[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Argothian Enchantress

[3drinks]

and I should hope you're all playing at least some targeted removal.

You'd think so, but even last Friday I as the Ragavan deck was the only person with spot removal. I don't like this trend when the mono-r player is the one that has to try and police the table.

No wonder monkey is running unchecked, if no one else is playing removal. Man that's so dumb.

[Hermes_]

Boots of value IMO:

1. Trailblazer's Boots
Tied for 2 is Swift and lightening

[Igzex]

I used to run both way back in the day but now I really only use Lightning Greaves. So many creatures now give immediate value just for being summoned which diminishes the need to dedicate deck slots to giving your creatures protection and haste.

[3drinks]

Monday, October 3rd, 2022; Infernal Genesis

[3drinks]

Boots of value IMO:

1. Trailblazer's Boots
Tied for 2 is Swift and lightening

...why are these almost the price of a pack?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Boots of value IMO:

1. Trailblazer's Boots
Tied for 2 is Swift and lightening

...why are these almost the price of a pack?

Probably because "Nonbasic landwalk" = "can't be blocked" 99% of the time in our chosen format. Something something reprint equity etc.

On topic: Infernal Genesis is just another card that brings to mind that brilliant High CMC tribal deck running around. I don't know where you'd use it otherwise.

[PrimevalCommander]

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.

This.

I'm playing a "combat sling" Kalamax, the Stormsire deck that wants to target my commander with combat cantrips. That deck prefers Boots, but plays both for redundancy. I'm generally happy to see either one.

Genesis looks like a cool card, Probably has some synergy with something like Grismold, the Dreadsower what wants tokens to die and has ways to keep them in check.

[materpillar]

On topic: Infernal Genesis is just another card that brings to mind that brilliant High CMC tribal deck running around. I don't know where you'd use it otherwise.

It is in my high CMC tribal deck and it is pretty solid there. It's kinda awkward because your opponents get tokens first. It basically needs to survive two turns cycles to be worth. Your opponents get 0-4 tokens. I get 6-12 tokens. Then, they all get another 0-4 tokens. Second trigger I get another 6-12 tokens and feel like I'm up on the table. Not particularly amazing and can definitely blow up in your face if you're playing against a dedicated token/aristocrats deck. Not on the chopping block either though, but that's pretty much the ideal situation for this card.

That being said it's basically an unheard of card though so resolving it always gets laughs. It also has a low threat profile so I can bank on it sticking around. It has some minor upside in messing with people's top decks. That all being said it just got way outclassed by Elminster, which is a shame because Infernal Genesis has some sweet art.

Card was completely unheard of and then Toxrill, the Corrosive spiked the price a couple of dollars.

[kirkusjones]

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.

This.

I'm playing a "combat sling" Kalamax, the Stormsire deck that wants to target my commander with combat cantrips. That deck prefers Boots, but plays both for redundancy. I'm generally happy to see either one.

Genesis looks like a cool card, Probably has some synergy with something like Grismold, the Dreadsower what wants tokens to die and has ways to keep them in check.

It costs too much for Grismold. Tombstone Stairwell does the job better. Though the two have decent synergy. If genesis cost five instead of six, I'd probably run it.

[onering]

It's cool in a few places. High cmc obviously, but any hug deck with black benefits from this. Giving out creatures is the best way to hug, as your opponents can use them to hit each other and they're the easiest to get under control if you need to. It also is cute in decks that already run a lot of anti token cards, like Stronghold Discipline, Rakdos Charm, or things that give opponent's creatures -1/-1.

[hyalopterouslemur]

This card is obviously really funny if you have something like Night of Souls' Betrayal and Falkenrath Noble ready.

[Hermes_]

Makes my Jhoira of the Ghitu deck giggle

[3drinks]

Tuesday, October 4th, 2022; Ideas Unbound

I think it's an interesting template. And I'd love to see more of this style of timing in effects.

[PrimevalCommander]

I had a fun combo extended deck that ran 4 copies of this along side Swans of Bryn Argoll and Chain of Plasma with Pact of Negation backup. Win con was Conflagrate, Lightning Storm, or Seismic Assault. Have not used it since then, but that was a pretty fun deck. Surprisingly consistent as well for combo before Modern was a format.

In commander I could see this going into some all-in storm deck, but honestly probably more of a budget consideration since blue draw is so stacked right now. Probably high on the list for Rielle, the Everwise decks.

[kirkusjones]

I should be running this in Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer…

[Sinis]

It definitely has some powerful applications. Oskar likes it, madness piles might be interested, If more draw replacement effects get printed (like Abundance, Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar and Underrealm Lich), it'll be tremendously good. This does not work the way I want it to. If there are more discard synergies like Bag of Holding, this gets better.

[hyalopterouslemur]

You can also use it with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, and The Locust God. Two of those are basically a free Arc Lightning.

Graveyard synergies like flashback, madness, embalm, unearth, and dredge. Reanimation. Discard synergies like madness.

Or Teferi's Ageless Insight and friends. Draw six, discard three, hell yeah.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, October 5th, 2022; Vryn Wingmare and close functional clone, Glowrider (I consider Thalia different enough at one mv less).

[BeneTleilax]

the thing that gets Wx creatureswarm decks labeled "stax".

[hyalopterouslemur]

Glowrider is older. Unless they're clones like Shatterstar and Longshot. Though TBH Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is slightly cheaper.

Personally I love tax cards. And this is one of my favorites, at least when I'm playing a lot of creatures.

[Mookie]

I usually avoid Vryn Wingmare and friends in my decks, even if I'm heavily creature-based - I prefer cards that are more synergistic with my gameplan. That said, I suspect they're better than I think they are. Generally, I think that ramping is one of the strongest things to do in the format, and setting your opponents back in mana by a turn should, in theory, be equal to ramping yourself ahead by a mana. Is Vryn Wingmare actually Wood Elves in disguise? Maybe.

..of course, the flaw in that logic is that I don't think EDH decks are quite as polarized in their contents as decks in other formats. Looking at Legacy, a deck like Delver runs ~12 creatures and 28 spells, with some decks like Ad Nauseam or Storm potentially playing zero creatures, which means Death & Taxes with its Aether Vial + creatures strategy is getting a large relative bonus. In contrast, I don't think many decks in EDH are going to scoop outright to this sort of effect, nor are as many decks running the 40+ creatures to ignore them outright. Plus, there's the issue of games going longer - if people routinely get to 8+ mana, then denying a single mana matters less than games where people end on 2-4 mana. (The math does change a bit if you expect people to be casting multiple noncreature spells per turn)

Anyway, I don't think these are staple cards, but I should probably be playing them more than I should. They do tend to fare pretty poorly diplomatically though.

[onering]

the thing that gets Wx creatureswarm decks labeled "stax".

By idiots who think stax is anything white does that disrupts their netdecked nonsense.

Still salty about some dbag running optimized Maelstrom Wanderer whining about me running mono white hate bears.

[Igzex]

From my vast experience with this "hidden gem" known as Smothering Tithe I've come to learn that I actually despise global tax effects for common actions but not for the reason you'd expect. Both asking and hearing "You payed (x) more for that right?" actually gets old faster than the hindrance the card itself imposes. It's such a pain to keep track of these added costs for 3 other players as well.

But yeah they're at least effective at what they do.

[illakunsaa]

I think it's pretty bad. At 3 mana people have already managed to cast their cultivates so the biggest impact can be missed. 1 mana isn't that big deal because most the time people can still cast wraths destroying your board. 2/1 flying body is pretty bad as it dies to pretty much everything and can't defend or end games.

I think the best cards with this effect are
1. God-Pharaoh's Statue
Making spells cost 2 more has a significant impact even when it hits the board later. I've even gotten this out on turn 3. Being an artifact is harder to kill than creatures and you can your own sweepers along side it. It's also asymmetrical.

2. Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield
Making opponents sweepers cost 2 more often gives me a lot of time grind more value and it has a decent body. Backside is also good as it can slow down opponents a little bit and stop some combos.

3. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Being 1 mana cheaper allow me to curve out better and 2/1 first strike can block stuff like zombies.

[3drinks]

Thursday, October 6th, 2022; Ascent of the Worthy