[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Ulalek, Fused Atrocity

[JWK]

I have a Saskia deck, it is getting continual upgrades. I enjoy it quite a bit. I think Kediss will fit nicely into that deck as one of the 99.

I have enough sac outlets in my version that if I need to kill and recast her to target a different opponent, that isn't a big problem. I have never found a need to do that more than once in any game.

[RogHimself]

Sphinx of the Second card of the day

Sphinx of the second Sun



.. Braids deck anyone?

[Treamayne]

I hate this card, and I refuse to play it. Not because of the textbox or mana cost. Because of the insane flavor fail the card represents. She's on the list with Ulrich, Nekusar, and others; where most of the card forms a cohesive whole, then that one element is so wrong it's like expired dairy - full of potential reduced to nothing but a sour taste and a lingering nausea.

In Saskia's case the art isn't bad (original or promo) and evokes the Hordes it was meant to evoke. The ability is at least interesting, and implies the type of targeted grudge that her backstory is about. Power/Toughness and Mana cost are fairly balanced - she would make an exceptional Barbarian commander. Wait. What! How can you dip into nostalgia, piece together the future of the Balduvian tribes, and she's a F^$^&* soldier? Huh?!

It's Lovisa all over again (who at least supports Barbarians, Berserkers, and Warriors even if she isn't one - despite being the Balduvian Chieftain during Ice Age). I refuse to use this card in the command zone or in the 99 until the next "Grand Creature Type Update" fixes her.

[Serenade]

I was always irked she wasn't a warrior given those colors.

[Hawk]

As has already been alluded to, I'd be significantly more excited about Saskia the Unyielding if she were a Warrior or Barbarian instead of a Soldier. She'd be a perfect warrior tribal commander to marry the WBr Khans warriors with the GR Lorwyn/Shadowmoor warriors and the RB Battlebond warriors and that deck would be even more fun in a post-Adventuring Party world of Zendikar Rising. But instead, she's a soldier .

My sig says I have "Saskia Curses", a deck idea I saw online and fell in love with. The gimmick is that she's flavorfully a "curse" on one player, and in the right colors for an enchantress deck with all the curses. In practice, the deck got played twice and usually created a lot of salt or awkward play by bullying players. It's dismantled now, scrapped for parts for the incoming Jeska/Falthis/Obosh deck I'm brewing.

[Sinis]

Saturday, December 5th, 2020; Saskia the Unyielding

I bet this slaps in Morophon human-tribal, but I can't see myself playing it elsewhere.

[Toshi]

Anyone still play this?

Haven't seen her in ages, yet she's still my favorite one of the non-partner bunch in C16. Maybe just because classic beatdown is just more entertaining in contrast, i don't know.
One of the main reasons why i saw so few decks with her at the helm is that she wasn't even the top aggro option within that set. Combinations of Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder, Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa, Tana, the Bloodsower and Tymna the Weaver ended up being played in my LGS instead.

Overall i think she's okay. Accelerating aggro is cool, yet the archetype will likely still be at a disadvantage in above average powered metas. As pointed out, she can lead to akward politics or blank once the chosen player is knocked out - unless you're able to reset her in some way. Despite her flaws, she'll still outrank most aggro commanders though. Access to 4 colours and doubling damage equals solid potential.

[3drinks]

Sunday, December 6th, 2020; Xathrid Gorgon

And here I thought the only thing that turned creatures into 0/2 colourless artifact defenders was basalt golem..........

[JWK]

Xathrid Gorgon is a fine casual card that doesn't see a lot of play because it is a bit overcosted. Repeatable removal is good, but 6 mana and her almost never doing anything the turn she comes into play due to lack of haste and significant ability cost definitely count against her. CMC 6 is a pretty competitive slot for most decks.

My wife runs this in her gorgon/deathtouch tribal EDH deck (Sisters of Stone Death). I got a kick out of seeing it show up in one of the One More Mana livestream games awhile back. I have considered playing this in my Kenrith deck, which has several ways of reducing and copying activated abilities, but once again, there is just so much competition that I haven't given it a shot yet. Maybe someday. At least Kenrith can easily give her haste.

[Dunharrow]

If I am not mistaken, there was a massively printed launch promo for this card. I feel like everyone I know who played magic at that time got multiple copies. I don't think I ever saw it played in a deck.
Stats are just not good enough..
But maybe in commander it is less terrible since it can Lignify a general.

[Hermes_]

I could see myself using it to lockdown a card if it were lower costing, but then i'd more than likely use removal instead unless i wanted to rub it in.

[Mookie]

I have fond memories of Xathrid Gorgon - it was in one of the early builds of my Tasigur deck back when Sisters of Stone Death were still the commander. Still, I did cut it for a reason - it's really, really slow. Three mana, taps to activate, and doesn't even kill the creature - it just turns it into a defender and clogs up the board. That can be good for shutting down some commanders (specifically, the ones that need to attack or activate an ability), but there are a ton of creatures that don't mind just sitting around. Still, could be an interesting tech card against voltron decks, since it's effectively impossible to get rid of the defender status (unlike an aura like Darksteel Mutation, which can be removed) - the petrification counter does absolutely nothing, which is slightly amusing.

Anyway, if you want this effect, I'd go with something like Visara the Dreadful or Avatar of Woe.... except needing to tap to activate is still a pretty steep price. I suppose the Gorgon could make sense if you're running Hythonia the Cruel or another Gorgon tribal deck. Maybe as an enabler for Viashino Heretic effects? Hmmm.... Not nearly as efficient as Liquimetal Coating, but it does have some additional utility.

[3drinks]

Monday, December 7th, 2020; Krosan Tusker|f03

To-date I still can't find any reason I wouldn't jam this into any XG deck. I get that g has gotten millions of toys lately, but there's still nothing wrong with getting a land, and replacing a card at instant speed and under countermagic.

[materpillar]

To-date I still can't find any reason I wouldn't jam this into any XG deck. I get that g has gotten millions of toys lately, but there's still nothing wrong with getting a land, and replacing a card at instant speed and under countermagic.

It lines up really poorly when compared to Cultivate and Kodama's Reach because it doesn't actually ramp you. As a rule of thumb no one counterspells those cards so that isn't really anything to worry about.

This has a couple of niche applications that those don't, like being good with Living Death or being a beast for tribal effects. For the average G deck this is probably just worse though. I also run it in my Golos High CMC deck because that deck runs anything that has a 7+ CMC and can still do something for 2-4 mana.

[Dunharrow]

I like running it with Fierce Empath
I also think that Shefet Monitor may be the better card to play most of the time.

[JWK]

I like running it with Fierce Empath
I also think that Shefet Monitor may be the better card to play most of the time.

The Monitor actually puts the land into play, so yeah, I think most of the time that would be a better choice.

[PrimevalCommander]

I like running it with Fierce Empath
I also think that Shefet Monitor may be the better card to play most of the time.

I made a mental note of this when Monitor came out. Unfortunately I wasn't running Krosan Tusker in anything but PDH anyway so I never bothered picking up a copy. If I had a spot for this, it would be the Monitor since it ramps. Looking at them again, I still don't really have a spot I would want them in.

[Serenade]

It's a hefty cost, but Monitor can grab Scavenger Grounds to wipe GYs at instant speed.

[not-a-cube]

I don't use Krosan Tusker, but maybe i should try it or Shefet Monitor out. Fun thing, krosan tusker was in the very first pack I opened. I still remember it, I thought it was the strongest card in the pack, because didn't understand the game at all, but figured higher numbers was better. Kinda was one of the best cards in the pack in the end =).

[3drinks]

To-date I still can't find any reason I wouldn't jam this into any XG deck. I get that g has gotten millions of toys lately, but there's still nothing wrong with getting a land, and replacing a card at instant speed and under countermagic.

It lines up really poorly when compared to Cultivate and Kodama's Reach because it doesn't actually ramp you. As a rule of thumb no one counterspells those cards so that isn't really anything to worry about.

This has a couple of niche applications that those don't, like being good with Living Death or being a beast for tribal effects. For the average G deck this is probably just worse though. I also run it in my Golos High CMC deck because that deck runs anything that has a 7+ CMC and can still do something for 2-4 mana.

They don't? Cause dang I'll Spell Pierce a cultivate/harrow/skyshroud claim all day. And I'm not sorry to do it. People keep hands cause they have a cultivate, if you strip that out their hand just got 100% worse.

I like running it with Fierce Empath
I also think that Shefet Monitor may be the better card to play most of the time.

Yeah, shefet fetching up a Scavenger Grounds instant speed to block a Living Death or an overloaded Mizzix's Mastery is so pro. I'll play both and be extremely happy.

[materpillar]

They don't? Cause dang I'll Spell Pierce a cultivate/harrow/skyshroud claim all day. And I'm not sorry to do it. People keep hands cause they have a cultivate, if you strip that out their hand just got 100% worse.

Your mentality towards the acceptability and enjoyability of these things is an extreme outlier in my experience. I can count on one hand how many Cultivates I remember eating a hard counterspell in the past decade. Although, that might be the result of a selection bias because I tend to avoid playing against people who consistently color screw/mana screw people.

I also tend to think using Spell Pierce on someone's Cultivate is frequently the incorrect play at non-high powered tables. Unless that person completely doesn't cast a spell the rest of the game, they're probably going to remember you kneecaping them from the start and do their best to make sure you don't win. If they do completely collapse and don't play a spell the rest of the game then it's even worse because they're probably going to do their best to make sure you lose the next game with them and their hands won't be tied during that game. At least, that's what I'd do.

[Hawk]

To-date I still can't find any reason I wouldn't jam this into any XG deck. I get that g has gotten millions of toys lately, but there's still nothing wrong with getting a land, and replacing a card at instant speed and under countermagic.

It lines up really poorly when compared to Cultivate and Kodama's Reach because it doesn't actually ramp you. As a rule of thumb no one counterspells those cards so that isn't really anything to worry about.

This has a couple of niche applications that those don't, like being good with Living Death or being a beast for tribal effects. For the average G deck this is probably just worse though. I also run it in my Golos High CMC deck because that deck runs anything that has a 7+ CMC and can still do something for 2-4 mana.

They don't? Cause dang I'll Spell Pierce a cultivate/harrow/skyshroud claim all day. And I'm not sorry to do it. People keep hands cause they have a cultivate, if you strip that out their hand just got 100% worse.

3drinks: "I will Spell Pierce every Cultivate I see."
Also 3drinks: "How do I multiplayer? Why do I always get focus fired into oblivion?"



Onto today's card, I also adore it. For a long time, it formed my most blessed trinity of "Green cards that feel like blue cards": Krosan Tusker, Yavimaya Elder. and Sakura-Tribe Elder. Especially back in the casual 60 card days of damage on the stack,some amount of this trio was the backbone of a lot of my decks providing tons of fixing, draw, and flexibility. When Commander emerged, these dudes similarly formed the starting base of any green deck I built.

Over time, they've waned some. Sakura-tribe Elder I still play darn near everywhere, of course, but I think I only play Tusker and Elder in Gitrog where they are cheap ways to fill my yard, get a dredge trigger, and keep my hand full of lands. As noted, we've reached a point where Tusker provides technical flexibility but is basically always cycled in practice; the days where a random 6/5 could pick up Loxodon Warhammer to end things are a distant memory. When comparing him, that makes him line up poorly with other 3 mana ramp spells like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Nissa's Pilgrimage, Wood Elves, and even Harrow or Search for Tomorrow, and those in turn are often choked out by 2-mana ramp like the aforementioned Sakura-tribe Elder, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Nature's Lore, and Three Visits. There's also newcomer Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps which, rather than being "spell or creature?" is "Spell AND Creature", and, again, it actually ramps you. People have also pointed out that for just one more, Shefet Monitor actually ramps you, and can tutor random deserts (mostly Scavenger Grounds), and even the body is a bit better since it's G less if you need it. It also sorta obliquely competes with Solemn Simulacrum in that role. Basically, this was once a staple but there's a ton of thick competition.

I've started being more tempted to run it though, because I think comparing it to all that ramp I just rattled off is a mistake. This is more like a green Divination or, more appropriately perhaps, a green Thirst for Knowledge - an instant speed, 3 mana "draw 2". Granted, one of those cards is always a basic land which makes this much better early and mid and probably much worse late, but it is still a draw 2. Now, I never run Divination but this is green, not blue. I chose Thirst as a better point of comparison even though Thirst usually digs 1 deeper because Thirst is only replacing itself in an artifact-heavy deck; one wouldn't run it everywhere. Same deal with this - it's obviously bad in a basic-lite deck, and it's definitely better if the body in the 'yard has some value to you. At 2000 decks I wouldn't call this "underplayed" but I do think people have swung too far around on it and are comparing it to the wrong cards in analysis and deckbuilding.

[Dunharrow]

It lines up really poorly when compared to Cultivate and Kodama's Reach because it doesn't actually ramp you. As a rule of thumb no one counterspells those cards so that isn't really anything to worry about.

This has a couple of niche applications that those don't, like being good with Living Death or being a beast for tribal effects. For the average G deck this is probably just worse though. I also run it in my Golos High CMC deck because that deck runs anything that has a 7+ CMC and can still do something for 2-4 mana.

They don't? Cause dang I'll Spell Pierce a cultivate/harrow/skyshroud claim all day. And I'm not sorry to do it. People keep hands cause they have a cultivate, if you strip that out their hand just got 100% worse.

3drinks: "I will Spell Pierce every Cultivate I see."
Also 3drinks: "How do I multiplayer? Why do I always get focus fired into oblivion?"



Onto today's card, I also adore it. For a long time, it formed my most blessed trinity of "Green cards that feel like blue cards": Krosan Tusker, Yavimaya Elder. and Sakura-Tribe Elder. Especially back in the casual 60 card days of damage on the stack,some amount of this trio was the backbone of a lot of my decks providing tons of fixing, draw, and flexibility. When Commander emerged, these dudes similarly formed the starting base of any green deck I built.

Over time, they've waned some. Sakura-tribe Elder I still play darn near everywhere, of course, but I think I only play Tusker and Elder in Gitrog where they are cheap ways to fill my yard, get a dredge trigger, and keep my hand full of lands. As noted, we've reached a point where Tusker provides technical flexibility but is basically always cycled in practice; the days where a random 6/5 could pick up Loxodon Warhammer to end things are a distant memory. When comparing him, that makes him line up poorly with other 3 mana ramp spells like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Nissa's Pilgrimage, Wood Elves, and even Harrow or Search for Tomorrow, and those in turn are often choked out by 2-mana ramp like the aforementioned Sakura-tribe Elder, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Nature's Lore, and Three Visits. There's also newcomer Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps which, rather than being "spell or creature?" is "Spell AND Creature", and, again, it actually ramps you. People have also pointed out that for just one more, Shefet Monitor actually ramps you, and can tutor random deserts (mostly Scavenger Grounds), and even the body is a bit better since it's G less if you need it. It also sorta obliquely competes with Solemn Simulacrum in that role. Basically, this was once a staple but there's a ton of thick competition.

I've started being more tempted to run it though, because I think comparing it to all that ramp I just rattled off is a mistake. This is more like a green Divination or, more appropriately perhaps, a green Thirst for Knowledge - an instant speed, 3 mana "draw 2". Granted, one of those cards is always a basic land which makes this much better early and mid and probably much worse late, but it is still a draw 2. Now, I never run Divination but this is green, not blue. I chose Thirst as a better point of comparison even though Thirst usually digs 1 deeper because Thirst is only replacing itself in an artifact-heavy deck; one wouldn't run it everywhere. Same deal with this - it's obviously bad in a basic-lite deck, and it's definitely better if the body in the 'yard has some value to you. At 2000 decks I wouldn't call this "underplayed" but I do think people have swung too far around on it and are comparing it to the wrong cards in analysis and deckbuilding.

Thanks for the laugh lol

I think you are right that this should be thought of as a green instant-speed divination. I could definitely see playing it in a RG or WG deck that doesn't have a lot of card draw and is more on the control end of things.
But even, then, hard to justify over actual ramp.

This does remind me that I have been waiting forever for a spell that says;
Rampant Divination 1UG
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. Draw a card.


Seems like an obvious spell and still surprised we have never gotten it.

[3drinks]

They don't? Cause dang I'll Spell Pierce a cultivate/harrow/skyshroud claim all day. And I'm not sorry to do it. People keep hands cause they have a cultivate, if you strip that out their hand just got 100% worse.

Your mentality towards the acceptability and enjoyability of these things is an extreme outlier in my experience. I can count on one hand how many Cultivates I remember eating a hard counterspell in the past decade. Although, that might be the result of a selection bias because I tend to avoid playing against people who consistently color screw/mana screw people.

I also tend to think using Spell Pierce on someone's Cultivate is frequently the incorrect play at non-high powered tables. Unless that person completely doesn't cast a spell the rest of the game, they're probably going to remember you kneecaping them from the start and do their best to make sure you don't win. If they do completely collapse and don't play a spell the rest of the game then it's even worse because they're probably going to do their best to make sure you lose the next game with them and their hands won't be tied during that game. At least, that's what I'd do.

This is called holding a grudge from game to game, which is the number one reason that playgroups break down. It's a game. You tried to pull ahead and got caught. Actions have real consequences, and changing that to say "actions have consequences except for ramp" is a very disingenuous assessment to make. Empowering salty players that got a spell countered such that it would normalize the ostracization reaction they'd have towards the player that got them is exactly the kind of toxic game state nobody should be promoting. Full stop.

3drinks: "I will Spell Pierce every Cultivate I see."
Also 3drinks: "How do I multiplayer? Why do I always get focus fired into oblivion?"

You're not wrong 🤣🤣. It's a slow learning process. I'm very not conditioned to the idea that mass ramp isn't a kill-on-site archetype. I came up in an era where if you're not taxing and minimizing what an opponent can do, then they're gonna do it to you. Very kill or be killed.

This does remind me that I have been waiting forever for a spell that says;
Rampant Divination 1UG
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. Draw a card.

Seems like an obvious spell and still surprised we have never gotten it.

They have. It's called Growth Spiral. And it's a hot mess of a presence to the ramp archetype. So unfair. At least explore is sorcery.

[Dunharrow]

This does remind me that I have been waiting forever for a spell that says;
Rampant Divination 1UG
Sorcery
Search your library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. Draw a card.

Seems like an obvious spell and still surprised we have never gotten it.

They have. It's called Growth Spiral. And it's a hot mess of a presence to the ramp archetype. So unfair. At least explore is sorcery.

Growth Spiral does not give card advantage. It is just an instant-speed Explore, which most people will not play over something like Rampant Growth.