So I have been looking into and tuning my knowledge of Theros block in prep for the release of Theros: Beyond Death, and I came across, well... an interesting card, to say the least. Pharika, God of Affliction is a god from Born of the Gods, costing 3BG. She is a 5/5 Enchantment Creature - God, which all seems upside, coming with the standard Indestructible ability and the text stating that she is not a creature unless her owner has devotion to black and green at or above 7. This is all well and good, until I read her last ability. For BG she can exile a creature card from a graveyard, and give it's owner a 1/1 black enchantment creature - snake? What? Doesn't this seem to go against what the color combo (Golgari) tend to be all about.
Could someone help shed some light on what we have here, or is Pharika more a god of Confusion rather than of Affliction?
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Using cards in the graveyard to make creature tokens is very Golgari. The fact that the owner of the exiled card gets the token is an unusual gimmick, I grant you that, but it's really just an additional option for multiplayer. If you don't want to give your opponents creature tokens, don't exile their cards. Just limit the exiling to your own graveyard and you are the only one to get tokens.
Theros is based on Greek mythology, where snakes are very prominent, and I have no trouble seeing them as b/g flavorwise. Especially with them having deathtouch. And as the divine influence on that plane is represented by the enchantment type, these snakes being enchantments makes perfect sense when created by a God. If that is not enough for you, just picture the classic scene of the Greek hero slaying the monster only for it to turn into a bunch of snakes shortly after being killed (accompanied by some short ominous cliche speech from its master echoing all around.) That's basically what that ability is meant to represent, I think.
(Sidenote: As a rules guru, I really can't let those probably innocent mistakes go, that you made in your post. Don't take it too personally, but I just have to correct them.
1. Pharika costs 1BG not 3BG, 3 mana total not 5.
2. Devotion is calculated from the number of appropriate mana symbols in the mana costs of permanents the controller of the God controls, the owner of the card is irrelevant here. Controller =/= owner. The two are not nessessarily the same.)
Oh, Ok, Sorry about the mistakes! I hope this post did not make it look like I don't like Pharika, God of Affliction as much as the other Theros Gods, I really do want to build a deck around her, and in beginning to do so, of course I looked for good cards to synergise with her. I just found it interesting that she: 1. Specifically EXILES cards from the graveyard. 2. Only exiles CREATURE cards.
What I did find is that she synergises well with Vraska, Swarm's Eminence, who can give those cute little snakes counters! I have been working on a deathtouch/Pharika, God of Affliction devotion/golgari goodstuff deck that I found works fairly well, but as I say, just was curious about such a unique ability.
Thank you!
P.S., God of Affliction. Do I smell potential for a flavourful infect/deathtouch deck?
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Try using her with Desecrated Tomb. You'll get a 1/1 flying bat token with every snake you make for yourself.
A goofier accomplice to Pharika would be Toshiro Umezawa. You give your opponents small, easy to kill creatures, and then you get to cast instants from your graveyard when they inevitably die.
Such an engine needs fuel. Eternal Scourge can be cast from exile, so all you have to do is make it go to the graveyard regularly, like with a sac outlet, so that you can sacrifice it at a moment's notice, so that it is not exiled by its other ability. Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, and other such mana generating sac outlets would make it run even more smoothly.
Of course, you could also just run a lot of creature cards and put a large chunk of the deck into the graveyard, like with the dredge mechanic.
The Ideas You give are so good! I was doing just what you stated last: Loads of little deathtouch creatures, attack with them. Vraska, Swarm's Eminence gives them counters. If they die by blockers or by blocking attackers, exile them to make some 1/1 deathtouchers to do it all again, and even some 1/1 flyers with Desecrated Tomb, but man, a deck that revolves around more recursion could be amazing!!! I love the idea of eternal scourge! I have a question though: If I am playing the new adventure creatures, say for example, I cast Foulmire Knight's Adventure spell, and it travels to exile. I then cast Foulmire Knight as a creature. It dies and goes to the graveyard. Can I then Exile it with Pharika, God of Affliction, and play the creature from exile again? Or does it need to specifically say "You may cast Foulmire Knight from exile, although, being a card with an adventure, it does say something similar.
I was also thinking, Since Pharika s all about medicines, poisons, and of course, snakes, why not add a little jank into this as well? I think adding some Winding Constrictors and even a Hexdrinker could be real fun. Either the Winding Constrictor adds +1/+1 counters to any deathtouchers that get through, thanks in part to Vraska, Swarm's Eminence, or if both Winding Constrictor and Hexdrinker are on board, I can combo them off, getting two level counters on Hexdrinker per 1 that I pay for it's level up.
Man, to think I was feeling so off about Pharika, God of Affliction before! My opponents are definitely gonna feel Afflicted after they see all this!
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An addition this most recent post: Perhaps as a sacrifice outlet, I could run a few Plaguemaw Beasts, since I have plans to play with counters anyway. Could be quite fun. Also things like Razaketh, the Foulblooded, to tutor up the pieces for the rest of the engine, or maybe Kheru Dreadmaw to give me some lifegain. Your suggestion to go for some Sacrifice stuff seems awesome. I do have a question though. Do you suggest I go for a Sultai deck rather than straight Golgari? It would provide me with Misthollow Griffin and Torrent Elemental, for more value.
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RG Werewolves are the best tribe from Innistrad RG
Dragons are best creature type
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I got the impression, that you wanted to stay in b/g, that's why I specifically chose the Eternal Scourge as an example. If you want to expand into another color, the two blue cards you mentioned are of course options as well. Or branch out into red and Jund with Squee, the Immortal. Personally, though, I think that you should try to stay in two colors for a first draft, because the mana requirements are much easier. A 3+ colored deck usually needs good fixing, and quite a lot of it.
Unfortunately, you can only cast the creature from exile if it was exiled through resolving the adventure half first. Simply being in exile will not allow you to cast the card as a creature from there.
Ok, Yeah, I see where you are going with this. I do reckon it would be a pain to try and fix Sultai mana. For Now, I will take your advice and stick to Golgari, work with eternal scourge and see how it goes.
*edit: What If I were using Leyline Prowlers, to fix mana a little bit? I mean, they do have deathtouch and can be tapped to add blue mana if need be.
I had a short look at making a first draft of a deck with Pharika, God of Affliction, but I don't know if it is as fun in Golgari as it could be in Sultai, with more card draw options and other creatures such as Torrent Elemental and Misthollow Griffin giving me the chance to start the engine up
Leyline Prowler would certainly be a good addition in a multicolored deck around deathtouch creatures.
Also, achieving Sultai colors isn't that hard, otherwise Sultai wouldn't be a thing in the first place. But so far, I simply don't see a necessity for it. You need only one such creature card to get the engine running, multiples aren't required. And adding blue for card draw, when you have black's whole arsenal and even some green goodies for that available already makes no sense to me. And tutors are also available in both colors, if what you want to fetch is a creature card.
But of course, more colors means more options. It ultimately will be your deck, so go wild in whatever direction you want. I'll happily help you with whatever you decide on, if I've got an idea I think is worth exploring and fitting for your concoction.
Thanks! I really appreciate your acceptance of my decisions. I have trialed a list that holds blue, for card draw and the two other creatures that can be cast from exile, and it manages to draw lands fairly consistently.
If you look on my account you could find the first Sultai draft deck I made. needs a lot of refinement, but the idea is there.
I will try what you suggested and make a straight Golgari version, because I do know II am new to the world of MTG and lack the experience others may share, such as you have.
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Well, I said, I'd share ideas worth exploring, and boy do I have one. A strong and fitting mechanic that is represented on three of my favorite cards in the game, all of which would be good fits for the deck: Transmute. And the specific cards are: Dimir House Guard (a free sac outlet, a tutor for Vraska, and a creature card to exile to Pharika, plus it's a decent creature as well), Drift of Phantasms (good early defense, a tutor for Pharika, Desecrated Tomb, and lots of others, plus a creature card to exile to Pharika), Dimir Infiltrator (a tutor for ..., I think you get the idea). And best of all, all of them are commons and should be cheap and rather easy to get.
Though first, you should get your deck's size down into the 60s at least without cutting many lands. For maximum consistency you have to go down to 60 or at the very least 62 cards. But don't sweat it if you can't get it done yet. I cannot even describe how hard it was for me to get down there, and how long it took. It is still quite a feat with every new deck of mine to stay that low and I've been at it for nearly two decades now. But it is ultimately the right thing to do when you want a good deck. A crucial part of deckbuilding is to decide which ideas to abandon for that particular deck. Because there isn't room in one deck to fit everything.
Love the Idea of Transmute. It would give me so many options for finding those required pieces of the puzzle, such as Eternal Scourge using Drift of Phantasms! Great! These mechanics are amazing! I did not even know transmute was a thing! I will draft out a copy of my BUG deck, using a few of these and see if I can chop down the numbers as well! Thanks, I cant say how much I appreciate these epic suggestions!
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Usually, it's best to use as many copies of a card as is permitted by the format if it is a central piece. This is especially true for cards that work even better in multiples. In your deck those are Desecrated Tomb, Moldervine Reclamation, and Winding Constrictor.
Cantrips (like Opt) are usually only useful for a deck at mimumim size, since they virtually reduce that deck size below that limit. But as additional cards above the limit, not having them in the deck at all, lets you draw what whould be the next card right away without the need to cast a spell and spend mana. And in addition, since you need more lands for a bigger deck, not having those extra cantrips lets you reduce the deck more towards that minimum by removing those excess lands as well. Furthermore, for your specific deck, a cantrip that comes as a creature card would be more synergistic as it adds fuel for Pharika. There are many creature cards with cheap cycling abilities (some are even "free", and landcycling abilities let you fetch the lands you need to fix your mana) for example. Or play cheap creatures with card drawing ETB effects like Elvish Visionary. If its more about digging for specific stuff, something like Augury Owl might help more. It's not an actual card draw, but it lets you remove up to three less useful cards from the top of your library to find that crucial card you need now.
Since dealing damage with deathtouch creatures to trigger Vraska is most likely to happen via combat damage in your deck, if you think Archetype of Finality doesn't cut it, maybe look at Bow of Nylea.
And a final thought (for now), multiples of Vraska would be quite nice, right? To bad she's legend... Spark Double.
As someone who personally plays and loves Pharika, you guys have pretty much distilled my present deck list lol. Something that I think hasn't been mentioned is that the snakes are enchantments and therefore trigger constellation. This doesn't add a whole lot more power to her but seeing as we just got another green constellation enchantress it is pretty cool. Also making snakes in response to attacks from an army of x/1's becomes a losing battle with Doomwake Giant out. Things like Poison-Tip Archer are cool since deathtouching snakes are real good at killing creatures. Speaking of deathtouch, my friend Ohran Frostfang is a huge fan of giving things deathtouch and drawing those sweet, sweet cards. If you are using Vraska, Swarms Eminance I also recommend the infinite damage combo with Walking Ballista and a way to give it deathtouch.
Though if it was up to me in this next Theros set my girl Pharika would comeback as a God with something like 1GB Indestructible 4/4 and devotion to G and B to 7 and then with the Deathtouch ability of Vraska, Swarms Eminance and the card draw ability of Ohran Frostfang. That would be an awesome card. It would maybe be a little to good though.
ps sorry for not setting popups for the cards I am not entirely sure how.
Damn, the Ohran Frostfang is good! And I hadn't even thought about the constellation thing! That could be amazing! Imagine Eutropia the Twice-Favored to start the +1/+1 counters rolling, perhaps putting them on something like Hydra Omnivore! I also love the idea of embracing the grindier side of Pharika's ability and colors by using Grim Guardian to just slowly drain the life out of my closest friends (heh heh), uh... I mean... uh, have a great game in which I am nice and do not attack people often. Yes.. right...
As for your second statement, about not using the popups, in the 'menu' for typing the reply there are various buttons in the top sort of 'header' of the box. There is one that shows a single card, and if you click it, then type the name of the cards in between the section provided (will look like this [card]Put the name of the card here[card]) and it will become a popup of the card when hovered over.
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Pharika, God of Affliction is a god from Born of the Gods, costing 3BG. She is a 5/5 Enchantment Creature - God, which all seems upside, coming with the standard Indestructible ability and the text stating that she is not a creature unless her owner has devotion to black and green at or above 7. This is all well and good, until I read her last ability. For BG she can exile a creature card from a graveyard, and give it's owner a 1/1 black enchantment creature - snake? What? Doesn't this seem to go against what the color combo (Golgari) tend to be all about.
Could someone help shed some light on what we have here, or is Pharika more a god of Confusion rather than of Affliction?
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Theros is based on Greek mythology, where snakes are very prominent, and I have no trouble seeing them as b/g flavorwise. Especially with them having deathtouch. And as the divine influence on that plane is represented by the enchantment type, these snakes being enchantments makes perfect sense when created by a God. If that is not enough for you, just picture the classic scene of the Greek hero slaying the monster only for it to turn into a bunch of snakes shortly after being killed (accompanied by some short ominous cliche speech from its master echoing all around.) That's basically what that ability is meant to represent, I think.
(Sidenote: As a rules guru, I really can't let those probably innocent mistakes go, that you made in your post. Don't take it too personally, but I just have to correct them.
1. Pharika costs 1BG not 3BG, 3 mana total not 5.
2. Devotion is calculated from the number of appropriate mana symbols in the mana costs of permanents the controller of the God controls, the owner of the card is irrelevant here. Controller =/= owner. The two are not nessessarily the same.)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
What I did find is that she synergises well with Vraska, Swarm's Eminence, who can give those cute little snakes counters! I have been working on a deathtouch/Pharika, God of Affliction devotion/golgari goodstuff deck that I found works fairly well, but as I say, just was curious about such a unique ability.
Thank you!
P.S., God of Affliction. Do I smell potential for a flavourful infect/deathtouch deck?
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
A goofier accomplice to Pharika would be Toshiro Umezawa. You give your opponents small, easy to kill creatures, and then you get to cast instants from your graveyard when they inevitably die.
Thank you!!!
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Of course, you could also just run a lot of creature cards and put a large chunk of the deck into the graveyard, like with the dredge mechanic.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
I was also thinking, Since Pharika s all about medicines, poisons, and of course, snakes, why not add a little jank into this as well? I think adding some Winding Constrictors and even a Hexdrinker could be real fun. Either the Winding Constrictor adds +1/+1 counters to any deathtouchers that get through, thanks in part to Vraska, Swarm's Eminence, or if both Winding Constrictor and Hexdrinker are on board, I can combo them off, getting two level counters on Hexdrinker per 1 that I pay for it's level up.
Man, to think I was feeling so off about Pharika, God of Affliction before! My opponents are definitely gonna feel Afflicted after they see all this!
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Unfortunately, you can only cast the creature from exile if it was exiled through resolving the adventure half first. Simply being in exile will not allow you to cast the card as a creature from there.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
*edit: What If I were using Leyline Prowlers, to fix mana a little bit? I mean, they do have deathtouch and can be tapped to add blue mana if need be.
I had a short look at making a first draft of a deck with Pharika, God of Affliction, but I don't know if it is as fun in Golgari as it could be in Sultai, with more card draw options and other creatures such as Torrent Elemental and Misthollow Griffin giving me the chance to start the engine up
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Also, achieving Sultai colors isn't that hard, otherwise Sultai wouldn't be a thing in the first place. But so far, I simply don't see a necessity for it. You need only one such creature card to get the engine running, multiples aren't required. And adding blue for card draw, when you have black's whole arsenal and even some green goodies for that available already makes no sense to me. And tutors are also available in both colors, if what you want to fetch is a creature card.
But of course, more colors means more options. It ultimately will be your deck, so go wild in whatever direction you want. I'll happily help you with whatever you decide on, if I've got an idea I think is worth exploring and fitting for your concoction.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
If you look on my account you could find the first Sultai draft deck I made. needs a lot of refinement, but the idea is there.
I will try what you suggested and make a straight Golgari version, because I do know II am new to the world of MTG and lack the experience others may share, such as you have.
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Though first, you should get your deck's size down into the 60s at least without cutting many lands. For maximum consistency you have to go down to 60 or at the very least 62 cards. But don't sweat it if you can't get it done yet. I cannot even describe how hard it was for me to get down there, and how long it took. It is still quite a feat with every new deck of mine to stay that low and I've been at it for nearly two decades now. But it is ultimately the right thing to do when you want a good deck. A crucial part of deckbuilding is to decide which ideas to abandon for that particular deck. Because there isn't room in one deck to fit everything.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG
Usually, it's best to use as many copies of a card as is permitted by the format if it is a central piece. This is especially true for cards that work even better in multiples. In your deck those are Desecrated Tomb, Moldervine Reclamation, and Winding Constrictor.
Cantrips (like Opt) are usually only useful for a deck at mimumim size, since they virtually reduce that deck size below that limit. But as additional cards above the limit, not having them in the deck at all, lets you draw what whould be the next card right away without the need to cast a spell and spend mana. And in addition, since you need more lands for a bigger deck, not having those extra cantrips lets you reduce the deck more towards that minimum by removing those excess lands as well. Furthermore, for your specific deck, a cantrip that comes as a creature card would be more synergistic as it adds fuel for Pharika. There are many creature cards with cheap cycling abilities (some are even "free", and landcycling abilities let you fetch the lands you need to fix your mana) for example. Or play cheap creatures with card drawing ETB effects like Elvish Visionary. If its more about digging for specific stuff, something like Augury Owl might help more. It's not an actual card draw, but it lets you remove up to three less useful cards from the top of your library to find that crucial card you need now.
Since dealing damage with deathtouch creatures to trigger Vraska is most likely to happen via combat damage in your deck, if you think Archetype of Finality doesn't cut it, maybe look at Bow of Nylea.
And a final thought (for now), multiples of Vraska would be quite nice, right? To bad she's legend... Spark Double.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Though if it was up to me in this next Theros set my girl Pharika would comeback as a God with something like 1GB Indestructible 4/4 and devotion to G and B to 7 and then with the Deathtouch ability of Vraska, Swarms Eminance and the card draw ability of Ohran Frostfang. That would be an awesome card. It would maybe be a little to good though.
ps sorry for not setting popups for the cards I am not entirely sure how.
As for your second statement, about not using the popups, in the 'menu' for typing the reply there are various buttons in the top sort of 'header' of the box. There is one that shows a single card, and if you click it, then type the name of the cards in between the section provided (will look like this [card]Put the name of the card here[card]) and it will become a popup of the card when hovered over.
Dragons are best creature type
WBRG Best control deck is non-blue Yorion Doom WBRG