[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Golgari Thug

[Dunharrow]

Hmm
Maybe it would fit in my Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck? I feel like 25% of that deck has CMC 6 or higher.
The casting cost is high though for such an unreliable effect.

[tstorm823]

To be sure, it isn't good, but to make everyone feel slightly better about it, I once used it to make an Animar deck play fair magic.

Edit: I may have been unclear with this post. I was playing with this against an Animar deck and used it to keep the Animar dead, so that opponent had to play creatures on a normal curve.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020; Heretic's Punishment

This card is atrociously awful. I once had it in my Innistrad cube as a thing for Werewolves to do with their mana that wasn't casting spells, and it was awful there, too.

5 mana buy-in, plus 4 mana to activate is... just bleh.

Maybe if we could reliably have Fires of Invention, and have a crapton of mana to do nothing with...

[BeneTleilax]

i have two of these from opening packs. they are good in no format.

[Mookie]

Heretic's Punishment looks pretty questionable to me. It is a five mana enchantment that lets you pay four mana to shoot something, which means a nine-mana investment before any sort of payoff. Even if it were guaranteed to always burn for some high number (such as because you have a bunch of topdeck manipulation or a high mana curve), I still feel it would be too clunky. And if you ever whiff (which is likely), it looks really bad.

.....I suppose it may have some redeeming qualities if you really needed a mana sink, or really cared about self-mill, but I suspect there are better options for both, even in mono-red.

[hyalopterouslemur]

5 to cast, 4 to activate, and you need to have plenty of 6+ cards in your deck.

I could see maybe running it in Animar? Or some Yidris that isn't exploiting Hypergenesis. Or just rgx in general. You could run it in Grixis reanimator, but there are like, three dozen better cards to fill your 'yard.

[Hermes_]

I could see me running this in my Johria suspend deck

[3drinks]

Thursday, January 23rd, 2020; Kessig Wolf Run

I guess we're chilling on Innistrad for a bit with this fireball on a land.

[Serenade]

I think this card is high/middle in the ranking of that cycle. Everyone knows what you are doing with this thing out.

I always liked that cycle.

[tstorm823]

Everyone knows what you are doing with this thing out.

Excepting of course the times where this isn't out, and you get to say "land for turn kill you?"

[Serenade]

Always a bummer to get in my opening hand.

[onering]

It's a great infinite Mana outlet sure, but it's also useful just to give something big a couple points of power and trample.

[pokken]

I usually don't have the mana available to use it when I play it and would rather it be a color source. Probably a sign I need to play more decks that are swinging but don't want to over-commit to the board

I prefer gavony township all things considered, but not every deck can be Selesnya I guess.

[plushpenguin]

Doubling this up with Xenagos is always a nice way to turn unspent mana into one-shot kills.

Once I was so flooded with that deck that I used this to one-shot a player with a Dockside Extortionist.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Great with double strike. If you're like me, you love Rule of Law. This provides you with something to do with that extra mana.

The other use for it? Hunter's Insight.

[Sinis]

Thursday, January 23rd, 2020; Kessig Wolf Run

It's been wild in my Radha-is-a-Signet deck, which basically ramps and dunks people with huge creatures. This is exactly the kind of low opportunity cost that can dunk people in the right deck.

[Mookie]

I really ought to put Kessig Wolf Run in my Samut, Voice of Dissent deck - I already have a fairly extensive utility land support package, and it's not difficult to put my commander into one-shot range with it.

In general, I think it's one of the stronger utility lands in its cycle - Gruul decks are capable of generating a lot of mana via ramping, and it turns any creature into a real threat. Also grants trample to any beaters that lack it. Significantly better than Skarrg, the Rage Pits. Obviously at its best if you have a damage multiplier (like double strike or Xenagos, God of Revels, but sometimes you just want to Fireball someone. Also works well with power-based cards like Greater Good.

In a pinch, you can also target an opponent's creature, which sometimes comes up - it's a good way to threaten planeswalkers or enable surprise commander damage.

[DirkGently]

The most frequent wincon in my 98 lands deck.

Threat of activation is a big reason this card is good - that and a low cost of inclusion. In terms of actual power it's pretty medium. If you put your turn into a big pump and your target gets killed in response you're pretty wrecked.

Targeting enemies is tech though.

[Crazy Monkey]

Kessig wolf run is the primary win condition for my "group hug" deck. Specifically locking players put of spells during combat and making some random 1/1 that I forced to attack become lethal on a third player. I also still run it next to inkmoth nexus from the old days of primeval titan in a deck or two.

[3drinks]

Friday, January 24th, 2020; Walk the Aeons

When - if ever - is it correct to buy this back?

[Sharpened]

When - if ever - is it correct to buy this back?

When the second cast will win you the game.

The buyback cost is prohibitive enough that you aren't going to want to do it to simply gain resource advantages. But if your opponents give you an opening thinking "They get one hit in, I can take it" this card lets you keep that opening and turn that 1 hit into 3 or so, which can be game winning.

[PrimevalCommander]

I think walk the aeons is a top tier time warp. It doesn't self exile and has a buyback that can give you that little extra (extra) reach you may need.

I play a few non-exiling time warps in [Talrand-no creatures] deck so if I ever get enough drakes to stick, I have ways to close out the game. Though hardly ever do I find my self with enough drakes to close the game.

[Dunharrow]

This card is so unfun - when is it correct? When taking 2 or 3 extra turns wins the game. When you are flooded and have nothing to play. When you have land recursion. When you have Freyalise in play.

Buyback is so broken. I just did horrors with Mind Games in a cube.

Sacrificing lands may be a huge cost, but extra turn spells are the last kind of spell buyback should ever be on.

[Sinis]

Friday, January 24th, 2020; Walk the Aeons

When - if ever - is it correct to buy this back?

I have bought this card back a lot.

It's correct to buy it back when you're going to either a) win the game, or b) lose the game, or c) have a loop with something like Azusa, Lost but Seeking + Crucible of Worlds.

Note that winning the game may not be immediate. In a Kenrith Twins deck, I once cast it for free using As Foretold and bought it back once or twice to get a bunch of walker activations in a row. While I was down some islands, I had an insurmountable emblem advantage after.

[hyalopterouslemur]

It's a Time Walk that sort of loops. All you need is some baroque recursion engine to make it go infinite. The real problem is, how is that not easier than "empty graveyard, Charmbreaker Devils, Time Warp"?