[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Journeyer's Kite

[Mookie]

Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer is not a card that particularly excites me as a commander. When I think about what I'm looking for in a commander, I'm usually looking for something that can generate either card or mana advantage. Slobad theoretically can, assuming you're using him to sacrifice something like Ichor Wellspring and you're protecting another, more important artifact from removal... but that doesn't particularly excite me compared to what a commander like Daretti, Scrap Savant or Osgir, the Reconstructor can offer.

I suppose the main draw for Slobad is as a free sac outlet in the command zone, which means you can run wellsprings, Spine of Ish Sah, and other sac fodder - there aren't that many repeatable artifact sac outlets, total, and stuff like Osgir and Daretti either have an additional cost to pay or can only be used once per turn. Free sac outlets are also important for some combos (although I can't think of any in mono red off the top of my head). I suppose Slobad granting indestructible also means that you may not need to run as much protection / recursion (although you'll probably still want to be running Scrap Mastery and friends).

[cheonice]

Slow. Bad.

How dare you!

Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer does a lot of work in Daretti, Scrap Savant and Osgir, the Reconstructor as a free sac outlet that sometimes protects key cards. He's good at what he does, even if it is kinda niche.

Never used him but I've always loved his flavor text.

He played a major role in the Mirrodin novels, too. He was the one to fix Bosh, Iron Golem and was Glissa Sunseeker's friend and companion. He even gained her spark and became a planeswalker, before he gave it up to resurrect all the people killed on Mirrodin and send them home. I'm not sure, if the last part is canon anymore. He's one of the most important goblins within the Magic lore, second only to Squee, Goblin Nabob.

[DirkGently]

Sac outlets are okay but indestructible isn't very proactive. Hard to imagine him being terribly effective outside of a Jokulhaups deck, basically.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, October 12th, 2022; Zulaport Cutthroat|sld

Tell me you're the figurehead of a whole format without saying you're the figurehead of the whole format.

[PrimevalCommander]

Wasn't Blood Artist first?

[3drinks]

Wasn't Blood Artist first?

Blood Artist is target opponent mean, at it's floor, it's more iterations of the same loop which is at the very least relevant on MODO where the clock is a real factour.

[Dunharrow]

Cutthroat is better than Blood artist if you plan to sac your board to kill opponents. Getting around Leyline of Sanctity and other similar effects is really important.
Blood Artist is better in an aggressive deck since it drains when your opponents' dudes die too.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Slow. Bad.

I never thought I'd see the day when someone declared a two-drop (and you don't even need to tap to use his ability) "slow".

Anyway, first was Falkenrath Noble. It still has some value, e.g., to shore up your defenses against small flying d00dz. But you'll find Cutthroat and Blood Artist are better in most cases. (And of course if you're playing with Blade of the Bloodchief, having vampires is important.)

Other variants:

Kheru Bloodsucker: Toughness matters. Too specific to really be useful unless you're playing a lot of anthems.
Bastion of Remembrance: It's an enchantment as a plus. Less vulnerable.
Cruel Celebrant: Includes planeswalkers, though I'm pretty sure flavor has always been that unless they're hit with a removal spell, they just lose interest
Pious Evangel // Wayward Disciple

Tribal variants:
Kalastria Highborn, though you need to pay mana
Slimefoot, the Stowaway
Elderfang Venom
Relic Vial

Special notes for Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim and The Meathook Massacre

[RedCheese]

BX Aristocrat staple

[3drinks]

Wow I never noticed blood artist triggered off opponent's deaths too.

[PrimevalCommander]

I didn't say better, I said first. Before cutthroat, Blood Artist was doing good work. Yes cutthroat entered the archetype as the new go-to because it hits all opponents, but artist was there killing the table with creature loops before cutthroat was. I always thought Blood Artist was the figurehead of aristocrats.

[Mookie]

Yeah, I'd say Blood Artist is more iconic than Zulaport Cutthroat, although that may just be because I started playing during Innistrad block. Both are very good at what they do, and a deck running one will usually want the other.

Comparing the two, it's pretty difficult to say which is better in a vacuum - Zulaport Cutthroat hits all of your opponents, but only triggers off your own creatures. On the other hand, Blood Artist only hits one opponent, but it also triggers off your opponents' creatures. That gives it a little extra versatility as a hatebear against opposing token / sacrifice-based decks, and the ability to focus the triggers after a board wipe makes it pretty feasible to burn out single opponent from ~20 or so life.

Anyway, I'm obviously running both in my Teysa deck, and I'll note that Zulaport Cutthroat has a bit of additional upside there due to being a human. That means I can reanimate it off Angel of Glory's Rise - fetching those two and Cartel Aristocrat or some other missing combo piece off Buried Alive is a somewhat common line in that deck. Getting around Leyline of Sanctity and other sources of hexproof can also sometimes be relevant, although those aren't particularly widely played (and since you can just go off again at instant speed, Teferi's Protection doesn't stop it either).

After those two, there are plenty of other nice options for this effect - Bastion of Remembrance, Ayara, First of Locthwain, and the new Sanguinary Priest are all worth consideration, among others.

[Dunadain]

Neither is strictly better, but Zulaport Cutthroat is 3x as effective in a 4 player game, and that's a pretty hefty boost, so it is my personal favorite, though I'm struggling to imagine a deck that would want one and not the other. I could conceivably see a General Tazri wanting him as a silver bullet, but having no interest in Blood Artist, but if your not a dedicated aristocrats deck and are using them as an answer rather than a threat, then Blood Artist is probably better. So… you want an ally that you can tutor for that disincentivizes people from wiping your board? I guess?

Axctually scratch that, I'd probably run Zulaport Cutthroat in the other Tazri, Tazri, Beacon of Unity as it's a decently strong hit and you'd need to run a critical density of creatures with the correct typing in the deck.

[Dunadain]

Slow. Bad.

I am embarrassed to say i did not get that joke until I read it several times.

I was over here thinking, "how is a 2 drop slow? I can't think of a cheaper artifact sac outlet." XD.

I hearby grant you the dad award.

[3drinks]

Thursday, October 13th, 2022; Shaman of the Great Hunt

[Guardman]

Thursday, October 13th, 2022; Shaman of the Great Hunt

Forgot this card existed. Sort of surprised it didn't see a price spike since it seems to slot in nicely to the Tyranid deck since it is a Temur +1/+1 counter creature that can draw a lot of cards in that deck. Honestly, the card would probably be better without the hybrid activate cost, since I can't think of too many Temur +1/+1 counter decks that aren't just "combo" decks *cough*Animar, Soul of Elements*cough*.

[Sinis]

I love it; it just does a lot of work. I should probably try and squeeze it in my Surrak/Keruga pile.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I can't help but think "So much better than Azure Mage." But it really does have a lot of value with "can't be blocked" and things like Traveler's Cloak an dTrailblazer's Boots.

[DirkGently]

Man, fate reforged with the insane limited bombs. Even today that card would blow most rares out of the water in limited. The only time it's not incredible is when you're already way behind.

[onering]

For commander, at first blush it looks like just so much value. Goes well with +1 counters, goes well with unblockability, goes well with power matters. Unfortunately it's very fragile and it wants to be built around. It's first ability seems awesome, but when you think about it you aren't getting your first round of counters on creatures until they've already connected, and to get real value out of it you'll want to either connect multiple times or have creatures that make more use of the counters than a simple 1 power boost per turn. That means it plays well with things that do something based on how much damage they deal, but it also wants a deck that wants to be attacking early and often.

It's other ability acts as payoff, since it's at minimum drawing you a card but then if you get a few counters on smaller creatures it makes them big enough to draw you a nice amount. Since it just cares about power, it can slot into power matters and not need to worry about growing dudes to draw some cards. When you think about it though, you're spending 8 mana to get your first activate, 12 total to get two activations, so how many cards do you need to reliably draw per activation for this to be worth it? Since it's capable of drawing cards at a good rate, it will eat removal quickly, so you should assume you may only get an activation or two out of it. I think you kind of want to have at least 3 dudes with power 4 or more on the field reliably before you can count on the draw being decent, since worst case it'll eat removal and you activate once in response and draw 3, having spent 8 mana total to do so, which is a bad rate but not terrible for a fail state that forced removal. From there, being able to Harmonize on command is sweet, and anything over that starts looking pretty bonkers.

Personally I've tried to run it a few times and it seems like it's just an enormous target that can occasionally take over games, but usually just eats immediate removal. Whenever I got it to stick, which was rare, it did a lot, but in a nice, fair, good stuff way. It's a nice amount of card draw if you've established a solid board and pumped a lot of mana into it, and a nice way to put pressure on life totals if you can avoid removal and wraths, but it's also something that can be very easily answered and doesn't fly under the radar. Still, I'll keep trying. It's been awhile since I tried a Temur ramp into fatties deck, seems like a good place for it.

[Mookie]

Shaman of the Great Hunt is a card I want to be good, but haven't quite gotten around to actually running in my Animar deck yet. Drawing cards? Pumping Animar? Drawing lots of cards? Good stuff. That said, I only have one deck that is looking to be running Azure Mage (Tasigur) - paying four mana for a single card (or even 2-3 cards) is somewhat expensive, and it can be difficult to find an opening to do so, tempo-wise. Still, I do wish the format were in a place where slower, value-generating cards were a bit better (opposed to the current dominance of ETB effects and immediate value).

...anyway, I should probably test it out sometime, if only on principle - seems like a fun card.

[Serenade]

Mine always ate it immediately. I think the low toughness hurt it most of all. I had it in Yasova Dragonclaw, and they are both mana-hungry.

[3drinks]

Friday, October 14th, 2022; Lure of Prey and very close functional reprint, Dramatic Entrance

[3drinks]

Still, I do wish the format were in a place where slower, value-generating cards were a bit better (opposed to the current dominance of ETB effects and immediate value).

If you want the format to slow down, try imposing the Powerstone rule - "treasures are now powerstones, which EBT and produce colourless instead of any colour." It goes surprisingly far towards reining games back in, such as preventing Old Gnawbone to act as a massive G ritual.

[Igzex]

You know what's worse than Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger? One that unexpectedly comes out when you just cast your commander with plans to follow up on it being on the field.