[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[3drinks]

More than anything, I think people are annoyed that Green is 'secondary' for treasure. I'm glad I don't see this card with people comboing it with Marrionette Master, or Mana Barbs or whatever.

I don't think it's broken - I think it doesn't have any fun applications.

Man, how cool would this be if it was in white? Like a 4ww.

[Guardman]

More than anything, I think people are annoyed that Green is 'secondary' for treasure. I'm glad I don't see this card with people comboing it with Marrionette Master, or Mana Barbs or whatever.

I don't think it's broken - I think it doesn't have any fun applications.

More than anything, this has my thoughts on the card.

I would like to see Treasure be more like card draw, where every color has access to it in the right context. That is sort of what is going on, despite MaRo continually insisting that any blue or white treasure creation is a bend at best. But I would like to see it become official. Also less treasure creation in green would be nice. Or at least having it tied more to green things rather than it sort of being evergreen (I say this as the same person who created an entire set where green has evergreen access to Treasure... go figure. ).

[Sinis]

More than anything, I think people are annoyed that Green is 'secondary' for treasure. I'm glad I don't see this card with people comboing it with Marrionette Master, or Mana Barbs or whatever.

I don't think it's broken - I think it doesn't have any fun applications.

Man, how cool would this be if it was in white? Like a 4ww.

It would be exactly as uncool as it is now, IMO. All the applications for it are not in green.

[Dragonlover]

I use it in wincons both to generate a pile of Treasures but also because then I just don't have to think about colours. Being able to go 'I need 17 mana to play my turn' and not care about what I tap is a godsend in that deck sometimes.

Dragonlover

[TheAmericanSpirit]

More than anything, I think people are annoyed that Green is 'secondary' for treasure. I'm glad I don't see this card with people comboing it with Marrionette Master, or Mana Barbs or whatever.

I don't think it's broken - I think it doesn't have any fun applications.

Agreed. Only time I've seen it IRL was to combo with Time Sieve.

[3drinks]

Ohhhh. I didn't think about it with Time Sieve, that's an interesting application.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Ohhhh. I didn't think about it with Time Sieve, that's an interesting application.

Oh yeah, it really gets your heart racing and adrenaline pumping just like watching paint dry or grass grow. Suuuuuuuuuuuper interesting. Very neat. /s

[Guardman]

Ohhhh. I didn't think about it with Time Sieve, that's an interesting application.

Oh yeah, it really gets your heart racing and adrenaline pumping just like watching paint dry or grass grow. Suuuuuuuuuuuper interesting. Very neat. /s

For extra points have your only win condition be Laboratory Maniac, but without any card draw combos, so your only way to win with it is take enough turns to draw your entire deck.

[onering]

This card isn't the terror everyone thought it was going to be, but it's pretty gross nonetheless. It's got a lot of combo potential, and even many of it's strong synergies are pretty nasty. It's obviously a machine with treasure synergies, and if it were white it would be even stronger. Six is a lot but once it's on the field it just lets you abuse synergies without even changing how you play. You just tap to make treasure and sac the treasure for mana instead of tapping for mana, and suddenly you have just a %$#% of artifact tokens entering and leaving the field, triggering everything that cares about that. It gets real stupid real fast, and whether that's groan inducing or a fun time depends on what the synergies are. I could imagine using it with Fangren Marauder to gain 40 life a turn would be funny.

[3drinks]

Monday, June 26th, 2023; Ranger of Eos

[onering]

Ohhhh. I didn't think about it with Time Sieve, that's an interesting application.

Oh yeah, it really gets your heart racing and adrenaline pumping just like watching paint dry or grass grow. Suuuuuuuuuuuper interesting. Very neat. /s

For extra points have your only win condition be Laboratory Maniac, but without any card draw combos, so your only way to win with it is take enough turns to draw your entire deck.

Too easy to get everyone to just acknowledge the win. Just establish the combo, say what is going to happen once people can't stop it, draw until you find lab man, and see if anyone has an answer. If they can answer and you can't protect it, you lose, otherwise gg. Once you go infinite with sieve, it's too determinate to be truly disgusting. You really need something that could, on its own, fail, like a Paradox Engine chain or Narset whiffing, or something that you could conceivably %$#% up via misplay, so that the win state isn't a discreet moment that either passes or fails in a short window dependent on only a handful of variables, but is spread of multiple turns with several potential weak points.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I like Ranger of Eos and all the other white one drop synergies. What we really need is Survival of the Fittest, but white and nerfed to one drops a la Artificer's Intuition. Then we'll be cooking with fire!

[Hawk]

This card is a workhorse in Heliod, Sun-Crowned since it can tutor Serra Ascendant if you are aggroing out, the Soul Sisters if you want that line, or you can just win by tutoring directly for Walking Ballista, nevermind the option to go find other utility like Mikaeus, the Lunarch, Mother of Runes, or Weathered Wayfarer. All that makes it pretty good in most mono-white decks, imo, but its value diminishes as you add more colors that have better tutor/draw.

[Toshi]

What we really need is Survival of the Fittest, but white and nerfed to one drops a la Artificer's Intuition. Then we'll be cooking with fire!

You, sir, have my Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle senses tingling across all layers possible...

[Mookie]

I love Trinket Mage, but I'm a bit lower on Ranger of Eos / Ranger-Captain of Eos. I would say the main reason is curve. There are a lot of one-drop artifacts that I can easily slot into a deck that are just as good on turn 4+ as they are on turn 1. Sol Ring goes in pretty much every deck, an artifact land takes a land slot, and Mishra's Bauble / Relic of Progenitus cantrip. Meanwhile, there are also plenty of one mana creatures worth playing - Birds of Paradise, Weathered Wayfarer, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Deathrite Shaman... but most of them are significantly less exciting later in the game. I guess Thraben Inspector cantrips, and Hopeful Initiate / Haywire Mite can provide some nice interaction... but it feels harder to find 5+ slots for cheap creatures than it does for artifacts, particularly if you're only in one or two colors.

Assuming you're running a bunch of one-drop creatures that you're happy to draw later in the game, I think Ranger of Eos is fine. It's not quite as flexible as Recruiter of the Guard, but it does a decent Mulldrifter impression by providing card advantage and a body. I love Artificer's Intuition, so I'll support the printing of a white small creature variant to boost Abiding Grace / Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle strategies.

[ISBPathfinder]

So, the one drop package options have expanded which should make this card more appealing but so many new options for draw and card advantage have cropped up in recent years that I actually find Ranger less appealing than it was years ago. The threat of a 3/2 non flyer for 4 is essentially zero in this format meaning you give up a large bit of tempo casting it even if you do end up with getting a 6/6 Serra Ascendant from it you paid 5 mana to get that. There are still times I might run these kind of cards but it tends to be more because there is a target I REALLY want in my deck than it being some sort of value play.

[Sinis]

I remember when Ranger of Eos was played for the card advantage, because White just didn't have the juice, but many of the one drops (Mother of Runes|ULG, Weathered Wayfarer|ONS and most importantly, Adorable Kitten) were old. On top of that, one drops pass the Sun Titan test by default. Many of my early edh decks had this kind of Ranger of Eos/Sun Titan/MoM/WW shell.

Ranger seems wildly outclassed by Ranger-Captain of Eos these days.

[pokken]

I love it in my god eternal oketra deck. Nice solid source of just jammin 3 zombies worst case. Can get a ton of useful bros too.

I wish they would go deeper on white digging and tutoring for cheap creatures. It's a fun mechanic.

[3drinks]

Ranger of Eos ----> Esper Sentinel c'mon guys it's not a difficult line.

Sentinel
Mom
Step Mom
creepy drunk uncle larry
Inspector/wayfarer

And that's just in white.

[ISBPathfinder]

Ranger of Eos ----> Esper Sentinel c'mon guys it's not a difficult line.

Sentinel
Mom
Step Mom
creepy drunk uncle larry
Inspector/wayfarer

And that's just in white.

My own controversial take:

Sentinel - I have yet to be impressed with it as a baseline card. There are cases where the right deck comes along and it gets better due to the deck building but I am still not convinced that its a good card to just insert into random commander decks. I know a lot of people are really hyped and love this card but I think its maybe 1/8th as good as Rhystic Study assuming you are just jamming it into a non synergy with this card strategy.
Mom - Meta dependent. If you are heavy on spot interaction and light on sweepers it can be really good but if you are the other way around or heavy on just proactive strats it gets a lot more questionable. It is also better if you are looking to assemble combos in creature form but alas I don't combo.
Step Mom - Same as above.
creepy drunk uncle larry - squints at text for the first time..... ehhhh worse mom.
Inspector/wayfarer - I have literally never seen someone play inspector in commander. I have to assume you mean Thraben Inspector just because again I have never seen someone play it in commander but its the most playable one drop inspector card I can come up with and I know it at one point did see some 60 card play to some degree. Wayfarer is a real card but I don't think I am excited to pay 4 extra mana to tutor it up.

[DirkGently]

There are definitely spots where it's good, but a lot of the top-run 1-drop creatures fall off a lot in the late game. Like Birds of Paradise is a great card, but would you pay 6 for 2 birds of paradise and a 3/2? Uh, no.

Esper sentinel, falls off unless you are boosting damage
Carrion Feeder/Viscera Seer can be good if you're a sac outlet deck
Mother of Runes is a lot slower and clunkier, you really want her down asap
Goblin Welder isn't going to have the same insane tempo potential
Weathered Wayfarer is still good, but real slow
Soul sisters can still be well worth it if you're doing a lifegain thing.
Dragonmaster Outcast is probably just now coming online anyway so he's alright
Sylvan Safekeeper could be fine

At the end of the day, most 1-drop creatures are good because of how efficient they are. Adding 4 kinda kills that off pretty hard. And you need to have multiple creatures you want to get. If you're tutoring combo pieces or something that you know will have a high impact at any point in the game, then it can still be worthwhile, but it's definitely a bit niche.

[Chromaticus]

At its best finding Norin the Wary for my friend's secret Norin deck.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, June 27th, 2023; Eldrazi Monument

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Tuesday, June 27th, 2023; Eldrazi Monument

I still think this is a very strong and efficient anthem if you can feed the beast. Obviously you can get blown out by inopportune removal, but if they don't have the answer, the advantage is palpable.

[3drinks]

Yeah, monument is I'd argue the best of these anthems. It's not type or colour locked, and it even adds evasion + protection. Anything that makes my sacred mesa|ath stay relevant is a nice tool to me.