MTGNexus

I like Crop Rotation, Archdruid's Charm, and Weathered Wayfarer better for tutoring a land. Most of the time I just search for Ancient Tomb.

I've always found it solid for any deck that has a few utility lands or for things like Cabal Coffers or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. When you don't have access to green, its a fairly efficient land tutor if that's something your deck is in need of. I don't jam it into a ton of decks, but I am rarely disappointed playing it either.

Lots of my decks have cabal coffers, so I still get a lot of use out of it.

Also a nice option to have if you're running Urza's Saga.

👍

Three mana is the same cost as Solve the Equation, Idyllic Tutor, or Fabricate, so I have no problem with that aspect of it.

I'm playing Map several places still. Typically non-green decks since green doesn't need this card anymore, even to find very specific non-basics. I like utility lands, and with so many useful lands this becomes a highly relevant tutor. Finds draw lands, War Room / Bonders' enclave, loot land, grave hate, sacrifice, protection , recursion, haste, and any number of other useful things. If there is a land that is useful to my primary strategy and I'm not playing green, I likely have a Map in there.

I play a decent amount of map even if it is rather slow by today's standards. The things I like are

- trinket mageable and etutor and Urza saga
- color free cost
- nice sequencing due to 1/2 cost division so it's not exactly 3
- recurrable easily

The line of fetching Inventors' Fair or Academy Ruins to start inevitable chains is pretty nice.

Didn't expect to see E-Map so maligned these days. I've always considered it fairly utilitarian.

The map is good, and likely will continie to be good. One more mana than the best colored equivalent(Sylvan Scrying) is a fair ask.

A consistency tool that is easy to tutor in itself, not to mention easy to recur. I think it's still a good card.

In my last game, I cast T1 Expedition Map and followed it up with a T2 Stony Silence.

At least I got to use my map much much later in the game for Serra's Sanctum.

Wednesday, June 26th 2024; Pestilence

Ah OG Pestilence, terror of limited and casual from my earliest games. Now I play it absolutely nowhere but seeing it reminds me of Last Laugh and makes me wonder what the best shell would be for a deck that has that and Pestilence as its secret commanders?

It's wild what a difference a color-shift makes, as Pyrohemia is, well, Fire. Red is just better equipped to utilize this effect, especially with Enrage as a Dinosaur-centric mechanic.

Pestilence is deeply underrated, answers tons of strategies, and can even be a wincon in the right deck. I'm never sad to see my copy of Pestilence (a Beta copy!!!).

Honourable mention of Pyrohemia|PLC + Torbran, Thane of Red Fell|ELD as a symmetry changer, and for Pestilence Demon|ROE existing. Also, honourable mention to using any of them with The Wanderer.

Wisps sucks. Being limited to snow covered swamps really narrows its playability and lowers its expected value per game.

Pyrohemia is better because it takes advantage of damage doublers and so forth, but I wouldn't write of Pestilence. Black has a lot of ways to make creatures indestructible, and more ways to gain life and thus offset the damage to yourself, and Urborg/Coffers and a decent number of mana doublers means that there are plenty of ways to get more out of Pestilence than just using it to wipe weenies repeatedly.

This is a potentially very strong effect, but it needs the right deck. Being able to keep smaller utility creatures off the board indefinitely is pretty great, and the damage they do to players adds up. Both also pair well with white as a secondary color, both because white has enough indestructible effects and creatures that won't take damage from these to make it easy for them to stick around (Sanctifier from a few days ago for instance), commanders that support or leverage them well, and enchantment tutors and recursion to let you get them and get them back.

Usually dominates the game when they resolve.


Very strong in enrage decks.

👍

Withering Wisps is my #1 fave card

Been rocking Pyrohemia is my red control deck of choice for over a decade now. It's real good there. Keeps the board under control and goes face to be a win condition. Also, has a bunch of degenerate use cases. My favorite combo for both of these is the insanity that it is Indoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid.

Holy cow is that combo degenerate beyond reason.

All-star in Erebos, God of the Dead. I don't think there exists a better deck for it.

Pestilence is a pretty silly card, from a silly block. Common? Really?

The effect is pretty oppressive, so I would be a bit hesitant to run it in most decks - it's not hard to keep around indefinitely if you have an indestructible commander, at which point your opponents can no longer profitably play creatures. Still, it is certainly a strong effect. Sapling of Colfenor and Bontu the Glorified are two that come to mind, but creatures with high toughness are also options.

Otherwise, it's obviously great with enrage and other effects that care about your creatures taking damage.

Pestilence is generally an all-star whenever I get it in play with my Pharika, God of Affliction deck. Any of these sort of cards with an innately indestructible commander has stupid potential.

I am bummed that I did not get Pyrohemia back in the day. That price tag is disgusting.

Serenade wrote: ↑

1 week ago

I am bummed that I did not get Pyrohemia back in the day. That price tag is disgusting.

and yet a single reprint in a precon will make it $0.75 :D low print runs are frustrating.

We did not get it in dinosaurs/Wayta, Trainer Prodigy! But I am sure it is coming.



...I'll still get the original one, though, for that border.

I own and Alpha print of this and have been known to play it as a flex in decks with otherwise no synergy. A+ card, no notes.

I definitely used this in Vhati il-Dal back in the day.