[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Consecrated Sphinx
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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4964
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- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
Friday, September 23rd, 2022; The Bridge Cycle
They're indestructible duals. With some strategic advantages. And they're not pricey. What's not to love?
They're indestructible duals. With some strategic advantages. And they're not pricey. What's not to love?
Kaalia HQ Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon Torbran, Thane of Red Fell Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers) Trynn, Champion of Freedom & Silvar, Devourer of the Free
- PrimevalCommander
- Posts: 944
- Joined: 4 years ago
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I like these lands. I don't play any of them, but I'm glad they exist. For multi color artifact decks they seem like an auto include.
Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor and other land animator cards love these.
Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor and other land animator cards love these.
Decklists
God-Eternal Oketra
Titania, Protector of Argoth
Karador, Ghost Chieftan
Kalamax, the Stormsire
Rocco WILD PAIR
Sefris of the Hidden Ways *Budget*(Page 4)
Zurzoth, Chaos RiderKalamax, the Stormsire
Rocco WILD PAIR
Sefris of the Hidden Ways *Budget*(Page 4)
God-Eternal Oketra
Titania, Protector of Argoth
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Guardman A Dog's Dream of Man
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- Location: In a Turn-Based World
I love them. And they play much better than you would think in decks that want them. Honestly, these might be some of the strongest EtB tapped dual lands available with the exception of the Triomes. I've even survived Mass Land Destruction (it was a new guy with an "average power level" deck) in decent shape because of the indestructible.
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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4964
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
When I re-evaluated the as I call it "baseline" Kaalia deck for the Primer rewrite, I loved very much I could use these with Hoarding Dragon|ima as a sort of wonky Trinket Mage|tsr and even went and baked an artifact package into Kaalia. That feels like a pretty good ceiling if they can get a not-artifact deck like Kaalia to cosplay as an artifact deck.PrimevalCommander wrote: ↑1 year agoI like these lands. I don't play any of them, but I'm glad they exist. For multi color artifact decks they seem like an auto include.
Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor and other land animator cards love these.
Kaalia HQ Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon Torbran, Thane of Red Fell Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers) Trynn, Champion of Freedom & Silvar, Devourer of the Free
- PrimevalCommander
- Posts: 944
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Good point, also turns Trinket Mage into a fixer for decks, which makes that card even more flexible.
Decklists
God-Eternal Oketra
Titania, Protector of Argoth
Karador, Ghost Chieftan
Kalamax, the Stormsire
Rocco WILD PAIR
Sefris of the Hidden Ways *Budget*(Page 4)
Zurzoth, Chaos RiderKalamax, the Stormsire
Rocco WILD PAIR
Sefris of the Hidden Ways *Budget*(Page 4)
God-Eternal Oketra
Titania, Protector of Argoth
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TheAmericanSpirit Supreme Dumb Guy
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- Location: IGMCULSL Papal Palace
I've seen these cards in the wild once: a friend of mine built MLD tribal superfriends with these alongside ABU duals and 10k worth of other cards.
I told him if he ever wasted 3 hours of my life again with that nonsense, I would only ever play against him in limited. Dunno if he still has that deck together, but I haven't seen it since that ultimatum either.
I told him if he ever wasted 3 hours of my life again with that nonsense, I would only ever play against him in limited. Dunno if he still has that deck together, but I haven't seen it since that ultimatum either.
There's no biscuits and gravy in New Zealand.
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
I'm a fan of the bridges. Historically, I've been low on Ancient Den and other artifact lands for the simple reason that they tend to get swept up by Vandalblast and other mass artifact removal. While the bridges can technically still be hit by Merciless Eviction or Farewell, indestructible makes them much more resistant to removal, which is quite nice. As a result, they actually feel pretty safe to play (and I'd rate them even higher if you care about MLD in your meta).
Anyway, the basic math for the bridges comes down to 'how much do I care about artifacts' vs 'how much do I care about my land entering tapped'. I wouldn't run them in a cEDH list, but if you have artifact synergies, they're certainly worth consideration. Trinket Mage and Artificer's Intuition particularly like them, but sacrificing them to Krark-Clan Ironworks or Trading Post, or discarding them to Thirst for Knowledge and reanimating them with Salvaging Station also represents nice value. If you have Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas or other ways to animate your artifacts, you can turn them into an indestructible body, which is also fun.
Anyway, the basic math for the bridges comes down to 'how much do I care about artifacts' vs 'how much do I care about my land entering tapped'. I wouldn't run them in a cEDH list, but if you have artifact synergies, they're certainly worth consideration. Trinket Mage and Artificer's Intuition particularly like them, but sacrificing them to Krark-Clan Ironworks or Trading Post, or discarding them to Thirst for Knowledge and reanimating them with Salvaging Station also represents nice value. If you have Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas or other ways to animate your artifacts, you can turn them into an indestructible body, which is also fun.
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void_nothing Look On My Sash...
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- Location: Tal Terig, Zendikar
Love them specifically for the purpose of animating artifacts and/or lands. Overall, they're great.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.
The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)
Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type
The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)
Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type
- hyalopterouslemur
- Posts: 3218
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A disclaimer: Most animate artifact cards say "P/T=MV", so, no. I mean, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and similar still work, but March of the Machines kills artifact lands instantly.void_nothing wrote: ↑1 year agoLove them specifically for the purpose of animating artifacts and/or lands. Overall, they're great.
This cycle has a lot of value in affinity and eggs. You can also use it with landfall abilities and Panharmonicon. Besides that, Trinket Mage, and things like Enlightened Tutor. (I have topdecked artifact lands like this for Bob before. I prefer to use dig abilities to do it, though.)
The downside, of course: It's a tapland.
Thanks to Feyd_Ruin for the avatar!
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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
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- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
Saturday, September 24th, 2022; Grinning Totem
When you want to cast Praetor's Grasp but aren't in I guess.
When you want to cast Praetor's Grasp but aren't in I guess.
Kaalia HQ Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon Torbran, Thane of Red Fell Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers) Trynn, Champion of Freedom & Silvar, Devourer of the Free
It was perhaps the best card in my Golos, Tireless Pilgrim Bad Artifacts deck because it allowed me to search better decks for spells that weren't terrible.
- hyalopterouslemur
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I mean, it's not bad, but it just seems a bit much for an anti-Demonic Tutor.
Thanks to Feyd_Ruin for the avatar!
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aliciaofthevast Phyrexian Flesh Agent
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- Location: New Phyrexia
I've been wanting to be more positive about random cards lately, but Grinning Totem makes it a bit difficult. Let's see... I guess it's a sink for infinite mana, assuming your opponents have a juicy X spell? It also has some use against combo decks (although Jester's Cap does it better). I suppose it also functions as a tutor in non-black decks - six mana is, technically, cheaper than ten mana for Ring of Three Wishes (although tutoring from an opponent's deck obviously has some limitations). You can also activate it at instant speed to mess with your opponent's tutor - such value!
...yeah, I'm out of ideas. Praetor's Grasp is significantly better, and it's not a very good card in the first place - needing to pay the stolen card's cost is a surprisingly harsh restriction outside 5C decks. Depending on how synergy-based your opponent's deck is, there may not even be useful cards to steal in the first place, or at least not something worth the three mana investment when you could be drawing cards from your own deck instead.
...yeah, I'm out of ideas. Praetor's Grasp is significantly better, and it's not a very good card in the first place - needing to pay the stolen card's cost is a surprisingly harsh restriction outside 5C decks. Depending on how synergy-based your opponent's deck is, there may not even be useful cards to steal in the first place, or at least not something worth the three mana investment when you could be drawing cards from your own deck instead.
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TheAmericanSpirit Supreme Dumb Guy
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- Location: IGMCULSL Papal Palace
This is some premium green.
There's no biscuits and gravy in New Zealand.
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
This is the key interaction piece in my wanderer deck - it's designed to be able to just get this dude if it can't go off and win, and it always buys Soooo much time. It's inevitably huge and it blows up almost everything that deck cares about (since it can beat creatures by just out-creaturing them).
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materpillar the caterpillar
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I really hate this card. I tend to lean into silly artifact synergy pieces and this almost always wrecks my board.
Fantastic card. 10/10, glad it exists. Really good for the format. Please stop casting it against me. XD
Fantastic card. 10/10, glad it exists. Really good for the format. Please stop casting it against me. XD
Hero to some decks, villain to others. Bane of Progress is always an impactful card, either by blowing up a bunch of mana rocks or sending an enchantress player back to the stone age (well, until they cast Replenish, at least). The mana rock thing is particularly worth calling out, since it strongly encourages leaning into green's land and creature-based ramp options. Beyond that, it leaves behind a big vanilla beater. I haven't ever seen it get in for significant damage due to its lack of evasion, but it's still a decent threat / blocker.
Synergy-wise, I'll call out that it's one of the few creature-based mass artifact/enchantment removal options. I suppose Hammer Mage exists, but Bane is definitely best-in-class. It's also somewhat annoyingly able to dodge Swan Song and Negate, both of which I'm running in my Thada Adel, Acquisitor deck for Cyclonic Rift. Bane isn't quite as widely played, so I'm not quite willing to tech in cards for it, but still worth calling out.
Synergy-wise, I'll call out that it's one of the few creature-based mass artifact/enchantment removal options. I suppose Hammer Mage exists, but Bane is definitely best-in-class. It's also somewhat annoyingly able to dodge Swan Song and Negate, both of which I'm running in my Thada Adel, Acquisitor deck for Cyclonic Rift. Bane isn't quite as widely played, so I'm not quite willing to tech in cards for it, but still worth calling out.
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TheGildedGoose HONK HONK
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This is the card that taught me patience with Erebos and impatience with Daretti. Excellent card.
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- Posts: 259
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I see them chord for 6.
I whir for 2.
I whir for 2.
- hyalopterouslemur
- Posts: 3218
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aliciaofthevast Phyrexian Flesh Agent
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- Location: New Phyrexia
All cards are bad if you try hard enough.
Important decks: Ebondeath, Dracolich, Emiel, The Blessed, Phelddagriff
Other: Ruhan, Zask, Kellan, Liesa, Galadriel, Orca, Sauron, Thantis, Rukarumel, Sisay, Stickfingers, Safana, Thantis, Dihada
Help me complete my JumpStart Cube!
Important decks: Ebondeath, Dracolich, Emiel, The Blessed, Phelddagriff
Other: Ruhan, Zask, Kellan, Liesa, Galadriel, Orca, Sauron, Thantis, Rukarumel, Sisay, Stickfingers, Safana, Thantis, Dihada
Help me complete my JumpStart Cube!