[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[3drinks]

Sunday, November 24rh; Spore Cloud

[DirkGently]

I mean it's just tangle for an extra G.

The blocking creatures clause weirds me out. Why would you cast it after blocks? I guess it's a disincentive from casting it after a combat trick blows out your blocks? Seems like almost pure downside, unless you're watching two opponents slugging each other and take the opportunity to alpha strike them both somehow. I guess if you had a ton of vigilance creatures maybe you could use it offensively, like a super crappy sleep. That'd be funny. And real bad.

[MeowZeDung]

I generally dislike combat tricks in EDH, and especially in green. The setup for making this great is just too contrived and requires the stars to align just so. Wouldn't you just rather have Fog?

[Serenade]

Use with Lure and/or multiple combat steps/Verity Circle?

[hyalopterouslemur]

As you know, I have a very high IQ, and well that sounds like Tangle with extra steps.

[bobthefunny]

cast it after two opponents attack each other, after damage, to lock down what's left of both their fields for a turn?

[Mookie]

I'm generally not a big fan of Fog effects - they can buy you a turn a relief, but unless you can follow up with a board wipe, you'll need to deal with the problem again next turn. And there are many decks capable of winning without combat for whom it will just be a dead card.

As for Spore Cloud specifically... seems somewhat questionable. Tapping attackers down and preventing an untap does buy you an extra turn, at least. Tapping blockers down seems a bit more niche. Setup for Sunblast Angel? At three mana, I think I would favor Arachnogenesis.

[3drinks]

Monday, November 25th, 2019; Corrupted Conscience

[MeowZeDung]

I don't think it's worth using up a slot, and I think I'd rather just run Phyrexian Metamorph and other clones for added versatility. The advantages to Corrupted Conscience are that you steal a creature and, of course, infect. The problem is to really take advantage of both you have to 1. steal a creature with 10+ power, which is certainly possible in this format 2. have it survive a go around the table since it will be summoning sick when you take it 3. use it to kill a player other than it's owner so you can keep the creature. I think that's asking too much.

If you want an out of nowhere infect win, I think Grafted Exoskeleton or Triumph of the Hordes are much stronger options.

That said, I have won games with Corrupted Conscience by stealing things like Consuming Aberration and a huge Champion of Lambholt, and it's certainly fun when it works

[pokken]

I mostly play it in decks that have an enchantments matter theme, e;g. Kestia, the Cultivator or where I have the ammo to defend it as a wincon attached to other people's fatties. I also played it in Tuvasa where I had the 'make enchantments have flash' package (orrery, leyline), which mitigated most of its weakness.

[Dunharrow]

I have seen it played in Bruna, Light of Alabaster as a way to one-shot with Bruna (usually with Battle Mastery)

[MeowZeDung]

I have seen it played in Bruna, Light of Alabaster as a way to one-shot with Bruna (usually with Battle Mastery)

Oh. That's cute. I hadn't considered that. Ironic that by ignoring the "gain control" clause the card is actually stronger. This makes the effect cost one mana less than Grafted Exoskeleton as long as you're in blue, but easier to get rid of permanently... unless exactly Bruna, Light of Alabaster is attacking.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I have seen it played in Bruna, Light of Alabaster as a way to one-shot with Bruna (usually with Battle Mastery)

Oh. That's cute. I hadn't considered that. Ironic that by ignoring the "gain control" clause the card is actually stronger. This makes the effect cost one mana less than Grafted Exoskeleton as long as you're in blue, but easier to get rid of permanently... unless exactly Bruna, Light of Alabaster is attacking.

It's kind of weird that way. This is in some ways a mirror of Grafted Exoskeleton. One you can get a two-for-one by destroying the creature; the other you get a two-for-one by destroying the attached card.

[Mookie]

Corrupted Conscience is the largest reason why I always try to kill Bruna, Light of Alabaster on sight - infect makes it trivially easy to one-shot someone with her.

Beyond that usage.... I don't see Control Magic effects played that often. As auras, they can be a bit weak to bounce effects and enchantment removal. Granting infect is certainly powerful, but it also depends somewhat on what sort of creature you end up stealing - it's fantastic on something like The Ur Dragon, while relatively useless on Oracle of Mul Daya. So, it becomes a question of whether it's worth the cost over actual Control Magic or not. I'd definitely lean towards Treachery if given the option.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, November 26th, 2019Bitterblossom

[Mookie]

Bitterblossom is one of the better token producers in the format - at two mana, it can come down early, and as an enchantment it's pretty likely to stick around. It also doesn't get swept up in a board wipe, which is a nice way to diversify your strategy. I'd play it in pretty much any black aristocrats/token deck - Ayara, First of Locthwain, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, Teysa, Orzhov Scion, etc.

Card also performs pretty well if we consider the tokens as creatures - it would be a playable card if it made 0/1 vanilla creatures, but 1/1 fliers are great at both carrying equipment and chump blocking. The life loss adds up, but black has plenty of ways to offset the life loss (ex: Blood Artist).

Faerie Rogues also have some relevant creature types if you happen to be making a deck for one of those tribes - they don't have a ton of tribal support, but there is some. Tribal card type is also fairly unique and relevant if you care about Delirium, and unfortunately means we're unlikely to ever get a reprint in Standard. Dreadhorde Invasion is a budget replacement, but generally inferior.

Sidenote: it perpetually bugs me that black and green get free repeatable and unconditional enchantment-based token production (this, Awakening Zone, Wolfcaller's Howl, a few others), but all of white's is conditional (First Response and Spirit Mirror are the best options, and Seance... exists) or costs mana (Sacred Mesa, Mobilization).

[MeowZeDung]

It's a great card and all. Cheap, difficult to remove, and a value engine. I just think it needs to go specifically in a deck that wants it for value, like a grave pact or aristocrat theme, in order to be really good in this format. For a straight up token deck that's looking to swarm, one 1/1 per turn cycle isn't nearly explosive enough imo.

Tldr: great card, some assembly required.

[pokken]

The issue bitterblossom and most "triggers on upkeep" type effects in EDH -- of which phyrexian arena is the most notorious example, is that you get fewer turns relative to your opponents in EDH.

I've started to kind of steer away from these sorts of these things. More Ephara, God of the Polis, and Mystic remora and less Dark Confidant.

Which is not to say that those effects aren't great, just that in general they are slower than people think by virtue of needing to keep up with 2 or 3 other players worth of resources. Their badness is amplified when your card quality is lower as well (the more causal your deck) -- bitterblossom really depends on you having lots of great cards to abuse it, or else it's just a stream of 1/1s.

I don't even play it in Alela, Artful Provocateur -- it just doesn't do enough and the deck already makes plenty of faeries.

[hyalopterouslemur]

It does have its uses. If you have a black deck having trouble with flying, this and Bloodline Keeper will stall until you get Grave Pact and friends. Or if you have ways to abuse entry and death triggers. Don't expect something busted like in Modern or when it was in Standard, though.

[3drinks]

...and less Dark Confidant.

Lies. We all need moar Bob. Greatness, at any cost.

[ISBPathfinder]

When you draw Bitterblossom on or before turn 2 its great. When you draw it late, it sucks. Its still a reasonable effect but I don't find myself playing it all that often. Its a slow value generator and the later you draw it the worse it gets. Even if you play it early though, its not that far fetched to think that opponents will want to possibly use their removal on it.

I have moved away from a lot of the slower value at next turn's upkeep effects because they can often feel incredibly slow in this format. The cost and effect on this card are good but I still find it a bit situational. Similarly to Phyrexian Arena I generally find that I want to see 2-3 triggers before it dies at a minimum to find it worth playing. If my expected return is lower than that its probably not the card I want.

Not that this card is Phyrexian Arena but my expected return on that card last I was playing it tended to be in the 0-2 card range which is why I kind of stopped playing it.

[pokken]

When you draw Bitterblossom on or before turn 2 its great. When you draw it late, it sucks. Its still a reasonable effect but I don't find myself playing it all that often. Its a slow value generator and the later you draw it the worse it gets. Even if you play it early though, its not that far fetched to think that opponents will want to possibly use their removal on it.

I have moved away from a lot of the slower value at next turn's upkeep effects because they can often feel incredibly slow in this format. The cost and effect on this card are good but I still find it a bit situational. Similarly to Phyrexian Arena I generally find that I want to see 2-3 triggers before it dies at a minimum to find it worth playing. If my expected return is lower than that its probably not the card I want.

Not that this card is Phyrexian Arena but my expected return on that card last I was playing it tended to be in the 0-2 card range which is why I kind of stopped playing it.

yea, when your failure mode is worse than night's whisper you gotta think about it.

With Bitterblossom your failure mode is lingering souls that costs 2 life to and 2 turns to save 1 mana, and doesn't have flashback.

Blossom is worse than most other token producers unless you really need to up your faerie count.

[MeowZeDung]

Y'know this discussion reminds me of why I don't play Assemble the Legion in my Kykar token deck. I freakin' love the card (one of my favorite ever!), and when it's good it's great, but the stars have to align so that I get it out early, no one removes it, and something else is giving me additional value from my tokens.

I want it to be good. I really, really want it to be good. But it's just not good a significant percentage of the time. I think Bitterblossom faces the same problem in EDH. You could even argue that Assemble is better because it is cumulative and you may be able to do some counter/proliferate nonsense with it if you really wanted to build around it and similar effects.

[FoxOfWar]

I have it in Athreos... which is self-imposedly limited to 3 cmc or less, and is a spammy aristocrats-esque semi-stax discard stuff all the way down. That is to say, it's a deck that always has a use for that token, every turn, but also appreciates the freeing of mana compared to casting one-off token makers since it tends to want to cast a lot of cheap stuff in a turn.

[Hermes_]

Combos with a token double and Paradox Haze