[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Cyberium]

Wednesday, March 1st, 2023; Marisi, Breaker of the Coil

Most people missed out on that "Your opponents can't cast spells during combat." With some flash and instants, you can do your tricks without opponents interfering so long as you do it during combat.

[Treamayne]

I just wish Goad was a mini version of a Vow - no buffs, but also no forced attack. And I would rather see Provoke return as a method of dealing with utility weenies in the red zone.

I briefly tried Marisi, Breaker of the Coil at the head of my Cat deck, but it was too much animosity for too little flavor. Even though I would like a good Naya Cat general, it was easier to move back to Mirri. I haven't yet tried out any of the Capena Cats yet, though only Jetmir, Nexus of Revels seems close flavor-wise (the other make citizen tokens, not cat tokens).

[Dunadain]

Marisi, Breaker of the Coil WISHES he could be half as cool as Thantis, the Warweaver and that's a fact.

[Mookie]

Marisi, Breaker of the Coil WISHES he could be half as cool as Thantis, the Warweaver and that's a fact.

Marisi vs Thantis is an interesting comparison, but I agree with this assessment. The two look to have similar play rates on EDHREC (2628 Marisi vs 2788 Thantis), but I find the former's goading to be mildly annoying, while I respect the latter's Blood for the Blood God! vibes. If you're going to build an 'all combat, all the time' deck, it's only fair that you also participate in the violence.

[3drinks]

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023; Resurrection Orb

Man this is so cool. I should probably be playing it.

[void_nothing]

Oh those wacky Necrons! Lifelink's never not good and this ability is versatile, allowing you to repeat/not lose your creature from sac abilities as well as being good anti-removal whether it's destroy or -X/-X.

(4 is, however, a relatively steep equip cost.)

[Hawk]

Has a lot of similarities to Nim Deathmantle - you trade the flexibility of Deathmantle reanimating anything you need on a trigger and the superior equipped boost (+2/+2 and Intimidate is probably better than just Lifelink) for the resurrection being "free" (really both are costing you 4 to rezz anything though). Ultimately, I think Deathmantle is a bit overrated and nearly strictly better than this. For protective equipment I also think Darksteel Plate and Hammer of Nazahn are superior ways to just make a dude really hard to kill. Overall I'm fine with this being a UB card I'm unlikely to own or seek since I think it's "just okay".

[Jemolk]

Kinda nifty in its own way, but ultimately there are generally better options. I guess if you want specifically both lifelink and protection, it's useful? For protection specifically, though, Nim Deathmantle, Darksteel Plate, Shield of Kaldra, Hammer of Nazahn, and Robe of Stars are vastly superior. Heck, even the omnipresent Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots should help more. Not trying to be a downer to the people that like the card, but 4 to equip is a lot, it has to be done at sorcery speed, and the fact that the creature returns at the end step means it can't be re-equipped until your next turn even if it died on your turn. Plus, any bit of graveyard hate that can be played between the creature dying and the end step (including sorcery speed graveyard hate if an opponent kills it on their turn) can easily prevent it from coming back.

Basically, it seems cool, but isn't actually all that strong. ...Which... actually makes me like it more. This is the kind of interesting card design we could use more of. Feels weird saying that about something I have no intention to ever touch with a ten-foot pole for flavor reasons, but whatever, I guess.

[Hawk]

Kinda nifty in its own way, but ultimately there are generally better options. I guess if you want specifically both lifelink and protection, it's useful? For protection specifically, though, Nim Deathmantle, Darksteel Plate, Shield of Kaldra, Hammer of Nazahn, and Robe of Stars are vastly superior. Heck, even the omnipresent Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots should help more. Not trying to be a downer to the people that like the card, but 4 to equip is a lot, it has to be done at sorcery speed, and the fact that the creature returns at the end step means it can't be re-equipped until your next turn even if it died on your turn. Plus, any bit of graveyard hate that can be played between the creature dying and the end step (including sorcery speed graveyard hate if an opponent kills it on their turn) can easily prevent it from coming back.

Basically, it seems cool, but isn't actually all that strong. ...Which... actually makes me like it more. This is the kind of interesting card design we could use more of. Feels weird saying that about something I have no intention to ever touch with a ten-foot pole for flavor reasons, but whatever, I guess.

Yeah just to build and bandwagon on this and my own point - I've found playing a lot of equipment and equip.decs that Equip 2 is kind of the sweet spot (and part of the reason why The Swords, Sword of the Animist, Shadowspear, and Umezawa's Jitte are the most powerful and ubiquitous equipment cards). Equipping for less is great for sure, but usually Equip 2 is manageable for most decks. Equip 3 starts getting tougher and is a significant cost even in the fairly late game - it's why once-staple Loxodon Warhammer is now played almost nowhere for me. Equip 4+ might as well be "Equip 100 for how punishing it feels and starts pushing those equipment spells into either needing to have their own auto-equip, as Hammer of Nazahn does, or being relegated to decks that are dedicated equipment tribal lists with cards like Stoneforge Mystic, Sigarda's Aid, Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, etc (a strategy that itself is sort of awkward and questionable in practice I've found).

[3drinks]

Oh those wacky Necrons! Lifelink's never not good and this ability is versatile, allowing you to repeat/not lose your creature from sac abilities as well as being good anti-removal whether it's destroy or -X/-X.

(4 is, however, a relatively steep equip cost.)

Sounds like you need to be introduced to my little friend. They laughed. They all laughed at my adorable little myr dork............

[Guardman]

There are so many ways to cheat on equip costs nowadays that I kind of want to create an equipment deck based on cheating attaching equipments and this is one of the first I thought of (along with things like Helm of the Host and Colossus Hammer).

I mean this card is tailored made for Kemba, Kha Enduring Cat Equipments.

[Dunadain]

There are so many ways to cheat on equip costs nowadays that I kind of want to create an equipment deck based on cheating attaching equipments and this is one of the first I thought of (along with things like Helm of the Host and Colossus Hammer).

I mean this card is tailored made for Kemba, Kha Enduring Cat Equipments.

Allow me to introduce you to Modern Hammer Time.

[Hermes_]

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023; Resurrection Orb

Man this is so cool. I should probably be playing it.

Would go well in my RW voltron deck along with a backup Gift of Immortality

[Dunharrow]

I play Deathrender and Nim Deathmantle in Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim. I am not sure this is good enough, but it is interesting.
I doubt I will ever get my hands on one though.

[onering]

I'm glad most of the universes beyond cards are meh, makes it less likely I'll have to play against them.

[Dunadain]

Man screw all this negativity, this card is cool

[Sinis]

I think this is one of the coolest cards out of the Necron deck. I really liked the Necron deck, and I think this card slaps (even though it's not Nim Deathmantle)

[Mookie]

I would say that Resurrection Orb reads a bit worse than Nim Deathmantle - I prefer the latter's +2/+2 and evasion over lifelink, plus paying for recursion at the time of death seems a bit more convenient than having to pay up front. That said, Orb looks sweet in decks like Kemba, Kha Enduring and Balan, Wandering Knight that can cheat on the equip cost. It functions similarly to Darksteel Plate, but also works well alongside sacrifice synergies or against -X/-X effects, which lets it do some interesting things. Given that the only time I ever see Deathmantle is alongside Ashnod's Altar, it's nice to see a new version with a bit more versatility.

[3drinks]

Friday, March 3rd, 2023; Ironsoul Enforcer

[3drinks]

I would say that Resurrection Orb reads a bit worse than Nim Deathmantle - I prefer the latter's +2/+2 and evasion over lifelink, plus paying for recursion at the time of death seems a bit more convenient than having to pay up front. That said, Orb looks sweet in decks like Kemba, Kha Enduring and Balan, Wandering Knight that can cheat on the equip cost. It functions similarly to Darksteel Plate, but also works well alongside sacrifice synergies or against -X/-X effects, which lets it do some interesting things. Given that the only time I ever see Deathmantle is alongside Ashnod's Altar, it's nice to see a new version with a bit more versatility.

For me what gets me, is that delayed return trigger. I'm always a bit weary of things waiting to get blown out by a stifle effect.

[Mookie]

For me what gets me, is that delayed return trigger. I'm always a bit weary of things waiting to get blown out by a stifle effect.

I don't see stifle effects often enough to consider them worth playing around. Now, getting blown out by a Bojuka Bog on the other hand....

I considered Ironsoul Enforcer for my Sharuum the Hegemon deck when it was revealed, since more Sharuum triggers seem good... but attacking with Sharuum (or the Enforcer itself) doesn't really mesh with my game plan, so I ended up passing on it. As a general rule, I feel like cards that need to attack to provide value have a pretty high bar to clear. That said, if attacking with your commander is a key part of your gameplan, this goes way up in value, particularly if you expect to be able to do so the turn it comes out. Seems like a reasonable choice for aggressive artifact-based decks like Alibou, Ancient Witness (well, minus the 'attack alone' clause).

[Guardman]

Friday, March 3rd, 2023; Ironsoul Enforcer

I play it in my Armix, Filigree Thrasher & Rebbec, Architect of Ascension Artifact Aggro deck since it fills an important niche and has a lot of synergy with Armix, but I have to tell you, that attacking alone restriction is a killer. Still a great card though.

[3drinks]

Saturday, March 4th, 2023; Tradewind Rider|g02

I remember these things terrorizing my high school cafeteria table. The perfect answer to the Hidden Horror|wth decks, great counter to Hatred decks, and yes, even a roadblock to my old Xanthic Statue + Meekstone|4ed sawft lock deck.

[Treamayne]

Saturday, March 4th, 2023; Tradewind Rider|g02

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Wow, that's a fugly version.
Replacement:

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I too remember (and loved) the Rider when he was new (and was sad when Tidespout Tyrant pushed him out of most decks). In EDH, I don't mind a random Tradewind Rider - but I detest the Intruder Alarm "return everything" combo players. If you wanted to play Solitaire, then why mess up our table?

[TheGildedGoose]

This takes me back to last century.