MTGNexus

Tuesday, February 7th, 2023; Juntu Stakes



Oh, like a reverse Meekstone. Neat.

Make llanowar elves/BoP sad, but is the kind of hate piece that isn't particularly powerful, but still makes you look like an asshole. I got one in a box of old chaff and have been trying to trade it off to someone for years.

Disappointing in Invasion standard; disappointing now. Meekstone is likely to hit more cards and is Trinket Mage-able. I've also long enjoyed Crackdown in monowhite as a good way to punish fatties. The thing is so many decks built around small dorks (like token.dec) are going to have anthems to quickly push creatures out of stake range. I guess it makes Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa or Edric, Spymaster of Trest get got? But overall, not a strong effect.

I played heavily during Invasion block and didn't even know this card existed if that gives you any indication on how good it is.

I wish it killed 1/X creatures instead of hindering their untap. Compared to the flavor of other cards that prevent untapping, the stakes seem a bit too lethal to be just a mass claustrophobia for little critters.

I know the cards are entirely different, but I always confuse this one and Heartless Summoning.

If I were playing a black deck I'd rather just run one of the various -1/-1 static effects instead. I don't really see this card as particularly useful.

Wednesday, February 8th, 2023; Visions of Ruin

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Wednesday, February 8th, 2023; Visions of Ruin

Probably pretty good in the new Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant. the treasure will help you cast him, and the flashback will only cost .

Personally, I prefer my artifact hate to be a bit more thorough.

Obviously, this might be right for some decks, but if you're looking to run spells to handle artifacts, there are a lot of options, and most off them are a lot more impactful then making you're opponents lose their worst artifact. What if they also have treasure tokens?

I run this inVelomachus Lorehold and it does some reaaaaally good work there. That might be basically the best deck for it though.

Surprised you didn't do the whole cycle here: Visions of Glory, Visions of Duplicity, Visions of Dread, Visions of Ruin, Visions of Dominance

As one of those few loonies running Sevinne, the Chronoclasm instead of other Jeskai Spells commanders, it behooves me to have an opinion on these and my opinion is they range from "really mediocre" to "wildly unplayable"; Visions sits somewhere in the middle.

Visions of Glory is a win-more card and seems generally worse than Increasing Devotion in Sevinne specifically and in most decks generally. Even if you are playing a big dumb 6+ mana commander to make this flashback for less than it costs up front, it's incredibly medium.

Visions of Duplicity is also pretty mediocre. Wrong Turn is funny and occasionally effective because as an instant it can disrupt combats and combos; as a sorcery this effect is a lot worse. I don't know if this would have a lot of homes even if the flashback was always UU; in Sevinne where the flashback is 3UU this is wildly unplayable. The worst of the cycle by a country mile.

Visions of Dread is pretty bad. I've generally found that Grim Return. Thrilling Encore. and Dredge the Mire are pretty ineffective compared to other reanimation spells because giving your opponent control over what you get makes these fairly weak compared to just casting Reanimate or whatever. All of those are better than this though; Grim Return is instant and gives you a bit more control, Dredge costs one more but often gives triple the value, and Thrilling Encore is two more but has a massive, swingy effect if you can time it juuuuust right. Even in a deck like Arvinox, the Mind Flail where this will always flashback for BB, the card is replacement level and for any other theft or reanimator deck you can definitely do a lot better.

Visions of Ruin, like I said, sits right in the middle (I'd place it as better than blue and black, a bit ahead of white, and behind our final contestant). In a large enough game, the first crack of this basically pays for itself in treasure so if you care about treasures it isn't terrible (say in Magda, Brazen Outlaw or Kalain, Reclusive Painter or Prosper, Tome-Bound?). Still in a world where Vandalblast, Meltdown. Shattering Spree. By Force, and spicy newcomer Red Sun's Twilight exist it's pretty hard to justify. Sacrifice is a lot worse than targeted removal so honestly this is a sidegrade to the humble Plundering Barbarian in my book. I at least thought about maybeboarding it into Sevinne, but ultimately I'm not that into it when we got so many other great goodies in Midnight Hunt.

Visions of Dominance is last but not least - this is pretty good non-terrible if you are heavy on counters, like in Skullbriar, the Walking Grave or Ghave, Guru of Spores or whatnot. It is more a sidegrade to Hydra's Growth (non-immediate but growth sticks around) and Invigorating Surge (instant) - it pulls ahead in decks like Gargos, Vicious Watcher Hydra Tribal where the flasbback of 2GG can do lethal things. It's dumb kitchen table Timmy fun, but at least it has a purpose and more than one home.

Thursday, February 9th, 2023; Coffin Queen



I remember my first time seeing this card and picking it up for bulk. I decided on decks I'd play solely on being able to use this (and V-Stronghold, naturally). From Glissa, to Vhati, to Horobi and latre to Queen Lyz, Alesha.......

I have my doubts about it's strength these days, let alone for $10usd. Three mv, needing a tap, being disruptable...I just don't know anymore. Great typings though.

Coffin Queen is a sweet card and a somewhat unique effect - there aren't that many creatures that can recur creatures from graveyards repeatedly, and even fewer that can hit opponents' graveyards. Best-case scenario, you can activate her, recur some sweet value creature, sacrifice (or flicker) it, then recur it again next turn. That said, three mana plus needing to tap is a significant investment, and you lose the creature if Coffin Queen is removed.

I would say she is generally outclassed by Chainer, Dementia Master, and I'd lean towards Animate Dead / Reanimate / etc. if I were doing a dedicated reanimator deck, but she does seem fun if you're running a bunch of value creatures in Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Karador, Ghost Chieftain - looping Archon of Cruelty every turn seems sweet. Could also be interesting if you're running Aminatou, the Fateshifter or Conjurer's Closet and can flicker the recurred creature for extra value.

I remember this being real good in a Shirei deck I had back in the day. It gains a lot of value if you can continually recur it to overcome its fragility.

I had good success with it in the past but its definitely a card that was better back when everyone was jamming nonstop ETB value than these days where there are a lot more synergy strategies that require you to be playing a specific tribe / consistency of cards to be good. I think opponent recursion as a whole is down in how powerful it is due to this and it hurts this card. I do think overall that Coffin Queen is still a fine card but power creep is a thing that doesn't help it.

I always thought it was reasonable from the standpoint that it was cheap so even if it just gets punted on cast you only spent three mana on it which is reasonable in a 1 for 1 vs premium removal. If you get to activate it then it probably paid for itself as well in that recursion. I really do think its a totally fine card but the increase in power over the last few years is also such that I don't think its a slam dunk by any means these days.

I think her lower cost and overall lower threat perception is useful. I wouldn't think twice in using any and all removal I had at my disposal to kill something like Chainer / Geth / Sheoldred but when you see Coffin Queen.... well she kind of gets away with it more often and even when she doesn't the disparity in the mana paid isn't as bad. I ran her for years in my Toshiro Umezawa deck and I really liked her in a more control reanimator style of setup rather than something more proactive.

Friend of mine runs Coffin Queen in Inalla, Archmage Ritualist for shenanigans.

I think Coffin Queen still holds its own. Yeah, yeah, dies to removal, etc. But, it's a way to continually dig something up, sacrifice it, do value stuff with it. It's not as efficient as something like Goblin Welder, but I think it still shines.

In my experience, Coffin Queen's greatest value in EDH has been as a rattlesnake. E. g.

Opp A: E-Wit returning Muse
Me: Take control of Muse
> untap and exile Muse

I especially liked her in Dimir Wizards with Thousand-Year Elixir and similar effects.

Friday, February 10th, 2023; Goblin Rabblemaster

Goblin Rabblemaster isn't quite the powerhouse in commander it is in other formats - 1/1 tokens and a 6/2 (or whatever) attacker aren't quite enough for an aggro deck to chew through 120 life. Still, it is a reasonable inclusion in some decks. I'd say there are two styles of decks I would look to include it in. The first style is the traditional red aggro deck, particularly if it has a goblins theme (assuming you're okay with forcing them to attack) - Krenko, Mob Boss and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell both seem like they would like Rabblemaster. The other place I would consider it is for aristocrats decks like Judith, the Scourge Diva that care more about its ability to make expendable tokens every turn.

...it is somewhat interesting to compare Rabblemaster to other red token producers. Legion Warboss is a more selfless version of this effect, and Rionya, Fire Dancer is an option in the command zone. The new Urabrask's Forge also seems worth consideration.

I actually feel like this is sort of a trap in goblin-centric decks like Krenko, Mob Boss, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, Zada, Hedron Grinder, or Muxus, Goblin Grandee - must attack each turn if able if a significant drawback. As noted Legion Warboss also spits out free hasty gobbos, but doesn't force you into swinging wildly or force you to activate Krenko at an odd moment or throw away your Goblin Warchiefs and Goblin Chieftains for no good reason.

Slightly more interesting as aristocrat fuel or a potential payoff from Goblin Rabblemaster, but then the competition is fiercer from other, better effects.

I've been running rabblemaster in my jund goblins and I think he is great. I like the "army in a can" aspect the card has and the must attack downside isn't too bad (if I'm playing goblin why wouldn't I want to go to combat phase?). I think rabblemaster and new krenko are both great because they go wide and tall. Old krenko and legion warboss are pretty slow and usually need other cards to support them.

When Ardoz, Cobbler of War got spoiled I suggested pairing him with All the cards like this.

It probably wouldn't be really good, but man I love these cards, killing people in legacy with a turn 1 Blood Moon and a turn two Goblin Rabblemaster brings back memories.

Dunadain wrote: ↑

1 year ago

When Ardoz, Cobbler of War got spoiled I suggested pairing him with All the cards like this.

It probably wouldn't be really good, but man I love these cards, killing people in legacy with a turn 1 Blood Moon and a turn two Goblin Rabblemaster brings back memories.

Make sure to sneak a Patron of the Akki in there, for more +2/+0 fun times.

Saturday, February 11th, 2023; Hazezon Tamar



The irony that we now have Sand Warrior tokens in paper but no one is buying this for $300.