[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Kaervek, the Spiteful

[Mookie]

Riku of Two Reflections is a sweet card. Not sure how I feel about this new haircut though - feels like he has a few too many.... everything?

I think Ulalek, Fused Atrocity is fine. On one hand, you have access to five colors despite being a colorless deck, which means you have access to all the best support cards. Copying stuff is certainly powerful, but you'll need a ton of mana if you want to copy expensive stuff. On the other hand, you're limited to copying Eldrazi, which means you don't have a lot of flexibility in deckbuilding. There are things you can do with Conspiracy effects to make other stuff into Eldrazi, and it's very strong with Crib Swap or other instant-speed Eldrazi to copy your stuff multiple times... but my general sense is that there isn't a lot of depth. Seems good if you want a 5C Eldrazi deck, unexciting otherwise.

[3drinks]

I don't like this 5c colourless trend. Or fake 5c, like Kenrith, Najeela, and etc. It feels like a design crutch, no longer do you have to work at a proper 5c base, you can instead get the benefits without expending all the effort. If this cost cwubrg I'd like this a lot more I think.

[Igzex]

I'm not even sure why an Eldrazi typal commander needs to be 5 colors other than WOTC having this creeping "Every creature type gets its own Scion of the Ur-Dragon!" mindset. You'd think it's at odds with what the Eldrazi are but someone in R&D thought that type needed access to colored staples like Smothering Tithe and Cyclonic Rift to make people hate playing Commander even more I guess.

In general I despise Eldrazi. They're perfectly designed for obnoxious people that will sulk when you slap down a Blood Moon or when you Crush Contraband their Thran Dynamos but smile from ear to ear when they force an already struggling player to sacrifice their lands. Still, if I had to sit in a pod with one Eldrazi player I'd MUCH rather stare down this guy from the command zone than Azlask, the Swelling Scourge.

[darrenhabib]

I tried to make a Ulalek, Fused Atrocity based on the copy activated and triggers ability, rather than being an Eldrazi creature deck and it did not work. Epic fail. Needing specifically an Eldrazi spell and the cc is just too mana intensive to ever be a reality to add more on top. You need like 12 mana before you can do anything really cool. So its simply an Eldrazi creature Commander, boring.

[onering]

This is the good Eldrazi because he isn't actually good.

You're either going to be playing 5c good stuff with some Eldrazi that you may eventually be able to copy, or you're going to lean into copying Eldrazi which in practice means leaning into the cheaper Eldrazi and tribal effects. So I'm cool with people throwing a bunch of draft chaff Eldrazi into the deck and relying on Ulalek copying them to make them good, or people playing Eldrazi tribal but slower.

[Dunadain]

Another legend with 5c carelessly slapped on to it.

They're getting lazier with it too, there doesn't seem to be ANY justification in flavor or mechanics for there to be five colors.

But God forbid 5 colors even come with a drawback, just cast him with colorless mana.

👎👎

[Guardman]

I don't mind that this thing is five colors for kind of a weird reason. I was trying to make a Kodama of the West Tree deck that used modified colorless creatures to ramp into Eldrazi. I had it all planned out. But I ran into a weird problem. The mana base wasn't that good for a "mono" colored deck. And it all came down to the fact that outside of the Ramunap Ruins style deserts there aren't any colored/colorless dual lands that aren't filter lands. And I was running so many cards that required colorless mana that I needed a decent chunk of my lands to make it.

It was then that I realized that my mana base would be better the more colors I added to the deck. And this solely comes down to the fact that if you want a land that makes both colorless and a colored mana, it is a dual land like the pain lands or filter lands. Because of this, I wouldn't be surprised if they made Ulalek, Fused Atrocity 5 color in part because that was the best way to make a workable mana base that both provided colorless and colored mana.

[Dragonlover]

Yeah like, there's no grand design conspiracy here, they just needed to make somewhere for all the devoid guys to live for the folks that want that.

Cool card, looks like a ballache to make it actually do the thing though.

Dragonlover

[5colorsrainbow]

Yeah like, there's no grand design conspiracy here, they just needed to make somewhere for all the devoid guys to live for the folks that want that.

I was about to say, 5c eldrazi commander has been a request from a lot of people since BfZ and Eldrtich Moon.

[3drinks]

Thursday, July 4th 2024; Pitiless Plunderer

[DirkGently]

Bleh yucky combo machine.

[Igzex]

I will say, given that the card's ability does not have a once per turn clause it's kind of impressive that it's an uncommon and continued to stay so through multiple reprints.

[3drinks]

Idk, I think there's a world where you play this fairly. Like a helluva wrath insurance policy.

[Dunadain]

Pawn of Ulamog is the less combo-tastic version of this card. I do think it's a fun engine when you aren't comboing with it, and when you are, it's usually a 3 or 4 card combo, so it could be worse.

👍

[folding_music]

kinda hate mass sac decks. never feel bad about playing Blind Obedience against this kind of thing lol

[Sinis]

kinda hate mass sac decks. never feel bad about playing Blind Obedience against this kind of thing lol

Last night I was playing some games, and I tabled Stone of Erech just on spec (I could draw a card with it!) and later a player put down Mikaeus the Unhallowed.

I've become very okay with just about every exile-instead-of-death replacement effect and 'stax' effect against treasure short of Rest in Peace, and Pitiless Plunderer is one of the reasons why.

Pawn of Ulamog is the less combo-tastic version of this card. I do think it's a fun engine when you aren't comboing with it, and when you are, it's usually a 3 or 4 card combo, so it could be worse.

👍

Pawn says "nontoken" which makes it (usually) a lot more fair.

[3drinks]

kinda hate mass sac decks. never feel bad about playing Blind Obedience against this kind of thing lol

You shouldn't. Blind Obedience is fantastic. More decks should run that than decks that do anyway.

[Mookie]

Pitiless Plunderer is a pretty nutty card in aristocrats - turning game objects into other game objects is pretty strong. The fact that it triggers off token creatures is a huge upgrade over Pawn of Ulamog, and it's much better than Phyrexian Altar in the face of board wipes. You do need another sac outlet to trigger it, but that's usually not difficult. Treasure tokens also have a ton of random synergies with stuff like Roxanne, Starfall Savant, Anointed Procession, and Marionette Master.

Certainly one of the stronger mana engines I'm running in Teysa - I wouldn't be surprised if it regularly made more mana than Smothering Tithe. I don't think I've ever actually comboed with it though. I suppose it can loop with Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton, but that isn't something I've actually put together. I feel like most combos that cost mana are interesting in theory, but take too many cards in practice - I've never seen Nim Deathmantle loops pulled off either. It does combo with Chatterfang, Squirrel General, but that's obviously not in my list.

I'll call out Warren Soultrader as a new version of this effect - it does cost life to use, but that's generally a minor downside.

[3drinks]

Friday, July 5th 2024; Kaervek, the Spiteful

[BeneTleilax]

Quite good in Grismold, the Dreadsower

[Igzex]

Not as entertaining as Kaervek the Merciless.

[Dunadain]

Don't really know what you would do with it as the commander, as the 99 it works nicely in a couple decks, like the aforementioned Grismold, overall certainly feels like more of a 60 card format piece of cardboard. Still, I've always liked the art.

👍

[Sinis]

Much like Night of Souls' Betrayal, I've never actually wanted to play this Kaervek, but I hear it's really good as a meta piece against tokens. Notable potential synergy with Massacre Girl, Known Killer,