[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[3drinks]

Why play this over Control Magic ? Like…ever?

In 1v1 play you take something and they get nothing, or like a wall of omens from you. And it (the theft) can't be disenchanted. That's not nothing.

[tstorm823]

Also, it does not target,

[DirkGently]

I'm not saying there aren't times where it's better, but when you're putting things into the deck you have the appraise the card across all the possible situations that might arise. The times where this is superior to control magic feel way too few and far between to seriously consider it (1v1 AND you have no creatures AND they have a disenchant?) - even if you're playing a completely creatureless deck, there's still times where you want a creature across from you.

[3drinks]

Saturday, October 30th, 2021; Nissa of Shadowed Boughs

[Dunharrow]

Turn 5 cheat a creature into play is fine. I doubt this lives long enough to do it twice in multiplayer. Unless you are fetching turn 5 to bring it to 6 and then doing some Ashaya, Soul of the Wild shenanigans. Then you might get to use it multiple times in a row.

[BeneTleilax]

Saw this do work in Gitrog once.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Hey, remember the fake black Nissa people spoiled from Innistrad that didn't even have original art?

I like her, but land animation these days is nerfed by two words. If you have Asceticism the +1 is better. But ywah, we're doing this for the -5.

Question, if I have Hardened Scales and use her to bring back Spike Weaver, does it get seven or eight counters?

[Treamayne]

Question, if I have Hardened Scales and use her to bring back Spike Weaver, does it get seven or eight counters?

Six counters, by my count. Both effects (Weaver's and Nissa's) say it ETBs with the counters, so there is only 1 event to get a HS bonus. 3+2 is five, plus 1 from the scales. Now, if she said to put it on the battlefield, then add 2 counters, it would get 3+1, then 2+1 for 7 total.

[3drinks]

Question, if I have Hardened Scales and use her to bring back Spike Weaver, does it get seven or eight counters?

Six counters, by my count. Both effects (Weaver's and Nissa's) say it ETBs with the counters, so there is only 1 event to get a HS bonus. 3+2 is five, plus 1 from the scales. Now, if she said to put it on the battlefield, then add 2 counters, it would get 3+1, then 2+1 for 7 total.

This is correct.

[Mookie]

Nissa of Shadowed Boughs is... interesting. It's possible to get a lot of loyalty on her via landfall shenanigans, but I'm not convinced that her (-5) is worth it, especially compared to Liliana, Death's Majesty. Putting a creature from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield is certainly good, but limiting it to the number of lands you control means you can't actually cheat something giant into play. I guess it is conceivable that one could activate her (-5) multiple times with a ton of fetchlands, but.... I'm not entirely sure what sort of deck would want her. Hmmm.... I guess she might be okay in The Gitrog Monster or Yarok, the Desecrated?

[3drinks]

Sunday, October 31st, 2021; In Search of Greatness

I guess that's a card.

[Treamayne]

At least is has a plan B for the times you don't have a relevant card in hand.

[Sinis]

Sunday, October 31st, 2021; In Search of Greatness

People went nuts over it during spoiler season, and it surprises me not at all right now that it's bulk. This card is just not that good.

[hyalopterouslemur]

"Equal to" sinks it. Not only does this guarantee you'll eventually whiff 100% of the time (when you play your capstone cards), but you'll likely whiff on the way there just because of the way curves work!

I mean, it is a cheaper Crystal Ball, but only scry 1. If you're really desperate for ways to break up a Sylvan Library clump (I prefer ramp. Late game I have Wild Pair or Alhammarret's Archive or Greater Good. And again, Crystal Ball exists!), this exists.

[Dunharrow]

probably the best way to play it is stax/rule of law. It makes it a lot stronger when people are playing very few spells. It's almost like a timewalk every time you put something in play.
If I ever make my Glissa, the Traitor then this could work. I can see some loops of getting a free Noxious Gearhulk every turn.

But ya, not a very strong card in Commander.

[Mookie]

In Search of Greatness is a card that can theoretically be great... but in practice, it's pretty narrow. The basic use case is you cast a 4-drop, then play ISoG, then on your next turn you get a free 5-drop. However, you could get the same effect by just running Rampant Growth or another ramp spell, so you haven't really accomplished anything - it's very difficult to use it to cheat stuff out ahead of the curve. I guess it's possible if you use cost-reduction effects (ex: Tasigur, the Golden Fang → 7-drop), but the consistency leaves something to be desired.

I suppose the other base case is to use it to scry every turn - I've seen people run Thassa, God of the Sea and Monastery Siege for the filtering before, but... not a thing I value particularly highly, and Sylvan Library and Mirri's Guile do it much better. Only going one card deep (and triggering before your draw step) means you can't even use it to set up Courser of Kruphix effects.

[Myllior]

probably the best way to play it is stax/rule of law. It makes it a lot stronger when people are playing very few spells. It's almost like a timewalk every time you put something in play.

ISoG casts the card, so it won't let you get around Rule of Law|MRD effects.

[Outcryqq]

In Search of Greatness
I massively misvalued this card when spoiled, I thought it would be really great. It's "meh".

[3drinks]

Monday, November 1st, 2021; Archmage Emeritus

[Sinis]

Monday, November 1st, 2021; Archmage Emeritus

Lunar Mystic got power crept out.

This card is fun with storm, etc. I think it's pretty reasonable.

[benjameenbear]

Can confirm this is a PHENOMENAL card with Kalamax especially. It's my #1 tutor target in Kalamax with Chord of Calling and I run Regrowth almost specifically to pick it up when it dies, it's that good. Alongside Storm-Kiln Artist, there's been a few turn cycles where I don't even tap lands to bury the table in card and mana advantage. So good. The magecraft cards are very cool design spaces, but are borderline broken. If the right Storm card gets printed, watch how it affects Legacy and Modern...

[Mookie]

....I should really add Archmage Emeritus (and Storm-Kiln Artist) to my spellslinger decks. >.> Drawing a card for every instant / sorcery spell you cast is quite strong, and four mana is a pretty reasonable price. It is a bit vulnerable, so I wouldn't expect it to survive that often, but the times you do untap with it will be quite explosive (assuming you have sufficient cheap spells to trigger it).

[hyalopterouslemur]

This can be just plain gross. Basically you now cantrip off counterspells. All counterspells. Bounce spells? Cantrip off those. Card draw? Draw one more. Removal? Cantrip. Combat tricks? Ramp? Wipes? Cantrips.

The cool thing about this is, all spells are awesome if you can cantrip off them. Unless it's targeted and too narrow.

And that's without even going into storm.

[Crazy Monkey]

The magecraft trigger including copies is absolutely absurd in decks that consistently copy their spells. Nearly all the magecraft creatures with comparable cards have an effective ceiling that is much higher then similar effects.

Archmage Emeritus is much better than Lunar Mystic and Jace's Sanctum, and much more broadly available compared to Song of Creation. If you're already planning to copy your spells, there is not much which competes with it in cost:effect.

Similarly, there's no spell-trigger token maker which can keep up with Sedgemoor Witch and very little can generate mana like Storm-Kiln Artist. Magecraft is extremely powerful.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021; Ad Nauseam

Aaannnddd......GO.