[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Sliver Queen

[PrimevalCommander]

Cheapest Entomb on a body, which may get a spot in my budget Sefris of the Hidden Ways reanimator, but otherwise probably a little expensive for an effect that could cost only . I'm currently playing Corpse Connoisseur and Buried Alive there. I'll have to ask myself if the unearth is worth keeping it. Deathtouch is a nice keyword on little ETB dorks like this.

Make it and you open up about 15 other ways to synergize with this card and the 2/2 body starts to be worth the mana premium. Probably a safe mana value at 4 to keep it from doing anything nasty.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, March 14th, 2023; Worship|usg

[pokken]

Suffers from the same problems as most of the Platinum Angel effects (dies to doomblade) but leave you in a precarious position. I generally don't care for these effects.
AT least Platinum Angel saves you from Thassa's oracle and stuff.

[Dunadain]

Worship + Troll Ascetic was a fun t3 modern list back in the day

[Hermes_]

Suffers from the same problems as most of the Platinum Angel effects (dies to doomblade) but leave you in a precarious position. I generally don't care for these effects.
AT least Platinum Angel saves you from Thassa's oracle and stuff.

now that I see that art work for Plat,I think I will order it to replace my Japanese one.

[Mookie]

I think Worship can work in other formats because there are some decks that may lack enchantment removal or answers to hexproof creatures, which makes it a reasonable sideboard option. In Commander, I'm much lower on it - board wipes are significantly more common, every green deck packs Reclamation Sage, and there are plenty of random life loss cards like Exsanguinate that can bypass it. As a result, even if one of your opponents may be light on answers to it, I find it unlikely that your other opponents will also be unable to deal with it.

If I had to choose an 'I can't die' card, I'd go with Platinum Angel or Platinum Emperion + Lightning Greaves. There are still plenty of answers to either in the format, but they have some more relevant other upsides. If you really want to run worship, then I suppose hard-to-kill commanders like Oketra the True and Sigarda, Host of Herons may be interested.

[void_nothing]

I think Worship can work in other formats because there are some decks that may lack enchantment removal or answers to hexproof creatures, which makes it a reasonable sideboard option. In Commander, I'm much lower on it

Succinct explanation of my own position. Too many wraths, too much enchantment removal. It's still a classic card for 1v1.

[DirkGently]

Like platty, this gives you a really awkward decision as you approach 0 life - do you assume you'll be okay, take lethal, and rely on your permanent keeping you alive in order to take full advantage of the effect? Or do you play it safe, chump block etc, rendering your permanent irrelevant? Worship is at least a bit more durable in this regard since you don't die instantly when its removed. But it's weak to life loss, commander damage, poison, mill, etc. Personally I'm not into it. I'd rather protect myself with something more reliable, such as killing all their stuff.

From my experience Worship fits into a very bad ratio of "actual threat : perceived threat". Cracks me up seeing people freak out over this when the controller isn't even close to zero life. Might be a local thing, though.

lol @3drinks you always pick the most obscure art. I didn't even recognize that one tbh, although in retrospect I think I saw it once or twice back in the day.

[void_nothing]

Might be a local thing, though.

In this format? All metas are local.

[3drinks]

lol @3drinks you always pick the most obscure art. I didn't even recognize that one tbh, although in retrospect I think I saw it once or twice back in the day.

I aim to serve. Wait till you see fallen angel|7ed. Damn shame those foils are so pricey.

[DirkGently]

I aim to serve. Wait till you see fallen angel|7ed. Damn shame those foils are fo pricey.

Huh, 7th edition was a bit of a pocket dimension for underused art assets wasn't it?

edit: jfc the prices on foil 7th birds of paradise|7ED

[ukkuhrmakhai]

Worship ( and relying on a permanent to keep you alive in general) doesn't work nearly as well in EDH. EDH has multiple opponents so instead of an opponent needing to kill you and remove the permanent they just need to kill you and then someone else can remove the permanent. And then due to the singleton nature of the format decks are much more unfocused and pack more removal so it is much harder to reliably shut down a deck's win condition.

Worship in particular is pretty weak because of:
A. Life loss spells are much more common in EDH than other formats.
B. Commander Damage
C. Wraths

[3drinks]

I aim to serve. Wait till you see fallen angel|7ed. Damn shame those foils are fo pricey.

Huh, 7th edition was a bit of a pocket dimension for underused art assets wasn't it?

edit: jfc the prices on foil 7th birds of paradise|7ED

Even the non foil though. $18usd for a $2 rare.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, March 15th, 2023; Skrelv's Hive

So, Whiterblossom is good right? As good as the OG? MID because it doesn't make blockers? Though I'd think not since you're clearly in a bad spot if you're blocking with toxic critters.

[Toshi]

So, Whiterblossom is good right? As good as the OG?

Not as good as the OG, but not necessarily because of not being able to block - you'll likely play other forms of creature( token)s anyhow.

No evasion makes the tokens significantly worse, though they are a better win con, if left unblocked for whatever reason.
Also, might have Welcoming Vampire, Mentor of the Meek and the likes to profit from the tokens, yet still has way more utility to pair with "free" bodies.

Off the top of my head, this would be great in Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa shells, maybe even with Tymna the Weaver and Bitterblossom on top?

[3drinks]

So, Whiterblossom is good right? As good as the OG?

Not as good as the OG, but not necessarily because of not being able to block - you'll likely play other forms of creature( token)s anyhow.

No evasion makes the tokens significantly worse, though they are a better win con, if left unblocked for whatever reason.
Also, might have Welcoming Vampire, Mentor of the Meek and the likes to profit from the tokens, yet still has way more utility to pair with "free" bodies.

Off the top of my head, this would be great in Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa shells, maybe even with Tymna the Weaver and Bitterblossom on top?

...Bennie Bracks, Zoologist!!

[Dunharrow]

My skullclamp doesn't care if they fly or block.
Being artifacts can be a plus if you have things that trigger off of artifacts.

[Guardman]

Being white and being artifacts are the two big things for me. Yes, they aren't good on defense or going over blockers, but that's fine when white has so many token/small creature interactions. It also has a ton of artifact interactions as well. Plus the toxic can randomly be relevant when someone hopes to stall being gaining a billion life.

[Mookie]

I'm fairly low on Skrelv's Hive compared to Bitterblossom. It looks okay in a vacuum to power Welcoming Vampire and other token synergies, but compared to the original, the tokens have no evasion, can't block, and are colorless. Honestly, the colorless part is what bugs me the most, since it means they don't play very well with Teysa, Orzhov Scion. That said, it does go up in value if you have artifact synergies. I'm probably being a little too harsh on it - even if the tokens are sort of meh, my deck does care about quantity over quality. Hmmm....

[PrimevalCommander]

I'd probably take it over Devoted Caretaker. The latter's big plus is "permanent" instead of just creatures, but being immune to abilities is nice given all the ETB stuff.

Not sure I have Mother/Giver in anything but Giada. The damage prevention is too good.

Had to quickly comment on this card mentioned a few days ago. I may have just the spot for this. I was looking for a cheap creature to protect enchantments from removal. Surprised to see it is $6 for never having heard of this card before. Any other low MV creatures that protect enchantments (or permanents) let me know.

Today's card looks pretty decent on paper for token decks. Not many token makers that pump out creatures consistently for , and with all white's new creature-based draw, this looks more like a Bitterblossom + Phyrexian Arena white creature decks.

[ukkuhrmakhai]

I've seen Skrelv's Hive in practice a few times now and it never lives up to Bitterblossom. The biggest problem I've seen with it is that the floor for what is does so low.

Bitterblossom tokens could with no support either chump block or get in for some damage if they weren't doing something else. Hive with no support is amazing on an EMPTY board where it can just swing with no issues but people usually get blockers at some point. The can't block really kills its utility and no evasion means even a mildly contested board can have no good targets to swing at. The lack of evasion also means despite Hive being in white, BB plays better with equipment.

That is just without support though and as a two mana repeatable token maker, it looks pretty amazing for a token or weenie deck. The lifegain is surprisingly easy to turn on and toxic adds a nice back up plan for life gain. It also gives you a token even if your board got wiped last turn so you can still activate any sacrifice, creature synergies, etc to go off.

Hive isn't quite as generically good as BB is, but they both scale well with buffs and can get eaten by skullclamp.

[Treamayne]

That is just without support though and as a two mana repeatable token maker, it looks pretty amazing for a token or weenie deck. The lifegain is surprisingly easy to turn on and toxic adds a nice back up plan for life gain. It also gives you a token even if your board got wiped last turn so you can still activate any sacrifice, creature synergies, etc to go off.

I would actually posit that one of the best (if not the best) support card(s) for Mites is Dolmen Gate. Suddenly not dying on the attack means removal has to be spent on the support, generator, or the mites themselves. Unchecked you just keep growing beyond the ability to be blocked (especially in a dedicated Mite/Toxic deck).

Too bad they have poison or I might not hate it so much. (and while Toxic =/= Infect; I'm still shunning Poison for reasons stated here)

[3drinks]

Thursday, March 16th, 2023; Mesmeric Orb|brr

[pokken]

Ah yes, the secret group hug card that only helps a random opponent who is playing a deck even more graveyardy than yours.

[3drinks]

Ah yes, the secret group hug card that only helps a random opponent who is playing a deck even more graveyardy than yours.

Never have I ever seen this card used remotely "fairly". Yet Lil Jimmy across the table will still send their Rec Sage on my signet instead of...this. -_-