[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Rishkar, Peema Renegade

[TheGildedGoose]

Some men just want to watch the mana burn.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for laughs, I can tell you I don't have a sense of humor. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you apologize now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill your commander.

[3drinks]

Sunday, November 6th, 2022; Extinction

[materpillar]

Sunday, November 6th, 2022; Extinction

I've always wanted to make a 5 color creature type hate deck. But I already have Tivadar of Thorn so the overlap is too much.

This card seems bad unless you really hate elves. Even then, 5cmc sorcery is just so steep.

[Serenade]

The Team Gatewatch escapades of recent years clouded my memory of the pure evil of OG Phyrexia/Yawgmoth. BRO and this flavor text are some really dark stuff.

[Igzex]

Oh wow yeah Volrath is one sick puppy.

Black has no shortage of ways to clear the board of creatures so there's no need to go through the hoops to force your opponents creatures to be a certain type. Other than that, the only real use of this card is to be a jerk to a friend that plays tribal decks or something.

[Mookie]

Combos with Shields of Velis Vel?

Anyway, Extinction seems niche. It may be possible for it to be a 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 against some boards, and it's good against token strategies... but the only time I would consider it a true blowout is against tribal strategies, which are somewhat rare. Otherwise, it's an overcosted Murder if you're only killing one thing. Maybe if there's an Edgar Markov or Varina, Lich Queen deck in your meta that you really want to deal with? Or elfball, but that style of deck tends to be soft to any board wipe, targeted or not.

If you're looking for more selective board wipes, I'd lean towards Crux of Fate, Nightmare Unmaking, or Toxic Deluge. Alternatively, build around something like Their Name Is Death or Extinguish All Hope. Rain of Daggers also exists.

[DirkGently]

Would be overpowered except that it's a blank against the Nameless Race cEDH meta.

[Sinis]

Extinction is fine, but I think I prefer Tsabo's Decree. Blasting the present ones, yes, but instant speed future ones as well? Yes please.

Playability is presuming someone plays tribal, or that you *really* want to kill their hexproof commander (if Sigarda, Host of Herons was more played, I'd definitely play Extinction or TD more).

[3drinks]

Monday, November 7th, 2022; Psychogenic Probe

[3drinks]

Would be overpowered except that it's a blank against the Nameless Race cEDH meta.

I didn't know what you were on about so I went to look it up to see

Huh. Fascinating. I wonder what/why caused this change.

[Sinis]

Huh. Fascinating. I wonder what/why caused this change.

Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

[Dunharrow]

Soldier of Fortune

One day, I will make this deck
One day
Though probe has to be one of the worst payoffs. I guess it's a win condition with an infinite combo.

[Hermes_]

Soldier of Fortune

One day, I will make this deck
One day
Though probe has to be one of the worst payoffs. I guess it's a win condition with an infinite combo.

or a janky way to kill that deck that's always shuffling for the right cards/infinite

[ukkuhrmakhai]

One of my first EDH decks was a Thada Adel, Acquisitor deck that used this and Psychic Surgery to punish players for the forced shuffle off of Thada. That was a gateway deck into the world of fatesealing opponents that lead me to a Circu, Dimir Lobotomist deck and eventually to playing Lantern of Insight control in modern.

Psychogenic Probe I ended up cutting pretty quickly, but I kept Psychic Surgery in the deck until I took a break from EDH. I will have fond memories of this card for being an important part of my journey to learn to evaluate cards. It taught me to do objective post game review of a card's performance(Thada would always kill someone via commander damage before the 2 damage would), that just because a card fits a decks theme doesn't mean it is a good card in the deck, that some themes just don't have enough support to build around them, that some cards are just bad, that any card that relies (mostly) on an opponent doing something to trigger needs to trigger on a common action (very few people in my group then were playing fetches or tutors), random damage is bad unless you are full aggro or it is large amount of damage, cards either need to be amazing good stuff or support your primary game plan (stealing mana rocks and casting other peoples wincons or voltroning Thada with swords, not 2 random damage at a time), you can be wrong about what your decks wincons and game plan are (I initially thought the shuffle triggers would be killing people, even after all my wins were off of Thada commander damage or stolen cards), a card will often play differently in game than you think it will when you put in the deck and you should always be prepared to change your evaluation of cards as new information comes in (Except for Lantern of Insight, that will always be the be the greatest card ever printed).

I imagine it has become better with more fetches, ramp and tutors being played but decks that play tutors are probably going to kill you before the 2 damage matters. A punisher deck might be able to make use of this but even those decks will find out that most people front load their fetches/ramp so unless this comes out turn 1 or 2, you will miss most of the shuffles that occur in a game.

[Mookie]

Like @ukkuhrmakhai, I'm a fan of Psychic Surgery in Thada Adel, Acquisitor, but I'm lower on Psychogenic Probe. Unless you're doing something very specific (like Bitter Ordeal), it's rare for decks to do that much shuffling. Even if someone is cracking a fetchland every turn, that's still just a Sulfuric Vortex, which isn't something I'm excited by outside the most aggressive of decks. Maybe if you really want to hose a Karametra, God of Harvests deck in your meta, but...

More broadly, two damage per turn is pretty negligible. It can add up if you're running Primal Order, The Rack, or other recurring damage as part of a dedicated burn strategy, but it isn't something I would want to throw into a random deck. Psychogenic Probe is particularly weak because it's easy for opponents to play around, unlike something like Zo-Zu the Punisher or Cindervines - there are plenty of decks that can not function without casting noncreature spells or playing lands, but shuffling and tutoring tends to be easier to forego.

[ironic gesture]

I agree with everyone above that 2 damage per shuffle just isn't worth a slot. I'm curious to know the amount of damage this would need to deal for people to consider running it. I think at 4 it starts looking interesting but still not busted by any stretch.

[Dunharrow]

I agree with everyone above that 2 damage per shuffle just isn't worth a slot. I'm curious to know the amount of damage this would need to deal for people to consider running it. I think at 4 it starts looking interesting but still not busted by any stretch.

I think it would need to be more on par with Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. For a 2 mana artifact maybe around 5 damage? and it would be niche?
If you could shock any target I think it would be a lot more playable.

[Mookie]

I agree with everyone above that 2 damage per shuffle just isn't worth a slot. I'm curious to know the amount of damage this would need to deal for people to consider running it. I think at 4 it starts looking interesting but still not busted by any stretch.

I think it would need to be more on par with Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. For a 2 mana artifact maybe around 5 damage? and it would be niche?
If you could shock any target I think it would be a lot more playable.

Yeah, I'm not convinced shuffle-punishing is playable at any rate, at least in EDH. It's a punisher effect, so even if you crank it up to 11, you'll effectively just have a Mindlock Orb that prevents opponents from searching their libraries (which I don't consider to be very good, even at two mana). On the flip side, if the number is too high, then it has implications for Modern / Legacy - Blood Moon comes down on three mana, and shutting down fetchlands on two mana instead has a lot of implications. This isn't quite the same effect, but still something to consider.

(edit: I recognize Aven Mindcensor and Opposition Agent exist, but flash means I consider them to be a different effect, since they can actually generate card advantage by negating a tutor)

[DirkGently]

@Mookie Aven Mindcensor is the 21st most played white card, despite costing 3 and being a fragile creature. Though admittedly the flash is a big add. Don't forget about Opposition Agent either, also very popular and costing 3. Preventing searching is pretty strong and annoying.

That said, ofc 2 damage really doesn't get there. At 5 you'd see fetchlands feel a lot worse, but demonic tutor to find a combo piece is still totally worth it. You can put a damper on land ramp, fetches, etc, but you'd have to make the damage pretty insane to put a dent into the value of strong tutors.

[3drinks]

All this talk reminds me I should get an oppo agent for Gut since it's odd mv........

[ironic gesture]

I agree with everyone above that 2 damage per shuffle just isn't worth a slot. I'm curious to know the amount of damage this would need to deal for people to consider running it. I think at 4 it starts looking interesting but still not busted by any stretch.

I think it would need to be more on par with Ob Nixilis, Unshackled. For a 2 mana artifact maybe around 5 damage? and it would be niche?
If you could shock any target I think it would be a lot more playable.

I'm with @Dunharrow that for this effect to be playable it would likely need to be targeted.

[onering]

Search prevention is pretty good, mildly punishing searching isn't. The effect is too weak and there aren't enough shuffle punishers to build around the theme (or repeatable forced shuffle effects to make it work consistently). And that's a good thing, because that would be the most tedious thing ever to play against, holy %$#%. Could you imagine having to shuffle multiple times every turn because someone went all in on Soldier of Fortune effects?

[DirkGently]

@onering I'm pretty sure there is a provision in the comp rules to shortcut redundant shuffling.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, November 8th, 2022; Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen|pj21

All hail our lord and savior of the multiverse, the ruler of all life, space, and knowledge Nicol Bolas!

[3drinks]

@onering I'm pretty sure there is a provision in the comp rules to shortcut redundant shuffling.

I don't think you can shortcut this because the end result is random i.e. not a preplanned point with which you can present a shortcut for an opponent{s} to agree upon. I know I certainly wouldn't accept such a shortcut if proposed to me.