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

[DirkGently]

It's a fine card but I almost never include this sort of thing in my decks. I'd rather just run a counterspell, and use it if they've actually tutored up something I really need to answer. Otherwise you risk "wasting" it on a tutor that wasn't very important.

From a design perspective, I like that it's a soft hoser, but it does hose some things much worse than others. Your demonic tutor is now sorcery-speed Impulse which isn't THAT bad. Whereas your rampant growth has a strong chance to totally whiff in a multicolor deck. More restrictive tutors get hurt a lot worse than the black suite, which is a little mean to the Steelshaper's Gifts of the world.

Ban tutors; who objects?

Hey, I like (responsibly used) tutors...

[Peterhausenn]

Ban tutors; who objects?

i do. besides the fact of adding more than 500 cards to the ban list it would likely destroy certain strategies along with some of the fundamental concepts of this format.

[3drinks]

Thursday, August 20th, 2020; Terminus and pretty close to functional copy, Hallowed Burial

Hallowed Burial is my go to Mr Reliable sweeper, or was for years, only unseated by Toxic Deluge. I'll still pick it up if I have room for a fourth sweeper (or a third if I'm not on a Cataclysm deck). Terminus now, I remember back in the day of SOM/ISD when everyone and their mother was calling for a Mystical Tutor ban because every tryhard azorious player and their mother were flexing with their ability to "out-skill their opponents" with the tutour into terminus, and then act like they were a genius player for doing it. I don't really see this anymore, though Cy Rift seems to have become that boogeyman nowadays, for sure.

[MeowZeDung]

I don't think you read my posts on lantern very closely if you're lumping me in with the big spender recommendations.

I don't think I suggested anything over a buck did I? Armillary sphere spike while I wasn't looking?

My intention was not to lump you in with the big spender recommendations with regard to lantern per se (you're right, your lantern posts were imminently reasonable) but rather one of the players who clearly has deckbuilding and gameplay chops, was giving lantern a thumbs down, and whose opinion I respect very much. Really, I read lots of your stuff even if I don't reply to it and I value your takes on cards/decks/play patterns.

That said, I recall (perhaps incorrectly) seeing you casually recommend stuff like Intuition, Academy Ruins, Recruiter of the Guard (prior to reprint), etc elsewhere for example. Now, I'm probably being really unfair with this, I admit, because it would be stupid to insist that everyone include an asterisk and a comprehensive guide to budget alternatives with every card they recommend or discuss. I was simply trying to draw out the point that it sucks for players with small collections or limited budgets to run into that sort of thing, through absolutely no fault of your own. That's why I took pains to emphasize that I respect y'all and it wasn't personal or spiteful in any way, just a reality I wanted to illuminate. Cheers.

Edit: I like both Hallowed Burial and Terminus as wipes that get rid of all sorts of problems, but more and more there are options for sweepers that are asymmetrical or hit more than just creatures, so I'm not running either at the moment.

[not-a-cube]

I used to run both in my superfriends deck, because I hardly ran any creatures, but over time these have disappeared from my builds. I generally prefer boardwipes that either give me extra options like Austere Command, Cleansing Nova, or Merciless Eviction or are cheaper like Toxic Deluge or are just way to good Cyclonic Rift.

They are decent, and they play around graveyard based decks quite nicely, no dies trigger and nothing hits the yard. Although there are cards that just exile stuff instead, which exist in mono white like Descend upon the Sinful and Final Judgment.

[Mookie]

Hmmmm.... I don't think that Terminus and Hallowed Burial are necessarily bad, but I also never find myself playing them. I suspect part of that reason is that my decks tend to be pretty heavy on recursion. As a result, I tend to favor board wipes that put my creatures into the graveyard instead. Simultaneously, there are a lot of asymmetric board wipes and board wipes with more upside available, such as Merciless Eviction, Austere Command, and Tragic Arrogance.

In this case, I would say that the primary upside of these board wipes are the fact that they are relatively permanent answers, which is useful for decks that don't plan to recur their creatures from the graveyard. However, I'd still slightly favor Descend upon the Sinful and Final Judgment as even more permanent answers. I suppose they do cost more mana though. Hmmm.... Alternatively, could be useful if you're running a lot of tutors and plan to fetch up tucked creatures again (ex: Captain Sisay decks).

I will call out Terminus's miracle ability being pretty potent if you have some setup for it (ex: Aminatou, the Fateshifter or Mystical Tutor). Still, I don't know if it would be worth burning a whole card on setting it up.

[Dunharrow]

I feel like these cards were a lot more popular when you could tuck a commander. They are fine now but I think exiling creatures is probably slightly better as they can't be tutored again.

[FoxM1]

Terminus was one of my finishers in my Karametra deck.

The goal was the have a bunch of dorks and lands and have something like Nyxbloom Ancient on the board. Draw into Terminus and tap out all my mana with a Genesis Wave in hand. Essentially, wipe out the board state, then replenish my field with everything in my deck and swing lethal on everyone.

[PrimevalCommander]

Terminus and Hallowed Burial were THE wipes to play before tuck got removed. I think that is when you saw the really large drop off in play. Back then sacrifice outlets abounded, and white decks put pressure on commanders better than any other color. Made you actually think about when and how to play your commander instead of just spamming it like today. That, accompanied by the ever increasing supply or Exile and flexible wipes, just gives Terminus more competition. I would call it a windmill slam in topdeck matters decks in white, and a good all around wipe in general.

I'm only playing 1 deck with white right now, and I'm using Hallowed Burial because it cost 5 instead of 6 and I have no topdeck synergy. They are reliable wipes, perhaps not as good as straight exile, but if my sac outlet isn't online I have the chance to tutor up any creature I really want back. So I see the tuck clause as an advantage over exile, while still being much more permanent than destroy.

Good card, it's just aging with the format and the ever increasing competition for deck space.

edit: got beat to the tuck comment while I was typing this .

[DirkGently]

Hallowed Burial is, imo, pretty much worthless as a board wipe these days, unless you're on a budget or you're running a butt-ton of wipes (ew). Sure, it's better vs recursion than your average wrath of god, but it's not really worth the extra mana, and there are a lot of wipes with better upsides these days if you're willing to pay 5 or 6.

Terminus is still interesting, but I think it's less to do with the opportunity to cast it for 1 on your draw step (although that still probably makes it superior to HB even at 1 more for the normal cost), and more to do with the possibility to cast it (on the cheap) in the midst of someone else's turn using Sensei's Divining Top, or some combination of setup (or blind luck) and instant-speed draw. If my commander let me do either of those things, I'd probably be very interested in it.

Wow, 3 sets of parenthesis in one sentence. I truly am a master of the English language :laugh:

[lyonhaert]

I used to run both in my superfriends deck, because I hardly ran any creatures, but over time these have disappeared from my builds. I generally prefer boardwipes that either give me extra options like Austere Command, Cleansing Nova, or Merciless Eviction or are cheaper like Toxic Deluge or are just way to good Cyclonic Rift.

They are decent, and they play around graveyard based decks quite nicely, no dies trigger and nothing hits the yard. Although there are cards that just exile stuff instead, which exist in mono white like Descend upon the Sinful and Final Judgment.

I definitely agree about the usefulness of modal options. I've had Austere Command in my 5C superfriends for basically its entire existence and recently added Cyclonic Rift (simply hadn't used it anywhere for a long time). In that deck I do happen to care about creatures, with several creature cards and a focus on tokens, but wipes are still very useful to buy time against other players' boardstates before I try to produce an army (versus producing some blockers). I slotted Hallowed Burial in recently to test as a 'softer' wipe to see how that affects politics on medium pods vs destroy/exile/bounce wipes. I should test Merciless Eviction again and test Cleansing Nova, which I'd missed probably because my wipe cards are scattered in clusters among different piles/boxes. I feel like modal cards (or at least multi-situational cards) are going to be a subtheme of the deck, as I happen to like some charms in there, too.

[3drinks]

Wow, 3 sets of parenthesis in one sentence. I truly am a master of the English language :laugh:

Now shoot for a post that requires brackets inside parenthesis with curly brackets inside the square brackets. Then you'll be an English master 👀🤔

[Wallycaine]

Of the two, I prefer terminus for the instant speed possibility. I've played it in a few decks, and the ability to occasionally activate instant speed draw and try to luck sac your way into a miracle is worth the cost of putting it in the deck, in my opinion. Way back when, I got to respond to a craterhoof kill with greater good, hit the miracle, and then looted my way through a third of my deck before actually casting it.

[Hawk]

I remember back when tucking was a thing. I didn't own any Burials and they were like $10-11, way outside my budget. Terminus came out and was a huge deal as well - my one copy was in constant use even as a "worse" Burial most of the time, finding its way into white decks. It lived in Zedruu the longest, as Zedruu could often draw at instant speed and had Soothsaying and Brainstorm to try for the Miracle.

Fast forward past the end of tucking in 2015 and I own two copies each of Burial and Terminus now (thanks to Burial's reprints) which I am playing nowhere. As noted when it comes to white mass removal, my preference tends to be for more efficient (with Wrath of God. Day of Judgment, Hour of Revelation) or more flexible (Austere Command, Cleansing Nova, Rout, Fated Retribution, Tragic Arrogance) or more powerful (Akroma's Vengeance, Play of the Game, even Phyrexian Rebirth or Martial Coup). "One-sided" wraths (like Mass Calcify or Dusk // Dawn or Wave of Reckoning or the aforementioned Arrogance and Command) are also really appealing. And since most of my decks only run 2-4 "Wrath" effects and that isn't even considering other colors, these just get hemmed out nowadays. Even in Phelddagriff, which runs like 11-12 boardwipes, this loses out to all the above + the blue suite of Evacuation, Cyclonic Rift, and Supreme Verdict. I suppose if my meta was more full of Death triggers and graveyard nonsense maybe these would see more play?

[Sinis]

Thursday, August 20th, 2020; Terminus and pretty close to functional copy, Hallowed Burial

Hallowed Burial is my go to Mr Reliable sweeper, or was for years, only unseated by Toxic Deluge. I'll still pick it up if I have room for a fourth sweeper (or a third if I'm not on a Cataclysm deck). Terminus now, I remember back in the day of SOM/ISD when everyone and their mother was calling for a Mystical Tutor ban because every tryhard azorious player and their mother were flexing with their ability to "out-skill their opponents" with the tutour into terminus, and then act like they were a genius player for doing it. I don't really see this anymore, though Cy Rift seems to have become that boogeyman nowadays, for sure.

I mean, Mystical Tutor does work well with Miracle cards.

I think the real strength of Terminus is that you can play it on opponent's turns with different workarounds than other wipes (Cyclonic Rift notwithstanding). Other wipes require some sort of Flash-enabler, but this you can do with a draw spell if you've stacked your deck via Sensei's Top or Sylvan Library (or Mystical Tutor). I think also one of Terminus's big strengths is the miracle cost. One mana for a wipe is a bargain, and it can easily put you ahead if you get the first opportunity to rebuild.

I really do like wiping on other people's turns; Rout is a favourite, and I have been known to play Quicken|GPT to dunk people at unexpected moments.

[umtiger]

New Teferi makes me want to try Terminus again.

[not-a-cube]

New Teferi makes me want to try Terminus again.

good catch, haven't been paying enough attention to the newest cards, but that's another free draw in an opponents turn like top, Another good card for miracles.

[3drinks]

Friday, August 21st, 2020; Swans of Bryn Argoll

.. inb4 something something Seismic Assault.

[Mookie]

hitourswans drawsomecards hitourswans drawsomecards hitourswans drawsomecards

Anyway, Swans of Bryn Argoll are pretty sweet, assuming you're playing it alongside some burn. Turning Lightning Bolt into Ancestral Recall is extremely powerful, and it only gets more powerful when you throw in stuff like Blasphemous Act and other wants-to-be-hit cards like Boros Reckoner. Its color is a bit awkward though, since most of those payoffs (and enablers) are in red, forcing you into three colors. I will call out Illusory Ambusher as another instance of this effect in blue.

Awkwardly, it's pretty bad as a blocker - allowing an opponent to draw a bunch of cards when it blocks is a pretty significant downside. As far as attacking goes, a 4/3 flyer for 4 is pretty good... but, again, your opponent will often be heavily incentivized to block if able. It being a symmetric effect probably won't come up that often (since burn spells aren't played that widely), but will come up occasionally.

So... yeah. Sweet build-around, but in colors that don't take great advantage of it. It's also a unique enough effect that it's somewhat difficult to build around, but its asymmetry means I wouldn't want to throw it in a deck that wasn't able to abuse it. I guess the one commander I'd call out as working particularly well with it is Sevinne, the Chronoclasm, who also likes things that synergize with damage prevention.

[not-a-cube]

Idk why, but I want to play Swans of Bryn Argoll, have an opponent cast Blasphemous Act, counter that with Swan Song, jump up from the table, start honking en running away while flapping my arms....

Anyway, it's a cool card, but I wouldn't build around it, maybe if it was a legendary creature and you build around it like Grothama, All-Devouring.

[Dunharrow]

I play Swans alongside Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind to draw my deck....
Basically a combo card.
Friends with Nin, the Pain Artist..

[MeowZeDung]

Golden Guardian // Gold-Forge Garrison, Nin, the Pain Artist, Arcbond, Nahiri's Wrath/Firestorm, Expansion // Explosion, Channeled Force, etc etc all love the swans. Super fun card. Turns Mirrorweave into a mill win con.

@tstorm823 does shenanigans with them in Zedruu.

[tstorm823]

Golden Guardian // Gold-Forge Garrison, Nin, the Pain Artist, Arcbond, Nahiri's Wrath/Firestorm, Expansion // Explosion, Channeled Force, etc etc all love the swans. Super fun card. Turns Mirrorweave into a mill win con.

@tstorm823 does shenanigans with them in Zedruu.

Pandemonium, Warstorm Surge. Repeated draw engines are easy (and satisfying) to set up with Swans.

But even alone, it's a good tool at a multiplayer table. It's powerful to be able to decide who gets blocked by Swans and who doesn't.

[3drinks]

Saturday, August 22nd, 2020; Long-Term Plans

Hard to believe this hasn't seen print since SCG right? So, what do we think of u's demonic tutour?

[DirkGently]

More like blue's Cruel Tutor. You're down a card, it costs 3 mana, AND you don't get it right away.

It gets pulled out a fair bit when I'm building decks, but it never sticks around. You'd really have to be tutoring something that's going to win you the game to justify it - answers will be too slow, on-curve decent threats will probably be irrelevant by the time you draw it. And I don't really like playing cards that just win me the game and then tutoring for them, it's not very interesting. And this is certainly far from the optimal way to do that anyway.

So...it kinda sucks.