[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Consecrated Sphinx

[DirkGently]

Casting Rampant Growth whenever you hit an opponent is a really strong payoff, but it does require a lot of setup. To really abuse him, you need to be going wide-ish, be putting counters on stuff (or auras or equipment I guess, but those are much slower and resource-intensive so they're much weaker enablers), be getting through for combat damage, AND get significant utility from having a bunch of extra mana. That's a lot of caveats, which makes him difficult to find a deck to fit into the 99 for, and the fact that he's mono-green makes him significantly less interesting as a commander, at least to me. Mono-green might be the single least interesting CI, save mono-brown, and at least mono-brown is kinda unique.

I think he could be a very sweet card in the right place, it's just that's a very specific place.

[Igzex]

That sounds really fun, though it'll cost you every turn since the equipment will fall off of him eot when he stops being a creature.

Still worth it though.

This is EDH you're supposed to do dumb things instead of win

Also yeah today's card exists I guess.

[Guardman]

Thursday, February 15th, 2024; Kodama of the West Tree

I really love Kodama of the West Tree. It's also one of the reasons I want to bend into Naya with my Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer // Tallowisp // Quintorius, Field Historian secret commander Naya Spirits looping Weight of Conscience via Mistveil Plains deck. That and getting a bunch more of spirit/arcane trigger things and cards with everyone's favorite mechanic Soulshift.

[toctheyounger]

I think he could be a very sweet card in the right place, it's just that's a very specific place.

I read your GBU for the set and know you're not fond of this commander, but Ellivere of the Wild Court says hi.

[DirkGently]

I think he could be a very sweet card in the right place, it's just that's a very specific place.

I read your GBU for the set and know you're not fond of this commander, but Ellivere of the Wild Court says hi.

Ellivere herself can't generate THAT many aura tokens (and correspondingly isn't as motivated to go super wide), certainly not compared to the number of countered creatures you could get off something like Galadriel, Light of Valinor. And it doesn't solve the problem of evasion or what to do with the mana once you have it.

Not to say kodama couldn't be good in that deck, but I don't think it's the most obvious place for it.

[Mookie]

Kodama of the West Tree is a sweet card. Level 1 is missing the 'modified creatures' clause and being excited to go full creature swarm for degenerate ramp. Level 2 is catching that clause and deciding it requires jumping through too many hoops to fit in most decks. Level 3 is realizing there are a ton of ways to modify your creatures, but it does require some investment. Modular creatures, landfall stuff like Roaring Earth, auras and equipment... lots of options, especially if you're outside monogreen and have Kodama in the 99.

Overall, I think Kodama is a sweet but fair card - monogreen has a lot of ramp commanders, but Kodama puts a very unique spin on the archetype. It ranks highly on my 'I wish I had a deck for this' scale. My green decks are sadly pretty light on modified creatures. I guess Animar, Soul of Elements counts, but despite running Hardened Scales it's not really a counter-based deck other than the commander (plus I don't think I have enough basic lands).

[PrimevalCommander]

My brother is currently playing Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor counters+landfall and when I saw this card we got him one immediately. Counters get lands >> lands make counters. "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be" It's a tame landfall deck, but it works for him quite well and leans into his preference to play on-board instead of in hand.

Even if your not going wide, having a couple modified creatures, giving them evasion, and some combat damage value is a fair rate for 3 mana. Halana and Alena, Partners could use this easily since they also give Haste + counters and Kodama gives Trample. I'd run it.

[3drinks]

Friday, February 16th, 2024; Ghoulish Procession

This thing is an engine piece, right? Yet I never see anyone talk about it, considering how trivial it is to turn on and accrue value.

[Dunadain]

Seems pretty reasonable. Obviously, I'd say Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, Bitterblossom, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, and Ophiomancer all provide token fodder more easily, and some of those can even block. But It's the sort of card you want a lot of redundancy for anyways, and this one does have some advantages.

It's dirt cheap, dodges creature removal, and can even make multiple bodies a turn cycle.

👍

[Mookie]

Ghoulish Procession is a card that I think reads fantastically but plays awkwardly. I've soured on cards with 'nontoken' clauses over time - my Teysa deck is designed to generate piles of expendable tokens and sacrifice them for value. This means it is great at creating arbitrary death triggers, but it is worse at sacrificing nontoken creatures. Most of my nontoken creatures are value engines or sac outlets that I would usually prefer to stick around. I do have a few creatures I'm happy to sacrifice (Scorn-Blade Berserker, Wernog, Rider's Chaplain, and recursive bodies like Bloodghast), but it's still challenging to do so multiple times per turn cycle. It is possible to lean in and run more of those cards, but as a general rule, nontoken bodies require either cards or mana to generate and are harder to amass than tokens.

Of course, it's also possible to have Ghoulish Procession triggers off opponents' creatures. However, I think relying on this is a trap - unless you're playing against another aristocrats player, most creatures stick around unless they're swept away by a board wipe (which only yields a single token). You can take matters into your own hands and kill your opponents' creatures with spot removal... but my Teysa deck's removal suite is almost entirely exile-based. Once again, this is a thing you can lean into (Attrition and Grave Pact are great engines here), but it does take some effort.

...anyway, I think Ghoulish Procession can be strong, but it also requires some consideration. Blight Mound is another option that functions simlarly. Personally, I prefer Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia and Ophiomancer due to their unconditional token generation. If I'm doing something more interactive and want to generate value when my opponents' stuff dies, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is great in the face of board wipes.

[5colorsrainbow]

I just run Open the Graves instead. Its 3 more mana but you can have it trigger more then once and decay isn't my jam.

[3drinks]

Saturday, February 17th, 2024; Saw in Half

[kirkusjones]

Big fan of Saw in Half. Had a game a couple of weeks ago where I animated Mirage Mirror as a copy of an incoming Great Unclean One and then sawed the mirror in response to damage. Felt real good.

[Dunadain]

Maybe the only card from the unfinity set to earn 👍👍

[FoxHybrid]

Saw in Half is a rare removal spell that doesn't really function too well in EDH, but still has a place as a mono-black clone effect with a slight downside. The only reason I don't see it being great is because I rarely find myself killing a creature just because of its raw stats, mainly I'm concerned about its abilities, and giving an opponent two Shalai, Voice of Plentys or Sun Titans just isn't the best option. However, it's just a fun card, and I should honestly take a look at putting it in a couple of my decks, even just for the fun factor.

[kirkusjones]

Saw in Half is a rare removal spell that doesn't really function too well in EDH, but still has a place as a mono-black clone effect with a slight downside. The only reason I don't see it being great is because I rarely find myself killing a creature just because of its raw stats, mainly I'm concerned about its abilities, and giving an opponent two Shalai, Voice of Plentys or Sun Titans just isn't the best option. However, it's just a fun card, and I should honestly take a look at putting it in a couple of my decks, even just for the fun factor.

That's because it's not really a removal spell. If that's what you're using it for, you're doing it wrong. Saw in Half is 100% a shenanigans card. It's flexible, working as a combat trick, a clone effect and death/etb trigger enabler.

[Toshi]

Crazy card!

A friend of mine does run it in a MBC shell. Why not Saw in Half your own Crypt Ghast, Grave Titan, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Massacre Wurm, Sepulchral Primordial, ... to get two of them and have the original one available to reanimation?

Thank god this can't get imprinted in Isochron Scepter!

[Treamayne]

Saturday, February 17th, 2024; Saw in Half

SPOILER

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Works best with it's 1.0 version - Wurmcoil Engine. . .

[DirkGently]

The card's flavor is pretty on-point, but I still hate that they printed new commander-legal cards in an un-set.

Big fan of Saw in Half. Had a game a couple of weeks ago where I animated Mirage Mirror as a copy of an incoming Great Unclean One and then sawed the mirror in response to damage. Felt real good.

Maybe I'm being dumb but I don't get it. Why would you saw in response to damage?

[kirkusjones]

The card's flavor is pretty on-point, but I still hate that they printed new commander-legal cards in an un-set.

Big fan of Saw in Half. Had a game a couple of weeks ago where I animated Mirage Mirror as a copy of an incoming Great Unclean One and then sawed the mirror in response to damage. Felt real good.

Maybe I'm being dumb but I don't get it. Why would you saw in response to damage?

The attacking GUO had doublestrike, if I remember correctly.

[Serenade]

Feels like a fun card to Deflecting Swat!

[3drinks]

Sunday, February 18th, 2024; Exquisite Blood

[TheGildedGoose]

On the one hand, it's great to see a reprint, but I can't say I'm happy to see more two-card combo pieces in the wild.

[Dunadain]

Honestly a pretty reasonable card when you aren't comboing with it, but the kind of decks that would want to run this are the kind of decks that would also want to run the other half of the combo. And even if you have the self-restraint not to combo with it, the table is going to assume you can combo with it and hate on it accordingly.

👎

[RowanKeltizar]

Exquisite Blood is a card that I love the effect and flavor of, but like @Dunadain said, it has some issues. "yes, I run the combo" is something I find myself saying frequently, and it subsequently gets blasted off the table immediately.