[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Jetfire, Ingenious Scientist

[Wallycaine]

I always felt like people were too harsh on the flavor of this card. If you're trying to capture the flavor of "Reculsive Mad Scientist", you could do much worse than this.

[Mookie]

Ah, yes. Group hug: the perfect way to represent a mad scientist necromancer responsible for creating zombies.

Anyway, I like Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist. He provides a similar incentive to Edric, Spymaster of Trest - you opponents are encouraged to hit each other to draw cards. However, Ludevic only triggers once per turn, which means the payoff is significantly more balanced (and roughly comparable to having Monarch in the game). There isn't really a snowbally effect that means a single player can run away with the game due to the extra help, nor is the the extra assistance so explosive that the game will rush to inclusion (triggering at end of turn also blunts some of the speed). That means that life totals will consistently decline while people draw cards, which lets the game keep moving along. Of course, it's also possible for the damage to be self-inflicted - fetchlands also trigger Ludevic.

....obviously, as a group hug card, there are plenty of stronger options in the command zone. Still, Ludevic is a commander I generally enjoy playing against due to the incentives he adds to the game making for interesting gameplay.

[hyalopterouslemur]

The flavor butchery of this card is one of the pinnacles of WOTC creative failure imo. It's like they had this card designed except for a legendary character and they did legendary character roulette.

There isn't a SINGLE reference to Zombies, necromancy, or anything at ALL related to what Ludevic does in regards to his trigger. Hell, he barely has a reference to Zombies in his flavor text. So useless.

I mean, I get why it has to be this way. (He isn't black, and he's in the not-black deck.) But still, you can go with mill. Watch this.

2ur, t: Mill 2. CARDNAME does damage to the total mana value of those cards to any target.

It's not good, but it's at least somewhat on theme.

[BeneTleilax]

"Reculsive Mad Scientist",

He's not reclusive in the slightest, though! He's sociable, if not political. The design reads like that guy in the pub egging on a brawl. It's clearly not a top-design, but it's also not an interesting bottom-up design. He doesn't really set anything up, his incentive is easily subverted and he is simple without elegance. If you want a general that provokes your opponents to attack each other, Breena or the goad generals do it much better, and provide more interesting gameplay. Heck, I'd argue that Jundspider does it better. If the mechanics were more interesting or thoughtful, I expect more people would be willing to ignore the tacked-on flavor.

[Venedrex]

I mean, they could have just had him loot/mill (like lemur just said) and then make 2/2 zombie tokens. Boom, necro-alchemy. They just forgot that all colors have access to token creation imho.

Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist
Legendary Creature — Human Wizard (R)
: Draw a card, then discard a card. If an instant or sorcery card was discarded this way, create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Whenever an opponent loses life for the first time each turn, untap Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist.
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)
"How does one become a self-taught genius? Naturally, it requires brains."
1/4

[pokken]

I just love this guy. I don't care about the flavor but the card is just so fun in practice. It gets everyone swinging and usually represents more cards for itself than anyone else.

[Serenade]

Are we getting ideas from beating each other up (fueling our minds by killing each other's critters)? Feels like a stretch. Mostly I agree with everyone else that they botched a cool character.

[vandertroll]

Botched flavor, decent partner. It should have had black in its identity.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, March 1st, 2022; Banefire

[wildfire393]

Banefire - As far as X spells go, it's certainly not awful. Being immune to being countered and bypassing damage prevention (at least, when cast in a meaningful mode) is about all you could ask for from your X spell... except even with all that, it's rarely worth the slot. If you're dumping a huge X into a spell, you generally want to be winning outright, which tips the scales more towards cards like Crackle with Power, Jaya's Immolating Inferno, and Comet Storm which can take out all your opponents at once.

[PrimevalCommander]

I have the same opinion. I want to like Banefire for being uncounterable, but there are sooo many good X-burn spells and not very many deck slots to allocate to them. So while Banefire gets around the potential of a counterspell blowout, the downside is being underwhelming when it resolves. Compared to the above mentioned spells that just pump out so much more damage as to be worth the risk.

Electrodominance is one I'm trying out in Kalamax, the Stormsire since it gets me a 4 for 1 when X>5.

[Ruiner]

In monored the uncounterable aspect can be huge for finishing off a control player.

In my Chandra deck I run Molten Disaster for this reason but if I felt I needed a second copy of this effect I'd definitely include Banefire, and have in the past.

[Hawk]

It's interesting that Exsanguinate feels like such an auto-include to me in B/x, but I rarely look at Red finisher spells. To be fair, Exsanguinate is just stone-cold awesome since it hits all opponents and even at X=5 or X=6 is going to give you a great life boost in a brawly 70% meta, but I think it's also just a blind spot for me. I tend to act like "why would I play this when I can stay ahead of opponents and then Earthquake/Rolling Earthquake/Molten Disaster them to death" but in practice that rarely happens especially in many of the decks that want to spam X spells like this.

I definitely think if you want a spell that can dome opponents for the win in R/x, this is a top 3 spell. I think it's in a vacuum a bit worse than Crackle with Power (which is more expensive but has a lot more potential) and Electrodominance (which offers enough #value especially if you are reducing the cost or forking it). I'd put this around equal with Comet Storm - Comet Storm being instant speed and more flexible is going to make it a lot more attractive for Kalamax, the Stormsire or decks that want the multi-target options like Feather, the Redeemed, Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge, and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell but for a deck like Rosheen Meanderer, Neheb, the Eternal or Wort, the Raidmother that is gonna put all their eggs in one basket the absoluteness of Banefire might be better.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Could be because there are so many red ones. Also, Exsanguinate doesn't target and doesn't actually damage, so it's much harder to deal with. No Story Circle or Witchbane Orb to save you now.

[duducrash]

"Activate only as an instant" means that you cannot use the ability "as a mana source" during the casting of a spell. This rider was added to LED and brought back with Diamond-Eye Lion because otherwise it becomes a lot easier to use this as an actual Black Lotus because you can announce a spell from your hand, then crack the LED to help you cast it. The first step of casting something is moving it from your hand to the stack, and this takes place prior to the window for activating mana abilities.
Do note that despite the "instant" wording, the ability IS still a mana ability (as it isn't a loyalty ability, has no targets, and produces mana) and thus cannot be responded to by either player.

It would be the same if discarding a card was part of the activation cost?

[tstorm823]

"Activate only as an instant" means that you cannot use the ability "as a mana source" during the casting of a spell. This rider was added to LED and brought back with Diamond-Eye Lion because otherwise it becomes a lot easier to use this as an actual Black Lotus because you can announce a spell from your hand, then crack the LED to help you cast it. The first step of casting something is moving it from your hand to the stack, and this takes place prior to the window for activating mana abilities.
Do note that despite the "instant" wording, the ability IS still a mana ability (as it isn't a loyalty ability, has no targets, and produces mana) and thus cannot be responded to by either player.

It would be the same if discarding a card was part of the activation cost?

Yes, it would still be the same. The issue is that when you cast a spell, you put the spell on the stack and then the game asks you how you're paying for it, at which point you can activate mana abilities if you need to. If you could activate Lion's Eye Diamond at that point, it doesn't matter at all what it does to your hand or how you format the discard, since the spell you're trying to cast is already out of your hand.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022; Tivash, Gloom Summoner

[BeneTleilax]

Did those "Tivash is the Raven Man" theories go anywhere?

[Hawk]

Oh look, another card I've never seen before due to the crazypants number of new cards shelled at us during 2021!

This card seems too cute to be good. On its face, it's a great rate - he enables himself, and turning your so-so lifegain into even a modest 3/3 or 4/4 flier every end step is stronks. The trouble arises in that he's pretty slow and durdly. In theory he enables himself, but in practice a 5 MV 4/4 with no evasion or protection is going to struggle to connect and use its lifelink effectively, which means he is reliant on either equipment to help him connect or other lifegain spells. Only triggering on your end step makes it hard to get mega-value out of him, and that can be okay at 5 MV but is also the point at which I want my cards to have that option.

The real trouble begins when we look at where he slots in:

- Most Lifegain decks are in Orzhov, since Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Liesa, Shroud of Dusk and Karlov of the Ghost Council are so good. This card feels too slow for those decks especially since if you are at a point where you are making 3/3+ creatures, you are likely at a point where Griffin Aerie, Crested Sunmare, or Angelic Accord would give you the same fliers and also let you keep the life.

- Strixhaven introduced Golgari "life trades" as an archetype, and he's awkward there too as he isn't super synergistic with Willowdusk, Essence Seer (stupid "only as a sorcery" clause!), Gyome, Master Chef, or Beledros Witherbloom.

- And then there's the elephant in the room - the CMC competes with Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood which are sort of the ultimate game-ending payoffs for a life deck no matter what other colors you add.

I don't fault anyone who keeps him in the Witherbloom decks - he looks fun! And, he also seems awesome in Vilis, Broker of Blood. But overall, this card is just super medium.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022; Tivash, Gloom Summoner

I think this guy is pretty cool, but I'd have trouble running him as a general. Still, there's a place for him in jackpot lifegain decks, where you might leverage Beacon of Immortality.

[vandertroll]

Would be fun if it kept the same CMC but allowed you to make tokens on each upkeep!

[onering]

He seems like a neat piece in the 99, but I actually want to try him as a general. What he does seems like a lot of fun. I think sometimes it helps to intentionally make janky decks and then hold games with them. It's a sort of commander style that has gone by the wayside because of the arms race, and curating lower powered decks that do fun %$#% is a great way to bring it back. This dude seems like a cool lower powered direction (mono black lifegain!) with a worthwhile payoff (big fat flying demons every turn is exciting!).

Going back to Ludevic for a minute, I think he's on point in terms of flavor. In the stories, he mentors Geralf, and his role in the card is that of a teacher. Do what he wants you to do and he imparts his wisdom. Opponents losing life is sort of a stand in for stealing alchemical ingredients and procuring fresh bodies (sometimes by violence) for Ludevic's experiments, and if you do so he shares his knowledge with you. He doesn't care how you get his materials, so long as it's not from him, so if you hurt yourself (by say, just buying ingredients) it works just as well as hurting others (unless you control Ludevic, since that's hurting him). As for how he plays, he's cheap, draws cards, and gives opponents and incentive to hurt each other, but he also doesn't get out of hand. Simple, but subtle. A safe group hug card that gets you closer to your goal if you intend to win through damage. I run him in my grixis group hug deck with Vial Smasher as his backup commander. Sticking him early is a big part of the gameplan, and he tends to send people after each other pretty reliably. The deck hugs via card draw and handing out tokens, while the rest of the deck is answers and threats, with the goal of getting people to hurt each other and answering anything that doesn't get handled by other players, while being poised to take advantage of the extra resources and position myself to win once it's down to 2 players.

[Lifeless]

Eh I'd really be a lot more interested if he triggered during each end step instead. 5 also feels like too much for this. If he was a 3/3 for 4 he'd be much more appealing. I get that they're trying to push a synergy between his own Lifelink and his triggered ability so they wanted him to have a decent body.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Did those "Tivash is the Raven Man" theories go anywhere?

Good question. My first thought with the name was Szat somehow. (And Szat could be tied to the Raven Man?) The problem being that Szat is dead, outmanipulated by Urza. The absence of any corvids (I would accept crows if not ravens.) is pretty glaring, though.

I will say that of course, whoever the Raven Man is, he clearly has a dark agenda which the Jacetice League has at least somewhat slowed down.

Anyway, there are a few ways to use this guy, but most of them produce geometric progression and nothing infinite.

[Serenade]

This is one of those cards where I wonder how strong a 4/4 really is in MTG.