[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[TheGildedGoose]

I sometimes quote this flavor text when I'm the table archnemesis.

[yeti1069]

It's not great in EDH, but I really like the old Legacy Landstill decks that used this to great effect.

I think it could be playable in some kind of group hug control deck, but giving out up to 9 cards is a big gamble.

Notion Thief?

[Dunadain]

Doesn't really work in multiplayer unfortunately. Would love it if they printed a "fixed" version, can do a lot of fun stuff. Especially with Hall of Heliod's Generosity.

[3drinks]

I enjoyed this in Hanna, Ship's Navigator. But Hatching Plans was better.

[onering]

I actually don't run this in my Grixis group hug because people get irrationally salty about it. I have seen it "kill" players multiple times online (I rate people cry quitting as a kill). That says a lot more about people being little %$#%$# than the strength of this card. Regardless, I don't personally like to prompt rage quits so I don't run cards that tend to do so unless they also tend to end the game (or instance, Jokalhaups tends to induce rage quitting, but if I'm casting it my opponents are losing anyway so it doesn't matter, but I wouldnt run Shahrazad if was legal because it just makes people quit without actually securing a win by its effect).

If people weren't so whiny about it, it does have some homes. Probably not in any optimized decks but there are plenty of ways to break parity, and the sub game of who blinks first can be fun when you have plenty of ways to spend mana that don't involve actually casting spells.

[Jemolk]

I love Standstill so much. I think I've mentioned this before, but outside of Commander, the other format I play relatively regularly is proxy Vintage, and in Vintage, my favorite deck is U/W Landstill. I've had an enormous amount of fun with it, and seeing people scoop to Hall of Heliod's Generosity recurring Standstill because it's just insurmountable card advantage is really impressive. Its floor (at any time it would actually be correct to cast it, anyway) is generally a 2-mana Ancestral Recall, and its ceiling is multiple Time Walks stapled to an Ancestral Recall, because any turn you pass without doing anything is a free turn as far as the hard control deck is concerned.

In Commander, I'm less sure of what its place would be. Definitely a card I have a great deal of fondness for, though.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, November 1st, 2023; Predators' Hour

[Dunadain]

Never seen the card before, but it's seems clunky, if I have a large board presence, I want to win the game, not draw some cards.

[yeti1069]

Never seen the card before, but it's seems clunky, if I have a large board presence, I want to win the game, not draw some cards.

You don't need a large presence. If you have 3 1/1s, this turns into a psuedo 'draw 3' for 2 mana. The menace helps, as you can swing at the shields down player, or the one with few blockers. If I had more combat-worthy creatures in Prosper I would 100% be running this card.

Plus, if you have a decent board of real bodies, giving them all menace for 2 mana may help close out the game. The only downside there is you don't get the cards you "draw" if you eliminate a player.

[onering]

Never seen the card before, but it's seems clunky, if I have a large board presence, I want to win the game, not draw some cards.

Well, it does only cost 2 mana and grants menace. You can't reasonably expect a 2 mana spell to just win with a board presence the same way an overloaded Rift or a Hoof Daddy can. On the right boards it can definitely help secure a win by granting menace, and while that requires a pretty strong board to accomplish that's what it should take for a 2 cmc spell to win.

This card has applications earlier in the game where it helps get attacks through chump blockers so you can get triggers, and adds a pretty solid trigger on top. If your deck already is working off of combat triggers, this is a really solid card that can give decent value on top of enabling what your deck is doing for a low price. It also helps more generally aggressive decks get in some damage while getting more gas (or rather getting to advance their board from opponents spells while saving their own for later).

[Lifeless]

I can't say I've ever seen this before but as a black card I find it very interesting. You want a deck that can go relatively wide and probably ramps too, but doesn't have access to better card draw options. Even in mono-B you've probably got better things to do unless you can leverage the opponent's cards in a unique way. Not terrible based on the cost alone, but I'm not sure I would find space for this.

[Dunadain]

@yeti1069 @onering

Both of your examples sound pretty awkward ngl.

If I have at least three creatures, and someone can't block, and the top cards of their deck are relevant to my game plan, then this card could be pretty good.


If I'm in black I've got plenty of CA options that don't rely on board presence, and let me draw the cards in MY deck, that I KNOW are good for me.

[yeti1069]

@yeti1069 @onering

Both of your examples sound pretty awkward ngl.

If I have at least three creatures, and someone can't block, and the top cards of their deck are relevant to my game plan, then this card could be pretty good.


If I'm in black I've got plenty of CA options that don't rely on board presence, and let me draw the cards in MY deck, that I KNOW are good for me.

I don't know. It's scaling draw for 2 mana that doesn't cost life or resources. It also aids combat with partial evasion. Like I said, if I were playing a more aggressive Prosper list, I'd absolutely run this.

I might consider it for Sauron, Smeagol, Captain N'ghathrod, or Kadena. If I weren't so frequently mana-gated, I'd consider it in Marchesa the Black Rose, too. Sauron would love to have extra cards that aren't in hand, and Smeagol sometimes has a handful of tokens on the field not doing much, and appreciates more draw, especially without having to pay life, since the deck often gets targeted for the mill. Cap'N doesn't care about the menace, and doesn't often have a bunch of creatures out, as I have it built, but it's all about using my opponents' resources. It also wants some cheap draw. Kadena could greatly benefit from giving the team of 2/2s menace, and from having additional resources available irrespective of hand size, though it doesn't want to send morphs into combat if there's risk of them dying, so that's somewhat doubtful.

If I had an aggressive monoblack or /x deck I'd strongly consider running this. I've dabbled in a few different versions of using opponents' cards, and I'll say that while, yes, it's often true that their stuff doesn't provide as much value as my own, there is still value to be had from taking even small numbers of cards. I like You Find Some Prisoners in Prosper, and that's 2 mana to select 1 of 3 cards available for a turn or two (with an alternate mode of artifact removal). Even just getting a land has been useful many times, but it has gotten my counterspells, removal, combo pieces, and bombs. Spending the same mana to get 3-5 cards available forever until used looks like a great rate if you have the deck to support it.

[Dunadain]

Sounds like we have very different experiences XD

You Find Some Prisoners looks like a Shredded Sails without the removal option to me.

I will say, the name and art of the card is bad-ass (Predator's Howl, not You Find Some Prisoners).

[3drinks]

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023; Cybernetica Datasmith

[3drinks]

Wow, I've been running this thread for four years now. 1) where has the time gone? and 2) ...I hope this isn't my life's work

[Dunadain]

Wow, I've been running this thread for four years now. 1) where has the time gone? and 2) ...I hope this isn't my life's work

Why not? It's an impressive legacy! XD.

as for Cybernetica Datasmith, I don't know what to think of it, it's both card draw and token production, but an opponent gets one of them.

Kind of insane in archenemy situations (assuming you aren't the archenemy) honestly, just okay in a balanced game, and pretty bad of you are the archenemy, or it's a 1v1

[onering]

A great group hug and political card. You get to draw, they get a 4/4 which is more likely to help you than hurt you.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Pretty cheap way to make 4/4 creatures! I think if you can get 3-4 robots/draws out of it, it's worth it

[3drinks]

Saturday, November 4th, 2023; Cryptic Command

How does Cryptic hold up in this age? Is it still the GOAT it was back in the day? I always liked the MPR copy. You could make up anything you wanted in the invisible textbnox, and this card could probably do it. Fog, counter, unsummon, cantrip, force an alpha, and much much more.

[TheGildedGoose]

Four mana is a lot to hold up for interaction in a multiplayer format. In 1v1 you can afford to lose your opponent a turn while cantripping, but in EDH you risk falling behind. Even in the most dedicated control lists I wouldn't play this anymore.

[Mookie]

Cryptic Command is still alright, but I'm not sure if I would play it outside mono-blue these days. There are a lot of options for flexible countermagic - Mystic Confluence, Archmage's Charm, Sublime Epiphany... also, uuu can be rough on some manabases. I think that many decks favor cheap countermagic backed up by strong card advantage elsewhere, instead of cards that try to do both.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I still like ol' Cryptic. Even as the average MV in the format creeps lower, CC always gives me my money's worth for four mana

[DirkGently]

Phelddagrif squabbles spilling into the main forum xD I've played cryptic for years, but I'm liking it less and less. To me, I think the question is how much you like the tapdown. Dismiss is not a good card in 2023, nor are the other permutations of bounce, counter, and draw, and while the flexibility is nice, I think we've got better options, especially for decks that actually want to spend some mana on their own turn from time to time. But, the tapdown is not bad if you can capitalize on it, and by capitalize I mean attack past their tapped blockers. Merely fogging - and a much worse fog since you need to declare before they go to combat and you know which direction they're attacking - is not good enough imo.

The card is good in 1v1 because trading getting a 2:1 with the counter mode is a strong default mode, but in commander Arcane Denial is almost that good for just 2 freakin' mana since an enemy drawing cards is so much less impactful. CC's strength is built around incremental card advantage in the 1v1 game, so it suffers a lot in multiplayer. I'd much rather have something cheap that gets the job done, and then make up the loss when I have time with dedicated draw engines, rather than stapling both together.

[onering]

It really depends on how deep you want to get into counter spells, how comfortable you are holding up mana, and how much you might need to clear out a path to attack. If you can play draw go, Cryptic is nice. If you can leverage the tap down into killing a player, Cryptic is nice. If both of those things are true, Cryptic is really nice. The downside of it being 4 mana isn't really that 4 mana is too much, but how bad it can set you back when you hold up the mana and don't need to cast it, so having other things to spend that mana on that are good enough makes it a lot better.