Which card and presenter would you invest your Fishcoin with? Vote here! Round 1: ruclips.net/user/postUgkxljSFRS2enIKqCHWNCI8Q5sVKZGcxXbRg Round 2: ruclips.net/user/postUgkxfHLeXJQHBlQ4YTK8OltAkQdlaBKmC3U_
I always enjoy listening to Phil in these “card recommendation” type episodes. He’s very aware of the shortcomings of his recommendations and doesn’t try to hide them through excessive hyperbole. Also huge props to Seth for always putting in tons of effort into his speeches!
Classic Richard: I don't play targeted removal but I'll play a card to give my opponents their targeted removal back and ask them to use against someone else.
@@delathenleso5793 you sound like a scumbag. He’s a guy making a video with his friends for people to enjoy free and is using hyperbole for entertainment’s sake.
Your comment is implying that sometimes losing the game is a downside. If you’re playing a casual game with your pals, aren’t cards that allow two people to do something cool superior to cards that only allow one person to do the same thing?
richard potentially wising the rest of the guys up to his schemes to give a psa about how good skullwinder is was a noble sacrifice on par w/ gideon saving liliana
God these episodes are awesome. The discussions are so fun. One of the biggest strengths of this show is that each host has a different style and perspective and this format of video highlights that wonderfully.
The things Richard and Tomer said that I thought were insane a year ago are more than sensible now. I suspect the things they say now that I think are insane will be proven truth in a year. And Skullwinder really *is* a better EWit in most games below fast combo meta.
I just started pulling up random commanders on edhrec and looking at their top utility artifacts. Crim is right about mycosynth gardens, it belongs in a lot of non artifact centric decks
An entire episode needs to be devoted to utility lands. As Phil mentioned, it's important to be cautious with them even though they're so tempting. But Crim isn't wrong in the sense of how many decks have a fairly high density of random good artifacts lying around worth cloning.
@@MaxMckayful I’ve steadily found myself becoming a primarily mono colour player and 90% of it is because I want to take advantage of all the great utility lands in the format without becoming colour screwed or whatever. I keep track of my win rates and they’ve definitely gone up in part because I have options now even when I’m down to like basically no hand, be it pumping my mana into Lair of the Hydra or straight up drawing 2 off sacrificing Roadside Reliquary. It’s great.
A bit late to this but really it's "Eternal Witness can by bounced by Kogla, often winning you the game on the spot" I've gone Kogla + E-Wit + Time Warp more than a few times.
Skullwinder is an honestly incredible card, and it is SO underutilised. It has the whole E-Wit effect, except it's easier to cast, effectively regrows 2 cards (like Richard points out), and has one extremely impactful part that I've seen so many people overlook: The Solemn Simulacrum Effect (SSE). What is the SSE? Why, it's how everyone goes "oh I don't want to attack into that person, they have a solemn! They'll just draw!" It's like that, except even better, because now the trade is a regrowth for any attacking creature. You really want to swing your commander into a deathtoucher? It is an on board fog that lasts for SUCH a long time, it's incredible. Genuinely an incredible card. (The Advocate Cycle is also really strong for similar reasons!!)
Giving your opponents a free card of their choice only works if you play with the kind of idiots who would take a deal like that. If your opponents are just smart and all agree to not take a deal with you, then you'll have to pick one of them to get back the best card in their graveyard.
The problem with cards like Spirited Companion is that a lot of decks need critical mass of certain effects. Most decks need enough card advantage, ramp, removal, and lands. Also, the cantrip and durdle till boardwipe strategy that goes with it assumes (usually correctly) that players will develop on board without furthering some combination of their hand, land count and ways to protect/recur/redeploy their board that is more meaningfull than cantrips without card selection. That being said, some amount of early board presence is essential and if your main theme/plan doesn't involve low cmc creatures that you're willing to block with then Spirited Companion and Wall of Omens are great.
You asked for it, you get it. My pitch for the shark tank is Standstill Standstill is a really fun and strong card. Imagine a secret rendevouz, but with value. Some people may say it is some type of stax, but no. It doesn't cause the game to stop. Players still get to draw their first card and they can play a land. So everything is fine, especially if the Standstill player is a slower player, just like Phil. Each player has one decision to make for each turn. Is my turn/are my spells good enough, to give my opponents 9 cards in total. If not, fine. Just pass your turn. No time consuming actions. If the player does decide to "not care anymore", all the other players draw 3 cards. It's like a minigame, and it is soooooo fun, and worth it. Everytime, when someone cast a spell and triggered Standstill, regretted it afterwards. It's just so good.
The problem with the Spirited Companion argument is it’s cannabalistic as a strategy. If everyone at the table is doing it then it ceased to work. Even more so, it also only works if the bulk of your opponents decks are gumming up the board. Voltron, spellslinger, big mana, and more would love you to spend your early turns on cantrip weenies as they win the arms race through ramp. I think Richards play style is most effective on battlecruiser style formats. Which fair play, I guess if that’s your jam.
49:00 Spirited Companion & Wall of Omens and their green versions of Elvish Visionary & Wall of Blossoms (there are also multicolred ones) are really good in decks that care about bodies, etbs or need sac food. Especially in budget decks you almost never feel bad to play them, they offer some early game play or a set-up and make the deck a bit more consistent. They are the spellslingers cantrip versions.
Obligatory despite everyone at first glance thinking otherwise, Eternal Witness is a Human, not an Elf. Sadly I’ve wanted a non-Human version forever, and forgot Skullwinder existed so that’s a plus.
Eternal Witness has significantly lesser risk if you blink/reanimate it multiple times compared to Skullwinder. If you're looking for a creature regrowth that you don't plan on looping then, outside tribal synergies, Skullwinder will usually be better. But let's not forget Regrowth. Without creature tutors, loops or creature synergies Regrowth is a strong contender. That being said, for most decks I can recall, Skullwinder is a easy upgrade to Eternal Witness.
Hunted Horror was popular in standard at the time. It only ever had 1 printing until the Horror tribal Baldur's Gate precon. It was a $30-plus card for the longest time.
Richard's defense of Skullwinder is weird. He talks about never playing basic lands, yet assumes everyone will just have a basic in their yard. Generally the worst card in a yard is a cheap creature or spot removal (something he tells you not to play). Crim can not judge salt level since he is a pillar of sodium. Hehehe.
I will never stop shilling for Crop Rotation. Everyone's been talking about how good Mana bases are these days, all the crazy effects you can get. What if you could get one of those effects, at will, instant speed, for a single Green mana? Instant speed Bojuka bog, Buried Ruin, Plaza of Heroes, Glacial Chasm, Thespian Stage, Mycosynth Gardens, Lotus Field (to sac a land being exiled), a bounceland to recur played MDFCs, Khalni Garden chump duty, Kessig Wolf Run, Field of the Dead, Sunscorched Desert for that person who is alive at 1, a Mayhem Devil trigger, put that Dakmor Salvage into the graveyard, Mystic Sanctuary, Witch's Cottage... You can do it all. Crop Rotation is cracked and stacked. Yeah, you do need to sac a land. Who's gonna counter a Crop Rotation, unless you're very explicitly playing a Dark Depths deck? People who have played Crop Rotation in their own Dark Depths decks, that's who will counter your ass because they know how stupid Crop Rotation is - and not enough people run it in generic decks.
Skullwinder is such a great card, I've been running in over EWit nowadays, it's pretty much only bad if you're on 1v1 or if you are the guy who is way ahead.
I fell in love with skullwinder when I played him in my fight deck, but now I play him everywhere. i don't remember the last time there was ever a downside to it. You winder the empty graveyard, he costs a green less for your three color decks, and that deathtouch very relevant.
Another thing that makes Spirited Companion so underrated, especially for White, is its potential to move early game actions up one turn. Being able to take advantage of combat triggers like Mask of Memory as early as turn 3 can be significant in defining the quality of your turns in the mid to late game. Compare this to its other analogs, like Wall of Omens, where you aren't going to swing until turn 4 at the earliest (unless you have a 1-drop creature). Add to it the fact that it can be recycled and synergizes with all weenie effects, and Spirited Companion as a LOT more value to offer than many realize over the course of a game.
Ok here's my pitch: Narset's reversal. First of all it's 2 mana ramp in blue if any of your opponents are in green. The floor is also quite reasonable with forking your own spell but it also interacts favorably with basically any stack deeper than 2 spells. Redirect a Counterspell up the stack, save your own countered spell for later and un-counter it at the same time. Reuse a flashed back or self exile card like teferi's protection and oooohhhh so much more. My favorite interaction is with Jin-gitaxias progress tyrant: opponent casts a spell I want to reversal. Cast reversal targeting it. Jin copy trigger, copy reversal targeting my original reversal. Copy resolves, returning the card to my hand and creating another copy which can target the original spell my opponent cast. Absolutely brutal, especially when it's a removal spell targeting Jin.
Spreading plague is a no go. It makes you arch enemy without much upside. It is obvious to work around and usually it is easy to do so as well. If it isn't, it isn't fun. No one wins here. I love playing control and even light stax, but make sure you don't become the villain and spoil everyone's fun.
Spirited Companion's argument is really for like a 10 card strategy for the early game. It's a good strategy, but I think it requires you to decide that it is your early game plan to congest the board and prepare for the first board wipe. I think playing Spirited companion as the only card with this effect in a deck that's wrath light, or in a deck that has a competing game plan for the early turns, doesn't make sense.
My secret tech is the aura unquenchable fury. it goes insane in my Isshin two heavens as one deck, but I’ve tried it elsewhere and genuinely think it can be slotted in to almost every aggressive deck. There are times where it’s not a blowout, but the chances of it being one are relatively high in my experience. A) If there is anything that commander players love to do it is draw cards, and I like to remind them that they are still mortal :) B) it has a degree of self-preservation since when it hits the graveyard from the battlefield it goes back to the hand like rancor (also underplayed). C) it slows other players down as a deterrent too since my opponents drawing cards is actively advancing my way of killing them. D) dude’s holding a flaming katana
Spreading Plague is a sweet card - I had it built out in my UB artifact deck way back in the day. All my Wurmcoils and Battlespheres were unaffected, but I could also drop Baleful Strix or my commander to wipe any other UB creatures if needed. I also ran with The Abyss for a similar effect, as that also doesn't kill off artifacts. I can see it being annoying, as it's a weird version of stax combined with game theory - the table has to work together if they want to not waste a ton of resources. I'd liken it closely to Void Winnower, where it arbitrarily makes a ton of your opponents hands unplayable until its removed.
What I think Richard should have mentioned here when trying to sell skullwinder is the idea of *optionality*; Skullwinder isn't *automatically* better than eternal witness... but it has so many possibilities. It directly allows you to make plays premised on you understanding the game/players better than other people at the table, and that's the definition of a card that gives a player leverage. A lot of the objections to it amount to "What if the people you're playing with aren't subject to normal human failings?" But luckily most people are playing commanders with real people. And real people give you opportunities... always. And, importantly, are consistently more concerned with their advantage than yours. And this makes a card like skullwinder inherently good; they undervalue what you get from it
As a person who is fully on the support of the Spirited Companion crew, the main turn off is simple: The card is boring. This isn’t a flashy draw 10, or a big massive threat. This isn’t your game ending card. I think the main issue is that the card doesn’t do ENOUGH to further the game plan, to most people. I personally am a huge fan to subtle benefits that slip under the radar like this, provided I don’t have a greater game plan going on or a way to make it better than a cycling 1/1. Sun Titan synergies in Ao Reanimator? Heck yeah. Brago blink? Yeah. Lurrus? In. All of these decks support subtle effects that can slowly be reused for value, or provide just enough push before a board wipe. It’s the fact that it’s JUST enough, that pushes some people away.
I was playing a slicer deck the other day. Killed 2 players by turn 5. Tried to chaos warp brash taunter and the opponent had protection. This card wrecked me hahaha.
With Sliver Hivelord as your commander you should absolutely play Spreading Plague. Your slivers survive every trigger of Spreading Plague being indestructible and thematically it's perfect with slivers.
I like Skullwinder, but Richard's pitch consolidated my views on Ondu Inversion: this card is overrated, spending your entire turn to reset the game and be the last to rebuild is not a good strategy (outside of decks that exclusively ramp with lands).
Machine God's Effigy works awesomely with Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm or Urza, Chief Artificer if you have Mirror Box. I thought you didn't need it, but it'll have the same name of the commander and, thus, be a legendary copy of the copied legendary model without Mirror Box.
I would imagine that one of the reasons Hunted Horror isn't played more is because it WAS more expensive. It got a reprint in the Baldur's Gate precons, but had never had a reprint since it released in original Ravnica. A year ago market price was about $18, according to tcgplayer It's good. I don't know about $18 good. But it's about 30 cents now, so I say go for it haha
Yeah man Machine God's Effigy has really impressed me as well. The first time that I played it I copied my brother's Urza and created a construct every endstep :p
I agree with Richard's point on cantrip creatures. I always want to put in cards like that to smooth out draws and have a board but see they aren't played much and end up cutting them. Not anymore!
In any deck where you have combos to flicker your Ewit, Skullwinder may end up eventually having to put that force of will or fierce guardianship back in their hand. I agree that Skullwinder can potentially be better in some decks, but it would never replace Ewit in my Selvala deck.
I love cards like Skullwinder and the Hunted cycle. The problem for me is my playgroup refuse to listen to me now and will immediately turn on me if I try to politic, even if it isn’t the technical best thing to do.
59:51 not many creatures sac to bargain but this guy does. I know this is post episode but man sac’ing this dude to beseech the mirrror is a win. Koch knights conquest turns this doggo into a threat real quick lol.
There is a blue uncommon from New Capenna that i would love to see more people use. The aura named Public Enemy. This beast is a blue card that replaces itself, can cause huge amounts of damage to the opponent who's creature it has enchanted AND often leads to the creature that is enchanted dying. For 3 mana. It essentially goads everyone's creatures to the player with the aura. In blue. And it replaces itself. For 3 mana. Slap it on an indestructible creature after turn 5 and that player will probably die before your next turn. It won't replace itself in that instance, but 3 mana to remove a player is a pretty good rate. Any takers?
the Spirited companion discussion totally resonate with me, having random bloquers is the reason I prefer to ramp with creatures, like wood elves, they chumpblock
Phil kind of mention it but Imposter Mech has been my pet card in some of my most competitive decks, when on a polymorph plan it can't get hit and is much more cost effective then any other 'clone' effect and as mention the non creature clause is very useful. I don't know if I'm convinced about MGE but will try and find a home for it in something.
My friend built an etali deck, absolutely hilarious and super splashy. He but brash taunter in it, and it was an absolute house. I've died to it more times than I care to admit
I feel like the fail cases for skullwinder are a lot more frequent than Richard makes it look or the group points out. It's not only horrible in 1v1 scenarios, it's also bad if you are the arch enemy or even in contention of being the most threatening player. What's worse; you just played an e-qit effect and supposedly got something great, which makes it even more likely for you to look threatening. Basically, skullwinder is great if you're not the most threatening player at the table AND there are a sufficient number of opponents left - which is something that will most likely occur towards the end of the game. This stands in contrast to e-wit, which only continues to get better as the game goes on (GY hate not withstanding ofc).
* E wit is a human shaman, not an elf. 8:50 *imposter mech can only copy an opponents creature for 2 mana so not really comparable with machine god effigy since your creatures will have way more synergy with your deck than your opponent’s.
I think Richard is just right about Skullwinder. Maybe in theoretical optimal play but against human beings not playing optimally, it'll definitely work more often than not.
Niche situation, but I once copied my opponents "Vengeful Dead" with Machine God's Effigy (which triggers when *any* zombie dies) and that plus some other copy effects (clone theme deck) won me the game through killing my opponent's creatures. It was a beautiful and incredibly satisfying reverso card win. In my experience, Machine God's Effigy just has all sorts of weird use cases if you're willing to be creative with it.
I mean, the thing about Skullwinder is that if your opponent is doing reanimater shenanigans, then you can mess up their strategy. Also, you can choose the opponent, so search their graveyards. And the mana cost is better, too.
My pitch. Retraced Image in mono blue decks. It is mono blue ramp. 1 blue mana, reveal a card in your hand, if it has the same name as a permanent on the battlefield, put it into play. So you just reveal an island and make another land drop. You really do need it in a deck that has a fair amount of card draw (it is card disadvantage and you really do need to have enough card draw to have spare lands floating around in your hand, but there are homes for it, and I quite like it in mono blue spellslinger decks).
Richard, For Machine gods effigy, you can copy an archeomancer in orvar and repeatedly target it with a permanent targetting spell for one. On untap, you'll have infinite mana. It's interesting in a lot of decks and can combo in different ways than regular clones. It's not some game breaking thing... yet..? But it's not quite like a regular clone either.
Richard likes Kithkin - Machine gond's effigy goes infinite with Barrenton Medic. There are also green and black color pairings that do the same thing. The craziest combo with Effigy is Astral Dragon. Infinite blue mana, infinte ETBs, infinite dragon token copies of noncreature permanents. INSANITY. 2 card win the game combo. Also, its a side case for sure, but -I think a couple of you guys like to play Planeswalkers... If you are turning them into creatures (for various reasons) then effigy can enter as a copy of a planeswalker creature (only useful if the planeswalker has a + ability because it enters with no loyalty) that cannot be attacked.
My thoughts on these cards: 1. Skullwinder: 100% agree this should be played more, but it’s not better than eternal witness. I do want to add though that because I politic and make deals in my group often, I’ve found more and more that my group won’t tell me what their plan/target are. So skullwinder has become more and more of a liability. That being said card is gas. 8/10 2. Machine God’s Effigy: first off, I didn’t even know this card existed (and I would call myself an enfranchised player), so this is definitely my winner for round 1. The possibility of this card is endless, and being an artifact is an upside due to making it harder to remove than a clone. I am going to play this card more. 10/10 3. Mycosynth Gardens: I would play this in an artifact deck or a deck that has powerful artifacts, but the premise of just making a copy of a mana rock is super weak. That being said I will start paying attention to my decks and see if it’s worth it, for example I would probably play this now in tribal decks with powerful artifacts like banner or coat of arms. 5/10 4. Clones are powerful. I already play this in a generic mono-U. But outside of that or clone decks, I’m just not sold. 3/10 5. Wait… you aren’t playing spirited companion already anyway? If I want the etb or enchantment, it’s an auto include. Even when I’m looking for generic creatures this is always on my list of cards. It normally loses out to synergy cards, but it’s definitely on my radar. 9/10 6. This card is powerful, but a 5 mana 1/1 is always kept me away. I might try it more. 4/10. 7. I’ve been high on this card for years. It’s easily my sleeper hit and does heavy work whenever I play it. I can’t sing higher praises for a card. 10/10 8. Haunted Horror: a very good card and I play it in generic mono-B. I also play the green, red, and blue in generic mono color decks. In dual color and more decks though there are so many better cards unless the devotion is what you need. It’s just out classes with theme or synergy cards. 6/10
Instead of Clever Impersonator, consider this: Replication Technique. 5 mana, 4 and a blue, can copy ANY permanent YOU control. Much better in decks where you know you are playing strong stuff, can copy your flipped Dousing Dagger, AND it has Demonstrate, so if you think someone else has something unthreatening you can afford to let them copy, you can get yourself TWO copies of your thing. If you're in Temur colors, also consider Mythos of Illuna! Same cost as Clever Impersonator, can target lands, AND if you spend Gruul on the 2 colorless cost and copy a creature, you can have it fight something! Very handy since you can either copy something big and use it as removal against something smaller, or can use it to trade, making it a janky 4 mana Sorcery speed removal spell if you're in a pinch.
I play clever impersonator in my maelstrom wanderer deck, which tries to ramp out he wanderer asap. I’m never sad to copy a mana rock with it, especially if I can hit something like sol ring or gilded lotus, and late game it can be another zendikar resurgent
One of the many problems with Skullwinder is that your opponent can just lie and say they'll grab a land and then get something better. Similarly, your opponent can just grab something to deal with one of your cards on the battlefield.
One downside to Skullwinder is you can't loop it as safely as Witness. Like, if you're flickering and going off they're going to be able to get something to stop you. But if your deck doesn't do things like that... I'm pretty sold.
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Which card and presenter would you invest your Fishcoin with? Vote here!
Round 1: ruclips.net/user/postUgkxljSFRS2enIKqCHWNCI8Q5sVKZGcxXbRg
Round 2: ruclips.net/user/postUgkxfHLeXJQHBlQ4YTK8OltAkQdlaBKmC3U_
I really love these shark tank podcast, and it's way funnier when you end up voting :p
I do love this format- maybe you could call it 'Fish Tank' lol
That's a great idea
Fish Tank brought to you by The CodFather.
The fish bowl is even better
@@Ekair42 ah yeah but that name is better saved for an in-house tournament they'll do eventually 😉
This is a great idea
Skullwinder demonstrates that commander players play commander but Richard plays commander players
Playing players is arguably the strongest thing u can do in commander
Legend
Seth not reading “nonland” on Clever Impersonator was amazing 😂
I always enjoy listening to Phil in these “card recommendation” type episodes. He’s very aware of the shortcomings of his recommendations and doesn’t try to hide them through excessive hyperbole. Also huge props to Seth for always putting in tons of effort into his speeches!
episodes without tomer to ground them always ends up unhinged. i love it
Classic Richard: I don't play targeted removal but I'll play a card to give my opponents their targeted removal back and ask them to use against someone else.
He is a genius
If only Tomer was here to try and to convince everyone to play Fade Away again.
Tomer and Fade Away, the greatest love story of our time
The chance to hear another 30 minute rant about the best blue board wipes has faded away.
no Flood Gate!!! Looool
Richard: skullwinder in fringe cases may lose you the game
Also Richard: skullwinder has zero downside
@@delathenleso5793 you sound like a scumbag. He’s a guy making a video with his friends for people to enjoy free and is using hyperbole for entertainment’s sake.
Your comment is implying that sometimes losing the game is a downside. If you’re playing a casual game with your pals, aren’t cards that allow two people to do something cool superior to cards that only allow one person to do the same thing?
@@Muongoing.97c That all depends on the person. Sometimes I like cool stuff, sometimes I want to win.
@@delathenleso5793 my guy it's an mtg podcast, chill
@@delathenleso5793 calm down, man. It's just his takes, it's just a game, wtf
The chance to hear Tomer rant for half an hour about the best blue board wipe, has faded away.
I love the personalized appeals. "Richard, this could copy a flipped *dowsing dagger*!!"
Fun fact: it becomes a land
richard potentially wising the rest of the guys up to his schemes to give a psa about how good skullwinder is was a noble sacrifice on par w/ gideon saving liliana
that card sucks. it only works if you're playing with absolute idiots
40:14 Seth found a way to punt without playing a game of MTG
came here to say this
"Wow. Rough." HAHAHAHAHAHA what an interaction, I can't believe it I laughed so hard!
Shortly later he tried to sell Richard on impersonator: “It can copy your flipped dowsing dagger!” Man, that’s a land 😂
The best part about Richard's card choices is he keeps the multi-player aspect of EDH in mind, front and center. It's great.
Hell right brotha
I appreciate editor tomer sneaking in his opinion even when not on the podcast.
Loved Richard just admitting everything, even that being the boss means he doesn’t get attacked-then saying he still wins more outside the pod
I love how Richard's game plans only work if no one takes his advice
"I can just not cast it"
Richard sold me on every card they talked about
I absolutely love Skullwinder. Haven't run Eternal Witness nearly as much as I used to unless I had synergy with E-Wit.
God these episodes are awesome. The discussions are so fun. One of the biggest strengths of this show is that each host has a different style and perspective and this format of video highlights that wonderfully.
the best part about skullwinder is you can choose someone who doesn't have a graveyard, making it a better e-wit
I have been watching MTGGoldfish for about 6 months now
I feel like everyday I'm turning into Richard more and more
The things Richard and Tomer said that I thought were insane a year ago are more than sensible now. I suspect the things they say now that I think are insane will be proven truth in a year.
And Skullwinder really *is* a better EWit in most games below fast combo meta.
Definitely worth mentioning how well Brash Taunter synergizes with Star of Extinction, Blasphemous Act, etc
I just started pulling up random commanders on edhrec and looking at their top utility artifacts. Crim is right about mycosynth gardens, it belongs in a lot of non artifact centric decks
An entire episode needs to be devoted to utility lands. As Phil mentioned, it's important to be cautious with them even though they're so tempting. But Crim isn't wrong in the sense of how many decks have a fairly high density of random good artifacts lying around worth cloning.
@@MaxMckayful I’ve steadily found myself becoming a primarily mono colour player and 90% of it is because I want to take advantage of all the great utility lands in the format without becoming colour screwed or whatever. I keep track of my win rates and they’ve definitely gone up in part because I have options now even when I’m down to like basically no hand, be it pumping my mana into Lair of the Hydra or straight up drawing 2 off sacrificing Roadside Reliquary. It’s great.
Eternal Witness can be bounced by Kogla, making it indestructible when it attacks into Skullwinder
Definitely not useful in Elfball!
However, Skullwinder sacs to Snake Offering and can be Mutated....so there's that
A bit late to this but really it's "Eternal Witness can by bounced by Kogla, often winning you the game on the spot"
I've gone Kogla + E-Wit + Time Warp more than a few times.
machine god's effigy gets my vote. want to try this in a couple of decks.
Skullwinder is an honestly incredible card, and it is SO underutilised. It has the whole E-Wit effect, except it's easier to cast, effectively regrows 2 cards (like Richard points out), and has one extremely impactful part that I've seen so many people overlook: The Solemn Simulacrum Effect (SSE). What is the SSE? Why, it's how everyone goes "oh I don't want to attack into that person, they have a solemn! They'll just draw!" It's like that, except even better, because now the trade is a regrowth for any attacking creature. You really want to swing your commander into a deathtoucher? It is an on board fog that lasts for SUCH a long time, it's incredible. Genuinely an incredible card.
(The Advocate Cycle is also really strong for similar reasons!!)
Giving your opponents a free card of their choice only works if you play with the kind of idiots who would take a deal like that. If your opponents are just smart and all agree to not take a deal with you, then you'll have to pick one of them to get back the best card in their graveyard.
can't do kogla loops with skullwinder. looping skullwinder really becomes risky.
@@jadegrace1312 Or you pick the player with the least threatful thing.
@@fenixiliusstrife1253 In which case you could've just played e-wit and not given an opponent a free card.
With Skullwinder you can always choose the player without a graveyard.
Always is a strong word.
Imagine if a card wouldn't not force you to choose any gy
It's surprising how many people still don't realize Skullwinder is better than Eternal Witness.
@@Steven-rb7phPeople are just really bad. Maybe they didn’t play enough political board games growing up.
What player without a graveyard?
The problem with cards like Spirited Companion is that a lot of decks need critical mass of certain effects. Most decks need enough card advantage, ramp, removal, and lands. Also, the cantrip and durdle till boardwipe strategy that goes with it assumes (usually correctly) that players will develop on board without furthering some combination of their hand, land count and ways to protect/recur/redeploy their board that is more meaningfull than cantrips without card selection. That being said, some amount of early board presence is essential and if your main theme/plan doesn't involve low cmc creatures that you're willing to block with then Spirited Companion and Wall of Omens are great.
Machine gods effigy seems like the best of the bunch, i'd play it more at the 3 drop slot though like cursed mirror.
You asked for it, you get it. My pitch for the shark tank is
Standstill
Standstill is a really fun and strong card. Imagine a secret rendevouz, but with value. Some people may say it is some type of stax, but no. It doesn't cause the game to stop. Players still get to draw their first card and they can play a land. So everything is fine, especially if the Standstill player is a slower player, just like Phil.
Each player has one decision to make for each turn. Is my turn/are my spells good enough, to give my opponents 9 cards in total. If not, fine. Just pass your turn. No time consuming actions.
If the player does decide to "not care anymore", all the other players draw 3 cards. It's like a minigame, and it is soooooo fun, and worth it.
Everytime, when someone cast a spell and triggered Standstill, regretted it afterwards. It's just so good.
Standstill is a house in wheel decks imo. I’m also a supporter of Struggle for Project Purity myself, love consistent card draw.
The problem with the Spirited Companion argument is it’s cannabalistic as a strategy. If everyone at the table is doing it then it ceased to work. Even more so, it also only works if the bulk of your opponents decks are gumming up the board. Voltron, spellslinger, big mana, and more would love you to spend your early turns on cantrip weenies as they win the arms race through ramp. I think Richards play style is most effective on battlecruiser style formats. Which fair play, I guess if that’s your jam.
Richard 100% sold me on skullwinder, adding it to every green deck I have
49:00 Spirited Companion & Wall of Omens and their green versions of Elvish Visionary & Wall of Blossoms (there are also multicolred ones) are really good in decks that care about bodies, etbs or need sac food. Especially in budget decks you almost never feel bad to play them, they offer some early game play or a set-up and make the deck a bit more consistent. They are the spellslingers cantrip versions.
I'm not sure what Richard smokes, but I want it too.
“The most powerful thing you can do in magic is give other people cards”
Crim: “you’ve insulted my entire existence”
Obligatory despite everyone at first glance thinking otherwise, Eternal Witness is a Human, not an Elf. Sadly I’ve wanted a non-Human version forever, and forgot Skullwinder existed so that’s a plus.
Eternal Witness has significantly lesser risk if you blink/reanimate it multiple times compared to Skullwinder. If you're looking for a creature regrowth that you don't plan on looping then, outside tribal synergies, Skullwinder will usually be better. But let's not forget Regrowth. Without creature tutors, loops or creature synergies Regrowth is a strong contender. That being said, for most decks I can recall, Skullwinder is a easy upgrade to Eternal Witness.
Hunted Horror was popular in standard at the time. It only ever had 1 printing until the Horror tribal Baldur's Gate precon. It was a $30-plus card for the longest time.
Richard's defense of Skullwinder is weird. He talks about never playing basic lands, yet assumes everyone will just have a basic in their yard. Generally the worst card in a yard is a cheap creature or spot removal (something he tells you not to play).
Crim can not judge salt level since he is a pillar of sodium. Hehehe.
38:37 I like gardens. I’ve really enjoyed it with cards like phyrexian metamorph. Turning your land into a creature(roaming throne, miirym, etc.
I will never stop shilling for Crop Rotation. Everyone's been talking about how good Mana bases are these days, all the crazy effects you can get. What if you could get one of those effects, at will, instant speed, for a single Green mana? Instant speed Bojuka bog, Buried Ruin, Plaza of Heroes, Glacial Chasm, Thespian Stage, Mycosynth Gardens, Lotus Field (to sac a land being exiled), a bounceland to recur played MDFCs, Khalni Garden chump duty, Kessig Wolf Run, Field of the Dead, Sunscorched Desert for that person who is alive at 1, a Mayhem Devil trigger, put that Dakmor Salvage into the graveyard, Mystic Sanctuary, Witch's Cottage... You can do it all. Crop Rotation is cracked and stacked. Yeah, you do need to sac a land. Who's gonna counter a Crop Rotation, unless you're very explicitly playing a Dark Depths deck? People who have played Crop Rotation in their own Dark Depths decks, that's who will counter your ass because they know how stupid Crop Rotation is - and not enough people run it in generic decks.
Skullwinder is such a great card, I've been running in over EWit nowadays, it's pretty much only bad if you're on 1v1 or if you are the guy who is way ahead.
I fell in love with skullwinder when I played him in my fight deck, but now I play him everywhere. i don't remember the last time there was ever a downside to it. You winder the empty graveyard, he costs a green less for your three color decks, and that deathtouch very relevant.
I'm only 2:29 into the video and Phil's expression made me spit out my coffee 😂
Another thing that makes Spirited Companion so underrated, especially for White, is its potential to move early game actions up one turn. Being able to take advantage of combat triggers like Mask of Memory as early as turn 3 can be significant in defining the quality of your turns in the mid to late game. Compare this to its other analogs, like Wall of Omens, where you aren't going to swing until turn 4 at the earliest (unless you have a 1-drop creature). Add to it the fact that it can be recycled and synergizes with all weenie effects, and Spirited Companion as a LOT more value to offer than many realize over the course of a game.
Ok here's my pitch:
Narset's reversal. First of all it's 2 mana ramp in blue if any of your opponents are in green. The floor is also quite reasonable with forking your own spell but it also interacts favorably with basically any stack deeper than 2 spells. Redirect a Counterspell up the stack, save your own countered spell for later and un-counter it at the same time. Reuse a flashed back or self exile card like teferi's protection and oooohhhh so much more.
My favorite interaction is with Jin-gitaxias progress tyrant: opponent casts a spell I want to reversal. Cast reversal targeting it. Jin copy trigger, copy reversal targeting my original reversal. Copy resolves, returning the card to my hand and creating another copy which can target the original spell my opponent cast. Absolutely brutal, especially when it's a removal spell targeting Jin.
Spreading plague is a no go.
It makes you arch enemy without much upside. It is obvious to work around and usually it is easy to do so as well. If it isn't, it isn't fun.
No one wins here.
I love playing control and even light stax, but make sure you don't become the villain and spoil everyone's fun.
Machine God’s Effigy also can be reduced to free with enough artifact reduction
Spirited Companion's argument is really for like a 10 card strategy for the early game. It's a good strategy, but I think it requires you to decide that it is your early game plan to congest the board and prepare for the first board wipe.
I think playing Spirited companion as the only card with this effect in a deck that's wrath light, or in a deck that has a competing game plan for the early turns, doesn't make sense.
My secret tech is the aura unquenchable fury. it goes insane in my Isshin two heavens as one deck, but I’ve tried it elsewhere and genuinely think it can be slotted in to almost every aggressive deck. There are times where it’s not a blowout, but the chances of it being one are relatively high in my experience.
A) If there is anything that commander players love to do it is draw cards, and I like to remind them that they are still mortal :)
B) it has a degree of self-preservation since when it hits the graveyard from the battlefield it goes back to the hand like rancor (also underplayed).
C) it slows other players down as a deterrent too since my opponents drawing cards is actively advancing my way of killing them.
D) dude’s holding a flaming katana
Spreading Plague is a sweet card - I had it built out in my UB artifact deck way back in the day. All my Wurmcoils and Battlespheres were unaffected, but I could also drop Baleful Strix or my commander to wipe any other UB creatures if needed. I also ran with The Abyss for a similar effect, as that also doesn't kill off artifacts.
I can see it being annoying, as it's a weird version of stax combined with game theory - the table has to work together if they want to not waste a ton of resources. I'd liken it closely to Void Winnower, where it arbitrarily makes a ton of your opponents hands unplayable until its removed.
I don't know how I missed Machine God's Effigy (well, aside from there being too many products) but that card is great!
What I think Richard should have mentioned here when trying to sell skullwinder is the idea of *optionality*; Skullwinder isn't *automatically* better than eternal witness... but it has so many possibilities. It directly allows you to make plays premised on you understanding the game/players better than other people at the table, and that's the definition of a card that gives a player leverage. A lot of the objections to it amount to "What if the people you're playing with aren't subject to normal human failings?"
But luckily most people are playing commanders with real people. And real people give you opportunities... always. And, importantly, are consistently more concerned with their advantage than yours. And this makes a card like skullwinder inherently good; they undervalue what you get from it
As a person who is fully on the support of the Spirited Companion crew, the main turn off is simple: The card is boring. This isn’t a flashy draw 10, or a big massive threat. This isn’t your game ending card. I think the main issue is that the card doesn’t do ENOUGH to further the game plan, to most people. I personally am a huge fan to subtle benefits that slip under the radar like this, provided I don’t have a greater game plan going on or a way to make it better than a cycling 1/1. Sun Titan synergies in Ao Reanimator? Heck yeah. Brago blink? Yeah. Lurrus? In. All of these decks support subtle effects that can slowly be reused for value, or provide just enough push before a board wipe. It’s the fact that it’s JUST enough, that pushes some people away.
I was playing a slicer deck the other day. Killed 2 players by turn 5. Tried to chaos warp brash taunter and the opponent had protection. This card wrecked me hahaha.
With Sliver Hivelord as your commander you should absolutely play Spreading Plague. Your slivers survive every trigger of Spreading Plague being indestructible and thematically it's perfect with slivers.
45:34 funny German slip there from Phil. "is weg" (=it's gone) xD
I like Skullwinder, but Richard's pitch consolidated my views on Ondu Inversion: this card is overrated, spending your entire turn to reset the game and be the last to rebuild is not a good strategy (outside of decks that exclusively ramp with lands).
Machine God's Effigy works awesomely with Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm or Urza, Chief Artificer if you have Mirror Box. I thought you didn't need it, but it'll have the same name of the commander and, thus, be a legendary copy of the copied legendary model without Mirror Box.
I would imagine that one of the reasons Hunted Horror isn't played more is because it WAS more expensive.
It got a reprint in the Baldur's Gate precons, but had never had a reprint since it released in original Ravnica. A year ago market price was about $18, according to tcgplayer
It's good. I don't know about $18 good. But it's about 30 cents now, so I say go for it haha
Yeah man Machine God's Effigy has really impressed me as well. The first time that I played it I copied my brother's Urza and created a construct every endstep :p
I agree with Richard's point on cantrip creatures. I always want to put in cards like that to smooth out draws and have a board but see they aren't played much and end up cutting them. Not anymore!
Skullwinder is great with mutate commanders since all the green ones have trample, so that combo is sweet. Also you can't mutate witness (icky human).
Great segment. Thank you all for the creative content
In any deck where you have combos to flicker your Ewit, Skullwinder may end up eventually having to put that force of will or fierce guardianship back in their hand. I agree that Skullwinder can potentially be better in some decks, but it would never replace Ewit in my Selvala deck.
On Mycosynth Gardens Crim just had to say Seth could copy Panharmonicon and Academy Manufactor for Phil.
Richard plays a bad card because his threat would propably get removed. Everyone else just plays more threats.
I had a non the pain artist deck back in the day with stuffy doll in it. Sadly brash taunter wasn't printed back in the day.
I love cards like Skullwinder and the Hunted cycle. The problem for me is my playgroup refuse to listen to me now and will immediately turn on me if I try to politic, even if it isn’t the technical best thing to do.
Crim not seeing the value in Skullwinder baffles me. Like 99% of his wins are by tricking other people into doing the work for him?
59:51 not many creatures sac to bargain but this guy does. I know this is post episode but man sac’ing this dude to beseech the mirrror is a win. Koch knights conquest turns this doggo into a threat real quick lol.
Sold on skull winder,machine gods effigy and thieving skydiver XD spirited companion to some extent.
There is a blue uncommon from New Capenna that i would love to see more people use. The aura named Public Enemy.
This beast is a blue card that replaces itself, can cause huge amounts of damage to the opponent who's creature it has enchanted AND often leads to the creature that is enchanted dying. For 3 mana.
It essentially goads everyone's creatures to the player with the aura. In blue. And it replaces itself. For 3 mana.
Slap it on an indestructible creature after turn 5 and that player will probably die before your next turn. It won't replace itself in that instance, but 3 mana to remove a player is a pretty good rate.
Any takers?
the Spirited companion discussion totally resonate with me, having random bloquers is the reason I prefer to ramp with creatures, like wood elves, they chumpblock
I feel like they're seriously underestimating Clever Impersonator. ANY nonland permanent? That's pretty damn good.
Phil kind of mention it but Imposter Mech has been my pet card in some of my most competitive decks, when on a polymorph plan it can't get hit and is much more cost effective then any other 'clone' effect and as mention the non creature clause is very useful. I don't know if I'm convinced about MGE but will try and find a home for it in something.
My friend built an etali deck, absolutely hilarious and super splashy. He but brash taunter in it, and it was an absolute house. I've died to it more times than I care to admit
I feel like the fail cases for skullwinder are a lot more frequent than Richard makes it look or the group points out. It's not only horrible in 1v1 scenarios, it's also bad if you are the arch enemy or even in contention of being the most threatening player. What's worse; you just played an e-qit effect and supposedly got something great, which makes it even more likely for you to look threatening.
Basically, skullwinder is great if you're not the most threatening player at the table AND there are a sufficient number of opponents left - which is something that will most likely occur towards the end of the game. This stands in contrast to e-wit, which only continues to get better as the game goes on (GY hate not withstanding ofc).
* E wit is a human shaman, not an elf. 8:50 *imposter mech can only copy an opponents creature for 2 mana so not really comparable with machine god effigy since your creatures will have way more synergy with your deck than your opponent’s.
I'm going to try mycosynth garden with a liquid metal coating dark depth for pure jank
I think Richard is just right about Skullwinder. Maybe in theoretical optimal play but against human beings not playing optimally, it'll definitely work more often than not.
Love the shark tank episodes. More please!!!
Niche situation, but I once copied my opponents "Vengeful Dead" with Machine God's Effigy (which triggers when *any* zombie dies) and that plus some other copy effects (clone theme deck) won me the game through killing my opponent's creatures. It was a beautiful and incredibly satisfying reverso card win. In my experience, Machine God's Effigy just has all sorts of weird use cases if you're willing to be creative with it.
I mean, the thing about Skullwinder is that if your opponent is doing reanimater shenanigans, then you can mess up their strategy. Also, you can choose the opponent, so search their graveyards. And the mana cost is better, too.
Crim: Well we start recording at 2pm so if I start eating at 1:58 I should be good.
(this is a joke plz never stop crimming)
My pitch. Retraced Image in mono blue decks. It is mono blue ramp. 1 blue mana, reveal a card in your hand, if it has the same name as a permanent on the battlefield, put it into play. So you just reveal an island and make another land drop. You really do need it in a deck that has a fair amount of card draw (it is card disadvantage and you really do need to have enough card draw to have spare lands floating around in your hand, but there are homes for it, and I quite like it in mono blue spellslinger decks).
Richard,
For Machine gods effigy, you can copy an archeomancer in orvar and repeatedly target it with a permanent targetting spell for one. On untap, you'll have infinite mana.
It's interesting in a lot of decks and can combo in different ways than regular clones. It's not some game breaking thing... yet..? But it's not quite like a regular clone either.
I've been toying around with adding hunted horror to a couple of decks, but you finally sold me on it. Nice job!
Richard likes Kithkin - Machine gond's effigy goes infinite with Barrenton Medic. There are also green and black color pairings that do the same thing.
The craziest combo with Effigy is Astral Dragon. Infinite blue mana, infinte ETBs, infinite dragon token copies of noncreature permanents. INSANITY. 2 card win the game combo.
Also, its a side case for sure, but -I think a couple of you guys like to play Planeswalkers... If you are turning them into creatures (for various reasons) then effigy can enter as a copy of a planeswalker creature (only useful if the planeswalker has a + ability because it enters with no loyalty) that cannot be attacked.
I included Astral Dragon in my Mishra deck because people in the comments mentioned the combo. It's nuts 🤩
My thoughts on these cards:
1. Skullwinder: 100% agree this should be played more, but it’s not better than eternal witness. I do want to add though that because I politic and make deals in my group often, I’ve found more and more that my group won’t tell me what their plan/target are. So skullwinder has become more and more of a liability. That being said card is gas. 8/10
2. Machine God’s Effigy: first off, I didn’t even know this card existed (and I would call myself an enfranchised player), so this is definitely my winner for round 1. The possibility of this card is endless, and being an artifact is an upside due to making it harder to remove than a clone. I am going to play this card more. 10/10
3. Mycosynth Gardens: I would play this in an artifact deck or a deck that has powerful artifacts, but the premise of just making a copy of a mana rock is super weak. That being said I will start paying attention to my decks and see if it’s worth it, for example I would probably play this now in tribal decks with powerful artifacts like banner or coat of arms. 5/10
4. Clones are powerful. I already play this in a generic mono-U. But outside of that or clone decks, I’m just not sold. 3/10
5. Wait… you aren’t playing spirited companion already anyway? If I want the etb or enchantment, it’s an auto include. Even when I’m looking for generic creatures this is always on my list of cards. It normally loses out to synergy cards, but it’s definitely on my radar. 9/10
6. This card is powerful, but a 5 mana 1/1 is always kept me away. I might try it more. 4/10.
7. I’ve been high on this card for years. It’s easily my sleeper hit and does heavy work whenever I play it. I can’t sing higher praises for a card. 10/10
8. Haunted Horror: a very good card and I play it in generic mono-B. I also play the green, red, and blue in generic mono color decks. In dual color and more decks though there are so many better cards unless the devotion is what you need. It’s just out classes with theme or synergy cards. 6/10
Instead of Clever Impersonator, consider this: Replication Technique. 5 mana, 4 and a blue, can copy ANY permanent YOU control. Much better in decks where you know you are playing strong stuff, can copy your flipped Dousing Dagger, AND it has Demonstrate, so if you think someone else has something unthreatening you can afford to let them copy, you can get yourself TWO copies of your thing.
If you're in Temur colors, also consider Mythos of Illuna! Same cost as Clever Impersonator, can target lands, AND if you spend Gruul on the 2 colorless cost and copy a creature, you can have it fight something! Very handy since you can either copy something big and use it as removal against something smaller, or can use it to trade, making it a janky 4 mana Sorcery speed removal spell if you're in a pinch.
The perfect group doesn't exis..... Oh my god
I play clever impersonator in my maelstrom wanderer deck, which tries to ramp out he wanderer asap. I’m never sad to copy a mana rock with it, especially if I can hit something like sol ring or gilded lotus, and late game it can be another zendikar resurgent
Machine-God's Effigy combos with Tree of Perdition. Throw in Unwinding Clock for instant win, essentially.
Oh, now that's sweet!
One of the many problems with Skullwinder is that your opponent can just lie and say they'll grab a land and then get something better. Similarly, your opponent can just grab something to deal with one of your cards on the battlefield.
One of my best decks was a hunted deck with fogs and netherborn phalanx. So fun.
Richard says, spirited companion, and Phil literally leaves his seat 😂
One downside to Skullwinder is you can't loop it as safely as Witness. Like, if you're flickering and going off they're going to be able to get something to stop you. But if your deck doesn't do things like that... I'm pretty sold.
Ah, Seth brings that up.
Thanks Crim. I didn't know about Spending Plague. My playgroup is going to love it! 💕