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

[3drinks]

It triggers off of abilities too, not just spells. Get some icy manipulators if you wanna go old school, or some cheap 2 cmc mana value effect that untaps it to keep it. Then Disenchant|mir the spell.

Also works with sun titties.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Can be fun with en-Kor. What's yours is mine; what's mine is also mine.

[Gamazson]

It triggers off of abilities too, not just spells. Get some icy manipulators if you wanna go old school, or some cheap 2 cmc mana value effect that untaps it to keep it. Then Disenchant|mir the spell.

Also works with sun titties.

Why disenchant when you can use Faith Healer

[Mookie]

Fractured Loyalty looks very interesting for any deck with a cheap way to target things, such as Marath, Will of the Wild or Basandra, Battle Seraph - two mana is extremely cheap for a persistent theft effect. It's certainly possible for the creature's owner to steal it back, but most decks seem unlikely to have many targeted spells that aren't removal. If you have some way to flicker the creature or otherwise remove the enchantment, you'll keep it forever, which is also nice. I don't think I've ever even seen Fractured Loyalty before, so definitely a hidden gem.

[3drinks]

It triggers off of abilities too, not just spells. Get some icy manipulators if you wanna go old school, or some cheap 2 cmc mana value effect that untaps it to keep it. Then Disenchant|mir the spell.

Also works with sun titties.

Why disenchant when you can use Faith Healer

But then I wouldn't be using my sweet MIR block Disenchant.

[onering]

I feel like its got a real high ceiling, in a deck with enchantment sac and recursion (or a repeatable way to return enchantments to your hand) and cheap repeatable targeted activated abilities, where it can cheaply perma steal a bunch of creatures. It would require a lot of moving pieces, I think 3 minimum for fairly weak versions (like once per turn) like pairing it with Riptide or Shimmering Chimera and anything that taps to target a creature.

I like these sorts of things though, I think they really serve the Timmy/Johnny cross demo. They're goofy combos that let you actually experience what they do because they don't automatically win. Your reward for assembling it isn't the game ending, but the ability to repeatedly steal creatures, which is fun. Its also a way for Johnnies to play lower power decks while still leaning into what draws them to the game.

[DirkGently]

Honestly it's not that bad, it just has a niche application. In something like Kelsien, the Plague or Jeska, Warrior Adept (or Jeska, Thrice Reborn) it's a 2 mana control magic with a relatively minor downside. I would probably never play it in a deck where my commander didn't have a free-ish activated ability that could target an enemy creature though (ideally one that either doesn't require tapping, or on a creature with haste).

I think the art is that he's taking a bunch of stuff he stole and defecting - the magic equivalent of stealing a bunch of office supplies before you quit. Why he's defecting across a lava field idk, but there is a lot of lava on mirrodin. I guess he didn't feel like going the long way around.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

@DirkGently

That's probably the best explanation for the art thus far, but you gotta admit it's a far cry from immediately salient. It's really busy visually and ime no one quits a steady job just to go frolick in knee-deep lava.

[DirkGently]

True, but in fairness it's kind of a hard concept to draw. It doesn't immediately gain control of the creature or keep control of the creature when it does trigger - I think the idea is that the enchantment makes the creature more fickle? Like now it'll just work for whoever gives it attention or something? Could have been done better for sure, but it's not exactly a simple task to illustrate imo. And red, especially on mirrodin, doesn't seem to be oriented towards "I've sprinkled your creature with magic pixie dust that makes him follow me temporarily". More like...blarg we melted metal onto your metal so you can metal with your metal.

Imo all the old mirrodin art is, at best, kinda gloriously ugly. Partly a creative decision, partly an art decision. I have some nostalgia for it since I started around then, but if I was a new player I'd probably dislike just about all of it tbh.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, May 19th, 2021; Slitherwisp

And on an unrelated note, Happy Kane Day for those whom celebrate and/or are old enough to remember this reference.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

When this was first spoiled, I saw a bad translation that intimated that this could trigger off of instants too, and I got really hyped until I saw it only worked with flash. Part of me hates this card for being less than what I initially imagined and another part is thrilled I was wrong because this card would be ridiculous otherwise.

I also wish it was a 3/1 with flying for wisp consistency.

[JWK]

I forgot this card existed. It gives me another potential reason to build that flash deck with the faerie from Commander Legends.

[hyalopterouslemur]

So, sadly you can't pwn this with "you may cast as widgets, whatzits, and hoozits though they had flash", they have to genuinely have flash. Also, black is honestly the color I least associate with flash. Green and blue have flash as overlap, white can use it for the same reason red has haste, be defensive. Note that counters (blue), bouncing (Azorius), copying spells (Izzet), untapping creatures (Bant), surprise reach (green),damage prevention (Selesnya), waylays (Bant), surprise protection (white), shroud/hexproof (Simic), and indestructible (Selesnya); regeneration (Golgari), surprise deathtouch (Golgari), and growth/shrink effects (Naya for growth, Dimir for shrink) really do not work as sorceries to varying degrees, so plenty of things to staple on creatures that are at least somewhat hampered by not having flash. With copying being one that doesn't work with the rules whereas black ones are mostly just "usable but not really".

[Sinis]

I forgot this card existed. It gives me another potential reason to build that flash deck with the faerie from Commander Legends.

Yeah. Cunning Nightbonder also kind of helps.

[Mookie]

Slitherwisp is interesting. Traditionally, Wydwen, the Biting Gale and Nymris, Oona's Trickster decks have operated mostly at instant speed by playing, well, instants. However, Ikoria had a flash subtheme in UB, with stuff like Slitherwisp, Mutual Destruction, and Cunning Nightbonder. Outside that set, there are certainly a fair number of cards with flash. Is it enough to support a full deck? No idea, but could be an interesting take on the theme. Cards like Venser, Shaper Savant and Voracious Greatshark function more as spells than creatures anyway, so I could see a more creature-based flash deck. That said, there would be a pretty strong to also be running a lot of instants due to the overlap.

I'll call out Mystical Teachings as another flash-enabling card. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is also a big enabler, since he actually gives your cards flash.

[onering]

I flat out love this card and its a powerhouse. Yeah, it doesn't trigger off instants but you can still run a decent number of instants to make sure you have the top tier counterspells, tutors, rift etc. And yes, black doesn't bring a ton to the table for a flash deck, but it brings enough and you aren't limited to just Dimir.

My flash tribal draw go deck is Chromium 2.0, and its pure draw go(oodness). Slitherwisp is awesome in the deck, it generates really solid CA even if half of the spells you casts are instants. That it has flash itself means you're landing it right before you untap and its safe, so even if an opponent goes to kill it next turn and you don't have protection for it you have the mana to cast something in response to draw a card to replace it and ping everyone. Every time I land it, it puts in enough work drawing cards to be worth it and cheap enough that so long as I draw it I can play it. That's before even evaluating its ability to pressure opponents, because its an efficient body that pings the table every time you cast a spell with flash, which is significant when half or more of your spells have flash (and my deck wins through the combat step). Chromium 2.0 is a great commander for the strategy as well. Sure, he's 7 mana, but he's a risk free 7 mana that protects himself. You don't have to take any risk when casting him, you just get to drop him once you go through a turn cycle and have 7 mana left, at which point he's very hard to answer because you can answer sweepers and his ability protects him from targeted answers, and he puts players on a 3 turn clock. And EDH is THE format for playing draw go, because if you play it smart its the only format where playing draw go makes you the hero instead of the villain. You simply won't have enough answers to deal with everything, so you end up only protecting your stuff or dealing with things the entire table wants dealt with. That means that while you annoy everyone a little when you deal with their biggest plays, you also make them happy a lot more because your dealing with all the other big plays, and you aren't just stopping anything from happening.

[3drinks]

Thursday, May 20th, 2021; Havengul Lich

I wish I could play it in Experiment Kraj|gk2..........

[Moonlighter]

I've run him before, in an Inalla deck. He's value town, for certain, but I have not seen him stick around for long, either in decks or on the table. He's a pretty big target. The fact that he's 'a graveyard' not 'your graveyard' is pretty incredible. I guess I'm generally fond of a lower mana curve?

[Mookie]

Havengul Lich is cool, but clunky. Gaining the activated abilities of creatures you cast with it is generally going to be trinket text, but repeatedly recurring creatures is quite strong. Unfortunately, a five mana 4/4 with no keywords isn't exactly the most impressive body, and needing to pay a total of six mana before recurring your first creature is pretty steep when compared to something like Animate Dead. As a result, I don't think Havengul Lich makes the cut anywhere but the most durdley of decks. It also suffers a bit from the requirement of needing to pay the mana costs of the creatures you recur, which makes it worse for cheating out big things... but the one mana tax also makes it awkward to recur a bunch of little things.

Muldrotha, the Gravetide does something similar, although it only recurs things from your graveyard. I will note that while Havengul Lich does allow you to cast creatures from any graveyard, you do need to pay its mana cost (including colors), which means you'll need to be running it in a five-color deck to fully benefit (unless you're running rainbow lands like Mana Confluence). I'll also call out Nezumi Graverobber // Nighteyes the Desecrator and Chainer, Dementia Master. However, the most direct comparison is probably Geth, Lord of the Vault - Geth can't recur from your own graveyard, but he had a better body, recurs at instant speed, also gets artifacts, and fuels himself.

[Lifeless]

I use him in Grimgin where he's quite fair considering what I'm returning with him. A slow value engine is better than no value engine at all.

[hyalopterouslemur]

If you're Havengul problems I feel bad for you son...

A few uses for things like shade and things that require t or q.(and even with some mass haste it gives you an extra activation), but mostly trinket text. But being able to cast from grave for 1 more is pretty nice. I've played flashback/unearth/embalm before. I've played Snapcaster Mage before. I've played YawgWin just to recur one critical card.

It also dies to both Bolt and Grasp of Darkness, let alone Dismember. It does avoid cards with the "nonblack" requirement. But it is the definition of boltbait.

[PrimevalCommander]

I tried to play it early in it's release. As mentioned before, it is a bit durdly and slow. Good card for more casual metas. I don't play much UB, but I can say even shortly after printing it was not widely played. Not much experience over all, but I do like the idea of the card. I'm not sure where I would personally play it except UB zombie tribal which I have no interest in.

[FenrirRex]

It's a bit slow and not that great compared to other, modern cards, but this is still my go to card when anyone asks the standards question of "what card do you wish they had printed as a legendary creature?" The Scarab God basically does what this card does, but generally better and for more value, so I got what I wanted in the end for a commander, but being able to steal activated abilities from the yard is still juuuust unique enough to make me want it.

[3drinks]

If you're Havengul problems I feel bad for you son...

A few uses for things like shade and things that require t or q.(and even with some mass haste it gives you an extra activation), but mostly trinket text. But being able to cast from grave for 1 more is pretty nice. I've played flashback/unearth/embalm before. I've played Snapcaster Mage before. I've played YawgWin just to recur one critical card.

It also dies to both Bolt and Grasp of Darkness, let alone Dismember. It does avoid cards with the "nonblack" requirement. But it is the definition of boltbait.

Your lightning bolts kill x/4s? I'll have what you're having.

[materpillar]

Thursday, May 20th, 2021; Havengul Lich

I've always liked this card. I recently gave it a whirl but I was underwhelmed. It has a huge target on it and the pay-off is only a decent value engine. It's probably got a lot of infinite combos and stuff. Building a deck around it seems not worth though. It'd have been a pretty cool general though.