[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[EonAon]

Honestly if you removed the annihilator mechanic from most eldrazi they are harsh but mostly fair boss monsters. Or if most of them stayed at annihilator 1 with max 3. Or even if they stated this creature may only come into play if its casting cost was paid (if only on the named eldrazi). The confluence of the first run of annihilator eldrazi were some of the most unfun cards ever created. Ulamog with vindicate attached is not great, adding another 4 permanents every time it attacks is just blindingly powerful and this is least powerful of the trio realistically.

[ilovesaprolings]

Honestly if you removed the annihilator mechanic from most eldrazi they are harsh but mostly fair boss monsters.

No neeed to remove, just add a "nonland" clause to it.

[hyalopterouslemur]

TBH, it's mostly the same type of players who try to play with <20 lands in EDH who complain about having to sac permanents.

I prefer Kozilek, but this one gets the job done.

[umtiger]

Honestly I'd rather eat a Blightsteel early. If I were to be murdered I'd rather my killer just immediately go for my throat than start with my legs and slowly work their way up by inches. That, and if I suddenly die to infect I can just whip out my Switch and grind my Poke'mon or something

And yeah, I like that you bring up the Rafiq sort of era because now that you mention that, it's that the Eldrazi cards are sub optimal ways to win rudely is what actually make them the worst to me. They feel like they kind prey upon people who like to play a more classic commander meta.

You know, you could just concede...

If you hold out to the last permanent, you forced that player to focus attacks on you solely for what 3-5 turns? And in those 3-5 turns, you couldn't remove it? But hey, you're sacrifices insured that other players could. So your actions/mindset was not in vain.

Without haste, how bad are any of the annihilator Koz or Ula? I'm sure "classic commander" has plenty of sorcery speed board wipes capable of cleaning these up.

I'd rather get chewed up by old Koz/Ula than get top decked 2-card combo'd or infinite looped out of nowhere. It does take considerably more effort and setup to attack mutliple times with an Eldrazi.

[EonAon]

Honestly if you removed the annihilator mechanic from most eldrazi they are harsh but mostly fair boss monsters.

No neeed to remove, just add a "nonland" clause to it.

Yeah but even then you cant block unless you have a major but-ton of permanents on the field, and the direct answer in your hands. Especially the first Emrakul. Its just not a fun nor good mechanic unless used VERY sparingly and even then you have to have answers or it WILL eat you alive.

[3drinks]

Honestly I'd rather eat a Blightsteel early. If I were to be murdered I'd rather my killer just immediately go for my throat than start with my legs and slowly work their way up by inches. That, and if I suddenly die to infect I can just whip out my Switch and grind my Poke'mon or something

And yeah, I like that you bring up the Rafiq sort of era because now that you mention that, it's that the Eldrazi cards are sub optimal ways to win rudely is what actually make them the worst to me. They feel like they kind prey upon people who like to play a more classic commander meta.

You know, you could just concede...

If you hold out to the last permanent, you forced that player to focus attacks on you solely for what 3-5 turns? And in those 3-5 turns, you couldn't remove it? But hey, you're sacrifices insured that other players could. So your actions/mindset was not in vain.

Without haste, how bad are any of the annihilator Koz or Ula? I'm sure "classic commander" has plenty of sorcery speed board wipes capable of cleaning these up.

I'd rather get chewed up by old Koz/Ula than get top decked 2-card combo'd or infinite looped out of nowhere. It does take considerably more effort and setup to attack mutliple times with an Eldrazi.

These are all correct statements. I wish more players would think this way, and look at their plays and the way they build with honest analysis, rather than blaming the static, emotionless game mechanics for their defeat. I wholeheartedly believe it really would enhance the game you play tenfold.

[Igzex]

You know, you could just concede...

Why? It's only turn 4 and sure I was brought down to 1 mana source and 27 life points but hey that means everyone's gonna ignore me so I still have a chance to steal the game from under everyone's noses right? Wouldn't that be one heck of a thing? I mean, why not lie to myself when I'm already lying to everyone else at the table by fronting a smile and being like "Woah man annihilator 4 on turn 4 I got so owned !"

Without haste, how bad are any of the annihilator Koz or Ula? I'm sure "classic commander" has plenty of sorcery speed board wipes capable of cleaning these up.

Without turboing them out before they can be hated out nor having any haste or other support whatsoever they're not bad at all. Much in the same way that Mindslaver is a completely harmless meme card if you only use it once a game or how just one Time Warp wouldn't hurt anyone.

...Nobody would ever do that. Not even "More Classic than Classic" pods of commander where counterspell is considered the most evil card of all time, their unsleeved decks are held together by rubber bands, and if you're not careful they'll try to hustle you out of that sweet Piru, the Volatile with their measly Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer.

I'd rather get chewed up by old Koz/Ula than get top decked 2-card combo'd or infinite looped out of nowhere. It does take considerably more effort and setup to attack mutliple times with an Eldrazi.

And I respect your preference. Mine still is "Don't even give me the illusion that I'm gonna have a meaningful game just kill me." The original Eldrazi cards are pain. For the record though I still am on the stance of if it's not banned by all means use it against me I'm just a dude with a deck and what I consider fun is just as important as what my opponent considers fun. I just hope that now I got to know what that is, that my opponent can take it when I play something in that league.

[Hermes_]

the only time i use the annihilator mechanic is in my Jhoira of the Ghitu deck, or in my relentless rat deck in which i know i can hit the mana cost.

[Yatsufusa]

Original Ulamog and Kozilek are like the epitome of "removal check" (I mean the reason original Emrakul was banned was because it had protection and a Time Walk attached, making the removal check window way too small to be fair).

Annihilator (4) is unfun, yes, but without the absurd protection window of Emrakul (who had Annihilator (6) to boot) I daresay it isn't unfair. Indestructible is annoying, yes, but not the most absolute protection out there (especially considering its size), if you needed Ulamog to teach you to prepare removal for indestructible battlecruisers, you had it too easy up to that point (or your meta is still way in the causal infancy phases).

The Eldrazi Titans were one major half of my reason for joining the format (the other half was Animar making them even more appealing). I've long replaced Oldlamog with Newlamog mostly because my meta definitely passes the removal check, which makes exiles-on-cast much more powerful (and I don't run both because I restricted myself to one of each titan so I have space for all the dozens of other fun things Animar can do). Didn't replace Kozilek even if the new one plays a much better control game because my simple-minded battlecruiser-brain wants to cast Eldrazi Titans for 0 and that's all that matters for fun as far as that line of thought goes.

[Mookie]

Yeah.... if you're complaining about hasty Eldrazi with annihilator being oppressive on turn 4, I think the problem card here is Sneak Attack, not the Eldrazi. They could be swapped out for Blightsteel Colossus / Terastodon / Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur / etc. to similarly obnoxious effect. On the other hand, if they're being hardcast on turn 8 or 10, at that point you're likely to have removal available or expendable permanents to sacrifice (or, more likely, both).

[Igzex]

Yeah.... if you're complaining about hasty Eldrazi with annihilator being oppressive on turn 4, I think the problem card here is Sneak Attack, not the Eldrazi.

While I'll definitely say that Sneak Attack is a very "Of course it came from the Urza block" card, between the two I put the blame on Ulamog because I see no way for an Ulamog to ever add anything fun to a game while Sneak Attack can kinda have interesting uses if you work really hard to not break it somehow. Not that anyone ever really does.

On the other hand, if they're being hardcast on turn 8 or 10, at that point you're likely to have removal available or expendable permanents to sacrifice (or, more likely, both).

Yeah, when cast normally in the late game they're kinda just nothing with all the surplus resources and cards drawn at that point. That's why nobody ever does that.

[ukkuhrmakhai]

Original Ulamog is classic colorless removal. My first deck was animar and ulamog was one of the reasons, I wanted to play the giant eldritch monster. The cast trigger is definitely overshadowed by Newulamog but the rest of effects are still great. Original ulamog is hard to beat for everything he brings in one slot even if it is 11 mana. Generic removal, indestructible finisher, and graveyard shuffle.

The graveyard shuffle trigger is probably the reason I would still play Original Ulamog. With an instant speed discard outlet it can stop a yard from being exiled or allow a combo to continue when it would have run of cards. It is also one of the easiest anti-mill cards although that means any mill player is going to have an answer for it.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, July 14th, 2021; Pestilent Spirit

Outside of burn spells, is there any benefit to granting your spells deathtouch?

[materpillar]

These are all correct statements. I wish more players would think this way, and look at their plays and the way they build with honest analysis, rather than blaming the static, emotionless game mechanics for their defeat. I wholeheartedly believe it really would enhance the game you play tenfold.

You're just wrong. I used to run Into the Core specifically so that I could exile Ulamog with Liquimetal Coating in my Jaya Ballard, Task Mage deck. Having to play answers to a specific card like this did not enhance my gameplay experience at all. You know what would have enhanced my gameplay experience? Not having to eat annihilator 4 triggers. I have never seen an annihilator 4 trigger go on the stack and thought "well that's making this game more interesting."

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre is kind of the raid boss of battlecruiser. If you try to go bigger or go faster you're starting to step out of battlecruiser. Ulamog is a big cool Timmy card that consistently makes games miserable when it resolves.

Again, all battlecruiser talk. Higher power level, Feel free to Sneak Attack this and eat anyone who has Thassa's Oracle as their primary wincon.

[edit] never seen Pestilent Spirit resolve. My immediate thought is to wreck people with Punishing Fire. Seems hard to find a home since this would want to be built around a lot but isn't a commander. Also, I assume this is just a BR card right?

[The_Hittite]

It turns Blazing Volley into Plague Wind, so that's pretty neat. It also gives you more bang for your buck on say Earthquake, Hurricane, or Fireball. It would probably be a lot more useful if it could be in the command zone.

[Igzex]

Ok The_Hittite brings up a cool point. If Pestilent Spirit was only Rakdos colored and legendary, it would actually would make a really sweet commander. Imagine actually fearing Rain of Embers or Scouring Sands.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Potential in a burn deck, but what else? It's more fun to give my Inferno Titan deathtouch anyway.

[EonAon]

A interesting but fairly useless card. In a constructed format its a bit too costly to get and since no other card I can recall has this text you cant get much consistency from such ability. Considering that red is the direct damage with some outliers in white, black, and blue, it really wont work in EDH unless you made a burn deck for 1v1 play. Even then not many commanders want to go down that route.

[Serenade]

I LOOOVE this guy. One of my favorite cards to see because that effect is so neat! It would be great as a general (maybe with "once a turn" tacked on somewhere to make it more interesting).

Is he great for this format? Oh, certainly not. If you are using Lightning Bolt or Skred as creature removal, this card makes sure you kill it, but that makes it a win-more-like card. I had him in Obosh, the Preypiercer, where he was fun. I can't remember if I took him out, though. He made Fire Covenant better and got Obosh's boost himself (menace and DT are an aggressive combo of abilities, too, so I often swung with him). Just a unique little dude.

[Hermes_]

maybe useful with Corrupt and cards like it?

[DirkGently]

Definitely a cool effect, albeit one without much of a home. I could definitely see running it in Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood since you're already running a bunch of "deal a small amount of damage to a lot of creatures" spells.

ohhhhhh snap, I pulled Kazarov completely off the top of my head, and lo and behold he's the #1 deck to use this guy on EDHrec. Do I know this format, ladies and gentlemen? I believe I do.

[3drinks]

Thursday, July 15th, 2021; Dazzling Sphinx

New exile mill milxile question mark. Reasonable body, evasive, builds CA and takes a portion of their deck. Auto wins vs the 99 97 permanent Warp World deck no it doesn't, because reading is hard guys -_-

[materpillar]

I've literally never seen this card before. It seems fine in lower power metas? Casting random spells out of your opponents deck is always lower power because you can't make synergies happen. I have hit Expropriate off Chaos Wand before, that was pretty tasty. I like Sphinx Ambassador more from a pure fun factor.

[Lifeless]

I've also never seen this, but it seems pretty decent and it's certainly an MTG sphinx in the sense that it does something weird that's hard to evaluate.

Also you'll occasionally blow out the guy playing Primal Surge as his only spell so that's fun (someone in my group has an Azusa deck like this).

[Mookie]

Dazzling Sphinx seems... somewhat underwhelming. Maybe I've just been burned by Chaos Wand one too many times, but a lot of spells are pretty situational, and that's before we get into the possibility of hitting countermagic or another spell with a timing restriction. It certainly can be good if you hit well, but the expected value is going to be pretty low. That said, you do get the spell for free (unlike Chaos Wand), and it is attached to a 4/5 flyer, so the floor is actually pretty high.

I'd probably lean towards Iymrith, Desert Doom or something else in a vacuum, but Dazzling Sphinx could be a fun option in a lower-power meta. The more likely you are to hit a battlecruiser card, the better it will perform.