[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[DirkGently]

I still think it's good, but it's deck-dependent. If you're playing a pretty tap-out strategy you're probably better off playing something with a more streamlined CMC. Besides the "meta" kind of moving past it, though, the other issue is just that there are so many more 2cmc options than there used to be, so there's no shortage of comparably effects.

[JWK]

Split Second makes Krosan Grip still payable, but it has a lot of competition, I personally prefer removal that exiles, since so many players these days run plenty of ways to get things back from the graveyard. There is little worse than accepting the innate card disadvantage of single-target removal in a multi-player format, then having it compounded by having the same threat return the turn after you got rid of it.

[Mookie]

I'm not a fan of Krosan Grip. I know some people who swear by it, but... Three mana is a lot for a Naturalize effect, and I'm not convinced that split second is worth it. I'd pretty much always prefer Nature's Claim or Reclamation Sage - raw efficiency or synergy with the deck. It has some uses against stuff like Nevinyrral's Disk and certain combos, but.... that feels way too niche.

[Toshi]

i suspect Krosan Grip doesn't even break the top five anymore.

You could easily say that.

1. Nature's Claim|WWK
2. Return to Nature|WAR
3. Unravel the Aether/Deglamer
4. Wilt
5. Force of Vigor
6. Krosan Grip
7. Caustic Caterpillar
8. Reclamation Sage

At least in my meta artifact combos aren't prevalent/obnoxious enough that i need more than 4 options for removal.
Interestingly enough Return to Nature|WAR is the only somewhat new card that always gets included before it. The rest of my Top 3 just moved up in my evaluation over the past years and meta shifts.

[Sinis]

Saturday, October 3rd, 2020; Krosan Grip

Everyone's fave 3cmc naturalize. This should be a good discussion day, I'm of the opinion the format has evolved to such a point that paying three for this effect is too much if I'm not cantripping. We all know Nature's Claim is superiour, and i suspect K-Grip doesn't even break the top five anymore.

Discuss!

Ehh. For me, this occupies a special place in a meta. It's when the meta isn't cEDH, but is willing to play game-deciding cards that you have trouble interacting with. The poster child for this kind of card (for me) is Greater Good. If your opponent has some big stompy guys, expects a wipe and they table greater good, you're stuck in this double bind where they're just going to draw a billion cards and you're going to be screwed in the long run if you try and leverage an answer to either the creatures or Greater Good.

Krosan Grip prevents hedging against a wipe, removal, or combat math. For that reason, I will still run it when the wind blows a particular way in my group, but, the rest of the time you're right, the split second hardly matters and I'd rather cantrip or play something more efficient/synergistic.

There are other 'hedge' artifacts and enchantments that people play that I'd use Krosan Grip for (Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk, Pernicious Deed, Aetherflux Reservoir, etc. but, it won't do anything against Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar).

[Dunharrow]

To me, Split Second and uncounterable spells have the same role - spells I am willing to pay more for because I don't want them countered.
For example, I use Counterflux in a couple decks where I want to make sure my counterspell can protect me.

I used to run Sudden Death to kill Laboratory Maniac when my meta had a lot of labman decks.

So for me, Grip is for a meta where someone likes to hide behind something like Solitary Confinement or Greater Auramancy.
I just don't see running it outside of a niche meta.

[toctheyounger]

Split second is a brilliantly good mechanic. This is pretty niche now, but if your meta is even slightly combo heavy it would probably serve you well. Aetherflux Reservoir is a pretty common finisher, and its not easy to interact with. Just sayin.

[3drinks]

Split second is a brilliantly good mechanic. This is pretty niche now, but if your meta is even slightly combo heavy it would probably serve you well. Aetherflux Reservoir is a pretty common finisher, and its not easy to interact with. Just sayin.

Binding their reservoir is an even more hilarious response though 👀

[toctheyounger]

Split second is a brilliantly good mechanic. This is pretty niche now, but if your meta is even slightly combo heavy it would probably serve you well. Aetherflux Reservoir is a pretty common finisher, and its not easy to interact with. Just sayin.

Binding their reservoir is an even more hilarious response though 👀

Ooh that is spicy. I would also have accepted Voidmage Husher, but I guess then were in Simic abd I'm not the biggest fan of that blend.

[cheonice]

Krosan Grip used to be the removal spell of my choice, but alas... with the dawn of "My-creatures-are-my-spells-now" it has become significantly worse.

[3drinks]

Sunday, October 4th, 2020; Loxodon Hierarch

What a front loaded, aggressively costed 4/4 for four. Relevant etb (that's an extra sylvan lib activation!) and built in wrath protection. Functions kinda like a flagbearer because you can't remove anything else until you deal with it.

I miss the old flagbearers, tbh.

[Sinis]

Sunday, October 4th, 2020; Loxodon Hierarch

I love this guy. It's in my Rienne, Angel of Rebirth deck (eff yeah, multicoloured creature with powerful sac ability), and before that, it earned a slot in my Niv-Mizzet Reborn pile. I very frequently play this guy alongside Dauntless Escort.

[DirkGently]

It's not a walking dead card, so 10/10.

Damn, it's really hard to think about anything else right now. I guess it's fine but that mana cost on activation is a fair bit to leave open if you're playing to the board, plus regen doesn't protect against a lot of stuff. Vastly prefer the sac: team indestructible variants (there's the GW 3/3 for 3, and the 2/1 white flyer off the top of my head) at least in terms of being far more effective. In terms of interesting gameplay I like the tension of baiting the player into tapping out so you can get around this guy, but I do tend to choose the nuts-and-bolts cards in my decks around efficacy more than what's enjoyable (although I try to make the overall goal of the deck something interesting).

[pokken]

Kinda...superseded pretty hard by Selfless Spirit for the most part. Except in things that care about multicolored stuff.

I don't like these effects because they telegraph really hard. I'd rather play Eerie Interlude (to blow them out) or Reveillark (for rebuilding after).

Playing this effect in most of my metas usually means people collude to kill your protection before they wrath. If I'm goin to play it it'll be only spirit since it's so cheap.

The regeneration ignoring clauses that abound and the proliferation of exile/sacrifice/bounce sweepers makes it even more questionable.

I don't even play destroy sweepers outside of Hour of Revelation anymore for the most part. So you'll eat Winds of Abandon or Living Death from me and this guy will be kinda medium.

[Mookie]

Loxodon Hierarch is cool, but I don't think that EDH is the best format for it. A 4/4 for 4 that gains 4 life is a fantastic limited card and solid Standard card, but in EDH, I'm not as impressed. It does do a solid job as a rattlesnake to ward off board wipes if you're running a creature-heavy deck, since your opponents generally won't cast them until this is dealt with.... however, that also means your opponents can play around this much easier than a surprise like Heroic Intervention. Having to keep mana open to activate it is also a pain - I'll generally value the free activation cost of Selfless Spirit and Dauntless Escort more highly. I don't think that the distinction between regenerate vs indestructible is that significant - I find it somewhat rare for people to play actual Wrath of God or other 'can't be regenerated' cards - but that is another downside.

[JWK]

I like this card okay, but as others have noted, it's mostly been superceded by newer, more cost-effective cards. Four life doesn't suck, but it's not a reason to play a card. If a 4/4 body is relevant, you are probably winning. As wrath protection goes, it's obvious and over-priced, and white has piles of CMC 3 "give your dudes indestructible" effects with various extra bells and whistles that don't shout out to your opponents "make sure to cast Path before you Wrath."

Kind of interesting timing on this one being the card of the day, really. I still play it in one deck (Anafenza), mostly for old-time's sake, but earlier today I was debating whether to switch it out for something else, perhaps Golgari Charm or Wrap in Vigor, as I already run Selfless Spirit, Make a Stand and Unbreakable Formation in tons of decks and I like to mix things up more than that. I still haven't decided one way or another on that change.

[umtiger]

I like Hierarch. Can we call it that still? Or has Noble Hierarch taken that name, but it's called noble, so I guess the elephant can keep it.

It would definitely still get played in unified Ravnica constructed EDH format. But nowadays probably not anywhere else.

Is it "WoG protection" really though since WoG says bury? I think Damnation was a standard staple along with the elephant. It definitely isn't WoG protection anymore in edh.

[JWK]

The old term, Bury, means "can't be regenerated," so in fact Hierarch is not protection against the original Wrath, or Damnation or any other wrath effect with the "can't' be regenerated" wording. Nor does it protect against exile effects, of course. But most Wrath effects these days don't include that particular wording, and Heirarch does protect against them.

[3drinks]

Monday, October 5th, 2020; Ingot Chewer

The only time a five cmc 3/3 became a Vintage allstar. Suck it, Chalice of the Void!

[Hawk]

I love Evoke. I run Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter way more than I should, and I know I still have some decks with Spitebellows and Cloudthresher. The flexibility is awesome - you get a cheap effect early, or a flickerable/recurrable body later. It's especially great in any deck that wants its stuff dead.

And with all that said, I still find myself not running Ingot Chewer terribly often. I think I'm currently playing one exactly in my wife's Grusilda, Monster Masher deck where the dead body really does matter.

Artifact destruction occupies a weird spot for me. Every deck needs to run a little to prevent people from running away with the game using stuff like Skullclamp or Trading Post or to nuke boots to remove hard targets. But too much and I find it molders especially since targeting Sol Rings and Signets early tends to elicit a lot of feel-bads which I avoid since my playgroup is 90% family. As a result, in mono-red I'm hard pressed to run more than Vandalblast or Shattering Spree for the raw end-game power (and, again, high flexibility and efficiency) they provide - after that I tend to like the flexibility of a Chaos Warp or an Abrade which are instants and can hit more stuff. I'd also value instant-speed high enough to look at Mogg Salvage, Smash to Smithereens, and even Smelt in the average deck.

If I did want this effect on a body in a Red or Rakdos deck though (as Grusilda does), this is one of the best cards for the job with only Viashino Heretic as real competition (or Goblin Trashmaster for Goblin tribal). I'll take the option to cast this for just R every day of the week over stuff like Manic Vandal and Tuktuk Scrapper.

[Dunharrow]

I run it in Marchesa, the Black Rose since there are so many synergies - whether it is trigger Grave Pact or getting a +1/+1 counter for a 1 -mana 3/3 that breaks two artifacts, or just being a shatter than can be easily reanimated.

I would play it also in Vial Smasher the Fierce and Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder where playing a 5 cmc card for 1 mana can do a lot of work.

[Sinis]

Monday, October 5th, 2020; Ingot Chewer

I used to play it semi-frequently, but, it's mostly lost the slot to competing effects. Generally, I play Shenanigans over it because it's basically on-demand. I think I'd still play this in a deck that did mass rez things, or Elemental Tribal, but beyond that, I don't see enough Chalice to really want to play it even over Embereth Shieldbreaker // Battle Display.

[Mookie]

Ingot Chewer is an interesting card, but also pretty niche. Red has a lot of strong Shatter effects available - Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, Viashino Heretic, etc. In a vacuum, I think that Ingot Chewer compares pretty unfavorably to the other options. Sorcery speed, only hits one target, not repeatable.... It does have the marginal upside of being a 5 mana 3/3, but.... that's pretty negligible most of the time. As a result, I'd generally only play Ingot Chewer if I had some synergies for it - either Elemental tribal synergies, or ways to benefit from the death trigger. Cloudshift effects to blink it before it sacrifices itself can also work. Alternatively, it can work if you care about high CMC spells with cost reduction.

I could see it being run in Feldon of the Third Path or Horde of Notions. I've contemplated it for my Animar, Soul of Elements deck, but it has access to too many Reclamation Sage effects to want something more narrow.

[3drinks]

Monday, October 5th, 2020; Ingot Chewer

I used to play it semi-frequently, but, it's mostly lost the slot to competing effects. Generally, I play Shenanigans over it because it's basically on-demand. I think I'd still play this in a deck that did mass rez things, or Elemental Tribal, but beyond that, I don't see enough Chalice to really want to play it even over Embereth Shieldbreaker // Battle Display.

This is about where the 'Chewer got ousted from Kari Zev too. Shieldbreaker is just a bit better to leave a clampable body in the dust of a shattered artifact.

[onering]

Ingot Chewer has very much not been outclassed. There are better cards for just removing artifacts, and Shieldbreaker is better in aggro, but Evoke is such a great mechanic the Ingot Chewer is still great. It just has so much potential for abuse and synergy, and so many decks that want what its selling. 1 mana to blow an artifact and get a purph trigger, or sacrifice to something (hell, Ashnod's alter basically makes it a ritual that blows up an artifact!), and leaves you with the ability to reanimate it to cap another artifact AND have a 3/3 body to use for something. Compare it to the other cheap artifact removal spells, and its a 1 mana shatter that has a 3/3 enter the battlefield, die, then sit in the yard, and you can reap value from all 3 of those things, and in many decks all of them at once. Vandalblast is awesome. Shattering spree is really good. Shenanigans is comparable, and only better if you either actively want the dredge or have no way to take advantage of any aspect of the creature side of it. Viashano Heretic has a great deal more potential upside, popping an artifact every turn is nice and being able to blow up high CMC artifacts for a lot of damage is cool, but its a 5 mana investment before it works even once, you need haste or waiting a turn round to use it (so it can die before it does anything), a lot of what you blow up is low cmc so the damage is negligible, and how often do you actually get more than 2-3 activations from this dude that actually matter outside of playing a dedicated artifact deck that somehow cannot answer him over several turns? Ingot Chewer is a turn 1 play that blows up Sol Rings and Mana Crypts, screwing up their pilots plans, and a mid game value trick when paired with synergies. Its rarely dead, highly flexible, and easily abused. I've yet to draw it and be disappointed that I included it in my deck. I've drawn it and had it not be the card I wanted, but only in the sense that I drew it too late.