[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Lifeless]

City is the worse offender here because it prevents activated abilities. I give Dosan a half-pass because he's a creature so G has easy tutoring access to him, and he doesn't prevent activated abilities so you can actually protect some of your stuff with say Sylvan Safekeeper. I think Dosan has a place in mono-G at very least where you're not going to be very reactionary anyway.

[onering]

Key tech with Dosan is running sac outlets, so when the combo deck attempts to go off under his protection, you get rid of him and the blue player finally gets to use their counters. Yeah, if they're paying attention they won't fall for the trap, but its more of a way out from under Dosan when you need it than a true trap (though from my experience running Leonin Arbiter, people will forget about it).

[Mookie]

As the wise Kamahl once said, "I don't know why people say a double-edged sword is bad. It's a sword. With two edges."

Anyway, Dosan the Falling Leaf is a double-edged sword - on one hand, you can protect your turn from interaction. On the other hand, your opponents' turns are also protected. But honestly? I think that's fine. Sure, there are times when you will wish the blue player was able to counter a key spell... but if you're running Dosan, that's probably because you're sick of having your own key spells countered. Just do what Dosan does, and let the hate flow through you. You'll wither a little, but who cares?

I'll call out Grand Abolisher, Defense Grid, and Conqueror's Flail as some other options. More broadly, I do think that including this sort of effect generally leads to less interesting games - interaction is a key component of the game, and shutting off the possibility of countermagic tends to make people play much more aggressively. Still, if you're sick of control decks ruining your day, I also think it's important that there be options to fight back against them.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Dosan at least can be used with things like spellshapers.

It does hurt me a lot. I tend to use a lot of instants and flash with Rule of Law and friends.

[ironic gesture]

Key tech with Dosan is running sac outlets, so when the combo deck attempts to go off under his protection, you get rid of him and the blue player finally gets to use their counters. Yeah, if they're paying attention they won't fall for the trap, but its more of a way out from under Dosan when you need it than a true trap (though from my experience running Leonin Arbiter, people will forget about it).

So you're saying this card is good as long as you can get it off the table

I used to run this card a lot but if you're in a meta that allows infinites and you aren't winning the turn you drop either card, then be prepared to give the game away.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, April 19th, 2022; Zara, Renegade Recruiter

[DirkGently]

Bounce spell, sac outlet, profit.

[Serenade]

I would have played the crap out of her in my early EDH days, when you were gonna hit some bomb critter. Throw some Clout of the Dominus on her, send her into the red zone, beat you with a Lord of Extinction.

These days…her cost, no haste, and the streamlining of decks/creatures have caused me to stay away. I still got an etched one because it feels neat for a pirate.

[hyalopterouslemur]

The sac outlet. It's really kind of an interesting flavor: "She's so hot, I would die for her." Wait, is that duckface? In 2020?

[3drinks]

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022; Kenrith's Transformation

I love this kind of removal. The cantrip is probably a bit over the top though.

[pokken]

It's fine, but I think people really overrate sorcery speed removal. I don't know that I play any that doesn't also double as a sweeper (e.g. Damn).

[folding_music]

mmm it's slightly more than removal when it can strand a commander or a sensitive combo piece in play as a big useless moose!

[hyalopterouslemur]

Probably should be blue.

[pokken]

mmm it's slightly more than removal when it can strand a commander or a sensitive combo piece in play as a big useless moose!

Not really how I like to play tbh, especially with the endaround on commanders? But sorcery speed combo answer is meh.

[DirkGently]

One of the big problems I have with cantripping answers (which I've complained about in the Phelddagrif primer) is that it doesn't cantrip until you actually use it. So if you're looking for draw, you're kinda motivated to just fire it off on whatever in order to keep digging into your deck. Which is really not what you want to be doing with your answers - when you use a single-target answer, you want it to be because the target was really important to remove. Firing off removal on subpar targets is one of the most obvious hallmarks of a weak player imo.

On the other hand, if you don't use it, it's taking up hand space, and it's not nearly as versatile an answer as it could be, between being sorcery-speed, creature-only, an enchantment (and thus disenchantable or removable with protection, or by removing you), and still leaving them a creature (which might be a major problem if that creature is their commander and/or has a bunch of counters or equipment on it).

It looks real good but I think in reality it's fairly mediocre. I'd play it in mono-green (maaaaybe RG) decks that don't have good fight targets but that's probably about it.

[Mookie]

The color pie doesn't exiiiiiiist!

Eldraine-era design had a lot of issues, particularly with regards to green. Oko, Thief of Crowns is the most notorious, but Once Upon a Time and Wicked Wolf were also problem cards, giving green access to effects that it shouldn't have access to. It's hard to say whether Kenrith's Transformation is an outright color pie break or just a bend, but it's pretty clearly not a card that feels green.

As for the card itself... assuming your opponent has no way to deal with the aura, it's a sorcery-speed Beast Within that cantrips, which is pretty strong. That said, as an aura, there are plenty of ways around it - it gets negated by any bounce / flicker effect, or just enchantment removal. Additionally, because a 3/3 isn't particularly hard to kill, it usually won't be able to shut down an opposing commander for very long. I wouldn't play it over Imprisoned in the Moon or Darksteel Mutation... or even Song of the Dryads. That said, the fact that it cantrips is certainly a big upside. I could see myself running it in an enchantress deck. Without synergies, I probably wouldn't run it outside mono-green or maybe Gruul - other colors have better options for creature removal.

[Serenade]

"Loses all abilities" is some of my favorite wording.
Cantripping moves this card up the rankings. It's under SotD, but I think it's above Lignify now.
Green being good at recurring permanents helps.

Mostly it's fun to have elk around.

[hyalopterouslemur]

The color pie doesn't exiiiiiiist!

Eldraine-era design had a lot of issues, particularly with regards to green. Oko, Thief of Crowns is the most notorious, but Once Upon a Time and Wicked Wolf were also problem cards, giving green access to effects that it shouldn't have access to. It's hard to say whether Kenrith's Transformation is an outright color pie break or just a bend, but it's pretty clearly not a card that feels green.

As for the card itself... assuming your opponent has no way to deal with the aura, it's a sorcery-speed Beast Within that cantrips, which is pretty strong. That said, as an aura, there are plenty of ways around it - it gets negated by any bounce / flicker effect, or just enchantment removal. Additionally, because a 3/3 isn't particularly hard to kill, it usually won't be able to shut down an opposing commander for very long. I wouldn't play it over Imprisoned in the Moon or Darksteel Mutation... or even Song of the Dryads. That said, the fact that it cantrips is certainly a big upside. I could see myself running it in an enchantress deck. Without synergies, I probably wouldn't run it outside mono-green or maybe Gruul - other colors have better options for creature removal.

Wat? Oko is also blue.

Lifegain: Green
Transformation: Blue
Stealing/Donate/Exhange: Blue

It. Works. You did know Oko required blue mana, right?

Once Upon a Time is literally just a bad Sylvan Scrying which can be cast for free (and as an instant) under some conditions. (Cf. Mulch, Satyr Wayfinder, Lead the Stampede, Commune with the Gods)

Again. It. Works. I mean, Mulch? Was in Stronghold.

Wicked Wolf is the weirdie, only because it's an absolutely terrible Bolt at worst, against a creature with 4+ power and/or deathtouch and 1-3 toughness. But fight is still green, so I'll allow it.

And Beast Within can target any permanent.

/pedancy

[Sinis]

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022; Kenrith's Transformation

Yet another piece of removal better than most of the pieces in "The colour of removal".

[Rumpy5897]

One of the big problems I have with cantripping answers (which I've complained about in the Phelddagrif primer) is that it doesn't cantrip until you actually use it. So if you're looking for draw, you're kinda motivated to just fire it off on whatever in order to keep digging into your deck. Which is really not what you want to be doing with your answers - when you use a single-target answer, you want it to be because the target was really important to remove. Firing off removal on subpar targets is one of the most obvious hallmarks of a weak player imo.

I'd argue that being able to recognise that you need to draw more than you need the removal right now is actually a sign of a competent player. That said, cantrips don't offer a stellar level of dig, so you're not that likely to find what you're looking for anyway

As for the card at hand, it is kind of gross that green gets to have a transformative aura that also cantrips. But that's green for you. They have been slightly pulling back on it since, but back in ELD we were still in full swing of craziness for the colour.

[Melua]

One of the big problems I have with cantripping answers (which I've complained about in the Phelddagrif primer) is that it doesn't cantrip until you actually use it. So if you're looking for draw, you're kinda motivated to just fire it off on whatever in order to keep digging into your deck. Which is really not what you want to be doing with your answers - when you use a single-target answer, you want it to be because the target was really important to remove. Firing off removal on subpar targets is one of the most obvious hallmarks of a weak player imo.

I'd argue that being able to recognise that you need to draw more than you need the removal right now is actually a sign of a competent player. That said, cantrips don't offer a stellar level of dig, so you're not that likely to find what you're looking for anyway

As for the card at hand, it is kind of gross that green gets to have a transformative aura that also cantrips. But that's green for you. They have been slightly pulling back on it since, but back in ELD we were still in full swing of craziness for the colour.

WOTC put Once Upon A Time, Veil of Summer, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Wilderness Reclamation and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath in the same Standard rotation.

[3drinks]

Thursday, April 21st, 2022; The Blackstaff of Waterdeep

[BeneTleilax]

Decent in Vehicles.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Eh. Good with Darksteel Relic.

[DirkGently]

Eh. Good with Darksteel Relic.

Is it? You just paid 3 mana and 2 cards for a 4/4 sort-of-indestructible. That doesn't make the cut in my book.

This card is really bad.