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

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PrimevalCommander
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Post by PrimevalCommander » 1 year ago

Great land, makes it into most of my white decks. I agree with all the sentiment above. Pretty low activation cost for what you get, and taps for mana as well, which is great. Probably the best "Maze" effect that taps for mana and really hoses many go-tall decks.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
1 year ago
Love this land. Maze of Ith is a fair comparison; what you lose in mana consumption, Kor Haven makes up for in flexibility. I am constantly surprised by how few people seem to play this.
I suspect being $15 and an effective 3mv to activate is enough to deter players from slotting it in. I know that's why I don't run it. Urborg + Yavimaya allows my maze of ith to tap for mana as needed, on top of being more utilitarian in turning off my painful lands when I can't/don't want to, pay the life cost.

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Dunadain
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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

Best Maze of Ith and it ain't even close.

Honestly, I'd only run Maze of Ith is I wasn't playing white.

More people should be running this baby,
All cards are bad if you try hard enough.

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Post by materpillar » 1 year ago

Dunadain wrote:
1 year ago
Best Maze of Ith and it ain't even close.

Honestly, I'd only run Maze of Ith is I wasn't playing white.

More people should be running this baby,
I agree Kor Haven is the best effect but also a shout out to Prahv, Spires of Order for being situationally better by being able to prevent non-combat/hexproof stuff like Comet Storm/Uril, the Miststalker.

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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 1 year ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
1 year ago
Love this land. Maze of Ith is a fair comparison; what you lose in mana consumption, Kor Haven makes up for in flexibility. I am constantly surprised by how few people seem to play this.
And if there's no combat, it's better than Maze, since you can also tap it for mana.

It should be noted however, that the Maze does do a few things, like be an obvious option in Kaalia of the Vast, or play off an inspired ability.

And remember, (protection from lands, shroud, hexproof when targeting opponent's creatures, an opponent's Vines of Vastwood) will stop either.
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aliciaofthevast
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Post by aliciaofthevast » 1 year ago

3drinks wrote:
1 year ago
Tuesday, September 20th, 2022; Kor Haven

It's good at what it does.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Wednesday, September 21st, 2022; Zevlor, Elturel Exile


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Dunadain
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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

Huh, I missed this during spoilers season. Grixis is the right color for this effect to shine.

Off the top of my head, the first two cards that seem strong with this are Gitaxian Probe and cards like Thoughtseize. And of course, any removal spell becomes a Windgrace's Judgment.

Haste also makes it more acceptable.

Idk, might try to brew something.
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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 1 year ago

I ain't reading all that. Give me more static abilities.
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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 1 year ago

Serenade wrote:
1 year ago
I ain't reading all that. Give me more static abilities.
So, basically, North controls this, and activates its ability, then casts Lightning Bolt on South's, I don't know, Devout Witness sounds about right. Now North can create up to two copies, but one must target something East controls (or East themselves) and one must target something West controls (or West themselves).

Yeah, Lavalanche is the obvious best choice, except then you're in four colors.
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Post by benjameenbear » 1 year ago

I will make this card work so that I can finally Cruel Ultimatum each of my opponents. FINALLY.

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Dunadain
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Post by Dunadain » 1 year ago

Yeah, all those uses are exciting, but it's really mana intensive if you want to use him the turn you play him, and it's still a 2 tax everyone you want to use him on a spell, so I think you'll want a pretty lean curve with only a handful of lights out curve toppers.
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Important decks: Ebondeath, Dracolich, Emiel, The Blessed, Phelddagriff
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Post by brainface » 1 year ago

Serenade wrote:
1 year ago
I ain't reading all that. Give me more static abilities.
Magic card rules are way too long now, and I wish they would start to really prioritize condensing rules text instead of seeing 12 of cards like these at uncommon every set. "For each opponent, repeat this" seems to work out to be inordinately wordy on every card, i.e. veteran soldier, or outright confusing in the case of Lagrella, the Magpie.

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Post by aliciaofthevast » 1 year ago

Curse of the Cabal is the obvious pick, no?

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PrimevalCommander
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Post by PrimevalCommander » 1 year ago

Does the physical card emphasize only in red font like the tag does? If so that would be something I have not seen before.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

Thursday, September 22nd, 2022; Dazzling Sphinx



Well that's fun.

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 1 year ago

PrimevalCommander wrote:
1 year ago
Does the physical card emphasize only in red font like the tag does? If so that would be something I have not seen before.
Didn't catch that. Looks like it was a digital edit after a misprint when the card was sent to the printer, since it was a forgotten word.

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hyalopterouslemur
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 1 year ago

I mean, it's a free spell, but it could also whiff on a counter or a wipe you didn't want.
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Crazy Monkey
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Post by Crazy Monkey » 1 year ago

Dazzling Sphinx is part of a trend that has powercrept the sphinx tribal options extensively in recent years. No more Goliath Sphinx of old. Dazzling specifically is great. It messes with top of library tutors, has a relatively low MV, and even all-permanent decks are running Primal Surge or some removal.

I think it's way better than Sharding Sphinx, Conundrum Sphinx, or the older sphinxes with damage triggers.

Outside of sphinx tribal, it's a bit slow.
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PrimevalCommander
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Post by PrimevalCommander » 1 year ago

Dazzling Sphinx came in the Zaffai, Thunder Conductor precon that my brother was upgrading. It did some work last time he played it, nabbing a removal spell of one player and a Time Warp off another player, bottoming his Staff of Domination . I considered that about the ceiling of the card, which is certainly worth the mana, but the floor is basically getting a ramp or even a wrath when you don't want it. Not a bad card, but still modest for the mana.

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Serenade
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Post by Serenade » 1 year ago

But then you tuck their wipe, right? The worst things to hit are X spells or counterspells, which are common enough that I leave this guy for tribal decks.
Mirri, Cat Warrior counts as a Cat Warrior.

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aliciaofthevast
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Post by aliciaofthevast » 1 year ago

I'd play this thing in aaaallllllllll my u decks!

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

You will almost always get value out of a Dazzling Sphinx saboteur trigger. Obviously it's possible to whiff, but it's a very good triggered ability.
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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Dazzling Sphinx looks sweet, but with my luck, I'll just hit Counterspell or Comet Storm every time. >.> I guess you can somewhat control it by choosing which opponent you attack, but it's still somewhat high variance (assuming you don't have some sort of opponent deck manipulation going on). As a result, I'd probably skip on it for most decks in favor of a more consistent creature, like Stormsurge Kraken or All-Seeing Arbiter.

Still, it is a fun effect, and the fact that you don't actually have to pay for it (unlike Chaos Wand) makes it a lot more reasonable - the baseline of a 4/5 flyer is much better than a do-nothing artifact. Hmmmm.... now I sort of want to test it out. Looking at my Thada deck, I'm somehow just as many dragons in it as sphinxes, which seems like a thing I should correct.

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Post by materpillar » 1 year ago

I love some random sphinxes with solid abilities. Never seen it cast but it seems pretty solid.

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