[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Mogg Infestation

[BeneTleilax]

This was synonymous with black stax in my first playgroup, until the deck got hated out. Still holds his own, I think, in bitterblossom-ish tokenstax decks that can easily flip him the turn they cast him.

[3drinks]

Friday, July 7th, 2023; Spirit of the Labyrinth

[Igzex]

Terrible card. It affects me too so I can't use it to lock people out of having hands and win > : (

[3drinks]

Terrible card. It affects me too so I can't use it to lock people out of having hands and win > : (

You need to utilize more Pact Weapon then.

[Dunharrow]

I love Spirit of the Labyrinth. If they made a legendary creature with this ability I would play it at a monowhite deck.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

This card is pretty brutal, but it's also fair enough. I'd rather stare down one of these than a Smothering Tithe, that's for sure.

[toctheyounger]

Great in the right place. Not every deck wants this but if you're in stax and have a way around the draw it's an exceptional piece of tech.

[Mookie]

Spirit of the Labyrinth is fine. Shutting down card draw is certainly relevant, but it's somewhat tame for a hatebear. Most importantly, it's symmetric, but I'll also note that it is extra vulnerable due to being an enchantment (and one toughness doesn't help). It seems okay if you're doing a dedicated hatebear strategy (or cEDH stuff), but the symmetry makes it difficult to fit into random decks. Otherwise, I would hope to be running primarily instant-speed card draw to cantrip on opponents' turns.

[NZB2323]

I've never used it, but it might be good in a deck like Winota, Joiner of Forces where card draw options aren't great, and the deck doesn't really need card draw if Winota can keep cheating creatures into play.

Also could be good with cards like Necropotence that technically don't draw.

[pokken]

From the long long files of "let's make a white card, then make better versions in other colors, then never really revisit the effect in white,"

I had some good luck with this card in legacy death and taxes and it's fine in EDH if you don't mind making enemies. But

Terrible card. It affects me too so I can't use it to lock people out of having hands and win > : (

You're not thinking big enough...play a graveyard deck! Or an exile topdeck deck in red. There're a lot of ways to bust the symmetry of spirit. Hell, even Mirror of Fate type stuff.

[3drinks]

Saturday, July 8th, 2023; Tyvar Kell

[Serenade]

All elves already have that ability. Like how all walls have defender.

[3drinks]

All elves already have that ability. Like how all walls have defender.

It makes them elves of deep shadow, not fyndhorn.

[Serenade]

Yeah, all elves are lowkey baddies and include black color-identity.

[Mookie]

I find Tyvar Kell unexciting. I guess he's a better elf planeswalker than Nissa Revane, but elf decks as an archetype have never really excited me - 'just throw in a bunch of cards with the word 'elf' on them' doesn't seem like a very interesting deckbuilding challenge (although I guess my Sharuum deck is sort of the same with artifacts, so meh).

Overall, Tyvar seems fine - untap your Priest of Titania or whatever for extra mana, pump out tokens (that can tap for mana), and eventually get a Glimpse of Nature emblem if he ever gets to ultimate. All good stuff. If you can get extra value out of the +1 (such as by untapping Jagged-Scar Archers or another pinger, or Taunting Elf), even better.

[3drinks]

Sunday, July 9th, 2023; Grafted Exoskeleton

grabs popcorn to watch the chaos ensue

[Hermes_]

When my normal Voltron isn't enough

[Mookie]

I have a low opinion of poison, and the recent return to New Phyrexia has done nothing to change that opinion. I don't think poison is particularly problematic from a power level perspective - most poison cards are a bit overcosted / inefficient. However, I'm not a fan of the play patterns it promotes, which tend to be rather difficult to interact with - 'impossible to get rid of' is pretty much poison's defining feature, but there are also no good ways to play around proliferate or direct poison effects like Prologue to Phyresis other than countermagic - not even hexproof / protection help.

Anyway, Grafted Exoskeleton is yet another obnoxious poison card. Throw it on an 8+ power attacker and attack an opponent to one-shot them, even if they're still at 40 life. It's relatively easy to play around if you know it's coming - just have a blocker or some instant-speed artifact removal - which means it generally feels like a 'gotcha' effect. There are some gotcha effects I like - I respect a well-timed Mindbreak Trap, Deflecting Palm, or Comeuppance... but those cards generally feel like they're punishing hubris. In this case, Grafted Exoskeleton tends to punish weakness, which I'm not a fan of - punch up, not down.

...that said, I will say the original, Grafted Wargear, is a sweet card.

[3drinks]

Monday, July 10th, 2023; Neheb, the Eternal

[Dunharrow]

Takes a lot of set-up to be good, pretty bad by itself, somehow a 20$ card.
I have it in Rakdos, Lord of Riots and even there it is barely medium. Every once in a while I can activate Grenzo, Dungeon Warden a dozen times.

[PrimevalCommander]

It can make a lot of mana if you have an aggressive strategy. Great for commanders with decent power and a mana sink attached. Or just for aggressive decks that like to spend a bunch of mana. My friend uses it in Xenagos, God of Revels to great effect. Zacama, Primal Calamity perhaps due to the activated abilities and high power.

[Mookie]

Neheb, the Eternal is one of four currently valuable cards from Hour of Devastation, alongside The Scarab God, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, and Torment of Hailfire. It's somewhat interesting to look at the price history for each of them:

• Neheb has a slow but steady increase over time, which is typical of 'casual cards that haven't been reprinted'
• Scarab God has an almost cyclical price history - it spikes every time there are new zombie support cards, then it slowly declines again
• Razaketh and Torment both have similar slow increases to Neheb... until around when Strixhaven comes out, and they have both been declining since then. I'm not entirely sure what the cause is - I assume some new big black finisher was printed / revealed around then, but not sure what it could be.

Anyway, Neheb is a pretty unique effect, turning damage / life loss into mana... and since it counts all of your opponents, it scales somewhat degenerately with symmetric effects like Flame Rift or extra combats like Aggravated Assault. It's also just good in aggressive red decks - it isn't difficult for it to be mana-positive the turn you play it by attacking with a dragon or whatever. I don't think it goes in every deck though - five mana is a big tempo loss if it gets answered, and not every deck will be able to take advantage of a giant pile of red mana (particularly multicolor decks).

[3drinks]

Tuesday, July 11th, 2023; Immolation Shaman and close functional twin, Harsh Mentor

[Mookie]

Immolation Shaman, Harsh Mentor, and similar effects like Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Cursed Totem are totally unplayable and should never be played. They should also be banned.*

*This message brought to you by the Samut, Voice of Dissent 'tap ability tribal' primer's Initiative to Stop Activated Ability Hate.





....more seriously, activated abilities other than mana abilities aren't that common - looking at the top 100 creatures on EDHREC, I count 16 non-mana activated abilities. Artifacts have a higher rate (41/100), but... adding 1-2 life to the cost will rarely be enough to stop people from using the most impactful ones, and most abilities are only activated once or twice anyway (i.e. Sakura-Tribe Elder). They can be alright hate against some combos (i.e. sacrifice-based ones dependent on a sac outlet), but those can usually also be stopped by other forms of hate. I think the most interesting use case is probably as part of a burn package alongside cards like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell or Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph - these cards are more impactful when the life loss is more meaningful.

[Dunharrow]

I don't think they are great at all. If you are aggro, you want to take the option away from your opponent. If you are not aggro, then why are you playing incremental burn?
Even in Torbran, Thane of Red Fell.dec, you want pingers that can reliably be activated every turn.... not something that people can decide to ignore.