[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[ukkuhrmakhai]

I've never had an issue with the experience commanders. They get stronger as the game goes longer but so do other cards. Some of them are kill on sight once they have a critical mass of counters but plenty of commanders need to be removed immediately.

I find the argument that experience counters are too difficult to interact with to fall in the same category as people complaining that stuff is too hard to get back from exile. Some stuff is harder to deal with and that is fine as long as it can be dealt with in other ways. As mentioned, all of the current experience matters cards are creatures which are pretty easy to remove.

Future experience legends may be tricky to print but the fact that each would be enabling a different playstyle would make it harder to just toss them all in the same deck.

Daxos does get pretty over shadowed by the other experience commanders but he seems like a pretty neat way to convert enchantments to offensive power.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, December 27th, 2022; Unite the Coalition

[folding_music]

very flexible draw in any deck that plays Dream Halls (or the bigger more comprehensive Dream Hallses to come)? and surprisingly readable for a five option charm. think I prefer Planewide Celebration!

(that's my entire take, I tend to not really read five colour cards, cos I know I will never cast them; if I had a five colour deck then every other deck I tried would suffer on land, I don't have many copies of the really good ones)

[Rumpy5897]

Daxos has been my pet deck since the legend's release in 2015, so I feel I'm pretty qualified to opine on the commander

His design is great. It's a simple concept, really - play enchantments, be rewarded for it. However, you're missing green, so you can't rely on the standard enchantress refuels. To compensate, the tokens become formidable beefslabs as the game goes on and are a legitimate win condition, something that those sorts of decks tend to be missing.

The most reliable way to win is to have a lot of mana. You then make a lot of guys and people die. As such, the deck loves its Serra's Sanctum, Cabal Coffers, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx etc. This incidentally offers a form of commander protection, as if recasting Daxos is not going to be too troublesome then you're not going to waste removal on him. You instead go for the power pieces that help win the game, like the aforementioned Skybind. But wait, there's more! Since I'm aware of this dynamic, there are various protection/lightning rod pieces to make the removal of the haymakers harder!

The deck is a wildly inefficient use of money. It's not a strong build, I'd say a turn nine deck or so. Meanwhile it costs an arm and a leg as it likes to use various goodstuffy pieces. Yet I'm very fond of it, due to the enchantments and the off-colour nature.

I've got a long-running thread about my build, which is now deep into its third distinct direction. Pillow fort gave way to attacking the hand and spell casting, as while other decks will do less we just pump out tokens. However, this was a relatively antisocial angle, especially given the fact that this is not a powerhouse build. As such, I'm currently leaning into the big mana angle. I might have gone too far though, think I need to trim some of the high end and add a little earlier action. Feel free to stop by and weigh in if you feel like it, I'm overdue for a response in there

[materpillar]

Tuesday, December 27th, 2022; Unite the Coalition

Snore? There's literally nothing about this card that I find inspiring at all. I build a lot of 5c to create interesting, wacky synergies across all colors. This is just pure goodstuff in the most bland way. Seems fine. Wouldn't fault anyone for playing it. I expect I'll forget it exists again in about a week.

[PrimevalCommander]

I like the modes, and I like that this is an instant, but I just don't like the MV at 7. It is difficult to hold up, and the shock mode is particularly weak for holding up that much mana. I know the sum of it's parts are probably greater than the 7 mana, but for 5 color decks getting the most efficient spells in all colors, this just seems 1 mana overcosted. 5 color cards are a significant downside mainly due to color identity, but also color restriction. I'm not sure how aggressive we could go on 5 color spells, but this is a pretty good idea of something that is almost great. I suppose dropping the would make this too good? Base case of : draw 5 is probably auto include, so maybe would be the sweet spot.

Each mode is really only worth 1 mana, so getting 5 of them stapled all to 1 cards does represent significant card advantage, but generally I only want to spend 1 mana on each effect, so having to hold up 7 for some of them to be less relevant than I'd like makes it awkward.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I think this is fine at seven. Hand refill, fog, and mass removal on the same card is pretty sweet.

[Hawk]

Honestly at 7 mana you can do better - if you are in 5C, you can run the ultimatums which are all higher impact even with sorcery vs instant. At 5 CMC, I don't think this would have been too much for EDH but it would have probably been too much for standard since back-to-back Unites is lethal. Maybe if it didn't target players? I just balk since the base rate here is basically just Opportunity, a card I don't play anywhere anymore.

Like most, I think 5C "Goodstuff" is a snooze-fest (and, again, would just jam Inspired Ultimatum, Cruel Ultimatum, and Emergent Ultimatum if I wanted generic good-stuff), and so if I'm 5C I probably have a specific gameplan.

[NZB2323]

If we're talking about cards that cost 7 mana that compete with this spell you have Ruinous Ultimatum, Eerie Ultimatum, Cyclonic Rift, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Hullbreaker Horror, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Old Gnawbone, Nyxbloom Ancient, Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant, Bane of Bala Ged, Dawnglade Regent, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Ancient Brass Dragon, Ancient Gold Dragon, ect.

If I'm looking for cards with flexibility, I'd rather play Rakdos Charm, Golgari Charm, Boros Charm. Sultai Charm, Esper Charm, and Abzan Charm.

[brainface]

I'd disagree with the ultimatum assessment, in that it's really pretty easy to hit WUBRG with a budget 5 color landbase and much, much harder to hit 2-3 different ultimatum mana costs. I don't even like 2 of the same pip in a 5 color deck, to be honest. But mostly I just like the card because it feels like a callback to last stand which sadly doesn't feel like it can make the cut anymore, and this card's clearly effective, I mean 7 mana for disenchant draw four is not a card I'd put in a deck, but it can assemble into 25(!) slightly overcosted configurations, and one of those should have a major effect on the game.

[Toshi]

Currently working on a basics only budget 5C list that has a tba main theme and otherwise tries to work its way with as many pip and color heavy spells - so this is one of the first ones that got in.
Fun fact: Up until my research i didn't know this is the only 5C instant in all of magic.

[Treamayne]

I suppose dropping the would make this too good? Base case of : draw 5 is probably auto include, so maybe would be the sweet spot.

Maybe ?

I don't think even my "toughest mana curve ever" Karona Avatar deck would want this, and it has the Shadowmoor cycle. Like @brainface I like the callback to Last Stand , but I would prefer something like:

SPOILER

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Instant
For each spent to cast this, destroy target enchantment. For each spent to cast this, draw a card. For each spent to cast this, exile target opponent's graveyard. For each spent to cast this, <this> deals 2 damage to any target. For each spent to cast this, destroy target artifact.

Honestly, I would just love to see hybrid mana used this way period. If the template can be used with things like Patagia Viper, why not with Hybrid where, theoretically, the color used to cast the spell really could matter. . .

[onering]

This is the sort of card that, if you accidentally put it in your 5 color deck, would be useful, but you'd never want to intentionally put it in.

It's overcosted, but it's pretty much always useful. It's base state is 7 mana to draw 5 at instant speed, which is slightly overcosted but a reasonable fallback. 6 mana to draw 5 at instant speed would honestly be pretty reasonable. Any of the other options that you choose must be worth not only the extra mana you are paying above rare, but also a card. That's not difficult to imagine, I mean firing it off in response to someone attempting gy shenanigans might save the game, and you also end up drawing three and blowing up something disgusting. That would be a huge play, and totally worth 7 mana.

The problem is that these sort of huge plays will typically need to be reactive, and holding up 7 is a big downside in any deck that doesn't want to be draw go. And when it's not a huge play, it's just too underwhelming for 7 mana. I'm not in the camp that 7 should win the game, but drawing 5 cards isn't quite enough oomph.

[Mookie]

To me, Unite the Coalition is a card you play for the sake of it being five colors. It does a lot of things, and I doubt it is ever going to be bad if you're capable of casting it, but... at seven mana in five colors, there is already an absolutely absurd number of options available. As a result, while it may be good in every situation, it will almost never be the best. Still, I'd consider it if I specifically cared about multicolor cards for something like Ramos, Dragon Engine or Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, Decembr 28th, 2022; Curse of Bloodletting

[materpillar]

Oh man, I'm such a huge fan of this card. Sure it looks worse than Fiery Emancipation or whatever but it isn't. The cards are serve completely different purposes. You play Fiery Emancipation and immediately become public enemy number one, threatening to kill the table with minimal effort. You play Curse of Bloodletting on public enemy number one and they become dead.

This card plants a huge target on someone because why swing 5 damage at Player A when you can swing 10 damage at Player B? It nudges everyone away from attacking you and into attacking someone else. You even earn the table's goodwill if the person you curse was in an incredibly strong position. It's basically a death sentence in my experience. Amusingly enough, I think this card is a fantastic example of the difference in my and @3drinks play styles. I imagine he goes more for Fiery Emancipation and I go for Curse of Bloodletting.

So yeah. I've happily played this with no enchantment or curse synergy in my Jaya Ballard, Task Mage deck for years. The best synergy I had was Heartless Hidetsugu and it was still great.

[onering]

Yeah, this is a kill target player spell when played right.

[3drinks]

Amusingly enough, I think this card is a fantastic example of the difference in my and @3drinks play styles. I imagine he goes more for Fiery Emancipation and I go for Curse of Bloodletting.

Sure, but why hit one for ten if I can hit three for fifteen? If Gut's skelies can hit you for 8 but I can send one to each player for 12...when in doubt, go for the higher damage. Or emancipation+ scald so each island you tap bolts you. Whereas the curse gets you labeled as a kingmaker.

[materpillar]

Amusingly enough, I think this card is a fantastic example of the difference in my and @3drinks play styles. I imagine he goes more for Fiery Emancipation and I go for Curse of Bloodletting.

Sure, but why hit one for ten if I can hit three for fifteen? If Gut's skelies can hit you for 8 but I can send one to each player for 12...when in doubt, go for the higher damage. Or emancipation+ scald so each island you tap bolts you. Whereas the curse gets you labeled as a kingmaker.

As I suspected, I think Curse of Bloodletting vs Fiery Emancipation is a perfect example of the difference in our play styles. You cast Fiery Emancipation and try to kill the table. I go "Ah, guys he had Fiery Emancipation!" and cast Curse of Bloodletting on you to try to get the table to kill you. I'm not trying to say either of these techniques is better, it's just an interesting observation I had.

The raw damage output of Fiery Emancipation is definitely higher. It also comes with a very dramatic increase in your personal threat profile as such it very likely to eat a Disenchant from one of your opponents. Curse of Bloodletting us one of the few damage doubles that reduces your threat profile (from 2 of your 3 opponents at least) and is way more likely to stick around as a result.

I play Fiery Emancipation/Xenagos, God of Revels/True Conviction in my Gishath, Sun's Avatar deck because that's a deck about beating face and doesn't care about it's threat profile.

I play Curse of Bloodletting in my Yurlok of Scorch Thrash political deck because that deck is all about managing its threat profile.

[Ruiner]

Curse of Bloodletting is cool but I am usually picking Furnace of Rath or Dictate of the Twin Gods over it when considering multipliers. Sure, those affect me also, but why not live dangerously?

[NZB2323]

Interesting. I'm taking another look at my Ghen, Arcanum Weaver deck and wonder if Curse of Bloodletting is worth it.

[Sinis]

Amusingly enough, I think this card is a fantastic example of the difference in my and @3drinks play styles. I imagine he goes more for Fiery Emancipation and I go for Curse of Bloodletting.

Sure, but why hit one for ten if I can hit three for fifteen? If Gut's skelies can hit you for 8 but I can send one to each player for 12...when in doubt, go for the higher damage. Or emancipation+ scald so each island you tap bolts you. Whereas the curse gets you labeled as a kingmaker.

Every time someone has played Fiery Emancipation at my tables, it's either been removed or the player has been removed. Curse of Bloodletting is probably less threatening.

[3drinks]

Thursday, December 29th, 2022; Delayed Blast Fireball

One of my fave d&d spells despite typically giving up Evocation as a specialist wizard. Really want to get one but I'm not spending $8 for it.

[RedCheese]

Cascading to it must be really sweet. But yeah sticking with a proxy for now.

[ISBPathfinder]

I really like that its an instant and doesn't hit your things. It has the flexability too for the foretell which is nice. Unfortunately I just haven't gotten to play that much magic the last half year or so and with that I haven't gotten to test this card out that much even though I own a few of them.