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

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon has the dubious distinction of being the only legendary creature with infect, which means it can kill with 10 points of damage instead of 21. It also has evasion, haste, and a way to protect itself, which makes it a natural voltron commander. It's also a fine creature in other poison-based strategies. Unfortunately, poison is a pretty binary mechanic - either you care about it, or you don't. As a result, I don't think there are many uses for Skithiryx outside those strategies. I guess more voltron-ish The Mimeoplasm or Lazav, Dimir Mastermind decks may be interested in it?

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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

Don't forget one-shotting opponents with Scion of the Ur-Dragon.
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Post by Sinis » 1 year ago

I think Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon has a new life as a finisher for the mild-infect decks that came out with Phyrexia, All Will Be One. It's an acceptable game plan to play to get players corrupted in the midgame for the value bonuses on those cards, and then to finish players off with something like Skithiryx. It becomes less of an all-eggs-in-one-basket kind of thing, which I'm all for.

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Post by Lifeless » 1 year ago

I love poison so I love Skittles. He's a scary Voltron commander and a great finisher otherwise, but my poison decks have been non black for a while so my copy stays in a reanimator deck.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Friday, March 24th, 2023; Empress Galina|plist



gogogadget Leyline of Singularity

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Post by materpillar » 1 year ago

Wtf is the card layout that you linked? This card feels cool until you realize that you'll never untap with it ever and even if you do it'll be kinda underwhelming.

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

materpillar wrote:
1 year ago
Wtf is the card layout that you linked?
It's from a Secret Lair themed around left-handedness.
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Post by Hawk » 1 year ago

Blessed to have a foil original printing Empress Galina which is in the 99 of Sygg, River Guide merfolk tribal. The card is...fine. Unlike most steals on a stick this doesn't end at end of turn or when Galina dies (see Overtaker, Willbreaker, Sower of Temptation) but there is still competition - cards like Agent of Treachery are the same total mana for your first steal but are more immediate, while stuff like Beguiler of Wills requires more hoops but is cheaper overall and both are arguably less restrictive. She's fun and the foil is gorgeous, but for the most part I think EDH has grown far beyond this sort of slow, fragile value engine compared to faster, stronger cards.

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Empress Galina looks meh. Five mana + two extra mana (and needing to tap) to activate is pretty clunky, but stealing enemy commanders repeatedly can be good. That said, if you don't have Leyline of Singularity, your targets may be limited. While it does feel like every creature is legendary these days, there are still plenty of nonlegendary creatures in the format.

...so yeah, I'd usually go with the more flexible Agent of Treachery or Blatant Thievery.

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Post by Hawk » 1 year ago

I should note that Galina got a buff a few years back as she now can steal Planeswalkers (she steals any legendary permanent, but that's the most common legendary card outside of creatures). So I don't know if you need to necessarily pack Leyline of Singularity to make her functional.

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Post by RxPhantom » 1 year ago

I put her in my Merieke Ri Berit deck and she's been pretty good so far. That deck only occasionally sees the light of day, though.
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Saturday, March 25th, 2023; Sphinx of Enlightenment



I get all the tinglies when I read the text etb: draw three cards.....and it's on a good thicc boi body to boot.

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

There's easier and better ways to get a grip on a big body, but it's probably brutal in sphinx.dec.
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Post by Sinis » 1 year ago

This feels worse to me than Sphinx of Uthuun. I think I'd rather the fact or fiction than the Concentrate, but I could be wrong on which one is 'better', here.

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Post by Crazy Monkey » 1 year ago

I don't recall seeing this sphinx before, despite playing sphinx tribal for years. It's a middle of the road between Master of Winds and Sphinx of Uthuun on mana, cards, and stats when looking at sphinxes. In an Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign deck it's reasonable, but I think worse than the more effecient or deeper drawing options.

Outside of sphinx tribal it may work in a blink deck, especially if you can leverage the opponent drawing into deals.
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Crazy Monkey wrote:
1 year ago
I don't recall seeing this sphinx before, despite playing sphinx tribal for years.
It's from Game Night, alongside Calculating Lich, Earthshaker Giant, Fiendish Duo, and Highcliff Felidar.

Sphinx of Enlightenment looks fine - it's in the same slot as Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign at six mana, and between Mulldrifter and Sphinx of Uthuun / Lord of Change in terms of mana value and cards drawn. Plus there are options like All-Seeing Arbiter, Cavalier of Gales, and Inspired Sphinx. So... there are a bunch of options clustered that slot in the curve, and it's hard to say which is best.

I think the ultimate question comes down to what synergies you're looking to feed into. Sphinx of Enlightenment is relatively vanilla (since it just draws cards), but giving an opponent a card can have political implications... or fuel synergies that care about your opponents drawing cards. Unesh and Sphinx of Uthuun are better if you have graveyard synergies, while Mulldrifter is reasonable if you care about elementals or the cheaper evoke cost. I like Lord of Change in my Thada and Animar decks due to the ward and single mana pip, respectively.

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Post by Serenade » 1 year ago

This thing is too boring for me.

Duo needs a non-foil reprint.
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Sunday, March 26th, 2023; Equipoise



Man where have you been all my life. I didn't know this existed but oh my god Bolas I need this right now.

.....oh wait it's target player, it's not like Ward of Bones. So it's good at slowing the lead player? And you can choose a different player for creatures and artifacts if you wanted. Treasures/powerstones phase out and don't come back, right? Or did they change that rule when they brought phasing back?

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Post by Treamayne » 1 year ago

Good friends with Paradox Haze (and similar) for multiple upkeeps. Note: things will phase-in on their next turn (so targeting the player to your left means their stuff is only phased out on your turn) so you can set up politics like targeting Opponent B to make them vulnerable to an attack by Opponent A.
3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
And you can choose a different player for creatures and artifacts if you wanted.
Not quite, because a player is only targeted once, but you can choose a different player to target every upkeep. See Errata:
10/4/2004 In multiplayer games, you can choose a different target player each turn. You can even choose yourself.
3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Treasures/powerstones phase out and don't come back, right? Or did they change that rule when they brought phasing back?
CR_702 wrote: 702.26d The phasing event doesn't actually cause a permanent to change zones or control, even though it's treated as though it's not on the battlefield and not under its controller's control while it's phased out. Zone-change triggers don't trigger when a permanent phases in or out. Tokens continue to exist on the battlefield while phased out. Counters and stickers remain on a permanent while it's phased out. Effects that check a phased-in permanent's history won't treat the phasing event as having caused the permanent to leave or enter the battlefield or its controller's control.
Also possibly relevant:
CR_702 wrote:702.26m If an effect causes a player to skip their untap step, the phasing event simply doesn't occur that turn.
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Treamayne wrote:
1 year ago
CR_702 wrote: 702.26d The phasing event doesn't actually cause a permanent to change zones or control, even though it's treated as though it's not on the battlefield and not under its controller's control while it's phased out. Zone-change triggers don't trigger when a permanent phases in or out. Tokens continue to exist on the battlefield while phased out. Counters and stickers remain on a permanent while it's phased out. Effects that check a phased-in permanent's history won't treat the phasing event as having caused the permanent to leave or enter the battlefield or its controller's control.
That's what I was looking for, thank you. The rule that undid the "Reality Ripple on a batterskull Germ" ruling. So this card is best at enabling alphas and phasing out that player's islands to safely land your combo.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Monday, March 27th, 2023; The Pain Lands


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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

Unfortunately, I feel like the mana base in magic is a solved game. These lands aren't bad, but they aren't the best option, so you'll never run them unless you have budget constraints.

It's a good cycle, and one of my first recommendations if you ARE on a budget, but I honestly can't think of any reason to play them besides budget constraints (which is a perfectly legitimate reason, I just wish it wasn't the ONLY reason).
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Dunadain wrote:
1 year ago
Unfortunately, I feel like the mana base in magic is a solved game. These lands aren't bad, but they aren't the best option, so you'll never run them unless you have budget constraints.

It's a good cycle, and one of my first recommendations if you ARE on a budget, but I honestly can't think of any reason to play them besides budget constraints (which is a perfectly legitimate reason, I just wish it wasn't the ONLY reason).
Off the top of my head, if you care about creating c specifically, these are strong considerations as well.

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Post by pokken » 1 year ago

I try never to play these, or Mana Confluence or City of Brass. The trigger management is so tedious. These are least tap for colorless.

I do run confluence/city in one deck but it was just so I didn't have to run the whole fetch suite, and honestly probably isn't necessary.

I will play the pains in an Eldrazi Displacer deck though.

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