[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Rishkar, Peema Renegade

[DirkGently]

I don't love the combo of "can't be countered, can't be killed, generates a ton of card advantage"

That said I don't see it that much tbh, and when it does show up it hasn't generally been a game-ender. I guess the power level has just escalated enough that he's merely decent. Since we've been talking about olden days in other threads, it's funny to think that Morphling used to be gold standard for blue finishers. Nezahal sure makes morphy look like a joke, and he's still way down the list of played blue creatures.

[JWK]

I run Nezahal in my Aesi sea monster tribal deck, one of the carry-overs from the precon. It's been good there but not exactly amazing, and I can't really imagine many other builds that would want it. I suppose if you built a deck around Nez as the commander, making it unblockable and so forth, but it would probably not be among the top 10 blue options even then.

[Serenade]

I love it in my Nin deck. However, I still need to try out Charix and Body of Knowledge as cheaper-to-cast alternatives. I feel like the latter might usurp it, but that last ability on Nezzy is pretty slippery.

[pokken]

I like it a lot as a quite a bit fairer more resilient C-sphinx. Fun in bomb decks.

[onering]

It's plenty good, but as a 7 drop that doesn't win the game on its own it's just not broken. I've seen it, and had it, do great work. A solid body that can't be countered and is very hard to kill, and can generate some nice CA via draw, and gives you no max hand size to boot.great in on theme decks and decks looking for bombs, but not an auto include. I think overall this hits the sweet spot of what a mythic should be, especially one that spouts out resources. It's obviously powerful, hard to deal with, and can spout a ton of resource advantage, but it can't just slot into every deck, there's a real cost to protecting it which means that it can actually be dealt with, and it's resource fountain isn't totally reliable and relies on what the opponent is doing so you can't rely on his presence making the game degenerate into a one sided resource acquisition bore fest. He has all the right rewards coupled with all the right constraints, and is correctly costed. He just competes with broken design mistakes like Con Sphinx.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Random, or...

(She played Frances Sinclair on Dinosaurs, for the unfamiliar. Kind of a depressing ending.)

I like this cycle. Also, the cycle of suns. Oh, yeah, Nahua ("Aztec" is a nineteenth century term no one would've heard of the 16th century, but it was catchy.) myth has these guys in it. Well, they're more anthropomorphic. This is the fourth sun, Chalchihuitlicue, who drowns the world, leading to Tonatiuh. (Look at the flavor text, for how the fifth world will end. Also, the "primal hunger" could reference how he needs a constant supply of human hearts, and even his ascent required he burn himself and all the other gods be sacrificed; they get better.)

Tetzimoc is the only one I never liked, and mostly because the ability is just so bad, and a 6/6 with deathtouch is bad.

[Mookie]

Nezahal, Primal Tide is a lot of fun. It costs 7 mana and doesn't have an ETB effect, but still generally feels worth it.... which is pretty rare. Draws cards, protects itself, and acts as a chonky beater. It also can't be countered, which makes it even more difficult for blue-based control decks to deal with. The protection ability does cost a lot of cards... but given how many cards Nezahal can draw, you're generally willing to pay that cost. It's extremely rare for me to play Nezahal and be disappointed. Worst-case scenario, an opponent throws a removal spell at it and you draw a card, which isn't bad.

[RadiantSophia]

Plesiosaur please, please keep pleasing me.
This card is fair (I don't mean "mediocre", I mean "without unjust advantage"). If you play with a fair playgroup, I could see it seeing a lot of play. I guess it depends of your meta. I've never played with it 'cause mine is still in it's package (Commander Legends decks), 'cause, you know, worldwide plague and all. Will I play it? I don't know. Does it fit in Arixmethes? It isn't really a sea monster (kraken, leviathan, octopus, or serpent) it is a dinosaur...

..I guess it is also an Elder, and you should obay your elders.

End transmission.

[3drinks]

Monday, March 29th, 2021; Despotic Scepter

[Sinis]

Monday, March 29th, 2021; Despotic Scepter

It's the weirdest sac outlet! I remember when this was part of a competitive deck; Turbo Stasis!

I think it's playable in EDH as a sac outlet for non-creatures, but I think you'd need a really good reason to run it over other options. I've considered it for Emry, Lurker of the Loch, since I sometimes want to sacrifice artifacts, and it being an artifact itself has synergy.

[Outcryqq]

I missed yesterday's discussion on Nezahal, Primal Tide: I love the card in EDH (not super competitive), it's a bomb, it's fun, I have it in a few decks.

Today's deck, Despotic Scepter, I'm not a big fan of the card, though it had some competitive uses early on that I had no clue about. There are generally better sac outlets for any permanent type, Claws of Gix is probably better in most cases.

[Hawk]

This card is powerfully nostalgic for me even though I've never played it, because once upon a time in the days of MTGNews I modded the casual forum. There was this dude who got so salty every time his Despotic Scepter + Hunted Horror legacy beatdown deck got booted from Legacy (or Extended or whatever-we-called-it in 2005/2006) to the Casual subforum. We struck up a good internet back-and-forth though, and spent lots of time talking and to hone that idea into something competitive. Fun times.

I'd sing this card's praises for that sort of quirky interaction, but the M10 rules update killed it; as of around then tokens are "owned" by the person who controlled them as the EtB, not by the person who owns the effect creating them - WotC's attempt to make cards like Warp World and Brand + Forbidden Orchard "more intuitive" killed the little dream that dude on MTGNews' dreamed, and removed a very niche but funny effect of this card.

In EDH, in 2021, there are generally better sacrifice outlets out there. This isn't technically sacrifice, which doesn't matter for Blood Artist and many other effects, but really matters for Korvold, Fae-Cursed King or Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. It is zero mana activation but only once per turn - you can get that out of a land slot with a shot of life from High Market, or more likely you'll pay just a bit more for an Altar (or maybe you're in black with Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder or Goblin Bombardment ? Even in colors not known for their rock-star sacrifice outlets, you have hidden gems like Martyr's Cause.

It is still notable in that very little allows you to "sacrifice a permanent" or free up your Commander or other cards from a thievery effect later, when you draw this or when it is opportune to do so. I can see some weird versions of Zedruu the Greathearted or decks built around dangerous enchantments like Demonic Pact running this as an extra safety valve just to surprise people. But it's more cute than good even there I imagine.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Weird card for the time. I'm diggin the evil overlord flavor. ("Apology, accepted, Captain.") But Claws of Gix exists, and I can legitimately sacrifice a permanent (like an Ordeal) with it.

[Hermes_]

I miss that old rusted look for artifacts *sniffle*

[Mookie]

Despotic Scepter is a weird card. If you want to blow up a stolen commander or a card you've Donate'd away, there aren't many substitutes, which means this is somewhat playable in Zedruu the Greathearted decks. Otherwise, I'd usually stick with Claws of Gix or a more specialized sac outlet. Maybe also playable in Blim, Comedic Genius decks so you don't die to your own nonsense?

[folding_music]

I've run Despotic Specter in olden times and as protest against Ashnod's Altar being hopelessly broken :3 plus I'm a die hard Artificer's Intuition nerd so artifacts that cost one just trip immediately into my collection. You can also use this to kill your own Melira. if you like. giggle

[onering]

I miss that old rusted look for artifacts *sniffle*

Old frames generally. Timespiral Remastered has as its special timeshifted cards a bunch of newer cards that never had an old frame printing getting an old frame printing for the first time, and they look amazing. Cards whose art was designed for the new frames, whose art window is slightly larger, and artifacts designed with the new frame in mind, and they still look better in the old frames. Hell, I'll go as far to say that not only are the old frames better than the new ones, they're better than most of the showcase art and "expeditions/inventions" frames. Hell, even artifacts that are sleek or futuristic in their artwork look better in the old brown frames. The old frames were just better, they had more style and personality, made the colors pop more, looked so awesome in foil, and added this extra layer of fantasy and character to the game rather than the homogeneity the art direction has been lurching to for so long.

[Hermes_]

I miss that old rusted look for artifacts *sniffle*

Old frames generally. Timespiral Remastered has as its special timeshifted cards a bunch of newer cards that never had an old frame printing getting an old frame printing for the first time, and they look amazing. Cards whose art was designed for the new frames, whose art window is slightly larger, and artifacts designed with the new frame in mind, and they still look better in the old frames. Hell, I'll go as far to say that not only are the old frames better than the new ones, they're better than most of the showcase art and "expeditions/inventions" frames. Hell, even artifacts that are sleek or futuristic in their artwork look better in the old brown frames. The old frames were just better, they had more style and personality, made the colors pop more, looked so awesome in foil, and added this extra layer of fantasy and character to the game rather than the homogeneity the art direction has been lurching to for so long.

For me, the old rusted look makes me think artifact because it looks old and rusted if that makes any sense

[3drinks]

I miss that old rusted look for artifacts *sniffle*

Old frames generally. Timespiral Remastered has as its special timeshifted cards a bunch of newer cards that never had an old frame printing getting an old frame printing for the first time, and they look amazing. Cards whose art was designed for the new frames, whose art window is slightly larger, and artifacts designed with the new frame in mind, and they still look better in the old frames. Hell, I'll go as far to say that not only are the old frames better than the new ones, they're better than most of the showcase art and "expeditions/inventions" frames. Hell, even artifacts that are sleek or futuristic in their artwork look better in the old brown frames. The old frames were just better, they had more style and personality, made the colors pop more, looked so awesome in foil, and added this extra layer of fantasy and character to the game rather than the homogeneity the art direction has been lurching to for so long.

Why do you think I keep a WB deck around in spite of this being outside my wedge? Hell I'm probably just going to do all my cards with MPCautofill just so I can get old frames on them. Hmm, I could get a Korvold done in old frame too instead of WB'd new frame. Plus, I'd get that baller ass old multicolour frame.

Really gonna need someone to upload a Traxos like that to their drives though...

[Dunharrow]

Oh man this would have been perfect for the Glissa, the Traitor deck I started building 9 years ago and never finished (cards still put aside in a box). I had trouble coming up with ways to sac my artifacts. Claws of Gix and Reprocess were the best options at the time. I wish I knew this one!
Now we have way more options so not sure it goes in.

[onering]

Oh man this would have been perfect for the Glissa, the Traitor deck I started building 9 years ago and never finished (cards still put aside in a box). I had trouble coming up with ways to sac my artifacts. Claws of Gix and Reprocess were the best options at the time. I wish I knew this one!
Now we have way more options so not sure it goes in.

Yeah, it has value as redundancy, and cheap redundancy at that, but its once per turn and gives no other value. There are still very few cards that can "sac" any permanent type, fewer still that can do so repeatedly, and even fewer still that can go in any deck. Only Claws of Gix actually sacrifices, and other than this I'm not sure what else does the impression so cheap that can land in any deck. Once you don't care about being able to sac any permanent type, and just have one or two in mind, then the competition heats up. Creatures are out, just too many better options, same for artifacts now, and even enchantments. Lands as well. That leaves Planeswalkers, which you don't want to sacrifice. So you really need to care about hitting every type, or at least 3, for this to be worthwhile. Like you need something to get rid of creatures, artifacts, and enchantments you control for cheap, and you already run Claws of Gix.

Its a bit more interesting as bad anti theft hate, which would only be useful if you constantly run into a lot of theft effects on the regular, as it has an advantage over sacrifice effects in that you don't need it out to respond to the theft effect and can use it later once the permanent is already stolen. It also lets you just ignore the stolen permanent if its a beater so long as its not pointed at you. Its best application is in a gifts deck, either policing your opponents to make sure they don't use your gifts against you, as a way to remove the gifts when you're ready to go for the kill, or to blow up dangerous gifts like Delusions of Grandeur that do something bad when they die. That last application actually does need to hit multiple permanent types because those effects are spread between creatures, artifacts, and enchantments. Rakdos has few other ways to kill a Nefarious Lich you gifted an opponent after all, and the effect being cheap and repeatable matters even for creatures and enchantments you donate. Very niche, but I think this is a card that will see its day come again, as more potential targets get printed for it to kill.

[BeneTleilax]

Outside of Korvold, who's so generically gross he allows basically anything, how often do you want omnivous sac outlets? Generally I see creature sac for recursion and death triggers, artifact and land sac for specific synergies and combos, and enchantment sac in Ghen.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, March 30th, 2021: Shriekmaw|tsr

It may not be cool to say, but dammit I believe this lil guy is still just as playable as ever, with added upside in the Karadors and Merens of the world. Don't @ me.

[3drinks]

Like this, @onering

SPOILER

Show

Hide

The borders are fatter in preview than they actually are in print (which is actual size). He looks incredible in this.

I miss that old rusted look for artifacts *sniffle*

Old frames generally. Timespiral Remastered has as its special timeshifted cards a bunch of newer cards that never had an old frame printing getting an old frame printing for the first time, and they look amazing. Cards whose art was designed for the new frames, whose art window is slightly larger, and artifacts designed with the new frame in mind, and they still look better in the old frames. Hell, I'll go as far to say that not only are the old frames better than the new ones, they're better than most of the showcase art and "expeditions/inventions" frames. Hell, even artifacts that are sleek or futuristic in their artwork look better in the old brown frames. The old frames were just better, they had more style and personality, made the colors pop more, looked so awesome in foil, and added this extra layer of fantasy and character to the game rather than the homogeneity the art direction has been lurching to for so long.

Why do you think I keep a WB deck around in spite of this being outside my wedge? Hell I'm probably just going to do all my cards with MPCautofill just so I can get old frames on them. Hmm, I could get a Korvold done in old frame too instead of WB'd new frame. Plus, I'd get that baller ass old multicolour frame.

Really gonna need someone to upload a Traxos like that to their drives though...

[pokken]

I have lost games to it having Fear (yes games plural, and yes in EDH, though I won some in modern)

I love me some evoke in general, just does a lot of things I like to do. I wish that Grave Pact.dec hadn't gotten so tired as I loved this guy in there.