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

[Dunharrow]

Daxos gets a lot of hate. People do not like having their spells stolen, especially when they scryed them to the top.
so, the first thing you need to do is protect Daxos.

Then, Daxos is easily stalled by random bears. You need to pump him to make him relevant. This also helps the problem of Daxos being a 11 turn clock without being pumped.

So now you have built a voltron commander deck. Why do you need your opponents' cards? Might as well play Geist of Saint Traft (built in protection) or Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest, which has built in pumping and double strike.

That is why Daxos is ignored. I considered him for Shu Yun since i can give double strike, but I think I went with something else. The fact is, getting random stuff from my opponents is just worse than drawing cards off of a Gateway Sneak. The cards in my deck are definitely going to be better than the cards in your deck for my voltron.

I also realized that we should mention Glenn, the Voice of Calm. So annoyed that this exists.

[BeneTleilax]

The SLTWD cards are, and continue to be, gross.

[Mookie]

AuGuRy aDePt Is hYbRiD aNd cOuLd bE MoNoWhItE....

Anyway, Daxos of Meletis is fine. Evasive, generates card advantage, gains life. However, blue decks aren't exactly desperate for card advantage, and the evasion is extremely conditional. Gets better if you throw on buffs, but two base power means he isn't a great voltron option. As others have mentioned, there are better options in the command zone. The one marginal upside of Daxos over the competition is his ability to steal opponents' cards, but the narrow window for that theft + high variance + lack of synergy with your own deck means that the average card value is going to be lower than Augury Adept (or drawing from your own deck in general). Plus the whole 'opponents hate having their stuff stolen' thing.

Daxos does also have some synergy with Griptide effects to steal things more consistently, but there are much easier way to steal permanents. As a result, I'd usually just lean towards a different voltron commander instead - others have pointed to Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest.

Also: I was not aware of how unpopular Azorius is as a color combination. Very interesting. I guess a lot of Azorius cards lean towards 'fun police' - Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, Azor, the Lawbringer, and people may not want to annoy their playgroup.... Still, it is a strong color combination. It may be that the three color combinations - Esper / Jeskai / Bant - are stealing some of its popularity. Hmmm....

[3drinks]

I tried for a long time to build a workable Daxos deck, focusing on tossing people's good stuff from the battlefield to the top of their library and then stealing it, but I never got it off the ground because it quickly became evident it was slow, clunky and usually not even particularly good.

What I'm reading here is....this sounds like some fantastic anti Library of Leng|5ed tech 👀🤔

...this just makes me want to Memory Lapse a Recurring Insight and cast it with Daxos. Like every game, that's all I ever want this deck to do now.

[gsgfdf]

Fun (?) fact though - while perusing where Daxos 1.0 sat in the ranking of EDHRECs commanders, I found that it looks like Azorius is the least-played guild in EDH. Like Boros, they have only one Commander who has cracked 1000 decks in Brago, King Eternal and have only five Commanders who are above 600 decks (a metric only meaningful because that's what EDHREC's article looks at when judging Commander popularity), but Boros has Feather sitting at over 3000 decks now and there's only 1700 registered Bragos. Overall, Feather has helped push Boros to about 1,000 more decks on EDHRECs than Azorius. I find that really shocking, considering how great Brago is and how great Blue is, so I wonder if that's because white is dragging down the combo or if its because Azorius' "best" generals are high in sodium (Brago, GAAIV, and Lavinia)? Maybe both?

Another reason is that Azorius has only two major archetypes. It has blink represented by Brago and stax/control represented mainly by GAAIV. Boros has spellslinger in a unique way with Feather, Dwarf/Vehicle tribal in Depala and many different combat focused Commanders. Furthermore, both of Azorius' archetypes can be improved (imo) by adding black in their color identity. You can make a better blink deck with Aminatou, the Fateshifter and a better stax/control deck with something like Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. Azorius needs a third color for something like Kykar, Wind's Fury to make a decent spellslinger deck.

I think Azorius has the worst Commander options out of all the ten 2-color combinations.

[ironic gesture]

Interesting to hear your guys' take on Azorius in the command zone. Hadn't thought alot about it but also hadn't built a UW deck until earlier this year. What do you guys think about Inniaz, the Gale Force as a UW general in a different vein?

[Mookie]

Interesting to hear your guys' take on Azorius in the command zone. Hadn't thought alot about it but also hadn't built a UW deck until earlier this year. What do you guys think about Inniaz, the Gale Force as a UW general in a different vein?

Inniaz definitely has some interesting applications. I don't know if I'd run him over Kangee, Sky Warden or Isperia the Inscrutable, but all of them seem solid for a flying-based deck. Inniaz in particular has interesting political implications due to the trade ability... although he may also cause issues due to the whole 'people don't like having their stuff stolen' thing.

(Isperia Sphinx tribal isn't on my shortlist, but it is on my longlist)

I'll call out Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage (flash / historic stuff), Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper (spellslinger), and Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun (tokens) as three other off-the-beaten-path strategies.

[Toshi]

The Azorius Problem is that there's just not a lot of interesting things to do.

Brago, King Eternal has been around for years and unless you go creatureless it's copy and paste with him usually.
Bruna, Light of Alabaster is even more set in stone, due to her specific tech.
Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage might look promising, but each list i've seen so far looked very generic and dull to me.
Taigam, Ojutai Master lends itself to be an all out combo machine - something lots of playgroups frown upon.
Then there's a whole roster of denial commanders not too many people enjoy playing (against) either.
Even possible Azorius Partner pairings don't spark much inspiration. Not counting Sakashima of a Thousand Faces shenanigans, Glacian, Powerstone Engineer paired with Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist or Rebbec, Architect of Ascension as the "best" option, is pretty underwhelming.

With all that being said, i love Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper! I've always enjoyed Spellslinger decks outside of like Toshiro Umezawa. Plus players staring at their Cyclonic Rifts in hand, knowing it won't solve Noyans board just never get's old.

[3drinks]

Wednesday, December 30th, 2020; Mass Mutiny

I don't watch 'em anymore cause they got way too commercialized and a bit pandering, to me, but I remember Game Nights had an episode just a few months back where Josh had this in a Subira deck and it was the only thing of note he could pull out that game. Seems to be quite the swingy effect. But, idk...is it really though? How does it fare versus, say, Act of Aggression?

[TheAmericanSpirit]

For one more mana, you can play mob rule and take a whole lot more. I want more from a theft card than one whose power objectively shrinks as players drop dead.

[ironic gesture]

For one more mana, you can play mob rule and take a whole lot more. I want more from a theft card than one whose power objectively shrinks as players drop dead.

I agree. This is so much worse than mob rule (which has won me many games). Not only does Rule get you so many more bodies but getting around shroud/hexproof/protection is clutch whereas today's card targets.

[gsgfdf]

Another card that's better than today's is Molten Primordial. You get a 6/4 haste creature for just more, plus all the regular ways you can abuse creatures and ETB effects.

[Lifeless]

I have a hard time even considering this when Insurrection exists, unless your table is so angry about theft effects that something more "fair" like stealing only one creature might cause you less trouble on subsequent turns. I can't ever see myself playing this.

[Hawk]

I think I'd need to be all-in on sac-and-steal effects to be excited about this.

At 5 CMC this is a multisteal, making it the cheapest multi-steal in EDH. It has competition at that CMC with Word of Seizing (instant speed, split second, can hit other permanents), Zealous Conscripts (creature so blinkable/comboable/easily recurrable, hits any permanent), Act of Aggression (instant speed, can be cast for 3 if you are willing to take 4) and newcomer Coercive Recruiter (creature so blinkable/comboable/recurrable; potentially triggers multiple times per game if you are playing pirates). If you are just looking for a card to lightly mess-up opponents and borrow cool permanents, while occasionally comboing with a sac outlet if you can't get the card killed yourself to make it removal, I'd take any of the above over this as instant speed and the ability to hit 'walkers and artifacts and enchantments are all good.

But of course, those are all just stealing a single card (at least without Kiki nonsense with the creatures), and in magical Christmas land this is nabbing three massive threats and shipping them back to their owners, ideally before the stolen creatures are fed into an Ashnod's Altar or Goblin Bombardment or something. As noted though, because this scales so poorly if opponents start dying before you cast it (or if one or two opponents are creature-light, a real possibility these days), even though this comes down at a mana less most players (myself included) would much prefer to spend the extra mana on the infinitely more swingy, reliable, and powerful Mob Rule, Molten Primordial, and Insurrection.

I think the big thing is that this effect just isn't very good in Commander. Threaten effects have generally always been at their best as 1 or 2-ofs in limited to clear blockers and provide sudden damage to close out the game. In "4 quadrant" card evaluation, they are the posterchild of a card that's only really good when you are already ahead as a way to "slam the door", but that's just a really niche circumstance in EDH. They've never even been all that great in Constructed (top of head I think only Conscripts and the instant-speed cards like the above and Ray of Command have seen any legitimate play in Standard/Type II and even then mostly as fringey roleplayers and sideboard cards), and adding more opponents and 40 life makes these sort of one shot "reversals" really really underwhelming. That means you basically have to combo them with a sac outlet for value, but EDH also has all of time and space available to you so like - why pay so much to steal a creature and then kill it when you can just cast Chaos Warp? Even decks that are up to playing these probably just want a few, and so all but the most powerful and efficient of them are pushed out.

Also, as decks have become synergy-driven and more powerful we've seen Insurrection go from "THE game-ender" to "rarely seen"; it's very possible to whiff with this effect in modern EDH making this card even worse.

[BeneTleilax]

I've still seen this win games, and I think this forum underrepresents the amount of goodstuff battlecruiser out there. Mayael never went away in my experience. It's not the best in slot, far from it, but I certainly wouldn't question anyone's deckbuilding if they ran it.

[Mookie]

As others have already covered, Mass Mutiny is sort of underwhelming - Mob Rule, Molten Primordial, and Insurrection all exist and are easier to make use of as a finisher. It's not bad if you have Brion Stoutarm or another sac outlet to make use of the stolen creatures... but if you're using them purely for combat, this looks sort of underwhelming. Critically, by only stealing one creature, your opponents are likely so still have blockers available. As a result, it doesn't have the hidden 'mass Falter' effect that the bigger theft effects can have.

Still, if you have a bunch of sac outlets available, it's not bad as a 3-for-1 / multi-removal spell. Sorcery speed and conditional makes me a little suspect of it though.

[3drinks]

Thursday, December 31st, 2020; walk the plank|xln

That's about as close to unconditional removal as you're gonna get, right? Closest comparisons @ two cmc is Terminate|pls (2c), Death Stroke (requires a tapped creature, though is a fantastic plot point card), and Devour in Shadow (painful on larger targets). Reminds me of the old days where we played Rend Flesh which was like unconditional because no one played spirits.

[Mookie]

Yarrr, Walk the Plank be a reasonable anti-landlubber spell. It scuttles nigh-on all o' th' most common creatures, except Tatyova, Benthic Druid 'n Hullbreacher. However, 'tis a sorcery, which makes it poor in some happenstances. Be careful with ye slow removal, lest ye end up in Davy Jones's locker! I be preferin' Heartless Act n' Go for the Throat fer protectin' me booty.

Yarr!

[Serenade]

Vindicate might be the only sorcery-speed removal I still use...and I'm even getting away from that and towards more exile if I'm in white.

Yesterday I was thinking about taking Devour in Shadow for a ride. I always forget it exists.


Pirates make me think of how Mass Mutiny would work best with Dargo, the Shipwrecker, which is still not that good.

[MeowZeDung]

Sorcery speed 1 for 1 spot removal that costs two pips and says "destroy" instead of "exile" leaves a lot to be desired. If you want to deal with an opposing commander or threat in mono black I think you'd be happier with Deadly Rollick, Oubliette, Tragic Slip, or even Dismember/Grasp of Darkness/Erebos's Intervention.

[Toshi]

I'll echo the argument that being an instant instead would push it to being playable, yet not stellar ranks.

But to be honest, with Defile, Tragic Slip, Bile Blight, Heartless Act, Dismember, Murderous Rider // Swift End, Sudden Death, Deadly Rollick, Snuff Out and Murderous Cut there are just way too many great and cheap alternatives for it not to get cut sooner or later.

Hmpf, now i really feel like building a Toshiro Umezawa deck...

[gsgfdf]

The only sorcery removal that makes the cut for me is the newly printed Feed the Swarm and I only use that for my Mono deck. We have so many great options to choose from that this does not make the cut.

Such a shame for this artwork though!

[Hawk]

As an instant, this would be a premium removal spell imo - merfolk aren't TOO Common and it'd be side by side with Heartless Act and Go for the Throat as the "best" monoblack creature kill spells in the format. At sorcery speed it's close to unplayable not because its awful, but because it's just too slow and competition is too stiff.

Most of my favorites have been called out: GftT is my starting point for every deck, and from there I'd say that Dismember, Tragic Slip, and Hero's Downfall are the next additions and are present in most Bx decks. Black-heavy decks pick up Snuff Out, decks that churn cards but don't need their yards get Murderous Cut, and I've been known to jam a Devour in Shadow from time to time. I also run Shriekmaw, Ravenous Chupacabra, and even Bone Shredder and Nekrataal in creature-heavy lists that can support them, recognizing that I run 'maw more than I probably ought to these days. I have yet to acquire any Heartless Act, Murderous Rider // Swift End, Deadly Rollick, or Feed the Swarms, although once I do I imagine they'll form the new removal core. Currently a few decks run Doom Blade while I wait for an opportunity to spend some cash on more kill spells (since I also don't own enough Dismembers or Go For The Throats to go around), which isn't amazing but does the job.

I also will call out Victim of Night and Malicious Affliction as two more solid spells that I don't currently run anywhere but that often end up in the maybeboard of a removal suite that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

I prefer any and all of these to Walk the Plank, so I've never given it an inclusion. That's before we even talk multicolor, too - adding colors opens up Reality Shift, Rapid Hybridization, Pongify, and counterspells in UBx, Terminate and Dreadbore in BRx, Putrefy in GBx, and Mortify, Vindicate, Swords to Plowshares, and Path to Exile in WBx (not mentioning cards I don't own any copies of, like Assassin's Trophy, Anguished Unmaking, or Maelstrom Pulse).

[JWK]

I don't really run sorcery-speed single-target black removal spells, aside from Feed the Swarm .

A similar card, that I do run due to it being an instant is Victim of Night. It's still conditional, but I find much more often than not it will do the trick. See also Go for the Throat .

[Dunharrow]

I have never considered playing it. Big knock on it is that it can't kill Mirror Entity.