[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Consecrated Sphinx

[Hermes_]

I locked down a table's attacks against me with this and Enchanted Evening

[onering]

In enchantment decks, this thing can make even a single attacking creature prohibitively expensive.

[umtiger]

The most important part is that it protects your Planeswalkers as well. The secret win-condition in my Hanna enchantment deck is actually Sphere of Safety + Teferi, HoD.

[3drinks]

Monday, April 6th, 2020; Nevinyrral's Disk

The OG blow up the world button. And I still prefer it to O-Stone.

[plushpenguin]

Entering tapped is actually sometimes a lethal drawback.

I even prefer running Boompile over this. Boompile is only worse than disk 25% of the time, and given that it is better 50% of the time, that is a risk I'm willing to take.

[Serenade]

Good with Amulet of Vigor (except that it destroys AoV).

Boompile takes out your PWs.

[RedCheese]

Yeah i use it with Darksteel Forge in my Artifact deck.

[FoxOfWar]

Don't think it's currently in any deck of mine

Unless you're specifically building around recurring artifacts or wanting every 'nonland permanent' wrath out there, you probably have options.

The original art is cool tho, in a creepy twisted kind of way.

[pokken]

In weaker metas I kinda enjoy the "who's gonna do something about the disk before it untaps" mini-game; I've had people counterspell removal on my disk before.

Generally this card is too slow unless you're playing with forge these days.

[Outcryqq]

I still like disk in decks that do not have quality removal for artifacts and enchantments - my black and blue decks.

[folding_music]

the Disk is beautiful! it's in a complicated position, though, slow enough to mollify people who hate immediate board sweeps but immediately becoming a political tool rather than a reset as a consequence. I tend to run these in really slow decks which have like 45 land or more, mono-white or mono-black control thematic builds where the greedy utility land base takes over after a board clear. I never think of it as a card that's necessary to combo something with (that might be a sign that the metas I like are slow and casual) apart from once when I animated it with March of the Machines in a deck where almost everything had regeneration. Jhoira's Toolbox basically won that game and then I swung en masse with some of the game's clunkiest creatures, possibly digging all the way down to Diabolic Machine <3

[Cyberium]

Tournament staple for black at one point, though not as useful in EDH since everyone woefully packs 2+ colors these days.

[Mookie]

I've soured a bit on Nevinyrral's Disk over time - it always seems to be blown up before I untap... and if it does last that long, I proceed to get attacked by everyone until I'm forced to crack it. May just be an issue of me not playing it in decks that are good at blocking, which would make it much easier to exert control over. And given how telegraphed it is, it's actually possible for it to be hit by a Stifle effect, which is really awkward. It's certainly a powerful effect, and it's possible to build around a bit by running planeswalkers, but I find it to be too slow for the amount of hate it generates. Being symmetric is also a downside, since you don't want to play it alongside a bunch of important permanents.

The one place I would say it to be really good is decks that otherwise lack artifact/enchantment removal (so, monoblue or monoblack) - as answers go, it's one of the better ones available in colorless.

....I haven't played enough with Oblivion Stone to form a strong opinion of it in comparison to the Disk. Being able to activate immediately is certainly useful (as is the ability to selectively protect your stuff), but increased cost is also significant. Depends on whether you expect to have more time or mana available, I suppose. Perilous Vault is another, slightly more expensive option.

Note that it doesn't sacrifice, which means I see it combo'd with Darksteel Forge occasionally.

[3drinks]

I enjoy the Disk, obviously, and it is one of my best stabilization tools in Korvold. Yeah, I'm limited to white border but i still have lots of options and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

[Sinis]

Monday, April 6th, 2020; Nevinyrral's Disk

Among my favourites, because of its interaction with Darksteel Forge (but not Mycosynth Lattice).

I heartily wish I could get a beta one for not-space dollars, but, alas.

Edit: Really just black border OG art.

[umtiger]

Edit: Really just black border OG art.

The art and the border are reason enough to run it. And if you don't mind FBB, that's one route you could consider.

These days, there are some many card choices available. It's okay to run something just because you want to rather than running a tactically or strategically stronger card (e.g. Oblivion Stone).

[toctheyounger]

While I recognise the downfalls of Disk in that entering untapped is inferior for a blow up the world button, I still prefer this to O-Stone, by a long way. The trade off is 8 minimum versus a turn cycle, which often ends up being comparable anyway. I generally think it's not the worst thing in the world for Disk to bait removal, so I'm usually much happier having this than O-Stone. It tells me more about what answers my opponents have available to them purely because that window does exist.

I think of the current available functionally similar options (this, O-Stone, Boompile, Perilous Vault, Coercive Portal) I still put this near the top of the pile. Boompile is probably superior 50% of the time, Portal is probably superior too for the draw even if it's a political tradeoff, and Vault and Stone are worse purely based on resource outlay.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I locked down a table's attacks against me with this and Enchanted Evening

Sphere is great In token Stax as well. Token Stax loves it some enchantments, since Mobilization, Heliod, God of the Sun, Cathars' Crusade, Martyr's Bond, Anointed Procession, Labyrinth Spirit, Blind Obedience, Kismet, Rule of Law, Crackdown and Smothering Tithe (and I can add a boatload of green, red, black, or blue cards as needed) are in fact enchantments. Not to mention anthems and Propaganda-type cards.

But of course that's just for starters.

Anyway, Disk is good for a couple things. It's a "kill everything" card, but I also see it as black/red's insurance policy. Definitely better than Stone, which is a trap at best. Costs more, and you can try to save your permanents, but in that time, you'll die.

[TheGildedGoose]

Anyway, Disk is good for a couple things. It's a "kill everything" card, but I also see it as black/red's insurance policy. Definitely better than Stone, which is a trap at best. Costs more, and you can try to save your permanents, but in that time, you'll die.

I disagree. In mono-black, generating mana isn't a problem. Disk is more vulnerable to removal before it can untap and save you, so while Stone's mana cost is higher up front, it more reliably goes off. I do agree that trying to save your own permanents is a trap, though. In mono-red, with fewer ramp options, I'd say it's a toss up. I run both in Daretti.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, April 7th, 2020; Guardian Project

Hah...I smashed that random button and got Mox Pearl first. I almost kept it so we could discuss power...but naaahh.

Anyway, is this even good? Mathematically it's a -1 and only creates card parity with future creature spells, it never gives you that card back. You're looking at best case scenario immediate ROI a total of five (or four if you're playing Memnites, but typically commander decks don't play this without very specific reasoning) for a draw one. I can't imagine wanting that in like...ever.

inb4 CoMbOs WiTh PaNhArMoNiCoN

[WizardMN]

It combos with Yarok, the Desecrated

This is basically the same as pretty much all the other green card draw based on creatures. Beast Whisperer is probably the best comparison since it is the same CMC though Project can trigger on something being put onto the battlefield instead of just being cast. I guess if you would never play Beast Whisperer or Soul of the Harvest (though this could be because of CMC) you might not want this card either.

I think it works out just fine. It turns every nontoken creature you put onto the battlefield into a cantrip. It might not be super powerful in the end, but it can probably do enough in certain decks that just want the card draw. Not that green is really lacking in card draw nowadays anyway.

[Mookie]

Guardian Project is pretty good - its limitation of requiring unique creatures usually isn't relevant (to the point that I'll often forget that clause is even there). As a result, you have a Beast Whisperer / Soul of the Harvest / Glimpse of Nature that doesn't die to creature removal. Add in some ramp to actually cast all the creatures you're drawing, and you have a deck.

You can go nuts with flicker effects or copying the trigger, but those are really win-more, IMO. I've never run out of cards with it on the battlefield. Note that the trigger is mandatory - usually only relevant for limited, but it can come up if you're playing against mill (or Notion Thief, or Nekusar, the Mindrazer, or Xyris, the Writhing Storm).

....now I sort of want to make mono-green Storm with Seton, Krosan Protector, Guardian Project (and every other Glimpse of Nature effect), and every legal 1 mana druid.

[Rumpy5897]

Damn, I can't even say that this is the newest in a long line of green's "whenever creature, draw card" as The Great Henge came out since then. Still, it's a good one as it lives through creature wipes. If you're Gx, creature heavy, and don't spend too much time faffing around with tokens (cough Ghired cough), this will likely do fine in your deck. I've always been a fan of constant refuel trickles, and this sort of effect delivers. The fact they keep replicating it says volumes too.

[materpillar]

....now I sort of want to make mono-green Storm with Seton, Krosan Protector, Guardian Project (and every other Glimpse of Nature effect), and every legal 1 mana druid.

My Golos deck is extremely similar to this. It's technically 5 colors but over two-thirds of the deck is green (it has 33 green 1-drops). It uses Earthcraft and Concordant Crossroads instead of Seton. It is hilariously fun to pilot. Not really much fun to play against people though. It's extremely glass cannon.

I'm running Guardian Project, Beast Whisperer, Chulane, Teller of Tales, Primordial Sage, Soul of the harvest, Harvester of Souls, Fecundity, Skullclamp, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Grim Haruspex.

That deck is pretty old and it used to only have Primordial Sage and Soul of the harvest. They keep printing that effect at lower and lower CMC. It just makes my deck storm off easier and easier.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Well, if you ignore that you have creatures in addition to the extra cards now. Think of it like enchantresses.

Plus, blinking.