Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Throne of Eldraine! Today I’m going to be talking to you about some artifacts. These aren’t your usual any mana will do artifacts though. They are coloured artifacts. More recently they have decided that a way of restricting artifacts is to have coloured mana in their casting cost. This allows it to still be in artifact but makes it so it can’t be played in every deck. With artifact Food tokens and plenty of new artifacts in the set, it'll be key to make sure you have plenty of artifact removal for Standard in the months to come.
First off, I want to talk about an Artifact bird with a hybrid mana cost. Here is Arcanist’s Owl.
I’m always a big fan of mini-tutor creature cards like Augur of Bolas, Elvish Rejuvenator and Kaalia, Zenith Seeker. They allow you squeeze a lit more value out of a card. Arcanist’s Owl is already a 3/3 Flying creature for four mana which is a solid enough creature to have in your deck. If you add the chance of getting an artifact or enchantment on top of the creature you're adding major value to the card. There appears to be enough Artifact in Throne of Eldraine that this should be good in both Limited and Standard.
Next up is an artifact that acts like a repeatable Demonic Tutor, but with a catch. Here is Wishclaw Talisman.
I absolutely love this card, despite its apparent drawback. To start off you can search for library for any card for a cost of only three mana. If you are really in a pinch for a mass removal spell or a powerful creature, this artifact can help. A couple of things to note is that your opponent will tutor as well, but not until their turn. Also, overall you will be able to use this artifact twice, while your opponent only gets to use it once. (Assuming you aren’t adding any more counters on to it) Most times you'll want to use this to grab your one Limited bomb that'll take over a game. If you don’t play the card you get the same turn you search, your opponent won’t know what to get from their library to go against what you’ve searched for. There are also a few ways in Standard to make sure you get to be the only one activating Wishclaw Talisman. Karn, the Great Creator will make sure that only 1 wish counter gets removed as it will shut down the artifact once your opponent gains control of it. If you are greedy though, and want to have all three wishes to yourself, you could always steal it back with Agent of Treachery. You could also bounce it back to your hand with Dream Eater or Callous Dismissal.
Finally, is a time-bending artifact that simply wants you to count to twelve. Here is Midnight Clock.
This is one those “Cards of Doom”. If your opponent doesn’t deal with it in six or less turns, you will be drawing seven brand new cards. That ability makes this card playable, but it added a bit more to it, so you have something to do while your waiting for the clock to strike twelve. You can tap it for a blue mana, which in a Control deck is great, as you can never have enough mana to cast your spells. It also acts as a mana sink to add counters to it if you have nothing else to do with your mana. The first counter you add costs one less. As well, it can tap itself to give you a blue mana to use towards the three you need. Now that we know the power of this card, how many do you want to be playing in your deck? You don’t want multiple to go off in consecutive turns. I see this card very similar to Search for Azcanta and I would probably play 1 to 2 of them in my deck.
Are you excited as I am about some sweet new Artifacts showing up in Standard? There appears to be more on the horizon. Do you have your artifact removal ready? Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Throne of Eldraine. Join me again tomorrow as I end the week talking about some new cards from Throne of Eldraine!
