[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[materpillar]

Although I confess I don't think I've actually seen anyone run soldevi adnate. Decent card, could definitely do something powerful in the right deck, though I think it's one of those cards that requires a little too much build around and doesn't really fit into any particular commander's synergy pool. I guess you'd want synergy for stuff with a high cmc but easy to cheat into play, but idk that there's enough good creatures like that, or a commander that would want to run them. Usually it'd be easier to just run regular mana rocks and keep it simple. Though I'm sure there's some slots for this guy.

Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker is the deck you're looking for. Soldevi Adnate is hot hot fire there. It ramps, it sacs, and it gets sacced to other things to loop with Shirei since it only has 1 power. That deck really wants to explode out early and drown out people with value before they're getting stabilized or throw a ton of stuff into the graveyard while ramping to Finale of Eternity/Rise of the Dark Realms. Besides, every single creature in that deck wants to die so there's plenty of fodder sitting around to feed it.

[toctheyounger]

I've always liked the card, although the artwork 3drinks has given us is inferior to the leperous face alternative art that's all like 'y u mad bruh?'. Some of the older art in this game is hilarious.

I've always wanted to find a place for this card and never really settled on one. I hold onto it for the day that it's secret tech in some jank build where it fits like a glove.

[tstorm823]

It's a pretty sweet curve into Priest of Gix for an aggressive black deck.

[Rumpy5897]

It's a beast of a dork in Bx graveyard-happy concoctions. Helped me power out early Sheoldred, and then would happily chomp down on whatever got recurred. Recommended.

[3drinks]

Friday, March 27th, 2020; Daze

Great card. Hilarious results.

[Serenade]

This art is crap, though. OG Nemesis or nothin'.

[Toshi]

Great card is great!
As far as artworks go, the AMK Daze|mp2 is stunning, if only it weren't for the ugly frame and ridiculous price tag.

[DirkGently]

I don't think I've ever played it, despite all the counterspells I've played in my life. I can see how it'd be useful in a cEDH context, but in a generic environment I have a hard time seeing it be justified. It's too unreliable late, and early bouncing a land is a very serious cost - I sure wouldn't do it to counter a sol ring or anything like that. It'd basically have to be a game-ender...in which case you're probably playing cEDH.

There is lulz to be had in having an answer while tapped out, though. One of my favorite wins was pulling that off in limited, with watcher of the roost. He was so sure he had me.

[folding_music]

I've played Daze in a dodgy Tishana, Voice of Thunder as a counterspell that doesn't reduce the number of cards in your hand, and I've played Daze in casual chaos as part of a deck where I use its drawback to pick up a Breeding Pool and then replay it to upkeep Stasis another turn. that deck got dismantled really fast though =P I think Force Spike-esque cards are underrated in multiplayer and I have definitely Mana Tithed commanders who'd have taken over the game had they hit the board; you don't have to process them as competitive-only cards because no matter what format you play, at some point, someone's gonna attempt to take a very greedy turn!

[DirkGently]

you don't have to process them as competitive-only cards because no matter what format you play, at some point, someone's gonna attempt to take a very greedy turn!

I mean, that's true, but I think a big differentiating factor between multiplayer and 1v1 counterspell usage is that, in 1v1, if you're countering anything you're probably happy with that. In multiplayer, you really want to hit very specific things, and I'd rather have reliability and pay a bit extra so I know I can stop what needs to be stopped, rather than just countering whatever I can.

Plus this isn't cheaper than plenty of other more reliable counterspells if you're paying the mana cost. The alt cost is nice to have but early it's very painful, and late you can probably just pay the mana unless you're getting greedy yourself.

[Mookie]

Soft counters like Daze are sort of interesting in EDH - similar to other formats, they tend to get worse as the game goes on. Mana Leak is a hard counter on turns 2-4, but falls off in value once you get to the lategame.... and since most EDH games tend to last 7-10 turns, soft counters can end up being a liability. Unlike a hard counter, which you can sort of save for high-profile targets, you'll often end up cashing in a soft counter just to get value.

...I think someone in my meta actually has the official policy of 'will always use Mana Tithe if you tap out, no matter what it's targeting'.

Re: Daze specifically, the surprise value from a free counterspell is not to be underestimated. I know when I'm playing decks, I'll generally avoid tapping out for big X spells when the blue players have mana up, and am much more likely to pull the trigger if the shields are down. Of course, a counterspell that only hits X spells in the lategame is pretty narrow... Also not to be underestimated is the fact that its value goes down sharply if your meta starts playing around it.

Anyway, I'd say that Daze is a bit narrower than I'd like - I'd go for a different cheap counter most of the time.

[Dunharrow]

I would never play it in commander. There are enough good counterspells, even free ones. Two forces, Pact, Mental Mistep...... Even Foil.
My main issue is that it is so bad when you need it to counter something.

[3drinks]

Saturday. March 28th, 2020; Duplicant

Once considered the gold standard, how does ol faithful hold up in the current age of commander?

[DirkGently]

Damn, I'm really good at checking the forum just when you switch these. Probably because I'm stuck inside and bored out of my mind. I've already made 3 decks and I can't play any of them lol.

I was never a huge fan of this card, even back in 2011 when it was considered staple-worthy (in 2012 it made it into commander's arsenal! Next to freaking sylvan library, which holds up a LOT better). 6 mana sorcery speed removal is pretty awful, and the body may or may not be relevant. This is an ETB effect I'd expect to pay 1-3 mana for on an instant - I'm not going to pay an extra 3-5 mana for the body, let alone kicking it down to sorcery speed.

That said, it's a good role-player if you've got blink or reanimation synergy of certain kinds. I used it recently in a Thassa, deep-seated deck, where it was fine. Worth consideration, but far from an auto-include.

[Mookie]

Duplicant is still pretty playable, IMO. Not necessarily a staple, but if you're in a removal-light color combination (like monoblue or monogreen), having access to an exile effect can be pretty useful. I wouldn't play it just for the sake of having removal (Reality Shift and Beast Within do it better), but if you have creature, artifact, or ETB/flicker synergies it can put in a fair amount of work. Exiling stuff repeatedly alongside Brago, King Eternal or Conjurer's Closet definitely makes up for the steep initial mana cost.

Imprint is slightly awkward though - it's rare to make it into a large beater, and if you exile a commander, it's stuck as a 2/4. Not a big deal, but it does make it hard to get full value from it.

[Hermes_]

I could see a janky combo with leyline of anticipation as a way to remove an attacking beater,since it doesn't include the clause "you control"

[3drinks]

Damn, I'm really good at checking the forum just when you switch these. Probably because I'm stuck inside and bored out of my mind. I've already made 3 decks and I can't play any of them lol.

Probably because I take the time to switch them out on my lunch hour every night at work. Like I'm sitting here, I might as well. Except on my weekend, then I might forget because I got invested in other things and so, the later than normal swap 😂

[schweinefett]

It should work with blink effects, right? seems like it should be good. Has the potential to be outright busted in some decks, id imagine.

That being said, i don't think i've ever owned more than 1.

[DirkGently]

Probably because I take the time to switch them out on my lunch hour every night at work. Like I'm sitting here, I might as well. Except on my weekend, then I might forget because I got invested in other things and so, the later than normal swap 😂

What TZ are you in? For me it's usually around 11PM (new zealand time). Which is primo "time to kill time" time.

[Serenade]

I'm in Chicago, and it's always nice to wake up to a new card.

I used it in my artifact-heavy Multani when I had it. Hardo green ramp decks would search him with Eye of Ugin.

[3drinks]

Probably because I take the time to switch them out on my lunch hour every night at work. Like I'm sitting here, I might as well. Except on my weekend, then I might forget because I got invested in other things and so, the later than normal swap 😂

What TZ are you in? For me it's usually around 11PM (new zealand time). Which is primo "time to kill time" time.

I'm on Pacific-Standard time, but I work graveyard shifts.

[3drinks]

It should work with blink effects, right? seems like it should be good. Has the potential to be outright busted in some decks, id imagine.

That being said, i don't think i've ever owned more than 1.

Yes, you're right you can blink it. I'd rather hit Luminate Primordial more, however.

[Dragonlover]

I run this and Brittle Effigy in my Molimo deck to get around indestructible, pro-green and initially Iona. Generally happy to see it.

Dragonlover

[folding_music]

two cards in three days that work really well in my silly Grenzo, Dungeon Warden deck :3 most of the decks I play are midrange-y with lots of thinking so sometimes it's nice to just tap four lands and a powerstone and see what Grenzo does. strategy shmategy. I play Burnt Offering, Culling the Weak and Sacrifice, too. maybe this is the prevailing Grenzo strategy cos the whole deck just fell into its sleeves without any effort, I just think Duplicant is super notable in that build as a random creature kill for "2" mana.

[Outcryqq]

Depending on what colors you are in, I think Duplicant is still a decent option. Creature exile for colors that usually wouldn't get it, gets way better with blink and recursion. Used to me great, but it is still decent!