[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Melua]

It's a nice card, but spellslinger decks don't tend to have issues keeping their hands filled. It gets a lot better if you can utilize the artifact tokens for other things though, so keep your eye out.

[Serenade]

Too often I felt like I didn't have mana for the clues (too busy casting other instants/sorceries). They sure can help with improvise spells, though.

I wonder what restrictions would be needed to make it say "noncreature" instead of instants/sorceries.

[PrimevalCommander]

This could have easily been a white card and been another feather in the cap of white draw, which doesn't have many feathers.
Several ways to draw off of instant and sorceries in blue that don't require mana to cash in. Though this could have some extra value making artifact tokens. Not sure how many instant/sorceries the artifact heavy blue decks are playing instead of just running more artifact payoffs. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer might like this though.

[BeneTleilax]

Saw this pop off in Galazeth Prismari once. If you've got both artifact and spellslinging synergies, this seems great, and it's fine in just a generic spellslinger deck that wants mana sinks.

[wildfire393]

This could have easily been a white card and been another feather in the cap of white draw, which doesn't have many feathers.
Several ways to draw off of instant and sorceries in blue that don't require mana to cash in. Though this could have some extra value making artifact tokens. Not sure how many instant/sorceries the artifact heavy blue decks are playing instead of just running more artifact payoffs. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer might like this though.

If they made this white it'd require "this ability triggers only once each turn".

I've got this card slated for an eventual/possible Galazeth Prismari list that runs Academy Manufactor + lots of clone spells, to run alongside stuff like Storm-Kiln Artist as ways to kickstart that chain. But that's like the perfect shell for it, I dunno who else wants that many instants and sorceries alongside artifact synergy.

[Sinis]

Saw this pop off in Galazeth Prismari once. If you've got both artifact and spellslinging synergies, this seems great, and it's fine in just a generic spellslinger deck that wants mana sinks.

I think this is really the only place for it; I think this card's function isn't about getting card draw, it's about getting generic artifact tokens.

If we wanted card draw, we'd just use Archmage Emeritus these days.

[Hawk]

As folks have already mentioned, I think this is worse in a vacuum than Archmage Emeritus and not that far ahead of Jace's Sanctum or Lunar Mystic - if all you care about is extra cards or card quality for casting instants and sorceries, you should look elsewhere. And that's just in blue - worth mentioning that Jeskai, AKA the spellslinger combo, has access to Jeskai Ascendancy and Whirlwind of Thought both of which are incredible.

But, this has some unique synergy for decks that care about artifacts and spells like Galazeth Prismari, Saheeli, the Gifted, or Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. Also has play if you care about clues specifically in Lonis, Cryptozoologist or Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth.

[hyalopterouslemur]

It's a cantrip, yes. But it's so much more. It has all the artifact synergies, like affinity/improvise and metalcraft, and things like Disciple of the Vault, Martyr's Bond, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Goblin Welder, and Fangren Marauder.

[Mookie]

I ran Trail of Evidence for a while in Mizzix, but eventually cut it. The deck certainly is able to trigger it consistently... but an extra mana sink was definitely not what the deck is looking for, given how many cantrips and other draw spells I'm running.

...I'm slightly tempted to test it in Kess, which is significantly more controlling than Mizzix and doesn't mind durdling a bit - grinding out value is its primary win condition. Still, that deck is also running a bunch of card draw, so not quite as necessary.

As others have noted, Galazeth Prismari is where this card shines - you really want to have both spellslinger and clue synergies. If you're not doing something strong with the clues, blue has access to many other options for keeping a full grip. Still, it is effectively 'cast a spell: generate a permanent', so there are definitely uses for it. Maybe some sort of janky The Great Aurora deck that wants to generate a bunch of tokens with stuff like Chatterstorm? Hmmm... Now I sort of want to brew that - Warp World doesn't work because it doesn't cheat out instants/sorceries, but there must be some other payoffs.

[vandertroll]

This card was total bonkers in my Urza deck. Also does wonders in the Simic clue legend.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, January 9th, 2022; Joiner Adept

[Sinis]

Wednesday, January 9th, 2022; Joiner Adept

Just play Chromatic Lantern, I guess.

[Melua]

Wednesday, January 9th, 2022; Joiner Adept

Trap card that might draw way too much aggro.

[Hawk]

When this first released it was exciting and sort of unprecedented, a big hit at least in my casual 60 card kitchen table world.

By the time Commander "took off" as a format or shortly thereafter, this was already more or less "strictly bettered" by Prismatic Omen and Chromatic Lantern (more resilient; Omen enables Domain trickery; Lantern ramps) if you want to play greedy 5C Nonsense. Nowadays Dryad of the Ilysian Grove also is much better.

Normally I'd advocate for it based on typing in tribal lists, but Elf Tribal is rarely more than 2 colors. Even if you are playing some really niche Tana, the Bloodsower + Nadier, Agent of the Duskenel or Chulane, Teller of Tales elf deck, I suspect you'd prefer the ramp and fixing from Paradise Druid, Bloom Tender, Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, or Sylvan Ranger over this thing since it leaves you with a very obvious point of failure. And if you are doing Morophon, the Boundless Elves - well, see my first paragraph in addition to the above sentences..

[hyalopterouslemur]

Wednesday, January 9th, 2022; Joiner Adept

Just play Chromatic Lantern, I guess.

Or Prismatic Omen if you want 5 domain, something like Last Stand, etc.

[DirkGently]

When this first released it was exciting and sort of unprecedented, a big hit at least in my casual 60 card kitchen table world.

Same. These days it looks like absolute garbage though lol. Even without those other cards.

If you need this for fixing, your deck is going to suck when you don't draw it. If you don't need it for fixing, this is going to suck when you do draw it.

There's some niche applications but overall it's quite bad.

[3drinks]

The only plus this has over anything else is being two mana value, which is was the only two mana version of this effect. Err, it's at least the cheapest version dollar wise though. It can be had for $3-$5 pending which version while the other ones are demanding $10-$20. That's significant given how much everything is going up.

[Jemolk]

I mean, if you want a third or even fourth copy of the effect, it's not half bad. I've got one in Jodah high CMC Bulk Rares, because that deck really does care about being able to produce WUBRG on demand, so the fixing is pretty worthwhile there. It's also slightly less vulnerable than Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, because while they're both creatures, Dryad is also an enchantment. Doesn't enable extra land drops, but honestly, that's the aspect of things I'm less worried about there, and Joiner Adept paints a smaller target on its back and on you as a result, so I'm okay with that.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, January 9th, 2022; Joiner Adept

Just play Chromatic Lantern, I guess.

Or Prismatic Omen if you want 5 domain, something like Last Stand, etc.

I don't want to shell out 20 bones for that thing. Even Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is creeping up in price.

That said, I should have added: I do like this effect. Imagine you're in Temur with a lot of land, and you've tabled a Djinn Illuminatus while holding a Lightning Bolt....

[DirkGently]

Don't forget Realmwright can fulfill the same function in a lot of cases. Not to mention easy includes like yavimaya and urborg.

[vandertroll]

I guess you can use this card for its Druid subtype to add critical mass to Seton, Krosan Protector decks.

[Serenade]

Gilt-Leaf Archdruid steals all lands, and then you can use this guy to have them all generate green mana for…..I don't know what.

[3drinks]

Thursday, February 10th, 2022; Mercurial Pretender

[BeneTleilax]

Don't know why you'd run this over Sakashima the Impostor, but it's a clone for clone tribal, and can protect/reset itself if you're in the habit of leaving 4 mana open.

[wildfire393]

5 mana for a self-only clone is an awful lot these days when you've got stuff like Mirror Image and especially Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore and the sheer amount of bonus you can get on a 4 mana clone. The self-bounce is interesting, especially as it's faster than Sakashima the Impostor's EOT bounce, but I doubt it's worth the trouble at this cost.