MTG Salvation

There are the cards that you MUST include to have a successful build. Period.

Lord of the Unreal 4 of, auto include. It's the only reason we're trying to run illusions, actually.

Phantasmal Bear Regardless of the build, 4 of. It's above curve, and mitigates it's weakness. A fast, high priority threat, that requires them to waste resources? Yes please.

Mana Leak Might not seem important in aggro, but we need a way to protect ourselves. Be in from Doom Blade, Primeval Titan, or Day of Judgment, this thing exists to save you.

Phantasmal Image Maybe not the strongest card, but it's our best utility. For 2 mana you can copy a Titan, a dragon, or some other beefy wincon. If you don't feel like letting them cast all that beefy stuff, you can also copy your Lord of the Unreal, creating a 3/3 hexproof LotU.

Adaptive Automaton This thing provides for a very resilient illusion, a nice lord, and stylish synergy with Grand Architect.

Aether Figment Can frequently be better than Automaton. Card speaks for itself really. Carries swords in U/B, provides a wincon for Fish, recurs to sun Titan.

Grand Architect Another great lord, that shows up in many lists. It pumps most of your cards, lets you ramp a little bit, and can provide some EXCELLENT alternative win-con access. I'll list some support later in the Primer.

Ponder Generally better than Preordain. Digging deeper and lining up plays can be crucial in this list. It's a rare occasion that you would prefer Preordain.

Alright, this is an entire section dedicated to the removal discussion. Let me go over the options first:

Into the Roil The most versatile removal we have handy. Hits ANY permanent, which is nice for keeping tempo and clearing the field. The cost is kind of hungry though, all things considered.

Vapor Snag A more aggressive option. It's cheap, it removes blockers, and it pings. The main advantage is that you can usually keep making plays after casting this. (For example; counter mana).

Dismember A popular choice in a number of decks. It's cheap, it's the most permanent removal we have, it's instant, only problem is the life loss. It can be dangerous to cast this thing twice, much less 3 or 4 times.

Summary

Now that I've covered our removal options, I suppose it's time to give my 2 cents. I would say use 3 of Into the Roil or Vapor Snag, and keep 2-3 Dismembers mainboard or sideboard. At least, it's what I do.

This is all the stuff that helps your deck deal with certain problems. I don't have much to say that isn't about specific cards, so I'll get right into it.

Hex Parasite Deals with Planeswalkers, self pumps, synergizes with Grand Architect, ensures you have a 1 drop, good as a 2-of, with another in the Sideboard.

Phyrexian Metamorph So, Phantasmal Image isn't enough copy for you. You want something a bit tougher, and you enjoy consistency. Why not? It comes down pretty quickly, synergizes VERY well with Grand Architect, so on. Good as a 2-3 of, or in the Sideboard.

Fetchlands Misty Rainforest and Scalding Tarn are very nice additions. They make Ponder that much better, thin the deck, so on so forth. 4-8 Fetches are useful to have, but not mandatory if you can't spare the money.

Spreading Seas You're in blue. You have no excuse to keep this out of your sideboard. This and Tectonic Edge can really screw with some decks.

Alright, so you're running Grand Architect, probably as a 4 of. You're sitting there thinking, "Gee, I sure wish I could cast some beefy artifact with my sexy, sexy Vedalken engineering major!" Or maybe you aren't. Regardless, let me cover ways to supplement the little Blue man.

Wurmcoil Engine My favorite choice. A beefy, threatening, CA generating threat that can come down hard and fast (turn 3 on the nut-draw). Not a bad idea to toss in as a 2-of.

Batterskull Threatening, recursive, mildly beefy, so forth. I prefer Wurmcoil, but you may, for whatever reason, want your Lifelink to have Vigilance.

Mindslaver Quick! List things that help an aggro deck! What's that? Someone not sweeping? Someone tapping out at random, then not casting anything? Done. You can drop this pretty early. It's not a bad thought as a 1-2 of in a Permission heavy meta.

Molten-tail Masticore It's not a bad win condition, gives some reach (though reach is not exactly in short supply), so on so on. Overall, I don't much care for it, but it might be considered in a weenie heavy meta (nothing nicer than setting this down along with your Architect, then burning away some 2/2s).

Solemn Simulacrum Raw card advantage right there. Comes down on turn 3, alongside the Architect, it's a nice beater, ramps, draws cards when it dies, overall fantastic.

Summary There's nothing wrong with wanting to support a GREAT card with other great cards. All told, if you're running 4 Grand Architect, 2 Wurmcoil Engines go hand in hand.

This is a lot different from the other Supplements, and is very easily incorporated into other setups. The whole "Deckbuilding Mindset" of T2 Fish was suggested by Redeath, who compared Illusions to the legacy deck Merfolk. We use Ponder and Preordain to dig for threats or answers, use a rather heavy Counter package to deal with their threats, removal, threats, so on. Let me go over the details.

Preordain, Ponder Both of them dig. 3-6 of these effects total are solid, I usually suggest you use Ponder. The deeper dig is just so useful.

Counter Package There's more details later on, but your counter package is important. Start with 3 Mana Leaks, and go from there. 3 Deprive is also highly suggested, and you might as well go for a couple of Spell Pierce. 8-10 counters are not uncommon in these lists.

Bounce Effects Into The Roil/Vapor Snag are especially useful in this setup, pushing Dismember into the Sideboard, or out of the deck completely.

Summary Standard Fish is an interesting take on Illusions, and my favorite yet. Counters, heavy dig, and overall high staying power makes this a fantastic addition to the Illusions repertoire. Jace Beleren and Jace's Ingenuity are good considerations.

Mono Blue just doesn't cut it for you. You're not here to bounce stuff (though it is useful to do), you're here to blow s*** up, and swing in hard and fast! You like playing low ball, tapping out, and keeping stuff in your hand. The Black splash is VERY simple, but that's it's magic; simple, sleek, efficient.

Dark Tutelage This little gem is the highlight of a U/b list. If you keep your curve low, it's more than worth the life-cost. It's more open to a tap-out heavy list than the more Fish-styled Jace's Ingenuity, which is great for keeping the pressure on.

Doom Blade and Go for the Throat Arguably two of the best black removal spells ever printed. They hit a broad target base, and coupled with Into the Roil, you will almost always be able to answer a threat (especially with Dark Tutelage refilling your hand).

Duress Despise and Inquisition of Kozilek A simple strategy for protecting your illusions, a bit cheaper than counterspells, which works nicely for dropping more threats, and not killing yourself with Tutelage. There are so many splits you could run, but I would say keep it to 6 total MB, with more of them packed sideboard for support.

Surgical Extraction I suggest this, just because it's nice to have in some metas (you can eliminate nonbasic lands, like Valakut, or hit crucial pieces like Goblin Guide and Lightning Bolt, or Mana Leak and Go for the Throat). Definitely a Sideboard card, and I would suggest this over Memoricide purely due to the better overall synergy with the deck.

Summary: The Black splash is a uniquely Black-Aggro approach to Illusions. Fish loves counters, Big Blue loves supplementing supplements, U/w plays a big, titan/stall focused game, and Grand Architect has elements of combo. U/b doesn't dick around. It asserts itself hard and fast, sticking early threats- forcing the enemy to 1 for 1 inconsequential Bears, 1-for-1ing enemy cards, screwing with tempo, and generating mounds of CA with Dark Tutelage. Think Illusions with attitude. You will want to consider a lighter counter package, 6 is probably a good number, not counting the ever-important sideboard counters. Right now I'm lacking a sample list, I encourage one of our "veteran" Illusion deck builders to send in a list to show off.

Alright, so you feel a little constrained by Blue. You want some more diverse answers, and some tools to get reach. The clear approach, is to splash. You could go Black, but that would mean dumping a ton of slots into what? Removal? You've got a busy deck, and you only have so many slots. So you go white. It is easy after all, just keep all your white sources as duals.

Oblivion Ring If you're splashing white, this is in there. It zaps Planeswalkers, Enchants, Artifacts, Creatures, whatever you need dealt with. No brainer.

Journey To NowhereIt's playable, cheap removal that you can use in place of Blue bounce effects or Dismembers.

Venser, The Sojourner It's a threatening PW, that must be answered before it goes ultimate. Not bad. And the ability to just re-use O-Ring or Journey To Nowhere is useful; not to mention his ability to help you push through an unblockable win. A bit high on the cost though, and you might already be a bit high on the curve.

Sun Titan So, you want reach. You want blunt win-cons. You want Card Advantage. You're splashing white. Look at this thing, then look at Oblivion Ring, Journey To Nowhere, Phantasmal Bear, Phantasmal Image, Lord of the Unreal, Grand Architect, and almost any other permanent you're running. By far the best reason to splash, and its Phantasmal Image synergy is borderline auto-win.

Hero of Bladehold It's Grave Titan Lite, basically. It keeps you gassed up, and is EXTREMELY threatening. It's fast enough to give pause to RDW, dangerous enough to be priority #1 for Control, so on so on. Definitely worth running.

Blade Splicer The guys over in U/W control tipped me off to this thing. Very nice synergy with Sun Titan and Image. Maybe not a first choice for decks, considering the crowdedness of 3 cmc, but it's a noble consideration.

Summary Splashing White is a fabulous way to deal with the shortcomings of Mono-Blue. Gives you diverse removal, and excellent win-con access, noticably Sun Titan. Who doesn't like burying the opponent in CA?

Before I start talking about the strategy and cards involved, let me show you a few links. This is Sergeant Toughie's first deck (original post found here). StairC saw the list, and saw brilliance. I saw a 3-of Summoner's Bane. The idea here, is that some strategies are completely situational. For example; a typical Mono-U Illusions deck has a great MU against Control, but our Aggro matchup is abysmal. Grand Architect lists can Auto-Win off of Wurmcoil Engine against aggro. The solution? TRANSFORM AND-actually, I'm not making that joke.

Illusions->Grand Architect This strategy will improve your aggro matchup, from close to auto-loss game one, to close to auto-win games two and three. Sample lists at the bottom of the Primer, or here.

Splinter Twin-> Illusions ThisIsNotMyName, after seeing the above deck idea, suggested we go for a Deceiver Twin strategy. StairC, again, saw brilliance. In his list, you can simply sideboard out your 15 card Deceiver MB cards (which provide an auto-win against many decks), in favor of 15 Illusions. Or the other way around. Either way, StairC's lists can be found right here.

So let's say you don't run Grand Architect, or feel like it does enough on it's own, and you don't want to mess with flashy White splashes. So maybe you don't want to run Standard Fish, either. Or hell, maybe you just want some more toys for a game that drags out. Well, take a look-see.

Phantasmal Dragon 4 Mana for a 5/5 flyer. Good so far. It dies to Tumble Magnet. Okay, maybe it's not perfect- but it adds reach and aggressiveness to the Aggro-Control of Fish.

Jace's Ingenuity A good card to run in general, 2-3 is nice if you have extra room. Not mandatory by any means, but it's always great to be able to keep a full hand. (Testing says that, if you're not running Dark Tutelage, this thing is worth considering as a 2 of).

Jace Beleren Some card draw, it sits there and looks scary, so on so on. Pretty common as a 2 of. Maybe it's not gonna win games, but it can be nice to have, especially in a U/w splash list.

Summary All told, this is my least favorite supplement. It feels sub-par in a lot of cases, though some players have found room for 2-4 dragons, and (as I said), a couple Baby Jaces is not a bad thing to have.

Alright. Counterspells; this is a pretty damn important part of the deck. You ned some way to keep the enemy Titan, Planeswalker, or Sweeper from hitting the board. We are in Blue, so we get to take D.A.R.E.'s advice; just say no.

Mana Leak What can I say? A simple, cheap, versatile counter. Run in most every list.

Deprive Testing says its the best counter we have, who am I to argue? 2-3 is advised in most lists, and 3 is almost mandatory for the Standard Fish approach.

Spell Pierce Cheap, hits all those pesky Doom Blades and L-Bolts. Great way to hit a tap-out sweeper or the like. A pretty common inclusion.

Summoner's Bane A recent "Building on a Budget," article says that this is an increasingly good idea, as a 2-3 of (especially in the Fish approach). Thanks to pretty much everyone who was willing to experiment with this tempo-shifter.

Sideboard Counters Some cards should be kept SB. Mental Misstep, for example- should pretty much be an auto 4-of in the board. RDW is a brutal matchup, and nigh unwinnable without our Legacy-Staple friend. Flashfreeze is also good to pack, for obvious reasons.

Ideally, you want 22-24 lands. 22 isn't always consistent enough, though you can get awat with it, and you don't actually NEED 24. You have Preordain, Ponder, and the like, so smooth draws will rarely be hard to find.

Island Some number of these is recommended.

Tectonic Edge An important part of most lists, ESPECIALLY the Fish approach. Keeping the opponent at 3 lands is very useful, especially since you can play most of your deck starting at 3 mana. I'd keep this down to a 3 of in most lists, just for the consistency.

Fetchlands Filters your deck, makes Ponder better, so on. I recommend a playset of one in any deck. A playset of both is good with Ponder, but is dangerous to play with Dismember.

Halimar Depths A popular partner to Ponder and Deprive. It gives good dig, and lets you cut back to 21 lands if you want to do so.

After a couple months of brewing, Illusions is gaining traction! We've now had several articles written, including one in Crazy Core Combos, and another in Building on a Budget.

But what interests me? Tournament results. And by that I mean Top 16s at mid-level play (PTQs/SCGs).
Thomas Carter's List is robust, meta-fighting Fish/Architect blend that can not only power out a win, but also control a combo deck, or exploit Control's bombs.


Griffin Corrigan's Deck reminds us most of Big Blue and Fish- heavy on 4 ofs, counterspells and creatures. An interesting list with a lot of nonconventional picks; notably Neurok Commando and Renegade Doppelganger.