[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[toctheyounger]

They're the best kicks about but its a remarkably boring card regardless. I find myself going for almost any other option in order to enable haste, abd for most colors theres a few options. Sure they're good, I just prefer to defy the auto-include vibe they have. I won't fault anyone for playing them though, they are good.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, August 4th, 2021; Sedris, the Traitor King

I remember the days this was the best Grixis had to offer. Apparently finance does too if this is still a $22 card...

[Sinis]

Wednesday, August 4th, 2021; Sedris, the Traitor King

I remember the days this was the best Grixis had to offer. Apparently finance does too if this is still a $22 card...

It has gotten speculated on because of Obeka, Brute Chronologist, but I doubt anyone is actually buying it at these prices.

However, like every dried up supply, price probably won't go back down until it gets reprinted.

[materpillar]

I actually still run into this commander a reasonable amount. Mostly I see him eat a kill spell immediately if there's a stacked graveyard or be ignored if he isn't actually doing anything particularly strong.

[PrimevalCommander]

I actually still run into this commander a reasonable amount. Mostly I see him eat a kill spell immediately if there's a stacked graveyard or be ignored if he isn't actually doing anything particularly strong.

This is what happended when he was fresh as well. Played him for a little while. Once the graveyard gets scary people don't let you keep Sedris around. He turned into a 9 cmc commander, 6 for him and 3 to activate before being removed during the next turn cycle. Maybe if you used him for recurring smaller value creatures, but there are better commanders for that: Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.

[hyalopterouslemur]

There's also blue blink. Blink has always been unearth's hidden power, and since AVR added a couple blue cards...

How dies unearth interact with phasing? Ideas for Reality Ripple

[Mookie]

Sedris, the Traitor King is a cool card - you can unearth fatties like Grave Titan to take a more aggressive approach, or you can go for a more value-oriented approach with ETB creatures like Mulldrifter. Either way, you get a bunch of extra value from your creatures and dredge / looting / self-mill effects. If you use blink effects or something like Teferi's Veil, you can keep your creatures around indefinitely, which is also nice. Phasing will generally negate the 'exile at end of turn' trigger, but the creature will still be exiled if it leaves the battlefield for another reason.

That said, I'll definitely believe that Sedris has aged poorly - six mana is a lot to get a commander on the battlefield, and an additional three mana per creature unearthed adds up quickly. The fact that the creatures get exiled means it's difficult to use Sedris to snowball into permanent board advantages too, although stuff like Agent of Treachery does exist.

[Igzex]

Even if he was the best Grixis had when he was released, it wouldn't be too long until Thraximundar would take that spot. I mean, it's a really cool looking card and nothing can ever take that away from this card.

[PrimevalCommander]

I had a Sedris deck and my buddy had a Thraximundar deck. Regardless of the difference in the actual list, I always felt Traximundar was the best Grixis commander at that time. And he won a LOT of games off Trax commander damage because of the battlecruiser meta and him taking out blockers on attack. Also pumps himself to the 7 power range and has haste. Pretty good for that time in EDH.

[3drinks]

Thursday, July 5th, 2021; Grasping Giant

You can't tell me this isn't Thanos. Nope. Not listening.

[Hawk]

This card's existence annoys me because iirc it was only in Set Boosters, not draft boosters. I mean, I know it's the same as any rare and I know it's only a $0.50 card, but on principle that bugs me and I'm glad they replaced that with "The List" + a variety of weird, random treatments for cards instead.

Anyhow, the Displeased and Distressed Titan here is a pretty blah card. A 5/7 Vigilance for 6 is "reasonable" but automatically gets him compared, unfavorably, to Sun Titan (who has Perfectly Balanced stats that are a little more useful alongside his rockstar EtB/Attack trigger to Avenge the fallen). His ability is interesting, but snapping up creatures into oblivion is already sorta meh in EDH, and only doing so when blocked is just awful. Sure, you can armor him up with something like a Nemesis Mask to really throw the Gauntlet at your opponents, but you aren't touching Infinity with your two-card combo to do it. Ultimately in modern EDH, this just isn't the Endgame you're looking for.

I'd go so far to say that running him, even in Giant Tribal, is to Court Death.

[Igzex]

Sadly, Thanos here didn't really fare any better in Magic the Gathering than he did in Marvel vs Capcom 2.

[Jemolk]

I don't tend to be a fan of anything that turns your opponent's Wrath of God into Plague Wind. "Oh, yeah, sure, I'll just block with everything. My turn? Wrath." Sounds bad to me. Not like it's strong enough for anywhere where it wouldn't at least occasionally create this problem, either. I guess it wrecks the token deck if you put a lure effect on it? Meh.

[hyalopterouslemur]

To be fair, Overlord Thanos wears armor. The loincloth and tunic is his farmer mode, representing his having learned to just be humble and happy with his lot in life and use the cycle of life and death in more constructive manner, rather than commanding death to prove his love for her. (And he still told her to smile...)

Film Thanos is Abzan, canon Thanos is Rakdos. (I mean, Film Thanos is more like someone else, not even from Marvel, Detective. In the comics, Thanos only pays lip service to overpopulation when going on a motive rant for Silver Surfer's benefit.) And Rakdos, the Showstopper is the Thanos card.

This card elicits negative comparisons to Engulfing Slagwurm. It costs one mana less, but doesn't kill, and it has -2/-0 and isn't in the color of Lure effects or trample.

[void_nothing]

You know, seeing as this has vigilance, I really wish that triggered ability said "blocks or is blocked by".

I do like Theros's Giants flavorwise though.

[Mookie]

Seems alright with Lure effects... but outclassed by Engulfing Slagwurm. White also doesn't have access to many ways to force a block, outside equipment like Grappling Hook. Can also obviously be a liability if an opponent blows it up at an inconvenient time (or if they block it with Mulldrifter or another creature they don't mind being temporarily exiled).

Obviously, the correct combo is Grasping Giant + Lure + Life // Death + Oblivion Sower.

[3drinks]

Obviously, the correct combo is Grasping Giant + Lure + Life // Death + Oblivion Sower.

I almost made this same comment around Sower, but stopped myself when I re-read it's a cast trigger.

[DirkGently]

This card's existence annoys me because iirc it was only in Set Boosters, not draft boosters. I mean, I know it's the same as any rare and I know it's only a $0.50 card, but on principle that bugs me and I'm glad they replaced that with "The List" + a variety of weird, random treatments for cards instead.

Definitely agree with this - except it wasn't even set boosters, it was stupid theme boosters. Who the hell wants to buy theme boosters? Terrible EV, clearly designed for little kids to build crappy draft-quality decks out of.

Luckily Grasping Giant is trash-tier, but Terror of Mount Velus is pretty strong and excellent in Zirilan of the Claw. I hope they never release cards in this manner again...but they'll almost certainly do other equally annoying things.

Same for the stupid game night exclusives. I mean, release the product, it probably has a target, but don't make me buy a whole stupid board game to get 5 cards. That's just obnoxious.

[Mookie]

Obviously, the correct combo is Grasping Giant + Lure + Life // Death + Oblivion Sower.

I almost made this same comment around Sower, but stopped myself when I re-read it's a cast trigger.

Is that relevant? Animate lands with Life → cast Lure on the Giant to force blocks, attack → exile all of the defending player's lands → cast Oblivion Sower to claim all of those lands. Not a repeatable combo, but 'steal all of target player's lands' is still pretty good.

[3drinks]

Friday, Audust 6th, 2021; Elspeth Conquers Death

Seems pretty good.

[3drinks]

Obviously, the correct combo is Grasping Giant + Lure + Life // Death + Oblivion Sower.

I almost made this same comment around Sower, but stopped myself when I re-read it's a cast trigger.

Is that relevant? Animate lands with Life → cast Lure on the Giant to force blocks, attack → exile all of the defending player's lands → cast Oblivion Sower to claim all of those lands. Not a repeatable combo, but 'steal all of target player's lands' is still pretty good.

So that's where you were going (I didn't get that). But, Life // Death only animates your lands though.

[Dunharrow]

ECD is amazing in brawl, but I think worse than The Eldest Reborn in multiplayer Commander.
I think I would play it in Monowhite though.

[pokken]

I love this cards flavor and design and almost everything about it. Played it quite a bit in. Mono white blinkchantments and it was really good.

[onering]

Wx reanimator sans black has slowly accumulated enough cards toake a pretty fun casual deck.

[Sinis]

Friday, Audust 6th, 2021; Elspeth Conquers Death

I'd play it in Enchantress.

I think this card gets worse over time as more cards like Late to Dinner get printed and white has more options in reanimator-type cards. When I was considering making Niambi, Esteemed Speaker reanimator (I didn't complete the deck), ECD was definitely a shoo-in, and it probably still is... but, it may not be in a few years because it's too slow to be a 'good' reanimator spell, and too slow to be a good removal spell while more Resurrection analogues get printed.