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

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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

You can get a lock on your backpack, but I don't think it'll do much, since of course, backpacks can be cut. A strongbox in your trunk, maybe?

And yeah, there are actually quite a few broken cards where a "fixed" version is better in corner-case scenarios. An example I always use is Thwart versus Force of Will (which isn't banned in Legacy or restricted in Vintage, but only because it keeps so much other broken stuff in check). But if you're playing with Winter Orb and the like, Thwart's ability to bounce your own lands is pretty useful; I just wouldn't want to have it in my hand against a t1/t2 combo.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Monday, October 21st, 2019; Aftershock


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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Well, it's versatile. But red already has ways to destroy all those things without drawback. Would it usually be necessary to ever run this beyond Pillage, Demolish, and burn?

Now if this had said "destroy target permanent" it would probably be color pie breaking even in Tempest but then it'd probably be run in monored or UR.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Monday, October 21st, 2019; Aftershock
Red has (perhaps surprisingly) few non-damage ways of just outright destroying creatures. When they do, they are usually couched in hard-to-do ways, or specifically to destroy creatures with Defender (Goblin Grenadier, Clear a Path).

Aftershock, Fissure and Lava Flow are pretty much the only cards that will do this reasonably.

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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

Anyone use Goblin Cratermaker?
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Serenade wrote:
4 years ago
Anyone use Goblin Cratermaker?
Yes! He's fantastic, and I love how this little explody gobbo boi can assassinate either version of the giant tentacle Eldrazi......

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
Well, it's versatile. But red already has ways to destroy all those things without drawback. Would it usually be necessary to ever run this beyond Pillage, Demolish, and burn?

Now if this had said "destroy target permanent" it would probably be color pie breaking even in Tempest but then it'd probably be run in monored or UR.
Red can indeed do these things. But typically not on one card. That's the draw.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Aftershock is a flexible card, but it's not particularly efficient. I think the main draw here is likely going to be the hard removal for creatures - red has a lot of other options for artifact and land destruction (ex: Pillage), but most of its creature removal is damage-based, which means it can be difficult to kill high-toughness creatures. Most relevant for monored and red-green decks, since other colors have better options for creature removal.

Even in a monored deck, I still don't think I would play Aftershock - four mana to kill one creature is just too inefficient, and it even has a downside. Volcanic Offering is a significant upgrade for a single additional mana. Alternatively, accept some limitations and play Lightning Bolt or Pyroblast, build a synergistic deck for Threaten + a sacrifice outlet, or go big with Comet Storm (or another X spell) + lots of mana. (and don't forget that the best creature removal is player removal)

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019; Field of the Dead



Oh, look. it's the card that's been in all the news the past few days (weeks?) How does it measure up in our format though?

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

How ironic that it comes up now!
I've heard really good reports. That being said I don't think it's an easy drop in. I'd say it belongs in a deck with native steady ramp. It's come up in my Varina thread a couple times because zombies, and I just am really reluctant there because esper land ramp sucks.

Mono green or green splashed though. I'm trialing it in Nissa at present. It hasn't come up yet but I expect a zombie horde at some point shortly.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019; Field of the Dead
Others have more extensive experience than me with this one... but, I think it's probably really good, even in this format. I'm told there's a decent Golos, Tireless Pilgrim deck that could make it go pretty fast.

I have been strongly considering including it in The Scarab God; despite the fact it's bicolour, I think I can find enough utility/dual lands to make it go at 7-land count. I mean, I could also just play half regular basics and half Snow-covered to game the requirement a bit (even Myriad Landscape could search a basic and a Snow-covered basic at the same time to avoid name duplication). The zombies would be extra welcome in TSG.

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Post by Dunharrow » 4 years ago

I have to see if it fits in my Mina and Denn, Wildborn. Mina's ability + extra land drops and lots of land tutors means this can get out of hand. However, I would have to test to see how reliably it can be triggered. It is only a 2 color deck, and because there is green I play basics over a lot of bad ETB tapped lands. Suppose I can play snow-covered lands and regular basics to compensate.

I imagine the Gitrog Monster would like this since you are probably playing fetches from your yard every turn and playing 3-4 lands per turn.

Yarok is an obvious one.
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
Well, it's versatile. But red already has ways to destroy all those things without drawback. Would it usually be necessary to ever run this beyond Pillage, Demolish, and burn?

Now if this had said "destroy target permanent" it would probably be color pie breaking even in Tempest but then it'd probably be run in monored or UR.
Red can indeed do these things. But typically not on one card. That's the draw.
Red can't actually destroy (nonartifact, nonland) creatures, just damage them, though bolting a creature with toughness 3 or less usually has the same effect. I can think of a few corner cases where destroying might be better than damaging (e.g., Cho-Manno, Revolutionary and friends, dinosaurs and the like, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight), and one big one (too big, red has trouble with things like Titans, and certainly with card parity).

In spot removal it doesn't matter, since you can't target anyway, but Jokulhaups and Obliterate can take out creatures with protection from red when classics like Inferno, Earthquake, and Pyrohemia (I still think they should've called it Pyrrhemia, which would be more correct as a medical term.) fail to do so.

Hey, what can I say? Some men like to watch the world burn. I'm too busy hiding an empty can of accelerant.

Now for Field of the Dead, which was posted in the middle of my posting this, well, I think a big thing to understand is what you can use. Skyshroud Claim lets you grab two lands (usually duals) that just happen to be forests, for instance. Nature's Lore, Farseek, and Wood Elves to the same for one. (Though Farseek goes for any basic land type other than Forest.) Fetches have a similar value.

Beyond that, well, there's nothing I can think of better than Hour of Promise (any two lands). Shefet Monitor (search for a basic land or desert, goes to your hand) is also nice. You also get options like Gatecreper Vine (basic land or gate, goes to your hand).

But the real problem is, if you're at a competitive table, Blood Moon exists. So you'll want, say, half your lands to be basics, and probably include some accel other than ramp spells. (I don't get why players don't diversify their mana sources more, outside of Sol Ring, Mana Vault, and Mana Crypt, in order of rarity. I mean, casually, you're not going to get people attacking your lands that much, but still...Darksteel Ingot survives most wipes. Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves give you more mana on turn 2.)

Now, of course, if we unbanned Primeval Titan, it would go from "mildly useful" to "broken, ban it along with 50 other cards just so we can have PT in the game" rather quickly.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
How ironic that it comes up now!
I've heard really good reports. That being said I don't think it's an easy drop in. I'd say it belongs in a deck with native steady ramp. It's come up in my Varina thread a couple times because zombies, and I just am really reluctant there because esper land ramp sucks.
Sounds like you're in need of a Thawing Glaciers then. :foil:

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Post by plushpenguin » 4 years ago

This card is very good in land themed decks.

You can even make it work in 2 color reliably if you have enough nombasics and do a snow basic split.

This + Finale of Devastation is a compact wincon for those decks that have a low opportunity cost.

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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

Field is very strong; lands are hard to interact with. I have considered it as a wincon for Korvold Lands (if I ever discontinue gitrog, which I keep thinking about).

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 4 years ago

It's a solid performer in my group's Lord Windgrace, it tends to get tutored quite often. A nice little board in a can out of nowhere for Scapeshift too. A staple of multicolour land.dec going forward, possibly also a "wincon" in some slow as molasses hell decks.
 
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
How ironic that it comes up now!
I've heard really good reports. That being said I don't think it's an easy drop in. I'd say it belongs in a deck with native steady ramp. It's come up in my Varina thread a couple times because zombies, and I just am really reluctant there because esper land ramp sucks.
Sounds like you're in need of a Thawing Glaciers then. :foil:
Good idea, actually. Still not enough to justify running Field of the Dead in the deck though :) I just have better, more reliable sources of zombies.
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Post by lyonhaert » 4 years ago

Something I could consider for my Tatyova lands deck. The main goal will be to vomit lands out and animate them (also maybe break symmetry of stuff like Devastation Tide and even Evacuation). But it could also end up being win-more off of a Splendid Reclamation.
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Post by Morganelefay » 4 years ago

Always run Snow/Normal basics split when running this. It's not good in every deck, but if you can reliably drop multiple and varied lands each turn, it'll do a good amount of work. Just keep in mind it comes into play tapped, I've seen a lot of people miss that little part.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

pokken wrote:
4 years ago
Field is very strong; lands are hard to interact with. I have considered it as a wincon for Korvold Lands (if I ever discontinue gitrog, which I keep thinking about).
"Every deck can play wasteland."

Srsly. Lands are only harder to interact with than other cards when one looks at them as though they were upon a pedestal. Once you graduate from such an erroneous train of thought, you understand that there's nothing "sacred" about lands and perfect mana is a privilege, not a right.

Play what you want, by all means. I will play what I want.

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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago

"Every deck can play wasteland."

Srsly. Lands are only harder to interact with than other cards when one looks at them as though they were upon a pedestal. Once you graduate from such an erroneous train of thought, you understand that there's nothing "sacred" about lands and perfect mana is a privilege, not a right.

Play what you want, by all means. I will play what I want.
How many ways do you have to remove lands vs. creatures? that's right...creatures are easier to remove. many colors can't even remove lands, and so you're playing with 1 or 2 land destruction lands that are actually playable, and that's it.

I play ways to deal with lands in all my decks but there just are fewer ways to approach that than creatures, or even enchantments/artifacts.

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Post by OCPunisher » 4 years ago

This is a card that has been seeing more and more play in all my decks. Unless you're mono-colored with 20+ basics, it's pretty easy to slot this card in almost any deck and enjoy random/almost-free value. Seven lands with different names is absurdly easy to achieve in this format (see: the city's blessing) and who doesn't love free bodies?

As far as removing it, I agree with [mention]3drinks[/mention]: every deck can play Wasteland. I'd actually prefer to play Ghost Quarter for all the random tricks you can do with it, but the same theory applies.

tl:dr - mostly free value bodies for anyone under 20 basics
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Whenever a card gets banned, I try to give it a second look for my decks. I've been happy with Gitaxian Probe and Birthing Pod, but Aetherworks Marvel was a bit of a bust. That said, there were already a few decks I've considered Field of the Dead for that I haven't actually tested a card in - specifically, Teysa (because black zombies) and Tasigur (because lands).

You're certainly paying a premium by running a tapped colorless land, so it really depends on how many zombies you expect to make from it - I'd call a break-even point at two zombies for most decks, which means you'll want to hit at least 8 lands. Trivial if you're a ramp deck (remember to run snow basics) or if you expect the game to go really long (although the zombies may be less valuable to a control deck), but significantly worse if you expect a faster game.

I think my main complaint with it (other than it being tapped + producing colorless) is that Weathered Wayfarer needs a reprint - I'm running too many interesting utility lands to fetch up in Teysa and Samut with a single Expedition Map.

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Post by vandertroll » 4 years ago

Auto include for every lands.dec ever?
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