Jank Card Discussion (MtG Edition)

[PhoenixOfCute 54]

This is the first thread I've started here and honestly I just think it might be fun to have a place to discuss more Jank cards and strategies. Obviously everyone has differing opinions on what's considered Jank, so I'll define my own opinion on what I find Jank as. Strange, niche, and cards that experiment with the mechanics of the game are what I consider Jank. I welcome any discussion of cards here as these are some of the most obscure types of cards in the game, and can always add that bit of fun spice as your opponents across the table stop, laugh, and go 'Wait, that does -what-?' It's always enjoyable to watch your opponents make a new discovery of something they might not know about.

I even personally have a Norin the Wary commander deck full of some fun strange cards, and am currently thinking of improving it to have Zedruu the Greathearted at the helm. While not necessarily Jank themselves, they have a certain creative lucrative nature when it comes to brewing more Jank-y decks. For now I'll start with 3 cards I suppose, a nice small number to start discussions for anyone who thinks they'd enjoy brewing these types of decks that tend to be around power level 2-4 out of 10. I know it's not a very common appealing thing to brew but there's just -so- many cards that are just interesting and would be such a shame to never see play. And as such, let's start this wonderful show and point out enticing interactions to wow everyone at the table!

Mages' Contest is one of my favorite red counterspells. Red's take on counterspells tends to be things like Redirect or Deflecting Swat, but the flavor of forcing your opponent to put their life on the line to get their spell through means that you can manipulate them into a more squishy health total for yourself to aggro down or even burn. It's still fairly strong even in higher-life formats such as Commander, and this is definitely the fringe of what I'd consider Jank, as this card is most definitely still powerful in its own right.

Grip of Chaos is... to put it lightly, I feel the single most infuriating card I've seen from friends across the table when I've dropped it. The best game I've had with it I warned everyone beforehand I was wanting to play my Chaos Norin deck, and another friend decided that his Kaervek the Merciless deck would synergize perfectly. Well... it definitely did, a little too well! Grip is a card that makes you have to read each cards exact wording, and of course I'm sure there were plenty of mistakes we made while this was on the board, but it also enabled incredible interactions. It's synergy with Kaervek being in a commander game was definitely something eyecatching and makes me happy I was able to play in.

I noticed this little list was getting a bit too red for my taste, even if there -does- tend to be a lot of jank in red. But have you ever wanted to build a pinger deck or find a use for those board swathes that might only do 1 or 2 damage? Well this might be the funnest way to go that's in black. And if you're in some other colors you might be able to use Prodigal Sorcerer and Coumbajj Witches to tap and untap your way into slaughtering your opponents' board states with measly pingers. It's able to be built into a kill engine for any creatures around and once you can find other pieces lets your pingers have enough functionality to become kill cards.

Those are just a few of my favorite jank cards, even if one of them is clearly on the verge of it. And of course all of these cards being jank is just my opinion, as there are even mainstream cards I could easily see arguments being made for being jank. I hope I might have introduced some cards that possibly were a bit lesser-known! And if not, well... suppose I'll have to post again soon! Can't wait to start this discussion with all of you and being introduced to cards for my own decks, makes me wish more people designed strange and wonderful cards!

[radio414 936]

I used to have a The Big Idea deck so I could jam some really off-the-wall black-bordered stuff in addition to the silver-borders, though most of it was still pretty tame. Like, if there's a tokens theme, it doesn't really matter in the end if the token-producer is Bitterblossom or Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII. Two cards stand out, though, for different reasons:

The first is Phyrexian Furnace, which, as far as I can remember, is one of two cards that cares about your opponent's graveyard order (the other is Bone Dancer, which I also played, but it's just bad). There are other, better cards that do the same effect this one does, but it can be fun to remind friends that graveyard order matters in eternal formats like commander. Just don't do it all the time, or they might not be your friends anymore.

Hecatomb is here for the "Wow that's a lot of steps to basically just get a worse Pestilence" so maybe it just satisfies my inner Johnny. Four creatures is a lot. Requiring actual swamps means you're either Mono-Black or tutoring for Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (or playing Blanket of Night I guess), which isn't trivial, but on the plus side, it has won a nonzero number of games for me. One is more than zero.

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I'll also add a few other cards that I remembered while scrolling:

You get to reorder your graveyard! No other card lets you do that! Think of all the silly old cards you can pair this with, from Bösium Strip to... okay that's probably the best one but still.

I resolved this card once. Once. It was well into a six-player game, too. Was it worth it? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Yes

Make it work, I dare you.

 

[LordCowCow 877]

I realize I'm unsure what is truly jank

Death Pits looks actually really fun to me

I remember liking this idiot

and I want to try this guy sometime

I realize that yes Red has the most jank. Makes sense it's kind of a chaotic color

[(o ×) 232]

Mage's contest is funny.

I'd like grip of chaos if it weren't a six drop.

I'd like death pits if it weren't a five drop.

Phyrexian furnace is a neat variation on a fairly common artifact. Honestly it almost seems vintage playable to me.

I'd like to make hecatomb work in kels but boy is it dead a lot of the time.

Fossil find is genuinely strong in shadowmoor limited as a fortieth card.

I don't remember if I put auction in yui's blim deck. Card is a nightmare to resolve.

Volute is a neat card but really requires a deck built around it. Big flashy instants like Sublime Epiphany and Dig Through Time, and sorcery speed cantrips.

Sparksmith is mad good.

Heartless hidetsugu kills everyone with an even life total if you have any form of damage doubler.

Edited January 6, 2021 by (‽)