[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Journeyer's Kite

[void_nothing]

These would be really cool if they said "each upkeep". As it is, though - they can only slot into WUBRG decks because, well, they have all those symbols in their text, so there's a lot to compete with. Casting for nine mana is right out, and there are better things to spend one-of-each on. But while I don't think these are underplayed gems or anything, some of those upkeep triggers are more valuable than others.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Pretty useless, all things considered. They don't do enough, and they only play in wubrg decks.

[Mookie]

I think there was a window of time when some of the Bringers were worth consideration, but that window has long passed - both for 5C decks and for a hypothetical timeline in which you could run them in the appropriate monocolor decks. Upkeep triggers are slow, the triggers aren't that exciting compared to more modern options, and a 5/5 trampler isn't quite as impressive these days. They look better if you're only paying five mana for them, but I'd lean towards stuff like Two-Headed Hellkite for 5C decks. Even in monocolor decks, I think there are better options for these effects, such as Ironsoul Enforcer and Molten Primordial.

[Hawk]

Generally speaking these were sorta butt on release and are awful now.
9 mana is awful for a 5/5 trample with an upkeep trigger these days, and was untennable then. In casual constructed and standard these basically demanded a 5C deck. I do recall liking Bringer of the Blue Dawn a bit in a 5C Shrines deck...until I pulled Keiga, the Tide Star which was a much better "finisher".

In EDH these are only playable in 5C which makes them fairly narrow. Blue and White Dawn have effects hard to replicate otherwise that could occasionally see play in the right home, perhaps, but overall these are too niche. Most good 5C decks these days are less "good stuff", more "focused gameplan", and these rarely fit into those plans.

[TheGildedGoose]

Back in the day, Bringer of the Black Dawn was briefly considered in Forbidden Orchard Oath of Druids decks in Vintage as a less explosive but more control-oriented bomb compared to Akroma, Angel of Wrath or, and I cannot stress enough that I am being serious, Spirit of the Night.

It did not make the cut.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

[...] I cannot stress enough that I am being serious, Spirit of the Night.

Yo, let's be real though, Spirit of the Night is %$#% awesome. Just look at that art!

[TheGildedGoose]

[...] I cannot stress enough that I am being serious, Spirit of the Night.

Yo, let's be real though, Spirit of the Night is %$#% awesome. Just look at that art!

I'd let that shadow take my breath away every night with my cat if you know what I mean.

[materpillar]

Everyone be hating on my boys in here. All these words like "useless" and "awful" being thrown around. Bringer of the Black Dawn played so well in my High CMC deck that I actually slotted in Bringer of the Blue Dawn.

I'd like introduce all of you to Grozoth. I run a delightful Myojin of Life's Web + Bringer of the Black Dawn + Bringer of the Blue Dawn + Blazing Archon package. Turns out these boys are great when you flash them in for free EOT.

As a stand-alone goodstuff card I think Bringer of the Black Dawn still holds up. It's really close to a must kill. Casting it on T4 still feels immensely powerful. Bringer of the Blue Dawn is far from bad on curve, although it has been eclipsed by things like Two-Headed Hellkite I think it's pretty playable. Most people just don't want WUBRG goodstuff. The other Bringers aren't even good enough to be part of my Grozoth package… sooooo I'm not sure why anyone would run those.

[Dragonlover]

Yeah my wife runs 5 colour 9 drops with Jodah, Archmage Eternal at the helm and there's a couple of these in there, I think blue and black?

Dragonlover

[cheonice]

So much nostalgia! The Bringers looked so cool when I was in school, but were nearly unplayable. No one had an idea how to build a mana base to support 5C and 9 mana where way out of range even in the good ol' Timmy times.

[materpillar]

Yeah my wife runs 5 colour 9 drops with Jodah, Archmage Eternal at the helm and there's a couple of these in there, I think blue and black?

Dragonlover

You have a decklist for that somewhere?

[Igzex]

I am really nostalgic when it comes to Fifth Dawn. These cards, the beacons, Mephidross Vampire (Heck yeah all the stuff in my early teen edgelord Black deck becomes vampires!) and all the silly sunburst stuff were so cool to my middle school self. Sadly, they weren't that practical back then and certainly aren't now.

That said, I would not underestimate the bringers if they were to actually hit the field. Especially the Black Dawn one. Do not let that thing see its controller's next upkeep.

[onering]

Black Dawn is "WURBG: Eat a kill spell." Nothing that gives you a somewhat relevant body and tutors is actually bad it's just been eclipsed. Sidisi is obviously better, but think about why. You need to be able to blink/reanimate her in order to get more than one tutor, or you need something else to sacrifice in order to have her not be an overcosted Diabolic Tutor. Sure, 5 to tutor is a nice option to have, but it's the fact that she can either be a solid body or be abused for multiple triggers that makes her a star. Black Dawn's big drawback is having to wait a turn cycle to get the tutor, which while it goes to the top of the library will be immediately drawn. If it lives for two turns, it's 2 tutors for 5 mana. It requires no additional investment to keep tutoring besides time. Unfortunately, that means it falls into a weird area where it's slow enough that your opponents have plenty of time to respond to it, yet powerful enough that it cannot be allowed to live. This means you're going to be set up for it getting killed before your upkeep a lot, which is a feel bad.

Because Black Dawn is so kill on sight, I think Blue probably plays better in practice most of the time. Drawing 2 cards a turn is pretty solid and a 5/5 trample is big enough to be relevant. There are definitely better options, but it's going to be solid enough to make an impact but low profile enough to actually live for a couple turns. If you want to run a Bringer because you think they're cool, I feel like this is the one to go for because it will put in work and at least feel good to play. Black Dawn is probably better if you commit to protecting it, but it's going to lead to less fun gameplay. It'll get killed often enough that trying to use it "fairly" (as it, not to tutor up a combo) won't be good enough to justify all the times it east an STP, so you'll have the incentive to just search up a combo, which unless you're trying to set up 3+ card combo isn't really going to be the payoff you are looking from getting from a wacky nostalgia Timmy card.

[umtiger]

Everyone be hating on my boys in here. All these words like "useless" and "awful" being thrown around. Bringer of the Black Dawn played so well in my High CMC deck that I actually slotted in Bringer of the Blue Dawn.

I'd like introduce all of you to Grozoth. I run a delightful Myojin of Life's Web + Bringer of the Black Dawn + Bringer of the Blue Dawn + Blazing Archon package. Turns out these boys are great when you flash them in for free EOT.

As a stand-alone goodstuff card I think Bringer of the Black Dawn still holds up. It's really close to a must kill. Casting it on T4 still feels immensely powerful. Bringer of the Blue Dawn is far from bad on curve, although it has been eclipsed by things like Two-Headed Hellkite I think it's pretty playable. Most people just don't want WUBRG goodstuff. The other Bringers aren't even good enough to be part of my Grozoth package… sooooo I'm not sure why anyone would run those.

I still play all of those cards...unironically.

I really like playing the Black Bringer in my Child of Alara lands.dec

[DirkGently]

You'd think their weird grey 5th dawn mana symbols would excuse them from the CI restrictions.

Power rankings:
Black
Blue
White
Red
Green

Personally I like white the most, since it's the most unique, though it's a lot more niche than blue or black. Blue is replaceable with any number of recurring draw creatures, including Arcanis the Omnipotent which has no CI restrictions and predates him by a year or so. Black is replaceable with Maralen of the Mornsong....sorta...but more realistically any number of tutors that do the job immediately. Tutoring in this format doesn't tend to be the sort of thing that needs doing more than a couple times before the game is over, depending on power level. Red is replaced with Dominus of Fealty most directly, also Captivating Crew, and many less-repeatable effects. Also a somewhat niche effect, though less narrow than white. Green has been replaced with tons of options, first one that comes to mind is Tendershoot Dryad which is basically a 4x power version of this with no color restrictions and an easy cost. Ouch.

Art design rankings:
White
Green
Red
Black
Blue

The geodesic art design is pretty...eh. I don't think it's aged well. It doesn't really look like they had a good idea of what they were going for tbh. Blue is the worst looking imo, very generic design outside of the texture, and the pose is corny. Looks like a poster for a 50s monster movie, minus the retro charm. No background either. Black has an decent design but the background is the black-card-in-mirrodin-block version of white noise, and the pose looks like he doesn't know what to do with his hands. He'd fit in perfectly in the Lonely Island "Creep" music video. Red has a generic design but at least something is going on with the background and he looks a little less derpy. Green has a decent background and an okay creature design, not much to say. The sense of scale is missing, that's one thing - all the rest feel big. White is the only one I kinda like - he looks a bit more menacing and mysterious emerging from the background, the design is reasonably unique, and the lighting is pretty well done imo. It's probably the only one that looks like some actual thought was put into it instead of "okay, geodesic monster in color X, go".

[3drinks]

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023; Minion's Return

I love that this has flash. Great way of interrupting certain sac loops, not and sometimes better at it than Debt of Loyalty for a fraction of the dollars. Good stuff.

[void_nothing]

That is a-okay. False Demise effects are way better at instant speed.

[hyalopterouslemur]

False Demise in the right colors? Yes please.

[materpillar]

... This means you're going to be set up for it getting killed before your upkeep a lot, which is a feel bad.

Because Black Dawn is so kill on sight, I think Blue probably plays better in practice most of the time. Drawing 2 cards a turn is pretty solid and a 5/5 trample is big enough to be relevant. There are definitely better options, but it's going to be solid enough to make an impact but low profile enough to actually live for a couple turns…..

This has been my experience overall. Drawing 2 cards a turn is a bunch though so the blue one eats a fair amount of removal too. One way I've found to keep Bringer of the Black Dawn alive is to just tell people what you're thinking of tutoring for like "hey down Murder, I'm planning on tutoring for Vindicate for [whatever problem exists on board]". If you use your first tutor for removal people are much more likely to let the bringer sit around.

Minion's Return is neat. Not really my style but I can get behind watching it being used to blow someone out.

[Toshi]

Hold on, wait a minute, i gotta play this in Killian, Ink Duelist!

[3drinks]

Hold on, wait a minute, i gotta play this in Killian, Ink Duelist!

Just remember that if you're using this on your own stuff, it's just an overcosted Undying Evil. You have to care about taking someone else's stuff. Which, I think Killian does care about, but just as a general statement for others reading this.

[cheonice]

Is there even a time slot to use this on an opponents sac loop? I mean, they can just sac the creature in response and this fizzles? Or am I missing something?

[DirkGently]

Is there even a time slot to use this on an opponents sac loop? I mean, they can just sac the creature in response and this fizzles? Or am I missing something?

Yeah it can't really stop any sac shenanigans. Typically sacing is part of the cost anyway, so there's not even a window to attempt to cast it.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, May 24th, 2023; Academy Rector

Oh boy............... fAiR aNd ExCiTiNg PlAy

[TheGildedGoose]

Damn near killed her.