[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Outcryqq]

Edit: Command Beacon

Decent in the right deck, wholly dependent on your commander.

[tstorm823]

This got me thinking of other ways they could move commanders out of the command zone. They could make a card that's like Rhystic Command Zone, that when they play their commander, you can move yours to your hand unless they pay the equivalent of your commander tax.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, May 6th, 2020; Command Beacon

I have my lone copy, and... I don't really play with it.

It shines in Titania, Protector of Argoth and Muldrotha, the Gravetide but isn't all that exciting the rest of the time. If you're paying 4+ in tax, it's probably worth it? But, I don't find that I actually pay that much in a lot of games. If your deck is terribly dependent on your commander, it's definitely a good option.

Worth noting, Netherborn Altar has the same effect, and I wonder if people will clamour to play it also.

[pokken]

I don't know that I have ever activated it. I don't even play it in my MW Lands deck, although it'd probably be really good there. Might try it there I guess.

[BeneTleilax]

It's good in Gitfrog and all the various Jundlands decks, beyond those, Altar is probably better

[DirkGently]

Not sure I've ever run it, but it seems excellent with any commander that recur lands. Besides Muldrotha and Titania, Protector of Argoth which have been mentioned, Lord Windgrace comes to mind as being quite sticky with command beacon.

In general I always get spooked by investing additional resources to cast a commander, like rituals or command beacon (if you can't recur it), simply because if gets killed it means you're probably off your commander for a really long time.

[PrimevalCommander]

I have a Titania, Protector of Argoth deck, and just recently picked up a Command Beacon for it. Have yet to play it, but I expect it to be very useful. That is the only reason I sought out this card. Useful for decks that can recur lands and want their commander in play. I would also play it in Lord Windgrace as mentioned above. Less of an auto include as it looks especially for the current price. Though I bit the bullet because I don't know how long it will take for a reprint.

[illakunsaa]

I like this card. I got like 20€ when I traded it for store credit.

[onering]

Its pretty nice in Gallia, since she tends to die a lot. She's a 2 drop that leads a deck that wants to attack early and often, in a color combo with only mediocre ways to recur her from the yard. Because she's so cheap and dies a decent amount, cracking the beacon can save you 5+ mana (I count the beacon as a mana), and that makes a difference late game.

I'd imagine that its good in other decks with low cost commanders in 2 or fewer colors (as that leaves more room for utility lands). I've never actually used it in Traxos, but its in there (I've never drawn it when Traxos has been killed a few times, and when Traxos hasn't been killed a few times it doesn't matter what my lands are people are dead). As others have mentioned, certain commanders that are crucial to the deck functioning benefit, especially the fewer colors they are, but its a poor substitute for reanimation so I'd assume its relevant to commanders in colors with poor reanimation.

[Dunharrow]

I put it in Maelstrom Wanderer and have literally never activated it. I am sure it is good enough, but I guess I just haven't had the right scenario to use it.

[3drinks]

Thursday, May 7th, 2020; Octopus Umbra

Ha. Hilarious card. Clocks pretty well and is hard to block. Could be a decent alternative to conscription in a Sovereigns shell.

[Mookie]

As auras go, Octopus Umbra is pretty big - potentially granting +8/+7 on a 5 mana aura, in blue, is impressive. It's better on smaller creatures, since it sets the power and toughness directly. The obvious location for it is probably everyone's favorite blue aura-based voltron deck, which is of course Hakim, Loreweaver.

...or Rafiq of the Many, I guess. There are a few others too. Probably not Bruna, Light of Alabaster - +3/+3 isn't really worth it, although I'm not familiar enough with those decklists to know how valuable totem armor is.

Tap-based evasion is fine, but not amazing. Hard to estimate the exact value of it - good if someone has a single good blocker they intend to use (or a deathtouch creature), worse if they have a bunch of expendable tokens.

Anyway, more of a role-player than a staple. Blue doesn't have a lot of big auras, but it also doesn't have a lot of aura-friendly voltron commanders. If you should be running it, it will usually be obvious.

[Dragoon]

Slap it on an Invisible Stalker and call it a day.

[3drinks]

As auras go, Octopus Umbra is pretty big - potentially granting +8/+7 on a 5 mana aura, in blue, is impressive. It's better on smaller creatures, since it sets the power and toughness directly. The obvious location for it is probably everyone's favorite blue aura-based voltron deck, which is of course Hakim, Loreweaver.

...or Rafiq of the Many, I guess. There are a few others too. Probably not Bruna, Light of Alabaster - +3/+3 isn't really worth it, although I'm not familiar enough with those decklists to know how valuable totem armor is.

Tap-based evasion is fine, but not amazing. Hard to estimate the exact value of it - good if someone has a single good blocker they intend to use (or a deathtouch creature), worse if they have a bunch of expendable tokens.

Anyway, more of a role-player than a staple. Blue doesn't have a lot of big auras, but it also doesn't have a lot of aura-friendly voltron commanders. If you should be running it, it will usually be obvious.

Rayne, Academy Chancellor is very sad she was excluded from this party.

[Rorseph]

Slap it on an Invisible Stalker and call it a day.

Or, for maximum salt, Blighted Agent.

[gilrad]

Reminds me of my old 2010-era Reki, the History of Kamigawa deck that incidentally included Eldrazi Conscription on the off-chance that I could commander damage-out opponents with a measly 1-power commander.

I can see people using this card in a very similar way - take a grindy enchantress commander that's generally not suitable for commander damage, and cause that player still sitting at 40 life to sweat.

[Outcryqq]

Pretty neat card, never realized it existed. Expensive protection for a small utility commander, perhaps? Riku of Two Reflections?

[Sinis]

Thursday, May 7th, 2020; Octopus Umbra

The setting of the power/toughness is a feelsbad for me, even though I can see that the card is pretty decent for what it is, especially given the mana cost. I'm sure it's okay with all the things that make Eldrazi Conscription acceptable (Academy Researchers, Iridescent Drake, Arcanum Wings, etc. etc. etc...)

[Dunharrow]

Could be good with Heroic ... +1/+1 counter work well with this aura!

[Sanity_Eclipse]

I've slotted it into Narset, Enlightened Master|SLD, personally. Getting +5/+6, hopefully for free, making her a 3 shot voltron kill sounds pretty good. And it's at least a bit more flavorful than being voluntold by an Eldritch abomination (other umbras nominated here for flavor reasons).

[onering]

Keep in mind that, for these p/t setting effects, they have synergy with creatures whose power is set primarily through +1/+1 counters or abilities that give it +x based on something. Zegana 1.0 goes from being a 1/1 with say 8 +1/+1 counters to being an 8/8 with 8 +1/1 counters on it. Rielle gets +1/+0 for each instant and sorcery in your yard, so she becomes an 8/8 with +X/+0. Jenara is an older Voltron commander that's a measly 3/3 and gets big by putting counters on herself, so octopus umbra gets her +5/+5 in effect.

[3drinks]

Friday, May 8th, 2020; Precursor Golem

We all have some outlandish stories about the Dugtrio of Magic (I'm dating myself on that reference, surely 😂). What are yours? I once hit the modo token cap of 250 on the v3 client, after messing around with them, mizzium transreliquat, rite of replication, and radiate (the client did end in a crash and, what I can only presume to be a giant middle finger directed right at me 🙄😐).

[Mookie]

Precursor Golem is a card I usually only see when people want to discuss math. It's interesting alongside Rite of Replication, but a pile of vanilla 3/3s isn't that exciting. It is a lot of raw stats for its price, at least, and coming with some friends can be decent. There are certainly uses for a pile of artifact tokens, although I would generally prefer Myr Battlesphere. I think the main issue is that vanilla 3/3s are that exciting in EDH, so the real draw is the instant/sorcery copying ability.

I suspect its best use is as a backup for Zada, Hedron Grinder. There may also be some sweet things you can do with Arcane Adaptation. But no matter what you're doing, it's probably going to be hilarious.

[Dragoon]

We all have some outlandish stories about the Dugtrio of Magic (I'm dating myself on that reference, surely 😂).

Well, now I kinda want a Dugtrio alter of this card ... and I'm not even playing it. I'll add it to my pokemon alter wishlist alongside a Charizard alter of Territorial Hellkite.

[3drinks]

We all have some outlandish stories about the Dugtrio of Magic (I'm dating myself on that reference, surely 😂).

Well, now I kinda want a Dugtrio alter of this card ... and I'm not even playing it. I'll add it to my pokemon alter wishlist alongside a Charizard alter of Territorial Hellkite.

I'm up next in my alterist's queue, I could add that. But I'm not paying $50 for something I won't play. Besides, that $50 goes to my super Ragavan remix 😂