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

[yeti1069]

Thursday, October 5th, 2023; Havengul Lich

I remember when this was the boogeyman that everyone wanted.

I'm sure there are some Zombie decks out there doing the Lord's work with this weird thing though, good for them.

I run this in my Varina, Lich Queen deck. It semi-combos with Rooftop Storm, allowing you to cast and zombies from yards for just . I've also used it to snatch Archaeomancer from someone else's yard on more than one occasion to recur a piece of removal or mass reanimation.

The initial cost of 5 mana is kind of rough, but after that it's such a powerful effect even if you can't grab anything in green or red (or white for other decks). There's plenty of utility to be had by yoinking creatures from other yards at will, not to mention being able to freely make use of your own yard.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

@yeti1069 See? I knew it. It's probably for the best that this lives in that niche rather than being a ubiquitous value engine. More interesting that way

[Lifeless]

Sometimes this is what it takes to get the win when I play Grimgrin. He's never the A plan but he's a perfectly good B.

[Dunharrow]

I just never saw the reason for him to gain activated abilities. Never came up for me.

[cheonice]

Thursday, October 5th, 2023; Havengul Lich

I remember when this was the boogeyman that everyone wanted.

I remember immediately afterward when everyone realized how mediocre this card really is. It's really not bad in any one area: its stats are fine, the ability flexible and cheap, and yet somehow the pieces just don't come together into a cohesive whole. It's awkwardly sized for a utility creature and having to finds ways to pay for colors outside your CI is annoying.

I'm sure there are some Zombie decks out there doing the Lord's work with this weird thing though, good for them.

Nailed it.

What a world of difference it would make if this card had "legendary" slapped on.

There were some other " why isn't this legendary?" creatures in Dark Ascension: Huntmaster of the Fells // Ravager of the Fells and Drogskol Reaver.

[yeti1069]

I just never saw the reason for him to gain activated abilities. Never came up for me.

I'll second this as I don't believe I've ever used an activated ability enabled with this.

[onering]

It's also backup, more expensive necrotic ooze for a turn. You get a good tap effect and an untap effect on him and go nuts. For instance, if you use him to grab Fain and Devoted Druid from the yard, he can produce infinite treasures by using the druid to put a -1/-1 counter on him then Fain to remove it and get a treasure. He has to survive a turn for you to be able to make this relevant (since if you can give it haste, you could just give the rezzed creatures haste), so it's risky.

[3drinks]

Friday, October 6th, 2023; Family's Favor

[TheAmericanSpirit]

This is decent for forcing through attacks. It %$#% especially hard on deathtouch.dec

[3drinks]

Saturday, October 7th, 2023; Petrified Field

Hello darkness my old friend. 'Member back in the day when we all jammed this to rebuy our tabernacle/workshop/strip mine/cradle/cool utility land here? So glad it's back down to the $3-$5 range.

[3drinks]

This is decent for forcing through attacks. It %$#% especially hard on deathtouch.dec

When I read the reminder text I realized how much worse shield counters are from indestructible/regenerate. Losing the counter on taking any damage, not just lethal damage is a big oof.

[Dunadain]

I prefer Life from the Loam =)

[3drinks]

Colourless though, but yeah Loam is pretty supreme. Less so as I start including more Scavenger Grounds, but obviously powerful in it's homes.

[Mookie]

Petrified Field looks niche to me. For one, it doesn't provide any direct mana / card advantage, unlike Life from the Loam / Crucible of Worlds - you're giving up a land drop and sacrificing a land to recur a different land. That seems like a poor deal if you're recurring a fetchland or some other land that gets destroyed / milled / discarded. I could maybe see myself running it in a monocolor deck that lacks both fetchlands and other forms of land recursion - it may be worth running a one-off land recursion effect just for Cabal Coffers / Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx / Serra's Sanctum. Petrified Field does compete against other utility lands though, so I don't know if I would want to run it over War Room or another, less situational option.

[PrimevalCommander]

I still really like this land. I'm just not playing it anywhere. I had it in several decks 8 years ago, but utility lands have gotten too good for this to get a slot. Kamigawa channel lands do make this more interesting to buy those back for another use. But generally I want more high end utility lands over a backup for something else maybe getting destroyed.

Might play it in non-green deck playing several spell-lands or MDFC lands as a late game way to get a little more gas. Mardu or Esper with the relevant channel lands and some other high threat lands like Phyrexian Tower or Field of the Dead.

[Lifeless]

Tap: Get Cradle back and annoy the table.

[materpillar]

Tap: Get Cradle back and annoy the table.

I don't know that there is much use for the land outside of this. Admittedly, that is an extremely strong niche.

[Serenade]

In my earlier EDH days, it was fun going through every single card when making monoB and learning that Odyssey had not one but two lands that helped Coffers a whole lot.

It does make me wonder why I do not use this card to backup Serra's Sanctum in enchantress. I guess G/W have wider-ranging recursion.

[3drinks]

Sunday, October 8th, 2023; Bloodgift Demon

I like this good, reasonable value creature and the fact that despite it's age and three printings, it's still a solid dollar. Not too overt a threat, not so underwhelming. "Just" a Phyrexian Arena that punches people in the face.

[NZB2323]

Certainly a playable card, seems very good in a demon tribal deck with Liliana's Contract.

[Mookie]

I like Bloodgift Demon a lot, and it's currently in my cube. It's a solid body that can provide some nice incremental card advantage... or occasionally finish off an opponent on low life. I think it's a little slow for EDH (5 mana + it needs to live a full turn), but it depends somewhat on how hostile your meta is to creatures - if you can play it and have it stick around for a few turns, it starts to look better. It doesn't feed into many synergies, so I wouldn't consider it an auto-include in many decks, but it's a solid value creature.

I think it is generally outclassed by Twilight Prophet, but the demon typing can be relevant for some decks. At the very least, it's a solid choice for Kaalia of the Vast as a demon to cheat out that is also totally reasonable to hardcast.

[Igzex]

Any EDH meta where this thing can still put in work is one I'd like to play. I miss fatties giving you modest value when you untap and not just giving you a new hand and then some on the turn you cast it.

[3drinks]

Monday, October 9th, 2023; Dakmor Salvage

[yeti1069]

Monday, October 9th, 2023; Dakmor Salvage

Ugh. %$#% Gitrog!

[Dunadain]

Obviously a key card in gitrog combo decks, but I struggle to imagine playing it anywhere else.