[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Spinal Embrace

[Dunharrow]

Not much of a fan in commander.
It is just so fragile, I would rather play Phyrexian Arena nine times out of ten.
In 20 life formats, it is a good early body that gives CA and hits players. In commander the damage it deals is negligible so I would rather something more resilient.

[pokken]

I love when I can put bob in a deck for some reason. Maybe it's because Vilis would like to draw all those cards, or I have a low curve, or I have a desperate need for bodies, or whatever. It's rare these days.

I've had this deck idea stewing of saboteur tribal for some time and I would probably play Bob in that just because it's basically an honorary one in a lot of ways. (He doesn't trigger on combat damage, but he functionally behaves the same way - one trigger a turn, useless body that needs help to get in there:P).

You really want a curve of around 2.5 or less and no insane spikes like 13s or whatever to bomb you. And 1 card a turn is just not as good a rate as it used to be I guess, which is a shame. On the whole games end faster now as everything's gotten so efficient.

[Gamazson]

Good card, but I have never been able to justify the price compared to other format staples. For now Keen Duelist has proven to be a good substitute in my Greven, Predator Captain deck.

[Lifeless]

For some reason It's never even crossed my mind to play this in EDH. I'm going to chalk it up to a combination of my table being slightly lower power level and my black decks almost always containing blue.

[duducrash]

Not commander, but one of my sweetest wins evers came when I countered a kill spell my oponent cast on his own bob. It was such fun way to end the game. Magic rules

[Rumpy5897]

I remember how back on MTGS I read someone saying that if paying four life for a Sylvan Library card is perfectly acceptable in the format, Bob should be embraced with open arms as well. This is not entirely untrue, but with Library you control what you're getting and if you're actually going for it. With Bob a bit less so.

Bob's main draw is how cheap he is to cast. Once you get to the point where you're actively trying to do something productive at all stages of the game, with your curve likely dropping as a result, he may become a consideration. I've trialled him a few times in Daxos, a ~3.0 CMC, turn ~9 deck, but he always performed poorly despite fitting into the sweet spot of being a non-enchantment play to make before Daxos lands. I did use to run him in a very snappy deck, which also happened to gain so much life that it played Dark Tutelage over Phyrexian Arena just because it was easier to cast

[Guardman]

My favorite memories of this card is back when it first came out I was trying to get into the Legacy scene at the place I played and decided to build Mono-Black Aggro (since it was very, very cheap - like $10 to build a pretty good version of the deck cheap) and eventually transition to The Rock once I saved up the money. Being a poor high school student without a job (my parents preferred me working on my studies), I basically had only a small weekly allowance ($20) to play magic and whatever else I wanted to do that week. Spending the $16 for a playset of Bobs was my first "expensive" purchase of magic cards. I remember the anxiety of wondering if I made the right choice as I did that. Luckily I did, because I had great fun with Bob.

And honestly, putting together Mono-Black/The Rock deck was some of the best investments I ever made. $5 for a playset of Phyrexian Arena. $28 for a playset of Tarmogoyf. $80 for a playset of Revised Bayou (blew all of my birthday money on that). I think I spent like $20-$25 for a playset Bloodstained Mire. And a dollar for a playset of Sensei's Divining Top. My biggest regret is that the legacy format has changed so much that turn 1 Dark Ritual, Hippy or Hymn to Tourach is no longer the bee's knees that it once was. I guess my other is that I never picked up a playset of Force of Will, but even back then they were pretty expensive and I didn't have a blue deck to play it in (though I did have a lot of the pieces for Counterbalance, but that is neither here nor there).

As for Commander, I would love to play Bob, but all of the black decks I've built are too high mana value, leaving things like Painful Truths, Phyrexian Arena, and the like being better. But I could see playing him in a deck that has a lower mana value or can abuse the life loss.

[umtiger]

I like Bob but had to take him out of my land.dec

Somehow, I was flipping over Bringer of the Black Dawn far more often than I should have. The last straw was flipping Bringer and then Avenger of Zendikar on the following turn.

[folding_music]

I never picked up this card, just has that cliche invitational card advantage aura that makes me think it's for other players than me. It's good, yeah, but I don't want an RL player in my deck basically under any circumstances at all!

[Sanity_Eclipse]

I never picked up this card, just has that cliche invitational card advantage aura that makes me think it's for other players than me. It's good, yeah, but I don't want an RL player in my deck basically under any circumstances at all!

If your personal hangups allow it, get the versions that have that emo Vizier to the throne artwork lol

Similar to drinks, he's in Kaalia for me and I could maybe see him going in Lili's deck, though I need to decide where that one's actually going. Pox-ish stuff? Reanimator? A mix? :shrug:

Makes games more dynamic. "Am I going to flip a draw spell, or a haymaker? Will someone be able to one-shot me out of the blue if the latter?" Pack some effective lifegain in the deck, and/or ways to sac off dudes at will.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I don't like telegraphing my plays so blatantly. He's like, Phyrexian Arena #3.

[3drinks]

I bought the judge one. I don't regret it. I play it in every deck with b in it, perhaps unsurprisingly. Love that old card look.

[ironic gesture]

I run Bob in my high power Prossh deck which has an average MV of less than 2. Never been tempted to run it anywhere else.

[BeneTleilax]

He tends to make everyone else at the table side-eye his controller when he lands. I've noted that famous powerful cards in other formats tend to be inordinately feared in EDH, and Bob was the face of Modern for a while (at least, alongside Goyf, which sucks in EDH). More than that though, he's a signal that the caster has put a respectable amount of money into their deck, and that they've tuned their curve, both of which are solid threat indicators. Because of that, he tends to attract table attention beyond his power, and can even be used by more aggro decks to justify ganking his controller.

[Mookie]

Bob is a strong card - a two mana effect to draw an extra card every turn is pretty good. He compares somewhat interestingly to Phyrexian Arena, which is probably the default version of this effect in EDH - you trade in the enchantment typing and predictable life loss for a creature typing, variable life loss, and giving up information. I'm generally going to say the Phyrexian Arena is the preferable version in a vacuum. Dark Confidant comes out a turn earlier and is a bit easier to cast, but he's also more vulnerable to getting swept away by a board wipe, which means Arena will often draw more cards in a drawn-out game. Simultaneously, most EDH decks have fairly high curves, even when including lands - you're going to lose a lot more life on average to Bob than you will to Arena. I've survived games at low life with a Phyrexian Arena out due to gaining a point or two of incidental life every turn, but that would be much more difficult to do with Bob.

That said, there are definitely ways to take advantage of Bob. If you're a cEDH deck with an incredibly low curve, the life loss will be much lower on average. Alternatively, you could run Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Sensei's Divining Top, or another source of topdeck manipulation to consistently flip lands (and thus lose no life). If you're running sac outlets, it's easy to sacrifice Bob when your life total gets too low. Or you can just care about having more creatures due to synergies like Tymna the Weaver or equipment to carry.

...giving up the extra information is something to beware of though - depending on what you flip, the rest of the table is going to treat you differently. It definitely seems plausible that flipping a board wipe would encourage opponents to attack you and force you to use it. Simultaneously, if it's possible for an unlucky Bob flip to knock you out of the game, your opponents will be inclined to pressure your life total. Similar story if you reveal a key combo piece.

Anyway, I'd probably pass on Bob from a price perspective - there are a lot of cheaper substitutes if you're looking for card advantage, and I feel like the money is better spent elsewhere if you aren't looking to 100% your deck for cEDH. His price has fallen significantly from all the reprints, at least (and the Modern metagame shifting).

[3drinks]

Saturday, June 5th, 2021; Mox Opal|j19

Probably the best Mox requiring no card disadvantage to use and one of the easiest conditions to turn on, especially that it counts itself.

[Dragoon]

Agreed, best legal mox in EDH, provided you run enough artifacts to make it reliable (the new artifact lands in MH2 can certainly help for that). I love artifact builds and I love this card. It is sadly too expensive and I don't own one yet.

[Serenade]

Love me some metalcraft!

[pokken]

+1 mana on turn 1 - great
Getting blown out by Vandalblast and Stony Silence because of critical artifact mass less good
Being able to build around that by playing Scrap Mastery / Open the Vaults great

The many layers of EDH

[Sinis]

Saturday, June 5th, 2021; Mox Opal

Probably the best Mox requiring no card disadvantage to use and one of the easiest conditions to turn on, especially that it counts itself.

I'm not so sure it's the best mox in EDH unconditionally. I'm a fan of Mox Amber when my general is aggressively costed (Emry, Rograkh+other, Ayli, Baral, Hapatra, etc.).

Many of my decks are not so heavy on mana rocks that Mox Opal gets to do its thing. I won't deny that it's very, very powerful, and becomes more powerful the more you tune a deck.

[Gamazson]

I have been to magical Christmas land with card once. Turn one Darksteel Citadel, Sol Ring, Mox Opal then cast my commander Valduk, Keeper of the Flame. It brought me great joy but it lost me the game. Keeping a hand like that meant I did not have enough gas for subsequent turns and earned me the title of archenemy. Otherwise good card. Wish I could draw it more often.

[Mookie]

Legal moxen: Mox Amber, Mox Tantalite, Mox Opal, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond. Two of these require car disadvantage. Of the others.... yeah, Mox Opal is the only one I could see consistently being online early in the game, outside a cheap commander. It does require a high artifact count, but that's not a problem for artifact-based decks. It also gets better if you're running fast mana like Mana Crypt and Lotus Petal, allowing for some pretty absurd T1 plays. The new indestructible artifact lands also help it out a bit.

In contrast, Mox Tantalite is slow, and Mox Amber requires cheap legends, which not all decks have - you often won't be able to use it to ramp into your commander, and it can be turned off by a board wipe. Mox Opal may not be quite as easy to turn on, but once it's on it tends to stay on - artifacts usually stick around for longer.

Anyway, I'd run it in my artifact-based decks if not for the price. Unfortunately, at current prices, it makes more sense for me to stack up on two mana rocks like Fellwar Stone and Arcane Signet instead. Not a huge loss in non-competitive metas - you trade a bit of explosiveness for increased consistency. For my Sharuum deck, I don't think I need extra explosiveness that badly - that deck generally needs to hit 6+ mana anyway. Thada would appreciate the extra mana to potentially hit a T2 Thada occasionally, but I don't think turning on Mox Opal that early is a realistic goal for that deck - I don't have enough zero mana artifacts. I have been contemplating testing Lotus Petal though. Hmmm...

Obligatory Trinket Mage / Artificer's Intuition callout.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Tantalite's okay.

Opal is probablh the best legal mox. It won't necessarily be t1, but your mana rocks and a few staples like Tormod's Crypt can help.get it out (still for free) on t2 or t3. Eggs,, affinity, Stax, lots of decks run a lot of artifacts.

[Sinis]

Tantalite's okay.

Really? I have zero experience with it, but... it just seems lousy, even on turn one. Like, suspend 3 will get you an additional mana on turn 4. But, you don't see people playing Search for Tomorrow in crazy numbers, and it even has an escape hatch with a regular mana cost. Mox Tantalite is a dreadful topdeck later.

How are you using it that it's even okay?

[3drinks]

Tantalite's okay.

Really? I have zero experience with it, but... it just seems lousy, even on turn one. Like, suspend 3 will get you an additional mana on turn 4. But, you don't see people playing Search for Tomorrow in crazy numbers, and it even has an escape hatch with a regular mana cost. Mox Tantalite is a dreadful topdeck later.

How are you using it that it's even okay?

The only time it's passable is with Goblin Engineer.