[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Leonin Shikari

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

Destructive Force is just a slightly bigger Wildfire/Burning of Xinye unless I'm missing something.

I don't play mass LD, but if I did I think I would prefer cheaper or more effecient alternatives unless there's some incredibly specific synergy I had built around like It That Betrays or Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, which would be too difficult and inconsistent for me personally.

The board wipe half is only slightly better than Mizzium Mortars, and again I think I would look elsewhere unless I was running indestructible critters, several Stuffy Dolls, Firesong and Sunspeaker as my general, or a bunch of Furnace of Rath effects, maybe with Torbran, Thane of Red Fell at the helm.
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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

Honestly? The land destruction isn't that good. Making your opponent sacrifice lands just means they'll sacrifice basic lands and spell lands first before multicolor lands, and they'll never sacrifice utility lands or big mana lands. Or they'll just have Sun Titan or Crucible of Worlds ready. Or they'll just use rocks.

At seven mana, you get Inferno. At six, you get Mizzium Mortars which doesn't affect you.

Most likely I'd play Jokulhaups first.
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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

It's not Death Cloud, but Destructive Force is still good at ruining your opponents' days. At its best if you can ramp into it - if you cast it on ten lands when your opponents are on six, you can probably function much better on five lands than your opponents on one. Alternatively, run it alongside Lord Windgrace or Crucible of Worlds to just replay the lands. Splendid Reclamation also works well.

On the flip side, five damage to everything is... fine. It's enough damage to kill most things, but it's also not enough to reliably kill everything. Could work alongside Gisela, Blade of Goldnight to make it a one-sided wrath, or just play a commander that will survive it like Etali, Primal Storm. You probably want some plan for dealing with survivors though, because anything that survives will probably end up attacking you.

One thing I'll call out is that unlike Armageddon or other MLD, this rewards ramp decks, instead of crippling them. It also isn't mitigated by playing mana rocks (although it interacts very poorly with mana dorks). As a result, seems reasonable in any sort of RGx ramp deck - Lord Windgrace, Omnath, Locus of Rage, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, etc.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Monday, November 2nd, 2019; Bituminous Blast


Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
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WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
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BeneTleilax
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Post by BeneTleilax » 4 years ago

Even with Cascade, 5 mana is far too much for spot removal. I've seen this in a Yidris Cascade-tribal deck, and it's a cool theme card if you want to do something like that.

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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

The good: Cascade.
The bad: 5 mana.
The good: But 5 mana makes cascade better.
The bad: But sometimes you want to cascade into a smaller card.
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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Cascade is possibly my favorite mechanic, partially because of how weird it is - it makes a spell costing more into an upside. Flipping Bituminous Blast on its head and assuming I always hit a four mana spell, would I be willing to pay a r kicker to also cast Flame Slash? Usually yes (although it looks much worse if I don't have the mana to spare). So the best-case scenario is pretty good. On the other hand, if I expect to cascade into a one or two mana spell, I'm probably not willing to pay 3r or 2r for it. And if you whiff and hit Counterspell or an X spell like Torment of Hailfire, it looks really bad.

In other words: cascade goes up in value if you can reliably hit high-cost spells (usually via deck manipulation), and down if you expect to hit less expensive things. It's also useful if you want to trigger Ramos, Dragon Engine or Monastery Mentor multiple times (or any other card that triggers off casting). There are also some interesting things you can do by sculpting your deck (ex: not playing anything that costs 4 or less so you'll always cascade into Ancestral Vision).

....I'm almost tempted to throw it in Kess now, but I don't think it would work that well there - I'm running too many 2-drops for consistent value, even if I did have enough deck manipulation to set it up. Alas.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019; Tombstone Stairwell


Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

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Mookie
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Possibly my favorite way to win with Teysa, Orzhov Scion. Spawns absurd numbers of Tombspawn tokens (potentially 30+ per turn cycle, more if you're counting your opponents') to trigger Teysa, Blood Artist, Ayara, First of Locthwain, Mentor of the Meek, Syr Konrad the Grim, Suture Priest, and many others. I won't recommend Dark Prophecy unless you're feeling particularly bold though. Also very, very silly with Altar of Dementia, and capable of milling out the entire table within a turn cycle or two, depending on how many creatures you're running.

Cumulative upkeep is actually pretty negligible, since you start getting tokens immediately. I don't think I've ever paid the upkeep more than twice.

Commanders worth consideration (other than the ones already mentioned): Phenax, God of Deception, Varina, Lich Queen, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Elenda, the Dusk Rose, Grismold, the Dreadsower.... and pretty much any other deck that plans to have a graveyard full of creatures or wants lots of things to die.

Other thoughts:
-I have yet to see the 'World Rule' come into effect. Someday....
-The tokens are explicitly destroyed, so you can get around it with Eldrazi Monument or other sources of indestructibility
-The tokens have haste and die at end of turn. You can actually play it fairly and just win by attacking, especially if you have a bunch more tokens than an opponent.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

During each upkeep, each player...

Whoa. All these years and I only just now realized this is the verdant force effect.

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

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RedCheese
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Post by RedCheese » 4 years ago

LOVE this card in my Varina zombie tribal deck. So mutch sillyness happens because of this card.

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Dunharrow
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Post by Dunharrow » 4 years ago

I like this with Burning Sands and Aether Flash.
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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Dunharrow wrote:
4 years ago
I like this with Burning Sands and Aether Flash.
Uhm...that's just gonna Armageddon every turn though...

Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

onering
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Post by onering » 4 years ago

Great card if you can afford it, so much sac fodder.

I've actually found Enchant World to be more relevant than would seem at first glance. Both The Abyss and Nether Void are powerful world enchantments that see play limited only by their price tag. I personally run concordant crossroads in a number of decks (even though it's symmetrical, I think it's an underused card, its hard to overstate how strong it is in non red Gx creature decks). Additionally I've seen Mystic Decree in pillow fort decks alongside Island Sanctuary and Moat, Lands Edge as backup for Seismic Assault, field of dreams in Circu, and Arboria as part of a taxes deck and with that angel that doesn't let you attack if you cast a spell. I've taken out a nether Void and and abyss before with crossroads, and had a nether void taken out by a mystic decree.

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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

+ Ashiok 2.0 rawr
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

This card just does disgusting things. Seriously good with aristocrats. It takes a little setup but if you're dropping it with a decent yard you're gonna end the game before you pay that upkeep cost.
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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
During each upkeep, each player...

Whoa. All these years and I only just now realized this is the verdant force effect.
Well, if it weren't a Verdant Force, it wouldn't be symmetrical, now would it? Those tokens are Ball Lightnings.

I've used it in Saskia and Ghave. In both, the reason is entry/death triggers, but getting Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite out can be funny. I don't keep it out for long regardless (because I'm playing 3-4 colors), but it strengthens the case for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
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Dunharrow
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Post by Dunharrow » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Dunharrow wrote:
4 years ago
I like this with Burning Sands and Aether Flash.
Uhm...that's just gonna Armageddon every turn though...
Not if you have no creatures in your deck!
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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019; Tombstone Stairwell
Hey, it's a card I mentioned in the Underused Cards thread!

This card can be bonkers. It usually requires some setup, but, yeah. Bonkers. I currently play it in Ayara, and most people don't get another untap step.

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Post by Hermes_ » 4 years ago

I feel like i'd get smacked if i put paradox haze out with this
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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Wednesday, December 4th, 2019; Monastery Mentor


Modern
R{R/W} 87guide Burn
Commander
WRKellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
RTorbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
WBRKaalia HQ

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MeowZeDung
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Post by MeowZeDung » 4 years ago

One of my absolute favorite cards ever!

He is fragile, so if you can arrange it so that you get some triggers out of him before passing the turn or in response to removal, you should definitely do so. Whenever I am able to flash him in or untap with him or some of his leftover tokens in play while running my Kykar, Wind's Fury list there are always fireworks.

The prowess on multiple bodies feels similar to playing with Cathars' Crusade.

The fact that mentor triggers on non-creature spells and not just instant and sorceries is huge and justifies his inclusion in a lot more decks.
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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Wednesday, December 4th, 2019; Monastery Mentor
One of the best of its kind. So good, it's restricted in Vintage.

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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

I haven't bought one yet, but my enchantress decks would love him.
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pokken
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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

I played this for a while in Ephara and came away occasionally impressed. With ways to reuse spells or a high enough spell quotient (things like capsize and forbid), it's a real powerhouse, and Ephara takes it to the next level.

Drawing either of my buyback spells plus Mentor was usually game over with Ephara, particularly Forbid.

It's pretty hard to balance but I think there is an Ephara deck that plays about 20 high impact creatures and lots of spells, and generates a lot of mana for capsize that could make mentor an A instead of a B-.

Where it fell short for me was whenever I didn't draw enough interactive spells it was bad, so it's hard to get the balance right. It's definitely a legitimate wincon for a spellslinger deck that doesn't want to combo out or take infinite turns.

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