[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Wallycaine]

Yeah, the short version is that there does not exist a (printable) version that lives up to D&D expectations, so I'm happy they just printed a big good one.

[Igzex]

There's a simple bluntness to this card I kinda love but at the same time, yeah feels a bit too generic for what this card was supposed to represent.

[3drinks]

Sunday, December 5th, 2021; Sanctuary Blade

How's this compare to the more traditional boots? I find it hard to justify over those.

[Wallycaine]

3 to equip is a death sentence for equipment outside of a dedicated equipment deck, imo. One or two mana to equip can be okay, if still a bit of a tax, but 3 mana is hard to manage for anything but the most impactful of equipment. And +2/+0 and protection from a color of your choice... isn't the most impactful. In an equipment deck, it gets a harder look, because there's ways to cheat that cost, and stuff like Brass Squire that can move it at instant speed is a neat threat.

[Mookie]

Huh, interesting. I don't remember Sanctuary Blade at all. It's a bit like Whispersilk Cloak, in that it makes a creature difficult to target or block. However, the fact that your opponents are likely playing multiple colors means it goes down in effectiveness significantly, and I don't think +2/+0 is enough to justify its inclusion. I would say the best use case for this is probably a deck that can mess with colors, such as Eight-and-a-Half-Tails.... but the swords of X and Y also fill that role. I guess you'll never run into the issue of running into decks that are the wrong colors, but... overall, seems pretty meh.

[Sinis]

Sunday, December 5th, 2021; Sanctuary Blade

Tremendously hard to justify over a Sword of Protection and Value, or boots. There could be some cute tricks with Leonin Shikari or the aforementioned Brass Squire, but, this doesn't feel all that hot outside those use cases.

[DirkGently]

Pro one color would be shaky even in 1v1 but in a multiplayer game it's pretty awful. But really it's the equip cost that kills this, and the proliferation of stronger options.

Would be a little more interesting if it kept adding new colors each time, until it protected from all 5. Considering that would cost 17 mana or some kind of equip cheating, that seems like a very fair play.

That or reduce the equip cost to like...1? At 1 this might be ok. At 3 it's abominable.

[onering]

Yeah, its bad. Whispersilk Cloak is already iffy and blows this out of the water.

[hyalopterouslemur]

3 to equip is a death sentence for equipment outside of a dedicated equipment deck, imo. One or two mana to equip can be okay, if still a bit of a tax, but 3 mana is hard to manage for anything but the most impactful of equipment. And +2/+0 and protection from a color of your choice... isn't the most impactful. In an equipment deck, it gets a harder look, because there's ways to cheat that cost, and stuff like Brass Squire that can move it at instant speed is a neat threat.

It's a matter of how critical it is to your game plan. I've played Accorder's Shield and the like in Doran.

The bigger question is what protection means in your deck. It can range from beneficial in your deck (stopping damage from Pestilence, keeping Diaochan, Artful Beauty away from your d00dz, saving them from Wave of Reckoning) to somewhat helpful but not that helpful (preventing damage, removal, blocking, or "bad" auras) to a minor annoyance (I wanted to use Unspeakable Symbol on my guy!) to a critical failure (something like running Akroma's Memorial or Absolute Grace in Ghave, Guru of Spores, protection from your own colors in aura-based Voltron)

All that said, comparing this to swords, it ain't even funny how outclassed this is.

[3drinks]

Monday, December 6th, 2021; Wheel of Misfortune

It's been a few months. How does it hold up to it's predecessor?

[BeneTleilax]

Good in decks that can put pressure on opponents' life totals, or inflate their own. Red tends to have a fair amount of the former, and quite few of the latter. If you're not doing either of those, there are much better wheels.

[Jemolk]

I don't really like wheels in general, but as red draw goes, they can be fairly efficient. If you're trying to avoid drawing your opponents 7 cards, this might even be preferable to the OG. On the other hand, in the slower, more battlecruiser meta I play in, I'd be far happier to see an opponent cast this largely because I will regularly want to bid 0 life to reliably opt out of wheeling at all while I use my own card draw to sculpt my hand. It's an interesting card with an interesting niche, and yet I've never played with either Wheel of Fortune or Wheel of Misfortune, despite having access to both.

Also, I just want to say, the thread title currently says Wheel of Misfortune Blade, and I think that's really funny.

P.S. Since I missed out on the last few days of stuff -- Sanctuary Blade is good in one deck that I have -- I built Ayula with an equipment subtheme. After all, per the second amendment to the US constitution, I have the right to arm bears. (That's what it says, right? ) Anyway, protection from the color of my choice helps with blocks, but it also helps fighting be more of a reliable source of removal.

[Melua]

Monday, December 6th, 2021; Wheel of Misfortune

It's been a few months. How does it hold up to it's predecessor?

I think I might have to try it in my Torbran, Thane of Red Fell pingers deck.

[pokken]

Big brain move, Deflecting Palm it and then choose 88,000?

[Serenade]

Righteous Aura, too!

[Dragoon]

Big brain move, Deflecting Palm it and then choose 88,000?

One more reason to love Deflecting Palm and its friends!

[pokken]

One more reason to love Deflecting Palm and its friends!

Yeah I really cannot get enough of the aikido crap, Selfless Squire Inkshield Comeuppance. Mmm.

[Mookie]

Wheel of Misfortune is an interesting take on Wheel of Fortune. I haven't cast it myself, but I have seen it played against me a few times. There is usually someone at the table that is attached to their hand and bids 0 life, which means I often opt-in by bidding 1 life... only for the person casting the spell in the first place to bid a bunch of life, because they really want a wheel. Good stuff. I will note that predicting whether your hand will be better or worse post-wheel is pretty difficult, and a skill I should probably practice more.

Anyway, if your deck is looking to play wheels as a way to generate card advantage / refill their hand, Wheel of Misfortune is a solid inclusion. If you're playing a commander like The Locust God or Niv-Mizzet, Parun that cares about drawing cards, even better. If you're planning to combo it offensively with Nekusar, the Mindrazer or Notion Thief, you're going to be disappointed.

....it's also much cheaper in terms of $ than Wheel of Fortune, which is nice. Definitely a solid budget replacement. Mana cost is pretty important for wheels, since you want to be able to take advantage of the new cards first, and this can be difficult if the wheel is expensive. As a result, swapping to a higher MV wheel like Time Reversal or Reforge the Soul can be a significant downgrade.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

One more reason to love Deflecting Palm and its friends!

Yeah I really cannot get enough of the aikido crap, Selfless Squire Inkshield Comeuppance. Mmm.

Assuming that you control the wheel, you can't palm it for 88 grand without taking 88 grand in damage. Palm redirects to the controller of the source, i.e. whoever cast the wheel. Works well enough if you don't control it though.

[pokken]

Assuming that you control the wheel, you can't palm it for 88 grand without taking 88 grand in damage. Palm redirects to the controller of the source, i.e. whoever cast the wheel. Works well enough if you don't control it though.

No, I meant punishing the wheel owner

[Crazy Monkey]

Sounds like an opportune use for Hive Mind with your own wheel.

I've played a bit with Wheel of Misfortune. If you want to pack your deck with wheel effects to draw yourself cards, it's arguably better than some of the other options just because of it's MV. If you're trying to wheel your opponents hands, however, it's much less effective.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Assuming that you control the wheel, you can't palm it for 88 grand without taking 88 grand in damage. Palm redirects to the controller of the source, i.e. whoever cast the wheel. Works well enough if you don't control it though.

No, I meant punishing the wheel owner

Damn then, that's one way to punish your local red player. Why does blue never have this blowout potential? They're the ones I always want to punish...

Eh, war's toll and Carnage Tyrant, carry me home.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Okay, this is one of those cards that takes a few read-throughs to get.

Story Circle is also great with this. Or Soulfire Grand Master or Firesong and Sunspeaker.

[plushpenguin]

I own both this and OG wheel, so I can say that for refilling your hand this is a really good substitute that doesn't stray too far from og wheel. However, this cannot be used to disrupt your opponents or as a combo piece.

The other hidden disadvantage is well... don't get targeted by mindslaver when you have this in your hand.. It isn't a life payment, but you can pick an arbitrarily large number if you so choose.....

[ironic gesture]

…. If you're planning to combo it offensively with Nekusar, the Mindrazer or Notion Thief, you're going to be disappointed.

My brother in law just added this to his Nekusar deck not because it forces his opponents to draw but for the fact it will often be simply a 3mv draw 7.