[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Leonin Shikari

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3drinks
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

The best I got off this card was versus a Sharuum deck. It was late game and he had just got down a Magister Sphinx for the two turn clock. I untapped, dealt with it, and dropped the featured card and passed.

His hand? Demonic Tutour & Verdant Catacombs. Brutal.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Stranglehold is a card I've never actually played against. I've seen plenty of Aven Mindcensors, and a couple of Ugin's Nexuses, but never it specifically. This is likely due to a combination of price and availability.

I would say that my main concern with it is that it is a do-nothing enchantment - you're paying four mana for a card that doesn't impact the board. Hate cards like this are often somewhat awkward, since it is hard to see the impact that they're having - if your opponent's fetchland or Rampant Growth doesn't work, then they just won't play it. As a result, I have a tendency to undervalue this sort of thing. Being an enchantment does make it harder to interact with than the alternatives though.

As for the effect itself.... shutting down tutors is pretty brutal, especially given how common land-based ramp is. Looked through a few of my decks - looks like they're usually around 10 tutors, with a mix of land fetching and nonland fetching. It does depend on the deck though. Also a lock alongside Maralen of the Mornsong.

The other ability is more niche, and likely a meta call - if people run lots of extra turn spells in your meta, shutting them down goes up in value. Alternatively, run Emrakul, the Promised End to make people even more miserable.

In summary: a card that makes me groan.

Also: 10/10 flavor text.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

[mention]Mookie[/mention], your perception of do nothing is misguided, although given the applications of the aforementioned card, it's easy to see how one would arrive to that conclusion. While it doesn't iMPACT the board directly, every time an opponent (because it is very much one sided, a key difference between this and Mindlock Orb) can't play a card in hand, this has affected the board albeit indirectly. That makes this card generate a lot of virtual card advantage even though you don't know what it's doing under the hood.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

@3drinks - yeah, that's fair. I suppose a closer comparison for Stranglehold is something like Privileged Position or Ghostly Prison, in that it limits your opponents' options. So, does have some impact, even if it isn't board impact. I can't say whether the effect it has is worth the investment, since that depends largely on how many tutors your opponents are running, and how long it actually sticks around for.

I will make a sidenote that 'do-nothing enchantment' doesn't mean a card is bad - I would describe Doubling Season, Thousand-Year Storm, and Sanguine Bond as such - none of those impact the board, since they need you to take additional actions afterwards.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Friday, September 20th, 2019; Loaming Shaman


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Post by Toshi » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Everyday I'm shoveling...

Up until they printed Return to Nature this was my favorite nonartifact graveyard hate card in g. It's no Angel of Finality or Remorseful Cleric, but it still comes with a reasonable body and is easily repeatable as an ETB.

They would have to print a lot of alternatives before this becomes irrelevant or sub-par to me.
Good card is good.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

I still can't believe this guy got downshifted to uncommon. He's a great, and very welcome addition to g decks.

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

I favor Scavenging Ooze as grave hate over Loaming Shaman for most decks, but the Shaman does have some upside - much more efficient if you expect to be limited on mana, and much easier to bounce or recur than Tormod's Crypt or other artifact-based hate. There are also some niche uses for shuffling your own graveyard back in if you have more card draw / tutors than recursion, or if you're concerned about milling out and aren't running an Eldrazi titan.

I've considered it for Animar as a way to restock specific cards for Primal Surge, but haven't actually tested it yet.

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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

Hates out graveyard-based strategies, lets you sorta recur your own cards, really lets you do both, I have to give him his due.
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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

Was nice when I ran Momir Vig.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
I favor Scavenging Ooze as grave hate over Loaming Shaman for most decks, but the Shaman does have some upside - much more efficient if you expect to be limited on mana, and much easier to bounce or recur than Tormod's Crypt or other artifact-based hate. There are also some niche uses for shuffling your own graveyard back in if you have more card draw / tutors than recursion, or if you're concerned about milling out and aren't running an Eldrazi titan.

I've considered it for Animar as a way to restock specific cards for Primal Surge, but haven't actually tested it yet.
Also not noted - you can chord of calling into this on the cheap to blank an opposing living death. Who says you need to be in b to ravenous trap people? 😉

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Saturday, September 21st, 2019; Emeria Shepherd


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Post by KMA_Again » 4 years ago

I wish she wasn't 7cmc. That ability is very powerful even without trying to combo and synergize with it.

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Post by umtiger » 4 years ago

KMA_Again wrote:
4 years ago
I wish she wasn't 7cmc. That ability is very powerful even without trying to combo and synergize with it.
That's why she's 7 cmc. :)

Did you want it to be a 1w 0/2 with defender? B/c the only text on the card that really matters is the landfall ability,

If they want to increase the power-level of white in EDH (without resorting to stupid stuff like tacking cantrips unto every white card), this is part of the color-pie they can explore. I like Emeria Shepherd even more than Sun Titan!

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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

I run Emeria Shepherd in one deck (Brago), alongside friends like Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Angel of Serenity, Sun Titan, and Twilight Shepherd. It's possible to make a surprisingly resilient deck with all of white's recursive creatures. Not necessarily as resilient as a dedicated black/green graveyard deck, but you have the benefit of all your recursion pieces being reasonably-sized evasive beaters.

As for the card itself... Seven mana is a lot, and a number that can be difficult for a monowhite deck to hit. Arguably an eight drop, even, since you want to trigger landfall immediately after you play her. She also really wants you to be running a lot of Plains. White doesn't have a lot of landfall support, but there are a few jankier options, like Flickerwisp and Felidar Guardian. Pairing with green is an obvious option - Karametra, God of Harvests seems like a very strong commander for the Shepherd.

Looking at the effect, recurring arbitrary nonland permanents is an extremely powerful payoff, and fairly unique - there aren't a lot of other effects capable of reanimating such a broad category, and certainly not repeatedly. If you have a sacrifice outlet, she can let you fetch all of your plains with Kor Cartographer or Solemn Simulacrum.

In summary: powerful card, unique effect, very expensive. I always hope for more white recursion cards.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

It's so so so close to making it into Kaalia. But I just can't with a 7cmc 4/4. I do wonder if it could work far more often than I should for a card I've already written off, though...

Hmm 🤔. No, bad 3drinks, stop that!

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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

KMA_Again wrote:
4 years ago
I wish she wasn't 7cmc. That ability is very powerful even without trying to combo and synergize with it.
Yes, recursion if you have just any land, reanimation if you have a plains, is pretty bonkers. Which is why she costs so much. Compare with Sheoldred, Whispering One or Reya Dawnbringer.
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

She's straight up bomb in Bruna. Legitimate 2ic material. Dropping a wayfarers to bring back a sad robot to bring back a Karmic Guide to bring back a Sun Titan to bring back the aforementioned bauble is no freaking joke. If you're in the colours and can justify that CMC she puts in some heavy work.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Sunday, September 22nd, 2019; Energy Flux


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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 4 years ago

Another excellent and underplayed hate piece and in my mind, the mtg equivalent of $9 cigarettes in California. Best way to disincentivize behavior is to tax the the hell out of it.

But I haven't quit smoking or playing artifact decks yet, so we'll see.
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Post by Myllior » 4 years ago

I've never seen this before; it sees the most play in Estrid, which is unsurprising, with Zur and Tuvasa coming in afterwards. I think it would see more play in Derevi stax if not for Kataki, War's Wage|SOK, since being a creature and 1 CMC cheaper are both pluses.
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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

For the most part I find this card worse than many alternatives - pinpoint removal and artifact sweepers both usually do the job better. The issue with the tax is that combo decks will keep their combo pieces then pay the tax then win. Other times you just don't hit very much and someone removes it before deploying rocks.

The benchmark for me with static hate pieces is that they need to actually stop combos or I usually wind up cutting them. Cards like stony silence and torpor orb and rest in peace all shut off various endgame plays and combos.

I've played this card a bunch of times and it always seems better than it is; sometimes it kills some mana rocks, but the percentage of the time it's better than stony silence is fairly rare.

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Post by vandertroll » 4 years ago

I play this along Stony silence in my bant enchantments deck. Solid card, always draws removal
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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

Anyone use Pendrell Mists or Aura Flux?
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

Serenade wrote:
4 years ago
Anyone use Pendrell Mists or Aura Flux?
They're cute in Voltron. They vary in Stax. Like, I wouldn't use this in most Stax decks, just as I wouldn't use Pendrell Mists or Magus of the Tabernacle in token decks. (Strike that, I might use Magus in Ghave.)

By the way, remember, they do get around Sigarda, Host of Herons.
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