[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[void_nothing]

Obvious synergy is with Task Force. You can just do whatever the hell you want with that infinite life.

TASKGREAVES MOANINGSYMBOL is the new meta.

[PrimevalCommander]

Good land, but if I care about sacrificing creatures often, I'm in black and can play Phyrexian Tower and High Market and the high activation cost is pretty hard to keep up. I've played it many times and it has trickled out of most of my decks. One where it is still being played is where I have World Shaper in mono green and I'm playing High Market and Miren, the Moaning Well as tutorable ways to sac it on my terms. If you need to go 3 deep on lands that sac, I'd probably just bite the bullet and put a dedicated sac outlet or 3 in the deck and spend the mana up front for a Altar of Dementia or Spawning Pit just for colorless options.

I am playing 3 sac-lands in Karador, but none are Miren, one is Diamond Valley though

[Serenade]

Why is Miren this expensive?!? Just never reprinted? I'd say four mana for this effect is bad, bad enough to avoid (except for combos)!

[PrimevalCommander]

Why is Miren this expensive?!? Just never reprinted? I'd say four mana for this effect is bad, bad enough to avoid (except for combos)!

Besides High Market it is hard to get this effect on a land, especially for non-black decks. That and scarcity of old Kamigawa rares I suspect is what holds it's price. Nature's Will was an anticipated reprint for Neon Dynasty that never happened, and commands a similar price point and similar niche usage that you wouldn't expect to command such price.

[Igzex]

The moaning comes from the lost souls of the unfortunate saps that learned more about the true nature of Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant than they should...

[Sinis]

Why is Miren this expensive?!? Just never reprinted? I'd say four mana for this effect is bad, bad enough to avoid (except for combos)!

Never reprinted, somewhat unique effect in colourless, on a land. There are a few of alternatives if you balk at the pricetag, though; Disciple of Griselbrand, or Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. NB, Arguel's Blood Fast // Temple of Aclazotz's flipside has this mojo, too, but getting it to flip in a safe fashion is silly. Though, if you do flip ABF, you'll definitely need the other side of the card.

I don't think it's useless, though. There are kinds of effects that really like big life gain + sac outlet, like Mask of Griselbrand, or outside of black, Nykthos Paragon.

Realistically, I would play it only in some 'jackpot lifegain' deck, but the rest of the time High Market does me just fine. Something like Rasaad yn Bashir might want it, just so you can double a critter's toughness, deal some damage, and then harvest some life if you're low.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Why is Miren this expensive?!? Just never reprinted? I'd say four mana for this effect is bad, bad enough to avoid (except for combos)!

Basically it's a fairly unique colorless effect on a land which actually taps for mana. If you just want a sac outlet, High Market is more your jam. If you're in black (and using it for Necropotence, Unspeakable Symbol, and the like), you have Disciple of Griselbrand. But if you want lifegain that scales, and you're not in black (or just want another card like that), or you want something less vulnerable than a creature, you need this.

To be fair, green and white have a few variants, like Momentous Fall, Animal Boneyard, and Worthy Cause. And Life Chisel does exist, but you don't have the benefits of instant speed where you can sac a doomed creature or give it the proper reward for a traitor.

Outside of Commander, there is Doomgape, but it makes the sacrifice mandatory every upkeep. And costs seven mana.

Alternately, you have Diamond Valley, but 1) it doesn't tap for mana, and 2) because it's an Arabian Nights card and on the Reserved List, it's in the hundreds of dollars.

[3drinks]

Friday, September 9th, 2022; Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

[3drinks]

Man this is some creepy art.

[Mookie]

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds is... fine. Most decks that want flash for their creatures want a less vulnerable source of it, so I see Vedalken Orrery / Winding Canyons / Alchemist's Refuge more frequently. Vivien is technically cheaper than most of those, and she can represent some card advantage, but not particularly impactful otherwise. I guess her (+1) sort of lets her protect herself if your opponents have flyers?

...honestly, my biggest complaint with her is that I only ever seem to see her in Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer decks as 'flash enabler #5', so... yeah.

[Dunadain]

I love her in Emiel. But the odds of whiffing in that deck are slim, it has a lot of booties to protect her, and Flickerwisp let's you spam her -2. Important to note that you can still cast the cards if she dies, something I have to explain to the table every time it comes up, and Everytime they don't believe me and have to Google it.


Vedalken Orrery and Leyline of Anticipation have always been meh to me, just build your deck with more flash cards if it's important, or run cards like Alchemist's Refuge or Vivien that actually have text.

[Sinis]

My near-favourite Vivien. Flash really helps her protect herself, and her -2 is totally reasonable.

I'd play it mostly in creature heavy decks though; if you don't, her static doesn't do much and her -2 is liable to whiff.

[NZB2323]

She's fantastic, especially with Seedborn Muse, and with all the green cards like Llanowar Elves she can come down on turn 2. You can flash in blockers to protect her, and I always loved her in my Captain Sisay deck.

[3drinks]

Saturday, September 10th, 2022; Tooth and Claw

[hyalopterouslemur]

How do I break thee? Let me count the ways. First, I must needs have Parallel Lives, Anointed Procession or similar to properly break thee. With two of them, we're already here.

Purphoros, God of the Forge
Warstorm Surge or Pandemonium
Soul sisters
Mana Echoes
Cathars' Crusade
Grave Pact and friends
Elemental Bond or Garruk's Packleader
Blood Artist and friends

Those are simply the more obvious ways.

[Treamayne]

You don't even have to break Tooth and Claw; I like this with Mirror March and other "token until EoT" generators as a way to attack with the hasty tokens then convert them to something that sticks around until next turn.

[Dunadain]

it's also decent in Purphoros, God of the Forge to heave over the finish line.

you can sac your entire board down to one creature, dealing 2(x-1) damage to each opponent, where x is the number of creatures you control.

[Venedrex]

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds is... fine. Most decks that want flash for their creatures want a less vulnerable source of it, so I see Vedalken Orrery / Winding Canyons / Alchemist's Refuge more frequently. Vivien is technically cheaper than most of those, and she can represent some card advantage, but not particularly impactful otherwise. I guess her (+1) sort of lets her protect herself if your opponents have flyers?

...honestly, my biggest complaint with her is that I only ever seem to see her in Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer decks as 'flash enabler #5', so... yeah.

*Six months ago* Me: "I think I just need some flash enablers to upgrade my Kadena precon deck, hmm, I really like the idea of Vivien since she can come down on turn three and provide some redundancy with leyline, so... yeah."

What's really funny is, the whole reason I bought the Kadena precon is because the very first TCG I played was Yu-Gi-Oh, and trap cards and flip summoning featured heavily in one of the decks my brother lent me, so I've had fond memories of face down cards ever since, and I wanted to get as close as I could to that deck's strategy in MTG, which I obviously prefer as a game.

P.S Right now it's still a precon since I haven't purchased any cards for it, but now I want to buy a Vivien for it even more.

[Ardeyn]

Fun Fact: Tooth and Claw was in the Prossh, Skyraider of Kher precon where it generated infinite damage with Primal Vigor and Goblin Sharpshooter.
I think, that was the only Infinite combo ever in a precon.
I have never seen it used in anything else, though I kind of like the card per se.

Ardeyn

[3drinks]

Sunday, September 11th, 2022; Stitcher's Supplier

Man, what doesn't this little dude provide? It's even got the most relevant tribe::ability.

[Sinis]

One of the most efficient cards ever made for that kind of ability!

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Very efficient, very boring. I'm not a fan of this design personally, as it has no room to improve. Mill 3 etb/death for 1 is very strong, strong enough to be a focal breach combo piece. But where does it go in the future? Mill 4 etb/death for one ain't happening anytime soon, so this is best in class by default forever.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Efficient, though just a bit boring. I'm not saying milling 6 for b isn't good; it is.

I actually had several card ideas along this line to represent a resurrectionist, though this was not my final design.

[Mookie]

I like Stitcher's Supplier - it's a 1-drop creature with a relevant tribe, and I consider it a good example of lenticular design. It doesn't provide any card advantage by itself, but it isn't difficult for it to overperform either - all you need is some reanimation / flashback spells / etc, and it starts to look like a double-Thought Scour. It also gives a clear signal as to its tribal synergies, since zombies tend to have graveyard and sacrifice synergies. As a result, it's a card that does a lot more than its single line of text would suggest. Not something that goes in every deck, but it works well in the decks that care about what it does.

...personally, I'll take 'cheap uncommon with clean, simple design' over 'pushed mythic with five abilities' any day.

[TheGildedGoose]

I like Stitcher's Supplier - it's a 1-drop creature with a relevant tribe, and I consider it a good example of lenticular design. It doesn't provide any card advantage by itself, but it isn't difficult for it to overperform either - all you need is some reanimation / flashback spells / etc, and it starts to look like a double-Thought Scour. It also gives a clear signal as to its tribal synergies, since zombies tend to have graveyard and sacrifice synergies. As a result, it's a card that does a lot more than its single line of text would suggest. Not something that goes in every deck, but it works well in the decks that care about what it does.

...personally, I'll take 'cheap uncommon with clean, simple design' over 'pushed mythic with five abilities' any day.

Agreed. This is my kind of card. It's a solid enabler that isn't overpowered.