[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Ruiner]

Within the context of my Chandra burn deck, this version of her does some work. Combined with stuff like Furnace of Rath it gets a little out of hand if it sticks around. Gets a little silly with other similar effects on the board like Sulfuric Vortex too. Also, it's fun to have the potential to kill players after you have been eliminated from a game already.

Her +2 is great. Her -3 is definitely useful. I don't think I've ever used the Ult.

[illakunsaa]

Kind of weak. I tried her in my Tibalt list but the +2 damage isn't that much (+2 tibalt is way better wincon) and the other modes are kinda meh. If the emblem was a red source at least it might have some utility in Torbran decks.

[Sinis]

I think this card is hot. Though, the anti-counter thing is less relevant than ever as they print more things that can target planeswalkers.

[3drinks]

Thursday, June 2nd, 2022; Bladegriff Prototype

[Mookie]

Bladegriff Prototype is an interesting card. I added it to my Samut deck a while back, but I unfortunately don't think I've actually played it yet. Still, the ability to repeatedly Vindicate your opponents' permanents is certainly strong... if you can find a willing accomplice. I think most opponents would be willing to pay 3 life to blow up a high-impact target, but if your opponents don't cooperate and instead target tokens (or just block the attack entirely), then it goes down in value significantly. At its best in decks that can control their threat level and avoid becoming archenemy, I suppose.

...it also goes down in value a bit without access to haste, since waiting a full turn cycle can certainly be too slow to deal with some problems.

[Hawk]

Bladegriff Prototype has been a house in Volo, Guide to Monsters. Griffin is a fairly empty creature type in Simic, and I simply can't overstate how amazing this has been every time I've drawn it especially doubled by Volo. As @Mookie mentioned, lots of folks will pay 3 life since that's an Anguished Unmaking but even if no one will play ball and they all target each other's mana rocks and tokens it's still free real estate baby. It's arguably one of the best cards in my '99 in terms of actual contribution to wins and competitive games so far over a half dozen games (at least half of which this thing was drawn and played); sure opponents just scoop it up when I slam God-Eternal Rhonas or End-Raze Forerunners or start going off with Peregrine Drake rituals, but I only get to live long enough to do that on the back of the bladegriff.

It's been so good there that I've been tempted to try it elsewhere, with Samut, Voice of Dissent "Fires" and Daretti, Scrap Savant "Artifact Superfriends" being its next most likely homes. As also noted by Mookie, as much as I love this dumb card it is definitely a lot better when as much of the following is true as possible:

- Your deck generally struggles to answer creature spells (mono-G, U, and R decks a well as decks in those guilds).
- You are in a slower, more 75% meta.
- You can give it haste.
- You can clone/recur it regularly to start playing mind games with the table.
- You have artifact synergies to make it a little cheaper or a little tougher - a 3/2 flier for 5 isn't the most inspiring statline in MtG history.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Interesting way to play politics. I would worry a bit about how it can destroy a lot of black cards like Demonic Pact when I want your Demonic Pact to hang around for, I don't know, at least four turns; but I would assume your opponent has an answer to the downside if it's being played at all.

[materpillar]

My experience with Bladegriff Prototype has also been extremely positive. It isn't a particularly big removal magnet and I have had very minimal difficulty persuading people to take 3 to blow stuff up. I tend to play it in non-threatening decks where I'm not the archenemy so people play politics with me. Probably doesn't scale well into hyper competitive settings.

[hyalopterouslemur]

My experience with Bladegriff Prototype has also been extremely positive. It isn't a particularly big removal magnet and I have had very minimal difficulty persuading people to take 3 to blow stuff up. I tend to play it in non-threatening decks where I'm not the archenemy so people play politics with me. Probably doesn't scale well into hyper competitive settings.

Pretty much. Just don't attack the suicide black player and you're fine.

[3drinks]

Friday, June 3rd, 2022; Zurzoth, Chaos Rider

[Hawk]

This was in my take on the Jeska, Thrice Reborn + Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar deck as a tester, and it proved underwhelming. You can do tricks with it in a wheels deck but it's a lot of work to land a few dorky 1/1s. It seems omega-tough to make work as a Commander and I can't imagine doing it. I think it's going to be super sick in Raphael, Fiendish Savior decks now though.

[3drinks]

Saturday, June 4th, 2022; Archivist of Oghma

Well that was fast. Anyone crack this thing in their prerelease last night?

[Rumpy5897]

I've playtested this in a few games in my rather 50-75%'ish group, and this thing is the real deal even there. People search their libraries all the time, even if not actually aiming to do so with tutors or whatever. Ramp spells, fetches, this guy sees them all and rewards you for it.

White's various catch-up stuff does not feel geared toward the high echelons of play, but this thing is going to do work in a lot of slightly more laid back groups.

[Mookie]

Amusingly, I would expect Archivist of Oghma to be terrible in most limited formats - there are usually only 1-2 ramp spells in green, and maybe a colorless option. But CLB has a whopping 18 ramp spells at common and uncommon, including both Three Visits and Nature's Lore, for some reason, which... seems redundant. >.>

Anyway, I haven't played with it yet, but it certainly seems strong. Contrasting with Opposition Agent, your opponent still gets what they search for, so they are still incentivized to play search effects due to the nature of multiplayer. I could see someone avoiding them in 1v1, but a tutor is generally still better than a random card... although I would certainly second-guess how much ramping I actually wanted to do. It won't shut decks down like Aven Mindcensor can, so I wouldn't run it as anti-tutor / anti-combo tech. It's mostly just a draw engine... and it's also discreet enough that I could easily see some opponents forgetting about it, letting it get even more triggers.

[Sinis]

Saturday, June 4th, 2022; Archivist of Oghma



Well that was fast. Anyone crack this thing in their prerelease last night?

I did crack one, along with Battle Angels of Tyr in another pack. Sadly, the prerelease was full, so it was just me opening my prerelease kit at home.

I think this card is pretty okay. It's probably great on turn 2, but I think later in the game, you might not get even a single card out of it. Still, it's probably worth running because white card draw, and the threshold for it to be good for cost is like, two cards.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Interesting how much white hates green in this set.

This isn't going to hose tutors (which have to be blanked or at least nerfed, and under some circumstances can just be punished), but it will hose ramp. But players who just played a tutor will just laugh in your face and play their win condition.

[onering]

Ramp needs to be hosed more than tutors anyway. People that play tutors know what they're doing, and what sort of game they're playing. Counter spells and interaction hose tutors by answering the wincon. Ramping lands doesn't directly find a wincon (usually), but it does speed up the game and fuel degeneracy, so having ways to benefit from your opponent grabbing land is nice. And it matters more in casual metas to get steady CA from opponents ramping (although I could imagine this easily drawing 3-4 cards in cEDH or strong casual metas if dropped turn 2, which seems nice).

[TheGildedGoose]

How does it "hose" anything? It provides a disincentive to perform those game actions, sure, but this doesn't hose tutoring or ramping or fetching anymore than Esper Sentinel hoses noncreature spells. Put another way, since it doesn't directly inhibit your gameplan but gives a greater opportunity cost to those actions, what is does do is force you to choose between searching or not searching rather than blindly fetching or tutoring or ramping from a topdeck.

I love it. Fantastic design. A+. Gold star. Promote whoever designed this card and fire the person who designed Hullbreacher. If it's the same person, well, maybe put them in the mail room for a little while, as penance.

[Igzex]

Oh wow you can print a card that punishes obnoxious gameplay without creating obnoxious gameplay in of itself! You can't be mad at this card anyway because Halflings are great. I mean look at the adorable little guy on the artwork he's just a little buddy that wants to help us kinda keep up with those value spammers!

[3drinks]

Wow it really has been 1,085 days, hasn't it. Minus a few edits that were for spelling and not to change the card I guess.

And we're still not out of discussion yet even.

[DirkGently]

Amusingly, I would expect Archivist of Oghma to be terrible in most limited formats - there are usually only 1-2 ramp spells in green, and maybe a colorless option. But CLB has a whopping 18 ramp spells at common and uncommon, including both Three Visits and Nature's Lore, for some reason, which... seems redundant. >.>

Not nearly correct. You gotta search with is:booster or you're gonna get a bunch of garbage from the precons and set boosters and whatnot. Three visits isn't in the main set, and I think there's only 11 cards that search lands, only 9 at common/uncommon (and some of those to hand, which isn't ramp, but still triggers archivist ofc). There are a bunch of artifact ramp spells, but ofc they don't interact with the archivist.

However the biggest reason this card is good in limited has nothing to do with what's printed on the cards, but what's printed on the undercity dungeon. First room is to search for a basic land, and it's the only option, and even people who aren't playing any initiative cards will trigger it if they attack the player with initiative.

I haven't played with or against the card yet, but it seems pretty strong, especially for a lifegain deck. Only triggering off proper tutors is pretty mediocre, but triggering off fetches and ramp as well makes it significantly spicier.

[3drinks]

Dunday, June 5th, 2022; Aura Shards

Uuugggghhhhhhh

[TheGildedGoose]

27 artifacts/enchantments currently in Erebos.

Not a fan.

[Mookie]

So.... uh.... how about that Fracturing Gust? That's the gold standard for Selesnya artifact/enchantment destruction, right? No one would play anything else, right? *nervous laughter*

....Aura Shards is one of the most powerful anti-artifact/anti-enchantment cards in the format. It doesn't do anything by itself, but if it sticks around for any amount of time, then it both nukes everything on the board and makes it extremely risky to invest further. Selesnya does have a lot of other strong Naturalize variants, but the repeatable nature of Aura Shards makes it particularly powerful. You're probably also going to be playing a bunch of creatures or token producers, which means it's possible to trigger multiple times per turn cycle. Honestly, I fear it more than most mass destruction effects - you can recover from those with mass reanimation, but 'it is pointless to cast your spells' is just such a drain for any gameplan.

...could use another reprint though.

[Serenade]

Love that "may" since I've seen a Harmonic Sliver backfire before.