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

[PrimevalCommander]

I played this some in mono green. Now I'm using Kenrith's Transformation in that spot, but if I need more removal it will get another look. Fine for colorless decks as well, where and is a common cost for hard removal. I don't think I look for effigy anywhere besides Mono-Brown or Mono-Green. Maybe Mono-Red artifacts, but the self exile makes it a one-shot and not synergistic with artifact looping.

[DirkGently]

I've had mine in my box since I got it. You think to yourself "well, it's unconditional exile creature removal, maybe if I'm playing mono-green or mono-red I'll want to use it". But at least imo I'd rather just take my chances with Lightning Bolts and Pounces or whatever. They can't always kill the thing you need to kill, but at least they're not telegraphed and they don't cost a million mana to keep up.

[3drinks]

Friday, September 29th, 2023; Evolution Sage

What a tremendous uncommon with a helluva power ceiling.

[Mookie]

Evolution Sage is quite strong in any decks that can make use of proliferate - superfriends, +1/+1 counters, infect... it's not difficult to trigger landfall every turn, and there aren't that many cards that can proliferate every turn. Throw in fetchlands or other ways to trigger it multiple times and you can do some silly things... and if you're running Lord Windgrace or some other deck that happens to care about both proliferate and lands? Yeah, things get silly. Obviously not great if you don't have things to proliferate, but a lot of landfall triggers incidentally generate +1/+1 counters to proliferate anyway - Felidar Retreat, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, Avenger of Zendikar... I once brainstormed a Tayam, Luminous Enigma landfall deck playing all the landfall cards that generate counters, and this would slot right in.

[Lifeless]

Outside the commander I've been told this is the scariest low end drop in Fynn, the Fangbearer.

[Igzex]

Unassuming at a glance, but a cause for immediate distress for those in the know of what kinds of decks this guy will show up in.

[DirkGently]

I don't really like what WotC did with proliferate in commander. They've made it extremely cheap, and this guy is a prime example. The ease of ultimating planeswalkers or killing people with infect via proliferate is not something I enjoy about the game, even setting aside more "fair" uses of the card like proliferating a board of +1 counter creatures.

Idk, I just wish there weren't creatures that were literally "kill or die" that cost 3 or less mana. If you want this sort of effect, put it on a 5-drop imo.

[umtiger]

Outside the commander I've been told this is the scariest low end drop in Fynn, the Fangbearer.

I play low power EDH with my non-LGS playgroup. We regularly play since it's a work playgroup so we know each others' decks and share/give cards.

There is usually at least one instance of poison counters every game. The amount of incidental proliferate kills are something else. Every game has the potential to stall out due to lower power level, so getting a single poison counter kinda signs a death warrant.

Evolution Sage is OP in our play environment. Thank goodness there are no fetchlands in our playgroup.

[3drinks]

Saturday, September 30th, 2023; Gnostro, Voice of the Crags

[TheAmericanSpirit]

What a profound disappointment this is. Casting a bunch of spells is a lot of work and not one of the 3 payoffs is worth it. Hell, you could slap them all together into one ability and even then I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze.

Maybe it was busted in CL limited? That was during covid so I can't say.

[illakunsaa]

I've never seen this card being cast but it doesn't seem terrible. Sure the ability seems kinda random for a storm payoff but I don't think the value is bad if you only get like x=2-3 each turn cycle.

[DirkGently]

Maybe it was busted in CL limited? That was during covid so I can't say.

Don't think so. Storm wasn't a terribly supported archetype as far as I recall.

I kinda like him. Mostly because he's a painfully fair payoff for the obnoxiousness of storm. It's like WotC was trying to channel people's degenerate desire to [eggplant emoji] [splashing emoji] in front of their friends, and turn it into something at least reasonably wholesome. It didn't work ofc, he's one of the least popular commanders in the set, but it was worth a shot.

[Mookie]

Yeah, Gnostro, Voice of the Crags seems... extremely clunky. In a vacuum, it seems like a weak storm payoff - gaining life or scrying is okay but unexciting. Killing a thing can be good, but dealing one or two damage generally isn't enough to kill anything relevant... and if you have a large storm count, you can probably just win the game outright instead of controlling the board. I think Kykar, Wind's Fury and Elsha of the Infinite are generally more exciting Jeskai spellslinger commanders.

That said, I will note Gnostro's synergy with untap effects, particularly Jeskai Ascendancy. If you can tap it multiple times per turn, you suddenly have a potent tool for board control. Alternatively, run it as an equipment commander with a bunch of ways to fetch Basilisk Collar.

[tstorm823]

If this would ever do something impressive, it's probably with Jeskai Ascendancy, but even that's difficult to pull off.

[Lifeless]

Outside the commander I've been told this is the scariest low end drop in Fynn, the Fangbearer.

I play low power EDH with my non-LGS playgroup. We regularly play since it's a work playgroup so we know each others' decks and share/give cards.

There is usually at least one instance of poison counters every game. The amount of incidental proliferate kills are something else. Every game has the potential to stall out due to lower power level, so getting a single poison counter kinda signs a death warrant.

Evolution Sage is OP in our play environment. Thank goodness there are no fetchlands in our playgroup.

I absolutely believe it. My table is higher powered but still pretty much battle cruiser. If it wasn't for some of the splashy combo wins then poison would.be close to unstoppable.

[3drinks]

Sunday, October 1st, 2023; Crackling Emergence

[Dunadain]

I like the idea of turning my lands into creatures, but they are consistently over costed.

2 mana for 3/3 is a fine rate, until you realize it's more like 3 mana, plus an additional 1 mana per turn because you can't add mana with the land of you attack.

Wotc must know something I don't cause they always play it so safe with these cards.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

This is both a sweet callback to the Genju cycle of OG Kamigawa, and a solid 3/3 for 3 that can etbt on t2 if you want in limited. In edh, I think you need to be manipulating the land animation in some unfair way, but giving haste can simplify some of those combo lines. Niche but cool.

[DirkGently]

Last pick draft common? Clearly no place in commander. If it was 6/6 and cost 1 it would still suck.

[Mookie]

In a vacuum, Crackling Emergence looks pretty mediocre. It does look better than Genju of the Spires and many other land animation auras (like Crusher Zendikon and Awaken the Ancient), but a tapped 3/3 for 2 (or a hasty 3/3 for 3) isn't really playable in EDH. The protection clause helps reduce the chance of losing the land, but it doesn't protect against exile / sacrifice effects. As a result, I would be hesitant to play this even if I did have synergies.

That said, I could see this being a niche playable someday if we get a rg 'land creatures matter' commander like Tatyova, Steward of Tides. Two mana is a pretty cheap cost to permanently animate a land. I'd probably still lean towards manlands like Raging Ravine, but this could be an okay enabler.

Anyway, I'll note the existence of Harmonious Emergence as the green equivalent of this effect. Alternatively, run Embodiment of Fury.

[Igzex]

I guess it's kinda a way to keep a head start when you Jokulhaups?

[NZB2323]

Overall, this card doesn't do enough. I find it to be crackalacking.

[3drinks]

Monday, October 2nd, 2023; Noxious Field

[TheAmericanSpirit]

This seems pretty good value if you can tap it a few times. I really like land auras in general though as they're generally harder to remove. Best one for my money is Chamber of Manipulation, though Underworld Connections has also always been solid IME.

[Mookie]

It's always interesting to look at the EDHREC page for obscure cards like Noxious Field. In this case, it appears that it's regularly played in Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood, of all decks. I think it's generally a weaker Pestilence (and their respective pages back up that theory - the same commanders play both of them, but they play Pestilence more)... but there aren't that many repeatable mass ping effects, so I could see an argument to playing all of them (including the weaker ones).

...I suppose you could theoretically play it alongside some land untap effects, but most of those are attached to flimsy creatures like Voyaging Satyr. Alternatively, Death Pits of Rath? Noxious Field doesn't have a sacrifice clause, unlike Pestilence, so you can keep it around on an empty board.