[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[pokken]

Repeated removal lockout is no fun for anyone. People need to be more discerning in my opinion. I have started to almost completely skip cards like this and grave pact and so on that basically lock the table out under constant streams of removal.

Just not a fun play pattern at scale.

My old dismiss into dream lock with derevi was where I first started noticing how unfun this play pattern is. If you don't win pretty fast afterward then it creates a lot of feelbads. And if people do dig out of it it's usually an annoying way for me to lose (being archenemy for 4 turns).

So I mostly steer to just finishing with a combo or basically deterministic kill personally. Let people have their stuff as much as possible and win over the top. Even if it takes a couple turns by killing in threat order I can usually figure out a way to win that doesn't require locking everyone out for a while first.

[Igzex]

There's solving a problem at the table, but then there's just being a problem.

Also yeah Pokken also just totally sums up my feelings on cards like these.

[folding_music]

had it in Colfenor so that when I hit turn one million billion and started going off, every loop of whatever combo i arrived at also disenchanted something that hampered it. the card is really uncomfortably homogenizing and strong, though, I don't blame people who dislike it!

also was very OP in old 5C decks with Ordered Migration and March of Souls lol

[hyalopterouslemur]

So.... uh.... how about that Fracturing Gust? That's the gold standard for Selesnya artifact/enchantment destruction, right? No one would play anything else, right? *nervous laughter*

....Aura Shards is one of the most powerful anti-artifact/anti-enchantment cards in the format. It doesn't do anything by itself, but if it sticks around for any amount of time, then it both nukes everything on the board and makes it extremely risky to invest further. Selesnya does have a lot of other strong Naturalize variants, but the repeatable nature of Aura Shards makes it particularly powerful. You're probably also going to be playing a bunch of creatures or token producers, which means it's possible to trigger multiple times per turn cycle. Honestly, I fear it more than most mass destruction effects - you can recover from those with mass reanimation, but 'it is pointless to cast your spells' is just such a drain for any gameplan.

...could use another reprint though.

TBH, I think Aura Shards and even Nullmage Shepherd are more common.

Mycosynth Lattice tends to get played with them, and with Martyr's Bond (and Viridian Revel and the like to add insult to injury). It's not as lolbroken as Null Rod and friends, but can very quickly eat away at a board. Or just play the Lattice with Vandalblast if you're also in red.

[Mookie]

@hyalopterouslemur

explain the joke

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I'll point to my post from last week for my actual opinion of Fracturing Gust. I only called it out because it came up only a week or two ago... and I would vastly prefer an opponent to be playing it instead of Aura Shards.

don't explain the joke

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But, Fracturing Gust is, like, strictly better in every way. Lifegain is good, right?

[3drinks]

Monday, June 6th, 2022; Tomik, Distinguished Advokist

[folding_music]

"Your opponents can't play land cards from graveyards." I already knew that, mate, I've read the rules <3

looks like a really annoying fish against 1% of players. I played a bunch of WAR and have a lot of the cards but I never understood why Tomik's text was what it was

[void_nothing]

looks like a really annoying fish against 1% of players. I played a bunch of WAR and have a lot of the cards but I never understood why Tomik's text was what it was

Hatebears gonna hatebear. It's also flavor: Mr. Vrona is basically a real estate contracts lawyer. His other specialization as a lawmage is the physical security of valuables.

[Hermes_]

stops crucible and fetch loops and thats all I got lol

[Mookie]

Tomik, Distinguished Advokist has fine stats - a 2/3 flyer for 2 mana is pretty good. However, his otherwise pretty narrow abilities make it so that I could never see myself running him in the command zone. He's functional in the 99 if you have problems with opponents running Crucible of Worlds effects... but given that actual grave hate like Rest in Peace and Lion Sash is significantly more flexible, I don't see a reason to run Tomik outside dedicated hatebear decks.

[3drinks]

As a longtime crucifetch player, I feel egregiously attacked here 💯

[hyalopterouslemur]

@hyalopterouslemur

explain the joke

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I'll point to my post from last week for my actual opinion of Fracturing Gust. I only called it out because it came up only a week or two ago... and I would vastly prefer an opponent to be playing it instead of Aura Shards.

don't explain the joke

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Hide

But, Fracturing Gust is, like, strictly better in every way. Lifegain is good, right?

Okay, fair.

Anyway, Tomik is...TBH, people are more likely to complain about MLD than just targeted land destruction. (And yeah, if you're playing certain lands, we all know which lands I'm talking about, you forfeit the right to whine about any land destruction.)

On the other hand, hosing crucifetch and similar things is acceptable.

[Hermes_]

As a longtime crucifetch player, I feel egregiously attacked here 💯

you only have yourself to blame.

[brainface]

Oh, man, Tomik!

I play him as a commander of a dumb white ramp deck and I think he's great--you can play a lot of utility lands or karoos and they're very hard to get rid of, he's cheap and flies so he's a decent voltron target, if he's removed he costs 4 to replay. A bit of manlands/awaken cards also provide super-shroud creatures. The anti-crucible tech has never fired for me, but so far it's been a fun casual deck. The trick is definitely relying upon his first and second paragraphs and not his third, though!

https://archidekt.com/decks/2042691#Property_Law if anyone cares.

[brainface]

@hyalopterouslemur

explain the joke

Show

Hide

I'll point to my post from last week for my actual opinion of Fracturing Gust. I only called it out because it came up only a week or two ago... and I would vastly prefer an opponent to be playing it instead of Aura Shards.

don't explain the joke

Show

Hide

But, Fracturing Gust is, like, strictly better in every way. Lifegain is good, right?

Belated addition here: fracturing gust also costs more _money_--there's several times I've wanted to add one to a deck, looked at its constant price point of 10$, and threw in the aura shards I got from a precon (or nullmage shephard or reclamation sage or literally anything that didn't cost me 10$ for a card that just seemed pretty good.) I have to imagine this also affects how often you see each.

[3drinks]

As a longtime crucifetch player, I feel egregiously attacked here 💯

you only have yourself to blame.

Rude, tbh. Crucible did nothing wrong 🙄

[NZB2323]

Tomik, Distinguished Advokist has fine stats - a 2/3 flyer for 2 mana is pretty good. However, his otherwise pretty narrow abilities make it so that I could never see myself running him in the command zone. He's functional in the 99 if you have problems with opponents running Crucible of Worlds effects... but given that actual grave hate like Rest in Peace and Lion Sash is significantly more flexible, I don't see a reason to run Tomik outside dedicated hatebear decks.

Even in a hatebear deck, I think there are better options. I've never ran him in a Captain Sisay deck, where I would be able to search for him. Even in a mono white deck I think that Remorseful Cleric and Dawnbringer Cleric are better option as a hatebear. And for mono white hatebears we just got Deep Gnome Terramancer and Archivist of Oghma. And since Tomik came out we've got Drannith Magistrate, Giver of Runes, Hushbringer, Guardian of Faith, Loyal Warhound, Archon of Emeria, Mangara, the Diplomat, Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield, Glorious Protector, Sigrid, God-Favored, Wandering Archaic // Explore the Vastlands, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Serra's Emissary, Sanctifier en-Vec, Esper Sentinel, Lion Sash, and Inspiring Overseer.

[capitacommunist]

Tomik could be useful in a Yoshimaru deck as a turn two legendary drop with good stats allowing it to attack and carry equipment as well. That said, even there he probably only makes the cut in monowhite as otherwise you have enough more useful options.
But I can most see him in a non green lands focused deck, where he protects your lands (Scorched Ruins for example) quite handily and where you have fewer options for recursion.

[Toshi]

Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper is all i got aside from all out hatebear builds.

As a seasoned Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle player i could see it as a fringe include in land combo heavy metas, but even then, Tormod's Crypt and Remorseful Cleric are by far more synergetic.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, June 7th, 2022; Raised by Giants

[Guardman]

Not sure how good it is, but even with non-background commanders, this just seems like a fun card with a lot of potential.

[Serenade]

I don't think we should include cards that haven't had their official release yet. There's a whole other topic for them.

I might be in the minority.

[Sinis]

Definitely looks like a fun card, Raised by Giants makes many of the Choose a Background Legends spooky. Obvious pairings are Baeloth Barrityl. Entertainer, Wilson, Refined Grizzly, and Sarevok, Deathbringer, but it could realistically be paired with any Legend, especially ones outside of green. Safana, Calimport Cutthroat has menace, Vhal, Candlekeep Researcher has an ability that keys off toughness (and has vigilance), Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant has flying, etc.

[TheGildedGoose]

I don't think we should include cards that haven't had their official release yet. There's a whole other topic for them.

I might be in the minority.

Well, they're already legal in commander. I understand the reluctance to discuss them based on limited experience, but hey, random is random.

I love backgrounds. This one is kind of silly, because it's very expensive and is obviously a target, but even a few turns with it and Baeloth Barrityl. Entertainer could do a lot of damage.

[Mookie]

Raised by Giants is sort of ridiculous - making it so that commander damage is a valid win condition for any commander is pretty silly, and there are plenty of commanders out there that can certainly benefit from being bigger. Even outside commanders that natively have backgounds, I could see using it for Samut, Voice of Dissent, Tana, the Bloodsower, and other green commanders with useful keywords or combat damage triggers but low stats. I usually wouldn't be particularly interested in running pump effects because you usually need a lot of them before voltron becomes a legitimate strategy for some commanders, but, like Cranial Plating, Raised by Giants effectively serves as a self-contained alternate win condition.

...being a 10/10 is a little awkward though, so I could see you wanting some way to put a +1/+1 counter on your commander to make it into a 2-hit kill.