[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Myllior]

Re Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale vs Sword of the Animist, I want to echo that Rampant Growthing repeatedly is very slow compared to a Gilded Lotus|MRD. The turn you connect with the Dagger, and each turn after, you get access to 3 additional mana. For the Sword, you get no additional mana (land ETBs tapped) and then get progressively more mana with each passing turn. If the turn you first connect/swing with the Dagger/Sword is Turn 0, then it's not until Turn 6 (when you've just fetched your 7th land with the Sword) that the total mana made available by the Sword becomes equal to that of the Dagger. So if it's Turn 4 where you are first connecting/swinging, then this doesn't occur until Turn 10. Consider as well that the front-loading of the mana from the Dagger will produce significantly greater tempo gains than that of the Sword. Yes, there are many effects that can swing the maths back the other way (basic land-based mana doublers for example), or your deck could specifically be wanting lands for Landfall triggers or the like, but it seems the Dagger will give you more in the greater number of circumstances than the Sword. Dagger > Sword.

Re Efreet Flamepainter, it's not one I have experience with yet, but I do want a copy for my Jeleva deck; I think any deck with big instants and sorceries - supplemented by a number of wheels - could get some milage out of this. Obviously it's not the easiest to connect with, and will be chumped for days, but the times it does get through will have the potential to be spectacular. (And add two to the Storm count).

[pokken]

, I can't imagine it gets in there much.

It's meant to wear pants Sword pants.

[DirkGently]

I pulled off the dream in draft by casting this t3 off Elemental Masterpiece and then blasting a blocker out of the way and casting masterpiece (plus the burn spell) on t4. That game was a short one, haha.

This guy can be very scary in the right situation. The tricky part is that big spells, self-mill/cycling/whatever to dump them in gy, and things that help get a creature through blockers rarely all go into the same place. It'd be a nasty commander if it was legendary.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Just think about a free Searing Wind or Alpha Brawl or Savage Beating (must pay for the entwine)

Haste and evasion can be provided by artifacts. Hell, this might be one case where Akroma's Memorial might be worth it, just so you can have pro-red when the Infernos and such start.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

This reminds me of the Hour of Devastation jackal thing that sees no play. There's easier ways to cheat on mana.

[onering]

Re Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale vs Sword of the Animist, I want to echo that Rampant Growthing repeatedly is very slow compared to a Gilded Lotus|MRD. The turn you connect with the Dagger, and each turn after, you get access to 3 additional mana. For the Sword, you get no additional mana (land ETBs tapped) and then get progressively more mana with each passing turn. If the turn you first connect/swing with the Dagger/Sword is Turn 0, then it's not until Turn 6 (when you've just fetched your 7th land with the Sword) that the total mana made available by the Sword becomes equal to that of the Dagger. So if it's Turn 4 where you are first connecting/swinging, then this doesn't occur until Turn 10. Consider as well that the front-loading of the mana from the Dagger will produce significantly greater tempo gains than that of the Sword. Yes, there are many effects that can swing the maths back the other way (basic land-based mana doublers for example), or your deck could specifically be wanting lands for Landfall triggers or the like, but it seems the Dagger will give you more in the greater number of circumstances than the Sword. Dagger > Sword.

Re Efreet Flamepainter, it's not one I have experience with yet, but I do want a copy for my Jeleva deck; I think any deck with big instants and sorceries - supplemented by a number of wheels - could get some milage out of this. Obviously it's not the easiest to connect with, and will be chumped for days, but the times it does get through will have the potential to be spectacular. (And add two to the Storm count).

Sword is a lot more reliable than dagger though, depending on meta. The two plants are obviously going to whomever already has blockers, but if everyone has blockers it can be quite awhile before dagger pays off. If you can cast and equip dagger and connect the same turn, its clearly better, and if you have to wait to equip it its still better so long as you can connect the turn you do. So in creature light metas, dagger is just better. In metas where blockers are common, it may be several turns before dagger gets there. Its a real decision on which to include in your deck, based on meta, quality and quantity of evasive creatures (dagger is better there), landfall/basic lands matters, whether you churn out a bunch of expendables or rely on a smaller amount of quality creatures (how easy will it be to stop the dagger by killing a couple creatures/how able are you to just send mooks to their deaths to ramp), etc.

[3drinks]

Friday, May 28th, 2021; Dragonshift

Sweet token finish. "Rawr, all my saprolings are dragons now, rawr!"

[Gamazson]

Dragonshift seems to be build around card. The Locust God and Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer are the commanders that jump to my mind.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I kinda hate these effects that just alter base stats en masse. 11/10 times I would rather have a classic overrun effect so I don't lose damage off of my naturally power 5+ dudes.

Being an instant is nice, but I stand by my reservations.

[3drinks]

Well I guess that about sums up our thoughts on Dragonshift haha.

Saturday, May 29th, 2021; Oko, Thief of Crowns

Still the menace it is in every other format ever?

[EonAon]

When you get banned in Legacy of all things you know you have pushed the power envelope a bit far, let alone bans in both Standard and Modern. Just some food for thought.

[Sanity_Eclipse]

Well I guess that about sums up our thoughts on Dragonshift haha.

Saturday, May 29th, 2021; Oko, Thief of Crowns

Still the menace it is in every other format ever?

Pulled a couple of him, traded them in for like $100 store credit and put that towards a Tropical Island. 10/10 lol

[3drinks]

Just some food for thought.

+2.

[Hermes_]

Well I guess that about sums up our thoughts on Dragonshift haha.

Saturday, May 29th, 2021; Oko, Thief of Crowns

Still the menace it is in every other format ever?

Pulled a couple of him, traded them in for like $100 store credit and put that towards a Tropical Island. 10/10 lol

best use of him i've ever seen

[Sinis]

Saturday, May 29th, 2021; Oko, Thief of Crowns

Still the menace it is in every other format ever?

Despite the hue and cry about Oko even in EDH, I find that he's often removal + fog. In the instances where I get to elk things several turns in a row, I get the impression that I could have already won (or at least contained other players) with other cards.

That isn't to say he isn't powerful, but I think the grindy power of his plus abilities really shone in 1v1 formats where a food token could mean winning or losing, or where his ult was more habitually used on creatures that would be significant for the rest of the game. In our format, he's middling.

[Mookie]

Oko isn't quite as much of a menace in EDH as he is in 1v1, but he's certainly still annoying - people don't like having their stuff elk'd. However, he's much less likely to come down on turn 2, and with multiple opponents, it's much easier to overwhelm any defenses to get him off the table. Lifegain from food is still nice, but also more niche in a 40-life format with less of an aggro presence.

...I will note that his ability to turn mana rocks / equipment into elks is somewhat significant, and can make him a headache for strategies that are reliant on those artifacts.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Destroy it with extreme prejudice. Every time. Win or lose, letting it live is always a bad portent for a bleak future.

[duducrash]

I feel like Eldraine-Theros-Ikoria period of design is crazy. So many powerfull problematic cards, sometime in the future someone will talk about it and we will understand what were the forces behind this disaster

Oko was one I didnt quite understand when I first saw it. Took it me playing against it to understand how frustrating it is

[Guardman]

Well I guess that about sums up our thoughts on Dragonshift haha.

Saturday, May 29th, 2021; Oko, Thief of Crowns

Still the menace it is in every other format ever?

Pulled a couple of him, traded them in for like $100 store credit and put that towards a Tropical Island. 10/10 lol

I did something similar. Sold two for a crisp Benjamin. This was like two weeks before he was banned in standard. My favorite memory of him was I got one in a sealed pool with a Gilded Goose and twice got Oko down on turn 2 on the play.

I agree he is annoying, but not overly powerful in EDH. If he was cheaper I would like to get one just because I would like to build a Tanazir Quandrix deck one day and Oko seems like a good fit since I can Elk my own stuff to boost its power.

[Sinis]

I feel like Eldraine-Theros-Ikoria period of design is crazy. So many powerfull problematic cards, sometime in the future someone will talk about it and we will understand what were the forces behind this disaster

Oko was one I didnt quite understand when I first saw it. Took it me playing against it to understand how frustrating it is

I think it was more like War of the Spark-Eldraine-Theros. Ikoria had very few problematic designs IMO, but WAR definitely made some doozies.

[Guardman]

Ikoria had very few problematic designs IMO

*Looks at Companions*

[Sinis]

Ikoria had very few problematic designs IMO

*Looks at Companions*

FAIR

[hyalopterouslemur]

The problem is his startong loyalty is 4, he has two + abilities, and Switcheroo is that powerful. Making anything into a vanilla 3/3 is going to be disgusting as well.

[toctheyounger]

I feel like Eldraine-Theros-Ikoria period of design is crazy. So many powerfull problematic cards, sometime in the future someone will talk about it and we will understand what were the forces behind this disaster

Oko was one I didnt quite understand when I first saw it. Took it me playing against it to understand how frustrating it is

I think it was more like War of the Spark-Eldraine-Theros. Ikoria had very few problematic designs IMO, but WAR definitely made some doozies.

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy disagrees.

Anyway to me Oko is mostly fine, at least in our format. He starts high and two uptick abilities is probably what makes him the issue he is elsewhere, but in a 4 player game I can't see him being all that warping. Truth be told though I've never come across him in actual gameplay so this is all presumption.

I think in terms of balanced design if his elk ability were a downtick he'd not have been quite as problematic.

[DirkGently]

I haven't actually seen him much. Elkifying a commander-centric deck is a bummer, but there are plenty of other ways to do that, and a 3/3 has gotta get blocked eventually. The other abilities are pretty unexciting.

*Looks at Companions*

Hey, companions were totally fine!

For commander and limited the only good formats that exist.