Victimize

I've played this in: Nothing, yet

This card is awesome. Sacrificing a creature isn't a big deal in EDH, and I'm surprised that a spell which brings back two creatures doesn't see more play. Maybe I just haven't played with enough different people, and this card is already a thing, but when I think about all the G/B graveyard decks out there, Victimize seems like it would fit right in. So, I'll certainly be picking up a copy and trying it out next time I bolster my EDH collection. I look forward to combining this with Eternal Witness, Anarchist, or Archaeomancer for many, many enter-the-battlefield effects.

Fossil Find

I've played this in: Nothing (yet)

This is just a cool card. Reordering your graveyard almost never matters (only thing I can think of is Corpse Dance), and randomness isn't your best friend in Magic: the Gathering -- but one of the nice things about EDH is that it allows some flexibility in the quality of cards you want to play. I've played and watched a lot of Hearthstone this year, and it's really interesting to see how that game makes RNG (random number generator, A.K.A. randomness) feel exciting and fun. Coin flipping and random selection in paper Magic is a little more of a chore, but I think there's still some fun to be had in gambling with cards like Fossil Find. And the real reason this card caught my eye is for playing with Wort, the Raidmother, whose ability obviously raises the power level of the card significantly. Still, it could be good in the early game when you only have a few cards in your graveyard, and costing one mana makes it pretty reasonable in my mind.

See you tomorrow, technicians!

Angel of Finality

I've played this in: Lavinia of the Tenth (of course)

Well, it's finals week for me, so I looked for cards with Final in the name and Angel of Finality is a pretty sweet one that I've actually played before! To be honest, I try and avoid Commander-specific cards like the plague because I think most of the designs are kind of ham-fisted and they don't really speak to me - but this angel is pretty nice. Maybe worth noting that she doesn't interact well with her sister Restoration Angel due to the creature type. Still, it's a solid flying body with a very relevant effect for EDH, and I like it.

Hindering Light

I've played this in: Lavinia of the Tenth, Daxos of Meletis

Hindering Light is not so much about the card itself, but the family of cards it represents. We're talking Rebuff the Wicked, Turn Aside, Intervene, Confound -- and while you're not going to play all of them in a deck, one or two can really turn the tide of battle. Unfortunately, EDH has a plethora of board sweepers as well, which circumvent these protective measures entirely. Still, especially if you're playing kind of a voltron style, an efficient counterspell can be the difference between a victory and a loss.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back on Monday with another fresh, hot Magic card!

Feed the Pack

I've played this in: Vhati il-Dal

Sometimes, you just need to get HUGE. I think I first saw Feed the Pack in my friend Bryce's Jund chaos deck (with Xira Arien at the helm), with the dream being to sacrifice a Furyborn Hellkite. I've since adopted it in my MTGO deck, trying to sacrifice my old pal Moldgraf Monstrosity -- we started playing during Innistrad if you couldn't tell -- and it's been surprisingly good. Sometimes your opponents will have the sweeper, but sometimes they just won't have an answer to an enormous pack of wolves, and you'll be able to give said pack three square meals.

I've also been slowly brewing a Princess Mononoke theme deck with Tolsimir Wolfblood for a while, and it would be nice to sacrifice a Woolly Razorback to Feed the Pack. Okay, that's enough for today.

Sudden Death

I've played this in: Every black deck for the last few months

Today's post will be just a split second: Sudden Death kills Prophet of Kruphix.

Have a great Wednesday, everybody.

Void

I've played this in: my dreams

Wow, this card is savage. Now, I'm also a fan of playing Ratchet Bomb wherever possible -- I just think the "converted-mana-cost-matters" theme is fun. And, like Ratchet Bomb, Void can also blow up hordes of tokens in a pinch. I'd definitely run it alongside my good buddy Anarchist, for recurring total destruction. Also, can we mention the extremely awesome artwork on Void? Enough said.

To be honest, Red + Black doesn't have quite as many EDH playable cards as other two-color combinations, because it houses a lot of aggressive cards that have no place in a 40-life format, and there's no efficient way to kill enchantments (even with this card). Still, it's powerful, punishing effects like Void that give me hope for Rakdos yet.

Vulshok Battlemaster

I've played this in: Tajic, Blade of the Legion

Vulshok Battlemaster is pretty niche, since he basically has two uses: stealing other people's equipment, and carrying your own equipment on the cheap. Needless to say, he is fantastic with the Swords of X and Y, as well as more costly equipment, like Argentum Armor or Worldslayer. In EDH there are a couple pieces of equipment that tend to crop up in all kinds of decks: Lightning Greaves and Skullclamp. You'll have plenty of opportunities to steal a pair of shoes with the Battlemaster, which isn't particularly useful on a 2/2 body, but it's a nice way to open up an important creature to targeted removal. Still, while there are lots of cute interactions like that, and potential for a blowout if your opponent happens to be playing great equipment, I'd only recommend this card in a deck that is running powerful gear of its own.

Have a nice day and build some weird decks.

Sweet Isochron Spells: Rakdos Charm

I've played this in: Shattergang Brothers

Quite a few of the Return to Ravnica charms are good in EDH, and almost all are excellent on Isochron Scepter. I say almost because Gruul Charm is just... not... but of all the charms, the one with arguably the most utility is our good friend Rakdos Charm. I've talked about my obsession with cards that serve as efficient, but narrow hate spells, and Rakdos Charm is in that vein, but it stands out because it has three very different, very efficient ways to foil your opponents' plans. It doesn't need to be paired with Isochron Scepter by any means. However, a tokens player is unlikely to survive repeated use of the third mode.

Some of the criteria to look for in truly sweet Isochron spells are:

• Flexibility - modal spells - (e.g. charms and split cards)
• Card draw/card selection - for when you're "goldfishing" - (e.g. Brainstorm)
• Powerful, oppressive effects (e.g. Silence / Counterspell / Boomerang)

Generally if a card fits any one of these bills, you'd be happy to put it on a Scepter, and two is outstanding. I've racked my brain and I can't really think of any that meet all three criteria. Rakdos Charm is definitely flexible, and can be highly oppressive against all-in strategies with artifacts, graveyards, or tokens. "Let all feel joy in pain," indeed.

This wraps up the "Sweet Isochron Spells" theme. Hope you enjoyed some of the picks this week; I know a couple weren't totally Isochron-specific, but I think there's some good tech in there regardless. This weekend I'll be doing homework/projects, so expect new posts to start up again on Monday! In fact, I think I'm going to switch to posting on just weekdays from now on, but I'll try to make up for it with some high quality picks and discussion. All right, thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend!

Sweet Isochron Spells: Bind

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

Bind is an interesting one for Isochron Scepter since it has a relevant ability, and draws a card each turn -- so far, so good -- but unfortunately it's all dependent on someone else activating an ability each turn. Of course, you could counter your own abilities in exchange for a card, but that seems mostly, well, counter-productive. What we end up with is a decent kind of "rattlesnake" (something that lingers on the board, just threatening to ruin someone's day, e.g. Seal of Doom and friends), but not the efficient source of card advantage that maximizes the Scepter's potential. That's why you'll mostly see Isochron used with cantrips like Brainstorm or oppressive spells like Counterspell or Go for the Throat.

However, when you're building with Isochron Scepter, you're typically going to pack your decks full of good targets, so it's not that likely that Bind will be your only option. As a standalone card, Bind can be very helpful in shutting down planeswalker activations, or key creature/artifact activations. You can even live the Stifle dream and be that guy to counter someone's fetchland in the early game. This is another one of those highly efficient, but situational counters that I think are the most fun to play with in EDH. Give it a shot if you feel your green deck is lacking some fast interactions.

See you tomorrow with another sweet instant!

Sweet Isochron Spells: Due Respect

I've played this in: Tajic, Blade of the Legion

While I'm talking about really cool Isochron Scepter spells, I've got to pay my respects to the frustrating lockout angle, like preventing your opponents from ever playing things at sorcery speed with Silence. Due Respect is kind of in that vein, but obviously much less oppressive. It also hits the cantrip spot, so you can start drawing a card every turn, and the fusion of these two powers makes a really neat, effective spell that seems to be built for the Scepter.

Without Isochron, it really is just a cantrip to fire off on an opponent's upkeep, or to save for that turn the Maelstrom Wanderer player has been building up to the whole game. Not a very powerful effect all things considered, but sometimes the cards that speak to me the most are the more subtle ones that are just within the realm of playability.

Sweet Isochron Spells: Annul

I've played this in: Ambassador Laquatus

Annul is pretty sweet, especially if you don't have access to green or white. Both of those colors have a wealth of great disenchant effects that you should totally be running. Some of the most powerful effects in the format come in the form of artifacts and enchantments. If you're in blue, this is a cheap and effective way to shut those down -- and you haven't lived until you've countered a turn 1 Sol Ring (Okay, I'll be honest, I haven't done it either, but it's a dream of mine). I think the conditional counters are my favorite to play in EDH. For example, I have jammed Dispel in many, many lists.

As for Isochron Scepter, well... yeah, it's a little loose. Annul is probably way too conditional to use your precious scepter on; you're better off with an actual Counterspell or something that draws cards, since you're opening yourself up to a big card disadvantage if an opponent has their own artifact removal. So maybe this steps outside the week's theme a little bit, but it's a neat one-mana instant that you should consider playing.

See you tomorrow, with a much sweeter Isochron target!