[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Argothian Enchantress

[materpillar]

… I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out where I'd play this and I just put Undying Flames into a deck. :/

Zur the Enchanter, secret Humility flex your rules knowledge tribal? That actually sounds hilarious now that I type it.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I missed Backdraft Hellkite? Though all I want to say is, if you're summoning it once you get to five mana and then attacking with it by giving it haste, ya dun güfd. You need to actually be able to cast those spells in your graveyard.

Okay, now Xanthic Statue, yeah, this is pretty much filler for us. At 8, I expect something like a Baleful Force, not just a French vanilla. #AtLeastBeAGolem

[void_nothing]

Haha, it's funny because Karn had birds poop on him!

[onering]

New creature Karn ramps it out then gets boosted by it's high CMC, and it has a Karn quote, so Karn tribal.

Not everything has to be good to have a home. Sometimes Karn just needs to get +3/+3 from remembering that birds %$#% on him.

[Hermes_]

Zur the Enchanter, secret Humility flex your rules knowledge tribal? That actually sounds hilarious now that I type it.

add Spark Rupture and since we're in blue add Enchanted Evening Opalescence and then get smacked upside the head by someone

[DirkGently]

Is this a new high water mark for "least playable card on rcotd?"

I can't even be contrarian and say it's actually good

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Can we talk about how cool the artist's name is? "Hannibal King"? His parents deserve an award!

[Mookie]

There are a few reasons to play noncreature that turn into creatures. Off the top of my head:

• you want to restrict the creatures in your deck for Polymorph effects
• you want to have creatures that live through board wipes to carry equipment / pressure planeswalkers / etc
• you want to have creatures that live through your own board wipes / Diaochan, Artful Beauty
• you want a card that does something in the early game, but can also double as a lategame mana sink

...unfortunately, at eight mana for the initial cast and five mana to activate, I feel like Xanthic Statue is outclassed by most other options. Chimeric Mass is almost strictly better, while stuff like Guardian Idol and Fountain of Ichor provide more utility. Plus, there are colored options like Dimir Keyrune, and manlands like Mishra's Factory or Hall of Storm Giants.

[Treamayne]

I use this in my mono-Brown Karn's Golems deck - because Karn's ability means I can activate for 1 with no loss of P/T. . .
That makes a significant increase in it's efficacy (instead of 8 to cast and 5 to activate it is usually 10 to cast and copy (Mirrorworks) and 2 to have 16/16 available on attack or defense).

[materpillar]

I use this in my mono-Brown Karn's Golems deck - because Karn's ability means I can activate for 1 with no loss of P/T. . .
That makes a significant increase in it's efficacy (instead of 8 to cast and 5 to activate it is usually 10 to cast and copy (Mirrorworks) and 2 to have 16/16 available on attack or defense).

A use that makes sense? Insanity.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, May 17th, 2023; Priest of Forgotten Gods

[Hermes_]

If there's someone to remember them then they aren't forgotten

[3drinks]

Is this a new high water mark for "least playable card on rcotd?"

I can't even be contrarian and say it's actually good

It's best use case was with Meekstone|4ed back in the day. Man I miss those high school cafeteria games sometimes.

These days, I'd guess something with Master Transmuter or Copper Gnomes. 5 isn't an unreasonable animation cost on par with Celestial Colonnade to make itself a serra angel|4ed versus this making itself a no-upkeep force of nature|3ed. To say nothing of a goblin welder|ulg based strategy (goblin engineer|tsr can even bin it for welder to bring back!)

[Mookie]

Priest of Forgotten Gods can be a little tricky to use, but it's an excellent sac outlet if you can keep it fueled. It's one of the very few non-repeatable sac outlets I'm willing to run - I usually lean towards stuff like Viscera Seer or Ashnod's Altar due to them being better for combo, but Priest gives enough value that it's can be run as a standalone card.

You do need to tap it to activate, and it also requires two creatures to fuel, which can make it a bit clunky at times... but it only costs two mana to deploy, and in general, it gives enough value when you activate it to usually justify activating it every turn. The edict and card draw mean it's usually a 4-for-2, while the life loss and mana production provide a bit of additional incidental value.

I'll call out that the mana production is a pretty unique effect - Black technically has a few other creatures that generate mana like Soldevi Adnate or Illuminor Szeras, but the power level is usually pretty low. I wouldn't necessarily count on Priest to ramp you immediately though - while it could theoretically ramp to five mana on turn three, you're unlikely to actually have enough spare creatures to sacrifice. Still, it's not impossible for it to be online around turn four or five.

Human cleric is also a nice typing, with two relevant creature types for stuff like General Kudro of Drannith and Orah, Skyclave Hierophant. 1/2 body also triggers Welcoming Vampire and other effects, while living through incidental pings that may kill 1/1s.

I suppose Priest is generally outclassed by Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, but that's true of every other sac outlet too - Yawgmoth is sort of absurd. Beyond that, there aren't many other sac outlets I would run on the strength of their output alone. I suppose there are some one-shot effects like Disciple of Bolas and Culling the Weak, and Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar can do work in the right deck... but most other sac outlets are about the sacrifice first, and the payoff is incidental.

[materpillar]

Card was super good in Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker. Other than that, what Mookie said.

[edit]: I'm dumb

[DirkGently]

Feels very backup backup Grave Pact. Playable but niche and not amazing.

It's best use case was with Meekstone|4ed back in the day. Man I miss those high school cafeteria games sometimes.

These days, I'd guess something with Master Transmuter or Copper Gnomes. 5 isn't an unreasonable animation cost on par with Celestial Colonnade to make itself a serra angel|4ed versus this making itself a no-upkeep force of nature|3ed. To say nothing of a goblin welder|ulg based strategy (goblin engineer|tsr can even bin it for welder to bring back!)

You can't reasonably compare it to a manland. For one thing, the initial cost of a land is 0 instead of 8. For a second, the primary function of a manland is that it's a land. The primary function of xanthic statue is that it sits in your hand and you wish it was literally anything else.

I get having nostalgia for the card but it is way beyond unplayable in commander. Even if it cost 1 it would still be bad.

what Pokken said.

pokken:

[hyalopterouslemur]

If there's someone to remember them then they aren't forgotten

The forgotten gods in question are Evangelionesque monstrosities as usual. Seriously, both Ravnica and Zendikar have eldritch horrors with an angelic motif? (Besides the obvious homage, Emrakul is depicted as an angel, and nephilim are angel hybrids in the Bible.) And they both have mana costs that at the time were unprecedented.

Somehow I doubt people have actually forgotten them since they showed up in the first Ravnica block. Really, the fact that they're ancient gods and they try to destroy the city is the extent of their flavor.

Okay, Vorthos wank over!

Man, this card's all over the place. I have to say, you're playing with Grave Pact and friends (probably just Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos) if you're using this.

[ukkuhrmakhai]

Priest of Forgotten Gods is one of the few summoning sick sac outlets I run. It's much better than I thought initially. None of the individual effects are amazing but you get all of them.

You get ramp, removal and draw all in one card which is pretty hard to pass up for the decks that can support it.

Like every creature it gets better with haste but I think Priest of Forgotten Gods particularly enjoys being in a RB deck where you have access to Anger.

[onering]

It's good.

In a 4 player pod, if everyone has a creature out, you trade 2 creatures to take out 3 creatures, draw a card, add BB, and bleed your opponents for 2. That's a 4 for 2 that also adds mana and attacks life totals, and the 2 "cards" you go down are probably less valuable than the "cards" your opponents go down and the card you draw, since if you have this in your deck you have either a bunch of disposable tokens or a bunch of stuff you actively want to die.

[3drinks]

It's best use case was with Meekstone|4ed back in the day. Man I miss those high school cafeteria games sometimes.

These days, I'd guess something with Master Transmuter or Copper Gnomes. 5 isn't an unreasonable animation cost on par with Celestial Colonnade to make itself a serra angel|4ed versus this making itself a no-upkeep force of nature|3ed. To say nothing of a goblin welder|ulg based strategy (goblin engineer|tsr can even bin it for welder to bring back!)

You can't reasonably compare it to a manland. For one thing, the initial cost of a land is 0 instead of 8. For a second, the primary function of a manland is that it's a land. The primary function of xanthic statue is that it sits in your hand and you wish it was literally anything else.

I get having nostalgia for the card but it is way beyond unplayable in commander. Even if it cost 1 it would still be bad.

I never said it'd be good. Just use. A simple, non-zero percent use that'll do the thing you're trying to do.

[3drinks]

Thursday, May 18th, 2023; Koma, Cosmos Serpent

[Dunharrow]

"Generous Gift is better than Anguished Unmaking"
/sarcasm

This card is brutal if unchecked. Tapping down lands in the upkeep, tapping planeswalkers. Very hard to overcome.

[hyalopterouslemur]

"Generous Gift is better than Anguished Unmaking"
/sarcasm

This card is brutal if unchecked. Tapping down lands in the upkeep, tapping planeswalkers. Very hard to overcome.

Any time I don't see "nonland" before "permanent", I take note. While it doesn't destroy permanents, my old buddy Stasis says they may as well be.

Is this what "sometimes dead is better" means? Because tap lockdowns are far more irritating than something like Smokestack.

[materpillar]

Koma, Cosmos Serpent is strong but doesn't feel stupidly strong to me. I'd prefer seeing this over a lot of things simic can drop for 7 mana. Indestructible is a lot worse than it used to be so it isn't too terribly hard to remove either. Completely unchecked it'll take over the game but that's fine for a big scary serpent.

[void_nothing]

Koma, Cosmos Serpent is actually a commander of mine! The deck is casual, basically "upkeep triggers tribal" that also uses ramp. Verdant Force and Tidal Force are also in there and Koma happens to be basically a combination of those two things on crank. A 3/3 token is no big deal in a 40-life format, but when you get four or five of them each turn cycle, most of which can attack as soon as your turn comes around again...