[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Hawk]

I think one thing that almost seems missing in some people's write-ups is that Duneblast is a lot closer to Plague Wind than Tragic Arrogance et al, especially the more Voltron-y or Midrangey your build is. Arrogance leaves EVERYONE with a creature (in the case of arrogance you get your best and they get their worst, but the rest of the effects they get to keep their favorite); Dune Blast leaves you with the only threat standing.

That isn't to say that Tragic Arrogance isn't generally the better card - it is. For sure, seven mana and three colors is a steep cost compared to five mana in one color and frequently the "drawback" of Arrogance leaving everyone with something is negligible, but if I were in Abzan I'd at least consider this over Cataclysm, Divine Reckoning (which for the record has miserably underperformed every time I've cast it), and Single Combat despite the extra cost, just because it takes out all threats and leaves me a step ahead, and it feels like a lot of posts here are assuming this behaves like Single Combat.

[onering]

Agreed Hawk. Single Combat sucks, as does Divine Reckoning. I'd absolutely pay 2 more to make sure only I have a creature, rather than be stuck with something ok while my opponent keeps the one thing I really wanted dead. Duneblast, at its absolute worst, is a very overcoated day of judgement (it's worst is when you have an empty board and need to blow a wipe to survive, though I guess like all cards it's true worst case is being unable to cast it). Divine Reckoning and Single Combat only marginally help in that situation by getting rid of all but the best creatures for your opponents to kill you with.

Because of that, Duneblast is ok. It's not garbage, but it's not good. 7 Mana is just too much, I'd rather blow up everything for 4 or even 5 and I have a dozen options in those colors. I'd never want to blow up everything but everyone's best creature for 5, but I'd rarely want to blow up everything but my best creature for 7. It's just too slow and the creature that lives needs to be a gamewinner to be worth it.

[3drinks]

If I'm gonna blow up the world but still leave you with a thing...I had better spent four mana, or had taken your lands too.

[onering]

If I'm gonna blow up the world but still leave you with a thing...I had better spent four mana, or had taken your lands too.

That's not what Duneblast does, as has been said. You, the caster, can choose up to one creature to save. If you have a creature, you choose your own creature and you are the only person with a creature left. If you don't have any creatures, you just don't choose any creatures and it's day of judgement for 4 more Mana (of course, you could play politics and make a deal with someone in exchange for saving their creature, or you can choose an opponents creature that you for some reason want to stick around, like a hate bear that doesn't hurt you but is hurting another opponent). So you just aren't getting this effect at 4 Mana.

[3drinks]

If I'm gonna blow up the world but still leave you with a thing...I had better spent four mana, or had taken your lands too.

That's not what Duneblast does, as has been said. You, the caster, can choose up to one creature to save. If you have a creature, you choose your own creature and you are the only person with a creature left. If you don't have any creatures, you just don't choose any creatures and it's day of judgement for 4 more Mana (of course, you could play politics and make a deal with someone in exchange for saving their creature, or you can choose an opponents creature that you for some reason want to stick around, like a hate bear that doesn't hurt you but is hurting another opponent). So you just aren't getting this effect at 4 Mana.

Wait, that's not what I said at all. I'm saying this effect is too expensive at seven, because I can blow up the world more systematically for exponentially less mana.

[3drinks]

Friday, April 24th, 2020; The Panoramas, and honourable mention to close replicants Terminal Moraine and Warped Landscape.

I've always been a staunch defender of these in budget builds. Infinitely better than Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds because these at least provide mana on curve and can be cracked when you have the chance versus the latter that give you a tapped basic. Super under utilized, especially the not g ones.

[Mookie]

I generally prefer Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse over these, but that's partially because I run them alongside Life from the Loam and friends - if you're recurring them repeatedly, the extra mana cost adds up. They can also feel clunky if you do rely on them for fixing - I really dislike Transguild Promenade-style lands, and needing to pay a mana before they can fix is a pain.

....on the other hand, if you don't have a lot of strict color requirements or otherwise don't need the fixing that badly, producing (colorless) mana immediately is certainly an upside. I should see if I can fit Esper Panorama into my Sharuum deck, since that deck is mostly colorless artifacts.

[tstorm823]

I've always been a staunch defender of these in budget builds. Infinitely better than Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds because these at least provide mana on curve and can be cracked when you have the chance versus the latter that give you a tapped basic. Super under utilized, especially the not g ones.

I'm going to disagree with this. With the exception of needing to topdeck an untapped land midway through a game, I think I'd rather play the Terramorphic Twins. If you're not in mono-color, untapped colorless mana is not that useful in the first couple turns. If you are in mono-color, you don't need the color fixing. And having that untapped colorless early can honestly trick you into misprioritizing an early play you didn't need to make over mana fixing that you did.

[folding_music]

I trust these fetches cos they took the time to write "basic" on them. =P Still don't run them cos shuffling the deck is the least entertaining part of the game.

[DirkGently]

I think I only have the green ones in my collection. In case I ever want to make a titania deck.

Otherwise they're ok budget options. But the problem is that the only thing they do (outside of recursion, delve, etc) is fix, and they're pretty slow at fixing. For a budget deck that wants to get value from fetches, though, I guess they're ok-ish.

shuffling the deck is the least entertaining part of the game.

Actually I'm pretty sure it's something to do with Thieves' Auction.

If I'm sitting at a table with a magic deck, I'll shuffle compulsively. It just feels......right.....

[Dunharrow]

don't play them
I find them very slow
It's 2 mana to get a basic, I would rather just play evolving expanse which costs '1' mana. The colorless mana is not doing me any favours most of the time.

Maybe you play it over terramorphic wilds if you have colorless costs in your deck.

[PrimevalCommander]

I think the panorama's are decent fixing and I like them as cards. Would have been nice to see the wedge ones printed in Ikora instead of more ETBT lands, just for variety. When they said "A cycle we have been waiting 10 years to complete", I don't think any of us were on the edge of our seat for Ultimatums, when land cycles get so much chatter.

I don't use Panorama's much these days, but I like the cards and am glad the exist. Very solid lands for commons.

[tempoEDH]

don't play them
I find them very slow
It's 2 mana to get a basic, I would rather just play evolving expanse which costs '1' mana. The colorless mana is not doing me any favours most of the time.

Maybe you play it over terramorphic wilds if you have colorless costs in your deck.

Can we all just take a moment to respect Terramorphic Wilds and Evolving Expanse? If these don't get printed in Zendikar Rising as exact copies of the original 2, we may have to call WOTC.

[Outcryqq]

Edit: Missed card of the day - Panoramas

I guess they are serviceable in very budget builds, but I don't run them.


On yesterday's card of the day, Duneblast:

When things like Tragic Arrogance and Single Combat, Divine Reckoning, and Cataclysm exist, it's hard to justify paying 7 mana for a Duneblast. If it were 4 mana it would definitely see play. 5 mana it would see less play, but still some.

This is pretty harsh and unrealistic in my opinion. You're suggesting they print a boardwipe, save a creature, for 4 mana when good boardwipes that DON'T save a creature cost 4 (Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, Damnation), and you're saying it would see "less play" at 5 mana when some 5 mana wraths see play (Crux of Fate, End Hostilities)? All these comparisons, and add on the big bonus of you keep a creature.

I think 4 or 5 would be way too good, 6 would be great, and 7 is mediocre.

[Sinis]

Friday, April 24th, 2020; The Panoramas, and honourable mention to close replicants Terminal Moraine and Warped Landscape.

I've played all of them, and honestly.... it depends on the deck.

The vast majority of the time, I go for colour fixing via Terramorphic/Evolving. ETB tapped is bad, but the fixing is cheap/unlimited. I think the panoramas are better than Terramorphic/Evolving in decks that absolutely want to hit curve on spells with colourless costs, or decks that are so interested in the sacrifice thing that they're playing every Fetchland they can find (I played three once in Ob Nixilis, the Fallen).

[ZenN]

When things like Tragic Arrogance and Single Combat, Divine Reckoning, and Cataclysm exist, it's hard to justify paying 7 mana for a Duneblast. If it were 4 mana it would definitely see play. 5 mana it would see less play, but still some.

Wow, this is pretty harsh and unrealistic in my opinion. You're honestly suggesting the have a boardwipe, save a creature, for 4 mana when good boardwipes that DON'T save a creature cost 4 (Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, Damnation), and you're saying it would see "less play" at 5 mana when some 5 mana wraths see play (Crux of Fate, End Hostilities)?

I think 4 or 5 would be way too good, 6 would be great, and 7 is mediocre.

Don't forget that it's also 3 colours. That tough of a colour requirement almost always comes with upside. Look at Mythos of Snapdax, for example. It's just straight better than Tragic Arrogance, which is already a strong card at 5, for a mana cheaper, because you're using three colours to do it.

Also, we may have a slightly different definition on what makes a "good" board wipe. Wrath of God, Day of Judgment, and Damnation are fine. Destroy wraths have gotten much weaker in today's Commander, and they need some significant upside to really be "good", like Supreme Verdict, or be very versatile, like Cleansing Nova. Getting to save one of your creatures would be a significant enough upside, for many decks. The vast majority of the time, though, I'd rather be playing non-destroy wraths, like Tragic Arrogance, or Toxic Deluge.

---

As for the panoramas, I think unless I had budget concerns, there are very, very few decks I'd be willing to play them in. I have a bunch of them, mostly from my brief foray into pauper EDH. For normal Commander, though, they're just so slow, and only getting basics really hurts. But, if you just really want more lands that sac themselves, or more ways to shuffle your deck, or whatever, then they do have some small merit.

[3drinks]

...or decks that are so interested in the sacrifice thing that they're playing every Fetchland they can find (I played three once in Ob Nixilis, the Fallen).

Idk about most, but I max out on fetches in all my decks on GP. It's just proper form. 5 in mono, 8 in 2c, and 10 in 3c. I suppose those counts should be bumped +1 because Fabled Passage exists, but I'm really not entirely sure it's worth it. It's still likely correct though.

[DirkGently]

Idk about most, but I max out on fetches in all my decks on GP. It's just proper form. 5 in mono, 8 in 2c, and 10 in 3c. I suppose those counts should be bumped +1 because Fabled Passage exists, but I'm really not entirely sure it's worth it. It's still likely correct though.

If I had nothing that looked at topdeck, nothing that got value from lands in grave, nothing that cared about sacrifice or landfall, no nonbasic lands with basic types, etc - I wouldn't run them in mono. Whether the miniscule effect of deck thinning is worth the miniscule cost of 1 life is hard to say, but when the possibility for blood moon (or worse, Blood Sun) are on the table, the risk is not worth it.

[Dunharrow]

Idk about most, but I max out on fetches in all my decks on GP. It's just proper form. 5 in mono, 8 in 2c, and 10 in 3c. I suppose those counts should be bumped +1 because Fabled Passage exists, but I'm really not entirely sure it's worth it. It's still likely correct though.

If I had nothing that looked at topdeck, nothing that got value from lands in grave, nothing that cared about sacrifice or landfall, no nonbasic lands with basic types, etc - I wouldn't run them in mono. Whether the miniscule effect of deck thinning is worth the miniscule cost of 1 life is hard to say, but when the possibility for blood moon (or worse, Blood Sun) are on the table, the risk is not worth it.

I agree with this assessment. I only play off-color fetches if there is a benefit.
Deck thinning is not a benefit.

[Sinis]

Idk about most, but I max out on fetches in all my decks on GP. It's just proper form. 5 in mono, 8 in 2c, and 10 in 3c. I suppose those counts should be bumped +1 because Fabled Passage exists, but I'm really not entirely sure it's worth it. It's still likely correct though.

I play mostly paper and am too lazy to move cards between decks. So, I don't really max out. Most decks don't really care, or care enough for me to shell out that much for more fetches.

[pokken]

I don't tend to play these because I'm usually playing fetches, and these are worse than the mirage fetches a high enough percentage of the time that I'd prefer those if I was on a budget.

When I've got the hankering to build a budget deck I usually just go 1 or 2 colors and then I never need to go this deep in the tank.

[3drinks]

Saturday, April 25th, 2020; Deceiver of Form

Cool idea. Maybe not practical. Could be a real far reach hidden gem though certainly not for my style of play.

[DirkGently]

So you want mass token production, and either a topdeck tutor or just a high creature density, and the ability to cast a 7 drop with a colorless in its cost.

Idk, seems like a lot of moving parts. I'm sure it can be good in the right deck but personally it's not my style. I don't really like big creatures or token swarms.

It was fun in limited though. All the stuff that's boring in commander is sweet in limited because it's so much more work/luck to pull off.

[Myllior]

The only time I've seen Deceiver of Form is in this delightfully janky deck: Gallery of Deceivers. It utilises Sliver Queen for consistent access to cheap token production and also to 5 colours so that you can reliably manipulate the top of your deck and have access to the best and funnest creatures to work with the Deceiver. This allows you to build up to a big 'combo' turn, in which you use an army of Kokushos, Giselas, Ibices or whatever other synergistic creature you want to win. (Some of these depend on the presence or absence of Mirror Gallery to work, hence the deck name).

It's jank, but the best kind of jank.

[3drinks]

Stick a Plague Stinger on top 👀👀

Hypnotic Specter works too.