[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Jetfire, Ingenious Scientist

[hyalopterouslemur]

He seems like a good way to draw a buttload of cards. In a way I'm surprised. Prior to this, you would have seen something like this use +1/+1 counters ("CARDNAME ETB with X +1/+1 counters. When CARDNAME ETB, draw cards equal to its power." 0/0), though obviously that doesn't fit a wizard. The other option would be kicker. But it's never been placed right on an entry trigger before.

[Serenade]

Draw even more cards with Verity Circle! Get him and VC out along with Thassa 2 and...I mean, it's fine. I think I just like VC too much.

[Mookie]

Gadwick, the Wizened is an interesting card - there aren't a lot of creatures that can draw X cards. Templating is a bit odd though, since this sort of thing usually also gets X +1/+1 counters.

I think the main knock against Gadwick is that blue has access to a bunch of similar effects on instants and sorceries - a lot of blue decks prefer to operate at instant speed, so they'll go for something like Blue Sun's Zenith or Pull From Tomorrow. Templating means you can't trivially blink Gadwick for value with Conjurer's Closet and instead need to actually recast him by bouncing to hand with Crystal Shard or something similar.

That said, I've considered him for my Thada deck, which has an interest in mana sinks and doesn't mind operating at sorcery speed. I imagine Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage may also be interested. Similarly, the tap-on-cast ability also has some synergies with stuff like Verity Circle.

Comparing to Nin, the Pain Artist... there are some similarities (both commanders want lots of mana to funnel into drawing cards), but also want different things. Gadwick is easier to use, for one - you get the cards immediately instead of needing to wait for summoning sickness, and you don't need to play other creatures to target. (you can just target Nin, but that's still somewhat awkward)

[3drinks]

Wednesday February 5th, 2020; Umezawa's Jitte

Recently I've come to the conclusion that this is a card that gets better the more competitive a table gets. Whereas the more battlecruisy tables will find the Jitte lacking in effectiveness as they're preferencing for a sword strike over these counters. While in high comp games, a deck wouldn't be caught dead playing a sword not named SoFaF to double their mana.

This makes sense, right?

[Toshi]

I agree with your evaluation. Most of the stronger decks i face include early and small utility creatures that are prefered snacks for Umezawa's Jitte.
I really like cards that make Voltron strategies more viable in the format and this is certainly one.
As for my own decks i am very happy to run Umezawa's Jitte in my Traxos, Scourge of Kroog deck. It certainly helps to edge trough important damage and stay alive longer, since i usually don't have a lot of blockers.

[Dunharrow]

I always assumed this was banned.
I guess I should get it for Shu Yun. I heard it was good with double strike. And I can activate in between first strike and normal damage to pump for lethal.

[pokken]

I have played a lot of Jitte over the years and it keeps getting worse in casual metas and better in more competitive metas. I was pretty surprised the time I played it at a CEDH table and utterly dominated the board. I don't think it's quite good enough to play in most CEDH decks but its power level is definitely higher there due to all the little dorky creatures and lots of people with no blockers.

The problem in more casual metas is that the creatures are frigging huge these days. Even dumb creatures are 1/3 or 2/4 or whatever, and the number of 4/5s and 6/6s and even 8/8s is getting a bit ridiculous. -1/-1 or even +4//4 or 4 life aren't often enough to make a dent

It's still very good and high on my list of playable equipment in EDH. But also suffers from more people in casual pods playing enchantment/artifact removal.

[hyalopterouslemur]

That -1/-1 can kill a lot of competitive creatures. The +2/+2 can be a gamewinner when you get to a certain point.

I will say, I have had uses for the lifegain, but mostly if I have like Drogskol Reaver or Ajani's Pridemate or Searing Meditation out. It's generally useless on its own.

[onering]

I think it's better in casual than you'd think, but it depends on the deck. A couple hits when strapped to a utility creature and you'll have enough counters to kill a lot of stuff. It's very, very easy to get those hits because if you want to kill a problem creature someone else probably will, and if jitte is strapped to something tiny they'll just let it through. From their perspective, they are paying a couple life to kill something they want dead for free.

[pokken]

I think it's better in casual than you'd think, but it depends on the deck. A couple hits when strapped to a utility creature and you'll have enough counters to kill a lot of stuff. It's very, very easy to get those hits because if you want to kill a problem creature someone else probably will, and if jitte is strapped to something tiny they'll just let it through. From their perspective, they are paying a couple life to kill something they want dead for free.

Oh, it's still fine in casual just not as dominant as it used to be for me.

[SocorroTortoise]

It's a fine card in casual play. There's value in using it as a combo trick even if you can't use it as removal as reliably and the buff can add up quickly, particularly if you have it equipped to a commander or a creature with double strike. Casual EDH is probably the place where the card is most fair, honestly. I like it there because it scratches my itch to play powerful cards without playing things that might be too much for lower powered tables.

[RedCheese]

Favourite equipment in the game.

[DirkGently]

I've found that, at casual tables, jitte often brings a lot of hate upon you - presumably because of its power in other formats - even though it's just okay. I've had lots of games where I play jitte t2 with no creatures and people go "ohhh snaaaaap" like I just played winter orb or something. It also frequently gets targeted for removal. I still like it and play it in all my equipment-based decks, but there's some value to be gained in avoiding cards that are overrated by other players, I think.

In terms of actual effectiveness, it's a nice mix of function. The - and + abilities do a good job of blowing chumpers out of the way and then buffing for a lethal strike, especially with DS. Lifegain is pretty rare to use but it's nice to have the option. I think the main thing I've used it for is when everything gets blown away by a planar cleansing situation - may as well use the counters for something at least.

[Mookie]

Umezawa's Jitte is a pretty flexible equipment. It does draw a fair amount of hate - people tend to assume that all the counters are going to be used to kill their stuff, and it is known to be banned in other formats. How good it is does depend on the decks being played - as pointed out, it tends to be stronger at tables with lots of small utility creatures, and weaker in metas filled with beefy creatures.

Looking at my own decks... it's kill-on-sight for Animar (because it trivially keeps Animar off the table), while Teysa and Samut both have a ton of small critters to pick off. On the other hand, my more creature-light decks like Tasigur and Kess don't really care about it that much - indeed, they'll often prefer to keep it around, so its controller can pick off my other opponents' creatures.

Definitely a card I'm glad to have in the format - it's certainly powerful, but not oppressively so for EDH.

[3drinks]

Thursday, February 6th, 2020; Teferi's Response

I don't...I don't know what to say.

[Mookie]

Teferi's Response is really, really niche. There aren't a lot of effects that target lands, and not a lot of lands you expect to be targeted often enough to justify running it over a more flexible counterspell.

That said, if it weren't so narrow, it would probably be the best counterspell ever printed (Mana Drain might be better, but it's close). Two mana for a Counterspell that also draws two cards, can stop both spells and abilities, and blows up the offending permanent so it can't be used again? Veil of Summer looks downright quaint, and it got banned in multiple formats. I don't think its raw power is enough to justify running it in most decks though - it's almost always going to just rot in hand, so I'd prefer something more flexible.

I suppose it may be worth consideration if you're running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers or another high-profile land, and you expect your opponents to be running lots of Strip Mine / Beast Within effects.... Still, that's a pretty warped meta if there's that much targeted land destruction.

Still, while I consider the card to be waaaaay too narrow to justify in most decks, there is one deck I'd say it is an auto-include in: Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper. Protecting an animated land is pretty high upside, especially if you've stacked a bunch of counters on it.

[FetalTadpole]

I played Teferi's Response in Noyan Dar and even then it was too narrow. It's a blowout if it resolves, but for the stars to align when you have an animated land, an opponent tries to target it, and you happen to have Response with mana to cast it is just far too rare to be worth it. Most generic counterspells are better.

[BeneTleilax]

card is ass

[Sharpened]

I love the card, but it's always so hard to justify not cutting for something more versatile.

What I was surprised to see is that Strip Mine is only in 10% of EDHRec's decks from the past 2 years, Ghost Quarter is in 9% and none of the other land killing lands cracked the top list. I won't build a deck without an answer to a problematic land, but it seems people like me are a much smaller minority than I thought.

Obviously, the best case scenario for something like this is to make the player casting Casualties of War cry, but that's a sort of Magical Christmas-land situation.

There are just a lot of checkmarks to hit for this card to be worth inclusion:
You have to have lands worth protecting. This is not worth running just in case someone randomly decides to pick off one of your duals.
You want to be in a reactive deck, one where it's not uncommon for you to be leaving mana untapped.
You have to know your meta. If it's full of people like me who are prepared to deal with problematic lands, great. But most people aren't running any land removal.

[onering]

%$#% your Dustbowl, and your Helldozer

[3drinks]

What I was surprised to see is that Strip Mine is only in 10% of EDHRec's decks from the past 2 years, Ghost Quarter is in 9% and none of the other land killing lands cracked the top list. I won't build a deck without an answer to a problematic land, but it seems people like me are a much smaller minority than I thought.

I know I'm always on strip mine, wasteland, blood moon, magus of the moon, & ruination in 1-2c. Typically I'm just on that MLD Tribal plan.

Gee, why don't I have any friends again? 🙄

[pokken]

Man I remember the shock and surprise on a Lands player's face the time I killed his thespian stage copying rishadan port as it ported my plains to try to keep me off STP mana, with teferi's response. It was a beautiful thing.

But this is not an EDH playable card.

[Sharpened]

What I was surprised to see is that Strip Mine is only in 10% of EDHRec's decks from the past 2 years, Ghost Quarter is in 9% and none of the other land killing lands cracked the top list. I won't build a deck without an answer to a problematic land, but it seems people like me are a much smaller minority than I thought.

I know I'm always on strip mine, wasteland, blood moon, magus of the moon, & ruination in 1-2c. Typically I'm just on that MLD Tribal plan.

Gee, why don't I have any friends again? 🙄

I have no interest in MLD, although it has its place. I'm never playing Strip Mine effects to prevent opponents from casting their spells. There are places for that, but it's not particularly fun.
I'm all for shutting down the recursion of Academy Ruins or Hall of Heliod's Generosity.
I'm removing the maze from Maze of Ith so my general can connect
I'm for taking out the Cabal Coffers or Serra's Sanctum so I don't get blown out by a gigantic whatever.
I'm prepared to shut of the flow of Zombies from Field of the Dead or making sure I don't get punched in the face by Ormendahl, Profane Prince.

There's too many shenanigans from lands to be unprepared. I'm a firm believer that if you don't have at least 1 card to get countered by Teferi's Response, you've built your deck wrong. That said, it's still so hard to justify running it.

[ISBPathfinder]

I have played it before in a lands deck. Its super niche but its a cool card so I am not sure that its actually worth running but its a cool card.

[hyalopterouslemur]

So, let's see, extremely niche, blatantly violates the color pie, are we sure this is Invasion and not, like, Legends?

If you could reduce the text to "Draw two cards." I'd take it.