[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Xander's Pact

[DirkGently]

Boggy is a Zirilan of the Claw classic. Not nearly as spicy as it used to be, though.

Honestly leaving up 8 mana might wrap around from obvious right back around to subtle. Someone leaves up 2 islands, I'm expecting counterspell. Someone leaves up 8 I'm assuming they don't have any cards to play lol.

[Igzex]

I was lukewarm on Atarka even before this year decided to casually vomit out dragons. She's just kinda big and not much else and now with all the other dragons out there she's just plain boring by comparison too. Bogardan Hellkite at least has a little more utility in being able to disrupt plays thanks to flash but it suffers from the fact you can't just Dragonstorm 3 more of them out and just win in this format.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I don't think either of them are good enough for dragon.deck, so that's interesting to me.

Atarka is above curve and all upside, and she has flying trample, so some damage is most likely getting through.

Boggy, I don't think I've ever used flash, mostly because when I use it at all, just as removal in Kaalia of the Vast, which Atarka cannot be.

[Dunharrow]

I don't think either of them are good enough for dragon.deck, so that's interesting to me.

Atarka is above curve and all upside, and she has flying trample, so some damage is most likely getting through.

Boggy, I don't think I've ever used flash, mostly because when I use it at all, just as removal in Kaalia of the Vast, which Atarka cannot be.

I mean, how good is Atarka vs the newer dragons that take over the game?

[3drinks]

I don't think either of them are good enough for dragon.deck, so that's interesting to me.

Atarka is above curve and all upside, and she has flying trample, so some damage is most likely getting through.

Boggy, I don't think I've ever used flash, mostly because when I use it at all, just as removal in Kaalia of the Vast, which Atarka cannot be.

I mean, how good is Atarka vs the newer dragons that take over the game?

I'm just mad I can't use Old Gnawbone in Kaalia

[Jemolk]

Love me some Bogardan Hellkite. I've gotten people with flash on that thing plenty of times. Awesome, awesome card. Dragonlord Atarka is tolerable. Flash is a pretty significant loss, and 3 extra power plus trample is a pretty insignificant gain when you're throwing around the kind of p/t values that dragon tribal regularly does. I have her in Karrthus, but she's option number 11 at best for creature removal even just in terms of the dragons themselves there. No chance she'd find a slot in Scion, what with the extra competition from the two added colors. Nothing seriously wrong with her, but she doesn't bring a whole lot unique to the table. She's functional, but unexciting.

[3drinks]

Friday, September 30th, 2022; Impending Disaster

[hyalopterouslemur]

I like the "dug too deep" flavor.

[Serenade]

Hey, Whip Tongue, how about you do something instead of just complain? Those guys are the real problems.

These cards put a big target on you. Like N's Disk. The other pieces of the cycle…
Brink of Madness
Planar Collapse
Defense of the Heart
Second Chance

I used Planar Collapse in enchantress for a while (because I had the adequate recursion to keep using it), but it was still so slow.

Sometimes I think I have seen more games end off DotH than any other card.

The other two are tougher to trigger, so I avoid them.

[Mookie]

The funniest experience I ever had involving Defense of the Heart was when I had a Psychic Surgery out and they fetched up Sidisi, Undead Vizier. Top card of their deck? The Primal Surge they were going to tutor for with Sidisi.

Anyway, Impending Disaster is a very cheap Armageddon, given that they usually cost at least four mana. It also has enchantress synergies, and you could recur it with Sun Titan (although triggering it multiple times may be tricky). Beyond that though... giving your opponents a turn to prepare / deploy their hand before all their lands get blown up makes this effect significantly weaker, not to mention the fact that they could just stop it entirely with enchantment removal. Plus the whole 'everyone hates land destruction' thing. As a result, I'm not really a fan.

...now I sort of want to do Second Chance + Sun Titan shenanigans.

[3drinks]

Saturday, October 1st, 2022; Spring-Leaf Avenger

[3drinks]

Anyway, Impending Disaster is a very cheap Armageddon, given that they usually cost at least four mana. It also has enchantress synergies, and you could recur it with Sun Titan (although triggering it multiple times may be tricky). Beyond that though... giving your opponents a turn to prepare / deploy their hand before all their lands get blown up makes this effect significantly weaker, not to mention the fact that they could just stop it entirely with enchantment removal. Plus the whole 'everyone hates land destruction' thing. As a result, I'm not really a fan.

I like the part where you play it on t2 in a 4way so that you start t3 with everyone back to basics.

[Mookie]

Spring-Leaf Avenger seems reasonable. I think the ultimate question for whether or not it makes sense in a deck is 'can you make it better than Eternal Witness / Greenwarden of Murasa?' Which isn't that difficult to do, but it does require some setup. Green isn't exactly known for its evasion, so ninjutsuing it in may be a bit tricky (although the brute force option of attacking with a bunch of tokens is certainly a thing). On the other hand, after it's on the battlefield, there are a number of ways to give it trample for additional triggers.

...I guess the main source of tension for Spring-Leaf Avenger is probably that most of the ninja support in ub, which also happen to be the colors that both have the most evasive creatures and the best ways to grant evasion. Dealing combat damage with non-evasive creatures is generally pretty tricky, so I wouldn't want to play ninjas in decks without sufficient support. I do like repeatable value / recursion engines, but I think Eternal Witness + Temur Sabertooth / Kogla, the Titan Ape is more my style.

[Serenade]

Edric/decks like it don't want a top-end beater and probably have more permanents on the board than in the GY. That's my best guess at where it would work best.

It just seems more cool than good. These stats on a bug, let alone a green ninja? This actual creature would be terrifying. I want it to find a place.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I see it as something you can use to reuse entry triggers mostly. The ability to return cards from your graveyard to your hand shouldn't be underestimated, but it doesn't have evasion unless you give it evasion.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Eh, it's cool but kinda bland. Charnelhoard Wurm has more personality and better art.

[3drinks]

Sunday, October 2nd, 2022; Swiftfoot Boots|a25

How do we feel about this in relation to Lightning Greaves? How has this (or hasn't it?) replaced the OG as a $1 vs a $6 card despite all of the OG's prints?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

The comparison is clear: if greaves are Nikes, swiftfoot boots are Crocs. Sure, they might be comfortable and convenient, but they'll never be cool.

[Serenade]

Greaves
Greaves no shroud
Greaves no haste
Boots

I use Boots because they fit into any colors. I'm never glad to draw it because I know Greaves is in the deck, too.

[NZB2323]

The comparison is clear: if greaves are Nikes, swiftfoot boots are Crocs. Sure, they might be comfortable and convenient, but they'll never be cool.

If you want to target your commander a lot then boots are better than greaves.

[Mookie]

If I'm playing one, I usually also run the other. I do think Lightning Greaves is generally superior to Swiftfoot Boots though, outside decks that specifically want to target their commander (i.e. voltron). The free equip is pretty significant, and adds up quickly.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

The comparison is clear: if greaves are Nikes, swiftfoot boots are Crocs. Sure, they might be comfortable and convenient, but they'll never be cool.

If you want to target your commander a lot then boots are better than greaves.

Better =/= cool. Look at the flavor text, for god's sake.

[Dunharrow]

I run boots and greaves in so many decks.
my Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest does not run greaves though
I have boots and Champion's Helm

[hyalopterouslemur]

Boots have some value in Voltron, only so you can still equip things to your commander.

That said, Greaves can also do things like Task Force combo. (For the uninitiated, Task Force, Greaves, and Miren, the Moaning Well is infinite life. Task Force, Greaves, and Doran, the Siege Tower is essentially ∞/∞.) But you're probably running both regardless. Haste is that good in multiplayer, and I should hope you're all playing at least some targeted removal.

[DirkGently]

0 equip makes a huge impact vs 1 equip when you're talking about haste and protection. Stat buffs and whatnot you're happy to have the turn after you play the card, no problem. But haste is only relevant the turn you play it, and anything worth protecting probably wants to be protected asap. So if you want to play on-curve, and why wouldn't you, greaves are far, far superior. Even if you want to target it yourself, you can just move greaves around so it's nbd unless you're creature-light voltron.