[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Dark Apostle

[pokken]

Man that is a wild card I somehow never read. That feels like it's a one sided rip against a lot of decks. Brutal.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Not enough across all categoties for edh imho. Too small, too limited, insufficient impact. Play RIP for better grave hate, play Voidwalker if you want a better card overall.

[Dunadain]

I'm generally not a fan of color specific hate cards In EDH. Sure, across three opponents, there's good odds at least one of them will be running the colors, but the chance still isn't 100%, and even if somebody is running said colors, they also need to be negatively affected by that hate piece, graveyard is a pretty popular theme in black, but there are plenty of black/red decks that don't really use your graveyard. And finally, even if an opponent is running, said colors and is hindered by your hate piece, you need to hope that player is the player that you actually want to be hindering, a card that dunks on the player in last place isn't particularly useful.

👎

[NZB2323]

I run this card in Éowyn, Shieldmaiden. It's a human and can be searched with Imperial Recruiter or Recruiter of the Guard.

The nice thing about that deck is if it doesn't effect my opponents it's still a human and I can always search for other hatebears that are more matchup dependent.

I realized how powerful this cleric was when it destroyed my Tymna the Weaver//Ravos, Soultender cleric tribal deck. At least that deck has some white removal and white creatures I can recur with Ravos, but the card it really want to recur with Ravos is Skemfar Shadowsage.

[NZB2323]

Not enough across all categoties for edh imho. Too small, too limited, insufficient impact. Play RIP for better grave hate, play Voidwalker if you want a better card overall.

Neither of those cards are humans for Éowyn, Shieldmaiden. A black card isn't even an option, RIP isn't one sided and turns off academy ruins and Hall of Heliod's Generosity, has negative synergy with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and isn't great for an aggro deck.

Sanctifier en-Vec does get rid of my red cards also, but the best red card in the deck is Purphoros, God of the Forge, who is usually removed by exile anyway.

[Igzex]

I struggle to imagine the deck in which I can screw around this much anymore.

I died to 8 tarmogoyf tokens from a precon tonight on turn 7

Played with the precon today myself and yeah. I almost won a game with it fresh out of the box! Don't know why that professor guy gave that deck such a low evaluation but I suppose his comprehension of the deck's design kinda helps explain why he's infamous for not winning very many games on screen...

Sunday, June 23rd 2024; Sanctifier en-Vec

"Modern is leaking again..." but no, for serious, this card does a lot of work. Fantastic little hatebear.

Chainer's actual nightmares.

[Mookie]

My favorite combination: an asymmetric hate piece that randomly hoses some decks, and protection to make it so that those decks can never get rid of it! /s

More seriously, Sanctifier en-Vec is a powerful card, but it's also pretty inconsistent with regards to what decks it hurts. There are plenty of decks that aren't red or black... and it also doesn't do much against decks not running graveyard strategies. Of my own graveyard-based decks... it shuts down Teysa, and Kess is annoyed (but can still function), but Sharuum and Tasigur largely ignore it. That feels like a pretty low hit rate. I suppose you can run it as part of a hatebear package and plan to tutor it up, but otherwise I would say it looks like a meta call.

[PrimevalCommander]

Unless I had a strong deck limitation I don't think I'm including this card in my grave hate slot. The protections are good, however the hate portion is not comprehensive enough to warrant the slot. Jirina, Dauntless General for human synergy in does well for me. Though this doesn't help the Eowyn decks. If I need some grave hate I think I'm playing one of the 5 playable artifacts that hate on graveyards and nuke the whole thing. I play a lot of graveyard decks and my 2 most graveyard centric decks are 3 color decks with black, and I could play around this relatively easily. I think the protection from black would be the most annoying if suited up with some buff or something.

Non-black human decks like Eowyn may be the best place for this, but I think I'd just give up this spot to an artifact or a Lion Sash (counted as an equipment) and put a more generic human in this spot.

[yeti1069]

I find it interesting that so many of us here have moved away from the efficient tutors/tutors in general.

I think I run Vamp in a few decks, but then don't run Demonic or anything else in a couple of those, and the ones I run it in tend to be higher powered (Prosper, Varina), or REALLY want to be able to find specific cards (Kadena).

Mystical, I have cut from even more decks. I may have a copy in Varina, since turns can hinge on mass reanimation sorceries, but it may no longer be in there.

Enlightened, I actually have in fewer decks that I probably should. Osgir has Gamble, but not Enlightened, though that deck also doesn't have enough draw to make a top decked Enlightened of immediate benefit. I probably should run this in more decks--it feels the most fair.

Worldly, I've also taken out of a bunch of decks. Some use "to battlefield" tutors instead, or "to hand" tutors, but it should probably be in more of my decks. I just slotted into Henzie as essentially a 2nd copy of Bloom Tender that can get Henzie down on t2/t3+blitzer.

I've certainly gone from 4-7 tutors per deck, to 0-2 almost across the spectrum.

[3drinks]

Monday, June 24th 2024; Lightning Greaves

38 prints and still a minimum of $5usd across the board. Safe to say this is the most price memory protected card of all time?

[3drinks]

I find it interesting that so many of us here have moved away from the efficient tutors/tutors in general.

I've certainly gone from 4-7 tutors per deck, to 0-2 almost across the spectrum.

I identify with this. I've always been that guy rocking Kaalia with ~13% of the deck being tutours (demonic, vampiric, grim, intent, enlightened, gamble, entomb, rune-scarred, broodlord, burning-rune, buried alive, unmarked grave, increasing ambition) and tbh........it's not really enjoyable. I guess it's "optimal" in terms of strategy but sometimes...you just want to see more of the fun new dragons but you can't make room because cutting a tutour is "incorrect", they say.

I don't much like it, I think.

[Sinis]

Greaves remains extremely playable, though, I haven't been running it as much as I used to. It's often a 101st card in my decks.

[Dunadain]

If you don't really want to swing with your commander, I really don't think you should be playing this card.

Having said that, it's a very strong haste enabler if that is something you want

👍

[pokken]

I tend to actively design against wanting to play Lightning Greaves because the play pattern of encouraging people to remove my stuff on equip or they never get another chance is usually worse than letting them think they can remove it later and then having an answer. Since it doesn't cost a card right now and they maybe use their removal on something else in the meantime.

Long story short I prefer reactive protection where feasibly.

[Mookie]

Combos with Nadu, Winged Wisdom! Not sure if there is any other use for it though.

Lightning Greaves is still one of the best sources of haste for non-red decks - two mana base, plus free equips, plus shroud is a fantastic deal. I think we're far past the point of jamming it in random decks to protect commanders from spot removal, but there are still plenty of creatures that need to turn sideways to generate value. I'm running it in Thada and Brago, but I would consider it for pretty much any combat-focused commander. It's particularly nice in decks with a Stoneforge Mystic setup, but I'm running it as a Tribute Mage target.

I'll give the obligatory 'shroud is not hexproof' callout - it's a bit awkward in voltron decks because you won't be able to target the equipped creature anymore.

I suppose Lavaspur Boots are the power-crept version of this effect (and are fetchable off Urza's Saga), but it's hard to beat Lightning Greaves' free equip cost.

[Guardman]

It, along with Swiftfoot Boots, is a staple in my Etali, Primal Storm deck where they do everything I want in giving my chaos queen both protection and haste. It's also been pretty good in my Kodama of the West Tree where it is a modification that gives haste, protection, ramp, and trample. I also like to throw it in any deck where my commander really wants to stick around like Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival. Though with so many people moving to sweepers from spot removal this becoming less relevant.

[Igzex]

I'm fine living in a world where people still run Greaves. It means I'm not the only one left who still feels happiest when I win commander games because I turned some doofus sideways in another person's direction.

[Hermes_]

Monday, June 24th 2024; Lightning Greaves

38 prints and still a minimum of $5usd across the board. Safe to say this is the most price memory protected card of all time?

Now i want that version because roller blade lol and i use it in my voltron build duh

[umtiger]

At low power levels, greaves essentially guarantees your commander survives everything other than a board wipe. That's a really compelling reason for why some people want to jam this in every single deck.

I know we who post on here are veterans but seeing my students ooo and ahh over cards that people in the community have moved on from is a nice experience.

Having your 6 mana card get 1 mana swords to plowshare'd sucks.

[yeti1069]

If you don't really want to swing with your commander, I really don't think you should be playing this card.

Having said that, it's a very strong haste enabler if that is something you want

👍

I don't really agree. I tend to run it in decks with a highly threatening commander as protection. Prosper has a Greaves. Meren had a Greaves when it was still together. Both can find some benefits for haste, but the #1 reason for inclusion is the protection.

Sure, there are reactive protection plays, which are sometimes better, since they catch an opponent unawares and drain their resources, but I find there are few of those options outside of blue that work as often as I'd like (black has a bunch of 1-mana "save my creature from dying" spells, but I can't think of any that work vs Swords to Plowshares, for example), or that can be played while tapped out.

[Serenade]

Greaves remains one of the most often targeted/destroyed permanents at my table.

[3drinks]

Tuesday, June 25th 2024; Expedition Map|lcc

[yeti1069]

I'll still run this in decks with Cabal Coffers sometimes, but spending 3 to get a land to hand often just feels like too much.

[MAGUSZANIN]

Yeah, you need a truly ridiculous land to make this worthwhile. Finding Coffers or Nykthos in the late game can still make this mana positive the turn it comes down and truly explosive the following turn. But outside of that I'm not sure where I would play it these days.

Plus both Black and Green have gotten a lot more options for this kind of thing lately. Black with Insatiable Avarice and Green with Omenpath Journey as just two examples of cards that are slightly more mana but have some not irrelevant upside.

[Mookie]

Expedition Map is alright, but I haven't found myself wanting it for any decks recently. Three mana for a land into hand is a somewhat steep price compared to other ramp options, so you want to be fetching a pretty premium land. Those lands certainly do exist - Serra's Sanctum, Cabal Coffers, and Field of the Dead come to mind - but they're generally not in the decks I play. I have run it in the past to grab stuff like Thawing Glaciers and Maze of Ith though.

I'll call out Urza's Cave as a more recent version of this effect - I'm curious if it will end up seeing more play than Map. It's a bit more expensive to activate, but it at least counts as a land instead of a spell. I could see myself just swapping the two in any existing decks, then reevaluating whether I have another cut to add back Map.

Shout out to Trinket Mage / Artificer's Intuition. Tutoring for a tutor is incredibly inefficient, but it is an amusing line.