[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Argothian Enchantress

[Serenade]

I probably want my W/B spot removal to hit creatures as a baseline. The exile and cost of VV are nice, but I am skipping it since it has too many blindspots.

Last week I used All Is Dust and took out a Conduit of Worlds, so it's not like VV cannot hit artifacts at all. =P

[Hawk]

If Vanishing Verse was in different colors, it might be a stellar card. But in Orzhov, I find this a pretty tough sell personally.

9 times out of 10, a creature is what you want killed, and Orzhov has superior spells for cheaper (Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, possible Deadly Rollick and Snuff Out) or at the same MV but much more flexible (including Infernal Grasp and several spells that hit more than one card type like Bitter Triumph, Feed the Swarm, Get Lost, Fateful Absence). For restrictive 2-MV spells in Orzhov, I also like Despark a whole lot more than this.

To make it even tougher, for just 1 mana more you can get a whole host of spells in Orzhov that handle literally anything no strings attached - Anguished Unmaking and Stroke of Midnight being the strongest of a list of spells that also includes Vindicate, Generous Gift, Council's Judgment, Grasp of Fate, Excise the Imperfect, and any number of Oblivion Ring variants.

And Orzhov tends to have incentive to run creatures for aristocrat value, paying more for long-term advantage of looping/recurring/sacing for profit cards like Loran of the Third Path or Ravenous Chupacabra.

This card is fine, and I'd not judge anyone for running it, but I do think even in a deck that wants to run 15-20 single-target removal spells (and that's a rare list) it isn't hard to find more powerful spells. Considering the average deck runs 5-10, this would never make the cut for me.

[yeti1069]

I feel like Mana efficiency matters a lot more with removal/interaction than most cards in edh as I almost always want to doublespell the turn I play a piece of removal, spending a card to remove a card is a raw deal in commander, but often necessary, spending a card AND a turn to remove a card is brutal.

Not to mention, with instant speed interaction, you'll want to leave up the mana for the spell as often as possible, which is a lot more doable at 1 or 2 mana.

While I agree with all this, if your answer doesn't answer the card that needs answering, it isn't actually an answer.

[Guardman]

Vanishing Verse looks good on paper, but every time I've drawn it I always wish it was something else. It just doesn't hit enough permanents. Even worse, it can't target most commanders. Overall, I've found it to be at best a replacement level removal.

[PrimevalCommander]

I don't think I'm playing this over Infernal Grasp, Fateful Absence or Get Lost at the same mana value since I really want to hit commanders much of the time. With everyone playing so all-in on commanders these days, popping a commander to slow down the value train can buy you some time. I know commanders get recast often, but that doesn't change the fact that they need to die .

If I need the flexibility, I think the 1 mana trade off is worth the lack of restriction for the premium 3mv removal. If I'm looking for noncreature removal, I'm not sure what I would play, but it wouldn't be this. I'd probably use the A-tier creature removal in Path/Swords and bump up to 3 mana for the flexible removal in Stroke/Gift/Unmaking and call it a day. Sprinkle in some Grasp/Get Lost if I didn't already have Ravenous Chupacabra and Skyclave Apparition for added creature synergy. I never liked the idea of Despark, but after seeing Skyclave Apparition a few times and not getting to target big stuff, I'm not sure if I'm completely turned off by the mana value restriction, or respect the card more for hitting the higher MV targets. I think that question alone turns me away from cards like this, including Go for the Throat, Victim of Night, and similar. Oh the days when Rend Flesh was a playable removal in black.

Funny thing, I don't mind 3 mana removal at all, but I absolutely loath 4 mana removal. I never sleeved up an Utter End in my life because I couldn't stomach the mana cost. I've played Return to Dust quite a bit because the 2 for 1 always made it feel a little better, but even now I can get better flexibility for less mana, so it's a losing argument for me.

[3drinks]

Thursday, December 28th, 2023; The Monarch Courts!

...I had completely forgotten these got a second cycle until I searched [card]Court of Gracend then saw the other nine pop up RIP. So ten courts of monarch LFG!!

[yeti1069]

Grace - decent, but too often it's 4 mana to make a 1/1 flyer on upkeep, and I don't think that quite cuts it.
Ardenvale - Sun Titan on upkeep if you're the monarch is great! Returning to hand if not is...ok. Could be very useful, just not sure where it fits in a list.
Cunning - I had this in Captain N'ghathrod for a bit, but the fail case of mill 2 just didn't seem worth the cost+hate generated. It might go back in at some point.
Vantress - I've seriously considered it for my Bant enchantress deck, just not sure what I would cut for it.
Ambition - I've seen it in play a few times, and have never seen it go for 2/6. This is the sort of effect that everyone will hate on. If I ever rebuild Kess, Dissident Mage discard, this is a likely inclusion.
Lochthwain - Took me until this reading to realize that the monarch version gives you access to everything it has exiled so far that game. Might make it worth running, but holding onto monarch for that might be tough, and the fail case is incredibly lackluster.
Ire - A Shock each turn is not worth 5 mana, though there are certainly some decks that could hold onto monarch reliable enough to make this worthwhile.
Embereth - The fail case is kind of lackluster, and the monarch version is only really worthwhile if you have a wide board. Pass.
Bounty - Maybe good in a lands deck that runs a lot of card draw, but then...why do you even need this?
Garenbrig - Looks strong with a decent board, and even just alongside some a creature or two that can make good use of the counters, like any of the power/counters = mana creatures available, then can turn into a powerful finisher, and for 3 mana. I think I have to look at this for my Falco Spara, Pactweaver deck.

[Lifeless]

For EDH I think these are all decent to good depending on how much you value bringing the monarch into play. I find that the crown has some interesting impact on the game so I personally like it a lot. Most of my experience with these is in Conspiracy cube where they're all very significant threats thanks to the limited amount of available enchantment removal.

I think the one that I missed the first time around is Garenbrig. The cost is reasonable and a deck that wants this effect probably has good ways to protect the crown. I should consider this more often. Embereth could also be a nice inclusion in goblin swarms, although they could struggle to control the crown once everyone sees how threatening your position is.

[Serenade]

I had Court of Ire in Obosh, the Preypiercer, but it was way too slow. I never hit that magical 14 damage.

Court of Embereth: These days red has a few creature-token-each-turn options (Daring Piracy, Urabrask's Forge), so this CMC is too high.

[materpillar]

Monarchy is a really cool mechanic. I'm glad these all exist. I personally only run Court of Grace. It's in my Tivadar of Thorn deck that has a monarchy subtheme. It is very solid there. The 1/1 spirits do a great job getting or protecting the monarchy for you. It creates board presence with some card draw in the mid game and then pumps out 4/4s if the game has gotten to a 1v1 state which is very good.

Overall I find these courts are a little underwhelming. They look really good but in reality they incentivize the table to maul you with extra creatures whenever possible to stop you from getting their benefits. I very much tend to avoid cards that incentivize my death.

[3drinks]

Court of Embereth: These days red has a few creature-token-each-turn options (Daring Piracy, Urabrask's Forge), so this CMC is too high.

Is it? Court is only +1 mv over the other two cards for a body that sticks around and at least cantrips the turn it comes down. I'd imagine this is better in all but the most fringe cases (none of them defend for you either, which is largely a premium r trait). The court could, but then you're not attacking with your knight token you waited for why?

[PrimevalCommander]

I have never looked at these all that close. Mainly because having the monarch makes others want to attack you, and getting a big buff from keeping the monarch makes others REALLY want to attack you. The basic effect just looked a little too low impact at first blush to be worth the heat. I'm sure they are quite fine in commander, probably better than I give them credit, however they just don't appeal to me all that much. It does seem the Eldraine versions got a bit of a boost, as the base effect + getting the Monarch draw looks a little better for the cost. The ones that make blockers are also useful since they help protect the monarch. Though in games where I have created the monarch, I'm usually fine just trading small chip shots than trying to fend off the entire table as they try for that sweet card draw... And they are upkeep triggers so not blockers first turn

I think I like Court of Ardenvale and Court of Garenbrig the best. These are the only two I could see getting a slot in a deck if I had the appropriate synergies. Ardemvale could easily slot into my mono-white deck, which may go on my radar now. Thanks RCotD!!

[Serenade]

I probably am only running CoEmbereth or those cards in decks where I want the token for sacrifice shenanigans. I always found From Beyond to be too slow at that cost.

[yeti1069]

Overall I find these courts are a little underwhelming. They look really good but in reality they incentivize the table to maul you with extra creatures whenever possible to stop you from getting their benefits. I very much tend to avoid cards that incentivize my death.

I have a Queen Marchesa deck that aims to use the other players against each other, and has a fair amount of removal/control/goad/protection, which can allow me to hold onto the monarch for multiple turns. Still, even with Marchesa presenting no real incentive for me to keep monarch, and an actual benefit for me to LOSE monarch (though I'd rather both not have to fight to reclaim it, and not provide opponents card advantage), I find that I'm often attacked just for the monarch. In the few games where I was also running monarch-benefits cards, like these, that behavior was only amplified.

The other issue I have with these is that multiple monarch cards in the deck don't do much. They don't "stack" benefits, except as a way of reclaiming monarch without combat.

The Courts would probably be best in a shell that features the ability to flicker some ETB monarch card at the last end step before your own. I have that in limited supply with Marchesa + Eldrazi Displacer. If I were running more effects like that, I think I'd probably include more of the Courts.

[Hawk]

These are all sorta medium - turns out gaining the monarchy without a body to immediately defend it isn't quite as good.

I will say I probably should actively seek a copy of Court of Ardenvale for my Quintorius, Field Historian deck though; card seems fairly sick. Get monarchy into the game, I often have a wide enough board to protect/claim it back, and it will trigger Quintorious every turn whether I'm the monarch or not.

[Dunadain]

S-tier:

A-tier:

B-tier:

Court of Grace: the kind of deck that wants to produce tokens is the kind of deck suitable to defending it.

Court of Vantress: a lot of hoops to jump through for another Mechanized Production, but the kind of decks that play Mechanized Production usually want as many copy effects as possible.

Court of Embereth might be my favorite of the courts, token production and CA in the early to mid game, win con as the game goes long.

Court of Garenbrig: without the monarchy, it's mid, but these decks are pretty good at playing to the board, and counter doubling every turn, on every creature is going to close games pretty quickly. Almost put it in c-tier, but realized it's only 3 mana which makes it the cheapest court


C-tier:

Court of Ardenvale: decent option for decks looking to loop 3 drops. Actually kind of makes me want to brew Barrowin of Clan Undurr.

D-tier:

Court of Cunning: Mill 2 is basically irrelevant and even Mill 10 is slow, while also coming with all the drawbacks of Mill fueling opposing gys. Mill also is not well suited to defending the monarchy.

Court of Ambition is actually a solid rack but the monarch is a bit of a nonbo with 8 rack decks. The card might actually have been better if it didn't introduce the monarchy

Court of Locthwain: on the one hand, this is the only court that gives you ca even when you don't have the monarchy, on the other hand, it's not very good ca, and the reward for successfully defending the monarch, a powerful ca engine, is more bad ca, though the mana cheat is nice.

Court of Ire: burn-based removal isn't great in edh and it gets even less appealing when it's face up.

Court of Bounty: 4 mana for a Exploration is pretty bad, and the reward for being ahead enough on board to defend the monarchy is the ability to commit more to the board. My least favorite. Still not in F-tier because it introduces the monarchy, which alone is worth something.

F-tier:

Pretty tight grouping for a 10-card cycle, but it helps when they all have the same primary effect.

[Mookie]

I'm running Court of Grace in Teysa, and I've generally been happy with it. The baseline of a four mana Bitterblossom is something I would consider for that deck, and it isn't difficult to claim and protect the monarchy due to all the flying tokens.

I feel like most of my evaluations are based on worst-case scenarios where I am unable to protect the monarchy - would I be willing to run the card just for the base effect? I could see myself running Court of Garenbrig or Court of Ardenvale for their base effects in some decks, but most of the others feel pretty reliant on being able to protect the crown.

[Sinis]

I'll review these and offer my baseless opinion, even though I've never played with any of them!

Court of Grace: I think this is one of the better ones. Flying 1/1s are something that can help protect or reclaim the monarch, and the upside is that there's a non-zero chance that you claim the monarch, wipe, and then nobody plays a haste or become-the-monarch card and you're into 4/4s. It would be an uphill battle to beat those 4/4s. Arguably Bitterblossom is undercosted, and this is only slightly overcosted (I think a 1/1 flying each turn is perhaps worth 3 mana), but has a much higher ceiling.
Court of Ardenvale: Sun Titan trigger is okay... I think this doesn't really do enough, unless you're locking combats out with Kami of False Hope. Holding the Monarch doesn't seem to be a huge plus, here, unless you're playing draw-go of some kind.
Court of Cunning: This one seems awful outside of self-mill. There are so many better ways to mill people (like Jace's Erasure + analogues and card draw, etc.). It could be combined with Newlamog and Sword of Body and Mind, plus having Paradox Haze and/or extra turns, but I think it's probably just bad.
Court of Vantress: Seems godawful, but could be fun in a rube-goldberg style kind of deck (like Prototype Portal). If you want to copy something on your upkeep, Mechanized Production. So, exactly the kind of card I would play.
Court of Ambition: I want to say this card could be good because the failcase seems very strong. Even if someone else has the monarch, they have to ditch the card advantage they got or pay 3 life. If the monarch is cycling through everyone, that's still fine; they're dealing combat damage to each other. If you manage to retain the monarch, it's extra punishing. While it doesn't protect itself as much as Court of Grace, there will come a time where people put themselves in lethal range, or they're divesting themselves of resources that could be used to seize the monarch. It's weirdly unlikely to be good in a discard deck; if you've got Specters on the field, people will just opt to discard, since they've got to discard anyway.
Court of Locthwain: I feel like this is a good one for any Tasha, the Witch Queen/Don Andres, the Renegade-style deck, but unplayable anywhere else. It's very niche, but I think that helps it along.
Court of Ire: Possibly good in the same way Court of Grace is, though it can't truly help you reclaim the monarch. The problem with the failcase is that it doesn't really do enough to clear the way to a coronating attack. It feels obviously worse in most ways to Court of Ambition.
Court of Embereth: a 3/1 Knight is a pretty bad failcase. I'd much rather Court of Grace for the flying. The success case is pretty wild, though; in a go-wide deck that is good at defending or reclaiming the monarch, you could truly dish out a lot of damage.
Court of Bounty: No one is going to let you untap with this. If they do, you might have the same snowball effect as Court of Grace. The problem ends up being that the fail case is terrible. An extra land play is 1 or 2 mana, max, and this just isn't it.
Court of Garenbrig: I feel like this could be great in any +1/+1 counter deck. Just getting two counters on a Cold-Eyed Selkie seems good. The success case is good, but can be awkward: It might not be worth less than the failcase if you have no +1/+1 counters around.

[Serenade]

Now, in a The Ninth Doctor/Paradox Haze/upkeep matters deck...I probably would use whatever cards I could and include all of these.

[3drinks]

Friday, December 29th, 2023; Cathars' Crusade

I own a set of +1/+1 dice and even I don't wanna bother tracking this crap.

[Dunadain]

While this card does slow the game down (in real life time, it speeds up the game in terms of number of turns), it's not nearly as bad as actual chaos effects, and there's some pure, Timmy-like Joy in just creating an absolute mess of a board state with an army of giant creatures that won't let me say anything bad about this card.

[EonAon]

yeah any deck that can make a insane amount of tokens loves/hates this card. Yes you win but the tracking of what came in when afterward is so annoying.

[NZB2323]

I've actually cut Cathars' Crusade from both Edgar Markov and Éowyn, Shieldmaiden to go with a lower curve.

I missed the discussion on Vanishing Verse, which I have also cut. I prefer Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Despark, and Deadly Rollick for spot removal, and then my Orzhov deck also has Dawnbringer Cleric, Leonin Relic-Warder, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Damn, Winds of Abandon, Cleansing Nova, Austere Command, and grave pact.

Edit: I also prefer True Conviction as an enchantment finisher for my Orzhov deck over Cathar's Crusade.

[Mookie]

Cathars' Crusade is a silly card. White is somewhat limited in Overrun effects to close out a game - most of its pumps and anthems are only +1/+1 or +2/+2, so turning a token producer like March of the Canonized into a permanent +5/+5 (or more) for your entire team is pretty nuts. It does require a lot of dice and bookkeeping though, and it is a very high-profile target for removal (plus it's somewhat soft to board wipes).

I cut it from my Teysa deck years ago, but not due to power creep - rather, I found it closing out more games than my Blood Artist/aristocrats stuff, so I reconfigured the deck to support the latter. Not sure if I would add it back today, but certainly worth consideration. It's possible it is now outclassed as a finisher by Moonshaker Cavalry though.

I'll call out the obligatory 'combos with Ghave, Guru of Spores / Hamza, Guardian of Arashin / etc'. Very strong with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and other token-producing commanders too.

[Dragonlover]

One of my personal mantras is "friends don't let friends run Cathars Crusade". Just far too much faffing about for my liking, which is a shame cause it's an objectively cool card.

Dragonlover