[mtgnexus] Random Card of the Day - Blade of Selves

[Antis]

Seriously, what you're describing is nothing short of Magical Christmas Land.

I'm going to suggest that you are wrong and just not in the mood (for outside observers, I'm quoting Antis' signature for fun, not just being a jerk), and then let this be since it was already not actually the card of the day and we could reasonably spar on this for a while.

First of all, sorry for going off like that. I went way overboard and I apologize for that.

If your experience with the card is so wildly different, maybe I was doing something wrong. If you want, you can PM me and we can discuss it further. Take care =)

[3drinks]

Saturday, December 19th, 2020; Oracle of Mul Daya

Oh boy............................................................

[RxPhantom]

Call me crazy, but this card is pretty good. I may be alone on this, but I think playing extra lands will help you win. Stop sleeping on Oracle of Mul Daya, people!

Wait... play with top card revealed? This card sucks. Next.

[Wallycaine]

It's a solid card, but I do find it gets occasionally overhyped. If you don't have the ability to either draw a lot of cards regularly, or manipulate the top of your deck, it gets somewhat unreliable as ramp. And it's a powerful enough card that if it's not reliably ramping you when you drop it, it can sometimes get removed before you get to the point where you can actually use it. I've had enough games where I drop my last land, play Oracle, and reveal non-land after non-land on top that I'm wary of classing it as ramp. That said, when it does work, it represents a huge amount of card advantage. The times you drop this without having played a land, and play 2 lands off the top is just amazing. It just presents more swingyness than I like to have.

[Hawk]

A known quantity, but I agree it feels a bit overhyped. It's a requirement in monogreen and of course is great if your deck has any library manipulation, card draw, or landfall synergy (which admittedly describes a significant portion of G/x decks). But I've actually found it a little underwhelming in Samut, Voice of Dissent where playing with my top card revealed ruins some of the surprise value of haste. That is a significant drawback imo, compared to more modern effects like Vizier of the Menagerie that let you just "look" without "revealing", and I suspect I will cut it to consider it instead in a different deck where it can more reliably be awesome like Pir & Toothy (I own two and the one in Gitrog lives up to its reputation).

I think this is one of those cards like Solemn Simulacrum that was sort of a brainless goodstuff autoinclude 10 and even 5 years ago, but that is merely "good" and does take a bit more craft to be "great" in the modern world of WotC printing cards directly for Commander.

[ilovesaprolings]

Really strong card. You can potentially avoid 2 dead draws while ramping. It's a good card. Sadly too expensive

[Mookie]

Oracle of Mul Daya is still quite strong. It provides two very powerful effects - ramp from hitting extra land drops, and card draw by playing those lands off the top of your deck. Throw in synergy with shuffle effects and you have a very powerful engine card. Aside from the previously mentioned shuffle synergies, I'll note that Oracle also works well with topdeck manipulation - Brainstorm effects, Sylvan Library, Scroll Rack, Sensei's Divining Top... Oracle gets way stronger with support. Also works well with Crucible of Worlds effects for extra ramp off fetchlands.

That said, it does have some downsides. For one, revealing every card you draw is a significant downside for some decks (and annoying in general). It's also less consistent as ramp than something like Cultivate or Skyshroud Claim - if you don't have some way to manipulate the top of your library or get extra land drops, it can occasionally do nothing. That's not unique to Oracle though - as a value engine, it shines more when it sticks around for a while. I've definitely noticed it functioning better in my Tasigur (control) deck than Samut (combo). I do think it's still worth playing without shuffle effects / topdeck manipulation, but it certainly does get worse.

Anyway, was very happy when it got a reprint, but could still use a few more. Pretty much every Exploration effect is obnoxiously expensive, as are all the good topdeck manipulation effects. I'll call out Courser of Kruphix as a cheaper alternative, but it is a significant downgrade, in my experience.

[Sinis]

Saturday, December 19th, 2020; Oracle of Mul Daya

This card is good. I guess.

[onering]

While it is variable in how it plays out, the games where you get a bunch of nonlands in a row with no way to draw through them and no extra lands in hand to drop are more than outweighed by the games where you grab a couple lands off the top of your library in one turn, setting up drawing a nonlands a couple times in the game. And that's with no support, but commander decks are often going to have support that makes it better, because most things that support it are just good to have. Card draw gets you the nonlands and can reveal lands to play, sensei's top and sylvan library stack your deck to make the ramp/draw effect more consistent, shuffle effects change the top card of your library and thus increase the odds you'll have a land on top (because you get a chance before you crack the fetch then another chance afterward). And that's before you get into the things like crucible of worlds and bounce lands.

[DirkGently]

Oracle is, in some ways, exactly the sort of card that doesn't appeal to me. In terms of raw power, it's pretty darn strong, but in exchange you're sacrificing your ability to hide most information. To me, games where oracle dominates are often bad games, because everyone knows exactly what's going on, so if they can't stop it, that's a sign that something went wrong. Either the deck playing oracle was too strong for the table, or people used bad threat assessment, or both.

But then on the other hand, playing a bunch of lands is fun. Land machine go brrrrrrr.

[Hermes_]

Land machine go brrrrrrr.

Mine's cheaper on my wallet Exploration lol

[ilovesaprolings]

Oracle is, in some ways, exactly the sort of card that doesn't appeal to me. In terms of raw power, it's pretty darn strong, but in exchange you're sacrificing your ability to hide most information. To me, games where oracle dominates are often bad games, because everyone knows exactly what's going on, so if they can't stop it, that's a sign that something went wrong. Either the deck playing oracle was too strong for the table, or people used bad threat assessment, or both.

I mean knowing informations is not everything, otherwise glasses of urza would be a staple

[3drinks]

Sunday, December 20th, 2020; Zara, Renegade Recruiter

Has anyone even gotten to play this yet? If so, how's it feel to yoink something from someone else's hand for your needs? Special bonus points if you yoinked their own Blightsteel 👀👀

[DirkGently]

I've drafted her and she was decent. If I was building her for realsies, I'd include a lot of bounce, haste enablers, and sac outlets/stifles/end-the-turners to avoid giving the creature back. Interestingly, while people can move their commander to the CZ when bounced, I don't think they can do so when you move their commander onto the battlefield from their hand. Could be a fun sneak play with a haste enabler, and making them think they're safe to let it go to hand off a Waterfront Bouncer only to have to stolen and stifled.

I mean knowing information is not everything, otherwise glasses of urza would be a staple

I think Telepathy is pretty strong. Glasses has a lot of downsides by comparison.

At any rate, the value of the information is relative. Letting everyone know you're drawing average tempo cards is mostly irrelevant downside-wise. Letting everyone know you're drawing expropriate could easily result in people killing you before you get there, or holding up a counter on 9 when they otherwise wouldn't.

[Wallycaine]

At any rate, the value of the information is relative. Letting everyone know you're drawing average tempo cards is mostly irrelevant downside-wise. Letting everyone know you're drawing expropriate could easily result in people killing you before you get there, or holding up a counter on 9 when they otherwise wouldn't.

Oracle of Mul Daya is also a bit weird for that, in that only 1 card is revealed at a time. And while stuff like Expropriate will draw attention, most players aren't going to be taking notes of what cards you drew, so the value of Oracle's info starts to fade over time, as the cards sit in hand. While theoretically everyone knows you drew Austere Command 5 turns ago, it's quite probable that most groups will stop playing around it by that point. And even people paying attention might only remember in general terms, like "you have a wrath" and not the exact stipulations. So it's interesting that it has arguably less of a downside in casual multiplayer than it does in competitive games.

Zara seems cool. Being an attack trigger on a 5 mana creature, she's not going to take the world by storm, but it's solid value, especially as mentioned paired with haste and bounce to ensure you can grab the creature you want.

[JWK]

Sunday, December 20th, 2020; Zara, Renegade Recruiter

Has anyone even gotten to play this yet? If so, how's it feel to yoink something from someone else's hand for your needs? Special bonus points if you yoinked their own Blightsteel 👀👀

So far I have only played her in Commander Legends sealed, where she was predictably pretty good. If I ever make a pirate deck, she is a sure thing for inclusion. Other than that, I expect she will find a spot in my Yasova Dragonclaw deck, which is all about stealing people's creatures for combat then saccing them for value.

[RxPhantom]

I've had Zara, Renegade Recruiter played against me, and while it was never able to attack me, it did a lot of work against my opponents. Nothing on the level of Blightsteel Colossus, but it was really effective. It's the kind of splashy card , though, that I feel is emblematic of what drew me to EDH in the first place.

[materpillar]

I saw her not as the general but as part of the 99 of a pirate/steal your stuff tribal. She did a lot of work alongside Thassa, Deep-Dwelling.

[Mookie]

Zara, Renegade Recruiter seems sweet. Haven't seen her in action yet, but she does a lot of good things.

• Sneak Attacking your opponents' creatures seems fun
• Works well with Conjurer's Closet and other flicker effects to keep the creature permanently
• Works well with sacrifice effects in general
• Even if you don't have synergies, getting an ETB trigger off a value creature is always nice
• You can set up her trigger with bounce effects like Man-o'-War
• The fail case of seeing your opponent's hand at least gives you additional information

That said, I would expect Zara to draw a fair amount of hate - people hate having their stuff stolen.

[3drinks]

Mpnday, December 21st, 2020; Nadir Kraken

I both like this and recognize this as the most scary token ever. I shudder to think of what the japanese version look like, though it's probably something involving an underage school girl 😂😂

[Dunharrow]

I personally like Chasm Skulker a lot more.

Was trying to come up with a combo and finally got it:
Nadir Kraken
Ashnod's Altar
Parallel Lives
Sage of Fables

Gives you a lot of colorless mana and you draw your deck. and I guess make a very large kraken if you use Doubling Season instead.

[JWK]

I have not played this card outside limited, but it seems it would be good in decks that draw lots of cards. It has been good in my wife's Jalira deck.

[BeneTleilax]

Draw-heavy blue decks tend not to want mana sinks, in my experience. This definitely feels like a Uril-era staple, from back when people didn't really know how to build removal into their decks, and I can see it being quite fun in casual games that maintain that style.

[pokken]

I have played more kraken than probably anyone in EDH, and it's great in Ephara. That's about it. Although I do suspect it's pretty strong with Beast Whisperer effects where you can chain it into infinite tokens combo'ing with Earthcraft and that type of stuff. Just never been my thing really.

So far in Ephara I have only won the game with a giant kraken and tokens once, But I have won the game with the card draw and forcing people to sweep the board for me more than once. If I draw 7 cards off the Kraken then you blow the board, that's not a good place to be.

It's basically a game winning bomb in slow motion? I like it a lot. I wish it was 2/2

[Outcryqq]

I've played Nadir Kraken in my Thassa sea monster deck, and also in THB prerelease, and it's been decent in the former, and an absolute house in the latter.