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

[Lifeless]

Played it and love it in other formats but I don't know about it in EDH. It's probably fine if you're already running a bunch of stax bits and this pushes the spellslinger player off a cliff. Seems a bit low impact for the format in general.

[Dunadain]

I am anti-stax, to be sure, but at least this is one of the less egregious pieces.

[Mookie]

Thorn of Amethyst seems... fine? It's theoretically symmetric, but less impactful on decks running lots of creatures. Slamming it on T2 can definitely throw off gameplans if your opponents want to play a T2 mana rock or T3 Cultivate, but it falls off in value later into the game. It can be more oppressive when combined with other stax / hate pieces though. I do not think it is feasible to use a Legacy-style gameplan and lock opponents out entirely with Thorn and Wasteland, but it could see it being used to buy time for more aggressive decks to get under their opponents. Not a strategy I would want to lean into though, since it tends to draw a lot of hate.

[NZB2323]

Seems weird that it's a noncreature spell that punishes you for playing noncreature spells. I prefer Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, but I guess this is an option for other decks?

I guess you could play it in Ruric Thar, the Unbowed and it would still be good on turn 2? I'm not sure what other decks would want to run it.

[materpillar]

Any meta where this significantly wrecks a pile of decks by itself is not a meta I want to be a part of.

Any deck that uses this plus a pile of other Thalia, Guardian of Thraben effects to make sure it wrecks the other decks is not a deck I want to play against.

Pretty inoffensive card by itself, I have a hard time imaging this seeing play over Damping Sphere if you really hate spellslingers.

[3drinks]

Saturday, January 13th, 2024; Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

[Dunadain]

That emblem is silly

[Mookie]

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is a sweet card, but I'm not sure what decks would want her. The (+1) scales poorly to multiplayer - you can tap down one thing for one opponent, which can be good against a voltron commander but is otherwise unexciting. Her (-2) can draw a bunch of cards, but is somewhat inconsistent. The ultimate is very strong (and can be reached immediately off Doubling Season), so I would expect it to be the main draw for many decks. Being able to play the same Counterspell over and over can lock out most games, since you effectively have infinite card advantage. That said, I don't know if I would aim for her ultimate over other potential emblems.

I will call out Hylda of the Icy Crown and other tap-themed decks like Tromokratis as potential places for her - she looks a lot better if you get additional value from the (+1). She's fine as a planeswalker in superfriends / proliferate decks, but I would generally lean towards a different planeswalker.

...I'm still annoyed at WotC for killing her off though. D: It feels like a lot of my favorite characters have been killed over the years, and the new set isn't helping. >_>

[3drinks]

Sunday, January 14th, 2023; Aggravated Assault|ons

[Dunadain]

I love multiple combat phase effects. They encourage combat (duh), while also providing a bunch of value with combat/damage triggers.

Having said that, this might be my least favorite extra combat phase effect, 8 mana for the first extra combat phase is a terrible rate, and at 5 for each additional phase is going to take multiple activations before it has justified itself.

On the flip side, it combos with a lot of stuff, which is lame.

Flip the MV and the activation costs, add a "once per turn" clause, and it would be pretty cool.

Heck, take out the sorcery speed only clause as well, the "if it's a main phase" already takes care of mid-combat shenanigans, and the option to give extra combat steps to your opponents would be neat.

[Mookie]

Extra combat phases are sweet, but they're also a pretty rare effect. In some ways, I would consider them the red equivalent of an extra turn spell (ignoring Warrior's Oath and other, actual red extra turns). They are a bit win-more though - they're great if you have a bunch of stuff to attack with, but do nothing on an empty board, so they're also a bit like an Overrun effect.

Aggravated Assault is arguably the strongest extra combat card. Most effects are one-shots or can only be used once per turn, but it can be used repeatedly as long as you have mana. Unfortunately, that also means it trivially combos with stuff like Sword of Feast and Famine or Neheb, the Eternal for infinite combats. I suppose eight mana for the first extra combat is a pretty steep price, so you want to get all the value you can. I could maybe see it used somewhat fairly in Zirda, the Dawnwaker or another deck that can reduce its activation cost or otherwise generate a ton of mana, but that seems niche.

...amusingly, I've been wanting it in my Samut deck not for the extra combat, but for the untap - there aren't many ways to untap creatures multiple times per turn. I have been impressed by Moraug, Fury of Akoum's ability to close out games though, so I could probably make use of the extra combats too.

[Hermes_]

I have found the best alt of this card. I will not be taking questions.

[Sinis]

As much as I adore extra combat steps, I never seem to play Aggravated Assault. The rate isn't bad (it's actually really good, for something repeatable, c.f. Waves of Aggression, Hellkite Charger, though certainly not better than something like Moraug, Fury of Akoum).

I think I'm turned off by the combo potential with Bear Umbra/Sword of Feast and Famine and Nature's Will, even though I'm rarely playing those cards either. Perhaps I should give it another look.

[Guardman]

I have found the best alt of this card. I will not be taking questions.

Funnily enough, the art used for the alter was the original art I wanted to use for my Cucco Swarm card in my Breath of the Wild themed set. The only reason I didn't go with it was because I thought the other Cucco art, while not as much fun, fit the set better. I did make an borderless alternate below just to show how much fun the art is on a card.

Beckon , Sacrifice X artifacts. (Return this card from the graveyard to the battlefield tapped with a finality counter on it. Activate only as a sorcery.)

As for Aggravated Assault, it is a card I've looked to add to my Etali, Primal Storm deck a couple of times as one activation is enough to win the game. But it's also a card that I usually decide to cut for other things as it is out classed in the deck by Seize the Day and kind of feels like unless you play and activate it in one turn, everyone is going to be gunning for you.

[3drinks]

Monday, January 15th, 2024; Taigam, Ojutai Master

[Igzex]

I get they wanted to make cards for both Bad Present Taigam and Other Bad Present Taigam but the fact that he's a human makes him kind of one of the first cuts anyone would make when modifying their Draconic Domination precons. Time has gotten even worse for him as dragon support as we have a ton of creatures now that support dragons while also being dragons themselves.

He can also be a spell slinger commander but boy golly does he face stiff competition. Fitting how much of an inferiority complex he has towards both legendary creature Narsets.

[Dunadain]

What is that alt? nigh unreadable and bland,

"Alright Grandpa, let's get you back to bed"

[3drinks]

Tuesday, January 16th, 2024; Exterminatus

[Dunadain]

Adding one extra mana to remove indestructible seems pretty reasonable at first blush, but realistically, Planar Cleansing wasn't really good enough to begin with.

[Hawk]

We're discussing Poison/Dragon Legendary Pokemon now? Oh wait wrong word, but it is what my brain first read. Universes Beyond, man.

Adding one extra mana to remove indestructible seems pretty reasonable at first blush, but realistically, Planar Cleansing wasn't really good enough to begin with.

Yeah, especially considering Farewell, Winds of Abandon, and Merciless Eviction exist if you're really concerned about indestructible (and those also smash graveyard decks), it's tough to ever consider playing this. Obviously the dream is to use this while your own board is indestructible, but that's a dream with a lot of wipes and is much easier to pull off with a 4 CMC wipe than a 7 CMC wipe.

Additionally I'd say that I've generally found that 6 is about my threshold for a wipe, and it has to be potentially one-sided one. We have so many powerful boardwipes available at 4 or 5 that a card needs to be pretty spectacular for that extra mana or two to be worthwhile. At 7+, I need a wipe to be either unconditonally one-sided or instant or ideally both (Cyclonic Rift, Rout, In Garruk's Wake).

[3drinks]

Wednesday, January 17th, 2023; Inkmoth Nexus

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[Lifeless]

If you play this you're up to no good, that's for sure.

[Dunadain]

Idk, combat tricks are about as fair as it gets.

Sure, this makes the combat tricks 4x as effective (if your assuming that's the only damage the entire table will deal to that player, which is a huge assumption), but I am a staunch defender of infect in EDH, y'all leave this relatively weak archetype alone.

[3drinks]

If you play this you're up to no good, that's for sure.

But look at that Phyrexian script version, So beautiful.

[Dunadain]

But look at that Phyrexian script version, So beautiful.

No, bad @3drinks, let me read the cards.

It's like textless spells all over again.