[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[TheAmericanSpirit]

EDIT: whoops, was looking on the wrong page

[DirkGently]

1) my commander better cost exactly 3
2) it better contribute significantly to me winning the game
3) it better not die

idk they're probably fine in practice but I don't like how hard these can set you up to get wrecked so I rarely play them.

[Hawk]

I have paid these no mind since my Masques casual days, and even then rarely ran them. But I do wonder if they're a bit underrated in a deck like The Gitrog Monster where it helps to ramp into the Hypno-Toad then cantrips itself when it burns out. IDK, probably too cute, but I will be thinking about it.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Synergies with proliferate, Crucible of Worlds, and Sun Titan, and Doubling Season. You can even use them with Life from the Loam when not just using it for a dredge loop. Beyond that, you use them with cards that can benefit from lands going to the graveyard, or just to combo out.

Definitely not for every deck, but still good.

[3drinks]

Sunday, February 13th, 2022; Cloud Cover

Huh. Neat. Spell or ability....

[Serenade]

I'll include in Tameshi, Reality Architect and see how it does.

At the end of the day, if your opponent wants your thing gone this turn, it will be gone this turn (barring flash or other abilities to get it back into play). Reminds me of Shapers' Sanctuary but maybe better at deterring targets (especially since it protects all permanent types).

[Sinis]

Sunday, February 13th, 2022; Cloud Cover

Huh. Neat. Spell or ability....

Allows permanents to dodge. Dodge even the new Boseiju.

I have a copy but I don't believe I've ever played it, alongside Reparations. Maybe it's worth sleeving up in the next w/u+ deck I run.

[vandertroll]

This could do some work in a jank azorius blink deck which bounces cheap creatures for value

[Wallycaine]

The "an opponent controls" part is the dealbreaker for me. If I'm running a blink deck... who's going to randomly target my ETB creatures when I've got this out? So it's effectively "my other permanents have (bad) hexproof", which just isn't good enough for me at 4 mana. While it's easy to dream up situations where it's valuable, it's often harder to flip yourself into the opponents shoes and actually *make* the plays that make this valuable.

[hyalopterouslemur]

It's more to save things. Consider reusing triggers a side bonus.

[3drinks]

Monday, February 14th, 2022; Rakdos, the Showstopper

The Cult of Rakdos sends it's warm love to you on this day......

[Dunharrow]

I love the card but it just feels bad to slam this down and not be sure to kill the things you want to kill the most.
It is a bit chaotic, so if you are into that you will like it. I personally would be annoyed if it wiped the creatures of the player who was furthest behind and didn't kill the threatening creatures of the person who was already ahead.

[Guardman]

While not in commander, my favorite memory of this card was in limited. I triggered the enters the battlefield trigger three times in one game. I had a Vindictive Vampire out that refused to die to Rakdos, surviving every trigger. It even survived the one trigger that wiped out every other creature on the board other than him and Rakdos, the Showstopper. Me and my opponent joked that the Vindictive Vampire was the most powerful creature in the game and would never die.

[Mookie]

Rakdos, the Showstopper is fine. He's at his best in tribal or coin flip decks, but I wouldn't necessarily call him a strong payoff for either. There aren't that many creature-based board wipes, and those that do exist tend to be either expensive (Reiver Demon) or inconsistent (Deathbringer Regent, Magister of Worth). Wakening Sun's Avatar is probably the best of them, but I will note that Rakdos doesn't have the 'if you cast from hand' clause (unlike most other instances of this effect), which means he can be reanimated or flickered. I don't hate the idea of a Rakdos control deck that plans to blink him with Conjurer's Closet every turn.

...still, outside specific tribal synergies, I prefer Massacre Girl as my creature-based board wipe of choice. She can have difficulty taking down big creatures, but boards are often cluttered enough for her to kill everything. At the very least, she's more predictable - playing Rakdos to kill something problematic and failing to do so is a pretty bad feeling.

[EonAon]

Ah my favorite commander. Add Conjurer's Closet all the flying demons you can and then Molten Disaster Earthquake Magmaquake with just a touch ofGeode Golem shuffle well and have fun

[hyalopterouslemur]

Actually, it does fit: In the comics, Thanos was motivated by love. (Meaning he's a huge simp!)

Yeah, I like this, and not just for imagining creatures turn into Nesqwik, all while eerily calm. You can blink him, or use Panharmonicon though it increases the likelihood of your creatures dying as well.

[Igzex]

The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair.

[vandertroll]

**toss a coin to your rakdos.mp3**

[materpillar]

I want one of these modified to be Thanos now.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022; Sygg, River Cutthroat

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Sweet little commander of yesteryear. With just a dash of chip damage every turn cycle, this fellow can draw quite a few cards for bargain bin mana.

[Hawk]

I've always liked this guy, but never built him. My wife preferred to follow the light side for her Merfolk Tribal deck. He was once a top contender for Dimir but for sure recent years have been hard on him - Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is the generally superior "flying man grindy tempo" commander, while Anowon, the Ruin Thief is generally a better "Rogue Tribal" Commander, to say nothing of Araumi of the Dead Tide, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, The Scarab God, and Toxrill, the Corrosive who have all exploded in popularity in very different niches. Satoru Umezawa already has nearly as many decks on EDHRecs as a commander who can do both ninja trickery card advantage stuff as well as or better than Yuriko and Sygg, while also enabling his own stupid Show and Tell style nonsense, so I imagine this fish will continue to sink.

Still, Sygg is solid. First, it's an okay-ish card in the 99 of some of those aforementioned grindy tempo decks. But as a Commander in his own right, there's a few interesting tricks - he comes down cheaper than anyone else, and his ability triggers on each end step and not just your end step. That can lend him to playing political cards and pillowfort cards to incentivize attacks elsewhere, or can give you extra value out of spells like Undermine or group-sluggy cards to get even more value.

[Ruiner]

I've enjoyed Sygg in my Zareth San, the Trickster rogues/theft deck. He's definitely drawn me a decent amount of cares whenever he happens to hit the battlefield. Give him a "Sword of X & Y" and he is generally super solid. I've never tried him as a commander though.

[PrimevalCommander]

Used to be a highly rated dimir control commander for the passive card advantage it offered. Now there are better commanders offering active card advantage and higher levels of synergy. Could be a solid niche roll player in the 99, but it's time as a commander has faded into ocean that is power creep.

[pokken]

I had a Sygg deck for a while and it was pretty fun. The main problem with him is that it's just really hard to build around the ability. there aren't that many of the right type of effect and if your meta doesn't have lots of fetch lands Ancient Tomb players you aren't goin to get a lot of freebies. So he becomes a Phyrexian Arena most of the time if you happen to connect for 3.

I tried it with Aristocrats and the games wound up going so fast every time that I couldn't get my slow drain and CA accumulation on. It's one of the same issues I am having with Ephara lately honestly is that games just don't go that long anymore.