MTGNexus

(card of the day is Shifting Sky)
pygmy kavu|psf shifting sky|psf's a deliberately-seeded same set combo <3 Reap goes along with all that

Why isn't it available to Rith, the Awakener? I mean, at least there I have Painter's Servant.

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

So what do you have with this?

Best i can do is Llawan, Cephalid Empress!

Other than that, it is fetchable with Zur the Enchanter, so i bet there are some off decks built around it.

Toshi wrote: ↑

1 year ago

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

So what do you have with this?

Best i can do is Llawan, Cephalid Empress!

Other than that, it is fetchable with Zur the Enchanter, so i bet there are some off decks built around it.

I built a Zur colour shifting deck once using cards like this, colour/land hacking cards, and stuff like Sanctimony and Insight. It wasn't that good but made for interesting situations :p

Monday, August 15th, 2022; Shape Anew

huh didn't know this existed
it tickles my johnny brain a bit - the idea of having asymmetrical artifact hate and playing this to cheat Mycosynth Lattice into play... as long as my general is an artifact or makes artifacts.

But it's such a one-trick pony, like all Polymorph decks, this idea bored me before I even found a general.

Dunharrow wrote: ↑

1 year ago

huh didn't know this existed
it tickles my johnny brain a bit - the idea of having asymmetrical artifact hate and playing this to cheat Mycosynth Lattice into play... as long as my general is an artifact or makes artifacts.

But it's such a one-trick pony, like all Polymorph decks, this idea bored me before I even found a general.

100% same.

The flipside that makes it even worse is that this kind of deck would want to play a lot of artifacts, anyway, rendering the polymorph aspect rather weak compared to a creatureless build.

I had a 60 card deck with Shape Anew and Precursor Golem and Elixir of Immortality that was kind of funny. Unfortunately, that was also when Searing Blaze was an exciting new toy, so I insta-died more than once.

Another card for it is Enlightened Tutor. Or Vampiric Tutor.

You can also sac things like sadbot and wellsprings. Or just a myr token or something generic like that.

But yeah, polymorph effects get boring quickly.

Shape Anew is effectively Polymorph for artifacts, and it isn't that much more difficult to build around than the traditional 'no creatures other than Blightsteel Colossus / other obnoxious fatty' - in this case, not running any other artifacts and having treasure / clue / food / etc producers as your artifact generators. That said, giving up all your mana rocks is a significant cost, and I also question whether Blightsteel alone is enough to justify building around. Maybe you could do something broken with Bolas's Citadel? Hmmm...

I ran the numbers a while ago in the Emrakul, the Aeons Torn ban discussion thread, and I think my conclusion was that Emrakul is better than the next-best option (probably Blightsteel / Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre) by a surprisingly significant margin... and on the flip side, the lack of threats that powerful is the reason why this style of deck usually isn't worth running. I'll also call out that there is more redundancy for Polymorph than there is for its artifact equivalent - you do have stuff like Reality Scramble, but there aren't many other options.

...anyway, I think this style of deck is mildly interesting to brew, but gets boring to play pretty quickly, so not something I've really played around with.

There's a weird guy who occasionally wanders around my LGS looking for games against his quote-unquote "Kitchen Table Casual" Oath of Druids deck. I asked to look at his deck once and surprise, surprise his only wincon creature is 4 copies of Iona, Shield of Emeria.

I feel bad for him sometimes, but dude, c'mon. Who wants to play 60 card casual against that? And why do I only see him on EDH nights?

Anyway, anytime I see a polymorph card I think of that guy, just as alone as his oath of druids requires his creatures to be.

There aren't enough effects to use it this way, but I like the idea of Liquimetal Torque turning an opponent's card into an artifact and then making them morph it.

Tuesday, August 16th, 2022; Runehorn Hellkite



I really should be playing this more since I never have to cast it and I can crack it on the end step of the player to my right. Six is pretty reasonable for a instant speed wheel.

TheAmericanSpirit wrote: ↑

1 year ago

There's a weird guy who occasionally wanders around my LGS looking for games against his quote-unquote "Kitchen Table Casual" Oath of Druids deck. I asked to look at his deck once and surprise, surprise his only wincon creature is 4 copies of Iona, Shield of Emeria.

I feel bad for him sometimes, but dude, c'mon. Who wants to play 60 card casual against that? And why do I only see him on EDH nights?

Anyway, anytime I see a polymorph card I think of that guy, just as alone as his oath of druids requires his creatures to be.

Pubstomper. Right up there with the person that swears their thousand-year storm deck is "perfectly casual" 🙄

I feel like I always forget I have this guy in the GY. That's on me, though. Wish I had more copies.

Imagine: a wheel you can use after wheeling it away.

hard to counter instant-speed wheel
casting this creature seems like a mistake. You just want to get it in the yard.
Maybe I should throw this into that grixis madness deck I was working on.

I was excited when Runehorn Hellkite was printed. Picked up a few early and even included in a deck or two, but only maybe activated it once. Had it in my maybe-board for Zurzoth, Chaos Rider and now having it pop up here and thinking back to why I liked it in the past makes it a shoe-in due to the randomized discard getting this into the graveyard for activation later.

See Ruin Grinder for a newer version of a wheel on a stick.

void_nothing wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Imagine: a wheel you can use after wheeling it away.

Why it's in my Nekusar. Really the only reason.

I really enjoy abilities that activate from the graveyard a la the incarnations etc., but I wish this dragon was a bit more frontloaded. Haste or maybe a 6/6 body. Not much, but just a little more.

Six mana is a little steep for Wheel of Fortune (well, not really, given how undercosted it is), but instant speed and working out of the graveyard are two significant upsides for Runehorn Hellkite. Instant speed is particularly nice because it means you can untap with a full grip and make use of the new cards before your opponents. As a result, I would say I'd be interested in Runehorn Hellkite in decks with significant graveyard synergies, or red decks that can dump their hands quickly (and can loot / rummage it away) and want to refuel. I don't think you ever want to cast it though - a 5/5 flyer for 6 is... fine if you're desperate, but not something I would ever be excited about.

I use it in my Nicol Bolas Wheel deck ^^

Wish this were a cycle Rune<Something> <Critter> as a new "Magus of X" throwback. Iconic Sorceries from before Ice Age - e.g. a U Kracken that exiles for Braingeyser or a G Wurm that exiles for Eureka, etc.

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Right up there with the person that swears their thousand-year storm deck is "perfectly casual" 🙄

I tried making a casual deck with 1K yr Storm. Tribal Monk Zedruu, prowess/buyback/rebound sub-theme. That's gotta work for casual, right? Wrong. Even with Haze of Rage as the only storm card, it drove an otherwise very casual deck into something annoyingly heavy handed. Really, something is wrong with a card that makes a deck running Pendant of Prosperity , Crown of Doom, and Rainbow Vale stop feeling casual. . .

That you can activate it as an instant is what really makes this card. I imagine I'd totally run this in a Scion of the Ur-Dragon or Zirilan of the Claw build.

Runehorn Hellkite is a near staple in Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded where you are always working in divisions of 3 mana, and chocking through your hand at ludicrous speed. That deck will take all the red wheels it can get.