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

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Post by Rorseph » 4 years ago

I actually really like Zhalfirin Void because I'm a fan of the Temple cycle and I always wanted that effect available for mono-colored decks.
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019; Zhalfirin Void
Not something I've ever included, but, I suppose I would in an entirely colourless deck.

I could see it going into the right kind of deck, like Rashmi, Eternities Crafter.

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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

Rorseph wrote:
4 years ago
I actually really like Zhalfirin Void because I'm a fan of the Temple cycle and I always wanted that effect available for mono-colored decks.
Besides New Benalia, you mean.

I like scry in singleton formats. If you also like scry, this card is for you. Though in a more cutthroat environment, this is probably one of your last nonbasic land picks, just because it has to compete with things like Strip Mine.
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Zhalfirin Void is a fine card for colorless decks - scry 1 is a relevant upside over Wastes, and it still enters untapped.
However, I wouldn't play it in a colored deck - obviously outclassed by Temples in 2+ color decks (tapping for multiple colors is more important than entering untapped), and even in monocolor decks, there are a lot of colorless utility lands I would run before I considered Zhalfirin Void.

I won't say it has no home though - it may be worth consideration if you really care about the top card of your library, such as Aminatou, the Fateshifter, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter, or Elsha of the Infinite. May also be worth consideration if you plan to replay it multiple times - The Gitrog Monster and Mina and Denn, Wildborn come to mind. Those are all sort of a stretch though.

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Post by Rorseph » 4 years ago

hyalopterouslemur wrote:
4 years ago
Besides New Benalia, you mean.
Yeah, I always forget about that one. :P
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Every time I see this outside of Traxos or similar, I always think "why not Tower of the Magistrate?" The land that literally is a nonbasic Wastes except that one clutch moment in one game you will always remember.
Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
obviously outclassed by Temples in 2+ color decks (tapping for multiple colors is more important than entering untapped)
Is it? Is it really, though? I'm not entirely convinced of this.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Is it? Is it really, though? I'm not entirely convinced of this.
Agreed, it's case by case. The option of entering untapped is what makes shocks so much better than BFZ duals. Different decks need different things, and entering untapped is not to be underestimated, especially if your deck runs low to the ground and needs a strong start.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Is it? Is it really, though? I'm not entirely convinced of this.
Agreed, it's case by case. The option of entering untapped is what makes shocks so much better than BFZ duals. Different decks need different things, and entering untapped is not to be underestimated, especially if your deck runs low to the ground and needs a strong start.
It's ironic I say this when I champion the Tango and Bicycle duals too. I guess that's more because of land types than anything else though.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Is it? Is it really, though? I'm not entirely convinced of this.
Agreed, it's case by case. The option of entering untapped is what makes shocks so much better than BFZ duals. Different decks need different things, and entering untapped is not to be underestimated, especially if your deck runs low to the ground and needs a strong start.
It's ironic I say this when I champion the Tango and Bicycle duals too. I guess that's more because of land types than anything else though.
I've never known where the Tango name comes from. At any rate, where I run these I run them for the same reason. In most cases Tango>Bicycle, but there are exceptions.
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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Is it? Is it really, though? I'm not entirely convinced of this.
In this instance? I would play a temple over Zhalfirin Void in almost every instance.

More broadly, I would say that it is hard to weigh the value of an untapped land that provides worse fixing against a tapped land that provides better fixing. Untapped is better than tapped, and more fixing is better than less fixing, but the two are ultimately on different scales.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
I've never known where the Tango name comes from. At any rate, where I run these I run them for the same reason. In most cases Tango>Bicycle, but there are exceptions.
It's because "it takes two to tango" (these come in untapped with 2+ basics).
Mookie wrote:
4 years ago
More broadly, I would say that it is hard to weigh the value of an untapped land that provides worse fixing against a tapped land that provides better fixing. Untapped is better than tapped, and more fixing is better than less fixing, but the two are ultimately on different scales.
I can agree with this. Apples to Oranges.

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Post by toctheyounger » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
It's because "it takes two to tango" (these come in untapped with 2+ basics).
I was today many years old when I learned this. The more you know.
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
It's because "it takes two to tango" (these come in untapped with 2+ basics).
I was today many years old when I learned this. The more you know.
And knowing is half the battle. :foil:

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Post by Cyberium » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
4 years ago
3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
It's because "it takes two to tango" (these come in untapped with 2+ basics).
I was today many years old when I learned this. The more you know.
And knowing is half the battle. :foil:
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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019; Tower of the Magistrate


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Post by Mookie » 4 years ago

Oh hey, it's a colorless utility land I would almost always run over Zhalfirin Void.

More seriously, Tower of the Magistrate is an interesting tech card. Can occasionally be useful if you expect your opponents to be playing a lot of artifact creatures, or artifact-based interaction such as Executioner's Capsule or Vedalken Shackles. A far more common usage, however, is turning off equipment - protection stops a creature from being equipped. This means the land can shut down some equipment-based voltron strategies by itself, assuming the creature in question isn't able to acquire hexproof or shroud.

It is a bit niche for a colorless utility land, so I wouldn't run it in most decks, but it's pretty high-impact if you expect to be playing against a lot of equipment. Even if you aren't, Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are both common ways to protect generals, and this shuts them down (assuming you hold open mana to stop the first equip), which makes it much easier to sling other removal.

Also some extremely niche uses alongside Mycosynth Lattice and Liquimetal Coating, I suppose.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 4 years ago

Heh, I have fond memories of using this to "borrow" creatures with Willbreaker in my budget Tromokratis deck in 2015. That list also unironically ran Tolaria for the same reason. That said, its applications in regular EDH waters are quite narrow - sure, you can make equipment fall off, but that's the main use and probably not worth a colourless land slot in most mana bases.
 
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Post by Sinis » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
Thursday, October 3rd, 2019; Tower of the Magistrate
It's a nice anti-equipment land, but I rarely run it. It's very narrow, and has precious few other applications, almost all of which are reactive. Maybe Embercleave will tip the balance into me wanting to run it again, but I don't think enough players really play red in my group.

I have fond memories of just killing creatures with it using Horobi, Death's Wail.

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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

The second most humiliating way I ever lost due to equipment falling off.

1. That time my buddy Goblin Welder'd my sword of feast and famine into a wayfarer's bauble costing me the game because I had to pass tapped out.

2. that time 8.5 tails developed an allergic reaction to all his pants simultaneously and didn't have enough mana to protect himself, due to forgetting tower of the magistrate.

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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

A truly strange card, but the niche of giving stuff pro-artifacts is much bigger than you could imagine. Can't recommend TowMag enough.
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Post by hyalopterouslemur » 4 years ago

Mycosynth Lattice says hi! (Another reason spells aren't always worse than permanents.)

I like this card. More mundane uses include make my guys harder to block and laugh at equipment decks all day.
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Post by Toshi » 4 years ago

3drinks wrote:
4 years ago
I don't know many decks that have few colors enough to not worry about mana as a downside for one time use. But it's certainly one of the lands i really like hitting with Grenzo, Dungeon Warden - outclassed by hideaway lands though.

Tower of the Magistrate would be a lot less cuter and a lot better if Voltron were an actual thing in EDH - that's the world i'd like to live in.

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Post by FetalTadpole » 4 years ago

Tower of the Magistrate is interesting in that you'll play 50 games where it doesn't do anything, but the one time it's relevant it wins you the game. My favorite use ever was in a Tromokratis deck to make him unblockable by any opponent who happens to control an artifact creature. There's also the play where you prevent an opponent from putting Lightning Greaves on something, ruining their whole turn. Fantastic card, I wish more of my decks had room for it.

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Post by Gavvin » 4 years ago

NoNeedToBragoBoutIt wrote:
4 years ago
Tower of the Magistrate would be a lot less cuter and a lot better if Voltron were an actual thing in EDH - that's the world i'd like to live in.
So, actual Voltron decks aren't really a thing anymore, but most decks run some sort of equipment, artifacts with targeting abilities or artifact creatures. Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Thousand-year Elixir, Swords of X and Y, Wurmcoil Engine, etc.

Truth is I find this land useful in almost every game I see it and in some cases it completely shuts down some winning combo.

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Post by 3drinks » 4 years ago

Friday, October 4th, 2019; Woodripper


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