Random Card of the Day 8

Entangler

This is such an underused ability. There are five creatures with that ability and two spells that give that ability to a creature you control, and they all are white.

This is obviously something that has a lot of potential. I really like how it works and what it does to combat. Palace Guard is the last thing that was printed with this ability since Lorwyn's Thoughtweft Trio. Three years between using that ability!

And it's weird because it appears at common, so it's not like it's a complicated ability. I just think there is a lot that can be done with this ability, and I really want something like the Trio that has this ability and be relevant.

As creature combat becomes more relevant, I think this ability is something that should become more common.

Random Card of the Day 7

Goblin Festival

There are three things this card makes me want to talk about:

1) I absolutely hate it when there are cards that encourage people to use the effect numerous times in response to each other. You can activate this card four times in a row, and even if you lose control of it on the first flip, the other three activations still go off. It just seems silly, and it rubs me the wrong way. Specifically because the only way to play it correctly is to know that you can respond to activating it, and that is somewhat advanced rulings.

2) I think coin flip effects are in general really bad. I think there are better ways to have coin flip like effect but not have the coin; that's why I really really liked the clash ability from Lorwyn. It has an unsure outcome like the coin flips, but can be impacted and altered through playing correctly and knowing the cards in your deck. I think the game would be better if all coin flips were turned into clashes.

3) Tribal. This reads like it should be a Tribal Enchantment - Goblin. Remember when they did the creature update a long time ago and added each creature types to cards without them and reworked everything to make it fit all nice and neatly? I feel like that is what they should have done with Tribal. It was a way to make all older cards fit in a modern setting. However, cards like Goblin Assault completely destroyed what they should have done.

I feel like there needs to be a decision around Tribal very soon, because it's something that if they decide to come back to it... Well, there will be many years of cards without it and that will just look really confusing.

Random Card of the Day 6

Seismic Assault

This card reminds me of the comboness of enchantments. For the most part, it seems that enchantments are very uninteractive and rarely if ever get played.

There are 55 nonaura enchantments in Standard.

Dark Tutelage, Journey to Nowhere, Pyromancer Ascension, and Tempered Steel are the only ones that seem to see any amount of consistent constructed play.

I don't if that changes how I feel about enchantments, but they usually seem more comboey than any other card type. It's funny, I think, that the two really combo enchantments here are both red. But I guess because they are so hard to remove and intrinsically uninteractive, I guess that is why there aren't as many and why they aren't really ever that great.

I don't know. I just really feel like there is so much more to do with enchantments.

Random Card of the Day 5

Blue Elemental Blast

This card would obviously never be printed today because destroying permanents is completely out of blue's color pie, but I really do like the ideals behind this card. At the beginning of the game, the enemy colors were really enemies and absolutely hated each other. You could do dangerous and powerful things to players who had your enemy colors because your spells were just that much more powerful.

Now, color hosers are definitely nowhere near as powerful, but maybe that is for the better. Powerful "strategy" hosers are much more interactive than color hosers.

Random Card of the Day 4

Porphyry Nodes

There are somethings I really don't like about Magic, and cards that do stuff without targeting really bother me. (And by that I mean cards that seem like they should target but don't.) I don't like how this gets around protection abilities and shroud; it seems like it is so backwards.

Does that bother you at all?

Random Card of the Day 2

Rod of Ruin

Rod of Ruin is a good limited card. I feel that its mana cost and activated ability are both reasonably price.

Part of me wonders how much an pinging artifact would need to cost to be playable in Standard. Cunning Sparkmage saw standard play, but that may have been just because its combination with a certain equipment.

I'm thinking maybe 2 and 2 might make it constructed playable, but I don't know if that is still too weak or too powerful.

What this card does bring into light is what artifacts allow colors to do. Rod of Ruin is obviously a "red" card, but it can go into any deck. It is very similar to Flame Javelin in that any color can get access to almost anything at the right price of mana.

But only if that mana is colorless.

Random Card of the Day 1

Following was Aaron Forsythe does on Twitter with his random card of the day, I'd figure I'd do the same.

Urza's Tower

This, along with Urza's Power-Plant and Urza's Mine make up the Urzatron.

What I find interesting about this "cycle" is how the Tower is the only one that produces three mana. Why does only one produce more than the others? It seems like an interesting choice to have one significantly more powerful than all of the others.

I really enjoy all three of these cards because it really seems like the "referential" part of them is not forced. It seems like you would need all three of these cards to get a great effect. It's where the mechanics and flavor interact really favorably.

One final note about this card is how it was used in Masters Edition 4 which was just released on Magic Online. Instead of a basic land being the 15th card in a pack, it was one of the Urzatron. This creates such an interesting dynamic in the packs because now the cards actually matter in limited since you are able to reliably get multiples of all three. It also makes the 15th card relevant and not just another land.

I'm hoping that it is something that might possibly be used in the future.