[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Rishkar, Peema Renegade

[Serenade]

Not that harsh if he can't hit cycling in a cycling block.

Flamescroll Celebrant // Revel in Silence needs to be the baseline (lack of restrictions plus flexibility if the card would be irrelevant) or it has to be complete shutdown. Linvala and Drana/Linvala can be houses.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023; Mayael the Anima

It's been a long time since this thing terrorized tables. Does it still, or has it too been power crept? (Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer, I'd guess).

[Dunharrow]

Mayael was never good, not since I started around 2012/2013. She was so slow. You would just kill her and watch your opponent fumble around.
If you want to cheat things into play, Atla Palani, Nest Tender seems more interesting to me.

The one thing going for Mayael is that she is fair. Atla can go and get the only creature in your deck if you want to build that way. Or Maybe you only have Praetors. Whatever. I wish they followed Mayael's templating more often.

[PrimevalCommander]

I have never seen a terrorizing Mayael deck. With a 6mv activation, tap to activate, 5 card view, and 5 power minimum, you have to have a horrible mana curve to get a decent amount of useful hits. Or a LOT of topdeck manipulation. It was glacially slow even in battlecruizer times, and even with creature power creep, the number of prerequisites you need to get value off Mayael is backbreaking. Cream of the Crop is probably the best card in this deck though.

Sedris, the Traitor King from the same block was similar, but scales better with power creep due to more entomb unmarked grave and the unearth cost capped at . But we are not evaluating him.

[Mookie]

re: Neheb, the Eternal - it's being reprinted in Commander Masters, which should bring the price down significantly.

Mayael the Anima is cool but clunky - six mana is a very high activation cost, plus you need to be running a high density of 5+ power creatures to cheat out. Cheating out a 7+ creature at a discount certainly can be good... but as value engines go, her play pattern is entirely antithetical to what you want. Mana sinks are best when you're flooding out, by transforming excess mana into something useful. However, if you are playing a bunch of expensive creatures, you are rather unlikely to have a surplus of mana - instead, you're more likely to have a bunch of fatties in hand that you want to cast instead of activating Mayael.

Power creep is definitely a thing - if you just want to cheat out creatures from deck, Atla Palani, Nest Tender is a much more efficient way to do so - but I think there are also new commanders that better synergize with a big creature strategy. Xenagos, God of Revels makes your fatties even more absurd. Samut, Voice of Dissent gives your stuff haste and works well with Elvish Piper effects. Ultra Magnus, Tactician // Ultra Magnus, Armored Carrier lets you cheat out artifact fatties. And all of those are before considering options in other colors like Surrak Dragonclaw.

[3drinks]

Thursday, July 13th, 2023; Gix's Command

[cheonice]

Wednesday, July 12th, 2023; Mayael the Anima

It's been a long time since this thing terrorized tables. Does it still, or has it too been power crept? (Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer, I'd guess).

Mayael was one of my first decks, so she will always have a special place in my heart. But yeah, the power creep is real...

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Gix's Command has some solid options, but it definitely seems like a card that plays better from behind. I think if you can consistently kill 3+ small things and draw two from the yard, it's worth the mana. The lifelink and the sacrifice are pretty weak for the cost, but they can dig you out of some holes too. It's solidly okay.

[Mookie]

i like the idea of Gix's Command - sweep the board of small creatures + edict away your opponents' biggest creatures is some nice baseline interaction, and the flexibility to recur two creatures is also nice. I think it's a little clunky, and I would like the board wipe to be a bit more consistent, but I could see myself testing it in Kess. Commands (and other modal spells) tend to be better in practice than they read.

[DirkGently]

Can't say I'm impressed by conditional wipes at that price point. Pyroclasm does a similar thing for 2. Could see it being useful in the moment (same for the first mode) but I think the baseline is the sac + double Raise Dead modes. Quite a bit of strong CA that affects the board and guarantees gas. But 5 is a lot and not being an instant is a bummer. Decent card but I think most decks will optimise beyond it.

[PrimevalCommander]

I like Modal spells, but I like them more when they are a little cheaper mana value, or instant speed.

My two favorite modal spells right now Mystic Confluence and Flame of Anor, mainly because the floor is straight draw at instant speed, which is relevant 100% of the time. Though there are many charms with a great selection of abilities, but even so more efficient spells or synergy pieces normally get the slot.

[TheGildedGoose]

Flame of Anor

Ooo, I missed this one. Right into Balmor, Battlemage Captain.

[3drinks]

Friday, July 14th, 2023; Arcane Bombardment

This or Thousand-Year Storm or Eye of the Storm ................

[Hermes_]

chaos deck for the losing of friends

[Ruiner]

I've considered adding this to my Chandra burn deck. Taking a turn off by spending 6 mana to "do nothing" is rough but it could be worth the payoff.

[3drinks]

Saturday, July 15th, 2023; Feywild Visitor

[Hawk]

This is one of those sorta overdesigned cards that just has too many words to make a real go of it outside of limited, imo. It's an enchantment...that powers up your commander...to give you a 1/1 flying dork...when a NON-token creature deals combat damage to a player...but it's one token per player, so if you want multiple tokens you have to hit multiple opponents...that's a lot of work and a 3-mana do nothing for pretty minimal payoff. As a result, this is only really playable as a background in the command zone, and I don't think I'd ever slam it in the 99. For blue backgrounds that reward a tokeny build it is solid, but I feel like Sword Coast Sailor and Clan Crafter are generally the more useful blue backgrounds.

That being said, I keep trying to crack a deck pairing this with Lulu, Loyal Hollyphant, another card that just has a ton of limitations, just for the maximum adorableness of an Angel Elephant leading an army of Faerie Dragon and Cat Birds into battle.

[Treamayne]

...to give you a 1/1 flying dork...

It is worth noting that the (probable) best feature of the card is that they are not just any 1/1 flying dorks - but Dragon tokens. Depending on the deck - there are lots of things that trigger on a Dragon ETB. Seems like it would lead to a House of Cards (but it could be a fun House of cards).

[Serenade]

I pair it with Karlach, Fury of Avernus in an Edric-style deck. It is not high-impact enough to draw hate, and if I have a way to grant my team haste, the token can swing that second combat. However, the three mana feels overcosted given the restrictions, and being useless without my general stinks. It is fine for a deck that is fine at best.

[3drinks]

Sunday, July 16th, 2023; Helm of Possession

Man have I used this thing to great effect over the years. Love the looks on people's faces when they can't read it because it's Korean and they don't believe I have "permanent" theft that's colourless.

[Mookie]

I recently had a WB token deck use Helm of Possession to steal my Animar, Soul of Elements. So... that's certainly at least one use case.

Most permanent theft effects are blue, which makes Helm of Possession a fairly unique card. Six mana is a little overpriced for a Control Magic, particularly given that you need to sacrifice a creature to use it... but it's a powerful source of repeatable removal if you have both expendable creatures to fuel it and a sac outlet to dispose of whatever you steal. The fact that it can be activated at instant speed makes it a massive headache to play around, and its ability to repeatedly shut down commanders is certainly relevant. It's a bit too expensive for me to consider it a staple, but I would say it's generally at least worth consideration for token / go-wide decks, particularly if they lack other strong removal options.

[yeti1069]

You know, every time I put Helm into a deck, I end up cutting it for being slow. I've had it in Marchesa, the Black Rose, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and was thinking about it for Sauron, the Dark Lord, but I keep coming back to it being 6 mana with an additional cost to steal one creature. It only becomes significant when it sticks around for a couple of turns AND you have a sac outlet to feed the stolen creature to before your next turn comes around.

[pokken]

I run it in God-Eternal Oketra as a way to permanently-ish deal with problem commanders or anti-combat/commander stax effects (e.g. Drannith Magistrate) in a way generates value. It's nice in that deck because it serves double duty as a sac outlet for various loops, and since the deck has other sac outlets it synergizes.

In general I think the card justifies its mana cost if you have multiple synergies (e.g. death effects + sac outlets) -- but it unfortunately can become a bit creature machinegunny, which is not super fun.

I'm still on the fence about it, but man it can really save your bacon to have answers to some of the big problem commanders these days (e.g. Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness UGH)

[3drinks]

Monday, July 17th, 2023; Wild Magic Surge

[pokken]

This card has been fantastic for me. The density of enablers vs. problem permanents is lower and lower these days as people get more rocks and tutors and less action.

The number of times I blast some problem artifact and they get a Wayfarer's Bauble back or whatever is...pretty damn high.