[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Howling Mine

[pokken]

The only wheel I will play without synergy sometimes heh. It's a pretty solid combo control finisher. It also generates mana explosions with cradle which is nice.

I'm playing it in haldan and pako right now because of the small early wheel theme (with all the mana rocks). But in the past I played it in a lot of nykthos decks as well and had it in wanderer at one point.

Cool card I wish I had a second of from time to time

[illakunsaa]

Im lucky to only have paid 60 store credits for this.

[Sinis]

Saturday, November 6th, 2021; Time Spiral

It's a fair Timetwister. What's not to like?!

[3drinks]

I can't believe this thing is near $200.

[pokken]

I can't believe this thing is near $200.

It's not really, HP $110 or so. Most of the EDH RL cards are like that.

[Jemolk]

Strong card, but doesn't just break the game on its own like a lot of more modern strong cards. It can be used fairly, though obviously its unfair uses are what it's best known for. Still, it's certainly not a card I have any real problems with. Hot take, but I prefer for strong cards to look like this rather than Uro or Oko. Overpowered enablers are a lot more fun than overpowered threats.

[Mookie]

Fair and reasonable. Time Spiral has most definitely never been used for anything nefarious whatsoever. Just ignore the High Tide, Hullbreacher, and Tolarian Academy hiding in the corner....

More seriously, free spells are strong. One of the major downsides of wheels is that your opponents will often be the first ones to take advantage of the new cards.... but with Time Spiral, that isn't an issue. If you have lands that tap for multiple mana, it gets even better, since you can actually be net positive on mana. As a result, it is a card I would consider for many proactive blue decks (if not for the pricetag). Still, it isn't a card that goes in every deck - the more you care about card advantage and outvalue-ing your opponents, the less appealing wheels will be.

[Dunharrow]

I got a wishlist alert for this card at 60$ years ago when I was walking from my car to the baseball field for a game. I bought it while putting on my cleats! Beat out a lot of people who wanted it. If I had waited until after the game I never would have gotten it.

[pokken]

I got a wishlist alert for this card at 60$ years ago when I was walking from my car to the baseball field for a game. I bought it while putting on my cleats! Beat out a lot of people who wanted it. If I had waited until after the game I never would have gotten it.

I think I bought my time spirals locally but I found this gem of what we used to pay for crap like this back when I started

(not pictured are all the $5 sol rings and command towers I bought =P

[3drinks]

Man that picture just pisses me off when I think about what's happened to the game.

[pokken]

Man that picture just pisses me off when I think about what's happened to the game.

Yeah it's pretty annoying and it's not entirely on Wizards for the stupid RL stuff. It's also the rampant speculation and ability to corner markets. Really frustrating.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Timetwister is totally fair. And there is definitely no way to exploit "untap lands". None at all.

I absolutely didn't walk to Opposite Day

[Dunharrow]

I got a wishlist alert for this card at 60$ years ago when I was walking from my car to the baseball field for a game. I bought it while putting on my cleats! Beat out a lot of people who wanted it. If I had waited until after the game I never would have gotten it.

I think I bought my time spirals locally but I found this gem of what we used to pay for crap like this back when I started

image.png

(not pictured are all the $5 sol rings and command towers I bought =P

Oh it was my LGS - but if I didn't buy online from them I never would have gotten it!
So great looking back at old purchases.

[RadiantSophia]

Untapping [CMC]xlands as part of it's resolution is a totally balanced mechanic that is completely underutalized. We need more of these.

[3drinks]

Sunday, November 7th, 2021; No Mercy

[pokken]

I find effects like this to have gotten worse and worse as alpha strikes have gotten more and more common. And if they kill you in one go the triggers don't happen

So I rarely find this worth playing anymore. Ghostly Prison is still the mega sweet spot for this kinda effect. (and Koskun Falls in black )

[Sinis]

I find effects like this to have gotten worse and worse as alpha strikes have gotten more and more common. And if they kill you in one go the triggers don't happen

Strongly agree. I should probably sell my copies of this, because it is definitely not worth the sticker price for something that isn't even Reserved List.

[pokken]

Strongly agree. I should probably sell my copies of this, because it is definitely not worth the sticker price for something that isn't even Reserved List.

Yea, it's a card that feels like it'll be $3.00 like Patriarch's Bidding the moment it gets a reprint. I'm not saying it's completely unplayable, it feels OK in that sweet spot of a deck that invites attacks but can responds to them but not completely?

The problem is like what you're gaining with this is usually like, not getting swung at by a 4/4 a couple times, so the percentage of the time it's worse than just a random removal spell is pretty high. Or even just playing a decent blocker or something. New cards like Inkshield and even Hellish Rebuke make this look really bad, and Hellish Rebuke has proven to be pretty awkward.

Just such an awkward card, especially since it doesn't protect planeswalkers =P

[Serenade]

Mine eats Despark every time I play it. Every time.

[TheGildedGoose]

It's a niche but playable rattlesnake card. I play it in Erebos, God of the Dead where it protects my life total from random midrange creatures without investing in a board wipe while also encouraging my opponents to attack into each other, making a big Torment of Hailfire or Exsanguinate more affordable. I wouldn't play it in any black deck, but if you want to strongly deter attacks, you could do worse.

[Mookie]

No Mercy is fine, IMO. It wards off incidental small attacks, so if you get it down early, it can preserve your life total for a while. Alpha strikes are certainly a thing, but apart from Craterhoof Behemoth pumping a team to astronomical levels, it's actually somewhat difficult to deal 40+ damage in a single blow. As a result, I would say that there is definitely a difference between being at 20 life due to chip damage and 40 life.

Still, I will agree that Ghostly Prison will generally perform better. No Mercy does have some niche usage in decks with Monarch or that are able to force attacks - I could see running it in Queen Marchesa, for example. It's not a bad pillowfort / rattlesnake effect. I could even see it in a K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth deck that wanted to preserve its life total. Of course, if you find yourself usually losing to combo or other non-combat win conditions, this effect goes down in value significantly.

I'll call out Dread and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts as two other instances of this effect.

[Dunharrow]

No Mercy can be fun with cards that make opponents attack. But in multiplayer even that doesn't usually work out how you want it to.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I like this card quite a bit. Some decks may not be affected or deterred much, but it still sends a large portion of opportunistic aggression elsewhere and that adds up.

[hyalopterouslemur]

It stops saboteurs from getting out of hand, and screws over Voltron and tribal players. There's no easy answer to it besides destroying or countering it, and red and black players might have trouble with that.

But really, it's just a good rattlesnake, and I mostly run it as such.

[Igzex]

I will always have a place in my heart for this card but yeah, a lot of creatures nowadays also have floating effects when they die so it doesn't pull the work it used to.