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

[toctheyounger]

I personally hate this card with a passion. Not because it is overpowered or anything. Eldraine was such a super flavorful and awesome set. Then, there was this monstrosity of flavor fail. It's not interesting at all, it's just boring creature powercreep.

He's probably good enough for some decks. I don't know, he's painfully boring to read. Give me my Midnight Clock and Gingerbrute any day.

For what it's worth, it's not a flavour fail. This does represent a quest of Arhurian legend. It was mentioned at time of release by, I think bobthefunny? I'm gonna try and find the link in the meantime because I found it pretty interesting. turns out it's actually a pretty accurate description. edit: found http://nxs.wf/np35838 and it was @Stapler that brought it up.

As far as gameplay in our format goes, I think it goes in pretty specific decks. Good value for its cost, not sure if it does enough everywhere you could put it though.

[3drinks]

If I coulda afforded it, it's just another killer part of the Goreclaw lineup. Casting this for GG sure looks nice and frightening.

[3drinks]

Thursday, April 16th, 2020; the v1 Lieutenant Cycle. This is the ones that came out with the first planeswalker commanders.

Well I know I played the B one in Kaalia. And I recall forcing the W one but never keeping it for whatever reason. Seems really solid on paper.

[Mookie]

The first Lieutenant cycle is pretty solid. Some are better than others though - I see Thunderfoot Baloth with some regularity, as a miniature Craterhoof Behemoth. In the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen Angelic Field Marshal or Demon of Wailing Agonies in action - the payoffs of vigilance and an edict are relatively minor.

I feel like Tyrant's Familiar should see more play than it currently does - shooting a creature for 7 damage on attack is quite solid, as is a 7/7 flier. On the other hand, costing 7 mana is probably the reason why - while it's a solid creature, 7 mana is a lot, and most decks are looking to do more impactful things by then.

I don't think I've seen anyone else run it, but I do play Stormsurge Kraken in my Thada Adel, Acquisitor deck. A 7/7 hexproof beater for 5 is pretty reasonable there - I value hexproof pretty highly, since I don't want my beaters to be easily removed. No evasion, but drawing cards off it is surprisingly common - I have a suspicion that due to its relative infrequency of play, my opponents tend to forget that it draws me cards when it gets blocked, so they're happy to cash in a chump blocker for some life points. If you throw a Lure effect on it, even better, but that tends to only be available in green decks. I guess Grappling Hook works?

[Serenade]

Thunderfoot is nice when your general does not have trample. I know we had QB in here yesterday as an example of one, but I've had fun with Thunderfoot in Surrak 2.0 (that's just a lot of classic monogreen beats coming at you). Xenagod curve is good with it, too. Mmm, haste and trample.

[Outcryqq]

I like them, I play the blue one in Thassa sea monsters to great effect, and I play the green one in a few decks including Ayula and Marath.

[pokken]

The blue one is just deceptively powerful. If there was a foil I'd consider it in Ephara just as a backup way to get the engine going.

edit: ...serves me right to go by memory. The blue one of this cycle is horrible. I was thinking loyal drake for some reason

Green one is pretty playable too -- it's got a sweet spot where it's a decent alternative to Hoofdad, where you're trying to kill with incremental damage.

[Rumpy5897]

As per EDHREC, the green one's the most played, followed by the red one, then a massive gap and the rest. This makes sense. Even the nicest of these (Thunderbalon) screams 75%. I guess people forget the red one exists given Balefire Dragon. I have a soft spot for this cycle, and my Ghired runs the green one because it's actually not a bad copy target. It may scale the worst of the available beatsticks in the long run, but pumping Ghired makes him fare better in combat and helps the deck's engine run smoother as a result.

[Wallycaine]

I think Tyrant's familiar suffers the most from having a crappy crappy floor at its cost. While the 7/7 flyer with haste that burns a dude to death when you attack is powerful, it's not powerful enough to make up for the times it's a 7 mana 5/5 flyer with haste. I think that gulf, more than anything, is what really hurts this first round of lieutenants.

[lyonhaert]

Thunderfoot Baloth is also good with tokens. I ought to use it in Spiders rather than End-Raze Forerunners.

I've used Angelic Field Marshal in Darien, King of Kjeldor before, as vigilance is a wonderful ability and it's a pretty commander-centric deck.

[Hawk]

Thunderfoot Baloth is clearly and simply the best of them. While he struggles in comparison to the almighty Craterhoof Behemoth he's also muuuuuuuuch more affordable. I do think he's also generally superior to Pathbreaker Ibex or End-raze Forerunners in most decks. Any Gx big dumb beatdown deck or token deck that frequently casts their commander should be giving ol' Thunderfoot a close look. I need to pick up a few more copies for some decks tbh.

Demon, Angel, and Kraken are all fine if your deck is a little more casual or themed on those tribes. They're clearly a product of a different era (decade, now) of Commander design as big fat brutes. I imagine I'm really underrating Angelic Field Marshal and should consider a copy for some decks like Heliod, Sun-Crowned that often have commanders out and that go wide enough to appreciate the vigilance. I see Demon occasionally and my sister-in-law's Sea Monster deck makes good use of Kraken.

As noted, the dragon is the worst of the bunch and I'm shocked to see it as one of the most played. Seven mana starts getting to be a bit tougher to manage even in commander. The "success rate" can be very powerful but not backbreaking or noticeably better than any number of other 6-8 CMC dragons or finishers, and the fail rate of a glorified Volcanic Dragon is abysmal in a way the rest of the cycle isn't.

[Sinis]

Thursday, April 16th, 2020; the v1 Lieutenant Cycle.

I've played all but the white one pretty extensively; I acquired them back in the day of "buy all 5 commander decks every year" and 2014 was no exception (and was a great year for commander decks IMO).
Demon of Wailing Agonies in Toshiro Umezawa, and later Erebos, God of the Dead; he shone brightly in Toshiro, who was very interested in body counts, and Erebos, who suffered little removal. Generically good-ish, but nothing earthshattering.

Thunderfoot Baloth still sees plays in lots of my decks. Being green means it can be found via Green Sun's Zenith and Summoner's Pact, but it's not as heavy-handed as Craterhoof (who would be unwelcome in my group).

Tyrant's Familiar was in my Daretti deck, Jaya, and later Radha, Heir to Keld tribal dragons. He was acceptable, but the 7-mana pricetag was never insignificant. I could see it getting great work done in something like Xenagos, God of Revels or especially Ruric Thar who enjoys this kind of removal.

Stormsurge Kraken is the one I have the fondest memories of despite being less than spectacular; I played it in a Sakashima the Impostor clone-themed deck, and it was deeply entertaining to have Sakashima copy it so she could be her own lieutenant (with Hexproof!). The card draw was never unwelcome, and it was not a slow clock.

I try, every now and again to play Angelic Field Marshal, but it always dies on the cutting room floor. 5/5 flying for 4 is a set of stats I would definitely play, and mass Vigilance is surely desirable in some decks, but it often loses the slot to Heliod, God of the Sun, Angelic Skirmisher, or something entirely different. It feels like an objectively good card, but, maybe it's not. It did not even make the cut in Bruna, the Fading Light.

[FoxOfWar]

Heh. I'm currently building a partner (Tana, the Bloodsower and Ravos, Soultender) deck that's loosely themed around several mechanics that I haven't found a home for but do at points play together - Lieutenant, Monarch, Gates, other cards that want me to cast (and recast) my commanders. A creature-centric combat deck that certainly can benefit from this cycle.

I think I might tentatively call the deck 'the Opposite of Subtle'.

[3drinks]

Friday, April 17th, 2020; Archmage Ascension

I remember trying so hard to bust this, I forced it into everything when it was new. Has anyone actually succeeded?

Obviously if you manage to proc it, you just win.

[schweinefett]

I've only really used the black one in a demon-tribal deck. But it didn't end up being good enough. Typically, when i bash in with rakdos the defiler, my opponent ends up saccing a lot more than just 1 guy. Having one other creature that makes them sac 2 more permanents (stacking triggers to force my opponent to go to odd-number of permanents means +2) isn't that amazing when they're gonna sac like 6-7 things anyways.

It is pretty amazing with it that betrays though. But at that point, it's not the demon that's good.

Edit - whoops, i apparently wrote my piece a couple seconds late.
Archmage ascension is good, but generally gets knocked out pretty quickly. I don't recall ever living the dream. I can see it being good in a control-combo build though.

[ilovesaprolings]

I guess it can easily work with the new general Xyris and Gavi. Its problem (and the problem with every quest) is that is kinda a dead draw late game

[Sinis]

Friday, April 17th, 2020; Archmage Ascension

I really this one, but it's pretty hard to make it go. I've activated it a couple of times (almost always with proliferate via Inexorable Tide).

But, it is broken when you activate. Which is fine; it's such an uphill battle to activate it, I like to think of it as an alternate wincon not unlike Liliana's Contract.

[BeneTleilax]

I've seen it do work as a lightning rod for removal in draw-heavy decks like Locust God, where it forces someone to kill it fast or you win.

[Mookie]

Archmage Ascension is a card that usually draws a lot of hate - your opponents are heavily incentivized to stop you from turning it on. Simultaneously, drawing 6-12 extra cards over the course of a turn cycle or two is pretty difficult.... and if you're drawing that many cards consistently, you're probably in a pretty strong position anyway, which makes this a bit win-more. I suppose you could proliferate it if you wanted it active faster.

Anyway, as for the payoff.... drawing the perfect card every time is a very powerful ability, and if you can't find a way to win off that, it probably didn't exist in the first place. You'll also have demonstrated the ability to draw a bunch of extra cards, which means you're likely going to start tutoring and getting value immediately. I do generally expect most decks to be capable of winning given 4+ free tutors - either directly from a combo, or just by pure card quality. If you're not going to get multiple triggers off of it, an actual tutor is obviously going to be superior.

As for decks that want it... anything drawing a ton of cards, I suppose - the new cycling deck is one such place. You also want either the ability to protect it or the ability to get it online really fast - if you're not getting it online, it's effectively a dead card. I don't think it's necessarily bad to be running high-variance cards - ones that either do nothing or win the game - but you want to make sure it's achievable a significant percentage of the time, and my experience with this one is that it isn't.

[Hawk]

I've never tried it, but feel like I wouldn't love it and that it is the worst of the ascensions (notwithstanding Pyromancer Ascension which is basically unplayable in EDH).

- The payoff is arguably more powerful than many of the other ascensions, but feels less "fun". Every draw is now Demonic Tutor is of course broken and dumb, but it just drags the game to a halt in a deck that can enable it, wheras the other ascensions bring the game to a swift conclusion.

- Because the payoff is so insane, this draws an inordinate amount of hate. All the Ascensions are dumb, but I've seen lots of tables let Bloodchief Ascension fly under the radar or just be unable to deal with Luminarch Ascension before the player ascends.

- This takes a long time to work, and a ton of work. Unless you're cheesing it with Proliferate or Doubling Season, it is a full six turns (or 1.5 rotations) assuming you can trigger it each end step which is no small feat. Meanwhile, one can frequently trigger Beastmaster Ascension immediately to get immediate value and close out the game before opponents can untap and prepare. Bloodchief and Luminarch need half as many counters, so they can and often do activate after a single round. Those two also provide long-term value; if you've made an angel or two with Luminarch you've likely "Broken even" on your investment even after someone pops it, and the damage and lifegain on Bloodchief moves the game forward even if it dies. But here, if someone pops this after you trigger it just once that's really disappointing and a huge loss of time and momentum. Bloodchief and Luminarch also can gain counters with basically no additional action or resources from you beyond politcking, whereas this requires you to run a lot of instant-speed 2+ draw effects.

- It's totally win-more even above and beyond the rest of the ascensions. If you were capable of drawing an additional 6-12 cards then you likely have the ability to flip through your deck to whatever combo pieces you wanted to win. Why did you need this? Why didn't you just cast Long-term Plans and draw into it?

[bobthefunny]

Seems like a cantrip version of Jori-En or Rashmi that wants to draw just a few cards every turn might be able to make it work... But that seems like a specific build that is somewhat less exciting.

[Serenade]

Early on in my group's EDH days, Ascensions helped us learn that we needed more targeted removal in our decks.

[3drinks]

Worth noting once ascended this card gets around Chains of Mephistopheles.

Because everyone has a Chains just lying around........👀👀

[3drinks]

Saturday, April 18th, 2020; The Elderspell

Inb4 ShOuLd Be BaNnEd In OaThBrEaKeR

Ahem. No one actually plays that format anyway, right? How often is this really good versus a slightly cheaper albeit more narrow Hero's Downfall?

[Mookie]

Are you playing superfriends in a meta full of other superfriends decks? Alternatively, are you playing a planeswalker commander in a meta full of superfriends? If so, The Elderspell is going to be amazing - it enables fast ultimates while simultaneously killing a bunch of other planeswalkers.

....on the other hand, my experience is that planeswalkers don't show up in games that often, and when they do, they tend to not last that long. Especially if they have a particularly scary ultimate. Some walkers are capable of sticking around, but they're usually more inoffensive ones (ex: Jace Beleren, aka 'party Jace'). As a result, I don't value explicit planeswalker removal that highly - I prefer more flexible removal, like Beast Within or Anguished Unmaking. I suppose you could run The Elderspell in a monoblack deck, but even then, I'd still run Hero's Downfall or another spell that is a bit less narrow.

I suppose it's a card that is somewhat comparable to Tormod's Crypt or Stifle - incredibly efficient at what it does, but also really narrow, and dead outside specific scenarios. As a result, not a card I would run without a specific meta.

One side perk is its ability to drain your own planeswalkers, which can be occasionally relevant for a superfriends deck - some ultimates are definitely worth sacrificing a few walkers to enable. Still not a thing I would count on pulling off consistently, but worth consideration.