MTGNexus

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 10/14/20 is The Grand Calcutron.

Roborally: The Gathering

Never forget the controversy about this not being a legal commander in playgroups that allow silver-bordered cards, but are insistent that only legendary creatures can be commanders or cards that explicitly state they can be. I cannot imagine how wide-spread that phenomenon is.

A ridiculous controversy imo, because the card's Oracle text - which is, you know, the actual game function of the card - has the "Can be your commander" line.

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 10/15/20 is Daily Regimen.

I have a huge soft spot for this card and a surprising amount to say about it.
1) I've heard of skipping leg day but this guy is the only person to skip left arm day.
2) This is a long-after-the-fact mirror of Torture, which was, naturally, reprinted in Eventide.
3) The anyone-can-be-Jenara effect of this card makes it feel more white than similar cards such as Forced Adaptation, imo - it's less grow-all-the-time and more a personal built-in combat trick.

I don't know. That card would fit very well into green.

void_nothing wrote: ↑

3 years ago

A ridiculous controversy imo, because the card's Oracle text - which is, you know, the actual game function of the card - has the "Can be your commander" line.

To be fair: That line was added as a result of the controversy.

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 10/16/20 is Bubbling Cauldron.

I have a huge soft spot for callout cards like this.

void_nothing wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I have a huge soft spot for callout cards like this.

Me as well. I wouldn't mind seeing a card like that calling out a timely reprint every now and then either. Did that ever happen? They only seem to call out cards first printed in the same block.

Gathering Pack is an extreme example of what I mean.

Been a while, huh?

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 12/25/20 is Moriok Replica.

I like that this mimics a card from the original Mirrodin block, Night's Whisper.

I love the contrast between replicas of the two sets of mirrodin. The first set being the various races of each color with white failing being soldier instead of leonin and the scars being the various human tribes.

Mirrodin's originals were kind of odd in that it was 2 of 5 classes and 3 of 5 races, Soldier Replica instead of Leonin and Wizard Replica instead of Vedalken. You're right though insofar as it was the five Human nations in Scars.

Hmm...

Leonin Replica 3
Artifact Creature - Cat (C)
W, Sacrifice Leonin Replica: Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
It leads with untiring grace.
2/2

Vedalken Replica 3
Artifact Creature - Vedalken (C)
1U, Sacrifice Vedalken Replica: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may put an artifact card from among them into your hand. Put the rest into your graveyard.
It calculates with impossible ease.
1/3

I like in all Scars replicas that flavour text alludes to them being colorless and having only a "trace" of their color in activated ability. Symmetrical flavour texts for cycles are great way of worldbuilding in my opinion, with guildgates/cluestones/signets/lockers from all diffrent blocks in Ravnica being the most prominent examples. However, I am not that fond of original replicas flavour text. It is symmetrical, yes, but it gives us little to none insight into the Mirrodin itself. Such flavour text would be fine in Core Set, but in a block of newly introduced world?

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 12/26/20 is Blow Your House Down.

The flavor of this card is... too on-the-nose for me. Like I'd probably give it a 1.5 out of 3 in the MCC for flavor. That is so often my problem with several of the top-down real-world settings.

I was honestly kind of stunned by this one. I guess they needed a red evasion card, but I would've linked that name to something like destruction of artifacts. Besides, the Big Bad Wolf only managed to knock down two of three houses. (Maybe the last was a Darksteel Wall?)

Foul Gale XR
Sorcery
Destroy up to X target artifacts and/or Walls.

Darksteel Barrier 4
Artifact Creature — Wall
Indestructible
0/3

I really like Foul Gale; Darksteel Barrier's going to be functionally similar to Darksteel Myr most of the time though.

It's cards like Blow Your House Down that fill me with unreasonable ambition, I think. I just want to make a set with an Eldraine setting that has all of what I did like about Throne of Eldraine (the Arthurian elements, the original twists on fairytales, and Food) and none of the glaring things I did not (the lazier designs and flavor, and how slow Food made the Limited environment).

Of course in terms of full custom sets I really ought to just finish Mercadian Mysteries...

void_nothing wrote: ↑

3 years ago

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 12/26/20 is Blow Your House Down.

I feel like this card tries to do too much at the same time, it tries to be always useful. Foul Gale or another version of multitarget Deface would serve better to make this card more cohesive.
Or maybe if tapping would be allowed in red, then it could be formated similiary to Topple the Statue, with Walls instead of artifacts.
Eventually something along the lines of:

Wolf's Breath
Sorcery (C)
Destroy up to two target walls.
Draw a card.

Maybe? Cantrips are never bad in limited.

Speaking of limited, I like Eldraine because of slow limited. Food offers mana-sink for late game, but in face of aggro using it usually caused tempo loss, so it was beatable. And slower limited enviroment in my experiance is needed for more control-oriented decks to have a chance, because you can make reasonable aggro/mid-range using commons and good answers sit in uncommons.

Last thing to say about Blow Your House Down is that reasearches must indeed show that players love long names for cards. Or maybe we are slowly coming to shortage of good cards' names?

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 12/27/20 is Eye of Doom.

Note: not the blue moon of Mirrodin

For "Blow the House Down," the targeted creatures are the Three Little Pigs, not the Walls of the house. It should've probably been something like, "Destroy all Walls in play. Up to three target creatures can't block."

Eye of Doom has some simple politics, but you just *know* whoever cast it has a way of getting rid of counters (flickering, bouncing, etc.) -- so the only valid response in a multiplayer game is for each other player to choose a permanent controlled by the Eye's owner, which makes it pretty close to card disadvantage.

OneAndOnly wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Eye of Doom has some simple politics, but you just *know* whoever cast it has a way of getting rid of counters (flickering, bouncing, etc.) -- so the only valid response in a multiplayer game is for each other player to choose a permanent controlled by the Eye's owner, which múyakes it pretty close to card disadvantage.

I don't think that's true about the "only valid response". If the owner has has a bunch of elves and another opponent has a couple of 16/16 Nighthowlers with trample, my best move is to pick a Nighthowler if nobody else has already. Why on earth would I just try to spite the owner? We've got an actual threat to deal with together.

Eye of Doom has its time and place, just like you don't play Wrath of God when you have all the most powerful threats out.



Rider of Gloom 2{W/B}{W/B}
Creature — Skeleton Knight
When Rider of Gloom enters the battlefield, each player puts a doom counter on another nonland permanent of their choice that doesn't already have a doom counter on it.
Whenever Rider of Gloom attacks, destroy target permanent with a doom counter on it.
3/3

Speaking of which I'd like to give a positive callout to the often overlooked Hex for letting you destroy six of the worst things at once, but possibly also having to kill your own stuff to do it if there's not a whole six creatures you don't control.

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 1/1/21 is Sylvan Library.

Very powerful, very not green.

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 1/3/21 is Discontinuity.

Lacks the elegance of the classic but I appreciate the extra utility.

I like the get-out-of-jail aspect of Discontinuity: don't like the instant-speed sweeper someone just played? Don't like the thing you just triggered? Don't want to do that end-of-turn thing? Don't like how this combat's going? Hit the ejection seat for 1U. It's a nice blue contrast to Teferi's Protection.

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 1/4/21 is Carrion Howler.

I do have a soft spot for +N/-N abilities given the lenticularity with toughness boosting: This card gets enjoyably dumb with Slagwurm Armor and the like.

The MTGNexus Custom Card Creation Random Card of the Day for 1/5/21 is Chaos Orb.

What better card to riff on than one that would be unreprintable even without the Reserved List?

Looking at the old dexterity cards I can understand they were trying to be fun and interesting. But they fail so hard simply because it isn't fun or interesting to fail a simple dexterity check.