[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[materpillar]

I've never seen this. It doesn't seem terrible if you have a couple of 1-2cmc cards. Playing this into immediate Ornithopter sounds like a fantastic way to get some laughs.

[Hermes_]

love that rusted look for artifacts

[Sinis]

Sunday, December 12th, 2021; Citanul Flute

I remember when the EDH we played was so janky that this was playable. Looking at EDHREC, not so much anymore.

[Mookie]

Citanul Flute is a repeatable Eladamri's Call, which is a pretty strong effect. Unfortunately, its base and activation costs make it a bit too clunky to justify in most decks. My general heuristic is that an acceptable rate for a tutor is 3 mana, so fetching any creature that costs 4+ mana off it is usually going to feel bad. Add in the base cost of 5 mana, and it starts to look even clunkier. It can be a strong value engine in the lategame, but there are plenty of colorless options that provide card advantage in a more efficient way - Mazemind Tome, etc. Citanul Flute is somewhat unique in that it is a colorless tutor, so decks that lack creature tutors may be interested, but even then, I still feel like better options exist.

The one place I could see Citanul Flute still being played is decks with a heavy emphasis on 0/1 mana creatures. Could be fun to fetch up stuff like Endless One / Stonecoil Serpent in a Zaxara, the Exemplary deck. Alternatively, any Shadowborn Apostle deck could make use of it. Maybe elfball?

[Dunharrow]

I dunno, I think I would sooner play Planar Portal or Planar Bridge.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Why does it cost x? You're not cheating it into play or anything.

This was from Urza's Saga?/10

[3drinks]

I misread this as you cheating the tutoured card into play. Derp.

[Igzex]

"But we have Survival of the Fittest at home"

The survival of the fittest at home:

[3drinks]

Monday, December 13th, 2021; Aurelia, the Warleader

[BeneTleilax]

The classic boros redzone general.

[onering]

A beast in the 99 as well.

[Sinis]

Monday, December 13th, 2021; Aurelia, the Warleader

Nice and efficient, but surprisingly not popular in the command zone. The nastiest thing is to pair her with Iroas, God of Victory since she fills out a significant part of Iroas' devotion, and together they can beat face with impunity.

[Dunharrow]

Oh ya I want this in my naya attack phases deck I am making
Card is okay. Helm of the Host combo of course.

[Mookie]

Aurelia, the Warleader is one of the best Boros combat-focused commanders, and certainly the most interesting in the 99. If your deck wants to get into the red zone, it's hard to beat the ability to do so a second time. She also effectively has double strike, which makes her work great with equipment (especially Swords of X and Y)... but she also works great with combat triggers like Sun Titan and Helm of the Host (which I will call out as a strong combo piece with her). An effective 6-power body with haste and evasion also functions as a very solid voltron commander. That said, her mana cost is a very real thing - she doesn't have any native protection, and six mana means she can be difficult to recast if she is killed... which she usually will be.

Beyond all the combat stuff, I'll call out that I've been wanting a copy of her for my Samut, Voice of Dissent deck for ages for her untap clause - untapping Knight of the Reliquary / Yisan, the Wanderer Bard / Stonehewer Giant is quite strong. I'd actually say that there is a ton of overlap between Samut and Aurelia - creatures that love haste tend to also love extra combats, and both of them work well with creatures that care about untap effects too.

[toctheyounger]

Strong card, but that CMC though. Doesn't see much play with me, purely because Boros isn't a color blend I'm drawn to. Esper blends are my sh*t apparently.

[hyalopterouslemur]

Strong card, but that CMC though. Doesn't see much play with me, purely because Boros isn't a color blend I'm drawn to. Esper blends are my sh*t apparently.

She goes infinite way too easily. Six mana makes sense in that case, especially with haste.

[RowanKeltizar]

I've been piloting an Aurelia, the Warleader commander deck basically since she was printed. She is a heavy hitter and a great finisher. She is also in the 99 of my Kaalia list as she can definitely help close out games. I'm currenty in the process of making that deck more consistent and resiliant. More draw, hate bears, and a bit of protection/recursion as the borros aggro strategy can suffer to blowouts fairly easily.

She offers nothing in the form of card draw or other enablers and I think that is her weakest point as a commander. She is purely a finisher.

Adding black or green can be a way to cover weak points in the strategy so running her in the 99 of a Naya or Mardu aggro deck can be solid.

Her body is a bit fragile by default so she needs support. A bit risky if you don't have a way to get her combat damage through or otherwise protect her from spot removal. For that she really likes having swords equipped for that sweet protection and evasion.

She now also has another infinite combo with Sword of Hearth and Home equipped on another creature.

[The_Hittite]

I'll mention Felhide Spiritbinder since it hasn't been yet. Not as good of a combo as other options, but one that was in standard for a while.

I think she works better in the 99 than in the command zone most of the time. She's just too much of a threat for others to not keep an answer ready. If you want to actually turn her sideways it works best as a surprise.

[Ruiner]

She does some great work for my Zurgo Helmsmasher deck, either accelerating his effectiveness or as an attempt at a secondary win condition when the commander tax gets too high.

Basically great in any combat oriented RWx deck.

[RowanKeltizar]

If you want to actually turn her sideways it works best as a surprise.

She has vigilance. hehe... couldn't help myself.

but yeah, I agree with you. She tends to die to removal all too often. You've gotta have protection in hand for her to stick. Mother of Runes Flawless Maneuver Akroma's Will Ephemerate or even Silence are all pretty good includes if you want to go a more dedicated voltron route but it takes up a lot of deckspace.

Felhide Spiritbinder actually looks like a promising card for the right deck!

[Igzex]

Everyone who has experienced a player have the Kaalia misunderstanding with this card raise your hands

[3drinks]

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021; The Oath Cycle

[benjameenbear]

Sigh... I despised the Avengers trope they blatantly stole with WAR and especially how they killed off Bolas. So, for me, seeing these cards is almost like Vorthos PTSD...

That being said, the cards are well designed. Not the most powerful cards in Superfriends lists but they serve a role. Of the listed, I think Oath of Teferi is the best.

[Sinis]

I really like these; my favourite among them is Oath of Liliana, which featured strongly in Aminatou (since she could flicker it, and it could supply a zombie when I played Aminatou). I especially appreciate Liliana, Jace and Teferi, but I think I've played most of them at some point.

[Hawk]

Clicked this thread thinking we were all gonna discuss Oath of Druids and friends. Feel a bit baited.

I would say both cycles are tough to assess as a cluster, though. I group the Oaths into four buckets:

Wildly unplayable in EDH: Oath of Chandra,
Fringe Playable in Dedicated Superfriends, but not great even there: Oath of Gideon, Oath of Ajani, Oath of Kaya
Very Good in Superfriends, but unplayable elsewhere: Oath of Jace, Oath of Teferi
Very good in Superfriends, and fringe playable elsewhere: Oath of Liliana. Oath of Nissa

For our stand-outs:
- Oath of Jace is outclassed as a draw spell compared to the recent burst in "Thirst" cards (Thirst for Discovery. Thirst for Meaning, and OG Staple Thirst for Knowledge), but not wildly so. If you are going to regularly have 2+ walkers in play, "Scry 2" is virtual card draw and makes this close to a Phyrexian Arena type effect for digging; Scry 1 or Scry 0 isn't enough so it really needs a dedicated 'friends deck.

- Oath of Teferi's blink effect is nice, but overcosted - at its best targeting a 'walker. And of course, that second ability is as powerful as the number of 'walkers you control to double-dip with. This card is one of the best cards in the 99 of any superfriends deck, but does literally nothing anywhere else.

- Oath of Liliana: At printing, this was the most mana efficient asymmetrical sacrifice effect in monoblack without any extra costs or set-up (a narrow but notable category to "win" at). Since then, it's been "strictly-bettered" by Liliana's Triumph, Soul Shatter, Mire in Misery, and Vona's Hunger, and in general these effects aren't that great in EDH, but it's still there if you were playing someone who really, really cared about opponents sacrificing stuff or needed the Devotion pips. And if you get even a single zombie out of it, it's great. I'd call this really medium with 0 planeswalkers in the deck, but totally reasonable with 4+ walkers in the 99' or one in the Command Zone.

- Oath of Nissa: This is a marginal upgrade over the marginally playable Adventurous Impulse even if your deck contains 0 'walkers; I'd at least consider it in an enchantress or "Historic" deck. It doesn't take too many 'walkers to make this great for fixing as well.