[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Samwise the Stouthearted

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Avacyn Believer
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Post by Avacyn Believer » 1 year ago

I like the idea of this card, because I love Gonti and effects that steals from bottom of library could be abused a bit better than top of library, I think, but the mana value is bit ridonculous.
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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

Avacyn Believer wrote:
1 year ago
I like the idea of this card, because I love Gonti and effects that steals from bottom of library could be abused a bit better than top of library, I think, but the mana value is bit ridonculous.
Not only is it expensive, but it's frail. 7 mana for a dude with two card type vulnerabilities and that can't even attack or block until you've sunk even more mana into it needs indestructible, ward, or something to make it the juice worth the squeeze.
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Post by Neptune » 1 year ago

I saw the casting cost and knew this was a reanimator target. I had it in my first pile of cards for Tatsunari, Toad Rider with Animate Dead and Dance of the Dead.

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Arvinox, the Mind Flail reads as pretty clunky to me. Seven mana is a lot, and while it does let you steal a bunch of cards from your opponents, it only lets you actually cast permanent spells (unlike Gonti, Lord of Luxury, who lets you cast anything). You'll probably get a reasonable amount of things just from sheer volume, but this isn't drawing 3 cards per turn cycle - I'd estimate it to be closer to just a single card after accounting for lands. Which is... fine, but not what I'm looking for out of my 7-drops.

Meanwhile, if you want to make use of its hefty 9/9 body (and I think you really do if you want to justify running it in the command zone), you need to both jump through the hoop of both having some of your opponents' stuff (either by casting Arvinox's stolen cards or from other source) and dealing with the fact that enchantment creatures are very easy to kill. Plus you'll probably want to find some source of evasion, since Arvinox just has a vanilla statline by default.

I'll also note that it doesn't work with Animate Dead or other aura-based reanimation unless you can fulfill its requirements to be a creature - otherwise, the aura will immediately fall off and cause it to die again. It does work with normal reanimation effects though.

...anyway, Arvinox seems like a fine consideration if you're running a theft theme with cards like Brainstealer Dragon, Thieving Amalgam, and Gonti. I don't think it quite justifies its hefty mana cost, but that isn't a particularly competitive or fast archetype in the first place.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Monday, January 16th, 2023; Mindlink Mech


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Post by Toshi » 1 year ago

3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Oh, Mindlink Mech has been of great use in my The Omenkeel vehicles deck - even with that being a low budget deck.
Double Sharding Sphinx or Research Thief goes a long way. Not to speak of creatures outside my color identity, which i copied with Phyrexian Metamorph, Clever Impersonator, Imposter Mech or Mirage Mirror, ...

Pretty sure, this has an even higher ceiling in Kotori, Pilot Prodigy or Shorikai, Genesis Engine.

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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

TheGildedGoose wrote:
1 year ago
With infinite white mana and a sac outlet you don't need black to seal yourself away for eternity!
I am late to the party but you don't even need the sac outlet, you can activate the ability a billion times before letting the first one resolve.
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Mindlink Mech is interesting, but seems a bit niche compared to other clone effects like Mirage Mirror or Phyrexian Metamorph. If you're just using it as a way to attack with creatures the turn they come out, then it's a janky Lightning Greaves... and while three mana is relatively cheap for a clone effect, the fact that you can only copy your own creatures and you don't get ETB effects makes it much more limited.

That said, there is one place I think Mindlink Mech fits perfectly: saboteur-focused decks like ninjas. If you have random small creatures that don't have evasion, crewing Mindlink Mech and getting your saboteur effect on a 4/3 flyer sounds pretty sweet. I suppose many ninja decks will have random evasive creatures for ninjutsu already, but having another way to get in for damage is still nice. Where it gets really spicy is when you're running cards like Cephalid Constable or Dreamstealer that scale with power.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Tuesday, January 17th, 2023; Wickerbough Elder


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Post by PrimevalCommander » 1 year ago

Love me some Wickerbough Elder. It was one of the better naturalize creatures of it's day, and still could be useful in certain decks like counters decks or proliferate decks for multiple activations. Otherwise it is most exiled to Pauper EDH, where it is still a very strong inclusion for green due to it's power:mv ratio with removal stapled on.

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Post by onering » 1 year ago

Still very strong in certain decks. Hapatra likes it a lot.

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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 1 year ago

I love the flavor text. Such character building in two sentences! It hates artifice but it's also a slave to fashion. Ces't la vie! What duality!
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Post by Jemolk » 1 year ago

It's no longer so unique as to be a generalized goodstuff card, but that's a good thing in my opinion. In any deck that cares about treefolk, shamans, counters in a general sense, or -1/-1 counters in specific, it's still well worth a slot. That is as it should be -- what the best card is for a particular deck to have a particular effect should be based on synergy. And Wickerbough Elder is still sometimes the top choice specifically due to that synergy.
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Post by Sinis » 1 year ago

I think it's hard for it to compete with many of the ETB guys out there right now, but, if Torpor Orb ever picks up in popularity, Wickerbough Elder has got it covered. I think the rest of the time, it only sees play in counter-manipulation decks, or maybe treefolk tribal or something. It's pretty unremarkable otherwise.

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Post by Hawk » 1 year ago

At the dawn of EDH, this was the "Naturalize on a stick" of choice for me - it helped that my second built-from-scratch deck was Doran, the Siege Tower treefolk tribal, but the dude was just generally more flexible and fun than Indrik Stomphowler and a little more acquirable than Viridian Zealot (which has since been reprinted but at the time demanded a few bucks) while also being better statted than Sylvok Replica or Nantuko Vigilante and usually found a spot in my G/x decks.

Nowadays efficiency is king and random 4/4s rarely win games of Commander (if they ever did). The game has changed, and with those changes we've got Caustic Caterpillar, Acidic Slime, Reclamation Sage, Masked Vandal, Bane of Progress, Haywire Mite, and more occupying the space, which has pushed this dude out. Still worth a look in decks with counter synergies (Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons especially) or treefolk tribal builds, but this is one of those fondly remembered cards that just doesn't do enough anymore.

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Wickerbough Elder is fine, but as others have noted, it has sort of been pushed out of the format by other, more efficient options. It's still a solid choice if you care about -1/-1 counters or have some way to proliferate them, but otherwise you're paying five mana for a Naturalize and a 4/4 - in other words, Indrik Stomphowler. If you don't care about any counter synergies, then go with Reclamation Sage / Caustic Caterpillar / etc.

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Wednesdy, Januaary 18th, 2023; Magus of the Mirror and it's non-Magus equivalent, Mirror Universe


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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Mookie wrote:
1 year ago
in other words, Indrik Stomphowler. If you don't care about any counter synergies, then go with Reclamation Sage / Caustic Caterpillar / etc.
I don't think I want to be in a world where generally efficient and well balanced cards like Ol Stompy is seen as unplayable binder rot.

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Post by Sinis » 1 year ago

Mirrors: I've played these in the ole Selenia, Dark Angel life-swap deck. It's fun the first few times, but, people catch on and it becomes kind of repetitive.

Mirror Universe's sticker price saddens me; I picked it up for a fraction of its current price, and knowing other people are paywalled out of the same funsies bothers me. At least there are plenty of these effects out now, like Axis of Mortality and Soul Conduit.

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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Wednesdy, Januaary 18th, 2023; Magus of the Mirror and it's non-Magus equivalent, Mirror Universe

They are funny, and that's enough to get a thumbs up from me.
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Mookie wrote:
1 year ago
in other words, Indrik Stomphowler. If you don't care about any counter synergies, then go with Reclamation Sage / Caustic Caterpillar / etc.
I don't think I want to be in a world where generally efficient and well balanced cards like Ol Stompy is seen as unplayable binder rot.
Unfortunately, I think that's the world we live in. As a general rule, staple effects like Naturalize are pretty interchangeable, and have a lot of competition. The ones that see play need to either be the most powerful / efficient (which is currently Reclamation Sage), or they need to add additional value to justify their additional cost. Stomphowler is fine, but the only things it adds are beast tribal (which is niche) and '4+ power matters' (which is also niche). That's still more than Conclave Naturalists (since dryad tribal isn't a thing), but less than Acidic Slime adding the always-relevant deathtouch and ability to kill lands or Qasali Slingers with reach + cat tribal.... to say nothing of Kogla, the Titan Ape and Titan of Industry with their piles of extra rules text.

Anyway, Mirror Universe is a cool but niche effect - if you're playing something like Selenia, Dark Angel or K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth that can get its life total really low, then trading it away is quite strong. That said, the upkeep restriction also makes it somewhat risky to use if you can't do so at instant speed, since your opponents will try to kill you before you can fire it off... and six mana + needing to wait a turn is pretty slow.

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Post by Jemolk » 1 year ago

ETB triggers are nice, but overreliance on them is a liability, especially with the new Norn that's going to be running around shortly. I also think people are undervaluing both the body and the ability to have it both before and after using the naturalize effect, as well as the fact that it can be used on-demand at instant speed and only requires holding up a single green mana. Wickerbough Elder is still a good card, and you should still play it. It's just not a universal staple for green anymore. Which I'm fine with. I hate universal, all-deck staples that you have to justify not including. The mere existence of the concept is bad for the game. The same applies to anyone who just mindlessly picks Rec Sage, Caustic Caterpillar, or Haywire Mite just on the basis that it's the new, efficient in thing. I really feel like people are evaluating Wickerbough Elder based exclusively on scenarios where they'd rather spend less mana but be forced to play at sorcery speed, and undervaluing 3/3s and 4/4s on defense.

Anyway, with that rant out of the way -- Mirror Universe and its magus. Cool cards. Never had a use for 'em, but if I did, I'd happily proxy up a Mirror Universe. If anyone has a problem with that, I suppose I could offer to swap it out for Winter Orb or something else obnoxious but cheap. I love weird niche cards like this, and if anyone's got a life swapping deck, I think it would be pretty neat to play with.
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Thursday, January 19th, 2023; Eye of the Storm



Anyone ever stuck a Ravages of War|j15 on this thing? ;)

"Beast. Defiler. The source of all my pain." - Ihsan's Shade Players expressing their feelings interacting with this card.

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Post by materpillar » 1 year ago

3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Thursday, January 19th, 2023; Eye of the Storm



Anyone ever stuck a Ravages of War|j15 on this thing? ;)

"Beast. Defiler. The source of all my pain." - Ihsan's Shade Players expressing their feelings playing this card.
Do you want a game to take an extra hour while you flex how well you know stack based rules? Do I have the card for you!

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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

materpillar wrote:
1 year ago
3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Thursday, January 19th, 2023; Eye of the Storm



Anyone ever stuck a Ravages of War|j15 on this thing? ;)

"Beast. Defiler. The source of all my pain." - Ihsan's Shade Players expressing their feelings playing this card.
Do you want a game to take an extra hour while you flex how well you know stack based rules? Do I have the card for you!
"At least it's not Grip of Chaos"?

Modern
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Commander
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