[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[hyalopterouslemur]

I mean, if it were an instant. Or maybe a cantrip. Or tacked on to a 2/2 or something.

[Mookie]

I'm generally hesitant to run cards with a low floor, and Eaten Alive seems like one of them - five mana at sorcery speed to exile a creature is pretty underwhelming, and 2-for-1ing yourself isn't amazing either. Even in my most token-heavy decks, it's still somewhat common to have zero expendable creatures due to a board wipe or just a poor draw, so I would lean towards Heartless Act or another spot removal option.

That said, it might be okay in a deck like Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest that actively wants to sacrifice its creatures. Exile is also pretty relevant, particularly if most of your removal suite is otherwise destruction-based - I wouldn't want this in an Orzhov deck with access to Anguished Unmaking and Swords to Plowshares, but black doesn't have as many options for exile-based removal.

I'll call out Baleful Mastery and Deadly Rollick as two other options if you're looking for exile-based removal. Ashes to Ashes may also be worth consideration. I'd also consider Bone Shards if I were running a reanimator deck or otherwise had discard synergies. It's hard to say whether 3B or discarding a card is a higher price in a worst-case scenario, but I think I would prefer the discard.

[RedCheese]

Id use it in a zombie themed deck

[onering]

Very niche card that is just ok even in the decks that can look at it's draw back as an upside. Never liked this effect myself, but the fact that it exiles makes this at least playable since it deals with indestructible threats. The alt cost at least let's it be cast even if you don't have a creature to sac and makes it a straight 1 for 1. 5 mana sorcery speed removal sucks, but sometimes games get grindy and you have mana to spare so it's worth noting.

[3drinks]

Sunday, July 10th, 2022; Spy Kit

What kind of interesting tricks can we do with this?

[NotARooster]

A while ago I came across a Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith deck built around tutoring Spy Kit and comboing with Verdant Succession, seemed like fun

[The_Hittite]

Wordmail

[materpillar]

I've kind of always wanted to use this but there's only a handful of tricks and they're usually do almost nothing or basically win on the spot. Neither of which interest me all that much.

[Mookie]

Spy Kit is a weird card. It was originally printed in Conspiracy 2 to combo with the conspiracies that affect specific creatures, such as Hired Heist. Since those cards aren't legal in any constructed format, the number of relevant 'card name matters' cards is pretty limited.

There certainly are shenanigans that can be done - Biovisionary, Brothers Yamazaki, and Clarion Ultimatum come to mind. However, I'd generally be hesitant to run cards dependent on Spy Kit to function. Maybe if you're doing some sort of Clone deck that has a bunch of cards that work well in multiples? Hmmmm...

(Verdant Succession tech sounds very sweet though)

[illakunsaa]

There certainly are shenanigans that can be done - Biovisionary, Brothers Yamazaki, and Clarion Ultimatum come to mind.

Sky Kit only gives nonlegendary names.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Bubbling Cauldron? I mean, it is named both Festering Newt and Bogbrew Witch.

I think I like it more as the newt, so I can sac, and then give Spy Kit to another creature.

Mirrorworks allows you to use both.

Ivory Guardians errata only cares about the name Ivory Guardians (which is odd, since back when Guardian was a creature type, there were others). (And that flavor text, qui custodiet ipsos custodies, is usually translated as "Who watches the watchmen?" WotC really dropped the ball and what it's supposed to mean, or they were afraid DC Comics would sue them.)

[Jemolk]

Such a unique and strange effect. A pity there's so little that it works with, even if you find a way to get it to work. There's the various tutors, of course, as mentioned above. You can cheat on mana with Spy Kit and Retraced Image. And if you equip it onto Cylian Sunsinger, you have a rather large anthem for all your non-legendary creatures on an activated ability. Those are the notable synergies I was able to find.

[Igzex]

I have to say for the record that a card like this would be kinda stupid in Yu-Gi-Oh!

However here you just have a few cute gimmicks I guess.

[Sinis]

Sunday, July 10th, 2022; Spy Kit

What kind of interesting tricks can we do with this?

1. If you can equip it to an opponent's creature (by equipping it to Humble Defector, using Magnetic Theft, or just regular old equip-then-donate shenanigans) you can Eradicate every nonlegendary creature in someone's library. Also, the same pattern works with Legion's End but has different effects.

2. Something (nonlegendary) free with Retraced Image or Mitotic Manipulation.

3. Evil Twin goes ham (on nonlegends).

There's a lot of things that could work with it, but most of them are convoluted or pointless (my first use notwithstanding).

[3drinks]

Monday, July 11th, 2022; Equilibrium

Oh boy...

[3drinks]

1. If you can equip it to an opponent's creature (by equipping it to Humble Defector, using Magnetic Theft, or just regular old equip-then-donate shenanigans) you can Eradicate every nonlegendary creature in someone's library.

This is the tremendous level of r/BadMtgCombos jank I come for.

[kirkusjones]

Monday, July 11th, 2022; Equilibrium

Oh boy...

I have fond memories of playing this with Gilded Drake, Hunted Wumpus and Iwamori of the Open Fist.

[pokken]

This was once a staple card for me. Less so Now for a lot of reasons. Mainly the downward pressure on curves and the continued move toward etb the gathering has made this less useful on defense and the shortened games make it questionable on offense too.

Another thing is kind of a philosophical move away from playing support permanents (typically enchantments and artifacts). I just am not a big player of things that do things when you have other types of cards. Especially artifacts and enchantments that don't accrue their advantage until you start committing to the board.

My reasoning for that is detailed in an article on target saturation but in general I try not to play stuff like this much. It's weird honestly but I can usually find a way to do what I want with an expendable effect. More rishkar's expertise and less Guardian Project for me.

Equilibrium is a particularly good example where it wants you to be playing a ton of creatures then becomes kind of vulnerable to enchantment removal. Its a lot like panharmonicon. Swingy games.

On the flip side it is kind of oppressive when it goes off. I'll either be bouncing my most awful etb effects or bouncing all your stuff repeatedly.

Not really a card I would play a lot of these days.

[3drinks]

I guess it is a kinda hard pill to swallow in an era of Tidespout Tyrant and Hullbreaker Horror|dbl, as far as doing unfair things, sure. Better I guess in the era of making people lose to Capsize|mp2 lock.

[Mookie]

I don't think I have ever seen Equilibrium played. It seems... underwhelming. You can technically use it as a combo piece, but the added tax gives another hoop to jump through compared to Cloudstone Curio and other free bounce effects. I'd say its main strength is the ability to repeatedly bounce opponents' stuff - there are some decks that can be pretty soft to repeated disruption. Still, if I wanted this effect, I'd probably lean towards Hullbreaker Horror or maybe Galecaster Colossus - they are more expensive, but by the time you want to be using Equilibrium repeatedly, you probably already have a lot of mana available.

...it's also a bit awkward that Equilibrium only triggers off creatures. I guess it combos with Shrieking Drake?

[Serenade]

I used it in Momir Vig toolbox, where it helped both my shenanigans and defense. I wouldn't use it for anything but flicker stuff these days.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

This is a Chulane, Teller of Tales card, isn't it? Seems pretty gross in that deck

[Sinis]

As an inveterate midrange stompy kind of guy, I hate Equilibrium|EXO with a passion.

[hyalopterouslemur]

As an inveterate midrange stompy kind of guy, I hate Equilibrium|EXO with a passion.

It can reuse your own entry triggers, in addition to making midrange players hate you with Winter Orb.

You probably really hate the Orb.

[Igzex]

This old enchantment has many uses. All of them make me want to lock myself in the bathroom and cry when used against me.