MTGNexus

Monday, September 26th, 2022; Witherbloom Command

It feels outclassed by Golgari Charm.

Witherbloom Command is a card that is really hard to evaluate. While never playing it myself, I've seen it do some serious work. The example that sticks in my mind is one player was going last in a game I was playing. Turn one he plays a fetch land. Turn two he plays this, milling me to screw up my scry, destroying a different player's turn 1 Sol Ring, and returning his fetch land to his hand. Obviously that is the pie in the sky scenario, but it was so disruptive that I think that was the defining play that let him eventually win the game.

On the other hand, the card has problems. While the ceiling is high, the floor is low. It becomes worse the longer the game goes on. And it is a sorcery. But in any BG deck that is either looking to eek out incremental value or finish the game fast it should probably be a consideration.

It's okay. I think if you can kill two small things with it regularly, it's probably worth it.

On the other hand, Assassin's Trophy at the same cmc is steep competition.

I recently added Witherbloom Command to my Tasigur deck, but I don't think I've had the chance to draw it yet. I don't hate the idea of it - kill a Sol Ring or Lightning Greaves, fill the graveyard a bit, recur a land, maybe kill a mana dork or other small creature. A two mana 2-for-1 is certainly worth consideration. Still, I do have concerns about how relevant it is in the lategame. Hmmmm...

More broadly, Golgari has a lot of competition for flexible spot removal - Maelstrom Pulse, Putrefy, Assassin's Trophy, and Tear Asunder all come to mind. As a result, I'd specifically look at Witherbloom Command in grindy decks that can afford to have a dead card over the course of a long game.... or in a cEDH setting, where the 'MV 2 or less' clause isn't quite so limiting.

Man, at two mana it's such a tempting option, but it's the exact same mana cost as probable best in class option Assassin's Trophy.

I think those comparing this to AssTroph are missing the plot. These cards are not the same. Stop looking at an apple for comparisons to a plantain.

It's a sorcery. That's a definite L for it.

Tuesday, September 27th, 2022; Blast Zone

Engineered explosives on a land is pretty decent, though coming in with a counter on it makes it tricky to use against token swarms. Still seems worth it in mono blue.

I like this land, but have yet to blow up anything with it. Main thing is that I only have it in one, somewhat inactive, deck. My utility slots are generally used for something more active, and this can be really slow as an answer due to the high cost to add counters, and needing to tap to add or sacrifice. I need to put this into another deck or two and give it a fair shake, as this is typically exactly what I want out of my utility lands. Broadly useful, effective, and helps shore up weaknesses in my non-land slots.

Comes in UNTAPPED! So immediate point for that. Minus 1/2 point for not wiping token swarms

Weird that it says nonland when barring something like Vampire Hexmage or Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle or Life and Limb and changelings (or Conspiracy and friends) it will never destroy a land.

hyalopterouslemur wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Weird that it says nonland when barring something like Vampire Hexmage or Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle or Life and Limb and changelings (or Conspiracy and friends) it will never destroy a land.

On the flip side, if it could blow up lands, I'm sure someone would build a deck around it. Life from the Loam + Thespian's Stage? Outclassed by Dark Depths, but still miserable. More broadly, there is a very real use case for resetting it to zero and blowing up tokens, so it's nice to not have an Armageddon strapped to that.

Anyway, Blast Zone is fine. It's at its best in monocolor decks that have problems dealing with certain card types - presumably monored/black, for enchantments/artifacts, respectively. It does compete against all the other colorless utility lands in the format, but if you're running Crucible of Worlds or other graveyard synergies, it goes up in value. It can also be good as part of a Knight of the Reliquary / Expedition Map land tutoring package - there aren't that many lands capable of acting as removal.

Wednesday, September 28th, 2022; Thorn Mammoth

Big dumb green card, seems sweet in battlecruiser edh. Anything more cutthroat, however, and 7 mana is probably too much to spend on a removal spell.

There's more variations on this type of card than you might realize at first blush. Triggering off its own ETB, triggering off a dump of tokens or blinking other things, and having an actual combat ability make it an interesting option. Would see a lot more EDH play at six mana, but that would be... too powercrept I think.

I think Kogla, the Titan Ape is mostly better but this is a close second.

Can be played in something like Animar, so it's not all bad. That said, it costs seven mana. If I'm going to have a big beater, I would prefer Rhox so it doesn't eat removal the minute it enters.

void_nothing wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Would see a lot more EDH play at six mana, but that would be... too powercrept I think.

You rang?

6/6 trample with highly relevant abilities is down all the way to in Defiler of Vigor, Mammoth at wouldn't even cause me to blink twice on overall power scale. Primeval Titan was printed in 2011...

My brother plays Thorn Mammoth in the modified Korvold, Fae-Cursed King brawl deck and it does work. Not the most powerful creature in the deck, but generally a fun card that is really annoying to work around. I usually save my removal for Korvold, so this usually sticks around to kill a few things, which is a good rate when attached to a 6/6 trample.

Great Mega Man X boss name

I hate to be the guy that says a niche card is good because it works in my one specific deck, but Thorn Mammoth and Elesh Norn are my two 7 drops in Emmara, Soul of the Accord. Some games it kills one or two things, some games it is an Aura Shards for every utility creature on board and wins me the game.

I think it needs a specific deck (the instant speed and zero investment of Emmara is REALLY critical) but it has done wonders at my "stronger than precons, weaker than green-based goodstuff" table.

Thursday, September 29th, 2022; Dragonlord Atarka and I suppose close functional clone, Bogardan Hellkite|ima

I think I prefer Atarka, for being a bigger and even more evasive dumb beater. Leaving 8 mana open is not subtle, even in dragons, and it's not like that deck is doing much else at instant speed.

I don't think either of them are good enough for dragon.deck, so that's interesting to me.

Yup, Atarka is just pure functionality. Take out blockers, or one big-ish threat, and beat.