Sweet Isochron Spells: Bound / Determined

I've played this in: Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Before I get into this card, I just want to apologize for taking the whole week off after saying I might take the weekend off. I was traveling and spending time with friends/family for Thanksgiving; kind of dropped the ball there. But, I got to play some EDH over the week and discover some new tech! Including today's card, Bound / Determined.

In fact this card is the first in this week's theme of "Sweet Isochron Scepter Spells." Lots of split cards fit in here just because they bring so many options to the table, including the ability to cast a greater-than-2-converted-mana-cost side. Bound / Determined is a card I honestly wouldn't include in many decks because both halves are so niche, but when you jam it on an Isochron Scepter, suddenly you have crazy protection from counter magic, a pseudo-All-Suns'-Dawn every turn if you can spare some creatures, and consistent card draw if all else fails. I've just included this in my new "Flashigur" brew, and I haven't gotten to cast it, or imprint it, but I'm excited at the possibility.

Honorable mention for this spot: Research / Development if your playgroup allows you to actually add cards from outside the game, like maybe 4 Biovisionaries each turn.

Planar Guide

I've played this in: Lavinia of the Tenth

I really like one-drops. Even though Planar Guide is realistically a five-drop if you plan on using it, I'd still put it among my favorite one-drops. I know it seems pretty specific to a blink deck, but it has some other interesting uses like clearing tokens or serving as an overpriced Fog. If you're in white, chances are you're playing some powerhouse ETB creatures like Sun Titan, Karmic Guide, and even little old Wall of Omens, and getting to re-use those effects provides a lot of value. You can even permanently exile things with Fiend Hunter if you play it right. Planar Guide's unfortunate downfall is that it exiles itself, so it's a one-and-done effect. If it was a legend, I'd make it my general in a heartbeat.

I might not have a card for you tomorrow just because I'll be driving for 12 hours up to my native land of Washington state. If that's the case, have a wonderful weekend, and play with some cool cards!

Wildwood Rebirth

I've played this in: Vhati il-Dal // decklist

A lot of people completely dismissed this card when it came out in RTR block because it could only return creatures. In Gatecrash limited, that's a fair judgement, because that format was way too fast to be playing around with the graveyard, and you're less likely to have an insane creature in limited. However, I think it's a decent option for an EDH deck that runs a lot of creatures, like my grindy dredge/Necrotic Ooze combo deck I play on Magic Online. It's an instant-speed Regrowth, for Pete's sake! And unlike other instant-speed recursion options, it actually goes directly to your hand. If you're a dirty Prophet of Kruphix player, or you're running creature-based combos, I think Wildwood Rebirth deserves another look.

Have a wonderful rest of your Thursday, and as always, may you beat people with cards they've never heard of before. qB^)

Cryptic Annelid

I've played this in: Lavinia of the Tenth // decklist

Cryptic Annelid is a beast, in more ways than one. I can't really decipher what is going on in the artwork, but an "annelid" is a worm, so it makes sense that it would be doing a lot of digging. It seems like the scry ability is really bad when the card you're digging for is the very first on top, but it's hard to complain when you just have what you need. And for those times you're scrying away five or six cards to get something useful, it's a life saver. Obvious synergies with blink effects and top-of-library manipulation, two main themes in my Lavinia deck. Four toughness isn't too bad either, offering blocks for 3/3 Beast or Elephant tokens.

If you're planning on durdling a lot, give this mysterious segmented worm a shot. Bars.

Relic Seeker

I've played this in: Tajic, Blade of the Legion // I actually have a Decklist for this one

This guy will probably always be seen as just a kind of sad Stoneforge Mystic. It's not really fair to compare the two though... I mean Relic Seeker is probably not planeswalker material. However, if your deck is running powerful equipment, including the ubiquitous Lightning Greaves and Skullclamp, I think the Seeker deserves a look. Renown is not a very abusable mechanic, although he does work well with Sun Titan or Reveillark bringing him back from the 'yard. As a turn 2 play, especially in multiplayer, it's pretty likely he'll get his hit in, and you can get a powerful equipment to your hand early on. Later in the game though, it's pretty hard to get the value, so you decide if the early game advantage is worth it in your deck.

See you tomorrow, fellow technicians!

Death Pits of Rath

I've played this in: Gallowbraid, Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis (same deck, different generals)

Death Pits of Rath is primarily a combo card used to stop anyone from attacking, used with Noxious Field, Caltrops, and a myriad of other effects. That's the only way I've used it so far, but I love the idea of just using it for sweet value in a token deck, like Nath or Endrek Sahr. Basically it just gives all creatures super-deathtouch when you have no combo pieces, and having a bunch of 1/1's obviously has its advantages with an effect like that. I can't speak for its effectiveness in that capacity until I try it myself, but as a fun (for you) way to create attrition-y board states, it's a ten outta ten.

*I originally wrote "have a great weekend" here, and after publishing it I now realize it is Monday. So, uh, hope you had a great weekend? See you tomorrow.

Lifegift

I've played this in: Wort, the Raidmother, Sir Shandlar of Eberyn, and probably more

I don't know about anyone else, but in my playgroup, if you have the most life, you are the one being attacked. It doesn't matter if there's a combo player sitting in the corner slowly amassing card advantage, so long as their threats are not on board. It's kind of common courtesy to just attack whoever has the most life and keep everyone even. So, you might be wondering, "why is Lifegift, an incidental life gain effect that is at its best in the early game, when I have no blockers, something I should be playing?" And here's my answer: it's sweet.

No, really, if you're playing multiplayer EDH, the life you will gain off this card is no joke, especially if you're not the only green player at the table -- people will be popping out lands left and right. It's worth the occasional poke from someone's Mulldrifter to buffer your life total, especially if your deck has life gain themes, or is capable of playing out lots of lands, which most green decks are. Plus, no one wants to expend precious enchantment removal on this card. Give it a try, let me know how it goes.

Entomber Exarch

I've played this in: Glissa, the Traitor, Vhati il-Dal, and probably some non-green decks too

This card was actually in the very first intro deck I ever purchased (the Red/Black one from New Phyrexia) so I've played with it a lot casually. Entomber Exarch has two great options: Duress or Raise Dead. It's not the cheapest way to get either of those effects obviously, but the choice between the two is unique, and being stapled to a creature is a big plus. If you're like me and you enjoy targeted hand disruption, or you need some more creature recursion (and what black deck can get enough), I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the Entomber.

Oh yeah, unfortunately I have to admit I've cast this card recently and tried to tutor for a creature, confusing it with its big, green brother Brutalizer Exarch -- don't try that.

Cloud Cover

I've played this in: Lavinia of the Tenth

What a cool ability! In my Lavinia deck, pretty much all of my permanents do something when they enter the battlefield, so replacing opponents' removal with my own recursion is very powerful. While it has no resistance to enchantment removal itself, Cloud Cover very seldom draws hate because it doesn't really have an impact on the game until you play out major threats to protect with it. As a result, your Sol Ring and your Sea Gate Oracle are safe from incidental removal spells that tend to crop up in multiplayer EDH.

Highly recommend this card as a cool enchantress or blink deck inclusion. See you tomorrow!

Flamecast Wheel

I've played this in: Theros limited? Maybe?

Sorry, this isn't a real suggestion as much as it is an excuse to tell you about the dream I had last night. In this dream, I snuck into a Taylor Swift concert and edited her big speech to talk about using Flamecast Wheel as a Trinket Mage target instead of, you know, whatever her speech was about. I was actually thinking about running this card the other day, which I'm sure prompted the dream, but Flamecast Wheel is just a couple mana too expensive to be useful (though I am always looking for cards that can kill Prophet of Kruphix). Compare to Brittle Effigy.

"Cool Trinket Mage targets" is an entire article in itself, so I'll leave it at this for today. Thanks for reading!

Fanning the Flames

I've played this in: Wort, the Raidmother, Latulla, Keldon Overseer (and probably more)

Look, people play counter magic in EDH, there's no getting around it. You're better off playing Banefire if you want to snap off a guaranteed kill. Heck, you're better off with Devil's Play in that case. But that's not what Fanning the Flames is for. This card has helped me eek out value, or a win, in multiplayer games with a clunky, big-mana, mono-red deck multiple times -- and it's great. Granted, it's a bit of a niche deck that wants this instead of Comet Storm or either of the aforementioned fireballs, but that's all I'm looking to provide with this blog: some offbeat picks to make your hot new brew really shimmer.

I'll be putting up a new card each day, for as long as I can remember to do this! See you tomorrow.