[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[tstorm823]

Just uhh.....don't get me started on the differences between this and bands with others 🙄

These are crap. Banding lands for life!

[Sinis]

Ohmygod yes, %$#% yes! Banding my guys! The most egregiously busted combat ability of all time yet that only 2% of the population knows how tf it's supposed to work! The ability I designed Trynn & Silvar around because the nightmare kitty really does like friends (before he eats them at least ).

Gonna get the band back together, eh? EH?!

[Ginuqu]

I've made at least a hundred different creatures wear the Helm of Chatzuk over decades of strange casual decking. it's just one of the best ways of dissuading combat. Defensive Formation is even more depressing than the Helm, though. I think I have at least twelve copies of each card!

[onering]

In Horobi, Helm is 1, tap: destroy target creature, and baton is 2: destroy target creature. So yeah, they're both sweet with that demon.

Banding is actually pretty good though. My crap cube makes good use of banding creatures and they over perform. The only issues with the mechanic are the weakness of the creatures themselves (they're all limited chaff tier) and the complexity of the mechanic. What it does is actually pretty simple in concept, but a %$#% to spell out. These cards that grant banding show how strong the ability actually is, because you can give it to good creatures.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020; Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort

It only took about fifteen years to rival Kjeldoran Outpost, and it's still more conditional than the OG. I'd not bat an eye to see it across the table though.

[Dunharrow]

I think this card is pretty easy to include in most token decks. You are almost guaranteed to flip it, ramping you and giving you a mana sink. I really like the design of this card. I doubt I would ever use a removal spell on it, but I think it is completely worthwhile at 1 mana.

[JWK]

It's been fine in my Edgar Markov deck, which isn't one of the super-optimized versions but which is nonetheless pretty strong because Edgar is Edgar. It would probably be fine in any number of token decks that include white, or in WB lifegain decks. I imagine it is probably good in some Teysa builds.

[not-a-cube]

I've played this quite a bit in my aggro Queen Marchesa deck and it's fine, mostly as a ramp spell tbh.

[onering]

I've played this quite a bit in my aggro Queen Marchesa deck and it's fine, mostly as a ramp spell tbh.

This is on point. Its a mono white ramp spell, for 1 mana that ramps 1 mana. It's conditional, but gives you a 1/1 lifelinker to help meet the condition, which depending on the deck can already be rather easy to meet, and then later is a mana sink that makes dudes.

Basically, if you can run the white hideaway land, you can, and probably should, run this.

[Mookie]

Not having thoughts on the banding cards was accidental... but I also would have refused to comment on them on principle if I had noticed they were the card of the day.

Anyway, I'm running Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort in my Teysa deck, but I unfortunately haven't gotten to really test it out yet. Still, I think that if you're able to flip it consistently, it should be very good. A one mana Rampant Growth in white is... really, really good, given that it otherwise has almost no ramp available. Throw in a free 1/1 token and a repeatable token producer / mana sink, and it's quite impressive. There are also a few other incidental upsides - an extra permanent for Smokestack, an enchantment for any enchantress effects, being legendary for Thalia's Lancers, etc.

That said, if you're not able to flip it consistently, just getting a 1/1 token is pretty underwhelming. I'm not currently running Windbrisk Heights in Teysa because I don't expect to be able to flip it consistently enough.... on the other hand, I was also running Emeria, the Sky Ruin until recently and thus needed to run a lot of basic Plains. Perhaps I should reexamine that evaluation? Hmmm.... I do still think it is somewhat difficult for me to have three attackers consistently, but the opportunity cost is still fairly low. Legion's Landing coming with a token to flip itself does make it significantly easier to flip though, and coming in untapped is also pretty nice.

[3drinks]

Why would you refuse to comment on the banding cards @Mookie?

[Mookie]

Why would you refuse to comment on the banding cards @Mookie?

Because in my old playgroup, every mention of banding resulted in a ~20 minute discussion of banding rules and how 'they're actually not that bad, really'.

....or so I believe. I started repressing memories at some point.

[3drinks]

Thursday, September 24th, 2020; The Magic Mirror

...............

[3drinks]

Why would you refuse to comment on the banding cards @Mookie?

Because in my old playgroup, every mention of banding resulted in a ~20 minute discussion of banding rules and how 'they're actually not that bad, really'.

....or so I believe. I started repressing memories at some point.

That's rather unfortunate. It's such a powerful mechanic to lose out on.

[Toshi]

The Magic Mirror

How is this a $3 card!?
With the effort to "cheat" it out early you can do a lot better and broken things and the pay-off is slow.
Even if "no maximum hand size" wouldn't be one of the most overrated wordings in EDH, there are plenty of more accessible/tutorable ways to achiveve it.
As far as i am concerned it's a glorified Mind Unbound...

[Serenade]

I used Mirrormade to copy it once. That was neat.

[BounceBurnBuff]

About the only deck I'd consider Mirror for is Saheeli, the Gifted. Red gives you access to the cheaty Goblins and Daretti, but Saheeli by herself could reduce this to with ease. The payoff wouldn't be the most spectacular thing in a deck that already concedes to Vandalblast, but it would keep the hand full.

[Mookie]

That's rather unfortunate. It's such a powerful mechanic to lose out on.

<cue dramatic lightning> <dramatic flashback> <wolf howls in background>

Anyway, The Magic Mirror is sweet. Honestly, I'm a huge fan of the entire cycle. I've tested out Mind Unbound in the past and found it to be way too slow... but when you throw on some cost reduction, it functions way better. No maximum hand size isn't necessarily the most valuable line of text, but it does save the mental burden of figuring out which cards to discard at end of turn. It also stings way less when your three mana do-nothing permanent gets blown up, compared to a six mana do-nothing permanent. I threw it in a couple of decks, although I unfortunately haven't played with it enough to have a concrete verdict yet.

Amusingly, I'm currently running it in my Sharuum deck as a reanimation target, since that deck is otherwise relatively light on instants / sorceries to reduce its cost. That said, pitching it to Artificer's Intuition / Trading Post and reanimating it with Sharuum feels really nice. I should probably be running Bolas's Citadel in its place, but I unfortunately haven't had to test that change yet. It's also very amusing to see my opponents be terrified of me getting some spooky reanimation target when I intentionally discard to hand size... only to get a durdly draw engine instead. It's not a bad way to defuse some tension, while Citadel... very much is. (and yes, I'm aware of the mild anti-synergy between no maximum hand size and Sharuum)

Anyway, it's certainly on the slower side, but I think it's worth consideration if you can consistently get it down to 4-5 mana (or cheat it out). It does need to be in a somewhat slower meta though.

[3drinks]

I used Mirrormade to copy it once. That was neat.

...it's legendary. How's that workin' for you? /Dr Phil voice

[Serenade]

Not mine! So very well!

[JWK]

I haven't run this one yet. I have considered running it in Sharuum or in one of my two decks which include Saheeli, the Gifted (Jhoira and Brudiclad), but all of those decks have so many things they can run that this has never made the cut. It just strikes me as too slow to bother with. I am having a hard time imagining any deck in which I would consider running this that wouldn't be better served by Teferi's Ageless Insight.

[Sinis]

Thursday, September 24th, 2020; The Magic Mirror
...............

I have a foil because I have a thing for foils of cards that are at least conceptually mirrors.

Never played it though. I just haven't made that combination of self-mill spell-heavy yet, though I have a nascent list in a google doc with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy // Jace, Telepath Unbound at the helm.

Very interested to hear how it's working out for other people.

[Hawk]

I've never been intrigued enough to try this. Mind Unbound + Spellbook for nine is pretty expensive. I'd need to reliably be casting this for 2UUU to feel really good about it, and the number of decks that are dense enough on instants and sorceries to do that but still need a draw engine feels like a pretty small thing. It's hard for me to imagine running this outside of a mono-blue spellslinger deck or maybe an Izzet artifact deck like Saheeli mentioned.

[Sinis]

I've never been intrigued enough to try this. Mind Unbound + Spellbook for nine is pretty expensive. I'd need to reliably be casting this for 2UUU to feel really good about it, and the number of decks that are dense enough on instants and sorceries to do that but still need a draw engine feels like a pretty small thing. It's hard for me to imagine running this outside of a mono-blue spellslinger deck or maybe an Izzet artifact deck like Saheeli mentioned.

You're not wrong. I think it has a home in Jace, Vryn's Prodigy/Jace, Telepath Unbound. You're looting early, maybe trying to load your graveyard with other cards to flip, and you can use Jace's -3 to flash back Argivian Restoration if you mill it... I don't know, I'm just spitballing; longshots can be fun.

But, I think paying more than 4-5 for it would make it bad, unless the game goes more than a 3 more turns.

[3drinks]

I'd need to be on a Welder deck tbh. And if you ain't down with that, at least I'm not welding a winter orb in and out?