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

[Moxnix]

Key is really good I use it in cedh builds that want to transmute artifact one ring when it cant make the mana for bolas citadel. Untapping mana vault grim monolith is great decks using gilded lotus love it not bad with scroll rack shells just a really powerful card can look at it like 1cc mana ramp or better. The one ring certainly has me using these more than I used to and they were always playable.

[Sinis]

Keys are okay. I rarely play them, but I think I would if I had a huge number of artifacts that generated more colourless mana, or decks that were reaching for a rube goldberg-style machine. Since I generally eschew the Mana Vaults and Grim Monoliths of the game, I find myself running it almost never.

(That said, I totally play Clock of Omens and Unwinding Clock in my Emry deck, which perform a similar function, so.)

[Hawk]

For more casual decks, I've found myself preferring Manifold Key to Voltaic Key. Rare is it that you need to untap Voltaic (it can matter for certain ability-copying combos), and the option to make threats unblockable matters. In general though, I'm cool on these even in dedicated artifact builds that run a pile of rocks that make 2+ mana. I don't own Vault, Grim Monolith, or Crypt, and thus it's rarely worth running Basalt Monolith...and that means these are too often dead if Worn Powerstone, Sol Ring, and Thran Dynamo are there only targets. Better in more competitive, cutthroat decks for sure.

[3drinks]

Friday, October 20th, 2023; Weathered Wayfarer

[TheGildedGoose]

The worst feeling in the world is winning the die roll and playing this on turn 1, but other than that this care rules. I remember someone responding to me finding Kor Haven using it with "I'm sorry, any land?"

[Mookie]

Manifold Key and Voltaic Key are cool. While they don't do anything on their own, there are generally enough random tap abilities for them to generate value in an artifact-based deck. I'll call out Salvaging Station + Krark-Clan Ironworks as a janky infinite mana combo with either Key.

Weathered Wayfarer is a very powerful effect balanced by a significant limitation. The more useful lands you're running, the better it is. At the very least, you can fetch up cycling lands to turn it into card draw, or just hit all your land drops until you catch up. It also works very well with stuff like Lotus Field that can let you manipulate your land count. Cards like Field of the Dead, Dark Depths, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin can function as land-based win conditions. Ultimately, I think it's one of the stronger one-drops available if it's enabled... but of course, it's useless if you draw it late and have too many lands, so you do want to build around it a bit.

[NZB2323]

I think most of the time I grab an Ancient Tomb with this guy.

[PrimevalCommander]

I shy away from Weathered Wayfarer in my mono white due to the inclusion in that deck of Sword of the Animist, Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus , Sword of Hearth and Home, and Sword of Forge and Frontier. So in general I end the game with more lands than all but the heaviest ramp decks. One thing that has me rethinking this is that I should only need 1 activation to grab Lotus Field and ensure the next 2 activations. So now I'm thinking I should give it a try. Though I don't want to go too deep into "catch up" ramp unless I invest in a Lotus vale and pull out my Scorched Ruins from another deck. Toss in a Deserted Temple and now I'll need some more mana sinks

[Ruiner]

Pretty much every monowhite or two color deck I run that has white, will include Weathered Wayfarer, along with Flagstones of Trokair and Lotus Field as a little jank ramp package that also let's me play behind on land count.

Great for grabbing and utility land, cheap and efficient. Not a whole lot else to say.

[Sinis]

I still love this card. You're not likely to go first anyway. The nonbasics really sell it; in White you could be playing any or all of Nykthos, Serra's Sanctum, Kor Haven, etc.

The worst feeling in the world is winning the die roll and playing this on turn 1, but other than that this care rules. I remember someone responding to me finding Kor Haven using it with "I'm sorry, any land?"

I actually play Karoos and Lotus Field in my White decks because it enables cards like Weathered Wayfarer longer, and the risk is typically low (what are they gonna do, activate Shadowspear and Ghost Quarter you or something?)

[3drinks]

Saturday, October 21st, 2023; Sylvan Caryatid

...Is this still even good?

[DirkGently]

Yeah I wasn't doom blading your mana dork anyway. Can't even grab swords cuz defender.

Useful for decks like Rayami, First of the Fallen that get value from the keyword. And Arcades, the Strategist? That's probably it.

[NZB2323]

Yeah, the power level has risen, and Birds of Paradise, Delighted Halfling, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, ect. Are better.

Although I did play a game last night where an Orcish Bowmasters killed my Birds of Paradise on turn 2.

[Mookie]

To me, Sylvan Caryatid has four relevant attributes:

• It ramps you
• It provides fixing
• It has defender
• It has hexproof

3 toughness and the plant typing can be occasionally relevant, but are usually niche. In a vacuum, I think Sylvan Caryatid is pretty reasonable - Llanowar Elves and other one-mana creatures generally don't provide fixing, so it can be worth the extra mana for some fixing if you're running a 3+ color deck. Your exact mana curve also matters - a 3-drop commander really wants one mana acceleration, but a 4+ mana commander doesn't need it as badly and may not mind paying a little extra for additional upside.

That said, Caryatid does face some steep competition these days - there has been a lot of power creep for mana dorks since it was first printed. Armored Scrapgorger, Biophagus, and Sanctum Weaver all come with upsides that are more broadly relevant than Caryatid's hexproof, so I think it has largely been pushed into defender decks these days.

[3drinks]

Sunday, October 22nd, 2023; Crovax, Ascendant Hero

[NZB2323]

I mean, for one more mana you can get Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

[Mookie]

Ascendant Evincar, for reference.

Crovax, Ascendant Hero looks pretty underwhelming compared to Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. He gives half the effect, and is more limited due to being color-based - if you're not playing mono-white or your opponents are playing white creatures, his benefits may be reversed. He does have relevant typing for human decks, but six mana for a lord effect is incredibly steep. I guess he might be an interesting target for Pyre of Heroes? Otherwise I'm not sure what decks would want him.

[3drinks]

Why is this mythic? It's like Jugan, the Rising Star all over again 😂

[Serenade]

Man, Ascendant Evincar was terrifying back in the day. His bicep is half of the art, and his cape was the other half. They don't even say his name (only in the flavor text). And on that old background, when his weapon is the set's logo? That was THE NEMESIS.


This guy? Overcosted, weak, and lame.

[3drinks]

Monday, October 23rd, 2023; Jabari's Influence

[Dunadain]

Having never read this card before, that is... Hilariously bad.

I read the effect of the card first, then the casting cost, and being the old border the 3 symbol blended into the background and for a second I thought it costed WW and I still thought it wasn't great. At 3WW it's some hot garbage.

[TheGildedGoose]

Mark "I Have No Idea What I'm Doing" Rosewater

[Lifeless]

Sometimes I forget that even by 1996 standards Mirage was garbage. I'm a bit surprised that the game survived it. It was the beginning of my first lengthy hiatus from Magic - lasting more or less until Invasion block. I certainly missed some good cards in those years, but this was not among them.

[DirkGently]

I doubt I'd ever play this in commander, but commander didn't exist in 1996. Mirage was, however, the first set designed for limited play, and I'd still slam this card P1P1 even in 2023. Control magics are really strong, even bad control magics - and while this is slightly expensive and fairly restrictive, it's not vulnerable to enchantment removal and it's an instant. Regular Control Magic would be a windmill slam 10/10 insane megabomb in basically every limited format that has ever existed, so you can knock a lot of edges off of it and still have a strong card.

We can agree that it's not much of a commander card - mostly because white's removal pool is insanely deep in eternal formats - but I don't think the bashing is warranted. Removal's value doesn't fluctuate much based on synergy, so to survive the distillation of 30 years of removal spells in the best removal color would be quite an achievement. This card had its time in the sun, and that time is past, but there's no call to spit on its grave.

[materpillar]

This card seems like it'd be kinda fun to play in a Mono-W list against precon level stuff. No one expects the mind control in white.

Not fantastic obviously but not super unplayable in lower powerlevels I think.