MTGNexus

I was so hot on Dark Petition when Origins came out, I bought a playset at bulk rates. I was absolutely sure it would become a legacy storm staple, and potentially an EDH favourite.

I've literally never played the copies I own.

But, I think it has potential! I bet it's a blast with things like Howl of the Horde or Fury Storm.

I think this should be the power level of tutors in commander.
I play a couple of these in my A + B + C type decks. It's not bad. Clunky is right. I think tutors should be clunky though.

Saturday, December 17th, 2022; Vexing Puzzlebox



How quickly can you expedite the proc on this?

Assuming you're rolling d20s, you will need around 9.5 rolls on average to fetch an artifact off Vexing Puzzlebox. Barbarian Class and other roll-improving cards help, but the easiest way to amp it up is probably Manifold Key or similar effects. Even then, 4-5 turns of activations is still a rather long time to wait (although a free Tinker is arguably still worth it).

...as a result, I would hesitate to run Vexing Puzzlebox outside decks that have other dice-rolling cards. This does seem like a solid inclusion for Rionya, Fire Dancer though, who can potentially enable it immediately if you get lucky enough. Beyond that, this seems like an interesting but unexciting Manalith variant, and it competes against stuff like Replicating Ring and Commander's Sphere.

Ok, so I've played Vexing Puzzlebox a few times, and I think for practical purposes, it's rarely going to make it happen, and the effect isn't all that crazy. More than anything, it helps you with "when you roll" cards like Wyll.

proliferate shenanigans could be helpful

remove 100 counters though. We've hit Helix Pinnacle levels. I don't think proliferate is the answer given how costly the mechanic is for one counter. Rather this looks like a subtle plant for, say, Dismantle strats + Darksteel Reactor.

Only somewhat related to the actual card, but having now actually played D&D I have to say that the gameplay of dice rolling carried into MtG is pretty inaccurate. If Contact Other Plane were designed like it plays out in D&D, rolling 20 would draw you 6 cards, rolling 10-19 would draw you 3, and rolling 9 or less would kick you in the crotch and sacrifice your pets.

I guess you'd also have an arcane stat, but since being a renowned expert in the field but having mediocre luck ends up being less effective than an illiterate character who rolls high, it's fairly meaningless.

I have been successful with Vexing Puzzlebox in Osgir, the Reconstructor as making copies allow each copy to add counters to the others. Copy Osgir's ability a couple of times and those 6 puzzleboxes will be ready within a turn or two. Not a bad return from a mana rock.

If you aren't building around copying artifacts or rolling dice, it's still better than Manalith, but that's a fairly old comparison. I wouldn't expect to remove counters in those decks.

I'm not sure any artifact could ever be worth that many hoops. I guess it does serve a purpose as a "Hurt Me Daddy" mana rock in Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients but more for flooding your field with bad ball lightnings than praying you get a free artifact from it.

Perhaps this could be pretty deadly if we get a Pinhead's Chains artifact card. Save us Universes Beyond!

im curious if stuff like centaur of attention would work with it. 5 d6 dice get rolled at the beginning of your combat. seems like it would be a good way to fuel it. alternatively just repeatedly blink it as well

Sunday, December 18th, 2022; Disharmony



Cast this spell only during combat before blockers are declared.

Untap target attacking creature and remove it from combat. Gain control of that creature until end of turn.

It's not common I find an old card I never seen before, but here we are. What an interesting Threaten variant. Still a 2-for-1, but on defense. Fascinating. I wouldn't pay the $55 for a Legends copy, though.

Competes with Blind with Anger. The inflexibility (no haste) makes it a no for me.

Sinis wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Competes with Blind with Anger. The inflexibility (no haste) makes it a no for me.

Worse than that, it competes with Grab the Reins, which is actually kinda good.

Sinis wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Competes with Blind with Anger. The inflexibility (no haste) makes it a no for me.

They do different roles. This only steals an attacker, it won't give you one more body to alpha with.

Monday, December 19th, 2022; Sejiri Steppe

Awkward on a land. Awesome on a MDFC.

This was really great with Knight of the Reliquary back in the old days to protect your Voltron Commander. Nowadays it's really fringe... I cutted it from Selvala, Explorer Returned recently. Nontheless it's a good budget card for instant speed land toolboxes that want to protect key creatures, which is... really niche.

I kinda just put this into play before casting Act/Reaction/Rupture in Firesong & Sunspeaker to leave one guy alive >:) sorcery speed is good enough for me bby. Sejiri Shelter's a better counterspell, I am not using this card as a counterspell so much as a challenge

Not too bad as one-shot utility lands go; it's no Bojuka Bog, but protection even at sorcery speed can mean unblockability, the ability to survive being made to fight a creature with the same p/t, or surviving damage-based wraths. If you lean heavily on either fight spells or damage-based wraths, it's probably worth consideration, at least. Which makes me think, I should put this in Sevinne to help some of my random utility creatures survive my wraths.

I feel like it's pretty fringe, and it's probably not something I would run. I like to keep a high plains count for things like Emeria. However, I could see it happening in something with Crop Rotation, Elvish Reclaimer, Ruin Ghost and/or Knight of the Reliquary (hat-tip to cheonice for the last one).

... but, it's really unlikely for me to want to run it. Not impossible. Just... unlikely.

Sejiri Steppe seems niche, as others have pointed out. Sorcery-speed protection from playing it normally is pretty niche outside Blasphemous Act shenanigans, so you'll usually be looking to do instant-speed fetching for it with Knight of the Reliquary or something similar. However, if you are including a strong utility land package, then it will be competing against stuff like Field of the Dead, Strip Mine, Bojuka Bog, and other high-impact lands. I won't say it is totally unplayable, but... card slots are tight.

That said, I could see a timeline in which Sejiri Steppe goes up in value. If there is ever a legendary white creature like Mina and Denn, Wildborn that can bounce lands to hand, this seems like it would be a strong inclusion - just grant your commander protection every turn for some voltron shenanigans.

Mookie wrote: ↑

1 year ago

That said, I could see a timeline in which Sejiri Steppe goes up in value. If there is ever a legendary white creature like Mina and Denn, Wildborn that can bounce lands to hand, this seems like it would be a strong inclusion - just grant your commander protection every turn for some voltron shenanigans.

Sir, how do you feel about Hallowed Ground|ICE? I realize it's not a legendary creature... but...

Sinis wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Sir, how do you feel about Hallowed Ground? I realize it's not a legendary creature... but...

Significantly lower - I'm willing to build around / lean into effects in the command zone, but less so for things in the 99. Maybe if you're running a ton of redundancy, I don't think it is an effect that you really want to see in multiples.

...now I sort of want to see a legendary 'bounce lands to hand' white commander to enable Knight of the White Orchid / Land Tax shenanigans. You can sort of lean into those already with Karoos and Lotus Field, but wouldn't hurt to have more support.

Mookie wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Sinis wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Sir, how do you feel about Hallowed Ground? I realize it's not a legendary creature... but...

Significantly lower - I'm willing to build around / lean into effects in the command zone, but less so for things in the 99. Maybe if you're running a ton of redundancy, I don't think it is an effect that you really want to see in multiples.

...now I sort of want to see a legendary 'bounce lands to hand' white commander to enable Knight of the White Orchid / Land Tax shenanigans. You can sort of lean into those already with Karoos and Lotus Field, but wouldn't hurt to have more support.

I know this isn't what you meant, but after Golos, Tireless Pilgrim got banned the Commander I think Wotc should make something like this.

Definitely not watered down Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Legendary Creature — Elf Scout
When Definitely not watered down Golos, Tireless Pilgrim enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a land card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.
, : Return target land you control to it's owner's hand.
3/4

Realistically it should probably be five color but I despise five color commanders so... (I mean, I woundn't mind five color commanders if we didn't have so many and they didn't all do the exact same thing.)