There are few ideas on how to win
First idea, using Momentary Blink and Cloudshift with Ink-Treader Nephilim to blink all of our creatures and, of course, playing creatures that want to be blinked. By using beneficial spells that can only target our own creatures, we can dodge opposing removal.
third idea Niveous Wisps help drawing a card for each creature in play, which is a pretty good start, but more importantly, if you do it on your opponent's turn, it taps all of his or her creatures when we target Niveous wisps on Ink-treader Nephilim, and during your turn, your creatures untap and can attack on your turn to allow you to kill through most defenses.
Think that all for now.
This is my first post,If you see typos, have any questions or comments, or just feel like doing so, please post below!
Blade Splicer is in an awkward spot, since it doesn't produce any value once you get things going. That might not turn out to matter all that much though.
Suture Priest doesn't drain the opponent since Cloudshift/Blink only targets your creatures. So he only buffs your own life total when you get the loop going, which is fine but probably too low impact
Hey guys, looks like it's been a while since people have played with Ink-Moth Nephilim, especially in modern. I've been playing around with some stuff, and have found a few bits of new technology which I think is worth consideration for anyone still interested in this bad boy.
One is Kari Zev's Expertise. Casting any steal is pretty nice with Ink-Moth Nephilim, since it causes you to essentially cast Insurrection which is juicy on its own. What makes Kari Zev's Expertise so good is that you can cast, say Sigil Blessing or Simic Charm with it, crashing in for lethal with just 3 creatures on the entire battlefield. That being said, it's a two card combo.
The next card which I think is amazing is Fiery Gambit, which is super fun - and since untapping with Ink-Moth Nephilim in play is generally GG thanks to cards like Niveous Wisps, it's only really a one card combo once you have the Ink-Moth Nephilim and a few creatures.
These have been the win cons I've been running with in most of my brews so far, but I also think there's a lot to support Nephilim printed recently too. First of which (though this is old) is Forbidden Orchard. Since both of these gameplans require creatures on the battlefield (hard against control), having a land that adds them on command is pretty sweet, especially since it taps for any color, making our 4 color mana less painful and more consistent. Speaking of control, Cavern of Souls is pretty nice to have and also taps very nicely with our Ink-Moth Nephilim.
- Bloom Tender generates an absurd amount of mana especially with Ink Treader or Niv Magus on the field. Subtle synergy with Wisps turning things blue. Can be replaced with Sylvan Caryatid for a slower but more resilient ramp.
- Humble Defector activations can be be put on the stack with Wisps. Kari Exp also lets you steal him back for another activation or combo off if he has sickness. Has been surprisingly good.
- Nivmagus Elemental is an curve acceleration for Bloom Tender. It importantly protects your own creatures from removal your opponent cast on Ink Treader. Copies are under your control so you can exile them. Also, Nivmagus can act as possible combo piece with Cryptolith Rite which was tested but removed because it dilutes the deck.
- As you mentioned Voice of Resurgence is a good target for Eldritch. It can also be used to fetch Pia and Kiran Nalaar which was a classic Naya pod beatdown strategy. 4/4 elemental, 2 1/1 thopters and a 2/2 creature can put on a lot of pressure quickly.
- Snapcaster Mage is another value play and Eldritch sac tribute
I'll put in another post the cards that I was playing around with that I'm still on the fence about.
My thoughts about cards that I didn't find good enough:
Cryptolith Rite dilutes the deck too much, especially when you want only creatures and instant/sorcs
Fiery Gambit was mediocre. Each creature gives you a 12.5% of winning 3 flips. There were too many times this card would miss or be underwhelming. Also, you want to cast this as early as you can, meaning you won't have many lands to untap.
Rally the Righteous is a bit like Sigil Blessing. Sometimes led to obscene amounts of untaps but the color restriction makes it less useful.
Twinflame close to being strong, but requires Ink-Treader and critical mass of creatures
Chasm Skulker gets a counter if fetched with Neoform. Creates more tokens for Ink-Treader. Synergy with draw effect from Wisp. Makes a decent Neoform sac tribute. A bit too slow.
Blessed Alliance decent on it's own, or if escalated for life + targeting only Ink-Treader. Decent SB card but not MB.
Simic Charm mana cost is high for flexibility unless targetting Ink-Treader
Cards that might have potential:
Feather, the Redeemed mana cost is rough, but has a great bod, relevant ability for Wisps and good fetch target for Neoform / Eldritch. Good color synergy with Bloom Tender
Mangara of Corondor mana cost is rough, but has great synergy with Wisps. From old school Death & Taxes, Managara can easily be a deck defining card.
Pride Sovereign abusable ability with Wisps and generates tokens
Shaman of Forgotten Ways mana accel and win-con after stealing all of the opponents creatures with Kari. High mana cost.
It also played Sylvan Caryatid for ramping and color fixing (and being a target for the cantrips) which now could also be Paradise Druid which can also attack.
It can play Zada, Hedron Grinder or Mirrorwing Dragon. I think the flicker variant list is better suited because either of them only make copies for creatures you control. The white, low cost flicker effects usually don't target opponent creatures, so it wouldn't matter. Cards like Forbidden Orchard and Zev's Expertise get less good. Someday I'll brew a dual color list with Zada and Mirrowing.
Here my deck list.
Artifact (4)
4x AEther Vial
Instant (11)
Creature (21)
There are few ideas on how to win
First idea, using Momentary Blink and Cloudshift with Ink-Treader Nephilim to blink all of our creatures and, of course, playing creatures that want to be blinked. By using beneficial spells that can only target our own creatures, we can dodge opposing removal.
Cloudshift and Momentary blink also help to turn Akroma, Angel of Fury face up by turn 4.
Second idea
when you have Ink-treader Nephilim in play with Suture Priest and Eternal Witness,
you can cloudshift ink-treader Nephilim. and opponent will lost life when all the creatures come into play.
with the help of eternal witness we can get back cloudshift and recast again.
third idea
Niveous Wisps help drawing a card for each creature in play, which is a pretty good start, but more importantly, if you do it on your opponent's turn, it taps all of his or her creatures when we target Niveous wisps on Ink-treader Nephilim, and during your turn, your creatures untap and can attack on your turn to allow you to kill through most defenses.
Think that all for now.
This is my first post,If you see typos, have any questions or comments, or just feel like doing so, please post below!
Blade Splicer is in an awkward spot, since it doesn't produce any value once you get things going. That might not turn out to matter all that much though.
Suture Priest doesn't drain the opponent since Cloudshift/Blink only targets your creatures. So he only buffs your own life total when you get the loop going, which is fine but probably too low impact
Cackling Counterpart - Copies your whole side of the board and not theirs
Emerge Unscathed - Provides protection and also evasion for a color
Modern
xWBreakfast at Urza'sxW
UWGBantUWG
GWRNaya ZooRWG
However, Blade splicer provide me with more creatures for the early games.
Cackling counterpart looking interesting, might consider to put 1 copy for that.
One is Kari Zev's Expertise. Casting any steal is pretty nice with Ink-Moth Nephilim, since it causes you to essentially cast Insurrection which is juicy on its own. What makes Kari Zev's Expertise so good is that you can cast, say Sigil Blessing or Simic Charm with it, crashing in for lethal with just 3 creatures on the entire battlefield. That being said, it's a two card combo.
The next card which I think is amazing is Fiery Gambit, which is super fun - and since untapping with Ink-Moth Nephilim in play is generally GG thanks to cards like Niveous Wisps, it's only really a one card combo once you have the Ink-Moth Nephilim and a few creatures.
These have been the win cons I've been running with in most of my brews so far, but I also think there's a lot to support Nephilim printed recently too. First of which (though this is old) is Forbidden Orchard. Since both of these gameplans require creatures on the battlefield (hard against control), having a land that adds them on command is pretty sweet, especially since it taps for any color, making our 4 color mana less painful and more consistent. Speaking of control, Cavern of Souls is pretty nice to have and also taps very nicely with our Ink-Moth Nephilim.
Moving on, Eldritch Evolution is a great way to add redundancy to Ink-Moth Nephilim, whereCoiling Oracle as well as Voice of Resurgence support that plan very well.
Timely Reinforcements Is great when we can give our opponents creatures, and solidifies our gameplan while keeping us healthy.
I'm even testing out Cryptolith Rite with some token Gen like Timely Reinforcements, since it synergizes really well with Cerulean Wisps.
I'd love to hear other cards people are working with these days.
The creature package has a lot of activated tap abilities.
- Bloom Tender generates an absurd amount of mana especially with Ink Treader or Niv Magus on the field. Subtle synergy with Wisps turning things blue. Can be replaced with Sylvan Caryatid for a slower but more resilient ramp.
- Humble Defector activations can be be put on the stack with Wisps. Kari Exp also lets you steal him back for another activation or combo off if he has sickness. Has been surprisingly good.
- Nivmagus Elemental is an curve acceleration for Bloom Tender. It importantly protects your own creatures from removal your opponent cast on Ink Treader. Copies are under your control so you can exile them. Also, Nivmagus can act as possible combo piece with Cryptolith Rite which was tested but removed because it dilutes the deck.
- As you mentioned Voice of Resurgence is a good target for Eldritch. It can also be used to fetch Pia and Kiran Nalaar which was a classic Naya pod beatdown strategy. 4/4 elemental, 2 1/1 thopters and a 2/2 creature can put on a lot of pressure quickly.
- Snapcaster Mage is another value play and Eldritch sac tribute
I'll put in another post the cards that I was playing around with that I'm still on the fence about.
Cards that might have potential:
I remember playing against a deck similar to this and it was also running ways to put multiple creatures on the battlefield for one card be it:
Hunted Phantasm (Hunted Troll/Hunted Dragon), Siege-Gang Commander or even Ponyback Brigade (which doesn't seem efficient enough) and it was using cantrips like: Expedite, Slip through Space, Renegade Tactics to go through the deck quickly and combo off towards a lethal combo turn with Kari Zev's Expertise stealing every creature on board to attack with or Invigorated Rampage to buff the board for a big attack or Searing Blood to burn every token on the opponent's side for lethal.
It also played Sylvan Caryatid for ramping and color fixing (and being a target for the cantrips) which now could also be Paradise Druid which can also attack.
Was a big fan of Sylvan Caryatid during testing and yea, was excited to see Paradise Druid.