[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Golgari Thug

[PrimevalCommander]

I have Rescuer on my radar as one of the few ways to protect an Enchantment from targeted removal. My secret commander is an enchantment, and they are quite a pain to get out of the graveyard, and nigh impossible to get back from exile. So protecting my non-commander linch pin is paramount. It has not made the cut yet because I'm currently using Flickerwisp in this slot, but if I need a second version, Rescuer will get a chance. Main issue is waiting a turn to activate. Being an on-board protection with summoning sickness severely limits its potential since opponents will fire off the removal early before you can activate. And Flashing it in as a surprise does nothing becuase of the . Makes it very nich, but protecting enchantments/planeswalkers might be exactly where the niche is.

[duducrash]

The real reason 4-5 color decks are so common in commander is that the format is slow enough to allow it. Even budget 5c mana bases are pretty reasonable in the format.

I also believe things are not pip heavy enough. There are to Many 4W and not enough WWWWW

[ISBPathfinder]

I also believe things are not pip heavy enough. There are to Many 4W and not enough WWWWW

I have been saying they should do more things like that as heavy color intensity is a way to give mono color more power rather than just giving more tools to multicolored decks. It plays well into devotion things like Nykthos as well and honestly we just don't see color mana intense spells that often and it would be cool to see more of them.

[yeti1069]

Highly efficient fetching did kind of jack up the dynamics of playing 3+ colors, I can't really argue against that. I guess that's cool if you're only concerned about efficiency but not great if you care about there being some kind of incentive for limiting yourself to fewer colors.

There should be a tradeoff to running more colors. Mana fixing should be a real point of concern, not an afterthought, even in budgetless decks.

There's a trade-off in life. I've domed myself for 12 or more over the course of many a game with Ur-Dragon, and that has been relevant on more than one occasion.

One issue, I think, is the stigma against punishing lands at all, whether via Blood Moon, Back to Basics, or Ruination effects.

[DirkGently]

I agree with what @Dunadain said. I feel like the supposed advantage this card has is that "protection from all your opponents" sounds way more impressive that just one color...but obviously you only need protection from a single color most of the time. The main exception being if you're wanting to be unblockable, but considering you're sacrificing this that's rarely worth it, whereas tapping MoR for an attack isn't an unreasonable cost.

This can protect your non-creatures, which is nice, but definitely not worth 2 mana, sacrifice, and needing to tap. 2 mana is so much worse than it seems too, since you can't play it T1 when you otherwise might lack a strong play. By t2 you'd probably rather be ramping, or something more productive.

One issue, I think, is the stigma against punishing lands at all, whether via Blood Moon, Back to Basics, or Ruination effects.

noooooooooooo.

Problem is there aren't enough soft hosers that are good. Those "fixes" create god-awful experiences where you immediately lose if you were relying on nonbasics (ruination especially - at least the others can be answered by non-blue decks).

[3drinks]

Friday, February 9th, 2024; River Kelpie

[3drinks]

I also believe things are not pip heavy enough. There are to Many 4W and not enough WWWWW

I have been saying they should do more things like that as heavy color intensity is a way to give mono color more power rather than just giving more tools to multicolored decks. It plays well into devotion things like Nykthos as well and honestly we just don't see color mana intense spells that often and it would be cool to see more of them.

More Dawn Elemental and Rushwood Elemental, please. Reminds me of my middle school days when force of nature|4ed was the terror of lunch time.

[ISBPathfinder]

River Kelpie is fringe playable in a few decks where it interacts with the commander or overall concept but its generally a card I see incredibly little of. Way back in the day I saw it a little here and there but its really always been a little underwhelming unless you have a big reason to include it in your deck. Its fine when you do but otherwise a bit underwhelming.

[Hawk]

Great card in Sevinne, the Chronoclasm, one of the best - nothing brings more of a smile to my face than drawing four cards off a flashed-back Sevinne's Reclamation (one for casting the Reclamation, three more for the two copies of Reclamation bringing back a pile of lands and dorks). But you do need to be deep on the nonsense of casting spells from graveyards; you need to be really confident this is drawing you a card per turn plus its own card when/if you get to persist it back. It's not worth playing in any ol' reanimator or persist dork deck, but when it works it works.

[yeti1069]

I used to run Kelpie in Marchesa, the Black Rose, where it did WORK, but when I tried lowering the curve of the deck a bit I ended up cutting it. Basically, I could have a draw engine card at 3 mana that triggered off my creatures dying, or one at 5 mana that triggered off them coming back. Since they weren't coming back without dying first, but might not come back after dying, it seemed like a reasonable swap. Kelpie also not being a 'may' caused problems a couple of times.

Still, it goes semi-infinite with a bunch of stuff, just as any persist card does, and can draw a ton of cards in the right deck. I see people playing stuff like this in Kess, but drawing an extra card per turn (maybe) just looks too slow compared to other options that either do the same at a lower cost, or provide more draw at a similar cost.

[Mookie]

Still, it goes semi-infinite with a bunch of stuff, just as any persist card does, and can draw a ton of cards in the right deck. I see people playing stuff like this in Kess, but drawing an extra card per turn (maybe) just looks too slow compared to other options that either do the same at a lower cost, or provide more draw at a similar cost.

Yeah, I occasionally consider River Kelpie for Kess... but I don't have many enablers for it other than Kess, which means it would cap at one card per turn. That's... fine, but Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant, Bloodgift Demon, and plenty of other cards can just draw multiple cards per turn without needing additional support.

[Dunadain]

Fringe, but definitely has a home, 5 MV is a tough sell on a CA engine, but it can do a lot of work.

👍

[kirkusjones]

Used to be a killer Dread Return target in legacy dredge. Ichorid and Nether Shadow triggered it all day. So fun.

[3drinks]

Saturday, February 10th, 2024; Winota, Joiner of Forces

[Dunadain]

Relavent all the way up to cEDH, but can totally be built to about any power level. The fact that the trigger is on attack, but she doesn't have to be the one attacking, strikes a great balance between providing an opportunity to interact, but also giving the pilot the opportunity to play around at least some interaction.

The trigger itself is a fun puzzle to solve, you want a split between humans and non-humans, ideally humans that make non-human attackers.

This is the way to make mechanics that care about creature type.

👍👍

[TheGildedGoose]

Great design, bad execution. It's good to see Boros get strong options in the command zone but Winota is just another in a series of obnoxious kill-on-sight commanders printed during that time frame.

On the other hand, encouraging combat isn't the worst thing. I just don't have a lot of fond memories playing against her.

[onering]

It's not just that she doesn't have to be the one attacking, she actually cannot trigger herself. The attacker has to be a nonhuman.

That creates a design problem, because it makes her much more powerful and reduces the ability for opponents to interact with her. She's essentially a Kaalia that doesn't even have to attack, so she can sit back safely while generating enormous value. Actually, let's just compare her to Kaalia:

Both cheat out creatures into play from attack triggers.

Both have a tribal component (Angels, Demons, Dragons vs Humans+Non Humans)

Kaalia can put any mix of those three tribes together and work, Winota needs to be careful about the mix so she can reliably be triggered AND reliably hit targets. Point to Kaalia.

Kaalia must attack while Winota doesn't have to. Point Winota

Kaalia triggers once per attack step, Winota triggers as many times as you have non human attackers. Point Winota

Kaalia cheats cards from your hand into play, Winota cheats them from the top 6 of your library. Point Winota, because in addition to cheating on mana that's also card advantage, letting you play out your hand in addition to getting the free creatures and being far less likely to run out of gas, as she works even when you're hellbent. All of that far outweighs the chance of whiffing on a trigger, especially since you can get multiple triggers a turn easily, and you could whiff anyway with Kaalia once you run low on cards in hand.

Kaalia is already a commander that you simply cannot allow to stick on the field, and Winota is not only better at doing what Kaalia does, she is still strong Kate game, so she's harder to deal with than Kaalia to boot.

You take that comparison and you can see why I think it was a design problem. It looks like they didn't realize how changing up her trigger from Kaalia's messed up the balance. I think they expected that her not triggering herself and requiring A+B deck building (putting together cards of type A to enable cards of type B) would make her more difficult to build and less reliable, which would be balanced by her not having to be put in harms way to trigger, not running out of gas, and being able to get multiple triggers a turn. I think they underestimated how easy it would be to build her to both consistently trigger and consistently hit targets every trigger, which meant that the boosts they gave her design were too strong (since they were making up for perceived drawbacks that were nowhere near as severe as the designers thought).

[3drinks]

Sunday, February 11th, 2024; Tarnished Citadel

Yikes. Please, stop spending $30usd on this thing. Allow me to introduce you to my friends, City of Brass|chr, Command Tower, and Reflecting Pool instead.

[Mookie]

re: Winota, Joiner of Forces - sweet design, but a bit overpowered. The balance between humans and nonhumans makes for an interesting deckbuilding challenge. Plus, humans generally aren't as threatening as angels, dragons, or other big flyers, which often pushes in a more value-oriented (but still aggressive) direction. Of all the Boros 'combat matters' commanders, she's the one that makes me most excited to turn things sideways. I'm currently pushing an 'equipment matters' theme in my cube's RW section, but I am always tempted to throw Winota in.

Tarnished Citadel seems pretty underwhelming outside Darien, King of Kjeldor decks. It is untapped 5C fixing for decks that really need it... but at that price point, so is going fetch → shock.

[Dunadain]

Unless you want to be dealing damage to yourself, this card is awful. Mana fixing is so good these days, you don't need garbage like this.

👎👎

[TheGildedGoose]

Odyssey block constructed staple.

[yeti1069]

I like Citadel in Marchesa.

[Lifeless]

Why the hell is this card worth money? I've hated it since efhe first day I saw it in Odyssey, I'm not changing my opinion now.

[onering]

Why the hell is this card worth money? I've hated it since efhe first day I saw it in Odyssey, I'm not changing my opinion now.

Because its actively good in certain decks.

Darien and Marchesa have already been mentioned, but there are other commanders who want you to take damage. Bolting yourself every turn plays well into that.

Beyond that, it's one of the few 5 color lands that also produces colorless, which has utility in certain Eldrazi decks. The fact that it enters untapped just adds to its quality there.

Just as a general 5 color lands it's very mediocre. Comparing it to City of Brass, the benefit is that you don't actually have to take damage from it unless you use it for colored mana, but you have to be tapping it every turn and for colorless 2/3s of the time for it to be equal to City of Brass in terms of damage. I could definitely see it costing less life over the course of the game, but not nearly enough to risk needing it for colored mana 2/3s of the time because the damage will add up quick. It's definitely the ability to produce colorless to pay for relevant costs plus using the damage as a bonus rather than a cost that makes it useful.

[pokken]

Expensive because cedh staple.