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

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Sinis
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Friday, September 27th, 2019; Lord Windgrace
When he came out, I built my own lands-matter deck, and... it was okay. Lord Windgrace was acceptably powerful, but just kind of generic. Obviously rewarded fetchlands. Had an acceptable +2 for cycling/generating value. I don't think I ever activated his ult, because it's best when you're behind, but Planeswalkers are the first thing to die when you're behind.

I could play him again someday, but, I suspect something more interesting will appear.

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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

The -3 could be useful for mundane things like fetches, and the +2 is obviously useful. (Hey, Crucible of Worlds exists. This rewards you for that little trick.) The -11 doesn't close, sadly, but still, hitting up to ten permanents is nice. If you have Beastmaster Ascension, it becomes a lot better: Six 7/7s. It's also good with the usual doublers and Purphoros, God of the Forge.
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Post by Dunharrow » 4 years ago

I have been thinking of turning my creatureless Mogis into creatureless Lord Windgrace, but it barely does anything... I think I will wait for a 5 colour non-creature commander.
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Post by WizardMN » 4 years ago

Lord Windgrace has been the best Jund deck I have built. And by that, it is one that plays the least like my Karador deck. Having 2 colors overlap tended to make the decks play very similarly but using him as a lands-matter general has been fun and quite powerful. I don't do any combos or MLD with him now, but I did have him built with a ton on MLD at one point. And he is super good for that.

I know not everyone likes Planeswalker Commanders but I found Windgrace to be good to build around, to an extent, while still allowing some freedom. And, without being totally broken on his own.

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Post by umtiger » 4 years ago



You would think that I'd like him a lot.
1.) Lands based
2.) Available in foil
3.) Old-school character

But I just don't.
1.) He's a PW and I don't like them (except for Jace, TMS)
2.) He's a CMDR-set legendary and I dislike playing with or against almost all of them
3.) He's value without cost attached to a general, a design direction I generally dislike
4.) He pretty much leads to the path of MLD, so I generally have to target strongly from the onset of the game.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Saturday, September 28th, 2019; Spreading Seas[/c) // [card]Tainted Well

Last edited by 3drinks 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by onering » 4 years ago

Being different colors, and changing lands to different types, actually makes these a bit different. Spreading Seas being blue means it fits in blue based enchantment decks that run Riptide Chimera, allowing it to be recast every turn for draw and constellation triggers, while there are more cards that care about swamps. I'm not sure I've ever seen either in even dedicated enchantment decks.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

I play them both because they're easy disruption that replace themselves. Although back in my day when I still played Wrexial.........

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Post by Dunharrow » 4 years ago

In my opinion both are fine inclusions in Zur to shut down powerful lands. The mana cost is a huge difference though...
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

I play Spreading Seas in two decks - Thada and Brago. It serves a lot of purposes - enables Islandwalk for Thada, cantrips on ETB for Brago, shuts down problematic lands (specifically Maze of Ith, which is otherwise a pain for both commanders), gets tutored by Heliod's Pilgrim...

I don't have as much experience with Tainted Well, but I suspect it is a weaker card. Extra mana is obviously relevant. Black also has Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to enable swampwalk, which will usually be the easier option. Might be worth consideration if you really care about removing specific utility lands or have enchantment synergies (ex: Daxos the Returned).

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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
I play them both because they're easy disruption that replace themselves. Although back in my day when I still played Wrexial.........
Cheap (CMC 3 or less) cantrip permanents are always worth at least considering. Obviously you can't exploit that in Wrexial, but there are sets where you can. It's actually a good way to answer utility lands and big mana lands.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Saturday, September 28th, 2019; Spreading Seas // Tainted Well
I have not played these in forever, but I do like them. To be honest, I'm surprised they didn't see a resurgence once the transform cards from Ixalan block made an appearance. Some of them are still popular-ish in my groups, and I can't say I'm ever surprised to see someone table Search for Azcanta or Growing Rites.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

hyalopterouslemur wrote:
4 years ago
3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
I play them both because they're easy disruption that replace themselves. Although back in my day when I still played Wrexial.........
Cheap (CMC 3 or less) cantrip permanents are always worth at least considering. Obviously you can't exploit that in Wrexial, but there are sets where you can. It's actually a good way to answer utility lands and big mana lands.
Wrexial does exploit that. By being unblockable and not costing a card. That's good enough, imo.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Sunday, September 29th. 2019; Vorapede


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Post by TheAmericanSpirit » 4 years ago

Best in a Goreclaw deck probably. The Pede lets you cash in on Greater Good twice and swings/blocks big for what will usually only cost 3.

And Inb4 the inevitable "it just beats thus it sux"/"needs value"/"bleh" comments roll in, I'm personally against the argument that EDH has no place for big, stupid beaters. They just need a critical mass commitment and some additional incentives for playing them, i.e. building a deck. Debate me!
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Interesting to contrast Vorapede with Tajuru Pathwarden - exactly how valuable is undying? (hint: very)

My criteria for putting beaters in decks is a minimum of two out of three of evasion, resilience, and value. Vorapede doesn't provide value (although it can if you have a usage for its body), but evasion and resilience are both covered by trample and undying. I don't think every deck wants dedicated beaters, but it's not a bad card to throw into a deck that wants to attack - I could see it in Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma or Xenagos, God of Revels. Also good if you have ways to take advantage of the undying (such as removing the +1/+1 counter, or sacrificing it for value).

Consider also Feasting Troll King.

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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Finally, a card I can actually comment on!

I've run it in Molimo since it was released, pretty much, and it's always done work for me. If the table gets a bit wrath-happy, it's nice knowing I'll still have a guy. It's big enough that random pokes are discouraged, but not so big you look actively threatening. Devotion count is decent if that's a relevant thing for your deck. So yeah, solid card, and the fact it comes back bigger when you kill it can occasionally throw a wrench in someones plans.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 4 years ago

This was a thing in my original group's Xenagod. All its keywords ultimately resulted in a mediocre card that jack-of-all-trades'ed itself out of being a particularly relevant threat. That said, I think the guy liked it quite a bit for some reason and kept running it. Would probably advise against including it in most decks :P
 
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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

TheAmericanSpirit wrote:
4 years ago
And Inb4 the inevitable "it just beats thus it sux"/"needs value"/"bleh" comments roll in, I'm personally against the argument that EDH has no place for big, stupid beaters. They just need a critical mass commitment and some additional incentives for playing them, i.e. building a deck. Debate me!
On the contrary I agree. One of my favourite cards in my Nissa build is Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar. Guy never comes down as less than a 20/20, and he's so freaking resilient.

I think there's a place in the format for beaters, it's just that for the most part they can't the pillar that holds your deck up. Exception - running Gishath dinosaurs. Such a well supported tribe.
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Post by plushpenguin » 4 years ago

Even in decks dedicating to pure beatings, the cards that truly keep them going are whatever support you give them rather than the attackers themselves, no matter how good they are at the job.

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Post by Serenade » 4 years ago

Stonebrow and Surrak 2.0 are probably fans, too.
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Post by Hermes_ » 4 years ago

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Honestly, (and I didn't play it in Goreclaw for precisely this reason), is it's cmc. That GGG, in a world where I can get 5 power for two, or nine power for five across two large bodies, why settle up with the stiff pips requirement for one body?

It also doesn't match up well by comparison to Gearhulk, negative synergy actually, Gearhulk turns off it's best quality. I guess it's good with Temur Sabertooth though.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
I guess it's good with Temur Sabertooth though.
Yeah, but that's probably not enough. Lots of things are good with Sabertooth, but that's just because Sabertooth is awesome.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
I guess it's good with Temur Sabertooth though.
Yeah, but that's probably not enough. Lots of things are good with Sabertooth, but that's just because Sabertooth is awesome.
Which is precisely why alone it wasn't enough to make the cut. Sooooooo many options for stompy cards.

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