[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - North Star

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I swear onsalught had no rules at all. Bird/cleric overlap, bird/wizard overlap, bird/soldier overlap, jesus! It's like they designed a tribal block with as few tribal restrictions as possible.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I swear onsalught had no rules at all. Bird/cleric overlap, bird/wizard overlap, bird/soldier overlap, jesus! It's like they designed a tribal block with as few tribal restrictions as possible.

Glue cards tend to do that. Thankfully there are easier ways to do glue (such as race/class and changeling) these days.

[Sinis]

Thursday, December 30th, 2021; Celestial Gatekeeper

"Yeah? You're a fan of The Celestials? Name three of their albums."

[onering]

Crappy second copy of Reveillark for cleric or bird tribal?

[Mookie]

Celestial Gatekeeper is an interesting card, but definitely seems a bit awkward. Recurring two creatures is a very strong effect, even if it is limited by tribe. However, coming as a death trigger (and usually exiling Gatekeeper, preventing recursion loops) makes it more difficult to take advantage of. I would probably pass on it for bird tribal, partially because outside Seaside Haven, they aren't exactly known for their sacrifice synergies. On the other hand, I could definitely see it having a place in Orah, Skyclave Hierophant, which seems like a better fit. I'll also note that there is no clause that makes the recursion contingent on exile - if you have some way to recur Gatekeeper in response to its death trigger, you can keep it around for future shenanigans.

Outside dedicated tribal decks, I don't think you'll have enough density of the relevant creature types to justify its inclusion. Maybe in a changeling deck?

[3drinks]

Celestial Gatekeeper is an interesting card, but definitely seems a bit awkward. Recurring two creatures is a very strong effect, even if it is limited by tribe. However, coming as a death trigger (and usually exiling Gatekeeper, preventing recursion loops) makes it more difficult to take advantage of. I would probably pass on it for bird tribal, partially because outside Seaside Haven, they aren't exactly known for their sacrifice synergies. On the other hand, I could definitely see it having a place in Orah, Skyclave Hierophant, which seems like a better fit. I'll also note that there is no clause that makes the recursion contingent on exile - if you have some way to recur Gatekeeper in response to its death trigger, you can keep it around for future shenanigans.

Outside dedicated tribal decks, I don't think you'll have enough density of the relevant creature types to justify its inclusion. Maybe in a changeling deck?

Tortured Existence has entered the chat.

[Dunharrow]

I love the gameplay patterns of clerics - a lot of sacrifice and reanimation. Maybe one day I will make an Orah deck in paper. I have a brawl deck that is moderately fun.
If I do build it one day I doubt this will make it in... maybe. It's close.

[Guardman]

It's a neat payoff for Clerics (and I guess Boids... but eh), and I appreciate that they make narrow tribal cards with neat payoffs (and some cool synergies to abuse with Tortured Existence for example).

[3drinks]

Friday, December 31st, 2021; Assassin's Trophy

Closing out the year on one of not THE hottest, most egregiously pushed removal spells of all time. I hope that's not foreshadowing of next year.

[materpillar]

Friday, December 31st, 2021; Assassin's Trophy

Closing out the year on one of not THE hottest, most egregiously pushed removal spells of all time. I hope that's not foreshadowing of next year.

In my experience pushed removal spells improve the quality of gameplay while pushed threats reduce the quality of gameplay. That's obviously a generalization but I'd rather see a functional reprint of Swords to Plowshares than Craterhoof Behemoth.

This card is good. You should play it. The downside of ramping is relevant though.

[DirkGently]

In my experience pushed removal spells improve the quality of gameplay while pushed threats reduce the quality of gameplay.

Beat me to it. Couldn't agree more. Especially when we're talking about extremely cheap removal with a value downside. I have no problem with assassin's trophy at all, and I would be happy to see more of them.

[hyalopterouslemur]

I dunno, Path to Exile is still really good for 2. It also allows for two-mana instant land destruction, since only a fool would ever use it on a basic. Though whenever I see this, I want to say "Man, Hermit Druid combo has suffered enough."

[PrimevalCommander]

Good removal spell is good. In the circles I play, the land ramp is never going to be worse than the most threatening permanent on the board. This is some grade A premium removal for it's colors. I could use another come to think of it, and another Anguished Unmaking, and maybe a couple Path to exiles.

[pokken]

I will almost never play Path to Exile because ramping people for a creature doesn't seem worth it, but the flexibility of Assassin's Trophy at 2 mana is just too much not to play. Should be in every golgari deck in my opinion. Wish they hadn't gotten quite so expensive as I could use a second.

[kirkusjones]

Give me more of these. Abrupt Decay is one my all time favorites in terms of flavor and function and its successor/sibling is a home run. Would love to see an Anguished Unmaking variant in BG.

[onering]

Pokken, just how tuned IS your meta that removing a creature that needs to be answered isnt worth ramping them a land? It's certainly not something you use to bolt the bird, but it's a safety hatch against things that absolutely must die, which is relevant at all but the most competitive metas.

[pokken]

Pokken, just how tuned IS your meta that removing a creature that needs to be answered isnt worth ramping them a land? It's certainly not something you use to bolt the bird, but it's a safety hatch against things that absolutely must die, which is relevant at all but the most competitive metas.

I do play path in one deck (breena) where I use come from behind ramp, and it's always great there

But for me, personally, I find the problem is non-creatures such a high ratio of the time that I don't like to play a lot of creature specific removal and so I'll always be running Unexpectedly Absent before Path to Exile.

So many games are decided by someone having a Greater Good or Eldrazi Monument or whatever so I try to max up on flexible removal first.

[Mookie]

Assassin's Trophy is a strong and flexible card with a meaningful downside, comparable to Path to Exile. It strongly reminds me of Deathsprout from a few days ago - instead of adding a mana to Maelstrom Pulse / Murder to Rampant Growth yourself, you instead remove a mana to ramp your opponent.

...I'm not sure how I feel about it in a vacuum. If you're using it to kill creatures a majority of the time, black has numerous Doom Blade variants that do the same thing without a meaningful downside. If your opponents are playing a more diverse suite of threats, it goes up in value... but it still competes against Maelstrom Pulse, Beast Within, and other more flexible removal. I would say that it goes up in value in more competitive metas where tempo and efficiency are important, and down in value in slower metas where the extra mana is more relevant. I would expect the latter to describe a majority of metas - given how many options there are for card advantage these days, I think the odds of an opponent flooding out and not having anything to do with the extra mana are pretty low. On the other hand, if you can Radiate it and run your opponents out of basics... that could be pretty amusing.

[Serenade]

I'm glad the price has come down, but it is still more expensive than I would like…..given we have a mafia-themed, tri-enemy set next year, I feel we might get a reprint.

[Dunharrow]

Premier removal spell. Not sure how I feel about it vs beast within. Obviously 2 cmc is better. Downside is much worse though.

[onering]

I'd say run both.

[3drinks]

Saturday, January 1st, 2022; Grafted Exoskeleton

What a way to start the new year...😂

[TheAmericanSpirit]

For 6 mana, you can go about a whole lot of worse ways to kill someone. This only kills one though and paints a massive target after use though so ymmv.

EDIT: Pretty freaking cool with Hydra Omnivore though all things considered

[Toshi]

Grafted Exoskeleton

Yet another card that's just perfect for Traxos, Scourge of Kroog!
Nothing like one punching people with it.

[Mookie]

....well, that's not ominous at all. >.>

Grafted Exoskeleton is one of the few ways to give a creature infect. Because you only need to deal 10 points of poison to someone to kill them (compared to 40 points of normal damage), it is an incredibly efficient damage multiplier - arguably even better than double strike's doubling. If you have an 8-power creature, it's enough to kill someone outright. However, 1-shotting an opponent tends to paint a massive target on you, so the odds of getting to do it again is low. Grafter Exoskeleton's sacrifice clause also makes things a bit awkward, since it makes the equipped creature vulnerable to artifact removal.

....I'm generally not a fan of infect, so not a card I'm interested in running. If you're not going to one-shot an opponent with it, it also seems a bit clunky - six mana to play and equip is a lot, especially since it provides no utility or evasion. As for decks that would want it... Tromokratis?