar]

I don't really get how hated he is - he seems decent to me, if a bit boring. Definitely capable of 1-shotting people pretty easily, so he's not weak. But tbf I wasn't playing back in homelands so I don't have any attachment to the character and wasn't expecting anything particularly exciting.

In 2000, I bought a single Homelands with the hope of pulling Baron Sengir purely because I thought he was really cool. I actually managed to snipe a copy with one pack, which still feels great to this day. That being said, even 20 years ago I didn't think he was good but he was cool.

Look at Baron Sengir vs the basic Sengir Vampire.

• 5BBB vs 3BB The mana cost just implies being an awesome boss.
• +2/+2 counters vs +1/+1 counters means he's twice vampire
• "Regenerate target vampire" makes him feel like the boss of all vampires
• "Beast. Defiler. The source of all my pain." —Ihsan's Shade|14053" This flavor text is flipping awesome.

Baron Sengir a really weak card but it just feels powerful. He feels like the best vampire around.


Compare Sengir, the Dark Baron and Drana, the Last Bloodchief

I feel like the text boxes on both of these cards to be basically interchangeable. I realize Drana is an important character too, but they just feel the same. So Baron Sengir goes from a bad card that oozes "I'm the boss" flavor to a completely forgettable card with partner? Why partner?! Bleh. The new art is way worse too.

[RadiantSophia]

Sunday, April 11th, 2021; Sengir, the Dark Baron
"At least it has partner" question mark

Yawn...

End transmission.

[Mookie]

Sengir, the Dark Baron is pretty forgettable - if not for partner, I don't think there would be any reason to run him. He is evasive, and grows pretty quickly as creatures die... but 'six mana evasive beater' isn't that exciting in the command zone. The lifegain ability adds a bit of vampire flavor, but is generally trinket text - if your opponents are being taken out, then you're probably already in a good spot. I guess it can help out if you're in a close race - it makes it much safer to alpha strike, for example, but otherwise I wouldn't build around it.

That said, partner is a strong mechanic, so it's hard to entirely discount any commander with it. There are a lot of partners that synergize with +1/+1 counters (ex: Reyhan, Last of the Abzan) or enable voltron kills (ex: Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder). I could also see a token / aristocrats strategy to pump Sengir up really big.

....in the 99, I'd say that Sengir is largely outclassed by The Haunt of Hightower. There are also plenty of other monoblack voltron commanders, such as Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief and Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon. So.... yeah, Sengir gets a pass from me, outside niche partner shenanigans.

[folding_music]

partner cos he wants to be played golgari-style with pernicious deed, death's presence and flyer-clearing effects, as well as dense foliage and concordant crossroads-type blanket creature unfairness but would never admit it :3 I don't think he's that bad, he can easily deal 21 damage and giving him tap utility would take away from his obvious purpose of attacking every turn.

[3drinks]

Monday, April 12th, 2021; Bazaar of Baghdad

[JWK]

I traded my one copy of this card for a crapton of store credit when hearing about Commander got me back into Magic after a long absence. It's one of the handfull ofcards I regret getting rid of.

[pokken]

I'm.really pleased to have a copy of this but it can be tough to find a home for. I tend to have a hard time with full exposure grave decks and this really wants a lot of dredge spells to be great. I did ha e a blast with it in gitrog tho.

A thing I love about it is being one of the few super expensive cards people are always excited to see because it's not nonsensically overpowered or white bordered lol.

[onering]

In addition to gy decks, Bazaar is an all star in decks built around drawing a lot of cards. Draw doublers make its ability card positive, it puts counters on Toothy et al, there's a lot of synergy on the front end to the point that in certain decks you don't even have to care about the back end.

[Dunharrow]

I don't want to own any cards that cost this much.

That aside, I have never been interested in running this card. I get that it is powerful, it is just not for me.

[DirkGently]

Wherever I'm thinking about running this card, I ask myself "Does this card really belong here? Or am I just running it to show off?"

And then I run it anyway. Bow before my reserved list power, plebs! Your hatred only makes me stronger!

(But actually it's pretty narrow, I don't run it very often)

[onering]

Wherever I'm thinking about running this card, I ask myself "Does this card really belong here? Or am I just running it to show off?"

And then I run it anyway. Bow before my reserved list power, plebs! Your hatred only makes me stronger!

(But actually it's pretty narrow, I don't run it very often)

Wanna laugh? The cheapest Bazaar printing on mtgo is $1.13, like a McDonalds hamburger plus tax. Old frame is $3.21. Pimp the old frame out in foil for the most expensive version, at $16.76.

[Lifeless]

I've proxied it up once for a reanimator style deck and it's perfectly fine there but not outrageous. As others have mentioned it's a pretty narrow card that doesn't really shine in this format much and that's ok.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Insanely powerful in dredge, or with draw doublers. Can help you get to combos.

[3drinks]

Wherever I'm thinking about running this card, I ask myself "Does this card really belong here? Or am I just running it to show off?"

And then I run it anyway. Bow before my reserved list power, plebs! Your hatred only makes me stronger!

(But actually it's pretty narrow, I don't run it very often)

I feel like this with Tabernacle in Kari Zev 😂😂. I really should slot it back in though.

[Mookie]

Bazaar of Baghdad is an interesting card. On one hand, it's a land that doesn't produce mana, and instead taps to produce card disadvantage. On the other hand, it taps to draw two cards, which is sort of absurd. If your deck wants to throw cards in the graveyard or you have ways to recoup the card disadvantage (such as Rielle, the Everwise or Teferi's Ageless Insight), then it lets you churn through your deck at absurd rates.

It's banned in Legacy, and a staple in Vintage dredge decks. In EDH, I find it a bit more suspect - there aren't as many all-in graveyard decks in the format. Still, it is doing broken things.... but is that better than running something like Desolate Lighthouse or Geier Reach Sanitarium? Hard to say. Still, if you have a commander like Muldrotha, the Gravetide that likes to play out of the graveyard, it's worth consideration.

....of course, at its cost, it's pretty hard to justify including over just building multiple new decks. Magus of the Bazaar is a budget replacement (albeit significantly weaker), but as a creature, it's also somewhat slower and more vulnerable.

[Hawk]

I don't know about anyone else, but if I did own one of these it would make me uncomfortable playing it. Like, I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I'm playing my Wheel of Fortune and my two beat-to-crap white bordered ABU duals, and I took my Kaladesh Sol Ring out of a deck and put it in a toploader on my mantle instead. Hadn't realized that Serra's Sanctum is also at a point where now it makes me anxious that it's just laying around in a single-sleeved Heliod deck.

If I owned one, I'd slam it into The Gitrog Monster immediately. It's a land, that can do crazy things with Dredge, and be fed to the frog when I'm running on empty hand-wise and don't need it. It'd be amazing. I think it'd also be fringe-fine in a few other spots (Sevinne, Daretti, Grusilda, Varina) although not an auto-include. Lands that don't make mana are rough, and this is always card disadvantage so you need to have a really, really strong graveyard plan.

[toctheyounger]

I'd love about 2-3 copies, it fits in with plans of at least a couple of decks I run. What can I say, I'm a reanimator at heart.

I'll never own it though, it's just so far beyond my reach as to be farcical. Unless I ever win the lottery, and I don't buy tickets.

[Hawk]

I'd love about 2-3 copies, it fits in with plans of at least a couple of decks I run. What can I say, I'm a reanimator at heart.

I'll never own it though, it's just so far beyond my reach as to be farcical. Unless I ever win the lottery, and I don't buy tickets.

Yeah good point. For a poorer player like me, I think: "If, hypothetically, I had $2000 to spend but only on Magic cards - what's my shopping list?" Bazaar of Baghdad doesn't get anywhere near that list, not when that represents a handful of ABU duals (which are more broadly useful in more EDH decks while also being good in Legacy if I ever felt like it), or tons of fetchlands (which aren't reserved, but are amazing in multiple formats and I'm a bit salty I currently own 0 each of Rainforest, Tarn, and Mesa), or other more generically useful reserved-list or premium cards like Wheel of Fortune, Gaea's Cradle, etc.

[Wallycaine]

I'd also point out that there's nothing preventing them from creating a Strict Proctor or Hushwing Gryff ability for flipping morphs. It's just such a narrow ability that it would be largely useless, so it'd likely have to be in addition to something else.

[toctheyounger]

I'd love about 2-3 copies, it fits in with plans of at least a couple of decks I run. What can I say, I'm a reanimator at heart.

I'll never own it though, it's just so far beyond my reach as to be farcical. Unless I ever win the lottery, and I don't buy tickets.

Yeah good point. For a poorer player like me, I think: "If, hypothetically, I had $2000 to spend but only on Magic cards - what's my shopping list?" Bazaar of Baghdad doesn't get anywhere near that list, not when that represents a handful of ABU duals (which are more broadly useful in more EDH decks while also being good in Legacy if I ever felt like it), or tons of fetchlands (which aren't reserved, but are amazing in multiple formats and I'm a bit salty I currently own 0 each of Rainforest, Tarn, and Mesa), or other more generically useful reserved-list or premium cards like Wheel of Fortune, Gaea's Cradle, etc.

I'd absolutely do the same. Even just filling out a collection of fetches, which I currently don't have a single one of, as well as ABU's, would see to that entire amount and probably then some. That's before I even get to staple stuff like Wheel of Fortune, Gaea's Cradle, Serra's Sanctum, yada yada, the list is far too long.

It's interesting to put into monetary how terms how astronomically far out of my reach these cards are. It really puts the scale of MtG card value into perspective. In real terms, these cards are as far out of my reach as owning a second house is.

[Sinis]

Monday, April 12th, 2021; Bazaar of Baghdad

One of the few RL cards I didn't try and obtain before the price shock insanity, it's definitely something I still want to get. But that price tag, though.