[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[Sinis]

Tuesday, March 30th, 2021: Shriekmaw|tsr

Love it. Despite being sorcery speed, and not hitting some of the more played creatures with significant bodies in the format, I think Shriekmaw is still worth playing because of the shenanigans it easily fits into. I should probably pick up some of old frame ones, given how much I like the card.

[Hawk]

Shriekmaw is one of my favorite black creatures of all time, and still a near-auto-include in most decks. I know it misses a lot of targets. I know it's less efficient than Ravenous Chupacabra or arguably Murderous Rider // Swift End if you actually want your body to stick around. I know that Bone Shredder and Big Game Hunter plays better with some synergies like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. I know for a little more mana I can get a better brawling body and better targeting off of Noxious Gearhulk or Patron of the Vein. I know that "instant or get out" is the prevailing attitude towards removal and that I "should" be running any number of more efficient black instants as my kill cards of choice. I am aware of all of these things, no need to @ me either .

But Shriekmaw still wins to me, partly because I bought like two or three boxes of Lorwyn so I have tons of copies (one foil) and partly because it has a sort of flexibility that some of the above don't. None of those above can immediately trigger Grave Pact and its ilk, and none of the above can be cast for just two mana if I'm constrained or mana screwed. This won't always kill the biggest threat, but it will almost always have a target and be incredible value and I think all but the most extreme of tribal or cEDH lists can benefit from this little weird bird-elemental-nightmare thing.

[FenrirRex]

Shriekmaw is still one of my favorite cards- I love etb effects and removal stapled to a creature, with the option to cast it as Terror if you need it, is just great fun. One of my favorite casual decks was just swamps.dek with this guy regularly Fear-wielding Nightmare Lash for the win. He isn't as good as he used to be, as more and more back breaking threats have black in their identity, but I still can't bring myself to remove him from my Karador deck.

[onering]

Once upon a time this and Mulldrifter were all stars. Time has not been kind to either, but Shriekmaw, once the lesser of the pair, has aged better than Mulldrifter, just because of how much easier it is for black to leverage the gy and sacrificing creatures. For both, the evoke cost was generally what was paid, but now you need to usually be getting more than just their effect out of it to be useful. Two card for 2U isn't worth it anymore, neither is sorcery speed terror. But being able to benefit from a creature ETBing or dying, being able to sacrifice the creature to an effect for value rather than to its own evoke cost, being able to recur or blink the creature all help a lot. Blue has blink but it usually requires Mully to have had its full cost paid, and is usually only present in dedicated decks, whereas black's recursion wants you to evoke it and is present in many black decks not built around recursion specifically, as are black sacrifice effects and etb/dies effects. Even the old school "combo" of this and Phyrexian Reclamation is still sort of good, letting you kill non black non artifact creatures indefinitely for 2BB and 2 life a pop, all while triggering any relevant effects you might have (hi Syr Konrad).

[Mookie]

Shriekmaw is fine. It's a sorcery speed, conditional removal spell - @Hawk ran the numbers a while ago and found it only hit ~57% of commonly played creatures in the format. Crucially, nonblack means it misses a lot of commanders, since those tend to be multicolor. When you compare it to Ravenous Chupacabra and other unconditional effects, it looks pretty bad.

That said, while it isn't amazing as a pure removal spell, Shriekmaw does have a lot of additional upside - evoke is a fantastic mechanic. If you have a flicker effect, you can keep it around after evoking. Alternatively, let it die to trigger sacrifice synergies, then recur it easily because it's a creature. It also has fear, so it's good at carrying swords and other equipment.

In general, I don't think I'd run it as a removal spell... but if I have a synergistic commander like Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, it's certainly worth consideration.

[Dunharrow]

@Mookie it is also really good with Ninjas since it has evasion. I have Ninja of the Deep Hoursed a shriekmaw many times!!

[Hawk]

@Mookie it is also really good with Ninjas since it has evasion. I have Ninja of the Deep Hoursed a shriekmaw many times!!

Ninjas also appreciate because many builds, including my own, are really land and mana light and Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow cares about the CMC...I mean, Mana Value, of your cards. So this is a possible 2-drop that looks like a Breath of Malfegor to her .

[PrimevalCommander]

Quick plug so I don't miss out on Shriekmaw. Great card, many uses for getting a death trigger, a 5 cmc spell on the stack for much less, and can be Evoked from the GY through cast effects like Karador and Muldrotha. Solid role player in several strategies. I don't play it as much as I used to, but still gets the nod in several cases. Korvold likes it too as a removal spell that triggers a sacrifice. Makes Grave Pact even more annoying, but what doesn't make Grave Pact annoying?

[hyalopterouslemur]

So, my thoughts on Shriekmaw: It's an evoke creature, which makes it fun with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Panharmonicon, and any number of entry/death triggers. Remember to stack it right. The biggest problem being, it's sorcery speed. I divide my removal into instants (needed now) and everything else (value, versatility, card advantage), but I prioritize instants.

[RadiantSophia]

Shriekmaw: still quite good.

End transmission.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021; Deadbridge Chant

And the poster child for the mythic that says "I think I can, I think I can..." and then defecates the bed goes to......

[Hawk]

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021; Deadbridge Chant

And the poster child for the mythic that says "I think I can, I think I can..." and then defecates the bed goes to......

Ha well said. Every time I see this I'm like "wow, sick, I really need to nab a copy of this card. It's so insane! It's like basically 'draw a card' every turn, except sometimes its a free Zombify!". And then as soon as I stop seeing it, I promptly forget about it. And unlike other cards I "have to get a copy of" - I see this like a few times a year. It just doesn't stick with anyone.

I think the problem is that it's just too slow. GBx decks can mill lots more, lots sooner, or just dump exactly what they want in the 'yard with Buried Alive, Entomb, Jarad's Orders, etc. GBx decks can easily get a howling mine-style self draw up with Phyrexian Arena and can get way more draw off any number of synergistic effects like Beast Whisperer, The Great Henge, or Midnight Reaper. So this card being six and not giving you a card until a full turn cycle is rough, even if it is also the most resilient card type in the game.

[pokken]

From back in the days where 6 mana bombs weren't all basically Consecrated Sphinx

[Sinis]

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021; Deadbridge Chant

I want this card to be good so badly. It's not good.

[JWK]

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021; Deadbridge Chant

I want this card to be good so badly. It's not good.

My thoughts exactly. I *so want* it to be good, and I almost always give it a thought when I am building a deck that includes B and G, but ultimately it just isn't a good card, and no amount of wishing is going to change that. It isn't even "if you build around it, it can be good," because any building around it you might do, you would get a better result with any number of other cards that cost less to cast.

[Ruiner]

I thought about this one for my Abomination of Llanowar deck, since the deck is over 50 creatures, the commander likes creatures in the graveyard, and reanimating some elves seems sweet, but at six mana and as a non-creature I just didn't feel it was quite impressive enough since it doesn't make an immediate impact necessarily.

[Outcryqq]

I ran Deadbridge Chant in my Gitrog deck for a while, and it was ok. There are better cards in the deck, but the card is fun and splashy and playable there.

[PrimevalCommander]

I've played Deadbridge Chant around when it was released. It's slow, unreliable, and high on the curve. Only look at this for the most durdly of decks. Anything with a real plan will have better ways to get the effect they need, either mill, reanimation, or regrowth.

[Sinis]

Wednesday, March 31st, 2021; Deadbridge Chant

I want this card to be good so badly. It's not good.

My thoughts exactly. I *so want* it to be good, and I almost always give it a thought when I am building a deck that includes B and G, but ultimately it just isn't a good card, and no amount of wishing is going to change that. It isn't even "if you build around it, it can be good," because any building around it you might do, you would get a better result with any number of other cards that cost less to cast.

Honestly, I have come perilously close to playing graveyard hate on myself so I can get some sick reanimations or something. Maybe it's almost playable in Tasigur, or some Sultai Delve pile? I don't know.

[cheonice]

Yeah... A card I would've liked, when I was younger. Green, splashy, gy-focused. It's often in my first drafts for BG-decks, but never makes the final list. It's just not good.

[TheGildedGoose]

Cool card. Still unplayable.

[FenrirRex]

Only deck I still run this in is my Meren all-permanents deck since it's still a reliable way to fill the yard with occasional upside. It's never as good as I want it to be literally anywhere else. If a card as sweet as Debtors' Knell basically never makes the cut anymore, what chance does this have?

[Mookie]

Deadbridge Chant is pretty underwhelming. My baseline evaluation for something that draws a card every turn is four mana, so at six mana, this feels pretty overpriced. It's theoretically possible to prune your graveyard to just recur what you want (ex: delve away everything except an extra turn spell), but... that feels like more effort than it's worth. Milling ten cards on ETB also makes it harder to control. I suppose the flip side is its ability to reanimate creatures, but, again the random nature makes it fairly inconsistent.

...it would look reasonable at five mana, and pretty solid at four. Repeatedly recurring instants / sorceries is a fairly unique effect, but I'd generally stick with Palace Siege or Phyrexian Reclamation. (or Tasigur, the Golden Fang)

[Serenade]

I think if it said "permanent" instead of "creature," this would see much more casual play. I'd love it for BG enchantments.

[Dragoon]

I played it for a while in my Golos random deck. I ended up cutting it recently, I really want thematic recursion in that deck but this is just too slow, especially at that cost. It's a shame since it looks gorgeous in foil as well.