[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[3drinks]

Friday, June 12th, 2020; Mirrormade

Hmm. A better albeit colour identity locked Sculpting Steel?

[Mookie]

Mirrormade has always felt a bit off to me. There aren't a lot of cards that want you to play both artifacts and enchantments. Eldraine did have a bit of a 'play both' subtheme (see Alela, Artful Provocateur), but since that was only one set, it's heavily outweighed by the 'play lots of artifacts' and 'play lots of enchantments' themes in other sets - you're much more rewarded for specializing than you are for diversifying. As a result, Mirrormade is usually going to be a bit worse than Copy Enchantment (edit: thought this cost 2 mana) and Copy Artifact - the flexibility just isn't that valuable if you plan to copy your own stuff.

Note that for artifact copying, I'd usually favor Sculpting Steel due to it also being an artifact. As a person with a Sharuum combo deck, I'll confirm that the native artifact typing is pretty valuable. On the other hand, Mirrormade obviously outclasses Sculpting Steel for copying enchantments, but it would also do so even if the latter had the ability to copy enchantments - again, the enchantment type is valuable.

If you're playing it as a flex slot and not intending to only copy your own stuff, Mirrormade starts to look a lot better. There are a lot of respectable things to copy in the format, from Zendikar Resurgent to Akroma's Memorial. While I wouldn't expect any given opponent's deck to be running more than 10 artifacts or more than 10 enchantments, I would expect most to be running at least 10 artifacts and enchantments combined, which means Mirrormade is much less likely to lack targets.

Still, in terms of flexibility, I may still lean towards Clever Impersonator or Phyrexian Metamorph - creatures are the most commonly played type by a significant margin. So, again, I wouldn't run Mirrormade unless I had enchantment synergies.

[Yatsufusa]

It's a generally better Copy Enchantment, so to speak. The slight color intensity keeps it from bring strictly better, but for most part if you wanted Copy Enchantment, this does the same but provides the opportunity to copy artifact at the cost of losing an enchantment, but even in enchantment-matters deck, it's still largely a free opportunity, you could still play it as a blank enchantment like Copy Enchantment.

For artifacts, as Mookie mentioned, it's less opportunistic, you basically need to have an artifact to copy for it to change, so it's mostly an inferior Sculpting Steel for artifact-matters decks.

For general use, once again already pointed out, Impersonator is much more flexible, but if you really want to copy (more) enchantments, this is probably your best choice unless the mana intensity is really an issue. For artifacts it queues behind Metamorph and arguably Sculpting Steel depending on mana again.

[Serenade]

I recently used it in Tuvasa the Sunlit to copy a The Magic Mirror. That was neat. I also threw it into Kykar but have not drawn it yet.

So, yeah, I play it when I have synergies. In enchantress I like the flexibility over Estrid's Invocation and Copy Enchantment.

[tstorm823]

It's pretty perfect for me.

[folding_music]

I'm liking this for my Callaphe deck cos you can copy Mark of Eviction or Disappear with it every turn.

lol

greetings from power level zero

[umtiger]

Friday, June 12th, 2020; Mirrormade

Hmm. A better albeit colour identity locked Sculpting Steel?

I see it as a Copy Artifact with extra oomph rather than Sculpting Steel. The card type on Steel is too vital in the type of decks it goes in.

[Outcryqq]

I recently used it in Tuvasa the Sunlit to copy a The Magic Mirror. That was neat. I also threw it into Kykar but have not drawn it yet.

So, yeah, I play it when I have synergies. In enchantress I like the flexibility over Estrid's Invocation and Copy Enchantment.

Wouldn't you then need to either place The Magic Mirror or the Mirrormade copy of Magic Mirror, since it is legendary?

[tstorm823]

I recently used it in Tuvasa the Sunlit to copy a The Magic Mirror. That was neat. I also threw it into Kykar but have not drawn it yet.

So, yeah, I play it when I have synergies. In enchantress I like the flexibility over Estrid's Invocation and Copy Enchantment.

Wouldn't you then need to either place The Magic Mirror or the Mirrormade copy of Magic Mirror, since it is legendary?

Not if the original Mirror was someone else's

[Serenade]

Yep, it was my buddy's. Despite that, my poor Thassa V1 was stuck at four devotion that whole game.

[ZenN]

Mirrormade is a sweet card. Straight upgrade over Copy Enchantment, which is nice.

Of course it's best played in decks that are playing their own enchantments or artifacts that they want to copy. Loved it in my short lived Zur the Enchanter deck, and my short lived Golos, Tireless Pilgrim enchantresses deck (which eventually got used as the basis for my buddy to upgrade his older enchantresses deck).

[Hawk]

Mirrormade is in an awkward spot - it is strictly better than Copy Enchantment but so is Estrid's Invocation, and I'm not sure the average Bant-chantress needs two of this effect.

For artifact decks, it is worse than Copy Artifact in terms of CMC, and worse than Phyrexian Metamorph and Sculpting Steel (and also probably Mirage Mirror) in terms of typing, meaning it will often get passed over since you can't loop it with Sharuum the Hegemon or whatever.

So few decks run artifacts and enchantments that are worth copying that you almost never would run this as "removal" or a "wincon", in the same way you might get away with Clever Impersonator or Stunt Double being a wincon.

It's one advantage is budget (currently at least) - all its competitors are between $5 and $40, so if you need this effect on an extreme budget it's your card. It also gets an extra bump in a deck like Alela, Artful Provocateur that runs tuns of enchantments and artifacts; in this deck it may end up beating out Invocation and Sculpting Steel. I don't own one and it wasn't worth seeking out, but I'd probably try it if I stumbled on it.

[tstorm823]

There are a lot of niche advantages Mirrormade has over other options. If, like me, you run just a few enchantments you really want to copy, you'll like Copy Enchantment only when you're lucky enough to stumble into it at the right time. The versatility to hit artifacts means it's optionally a piece of artifact ramp when you don't have a bomb enchantment out. Copy Enchantment isn't that versatile, and Estrid's Invocation can't even hit opponent's permanents.

Clever Impersonator can copy any artifact or enchantment as well, but it costs an extra mana, it can't copy artifact lands, it's a creature spell so it won't work with enchantress or prowess type triggers, and it's a 0/0 by default so it can't be played as a blank. That last part may seem insignificant, but Zedruu can abuse that by donating a nothing, it can add to devotion, or you can play it out on an empty board knowing you have a blink effect in hand for later. I have played non-cloning clones a bunch of times, it's relevant enough.

[Sinis]

Friday, June 12th, 2020; Mirrormade

Despite its flexibility, I find it uninspiring, but that may just be because I haven't been playing a lot of great enchantments/artifacts lately, or that many of the ones you'd want to copy are legendary these days (like The Magic Mirror).

[Rorseph]

Mirrormade makes the cut in my Thassa 1.0 deck because it wants all the Copy Artifact effects it can get its grubby little mitts on. I don't know that it makes the cut in a deck that doesn't want all of those effects available. It (and by extension Copy Artifact) are appreciably worse than Phyrexian Metamorph or Sculpting Steel because Blue is a lot better at tutoring artifacts than other permanent types. Being able to copy an opposing Mirari's Wake is a cute trick, though.

[3drinks]

Saturday, June 13th, 2020; Sprout Swarm

I remember how this card was busted on modo when convoked that it net you mana. How does it hold up, traditionally, in today's era?

[Mookie]

In a vacuum, Sprout Swarm doesn't really impress me. Five mana for a 1/1 token is... not a great deal. 1/1s just aren't very impactful unless you have a bunch of synergies (such as Skullclamp or Purphoros, God of the Forge). And if you do have synergies, there are still more efficient token producers, ranging from Avenger of Zendikar to Ant Queen to Mobilization.

Where Sprout Swarm starts to get interesting is when you can really make use of the convoke. Very simply, Sprout Swarm is capable of exponential growth, which is an extremely rare effect. If you just cast it by tapping your creatures every turn, you'll increase those creatures by 20% - not quite Endless Ranks of the Dead level, but it still adds up. Unfortunately, the rate at which it adds up isn't great - unless you already have 20+ creatures to tap, you aren't getting that many tokens, so the rate of growth is slow.

Still, there are some excellent ways to accelerate the process. Seedborn Muse and Quest for Renewal let you untap your creatures on each turn, while Parallel Lives and Primal Vigor double the number of tokens you get. And of course, if you have enough token doublers, you can just get infinite tokens outright.

....that is a lot of setup for a rather underwhelming payoff though. Again, Sprout Swarm just isn't an efficient card, so you really need some way to amp it up. And if you are capable of amping it up, there are probably better payoffs you could be running anyway. If I were to run it, I would want to consistently have some way to make a lot of tokens per turn cycle with it, whether it be by multiplying the number of tokens it makes, or just having a ton of creatures to tap. If you're not using your creatures for anything else, then tapping them to make 4+ tokens per turn cycle effectively for free is pretty good. It's just that getting that many tokens tends to be unlikely.

[ilovesaprolings]

With card like Talrand and parallel lives, it almost pays for itself
Other than those shenanigans... meh

[Peterhausenn]

i would consider this card as either a theme card or as a payoff card. as a theme card i would use it in any saproling themed deck or thalid deck. themed decks tend to be less worried about the power level of the deck so lower powered but on theme cards like this tend to be an acceptable inclusion.

as a payoff card sprout swarm can be the final piece in a few combo shells. paired up with intruder alarm this card goes infinite fast (if not immediately). likewise any infinite mana scenario can use this card as a payoff as well. one positive for the card is that as an instant it allows you to wait until the end step before your turn to spam out your tokens with out fear of a board wipe killing them before you can attack.

[Guardman]

I once saw it go infinite in a Rhys the Redeemed token deck thanks to token doublers, but other than that it usually seems pretty meh. Have a lot of good memories of the card from Future Sight limited though.

[Hawk]

It was a fearsome, stupid limited card. In Commander, it's just so slow. I do run it in my Wort, the Raidmother deck currently but have only played the deck twice - once, it wasn't drawn and once it was drawn but absolutely awful since I got nailed by Curse of Death's Hold. I am going to give it a few more games before probably deciding that if I'm paying more than four for a token maker in this deck it needs to be a lot more explosive (like Siege-Gang Commander and Grizzly Fate which have both been fire).

[3drinks]

It was a fearsome, stupid limited card. In Commander, it's just so slow. I do run it in my Wort, the Raidmother deck currently but have only played the deck twice - once, it wasn't drawn and once it was drawn but absolutely awful since I got nailed by Curse of Death's Hold. I am going to give it a few more games before probably deciding that if I'm paying more than four for a token maker in this deck it needs to be a lot more explosive (like Siege-Gang Commander and Grizzly Fate which have both been fire).

Sounds like you need more Spidersilk Armor 🤔

[Outcryqq]

I've been dunked a few times by Sprout Swarm going infinite, the dude was using Sliver Queen as a general and I can't recall the combo.

[3drinks]

I've been dunked a few times by Sprout Swarm going infinite, the dude was using Sliver Queen as a general and I can't recall the combo.

Probably something with Mana Echoes I'd think.

[3drinks]

Sunday, June 14th, 2020; Crucible of Worlds

So, today is just like a crucible appreciation day, right?