[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Archfiend of Depravity
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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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.
His hand? Demonic Tutour & Verdant Catacombs. Brutal.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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.
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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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
[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.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
@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.
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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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Everyday I'm shoveling...
Up until they printed Return to Nature this was my favorite nonartifact graveyard hate card in . 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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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
I still can't believe this guy got downshifted to uncommon. He's a great, and very welcome addition to
decks.Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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.
I've considered it for Animar as a way to restock specific cards for Primal Surge, but haven't actually tested it yet.
- hyalopterouslemur
- Posts: 3218
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
Hates out graveyard-based strategies, lets you sorta recur your own cards, really lets you do both, I have to give him his due.
Thanks to Feyd_Ruin for the avatar!
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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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 to ravenous trap people? 😉Mookie wrote: ↑4 years agoI 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.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
That's why she's 7 cmc.
Did you want it to be a 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!
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.
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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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
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!
Hmm 🤔. No, bad 3drinks, stop that!
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
- hyalopterouslemur
- Posts: 3218
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
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.
Thanks to Feyd_Ruin for the avatar!
- toctheyounger
- Posts: 3991
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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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3drinks Kaalia's Personal Liaison
- Posts: 4867
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Ruined City of Drannith, Ikoria
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Modern
87guide Burn
87guide Burn
Commander
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon (local secret santa gift)
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (Red Deck Wins)
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (Slivers)
Kaalia HQ
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TheAmericanSpirit Supreme Dumb Guy
- Posts: 2205
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: IGMCULSL Papal Palace
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.
But I haven't quit smoking or playing artifact decks yet, so we'll see.
There's no biscuits and gravy in New Zealand.
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
(Except when DirkGently makes them!)
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.
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.
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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vandertroll The Pontiac Bandit
- Posts: 201
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
- Location: Athens, GR
I play this along Stony silence in my bant enchantments deck. Solid card, always draws removal
Ertai, Wizard Adept counts as a Wizard.
- hyalopterouslemur
- Posts: 3218
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Pronoun: he / him
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.
Thanks to Feyd_Ruin for the avatar!