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

[hyalopterouslemur]

This makes things like Argentum Armor viable. That is no mean feat. (I mean, so does Puresteel Paladin or even Brass Squire tho.)

[Ruiner]

This is a solid card that has done some great things in my Nahiri deck that is heavy on the equipment.

I'd probably pick Darksteel Plate or maybe Gift of Immortality over this in a deck that wasn't so heavy on equipment just for the indestructible aspect.

[Lifeless]

Good combination of relevant abilities at a reasonable rate. No surprise that this has held value over time. As others have said it's a great addition to equipment focused decks and even decks that use a smaller but more expensive equipment package.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, April 28th, 2021; Survival of the Fittest|g09

The actual greatest of all time. The Kurt Angle of Magic cards.

[Outcryqq]

Survival of the Fittest lives up to its reputation. It enables many strategies, comes down early, and by the time it activates once, the damage is usually done.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

One of the few cards I don't have and still want. This card enables so many dirty tricks and its nearest equivalent, Fauna Shaman, is such a distant second you can't even see it on the horizon.

Shame it costs about a month's rent these days.

[Sharpened]

Played that card so much in Legacy, and won a lot with it. I love this card like no other.

Not a huge fan of it in Commander though. Not because it isn't good (It is, good lord it is). But because it's play patterns definitely border on unfun, unless you are really good at restraining yourself.

[PrimevalCommander]

One card combo if you care about the GY at all. Must kill target, but as stated above, If cast with mana open, there's really no stopping the damage that will be done.

Even if I'm just dumping random utility creatures to set up a Reveillark it is always solid value.

[Lifeless]

One of the truly crazy bombs of MtG history. Amazing in literally every format where it has ever been legal. Can you believe this was in the same set as Oath of Druids?

[pokken]

I have played a lot of Survival and it always winds up being a one card combo even in decks without much of a combo The power level is off the chain.

I remember one crazy game with my Mimeoplasm deck that came down to dueling an active Razaketh with my Survival, where I tutored up my own razaketh with survival, then mimeoplasmed it, and was able to go raz for raz

[Mookie]

Survival of the Fittest is a fair and balanced card... if you're playing Vintage. Elsewhere, it's pretty busted. Turning every creature card in your hand into Worldly Tutor-but-better is extremely powerful, especially if you're looking to assemble a combo. It's trivial to set things up for a reanimation effect - discard random creature, fetch fatty, discard fatty, fetch Karmic Guide or whatever. Even if you're not doing any combos, being able to toolbox for any creature in your deck is still an extremely powerful ability. It also enables shenanigans like protecting your graveyard from hate by fetching and discarding an Eldrazi titan, which is something that almost no other card enables.

That said, as a 1-card combo enabler, it tends to dominate games when played, which isn't necessarily a great play pattern. Even if you're playing it relatively fairly with no combos (such as feeding Karador, Ghost Chieftain or Meren of Clan Nel Toth), it still generates a degenerate amount of value.

I played one game against a Kenrith, the Returned King deck where I had the opportunity to flash out a Pithing Needle in response to Survival and decided not to, just to see where they were going with it (since I was also debating Needle-ing Kenrith). First activation was Zacama, Primal Calamity, at which point my Needle was irrelevant, and they trivially combo'd out and won that turn. Moral of the story: never, ever let Survival resolve.

....definitely a card that makes me sad that the Reserved List is a thing. Fauna Shaman is... a significantly weaker replacement, and it's still somewhat expensive. Evolutionary Leap is a bit better, but it's also a very different effect in practice.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, April 28th, 2021; Survival of the Fittest

I don't play my copy anymore.

It (not so) subtly ruins games by permitting players to have access to basically any threat or answer. And then, there's reanimator or whatever you want to do with your graveyard. It only gets better as more creatures get printed.

[Dunharrow]

It is a super fun card until you realize you just win right away with it. Considering selling mine. I bought it for 50$ lol. Only 5 years ago too.

[TheGildedGoose]

I remember when I first got into the format years ago and upon learning Survival wasn't banned but Recurring Nightmare was I distinctly remember saying to myself, "Are you [redacted] kidding me?"

I've been the loyal opposition ever since.

[3drinks]

I remember when I first got into the format years ago and upon learning Survival wasn't banned but Recurring Nightmare was I distinctly remember saying to myself, "Are you [redacted] kidding me?"

I've been the loyal opposition ever since.

#FreeNightmare2021

[toctheyounger]

I remember about 8 years ago seeing a slightly beat up copy of this card in the counter top bargain boxes at one of my locals in downtown Auckland, it was like $8. I pikced it up, considered what other stuff I had and how much cash I had on me and decided the other stuff I was getting for actual builds I was making was more important. Worst decision I ever made around this hobby, it literally will never be that price again.

There's a good reason though, the card is disgusting. I actually don't see a lot of it in the wild, perhaps it exists at a higher tier of play than I game at. But even its watered down creature equivalent, Fauna Shaman is quite strong, so having an unfettered easily abusable version of the same effect I can only assume is akin to seeing the face of god.

[JWK]

What's to say? Cards don't come much stronger than this, and many of the few that are stronger are banned in this format.

[plushpenguin]

I want to run this card in a deck with 23 creatures, but that just feels a little too low to justify inclusion. Maybe if I get a really good draw on a body that works for the deck....

[hyalopterouslemur]

This is huge. You can even diacard something like Brawn or Reassembling Skeleton if you want, but I think my choice will be Genesis

@plushpenguin You only need enough creatures to provide fuel. The actual searching is going to be like any tutor: You really only need a couple potential targets. But if you're in green, mana dorks exist.

[duducrash]

There is a gold bordered version that is much more affordable I think most playgroups are ok with playing that.

as for the card itself not much to say that hasnt been said already. As powerful as they come, it does lead to some boring play patterns. but many cards that deal with tutoring cards repeatidly do

[3drinks]

Thursday, April 29th, 2021; Runic Armasaur

[Sinis]

Thursday, April 29th, 2021; Runic Armasaur

This card was great in Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse. I think it's probably okay in a lot of things; the cost-to-body ratio is really good, and drawing cards doesn't ever hurt.

[BeneTleilax]

I haven't seen it outside of dino tribal, I think green's general draw has just crept past this thing.

[JWK]

It's not the most reliable card draw in the world, but it's cheap to cast and on an okay body. It gets worse in metas that wipe the board every turn or two, and it gets better in metas that run a lot of fetches, or even just stuff like Evolving Wilds or Krosan Verge. I don't currently run this one outside of Zacama, and I think any time I'd consider it elsewhere, I'd probably instead pick from among green's various other good sources of card draw, like Beast Whisperer or Garruk's Uprising, but I don't think it's a bad card by any means.

[EonAon]

Its one of those cards that makes you thinki it could be good but the problem is that it depends too heavily on your opponent doing a specific thing to actually be good. The stats stapled on it dont do it much favor since while its a neat defense card outside of commander, in commander itself there are better cards that have more pertinent abilities on larger more effective bodies.