[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Mines of Moria

[Sinis]

I somehow missed the memo on this card; I don't think I've ever seen it played. Major anti-synergy with Undying, but otherwise, seems okay. I'd love to hear other people's EDH experiences with it, even if those experiences are from the distant past.

On a separate note - has the site been going down for anybody else. I received a 503 error the first few times I tried to make this post last night.

Yeah, I get errors every couple of weeks.

[3drinks]

Sunday, September 21st 2025; Spectral Adversary

Gets a bit pricey but the dollar cost is right versus Clever Concealment and Slip Out the Back. Does what it says on the tin.

[MAGUSZANIN]

My previous post got ate in the server move, but the short version is that I think this is WOTC not costing phasing correctly because this was shortly after they brought the mechanic back into regular usage. Compare this to March of Swirling Mist, which costs less than half the Mana per target and has cost reduction stapled onto it.

We all know Teferi's Protection is an absurd rate, and so they cut Clever Concealment in half (no more fog and untargerable), added the standard +1 mana and Convoke, and the card is still busted. But those are from Commander Products, so March is the better comparison in theory.

Ripples of Potential and Change of Plans are also great comparisons, though they are also from Commander products. Both add P/T to your board like this does, while being able to phase things out when needed.

So I would really need to be interested in the body for me to play this. And let's talk about the body. Would you play a 2/1 Flash Flyer with no other text? Maybe, if the creature type was right or you desperately needed flash plus evasion, but most decks aren't interested in that card. Adding multi kicker of two Mana to phase a target out isn't exactly an amazing rate as we just saw. Maybe Millicent, Restless Revenant wants this, but that's about all I can think of. 6 Mana for a 4/3 Flash Flyer that Blanks 2 attackers isn't bad in 60 card Standard, but it's just not a good enough rate in Commander.

The other side of the equation is that if you are playing a two or more Mana instant effect that is meant to protect your board.... In blue..... Why is it not a Counterspell? Even if you need your Counterspells to also be creatures, there's still options for that.

[3drinks]

Worth noting, this is not multi-kicker. This can be triggered repeatedly whether through reanimation or blink or anything else (say, Kiki-Jiki). It's pricey protection, but it's definitely different than the other one-shot instants and sorceries.

[3drinks]

Monday, September 22nd 2025; Dawn of a New Age

[MAGUSZANIN]

Overall this isn't a bad card but it's not an exciting card either. It replaces itself the turn it comes down, and as long as you get 3 cards out of it consistently you have gotten your mana's worth.

The main issue is timing. In order to have slower draw like this be worthwhile, it has to come down early. When you need a bunch of creatures in play to fuel that draw, this obviously contradicts itself.

Overall I would probably want to play this in some kind of monoWhite or Boros go wide strategy, where it will come down on turns 3-4 and draw me 3-4 cards over the rest of the game. Not exciting, but not bad.

[onering]

Spectral Adversary:

I think this is actually fairly costed. 4 mana for a 3/2 flyer that phases something at instant speed actually does a lot. Yeah, a 3/2 flyer isn't exciting, but it's not irrelevant. The way it does phasing is also a lot more flexible than other alternatives. It can hit your opponents stuff, not just yours, and can hit artifacts and enchantments in addition to creatures. So yeah, you can use it to save a creature (or a couple if you have the mana), but you can also use it to save yourself from a lethal commander swing from a Voltron (or Hatred, or Tainted Strike). This thing hitting artifacts and enchantments can also preempt combos, and even lead to blowouts if it hits an anthem or similar permanent.

The problem with cards like this is that their value is in their flexibility, and their big plays are unpredictable and reactive. Most of the time, this is going to save something from removal while advancing your board a bit, and it's going to feel just ok doing that. Then, sometimes your going to use it to stop a lethal attack, or blank a combo that relies on and etb to get started, or just clear the way for a lethal swing, and it's going to feel kind of neat that your protection spell has these other uses. Rarely, you'll phase out an Eldrazi Monument after attacks are declared and just wreck a players board, and it will feel pretty epic. And hey, sometimes you have 8 mana to pump into it and you phase out three potential blockers and get a 5/4 flyer and all of a sudden you have lethal on a player.

Those cooler things won't happen every game, and usually it's just going to be single target protection. And you need to be running a deck that is going to regularly hold up 4 mana for that to be worth it. In a more reactive control deck, though, this should be considered. It can be much more swingy than what it reads as, but you also have to be able to accept firing it off just to protect one thing.

[Sinis]

Dawn of a New Age: I'm kind of mixed on this one. I dislike needing a board to make it good, but it is a discounted Phyrexian Arena that operates on end step, which I kind of like. I figure at 2+ counters, this is probably worth it compared to something like Night's Whisper, since games probably won't go too long. It probably at the very least, cycles.

Spectral Adversary: This card is super versatile if you can pay the premium cost. You can save troops, or shut down permanent-based combos. It's just kind of neat, but, holding up a ton of mana is probably not terribly viable.

[aliciaofthevast]

Thursday, September 18th 2025; Nissa, Ascended Animist

Planeswalker that protects itself with beefy bodies. Even at the discounted cost. Useful enough.

Uhhhmmmmm, yes please!

[onering]

Dawn of a New Age: I'm kind of mixed on this one. I dislike needing a board to make it good, but it is a discounted Phyrexian Arena that operates on end step, which I kind of like. I figure at 2+ counters, this is probably worth it compared to something like Night's Whisper, since games probably won't go too long. It probably at the very least, cycles.

Spectral Adversary: This card is super versatile if you can pay the premium cost. You can save troops, or shut down permanent-based combos. It's just kind of neat, but, holding up a ton of mana is probably not terribly viable.

For me, Dawn sits in a weird space. It's cheap and generates cards over time, but in order to work you need enough of a board which is less likely to happen early. The upside is that, with games being shorter, drawing a few cards and gaining 4 life off this for 2 mana is probably a better bet than drawing indefinite cards for 3 mana and 1 life a pop off Phyrexian Arena, since the chances that you'll actually draw enough cards off Arena before the game ends to make it better than this aren't all that high. Like, if I cast these both turn 3, I might be able to draw 3 cards off Dawn by the end of turn 5 and then it's done, or I could draw 5 cards by turn 8 with Arena and then the game is done. I think Dawn is better in that scenario, even discounting the fact that Dawn is gaining you 4 life and Arena is losing you 5, a significant swing.

I think Dawn is good when you are casting it turn 3-5 and drawing 3-4 cards with it. Earlier and it's probably just not going to to come in with enough counters, later and it won't draw enough cards before the game is over. If your games go long it becomes better later, while Phyrexian Arena becomes better turns 3-5 since it will just draw you more cards.

It really wants a mid power meta to be good. It's too slow, and thus inferior to Night's Whisper style cards, in high power metas, but in slower, lower power metas more reliably draw over time is going to get you more cards. Mid turns, mid power, it's made for mid.

[Mookie]

I've been meaning to try out Dawn of a New Age, but haven't done so yet. A cheap draw engine is great, but it's also a little deceptive - you generally won't have any creatures on T2, so it's more of a lategame play. At that point, is it really better than Tocasia's Welcome or another white draw engine? I'm not convinced, particularly if you have ways to generate bodies on your opponents' turns for extra triggers. I do like that it triggers on end step, at least, so you'll usually get a card immediately. There are also some implications if you have proliferating (or even something like Y'shtola Rhul for extra end steps).

My overall sense is 'probably fine, but I would want some additional synergies'. Could be nice to recur with Lurrus of the Dream-Den / Zoraline, Cosmos Caller though.

[DirkGently]

This was quite expensive on release, I think $20. I thought it looked pretty mid.

Then I cracked one at prerelease and people wanted to trade it off me, but I figured "maybe I'm wrong and should hold onto this in case it's actually good"

Now it's less than $2. Shoulda trusted my gut.

Draw 1 per turn is worth 3 mana approximately. This is a decent bit cheaper, but the setup cost is huge. So it's niche at best and sucks at worst.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, September 23rd 2025; Curse of the Swine

I remember when this was first printed. I was beside myself "I can't believe u gets a board wipe now!" And I've never seen it in the wild (probably because it's bad).

[Sinis]

When this was printed, my group went wild over it. I got a couple of copies. We still see it regularly when someone plays monoblue, but it's less present in anything else. Less of a board wipe, and more of a "that, that, and that are significant problems" kind of card.

[MAGUSZANIN]

In monoBlue, Izzet, and Simic this isn't terrible, and I have seen it do real work. It also hasn't really been hit by the power creep bat in it's niche, with The Phasing of Zhalfir being the only one that comes immediately to mind. And even that is debatable because paying more mana for a more selective and one sided wipe has been good since Austere Command at the very least. Also the "transmutation as removal" effect has been moved to White (though who knows why), so that is likely to remain true.

Overall, this produces a LOT of board advantage in the mid-game, and while you need some real mana production to make it a full on wipe, in monoBlue "Exile one thing per opponent for 5 mana" is directly comparable to things like Windgrace's Judgment and Unexplained Absence, which are strong cards. The main problem is that this is a sorcery while those comparables are instants, but if your plan is to exile all the most important things and swing out.... then that only kind of matters.

Obviously insane in Hinata, Dawn-Crowned and Mizzix of the Izmagnus, as well as a few others I'm probably not thinking of off the top of my head. Basically if you can Cheat the X-cost or make a ton of mana to render it irrelevant, this card goes insane.

Overall good mid-power budget card in certain colors and decks. Whether you play it depends on a few factors, but I have seen it do work. Maybe like a C+ card.

[3drinks]

The Phasing of Zhalfir

Whoa. That is a u Wrath of God. Actually insane.

[Lifeless]

This felt so premium when it first came out. Multi target Pognify has to be great right? Turns out it's fine but unspectacular and that's probably a good spot for U removal overall.

[onering]

Just a very solid card, not exciting but it does enough.

Sorcery speed removal generally sucks, but scaling into a wipe is big, as I can accept my wipes being sorcery speed. Taking out like 4 things is big enough that you don't need it to be reactive, and firing it off for X=1 or 2 is very mid but yet acceptable as a fallback option if needed.

[Mookie]

Curse of the Swine is... okay. Blue isn't known for its creature removal, and a sorcery-speed X spell isn't winning any awards for efficiency. Still, it does exile, and the 2/2s are (usually) a negligible downside. It can be awkward if you want to deal with a bunch of creatures though.

I've found myself more drawn to Evacuation, Scourge of Fleets, and other mass bounce effects recently. It's nice to not need to care about how many creatures there are or if any of them have hexproof, plus some of them come with additional upsides. Simultaneously, while the 2/2s aren't that threatening, the can still be a nuisance to creature-light decks like Mizzix. It feels like a waste to Curse a bunch of things, only to need to sweep away the tokens again later.

I will give a shout to Reality Shift though - one of the better pieces of spot removal available in the format.

[FoxHybrid]

This is one of the cards that falls in an interesting space between being a board wipe and being targeted removal, it's not as efficient as a board wipe and you need an insane amount of mana to make it a full board wipe, but it can also serve as 3 mana single target removal or use it to pick off 2 creatures for 4 mana, which is relatively efficient. I don't think it's bad, but if you're looking for the most efficient blue removal, this ain't it.

[onering]

Reality Shift, Resculpt, Pognify, and Rapid Hybridization are all S class removal. Two instant speed exiles for just 2 mana, one of which leaves behind a bear that might become something better if they got lucky and can put some mana into it, the other leaves behind a more significant 4/4 but can also hit artifacts. Then two instant speed destroys that leave behind a 3/3, for just 1 mana.

Yeah, single target creature removal in mono blue is legitimately a competitive space. That's before we even get into auras that set stats and wipe abilities ( I know there's one that wipes all abilities and makes the creature a 1/1, has flash, and costs 2, but I don't remember it's name). 1UU to exile one creature, at sorcery speed, and leave behind a 2/2 is very mid.

That's why I just don't look at this as single target removal when deck building, except to note that it's at least something that can be done if necessary even if it won't be good. If I'm considering this card, it's as a way to wipe multiple creatures away. Amphibian Downpour is probably the closest comparison to this, because it's often going to hit multiple things and turning them into frogs is usually better anyway. I generally prefer Amphibian Downpour because it has flash and fewer blue pips, so it's fallback as a single target removal spell is better than Curse of Swine's, and hitting 2 creatures is pretty easy (you'll often do that simply because the active player already cast a spell before you decided to cast it, so even if you were doing it in response to being attacked or to stop a combo you are most likely hitting something else as a bonus). The benefit of Curse of Swine is that it's much more straightforward and reliable when it comes to nailing 4+ creatures. .

This obviously does a lot of work in decks that can make a lot of mana without just immediately comboing out, and X spell tribal, but it's also really good in decks that consistently give things flash. Doing what it does at instant speed is a pretty significant boost in power. Heliod's Intervention is pretty great and that is a mass disenchant. IDK if anyone still plays Teferi but this slaps there.

[MAGUSZANIN]

( I know there's one that wipes all abilities and makes the creature a 1/1, has flash, and costs 2, but I don't remember it's name).

Eaten by Piranhas. You're welcome!

That's why I just don't look at this as single target removal when deck building, except to note that it's at least something that can be done if necessary even if it won't be good. If I'm considering this card, it's as a way to wipe multiple creatures away. Amphibian Downpour is probably the closest comparison to this, because it's often going to hit multiple things and turning them into frogs is usually better anyway. I generally prefer Amphibian Downpour because it has flash and fewer blue pips, so it's fallback as a single target removal spell is better than Curse of Swine's, and hitting 2 creatures is pretty easy (you'll often do that simply because the active player already cast a spell before you decided to cast it, so even if you were doing it in response to being attacked or to stop a combo you are most likely hitting something else as a bonus). The benefit of Curse of Swine is that it's much more straightforward and reliable when it comes to nailing 4+ creatures.

Amphibian Downpour is a great comparison, yeah. Saving mana and having Flash in exchange for needing to build a storm count, versus being just a straight forward X-spell.

[TheGildedGoose]

There's also Utter Insignificance.

[onering]

Lol there's two of them now!

Yeah, Blue has excellent spot removal now. Utter Insignificance, Eaten By Piranhas, and Amphibian Downpour leave you vulnerable to the enchantments being removed, but aura based "transformation" removal has the huge benefit of locking down commanders. That's a huge advantage over exile or destroy effects.

It's insane how good it's gotten.

[Toshi]

I gotta pick up a playset of The Phasing of Zhalfir...

Amphibian Downpour is a great comparison, yeah. Saving mana and having Flash in exchange for needing to build a storm count, versus being just a straight forward X-spell.

You're playing - think .
Let them build the storm count leading to their own demise!