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

[Hawk]

It may be envy from someone whose box and a half of DoT yielded zero copies of Kolaghan's Command but I'm not understanding the love for it?

• Artifact destruction will be its most common mode for sure, but I'd never run Smash in EDH, not when I have the option to run Vandalblast, Rakdos Charm, By Force, Abrade, Ingot Chewer and Bedevil as cheaper and/or more flexible options.
• I feel this way because while you'll almost always have a target for an Artifact Destruction spell, you will rarely have a "relevant" target - sure, it's good to blow up someone's Sol Ring or Signet but not amazing. It's rare for me to be up for running more than 4+ artifact destruction spells in EDH, and I just listed six I prefer. Granted, I'm likely to file Bedevil as a Creature/Walker kill spell that can hit an artifact in a pinch, but I think Kolaghan's is so unreliable in hitting relevant creatures or 'walkers that I couldn't give it the same classification.
• I call attention to Smash because this card should almost always be a 2-for-1 just like Smash is and very much unlike most of what I listed above. It would be rare that there are no X/2 creatures on board, no creatures in your 'yard, and no opponents with cards in hand...but for a tougher mana cost, I'm not sure any of those modes are reliably better than "Draw a Card". Sure, there are going to be highroll games where your Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy opened on Sol ring into Kinnan and this blows them the eff out, but that feels like an unlikely rate compared to all the games where this is "blow up your Worn Powerstone, shock your face/make you discard a card you didn't want anyways, pass turn".
• This card is obviously a modern staple, because "Shock + Discard" is good in that format and makes this a baby Blightning, but that just makes it impossible for me to justify shelling out cash for.

I'd like to think that even if I owned a copy, I'd be unlikely to play it often. I think it's ironically best in a Spellslingery deck, but that makes using the Raise Dead half of the card awkward. I would consider it in Inalla, Archmage Ritualist perhaps? But in general, I think it'd be in my maybeboard before getting culled for more efficient, streamlined stuff.

Which now that I've ranted about Kolaghan's, is how I generally feel about all of these - I do love me some versatility, so they are often in my "maybeboard" (especially Ojutai's Command), but then as I assemble the deck I see there just is no room for an effect like this.

• Dromoka's Command is like a better Ancient Animus and if it was mono-green or Gruul I'd play it every day...but it is in Selesnya, where I instead have access to better creature kill in the form of Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile and better enchantment removal in any number of effects.
• Ojutai's Command is a lot like Kolaghan's in that it could be awesome...but I'm not convinced any mode is better than "draw a card". That means "Draw a card" is going to get chosen almost every time...and, I can counter anything + draw a card with Dismiss and Cryptic Command, I can gain life and draw a card cheaper with Renewed Faith, etc.
• At 5 CMC, Silumgar's Command is competing with not just Cryptic Command but also Mystic Confluence and Wretched Confluence, and comes up short versus all of those options. I also generally prefer Soul Manipulation for my sneaky 2-for-1 Dimir spells.
• I will say I am currently testing Atarka's Command in Wort, the Raidmother, and that Dirk is probably right - I've only played three games and only drawn Command once, but it was super underwhelming. It's just a bad Explore or Rampant Growth pre-Wort, and probably doesn't do enough when forked to justify its inclusion. I want it to be good, but suspect it's getting cut after a bit more testing.

[DirkGently]

Comparing Kcommand to smash is pretty reasonable, but I think it comes out significantly ahead in the comparison. I'd say the most common mode is destroy artifact, return creature, which means it's effectively the same as smash except that you always draw the best creature in your graveyard. And you could even plan ahead by letting your commander go to the grave if you don't have a better target and plan to use the spell. Being instant speed is also nice since you can easily EOT it and then cast whatever you recovered, or cast it in response to grave hate.

The shock is situationally useful, either if someone is at 2 or if there's an X/2 of significant value hanging around. Not super common but definitely can come up. Sometimes you can engineer a block where the extra 2 kills the creature even if it's a little bigger.

The discard, while I believe it's very commonly used in modern, is by far the worst mode imo. Unless someone is down to 1 card and you have reason to believe it's gas, or maybe if the target is the clear archenemy and the other modes aren't very impactful, I'd avoid using it. There's nothing wrong with it exactly, it's just the least likely to be good and you can't usually predict when it will be. Though being instant speed does mean you can always get value from it, and it's good in the 1v1 game for sure.

If I wasn't running many targets for the raise dead, then it looks quite a bit worse and I'd be more likely to run something else like smash or abrade.

I don't think it's fair to compare to sorcery-speed removal. KCommand is a cheap toolbox answer, not a brute force tool.

[pokken]

I got blown out by Dromoka's Command a while back making me sac ephara.

The best thing I ever did with it was make kiki chord player sac their courser while killing their kiki with my eternal witness.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, July 1st, 2020; the Tarkir Commands!

I love modal spells! I don't have much more to add, other than that I wish Silumgar's Command was better, or more aggressively costed.

[onering]

Dirk is right.

K's command is the best by a lot. There's always a relevant artifact to kill, and pairing that with raise dead or killing a utility creature is very strong at instant speed for 3 Mana. It can also mess with combat by adding that last 2 damage to kill a blocker or attacker, or to make first strike lethal. Discard is of variable power but can occasionally be nasty (fire it off during a draw step when the person is in topdeck mode and it's gone 1v1).

Silumgurs looks better when you start considering not always using it as a counter. Counter a no creature and kill a PW is good, but expensive, counter a non creature and kill a 3 toughness dude is ok but expensive. Kill a PW while also killing a 3 toughness creature, or messing with combat and taking out a PW at the same time, is pretty nice (if expensive). This seems overall a bit meta dependent, as it gets better when there's enough pws and utility creatures running around to target.

[Mookie]

I've considered Kolaghan's Command for Kess - the threshold for an instant/sorcery to be playable there is somewhat lowered, and the flexibility is appreciated. I suspect the most intuitive swap would be for Rakdos Charm - I do like its graveyard hate mode, and burning out a token player is occasionally relevant, but hard to compare to the recursion / shock / discard modes without testing.

As for the others... as many people have already written, they're generally underwhelming. I'll never completely write off a potential 2-for-1, but a lot of the use cases for the other commands are pretty narrow. Dromoka's is the best of the others, and I could see it being included in decks that expected the fight mode to be online most of the time - the other modes are all pretty impactful when they're good. But as for the others... Silumgar's is expensive, Ojutai's is outclassed by Dismiss, and Atarka's is... bad.

[Dunharrow]

I play Ojutai's Command in my Sunforger-centric Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest. It is mainly there as a counterspell, but being able to reanimate Mother of Runes or Stoneforge Mystic is also a good plan.
I play K-Command in my Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck. It is very good, imo. I like that I can shock if I need to cast Rakdos and have no way to deal damage. Grabbing a fatty from my yard is very strong because I should be able to cast it. It makes cards like Dragon Mage better too. I should note that this deck plays Smash to Smithereens as it also helps me cast Rakdos.

I have never played any of the others in Commander, and just don't think I ever will.

[3drinks]

Thursday, July 2nd, 2020; Artifact Mutation

If you're gonna play shatter...at least play the one that spawns a bunch of disposable bodies. I have fond memories if throwing this at a Darksteel Forge during someone's end step. What's your crazy stories with it?

[folding_music]

not sure. It's one of the few cards I didn't open during Invasion block! it's clearly a good card though, I don't think it has been obsoleted.

Would you play this in Gallia of the Endless Dance? I bet she'd like to have responses to Ratchet Bomb and all that. or it'd let you blow up a signet at the end of someone's turn then swing with two saplings and Gallia to trigger her ability, n stuff. on the other hand, maybe Gallia's deck is so low cmc that you are just jamming as many stompy 1 drops as possible and not holding back responses? dunno. I keep wanting to build her and seeing this card reminded me.

[not-a-cube]

If you're gonna play shatter...at least play the one that spawns a bunch of disposable bodies. I have fond memories if throwing this at a Darksteel Forge during someone's end step. What's your crazy stories with it?

Never tried it tbh, feels inferior to modal spells and spells with a bigger range of targets. But maybe I should give it a try if I have the build for it. Proabably very good in a deck that likes to sacrifice stuff and there will mostly be some artifact to target.

One thing, doesn't darksteel forge make itself indestructible?

[3drinks]

If you're gonna play shatter...at least play the one that spawns a bunch of disposable bodies. I have fond memories if throwing this at a Darksteel Forge during someone's end step. What's your crazy stories with it?

Never tried it tbh, feels inferior to modal spells and spells with a bigger range of targets. But maybe I should give it a try if I have the build for it. Proabably very good in a deck that likes to sacrifice stuff and there will mostly be some artifact to target.

One thing, doesn't darksteel forge make itself indestructible?

Yep. And it made me nine bodies for two. Was a pretty rad deal, would do it again.

[Serenade]

Neat seeing it in every border. The OG version adds a heaviness given the Invasion storyline (though I can't remember if Molimo was in those books at all...).

It's not bad! But I think it's a meta (lots of artifacts abound) or deck call. I'd play Abrade and Hull Breach ahead of it (and those after Vandalblast and Nature's Claim as staples).

It reminds me of that new card Fungal Rebirth...in that I wish I had a deck that's just Oops, All Saprolings.

[DirkGently]

Would you play this in Gallia of the Endless Dance? I bet she'd like to have responses to Ratchet Bomb and all that. or it'd let you blow up a signet at the end of someone's turn then swing with two saplings and Gallia to trigger her ability, n stuff. on the other hand, maybe Gallia's deck is so low cmc that you are just jamming as many stompy 1 drops as possible and not holding back responses? dunno. I keep wanting to build her and seeing this card reminded me.

Personally I wouldn't in my build. I don't like situational cards there - I think the key to that deck is that you want to keep applying consistent pressure, and ofc gallia's trigger means there's a solid chance you're going to discard it before it has a good target anyway. The only removal I really like is stuff that you can set, get value from, and use for removal later - i.e. glorybringer or Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, or ideally cheap stuff like Reckless Reveler.

[pokken]

I used to play it in Wort, the Raidmother and it was real good

[Outcryqq]

I play Artifact Mutation in my Vial Smasher the Fierce/Thrasios, Triton Hero deck, mostly because it has a saproling subtheme. It is never really a dead card considering how popular artifacts are in multiplayer commander.

[Sinis]

I would play it in a token oriented deck, but I think there are probably better choices if that isn't your gameplan.

[umtiger]

Yep. And it made me nine bodies for two. Was a pretty rad deal, would do it again.

I'm sure it was worth it!

With Artifact Mutation, you don't always target the best artifact in play. The higher cmc might be a juicer target. It's kind of a modal spell in that way. Sometimes your prioritize Shatter and and other times it's a Shatter + tokens.

Definitely a token card.

[Hawk]

Every time this is played against me it's seemed awesome - even shattering a Sword of X and Y is good value, but when it's hitting Steel Hellkite or Gilded Lotus or Myr Battlesphere it's just such a beating.

Every time I play it, it has been dead - I feel like it sucks to burn it on a Ring or Signet. But maybe that's because it was in decks previously like XenaGod, Darigaaz, and Gahiji who barely cared about the tokens if they cared at all. I

t's currently in Wort, the Raidmother and was on my cut list - the deck has Return to Nature, Hull Breach, Krosan Grip, Aftershock, and of course Chaos Warp and Beast Within for all its artifact destroying needs and all of the above have the advantage of hitting at least one other card type. But the glowing reviews here and the fact that Wort is a token deck, complete with Second Harvest, makes me want to give it just a few more games.

[ironic gesture]

I love this card but I am an admitted token addict. That being said I don't think I'm currently running it anywhere. For a long time I had it in my mid-power-non-infinite Prossh deck. But when I powered that up to 8.5-9 it was an easy cut.

[onering]

How much can you utilize the tokens? Obviously if you point this at a Myr Battlesphere it doesn't matter what your deck is, because you're taking out a threat and getting an army for 2 mana. What matters is how relevant is this when used against something small, yet important. If your deck has more use for 2 saps than the ability to bolt a creature or destroy an enchantment instead of an artifact, then run it. Obviously token decks love it because it fits their theme and they likely have plenty of ways to boost them or things that care about creatures hitting the field or having a lot of creatures. Sacrifice decks also like it, because those two 1/1s are become 2 of whatever your best sac ability is plus any triggers. But even decks where it isn't getting heavy support should consider it. Its worth considering how often you use artifact hate against juicy targets and evaluating from there. If your meta has you blowing up Thran Dynamos and up most of the time, you should run it, the payoff is high enough to compete with the flexibility of other spells. If you're usually hitting sol rings, signets, and pithing needles, you shouldn't run it unless your deck can make enough use of the 1 or 2 saps you'll usually get.

[Mookie]

Artifact Mutation isn't my favorite Shatter effect. Given that you have access to both red and green, I'd usually run Reclamation Sage or Vandalblast first. That said, it's a reasonable choice if you can make good use of all the tokens. Even then though... still seems like a bit of a meta call - I wouldn't be excited to blow up a Signet for two tokens, but if I were consistently hitting something like Chromatic Orrery I'd be much more excited.

I guess the key question to ask is whether the value added from the tokens is greater than the lost versatility from not hitting enchantments, and I suspect it isn't for most decks.

[umtiger]

Consider the MTG Christmas land or Aura Shards into Artifact Mutation

[3drinks]

Friday, July 3rd, 2020, Apocalypse Chime

And for similar effects like this, City in a Bottle & Golgothian Sylex

Oh that's rich. I saw the Chime come up and knew this was it. When else would you get a chance to ever discuss these incredible😂🙄 cards.

How dare you hose my Sengir Family tribal deck!

[Mookie]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that all three of these cards are... extremely questionable. Honestly, the biggest issue I have with them is how difficult it is to know which cards are affected - if you were to run into them, I'd expect the controller to be prepared to answer that question.

Looking at the five most played permanent cards in each of these expansions on EDHREC, we have....
Homelands: Sengir Autocrat (2182 decks), Koskun Falls (731), Spectral Bears (620), Wall of Kelp (550), and Serrated Arrows (826)
Arabian Nights: City of Brass (35985), Bazaar of Baghdad (814), Rukh Egg (383), Flying Men (408), Desert (567)
Antiquities: Ashnod's Altar (40712), Strip Mine (31196), Ornithopter (6794), Triskelion (4936), Urza's Mine (and other urzatron lands, 4170)

So, of the three, Golgothian Sylex is the most likely to have hits, although still not particularly good unless you have an extremely narrow meta. That's pretty much what I would have expected - there were a lot of strong artifacts printed in that set. The other two are.... pretty much completely unplayable.

Somewhat interesting to contemplate how playable this effect would be for a more recent set though. I imagine they'd be a massive beating against most precons due to the high percentage of new cards in them. However, I'd be surprised if most decks had more than 10 or so cards from a single set, with most decks having even fewer. From my own experience, it's rare to have more than 5 or so cards added to a deck when a new set comes out, and the number of cards from any given set will go down over time as cards get cut. On the other hand, if you're doing a deck built around a set-specific mechancic (ex: clues, food, energy) or tribe, you may be running a lot more cards from that set.

[folding_music]

They should have printed one of these for War of the Spark =P