[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Jetfire, Ingenious Scientist

[Treamayne]

I have this in my Garza Zol, Plague Queen Proliferating Vampires deck. Thanks to my policy of the last 12 years that "anything staplish or combo-ey" must match theme (e. g. Craterhoof is only allowed in Beast Tribal) this slots in Damage Triggers decks and Sanguine Bond I only allow in "life gain trigger" decks. Since Vampires is about the Sengir Vampire mechanic and proliferating the counters that creates - that's damage triggers that are Vampire themed, which this fits.

I like it there, because it creates the "block and die, growing the vampire - or - don't block and give life" decision tree. Fun card and very reasonable when used responsibly.

[yeti1069]

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.

I've tried it in a few places, but it just felt insufficient everywhere. As others have noted, you need fodder to trigger it (opponents attacking and losing creatures in combat can do it), and then get a pretty crappy token. Generally I want my tokens to be able to chump block when they're not being fed into some value engine.

Saturday, February 17th, 2024; Saw in Half

I really hate that they printed constructed/EDH-legal cards in an Un set. I'd been into the previous 3 Un sets, but this one just fell by the wayside for a variety of reasons. Then I started noticing players with really weird cards--stickers, attractions--that have no business outside of an Un environment. And then THIS thing. It's a cool design, and has a lot of utility (although I basically have only seen it played as part of a combo line). I'd considered picking it up, but couldn't ever figure out where it would fit in a deck, and as the price has ballooned, the likelihood of my nabbing it has plummeted.

Sunday, February 18th, 2024; Exquisite Blood

I used to run this in my casual-ish Yuriko deck as a way of buttressing my life total, but 5 mana was a lot in that deck, and it didn't always do what I wanted it to. I feel like in most decks mass life link or aristocrats cards would cover roughly the same territory at a lower cost. For Yuriko, it was just right in terms of effect, since most of the life loss was being caused in a way that other cards couldn't capitalize on.

That this also is a part of a notorious 2-card combo means that every time it shows up, it either requires a disclaimer, or immediate removal.

[3drinks]

Monday, February 19th, 2024; Goblin Lackey|usg and, I suppose functional twin, Warren Instigator.

[Dunadain]

I love these dudes, if only for the memory of legacy goblins. Not sure how to make them work in EDH though. First you need a bunch of tutors to find them, then you need to use some more tutors to find goblins worth cheating into play, which, realistically, is only Muxus, Goblin Grandee so you also need to fill the rest of your deck with goblins and then, for some reason, decide not to run Muxus as you're commander.

Or you could just run them in a goblin deck and hope you draw them early, in which case they probably, on average are saving you about the same amount of mana as Birds of Paradise (though, admittedly, in red). Until people have blockers.

👍👍 In legacy and a reluctant 👎 in commander.

[TheGildedGoose]

T1 Goblin Lackey
T2 Attack, cheat Siege-Gang Commander into play, Goblin Piledriver
T3 Goblin Warchief, attack, gg no re

[yeti1069]

Played against a Krenko deck that had Lackey on 1, which hit and dropped Muxus on 2 and got 4 goblins out of the top 6. Turn 3 cast Shared Animosity, connected with Lackey again and dropped Siege-Gang Commander. Was gg for the table on turn 4 when they dropped Krenko with haste.

[TheGildedGoose]

Played against a Krenko deck that had Lackey on 1, which hit and dropped Muxus on 2 and got 4 goblins out of the top 6. Turn 3 cast Shared Animosity, connected with Lackey again and dropped Siege-Gang Commander. Was gg for the table on turn 4 when they dropped Krenko with haste.

As much as I hate fast, non-interactive decks, I gotta hand it to mono-red whenever they win a Commander game like this. They earned it.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, February 20th, 2024; Necrotic Hex

Can't complain, honestly. Wipe + army-in-a-can. Seven mv is fine for this effect given the w versions are 5-6 and only leave behind a single body.

[Dunadain]

I guess it's fine when compared to other wipes that come with a body, but in general I don't like wipes that come with a body, mana efficiency is king when it comes to interaction. Whether that be spot removal, counterspells, or even wipes.

Then you factor in that when the token player makes a lethal army and passes the turn, the most textbook example where you need a wipe, this card might not even manage to adequately thin the herd I can't recommend this unless you are as interested in the zombie tokens as you are in the psuedo wipe.

We just got a phenomenal new mono-black wipe in Deadly Cover-Up (ignore the collect evidence words, that's just flavor text), unless you are making real use of those zombies, just make that swap. Trust me.

👎

[onering]

How is Deadly Cover Up phenomenal? It's 5 mana day of judgement. It's not bad, but it's definitely behind Toxic Deluge, Damnation, and Mutilate (in most decks), and that's just off the top of my head. There's a bunch of spells that cost one more and are either situationally much better or which provide value, and a fair amount of 5 mana wipes that are situationally better.

[TheGildedGoose]

How is Deadly Cover Up phenomenal? It's 5 mana day of judgement. It's not bad, but it's definitely behind Toxic Deluge, Damnation, and Mutilate (in most decks), and that's just off the top of my head. There's a bunch of spells that cost one more and are either situationally much better or which provide value, and a fair amount of 5 mana wipes that are situationally better.

I agree that it's not phenomenal but it's the third-best generic board wipe black has. Mutilate is too unreliable outside of mono-black, even with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

I agree it's much better than Necrotic Hex, too. I played Hex in a weird budget Dralnu, Lich Lord control deck that only used zombie tokens to win, and it did work, I guess? Much better options these days.

[Serenade]

DCU also costs significantly less money than the other two top B wipes.

[duducrash]

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.

This is Braids, Arisen Nightmare playable, right? I'll get one.

Played against a Krenko deck that had Lackey on 1, which hit and dropped Muxus on 2 and got 4 goblins out of the top 6. Turn 3 cast Shared Animosity, connected with Lackey again and dropped Siege-Gang Commander. Was gg for the table on turn 4 when they dropped Krenko with haste.

as the kids say "Nothing but %$#% gas"

[Dunadain]

How is Deadly Cover Up phenomenal? It's 5 mana day of judgement. It's not bad, but it's definitely behind Toxic Deluge, Damnation, and Mutilate (in most decks), and that's just off the top of my head. There's a bunch of spells that cost one more and are either situationally much better or which provide value, and a fair amount of 5 mana wipes that are situationally better.

I don't believe their is a single 6 mana black wipe with an upside that's worth an extra mana. Maybe Blood on the Snow? Idk, here's the competition and it ain't exactly stiff.

Where are all these 5 mana black wipes that are better? the only one I know of is Crux of Fate which is better if you are running dragon tribal or your commander is a dragon, and slightly worse otherwise.

If I had to rank mono black wipes:

1. Toxic Deluge
2. Damnation
3. Deadly Cover-Up
4. Crux of Fate
5. Dead of Winter
6. Mutilate

I'm much lower on Mutilate than Deadly Cover-Up but I suppose that just comes down to personal preference.

Obviously, some decks get to run options like Living Death, but those require a specific kind of deck, and sometimes blow up in your face.

I play a lot of black decks and the mono-black board wipes are slimmer picking than most people seem to believe.

Idk, maybe I talked it up too much, but "phenomenal" seems like a reasonable descriptor for the 3rd best mono-black wipe.

[TheGildedGoose]

Idk, maybe I talked it up too much, but "phenomenal" seems like a reasonable descriptor for the 3rd best mono-black wipe.

I agree with you on everything but this semantic quibble. They just released Tegwyll's Scouring and Invasion of Fiora in the past year or so, so I'm waiting until they release something truly special to call it phenomenal. Like Eaten by Piranhas for spot removal in blue it looks like they're exploring board wipes in black and I for one am here for it.

[Dunadain]

Idk, maybe I talked it up too much, but "phenomenal" seems like a reasonable descriptor for the 3rd best mono-black wipe.

I agree with you on everything but this semantic quibble. They just released Tegwyll's Scouring and Invasion of Fiora in the past year or so, so I'm waiting until they release something truly special to call it phenomenal. Like Eaten by Piranhas for spot removal in blue it looks like they're exploring board wipes in black and I for one am here for it.

Fair enough, I suppose phenomenal implies that the card is great on its own merits. Where, in reality, it's only good in comparison to the current mono B board wipes. Probably should have said something like "one of the best black board wipes we've ever seen" but arguing semantics is cringe

[onering]

I'd rank Dead of winter above DCU all day. It's 3 mana and fairly easy to just run a bunch of snow lands to make it do what you need to do when you need it to. Tegwylls Scouring is worth the extra mana, not only does it leave you with three faeries it lets you cast it with flash in the right decks. Invasion of Fiora provides flexibility, it can always just wipe everything but if it's ever advantageous to you to just wipe legends or non legends it can be a major swing, and while I wouldn't rely on being able to flip it that is a possibility as well (especially if you are left with creatures and one opponent isn't, you just choose them to defend it and swing in that turn). Blood on the Snow is strong, again you get flexibility and you also get something back.

You also have to ask, how many wipes do I really need? I'm mono black, Toxic, Damnation, and Mutilate get you close to or at the number, depending on what you are trying to do and your philosophy on the number of wipes. If you want to add more, DCU is a legitimate choice but it's not special and really needs to be compared to other options and whether you're better off getting some value for an extra mana. It comes off as a very baseline wipe to me, setting 5 mana as the standard for just wiping the board.

Once you go outside mono black, adding red gets you Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction, white gets you a slew of choices, and really only blue and green need to go deeper in black to replace Mutilate (and blue actually has Cyclonic Rift and a couple other mass bounce spells that fill the wipe role well enough).

As for the hex, it's niche. I don't look at it as an actual board wipe. I see it having a home in BGx token decks. It's weak against tokens, so what you really want to be using it for is clearing out the boards of opponents who don't go wide, while your board is clearing 6 bodies by enough that you'll be attacking the same turn you cast this. You should be wanting the six tapped zombies to replace six other disposable tokens while leaving your commander and other creatures alive, particularly if your commander loves things being sacrificed (this would be gross in Mazirek). Green also helps you ramp into this, and it's reasonable to spend a couple turns ramping and then play this while your board is empty to suddenly have 6 2/2s while wiping out your opponents early development. Green also gets you three token doublers enchantments, and a bunch of token support, getting you more value out of the zombies or just more zombies.

[DirkGently]

Black's wipes are imo better at the higher mv range, playing into rampier decks that want their wipes to be wincons. Blood Money, Kindred Dominance, Blood on the Snow, Necromantic Selection, Decree of Pain, etc. Or at the cheaper end with -x/-x effects and the intent to make it asymmetrical. DCU is fine if you just want a generic board wipe with no synergies, but I think most decks can find something that plays into their plan more specifically than just "worse day of judgment"

[Dunadain]

I am very anti synergy-wipes. You tend to cast wipes when you're behind, so why would you assume you're gameplay has come together when you're casting it?

Save you're splashy stuff for the proactive slots.

[DirkGently]

I am very anti synergy-wipes. You tend to cast wipes when you're behind, so why would you assume you're gameplay has come together when you're casting it?

Save you're splashy stuff for the proactive slots.

I think there are two flaws with this reasoning. 1), just because you have a fair amount of mana doesn't mean everything is coming together perfectly. Flooding out is a thing. And it's not like 5 mana for DCU is trivial if you're getting mana screwed. And 2) especially with a wipe that's going to advance your game plan in a significant way, you can absolutely plan around it, not just fire it off in desperation because you're getting mogged. For example, if I had a good curve + kindred dominance, I'd be quite happy making a plan to cast it on a future turn, almost regardless of what the board state looked like at that time. Or camp on a necromantic selection until someone plays out a good target for it, while committing minimally to the board yourself.

[Dunadain]

1), just because you have a fair amount of mana doesn't mean everything is coming together perfectly. Flooding out is a thing.

Por que no los dos? A cheaper card is still castable when you do have more mana.

Plus double spelling on turns that you cast a board wipe is really good so you have to have a LOT of mana before mana efficiency on a wipe is irrelevant.

And it's not like 5 mana for DCU is trivial if you're getting mana screwed.

Deadly Cover-Up is difficult to cast, so you should play an even more difficult to cast spell instead?

2) especially with a wipe that's going to advance your game plan in a significant way, you can absolutely plan around it, not just fire it off in desperation because you're getting mogged. For example, if I had a good curve + kindred dominance, I'd be quite happy making a plan to cast it on a future turn, almost regardless of what the board state looked like at that time. Or camp on a necromantic selection until someone plays out a good target for it, while committing minimally to the board yourself.

Is their some magical force preventing you from playing around your own Deadly Cover-Up? That's just how you play boardwipes,

I'm kind of confused about what you're trying to say. I will say that I consider Kindred Dominance and Living Death Leagues above Tegwyll's Scouring and Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch as, in the right deck, then can be cast from ahead or from behind. I said save you're flashy stuff for your proactive plays. Certain board wipes can be played proactively, and so are allowed to be flashy.

[DirkGently]

Por que no los dos? A cheaper card is still castable when you do have more mana.

Plus double spelling on turns that you cast a board wipe is really good so you have to have a LOT of mana before mana efficiency on a wipe is irrelevant.

Because the added value of the 6-8 mana wipes is significantly more than you're typically going to get from an average 1-3 drop double-spelling after DCU.

Your argument is solid for toxic deluge which is actually efficient, but personally I'm happy to pay 1 more mana to tack reanimate plus the option to kill planeswalkers instead onto DCU. I think that's a very reasonable trade off.

If your deck really doesn't care about the sorts of benefits any of the 6-8mv wipes provide then DCU might be your third best, but I think most decks do value something those wipes add. And lest we not forget, o-stone, disk, ugin etc also exist.

Deadly Cover-Up is difficult to cast, so you should play an even more difficult to cast spell instead?

more like, DCU is already so inefficient, you're already wrecked if you get mana screwed, so you might as well pay a little more and actually get a payoff.

Is there some magical force preventing you from playing around your own Deadly Cover-Up? That's just how you play boardwipes,

it's a symmetrical wipe with no extra value. You can avoid playing into it but unless you've got indestructibles or shield counters or something, it's hard to end up ahead on tempo.

Certain board wipes can be played proactively, and so are allowed to be flashy.

Are we counting wipes like Blood on the Snow and Blood Money as proactive? To me those seem still reactive since you're usually playing them while behind.

If you start with DCU, you can choose to not play creatures, wipe on 5, kill some stuff, whee. Maybe you got an x-for-1 in CA, but you haven't gotten ahead on board. Same situation with BotS, now you get to pick the best creature and put it into play, putting yourself ahead. And Blood money could set you up with lethal amounts of mana. Those are more of a plan to actually pull ahead and win, not just restore balance.

Edit: only your best creature for bots.

[yeti1069]

Necoritc Hex just doesn't get the job done in too many situations to be relied upon, especially for the cost.

I would never run Mutilate or Dead of Winter over the other black board wipes. You are necessarily restricted to killing stuff on-curve, with no way of juicing the numbers, so the moment someone drops a creature with toughness > # of turns your board wipe isn't killing what needs killing.

Toxic Deluge is great, but the life payment can be problematic--if your life is lower than the highest toughness threat you need to kill (or there is some other serious pressure on your life total) it becomes a liability. I've had games where Damnation would have saved me/won the game, while TD was uncastable, because it would just kill me.

I think a 5-mana wipe in black without any bells or whistles is decent. I'd rather play some of the 6- or 7-mana wipes available. Kindred Dominance is a very strong card in a tribal deck, and provides a ton of value. If I'm building a snow manabase, I would basically always rather run Blood on the Snow--what's the difference between spending 3 mana to give -6/-6 to everything, and then have 3 mana left over to cast something else, and spending 6 mana to just kill everything (that's not indestructible) and then return a creature from your yard of 6 CMC or less? With DoW, your follow-up play is always going to be (total mana available - 3), whereas BotS is (total mana available - 3 +(creature with CMC up to 6)). Sometimes, they're a wash: you spend 3 to wipe, and 3 to follow-up; sometimes you spend 6 and bring back a 3-drop, but sometimes you spend 6 and bring back a 6 drop. You'd need 9 mana to do that with DoW. Sure, -X/-X is better than "destroy" in some cases--and more often as we see more Heroic Intervention effects--but not so much more frequently that I'd want to necessarily always be capped on what I can kill.

In the right deck, Tegwyll's Scouring is one of the best wipes available, I think. Flash is very powerful on a wipe, and it leaving 3 evasive bodies behind can be a significant boon.

I think I need to try Invasion of Fiora somewhere. I've mostly looked at it as a 6-mana wipe that has only moderate upside if I devote attacks to "win the battle" after wiping the board, but the flexibility could be useful at times. Part of the problem has been that the decks I'd most benefit from that flexibility have access to white for wipes that are more flexibly asymmetrical.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, February 21st, 2024; Kasla, the Broken Halo

There's got to be some use for this. Right?

[DirkGently]

Bleh I hate tribal commanders. "Does it have X word on it? Then draw a card!" Yawn.