MTGNexus

I've rarely been disappointed to draw Privileged Position in my Emiel the Blessed deck. The deck ramps well enough that the mana cost isn't a huge deal, and then once in play it definitely creates a nice protective layer that people have to deal with if they want to use any targeted removal. Emiel is good at blinking things in response to them being targeted anyway, but I've found this definitely kicks up the defenses in a worthwhile manner.

At least in my limited experience with Privileged Position it was a bit too mana intensive. This was in my Naya dinos deck. The deck definitely wants to ramp hard and then push mid to late game aggro through.

Cards like Teferi's Protection, Heroic Intervention, Akroma's Will, Flawless Maneuver seems to work better and yes I run all of them in that deck. Instant speed interaction is a lot more powerful and effectively forces your opponents to misplay thinking they have an answer to your board state when they don't.

I think Privileged Position also suffers from the fact that what it does is rather limited and since it's a permanent, opponents can play around it or simply blow it up. A board wipe can still knock you out with this on the field. Not to say there isn't a place for it.

My biggest thing is the a lot of the people that play at my LGS play mostly board wipes with very little spot removal, so, at least for me, hexproof doesn't have a ton of value.

Thursday, November 24th, 2022; Day of the Turkey



It's not turkies. But it'll do.

This was part of a cute Enduring Ideal wincon I heard about once. You would get, Paradox Haze, In the Web of War, and then Rise of the Hobgoblins + Day of the Dragons on the same turn, and then hammer everyone with the 7/5 hasty dragons.

Sinis wrote: ↑

1 year ago

This was part of a cute Enduring Ideal wincon I heard about once. You would get, Paradox Haze, In the Web of War, and then Rise of the Hobgoblins + Day of the Dragons on the same turn, and then hammer everyone with the 7/5 hasty dragons.

Sinis wrote: ↑

1 year ago

This was part of a cute Enduring Ideal wincon I heard about once. You would get, Paradox Haze, In the Web of War, and then Rise of the Hobgoblins + Day of the Dragons on the same turn, and then hammer everyone with the 7/5 hasty dragons.

Guilty as charged

Here's an old MTGO decklist I had archived: The goal was to get Enduring Ideal cast with at least one copy spell (Fork, etc) so I get at least two copies each upkeep - then either power through on value or set up the Rise of the Hobgoblins/Day of the Dragons when I could get a lethal set of fliers. . .

Also, I just really enjoyed Wheel of Sun and Moon with Scion of the Ur-Dragon.

A card for those who want a much crappier but more original way to win via Avenger of Zendikar

My favorite way to win with Day of the Dragons is Opalescence. It either ends the game in a draw due to mandatory triggers looping or you can add Warstorm Surge to deal damage.

Friday, November 25th, 2022; Spellseeker|bbd



Now there's something that could really use a reprint. Should've made it into Jump"don't call me Chronicles II"start, change my mind.

Crazy Monkey wrote: ↑

1 year ago

My favorite way to win with Day of the Dragons is Opalescence. It either ends the game in a draw due to mandatory triggers looping or you can add Warstorm Surge to deal damage.

What a helluva Replenish.

Yeah, Spellseeker could definitely use a reprint. I suppose we have something comparable in Micromancer, but it's a pretty significant downgrade - the extra flexibility adds a ton. Now I sort of wish there were a combination of Trinket Mage and Tribute Mage...

Anyway, there are a lot of high-impact cheap spells to fetch. Ancestral Recall and Time Walk are obviously banned, but Swords to Plowshares, Mana Drain, Demonic Tutor, Cyclonic Rift, and Ephemerate are all solid options. The lower your curve, the better it gets (although there may be a point at which you no longer want to spend three mana on your tutor in the first place). It is at its best in flicker-based strategies that can reuse it, but I wouldn't mind it in a spellslinger deck to toolbox either. I guess it competes with Solve the Equation though.

...it is somewhat interesting to contrast with Trinket Mage though. There are some decks where I run Trinket Mage, but I don't consider it an autoinclude - tutoring for Sol Ring every game just makes it a janky Ur-Golem's Eye, which isn't worth running. You usually need a dedicated cheap artifact package for it to be worth including, and there aren't many one-mana artifacts I would run a tutor for. Maybe Skullclamp? On the flip side, I could see someone running Spellseeker specifically for Cyclonic Rift, with maybe a piece of spot removal and a counterspell as backup. There are a lot of very high-impact cheap spells to fetch.

Mookie wrote: ↑

1 year ago

...it is somewhat interesting to contrast with Trinket Mage though. There are some decks where I run Trinket Mage, but I don't consider it an autoinclude - tutoring for Sol Ring every game just makes it a janky Ur-Golem's Eye, which isn't worth running. You usually need a dedicated cheap artifact package for it to be worth including, and there aren't many one-mana artifacts I would run a tutor for. Maybe Skullclamp? On the flip side, I could see someone running Spellseeker specifically for Cyclonic Rift, with maybe a piece of spot removal and a counterspell as backup. There are a lot of very high-impact cheap spells to fetch.

On the subject of trinket mage|tsr, these days I find it largely obsoleted by Urza's Saga. It's so much more poignant to fit this effect into the mana base (he says, from behind his five sagas....thanks modern -_- )

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

On the subject of trinket mage, these days I find it largely obsoleted by Urza's Saga. It's so much more poignant to fit this effect into the mana base (he says, from behind his five sagas....thanks modern -_- )

Do they compete for a slot? Given that my primary Trinket Mage deck is running Salvaging Station and Artificer's Intuition, I'm definitely leaning towards 'all of the above' . For less dedicated decks, I suppose whether or not they compete depends on if you count Urza's Saga as a land or a spell, and I could definitely see it being the latter. That said, I tend to avoid expensive cards on principle, so I'll be sticking to Trinket Mage for the foreseeable future.

the only cards I can think of with more 1 card combos than Spellseeker are Recruiter of the Guard / Imperial Recruiter

Boy do I love this bullcrap

Nice for turning creature tutors into an instant/sorcery tutor. Gimme that cyc rift please.

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

It's so much more poignant

Wait, what?

Saturday, November 26th, 2022; Jade Monolith|4ed



Surely there's some proper use for this thing. Also fun fact, this is a rare never printed since 4ED, yet also is not reserved in any way.

Mookie wrote: ↑

1 year ago

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

On the subject of trinket mage, these days I find it largely obsoleted by Urza's Saga. It's so much more poignant to fit this effect into the mana base (he says, from behind his five sagas....thanks modern -_- )

Do they compete for a slot? Given that my primary Trinket Mage deck is running Salvaging Station and Artificer's Intuition, I'm definitely leaning towards 'all of the above' . For less dedicated decks, I suppose whether or not they compete depends on if you count Urza's Saga as a land or a spell, and I could definitely see it being the latter. That said, I tend to avoid expensive cards on principle, so I'll be sticking to Trinket Mage for the foreseeable future.

I'd consider it (saga) superior because it fits in the mana, makes bodies, and/or doesn't stunt my mana when it comes down. This eliminates the need to run trinket mage in that slot so I can play something more utilitarian. But if you don't have a saga, it's not like trinket is bad or anything.

I know Jade Monolith is hellishly trinkety and underpowered but it's funny in Firesong and Sunspeaker and you can get silly style points by saving them from an earthquake with it <3 i have a couple of these things cos I love 4th ed but they are not great

folding_music wrote: ↑

1 year ago

I know Jade Monolith is hellishly trinkety and underpowered but it's funny in Firesong and Sunspeaker and you can get silly style points by saving them from an earthquake with it <3 i have a couple of these things cos I love 4th ed but they are not great

Love this. Thinking old school, my best use case for it is ensuring I can keep my pestilence|2ed alive.

Jade Monolith is the absolute last card I needed for my 4th Edition complete set back in the day. When I got it, I was pretty happy.

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Surely there's some proper use for this thing. Also fun fact, this is a rare never printed since 4ED, yet also is not reserved in any way.

It's actually been printed in 5th and 6th with RKF art.

It's a way to take damage for Darien, King of Kjeldor. But honestly it's pretty awful. If the activation was free it'd be something, but it costs too much to redirect an appreciable amount of life.

Pariah + Stuffy Doll + Blasphemous Act + a handful of bears for optimal in-optimal lethal?

It kills creatures for 1 a pop in Horobi Death's Wail. One of the stronger pairings with him actually.

onering wrote: ↑

1 year ago

It kills creatures for 1 a pop in Horobi Death's Wail. One of the stronger pairings with him actually.

I never noticed you could target any creature with the ability. That's pretty neat.

Anyway, outside of abusing an efficient targeted ability, I'm not sure what deck would want this. Damage prevention doesn't stop most removal these days and combat survival can be had cheaper with Dolmen Gate or Reconnaissance.