[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[materpillar]

… I forgot this card existed. I'm not sure how it does much more than the original and is at the same time is so much less interesting than the original.

Darigaaz Reincarnated got a super cool reprint. It's so much more interesting. That reminds me I've always wanted to make Christian theme deck with Darigaaz deck proxied as Jesus Christ. Mental note made.

[Mookie]

Design-wise, I've noticed WotC throwing ward on a lot of random creatures, and I have some concerns about it being on evasive ones in particular. It can make games pretty uninteractive, similar to hexproof. Certainly toned down, but still worth noting - Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm, Tivit, Seller of Secrets, and Raffine, Scheming Seer are a few cards made more obnoxious by their incidental protection.

As for Rith, Liberated Primeval... seems reasonable. 5/5 flyer for 5 mana are some solid baseline stats, and triggering it shouldn't be too difficult if you're running some efficient burn or fight spells.... or even just forcing blocks on your big dragons. There are other commanders capable of generating more tokens - Lathliss, Dragon Queen and Goro-Goro and Satoru come to mind - but Naya allows access to some relevant cards, and is otherwise a somewhat unique color combination for a dragon deck.

[3drinks]

Thursday, July 27th, 2023; Magus of the Unseen

[Serenade]

The image was not loading at first for me, and I thought it was a bit.

Repeatable theft is nice. Feels a little specific to slot into any ol' deck.

[Hermes_]

that's a nice mana rock you got there,I'm gonna barrow it for a turn

[onering]

It's very telegraphed, but can be a bomb in the right meta.

It actually sucks against most mana rocks, since you're usually going to be mana neutral from it or lose mana, but stealing a Gilded Lotus for a turn at least nets a mana. The real spice is stealing passive artifacts with huge effects (like Eldrazi Monument), equipment (you'll have to pay it's equipment cost to put it on your creature, but it will stay on when you lose control of it and it's owner will have to pay to requip it on their creature), and of course as a cheap repeatable threaten for artifact creatures, which can range from a way to attack a meta with artifact decks to stealing something particularly spicy like a Blightsteel.

To use it proactively you need Mycosynth Lattice or similar effects, so if you already have those this is worth a look regardless of meta.

[TheGildedGoose]

Phil Foglio sucks. Lowering the curve for poor Kaja.

[Mookie]

I usually expect 'Magus of the X' cards to replicate an older land / enchantment, but Magus of the Unseen came out long before Mastery of the Unseen, and most other 'unseen' cards are pretty underwhelming.

Anyway, this card seems... pretty meh. The majority of artifacts that see play are mana rocks (which generally tap for <2 mana) and equipment (which will require an additional equip cost). As a result, this seems pretty situational. Blue is admittedly a bit light on answers to artifacts, but I'd probably go for something like Thieving Skydiver instead.

That said, two mana is pretty efficient for a repeatable theft effect. It's not a bad way to answer Lightning Greaves or for a turn, and you can generate value if you have Krark-Clan Ironworks or another sac outlet. It also seems nice if you can snag Steel Hellkite or another artifact creature, or if you have ways to turn stuff into an artifact. Not something I would expect to consistently generate value, but could be good if you have a particularly artifact-heavy meta. I'm usually low on creature tap abilities, but I'm more forgiving when it comes on a 2-drop.

...I'm still going to pass on considering Treasure Nabber though.

[3drinks]

Friday, July 28th, 2023; The LRW Elementals

[NZB2323]

Vigor is gross with Grothama, All-Devouring. You kill Grothama and they recast from the command zone. You kill Vigor and they use a green creature tutor to bring it back. You play Darksteel Mutation and they destroy it. And then they close the game with commander damage from Grothama and regular damage from all their creatures that got +10/+10 counters from Grothama.

You really need a Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Deadly Rollick, Baleful Mastery, Reality Shift, or Resculpt to deal with it.

[Mookie]

I see Vigor somewhat regularly - it makes your creatures very awkward to block and reverses the polarity of Blasphemous Act. Some anti-synergy with enrage effects (since it prevents the damage), but generally still worth it.

The other incarnations are a bit narrower. Guile needs a ton of countermagic to support. Purity is outclassed by Blessed Sanctuary (assuming your opponents are even playing burn in the first place). Hostility is cool with burn effects, but it's more limited than Fiery Emancipation. I do like Dread, but there aren't many decks that want another copy of No Mercy, and the shuffle effect means you can't reanimate it.

[3drinks]

I do like Dread, but there aren't many decks that want another copy of No Mercy, and the shuffle effect means you can't reanimate it.

Tbf, unlike the clause on the two colossus and proggy, it is a trigger, not a replacement effect. So you can flash reanimate it (Makeshift Mannequin comes to mind).

[3drinks]

Saturday, July 29th, 2023; The Book of Exalted Deeds and I guess it's antithesis, The Book of Vile Darkness.

[Hermes_]

Saturday, July 29th, 2023; The Book of Exalted Deeds and I guess it's antithesis, The Book of Vile Darkness.

figure out a way to make that angel a land and put the counter on it

[Toshi]

figure out a way to make that angel a land and put the counter on it

[folding_music]

^people were even doing it on Arena with Faceless Haven

i'm a Vecna enjoyer but all casual formats are full of people playing mass bounce, mass exiling destruction or reins of power. not really worth trying to assemble a lich against the control staples squad unless you have some very defensive and inexpensive gear to add to it, ie. Robe of Stars. The Book of Vile Darkness when ignoring its second ability is still kinda playable with Call of the Ring, Graveborn Muse, various other cards that it compliments but is worse than. would play with the TBD Erebos? but generally you feel stupid for not being a very high IQ Field of the Dead deck

[Treamayne]

figure out a way to make that angel a land and put the counter on it

Or, make a land an Angel. . .

[Mookie]

Clearly, the optimal plan is to turn Thespian's Stage into a Mutavault. Then activate the animation ability, hold priority, turn it into a copy of Darksteel Citadel / Lotus Field, resolve the animation ability (turning it into an Angel), and finally use The Book of Exalted Deeds to get an indestructible / hexproof Platinum Angel land that can't be easily stopped by Wasteland.

...other than somewhat needlessly complicated ways to not lose the game, I suppose Book of Exalted Deeds is a fine payoff for lifegain decks like Celestine, the Living Saint. There are a bunch of 'if you gained life, create a token' cards available, like Angelic Accord and Griffin Aerie, and this is yet another one, with some tribal upsides if you care about angels. You do need some support, but three life is in range of a single food token, so shouldn't be too difficult.

The Book of Vile Darkness, on the other hand, I'm a bit lower on. It's not difficult to lose life if you're playing something like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor or Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, but there aren't as many payoffs for doing so, and a 2/2 zombie is a less exciting payoff than a 3/3 angel. Maybe if you're playing Verrak, Warped Sengir or Greven, Predator Captain, but... there are other ways to generate zombie tokens if you want them.

..meanwhile, the alternate mode to create Vecna by cashing in Eye of Vecna and Hand of Vecna sounds cool but inefficient. I don't think any of the three pieces are particularly powerful on their own, so the rare chance of combining the three of them together doesn't quite justify their inclusion outside a dedicated theme deck.

[Hermes_]

figure out a way to make that angel a land and put the counter on it

figure out a way to make that angel a land and put the counter on it

Or, make a land an Angel. . .

yeah my brain forgot how to do it when i was typing that,

[darrenhabib]

I have a The Book of Exalted Deeds + Mutavault combo in a Boros deck I run.
Further to this I have Thespian's Stage and Lotus Field in the deck.
So if you want to avoid getting Strip Mine then what I do is copy the Mutavault with Thespian's Stage then do the The Book of Exalted Deeds. Then on the next turn I will turn Thespian's Stage into Lotus Field and now it has hexproof. Short of an Armageddon effect there really isn't anything opponents can do.
But even further to this I have Tyrite Sanctum in the deck, so it is possible to give the land Indestructible.

[3drinks]

Sunday, July 30th, 2023; Constant Mists

[kirkusjones]

People just love seeing this card in Slogurk, the Overslime or Soul of Windgrace or whatever flavor of Live, Laugh, Loam I decide to play every week.

[RedCheese]

I love this card in my land based decks. One of the better fog variants

[Mookie]

Constant Mists is a strong card against aggressive decks, and I've been meaning to hunt down a copy for my Tasigur deck for ages. On one hand, I sort of wish it were reprinted... but on the other hand, it's a card that some decks simply have no answer to. If you're playing a creature-based deck and don't have access to countermagic or a damage prevention effect like Questing Beast, this may just lock you out until its caster runs out of lands. Obviously, there are plenty of non-combat ways to win... but not every deck has that option.

Anyway, Constant Mists is at its best in slower, land-based decks - if your deck is interested in Life from the Loam looping, it's probably worth consideration. I'm usually low on Fog variants because they're so situational - they may buy a turn if your opponent plays a Craterhoof Behemoth, but they don't remove the problem. However, Constant Mists can push back that problem indefinitely... and if your opponents know you will just cancel any attack aimed at you, they may choose to just attack one another instead, making it an alright rattlesnake.

[Dunadain]

A rather problematic card imo, it's only good in casual games, and it's downright oppressive in said games.

Though it is a neat card if you're playing it in a deck that can't make a hard lock out of it. Which attacks are worth losing a land over in order to fog?