[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Jetfire, Ingenious Scientist

[wildfire393]

I'm a big fan of Druid's Repository, but I tend to be more fond of creature combat than most people do. If you're regularly turning dudes sideways, this can get silly quite quickly.

It's at its best if you deck is doing several of these things:
-Lots of very cheap creatures (elves, Edric builds, etc) or tokens
-Lots of combat, extra combats, or combat trigger doublers (ie. Wulfgar of Icewind Dale )
-enchantment synergies like enchantresses
-Counter synergies like Doubling Season

[Lifeless]

Yeah I've never seen this once before and it's low key very good. I can see most token decks generating some serious gains off this little guy.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I prefer Grand Warlord Radha imho. This kind of mana generation coming on a body helps raise the floor quite a bit and reduces the threat profile by not being bankable between turns.

[Sinis]

It is actually pretty solid in aggressive decks. If you are reliably attacking with two dudes, it's a worn powerstone that makes colored mana.

That ETBs untapped!

---

I think this card is pretty good. Has to be in a wide-ish deck, though. Pairs well with Bident of Thassa and analogues.

[toctheyounger]

Card is pretty great. Najeela loves it specifically but I feel like it could go in most combat decks well. If you have the numbers it'll put in work.

[Serenade]

Hopefully we never get a Coastal Piracy with flash. Though we are going back to Ixalan soon…

Taking the bones of an Edric deck and subbing in another color for green…really furthers your understanding of why Edric works so well. There's no substitute for this thing or any of the finishers in other colors. I do like that it's an enchantment because every now and then you can bait someone into using removal on it instead of the upcoming Bident in your hand.

[3drinks]

Thursday, January 12th, 2023; Sphere of Annihilation

The flavour is so spot on from the major artifact version of d&d lore. Very hard to manage, though that's kinda the point.

[onering]

I prefer Grand Warlord Radha imho. This kind of mana generation coming on a body helps raise the floor quite a bit and reduces the threat profile by not being bankable between turns.

There's a lot of tradeoff between repository and Radha. I agree with everything you said, but Radha is far more vulnerable, and whether reducing the threat profile is worth it is really deck dependent, because in addition to being able to bank mana between turns the repository gives you access to mana on other people's turns. I think that overall being on a body is a wash, since the benefit of being able to have it generate mana on its own is offset by it's increased vulnerability in comparison to an enchantment. Also, repository gives you mana of any color while being mono green, which makes it simultaneously better for non red decks because you can actually run it, but also RGx because you can make the third (or fourth or fifth) color with it.

I don't really see any circumstance where I would run Radha but not Druid's Repository. If I want the effect, I want it reliably, and it's an effect that gets better when you have multiple in play. I'd jam repository in if Radha was my commander. If you have this effect in your deck, you're also going to want to build your deck to take full advantage of it, so ways to keep your hand full plus mana sinks so you always can use all that mana you're generating without overplaying your hand or running out of gas. Because of this, you'll be just as well positioned to take advantage of twice as much mana.

Edit: Sphere is stronk. I dig these variable effects that let you miss your stuff. It's mass removal that can be used aggressive to clear the board of small blockers so you can push through your beef. Pairs well with blue, so you can use leyline to flash it in EoT before your turn. Shimmer Myr will also get you there since sphere is an artifact.

[Dunadain]

In a way, this card fixes the main drawback, of most Wipes, namely, that all of your opponents get a turn to rebuild before you do (assuming you tapped out for the wipe, super late game, you can wipe and then play something).

However, it's face up on the table means that, while your opponents can't start rebuilding before you, they also won't play more cards into the wipe.

So, Ultimately, instant speed wipes like Rout do a much better job at letting you untap first.

It does have a lot more flexibility than Rout however, as you can choose the MV that gets blown up.

Come to think of it, it's a mono-black bootleg Pernicious Deed.

And of course, that's only if the entire table is willing to play on the card's own terms. Anybody that doesn't want the table wiped can try to Disenchant it, or kill you before your next turn, or use the heads up nature of card to hold up something like Teferi's Protection.


The card IS sweet flavor wise, but I can't really see myself playing it

[Sinis]

Flavour-wise, Sphere of Annihilation is a 10/10, what a sweet card. Mind you, I'm biased about a lot of that D&D IP stuff.

Mechanically... I haven't played it. But, I think it's an interesting tempo/midrange play. You can drop so that you get the first chance to deploy post-wipe (similar to instant Rout, or someone pitching cards to play Sunscour) which could be quite interesting with planeswalkers or something that demands your opponent catch up. Alternatively, you can kind of play it midrange with a low X value (say between 2 and 5), which will let you keep your biggos while other people's low drops and chump blockers get wiped away on your upkeep. I think it's not very good if you're on the back foot and someone's threatening to win with a craterhoof. There's applications for it, but I just haven't had the right deck.

[3drinks]

Friday, January 13th, 2023; Garruk, Cursed Huntsman

[Mookie]

re: Sphere of Annihilation, I'll call it out as one of the few board wipes fetchable off Trinket Mage / Artificer's Intuition (with Engineered Explosives as one of the other ones).

Garruk, Cursed Huntsman seems... fine? Six mana is a bit expensive, but a mix of token production to protect himself, card draw, and removal means he should be a fine value engine. He doesn't quite have a (+), so you'll want some way to sacrifice those wolves if you want more loyalty or to go for the emblem. That said, I think I would usually lean towards a different Garruk outside Garruk tribal decks - Garruk, Primal Hunter is a mana cheaper and makes 3/3s, which seems superior.

[ISBPathfinder]

I don't think I have ever seen this Garruk played outside of standard and that was not common. I don't think he really stands out as something I want to do for six mana in commander.

[Guardman]

He is one of those rare Planeswalkers that would actually be interesting as a commander, but ends up not being that interesting as a non-commander. If he was a commander, he would be a good pilot of Garruk tribal.

[Dunharrow]

He is one of those rare Planeswalkers that would actually be interesting as a commander, but ends up not being that interesting as a non-commander. If he was a commander, he would be a good pilot of Garruk tribal.

He was very frustrating in Brawl. Just so easy to ultimate.

[cheonice]

I really like him. He's a threat that is quite diffucult to handle due to the double tokens. In my playgroup he's taken very seriously due to past games revolving around his emblem. Maybe we overestimate him sometimes.

[3drinks]

Saturday, January 14th, 2023; Chronosavant

There's gotta be a use for this card...that didn't even make it into TSR.

[Avacyn Believer]

omg what?! There has to be way to abuse it somehow, right? Like maybe avoid 'lose on your next turn'? If you don't have a turn, maybe you'll live?

[Ink-Treader]

omg what?! There has to be way to abuse it somehow, right? Like maybe avoid 'lose on your next turn'? If you don't have a turn, maybe you'll live?

Oracle rulings for Chance For Glory suggests that would work.

I think the more traditional use for this effect (shout out to Chronatog) is to unbalance stax style effects so they hit your opponents more than you.

[Vertierer]

I used to play this in "60 Card Casual" Stax with Smokestack, Tangle Wire and Tabernacle.

[TheGildedGoose]

With infinite white mana and a sac outlet you don't need black to seal yourself away for eternity!

[3drinks]

I used to play this in "60 Card Casual" Stax with Smokestack, Tangle Wire and Tabernacle.

< Casual
< Tabernacle and smokestack

😂😂 I love it.

[Dunharrow]

With infinite white mana and a sac outlet you don't need black to seal yourself away for eternity!

what I hate about this win condition is that people most likely have an out.
So even if one opponent knocks out the other two, they have to sit there playing solitaire until they find a win condition.
It can be so many things. Lab man for example. And most of the time they can just say that they have a win condition and show you for the scoop. My concern is something a little less deterministic. Something like Temple Bell and a shuffle effect. Because Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and a sac outlet being your shuffle effect is a problem. If Kozilek is in your last 4 cards you would lose from the draw trigger. So you keep playing with this non-deterministic win condition hoping you can Temple Bell for the win in a silly game of solitaire before you accidentally kill yourself with Kozilek.

Or maybe an opponent has Platinum Angel in their deck so they won't die, and they play their whole deck and hope that when you untap after all your skipped turns you don't have a way to win in your deck. Yeesh that would be long.

[Igzex]

This always stood out to me as one of the weirdest deepcuts in the set. Has anyone in the history of Magic the Gathering ever actually used Necrosavant to the point where seeing this card blew their minds with nostalgia?

[3drinks]

Sunday, January 15th, 2023; Arvinox, the Mind Flail