[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Samwise the Stouthearted

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Smothering Tithe is a surprisingly well-balanced design mistake. I don't think it would be printed today, but back in Ye Olde Dayse of 2019 (four years ago), White was in an awkward spot in Commander. It was a distant last in both card advantage and mana production compared to the other colors, which was awkward given that those are two of the most important things to do in the format. The problem was on WotC's radar, which gave us stuff like Alms Collector and Boreas Charger, but they were generally pretty weak. Smother Tithe was the first big breakthrough hit and became a format staple pretty much instantly, and while the have been more options printed since then, it is still one of the most widely played.

Firstly, I do think Smothering Tithe is pretty fair. At its baseline, it's a Thran Dynamo that enters tapped and lets opponents pay a tax to prevent it from doing anything. Thran Dynamo is a good card, but it doesn't go in every deck. Generating treasure tokens is certainly better than generating three colorless mana - they can be banked across multiple turns, they produce colored mana, they feed into token and sacrifice synergies, and they're resilient to spot removal. However, none of that is enough for it to jump form 'fair' to 'unfair', IMO.

I would also say that Smothering Tithe feels like a design mistake because of where WotC has finally settled with respect to its rules regarding white ramp and card draw. At the time of its first printing, I don't think those rules were finalized, which resulted in cards varying pretty widely in effect and power level. However, one of the current rules is 'white can tax anything it can outright prevent'. White's can set rules and prevent players from drawing multiple cards or casting multiple spells with cards like Spirit of the Labyrinth and Rule of Law means it can theoretically tax opponents for doing multiple things per turn instead (see: Monologue Tax)... but it doesn't have the ability to block draw entirely, which makes Smothering Tithe technically not in the current color pie. Similarly, most of these effects are limited to once per turn (see: Tocasia's Welcome and Esper Sentinel), which also makes it feel a bit weird. As a result, I would hypothesize that a more modern version of it would probably just trigger off the second card an opponent draws each turn, instead of every card.

...still, as far as power levels go, I do think Smothering Tithe is weaker than Rhystic Study, particularly in mono-white. I've played plenty of games where one player was able to generate a ton of treasure, but had nothing to spend it on. It doesn't help that there aren't mana sinks on any commonly-played monowhite legends. It does get noticeably better when you add other colors to the deck... and outright degenerate if you add Wheel of Fortune or other mass draw effects. I will add the minor complaint that Smothering Tithe is a bit too splashable with a single white pip.

One anecdote I'll share is that I was once in a game where Smothering Tithe was my only source of mana - one opponent (I think on Derevi, Empyrial Tactician) had a Winter Orb out and most of my lands were hit by a recurred Strip Mine... which resulted in the weird situation of me being the only player at the table that actually wanted the Winter Orb to stick around (its controller included). I don't remember much else about the game, but that much did stick in my mind.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023; Imi Statue


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materpillar
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Post by materpillar » 1 year ago

I've never seen this card… it's weird. It also seems real bad. Doesn't seem like it'd be good unless you really are smothered in mana rocks.

Initial combo that jumps to my head is Unwinding Clock + Mycosynth Lattice to lock people out but that's worse than most things you can do with Lattice.

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folding_music
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Post by folding_music » 1 year ago

imho statue fights people doing fun or idiosyncratic stuff while doing nothing to people playing prison. I guess it existed to fight Affinity back then?

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Static Orb + Null Rod = Imi Statue? Not a card I've seen before, but seems underwhelming. I could maybe see playing it as a hate piece in a deck that happens to be running no mana rocks but lots of equipment or other artifacts with abilities that don't require tapping.... but I'd generally lean towards Vandalblast / Heliod's Intervention instead. It could theoretically be backbreaking against a turbo-affinity deck with a bunch of artifact lands and creatures, but I think the average deck will just have 2-3 mana rocks and few other artifacts... and shutting down just 1-2 of them isn't really worth it.

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 1 year ago

I love the art and feel of Imi statue, but, it's not functional for most EDH decks/groups, I think.

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Post by Hawk » 1 year ago

Imi Statue isn't great in EDH. The card looks cool (art-wise) but it was too light a slap against the artifact menace of standard in its day and it is too cumbersome a hate card for modern Commander. The fact it doesn't stop equipment, treasures, altars, or any other artifacts that don't tap make it more or less useless against the most threatening artifacts in the format. As others have pointed out, you can use it alongside something like Mycosynth Lattice (potentially with something like Seedborn Muse or Unwinding Clock to break parity), but if you're already on that road you might as well just run Null Rod or Karn, the Great Creator instead no? Likewise, it could answer treasures if comboed with Blind Obedience...but, like, that's a lot of investment just to stop someone from going off with treasure spam. Mookie also wisely pointed out that basically every color except mono-black has superior ways to neutralize opposing artifact decks.

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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

Compared to most stax pieces this is pretty mild. Too mild. There's probably stunts you could pull with it, and there's an argument to be had that it could put in some work at cEDH level, but people are still getting mana off their free rocks before they're locked. And comparing this to Static Orb does the statue no favors. It just doesn't do enough.

Also, card I haven't seen before. That doesn't happen very often.
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Igzex
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Post by Igzex » 1 year ago

Golly I wonder what block before Kamigawa was? :3c

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Friday, February 3rd, 2023; See the Unwritten


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WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
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Post by PrimevalCommander » 1 year ago

This looks pretty cool because it puts the cards in the graveyard. In a creature heavy graveyard deck, this could cheat out two creatures and dump some cards in the graveyard. No mana value cap makes it more flexible, and even if your 4 power creature gets killed in response you are still likely to get some value and some mill if that is what you want.

I could see this being played in a few different decks, but don't see myself playing it much since my creature heavy decks have other things I want to be doing, either playing more creatures, or tutor something directly to play.

On another note, I have been looking really hard at Majestic Genesis in Karador, Ghost Chieftain which does a similar thing, but gets all permanents for a couple more mana. Or just the old standby Genesis Wave

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Post by duducrash » 1 year ago

PrimevalCommander wrote:
1 year ago
On another note, I have been looking really hard at Majestic Genesis in Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Karador is almost always WBG which makesm e forget that behemoth of a casting cost. I really want to try Stinging Study as a 5 mana draw 8


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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Saturday, February 4th, 2023; Night Incarnate


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Post by brainface » 1 year ago

I love this guy, he clears boards. There's probably better cards but in aristocrats/reanimator decks I've cleaned house with him, and trying to get maximum lethality out of it is a fun minigame.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Sunday, February 5th, 2023; Prosperous Thief


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RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Re: Night Incarnate - seems fine, but if I want a board wipe on a body, I usually lean towards Massacre Girl.

Prosperous Thief also seems fine for ninja / rogue tribal decks. Ramp and card draw tend to pair well together, so getting a bunch of treasure to go with your Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow triggers seems quite strong. Blue doesn't have that many options for mana acceleration (other than mana rocks), so getting an on-theme one is always nice. Not quite as broken as Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator (who triggers off all damage for some reason), but still good.

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Post by DirkGently » 1 year ago

Seems way overplayed on EDHrec. Yuriko, sure, higure, lol sure. For rogue, though, is this guy really worth it when he's not even a rogue? I guess he can generate multiple treasures if you hit multiple opponents, but still. Seems pretty mid to me.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

Good in Yuriko, good in a tempo rogue deck, aaaaaand that's all.
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

Gotta say, I'm no tribal fan but I do like multitribe enablers. Makes a niche card so ever slightly less so.
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Monday, February 6th, 2023; Blood Funnel



One of two pieces that combos with Mishra, Artificer Prodigy. I can't be the only one that remembers that deck. (the other piece is Nether Void.

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R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
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RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

This card is sick, but so hard to use, which in turn makes it even sicker to pull off.
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toctheyounger
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

Sweet card, and the flavor is pure, gruesome Rakdos gore. Kinda love it even if it is super corner case.
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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 1 year ago

@3drinks you forgot Goblin Artisans !
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Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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Jemolk
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Post by Jemolk » 1 year ago

Actually, the main card that combos with Mishra, Artificer Prodigy is Possibility Storm. Cast one artifact and get a second artifact completely free! Blood Funnel's okay there too, though, as is Nether Void.
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