Keeping It Surreal
Blue. The color of counterspells, card draw, broken planeswalkers, bounce, and fishies. Standard has all those right now! Well, except for the fishy. Whattaya gonna do, right? Well, it seems the Wizards design team went a little loopy, because they decided they would present us with the greatest tribe in Magic's history: Illusions.
...okay, so maybe that list isn't promising. What would you do, if I showed you a card that pushed Illusions into the realm of viability? Bam.
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 Total power house, and a 3-4 of in every list (usually 4). Even if you only target a Bear of yours, it's worth it in U/w (where it synergizes with Sun Titan), even punishing Control for playing bombs by letting you play...well...more of the same bomb.
Backup Dancers
There are a NUMBER of cards that are crucial to the build, yes, but none of those are as important to include as the 4 I listed above. They provide our best Beater, Lord, Protection, and Utility.
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.
Science!
Our deck is starting to come together, so like any good salesman, I'm gonna tell you about the very flashy, very "hip," options.
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.
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.
Gitaxian Probe Wait, so, for 0 mana- I get to filter through me deck AND get crucial information about the opponent's hand? It takes a lot for a card to be more useful in control, especially since we choose between tapping out for threats, or saving for Counters. One of the best cards in Fish/UW Caw-Py lists.
FetchlandsMisty 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.
The Final CountdownYour deck is coming together nicely now, so I think it's due time we supplement your Core with another; synergistic strategy, shall we?
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.
Examples:
Thomas Carter provides a shining example of a GA list, with the only eccentricity being the use of Spreading Seas MB (as a meta call, which may or may not be currently viable).
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.
Examples:
Griffin Corrigan's Top 16 list reminds us of the Fish approach, heavy on counterspells and dig, though it does make the interesting choice of 4-of Phantasmal Dragon.
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).
DuressDespise 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; and has been having some strong showings.
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.
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.
Gideon Jura is a power house, as always. Generates crushing field advantage against any creature based deck (spoilers: 90% of them), and can win the game by himself against decks that aren't loaded to the brim with removal.
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?
Examples
The only oddity about Illusions regular thisisnotmyname's deck is the high land count, which he does so that he only ever needs to use a dig effect to find answers or threats- never lands.
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.
Example
Big Blue isn't as competitive as the other variants, but is a blast to play at the kitchen table.
Cold, Cold Denial...
Your deck is coming together, but I've been pretty vague about your counters. Lets go into details. Unless you don't care and just want the examples.
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. What happens is that, instead of them putting out field advantage, you get a nicely sized beater.
[listMental Misste I know it's mentioned in a line or two, but I have to highlight this thing. It is pretty much automatic 4-of in the sideboard, hurting a number of decks, notably aggro (an infamously bad matchup), and can help keep Pod decks off their early creatures; slowing them down.
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.
Land Joke and/or Pop Culture Reference
You have most of your deck. Creatures, counters, support, utility, removal, it's damn near a deck. All that's left to cover? Lands.
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.
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.
The Competition: Matchups
In order from best, to worst. (credit to ThisIsNotMyName for most of the list) Splinter Twin We have counters, beaters, removal, so on so on. Most of our lists run roughly as many answers MB as they have Combo Pieces. It's also Control-Combo, which is a combo-dish (haha) of our best Matchups. Tezzeret Control Most lists can't do much without Tezzeret, which works great for out counterspells. Not to mention we can generate better Tempo, field, and Card Advantage. Copy swords, copy beaters, etc. Ux Control What's that? You're trying to win the tempo race? Well screw the rules! I have money Counterspells and great early drops! Our early game is better, our mid-game is just as good, and we can copy titans. That's just not fair. Birthing Pod A good number of Birthing Pod lists can be disrupted with the cards in our toolbox, not to mention the fact that we can straight race some of them. Turbofog Oh goody! Yes! Let me draw cards! Please? OOOOH, turn 4 Phantasmal Dragon copied twice! Really, Turbo Fog can't do much. We can grind through damage, and can keep counters WELL in hand due to the nature of the deck. Caw-Blade It's an efficient Control-Aggro deck. Notice the parralel? This comes down to play, list, and luck. 50/50 matchups! Goody. Caw-Py is a variant of the deck that is Caw-Blade, but we run Illusions instead of all that Blade nonsense. A winnable matchup, don't expect it to be easy though. Pyromancer Ascension They have counterspells...AND BURN? We can win it, but it's brutal. L-Bolts tend to mess with us. Vampires The deck is quick, and has longevity. We can try to force them to run out of gas with a steady stream of counters and blockers, but it usually works in their favor. RDWYou may notice that we hate Red. A steady barrage of Counters and blockers can force them out of tempo and gas, which is arguably the only way we can win. Pack Mental Misstep, and probably Ratchet Bomb for this MU. Kuldotha Red the deck is less stable than Goblins, which is good. Our best bet is to pray we can force them out of their tokens/ratchet bomb them away. It's like trying to exterminate Katy Perry fans though, THEY KEEP COMING. Goblins Don't expect to win off the bat. Seriously, it's just...ugh. If you understand why we hate L-Bolts, and consistency in face-smashage, you understand the brutality of the MU. Burn This is a thing! It's like, RDW, but they don't dick around with any of that "creature" BS. A good Birthing Pod List Some lists just do horrible, horrible things to us. I'm kinda scarred thinking about it. The majority of Pod decks are at LEAST winnable, but it can just slip away sometimes.
The Reception
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, and more recently one in Deck Tech.
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.
In Conclusion,
Illusions rule, and this was the best primer ever. No really. In all seriousness, Illusions have made for a very interesting design process. It's been taken in so many directions, I genuinely struggled to include all of the ones I noticed (there were some U/G versions, but they were just plain weird, and not very good). Dedicated a good couple hours to this, though probably not enough to do this marvelous idea justice. Hopefully, you take my tips, put them to use, realize I'm just some guy who has too much time on his hands, build a deck for yourself, post it, and call me an A-Hole.
EDIT: Recent events really make me proud to have written this primer. The deck went from small Johnny project, to a varied and powerful deck that sees plays by new players looking for something fun, new, cheap and different, to Professionals, and the Excellent MTGS players in between. I thank you all for your hard work, and this is the least I can do. (That, and this thing gets plugged well outside the bounds of Standard).
(Old banner by:RCarlysle)
Awesome Job! I overlooked illusions initially just because of the hundreds of times my Phantom Beast has been easily broken. Then I got to thinking. How many ways can you kill these guys that aren't a removal spell already. I'm talking about today's standard. Sure Into the roil finishes your guy off, but you are gaining more than you lose with these illusions. After testing them out, I don't think they can really stand on their own, but they are great if you add in grand architect and some big artifacts.
I decided on U/b for my list just for the card draw. SInce the deck curves out at 3 and that is with the Adaptive Automaton, I decided to try the deck with Darek Tutilage. I also went very heavy on the counter spells.
The Creatures are pretty self explanitory for the most part. Unlike most prople I am running the Aether Figment. He is a pretty good late game drop and not to bad early game. He is unblockable and dosn't have the draw back the other illusions have.
The counters are high because you want to protect the lord. I feel 4 Spell Pierce is good because it hits so many things, palnes walkers, removal, draw, adn counter spells. The 4 leek are pretty seelf explanitory. The 3 unified wills seem like just a good counter spell.
The tutilage seems like a good fit. There is a chance I will be taking some life here because of the 7 3 drops but the added draw makes the risk worth it.
There are no ponder or preordain effects because everything I was going to cut for them, when I thought about it I would have rather had them instead of the ponders/preordains.
Blue Black...Tutelage is a pretty good addition actually. Take it in more of an early Vampires approach? Hrmr....
Not sure why someone would run 3 Into the Roil and 2 Go For The Throat. I'd switch the numbers, 3 GFTT, 2 ITR.
Swords? Err...equipment kill Illusions. Equip has "attach to TARGET creature you control," in the wording, so...well, equips are a no-go.
Methinks that Mind Rot+Duress should just become a 4 of Despise, bumping the Mind Rot and Duress pair into the SB. Mind Rot is good against control, can be useless elsewhere. You might keep Mind Rot as a 2 of MB, but I'd definitely switch Duress for Despise.
Blue Black...Tutelage is a pretty good addition actually. Take it in more of an early Vampires approach? Hrmr....
Not sure why someone would run 3 Into the Roil and 2 Go For The Throat. I'd switch the numbers, 3 GFTT, 2 ITR.
I think that part of the reason that he was using 3 ITR was that he could use it to bounce the Dark Tutelage if necessary.
Dark Tutelage does make for an interesting addition to the deck for card advantage. I was just thinking about trying it out. The one thing that is stopping me is that, unlike vampires, we have no way of regaining life (Kalastria Highborn). In order to add in life gain, we would have to use something like Wurmcoil Engine, which might wind up killing us.
If somebody finds a way of getting around this problem, or if testing shows that it isn't a problem, I'll probably play it in my list.
I prefer Dismember over GFTT, just because, since we are mostly blue, if we have no black sources, we can still kill the creature. But GFTT does work better with Dark Tutelage, so that would probably be the better choice if we go that route.
I'm just still in shock that SoM block gave us no good continuos artifact draw cards. I mean it was an artifact block... if something would show up, it should show up here. I hate having my GA sit around doing nothing but pumping my other dudes.
Easily able to take advantage of an active Grand Architect without putting all of the eggs into that basket. I do like the idea of Adaptive Automaton in the mix, as it can be cast easily with GA or on it's own. Spellskites intruige me as well, as they protect your centerpiece creatures, and shut down Splinter Twin shenanigains for the time being.
Thoughts on something like this?
Private Mod Note
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GG"Leave but a shred of root and it will return, bursting with vigor."GG
Curious, what would happen if we instead looked away from Countermagic and discard magic to throw in some... Burn magic? Of course our worst threat comes from their hand, but when we just need to attack a couple of times to put them in the red, we can finish them off far quicker with burn spells than discard/counter spells...
This is a generic shell, and is built around the Aggro concept. It has a total of 20 damage in Burn spells, and enough digging to go through a good half your deck to find them. I do not have the cards to properly test this, but I think it would fair generally well.
Yeah, sorry. For people who have decided to try out Seer's Sundial, I wound up getting a ruling on Friday saying that you can't use Grand Architect to pay for the activation, since its a triggered ability. I'm going to check to make sure that's the case, but for right now, it doesn't work. It's still a decent option, but it will probably slow down the deck more than we want it to.
Cheap spell counters are indeed very good. I found 4 Mana Leak to be a must because any big creatures or spells that can cause havoc to your field must be taken care of. 1 mana cost spells like Pierce is great too. Vapor Snag helps keep artifacts in check so you can setup your counters and Preo is just for faster draw. I'm currently using Preo + Halimar to get my cards out faster.
23 Creatures with a larger emphasis on Dragon over Architect for setting things up.
Yeah, sorry. For people who have decided to try out Seer's Sundial, I wound up getting a ruling on Friday saying that you can't use Grand Architect to pay for the activation, since its a triggered ability. I'm going to check to make sure that's the case, but for right now, it doesn't work. It's still a decent option, but it will probably slow down the deck more than we want it to.
Who told you this? Seer's Sundial is an artifact ability through and through, it doesn't even look for triggered or activated costs. It does work as intended, but is still slow regardless.
you were actually the person that convinced me to use architect in my build and i've been having such a great time with this awesome deck ever since!
Private Mod Note
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1. Good Decks Play With Good Cards
2. Good Decks Have Good Plans
3. Good Decks Have Good Mana Bases
4. Good Decks Respect Their Opponents
5. Good Decks Have 75 Cards
6. Sometimes Even Good Decks Are Bad Choices
7. Sometimes Your 'Good Deck' Isn't
Who told you this? Seer's Sundial is an artifact ability through and through, it doesn't even look for triggered or activated costs. It does work as intended, but is still slow regardless.
No it doesn't. Grand Architect states that the mana can only be used for Artifact spells and ACTIVATED abilities. Doesn't work on Triggered.
The "activate abilities of artifacts" clause is misleading. It does indeed work on activated abilities only.
Who told you this? Seer's Sundial is an artifact ability through and through, it doesn't even look for triggered or activated costs. It does work as intended, but is still slow regardless.
Seer's Sundial Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card.
Actually land fall is a triggered ability. If it has the word Whenever in the text of the ability then it is triggered.
Zelderex- The into the riols are much more usefull than the GftT. The into the Roils allow me to bounce a plains walker, enchantment (O-Ring), creature, and artifact. Plus theay also can draw me a card.
After play testing the deck tonight I have made a few changes to the main.
Dark Tutilage - After testing more I feel that only 2 are needed. I don't want to cut them because they are just so good aginst control. Sticking one of them turn 4-6 just puts the deck way ahead of the control matchup.
Into the Roil - As I said above this card is just so good for its utility.
Go for the Throat - I like this over dismember because spell skite can't swerve it, and it kills titans and sphinxs.
Unified Will - Most of the time I draw this card it is a Counterspell for standard.
Been doing a lot of playtesting. Thoughts:
U/w Illusions is fantastic. Build I'm running doesn't use GA, then a couple Sun Titans, JBs, and Ingenuity. Spectacular way to win. Vampires rips me to shreds though, can't keep up with 8+ pieces of removal.
Our RDW matchup is winnable, but curious. 4 Mental Misstep+3-4 spell pierces are pretty mandatory. Sit back, counter whatever you can, dump random soaks if you need to. The goal is to stall, as is common for playing RDW. O-Ring did wonders to deal with their final move-Koth. Past that, Sun Titan comes out hard and fast to screw with him.
Been doing a lot of playtesting. Thoughts:
U/w Illusions is fantastic. Build I'm running doesn't use GA, then a couple Sun Titans, JBs, and Ingenuity. Spectacular way to win. Vampires rips me to shreds though, can't keep up with 8+ pieces of removal.
Our RDW matchup is winnable, but curious. 4 Mental Misstep+3-4 spell pierces are pretty mandatory. Sit back, counter whatever you can, dump random soaks if you need to. The goal is to stall, as is common for playing RDW. O-Ring did wonders to deal with their final move-Koth. Past that, Sun Titan comes out hard and fast to screw with him.
U/w could have Mirran crusader and kor firewalker in the sideboard to answer vamps and RDW respectively. The double white cost sucks, but they'll be solid answers to those decks, I feel.
From my playtesting, MTM really helps in our bad matchups, such as RDW and Vamps (mono-blue build). Generally you'll have a bunch of dead creatures, so it is easy to stall for 2-3 turns with it, and just shoot face for the win. One game I beat RDW and I only played a bear and the MTM. The rest of the game I just countered and shot face. He wasn't too thrilled =P. It does take some careful management, but if you have the mana and the cards for it, it will win the game.
Let's see...
I feel like Mirran Crusader could work nicely, though I'm not sure we can manage WW by turn 2. Turn 3 I can hit easily.
Thanks for the Sideboarding tips, I felt like mine could use some serious work.
Molten-Tail...I don't really like it much. The Card Disadvantage is hard to overcome, and my PTing with that thing is what pushed me to try out Ingenuity.
I only have one Wurmcoil Engine currently, otherwise I'd run 2/1 with Steel Hellkite.
I really like the Grand Architect variant. Trying to figure out what to run in the sideboard to deal with the more difficult decks, such as RDW. I'm guessing Flashfreeze and Mental Misstep are top choices.
Jace Beleren is a bomb in U/w Illusions, thanks to Sun Titan, but most builds avoid him. 3 is a contested slot, and drawing a card is lackluster.
Black Splash section is up! Don't really have a sample list, since it's approaching 1 AM, hoping one of you guys (like Kastlet, RealOG, Rhogall, really anyone with experience building Illusions. Or anyone really) will post/send in a list, since early U/b lists were rather unrefined, and I didn't know at the time what to do about improving them.
Keeping It Surreal
Blue. The color of counterspells, card draw, broken planeswalkers, bounce, and fishies. Standard has all those right now! Well, except for the fishy. Whattaya gonna do, right? Well, it seems the Wizards design team went a little loopy, because they decided they would present us with the greatest tribe in Magic's history:
Illusions.
...okay, so maybe that list isn't promising. What would you do, if I showed you a card that pushed Illusions into the realm of viability? Bam.
So, now that we've gotten Illusions recognized as a legitimate tribe, let's go over the 10 odd pages of discussion from standard.
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 Total power house, and a 3-4 of in every list (usually 4). Even if you only target a Bear of yours, it's worth it in U/w (where it synergizes with Sun Titan), even punishing Control for playing bombs by letting you play...well...more of the same bomb.
Backup Dancers
There are a NUMBER of cards that are crucial to the build, yes, but none of those are as important to include as the 4 I listed above. They provide our best Beater, Lord, Protection, and Utility.
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.
Science!
Our deck is starting to come together, so like any good salesman, I'm gonna tell you about the very flashy, very "hip," options.
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.
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.
Gitaxian Probe Wait, so, for 0 mana- I get to filter through me deck AND get crucial information about the opponent's hand? It takes a lot for a card to be more useful in control, especially since we choose between tapping out for threats, or saving for Counters. One of the best cards in Fish/UW Caw-Py lists.
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.
The Final CountdownYour deck is coming together nicely now, so I think it's due time we supplement your Core with another; synergistic strategy, shall we?
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.
Examples:
Thomas Carter provides a shining example of a GA list, with the only eccentricity being the use of Spreading Seas MB (as a meta call, which may or may not be currently viable).
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Creatures
4 Grand Architect
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Image
Enchantments
2 Spreading Seas
Instants
3 Mana Leak
3 Spell Pierce
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Ponder
4 Preordain
Basic Lands
14 Island
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Torpor Orb
1 Tumble Magnet
2 Spreading Seas
3 Flashfreeze
1 Into the Roil
4 Mental Misstep
2 Vapor Snag
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.
Examples:
Griffin Corrigan's Top 16 list reminds us of the Fish approach, heavy on counterspells and dig, though it does make the interesting choice of 4-of Phantasmal Dragon.
19 Island
4 Tectonic Edge
24 lands
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Dragon
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Renegade Doppelganger
20 creatures
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Spell Pierce
16 other spells
4 Flashfreeze
3 Mental Misstep
4 Neurok Commando
4 Spellskite
15 sideboard cards
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Halimar Depths
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Æther Figment
4x Mana Leak
3x Spell Pierce
3x Deprive
2x Vapor Snag
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Ponder
2x Ratchet Bomb
4x Neurok Commando
3x Flashfreeze
3x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Spell Pierce
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.
Example
4 Aether Figment
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Grand Architect
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Adaptive Automaton
Equipments:
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Sword of War and Peace
3 Dark Tutelage
4 Duress
4 Preordain
3 Into the Roil
2 Halimar Depths
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
10 Island
3 Flash Freeze
3 Spell Skite
3 Steel Sabotage
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
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.
Gideon Jura is a power house, as always. Generates crushing field advantage against any creature based deck (spoilers: 90% of them), and can win the game by himself against decks that aren't loaded to the brim with removal.
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?
Examples
The only oddity about Illusions regular thisisnotmyname's deck is the high land count, which he does so that he only ever needs to use a dig effect to find answers or threats- never lands.
12x Island
6x Plains
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Phantasmal Image
3x Adaptive Automaton
2x Sun Titan
4x Preordain
3x Day of Judgment
2x Gitaxian Probe
2x Ponder
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Gideon Jura
3x Flashfreeze
3x Torpor Orb
2x Dismember
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Day of Judgment
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.
Examples
Grand Architect, by StairC
20 Islands
3 Tectonic Edge
Creatures [19]
4 Lord of the unreal
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Phantasmal Dragon
4 Phantasmal Bear
3 Adaptive Autoaton
4 Mana leak
4 Into the roil
4 Dismember
3 Summoner's bane
3 Treasure mage
3 Wurmcoil engine
3 Ponder
2 Spellskite
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.
Example
Big Blue isn't as competitive as the other variants, but is a blast to play at the kitchen table.
4x Halimar Depths
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Tectonic Edge
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Æther Figment
3x Adaptive Automaton
2x Phantasmal Dragon
3x Mana Leak
3x Deprive
2x Jace's Ingenuity
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Ponder
Cold, Cold Denial...
Your deck is coming together, but I've been pretty vague about your counters. Lets go into details. Unless you don't care and just want the examples.
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. What happens is that, instead of them putting out field advantage, you get a nicely sized beater.
[listMental Misste I know it's mentioned in a line or two, but I have to highlight this thing. It is pretty much automatic 4-of in the sideboard, hurting a number of decks, notably aggro (an infamously bad matchup), and can help keep Pod decks off their early creatures; slowing them down.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.
Land Joke and/or Pop Culture Reference
You have most of your deck. Creatures, counters, support, utility, removal, it's damn near a deck. All that's left to cover? Lands.
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.
The Competition: Matchups
In order from best, to worst. (credit to ThisIsNotMyName for most of the list)
Splinter Twin We have counters, beaters, removal, so on so on. Most of our lists run roughly as many answers MB as they have Combo Pieces. It's also Control-Combo, which is a combo-dish (haha) of our best Matchups.
Tezzeret Control Most lists can't do much without Tezzeret, which works great for out counterspells. Not to mention we can generate better Tempo, field, and Card Advantage. Copy swords, copy beaters, etc.
Ux Control What's that? You're trying to win the tempo race? Well screw the rules! I have
moneyCounterspells and great early drops! Our early game is better, our mid-game is just as good, and we can copy titans. That's just not fair.Birthing Pod A good number of Birthing Pod lists can be disrupted with the cards in our toolbox, not to mention the fact that we can straight race some of them.
Turbofog Oh goody! Yes! Let me draw cards! Please? OOOOH, turn 4 Phantasmal Dragon copied twice! Really, Turbo Fog can't do much. We can grind through damage, and can keep counters WELL in hand due to the nature of the deck.
Caw-Blade It's an efficient Control-Aggro deck. Notice the parralel? This comes down to play, list, and luck. 50/50 matchups! Goody. Caw-Py is a variant of the deck that is Caw-Blade, but we run Illusions instead of all that Blade nonsense. A winnable matchup, don't expect it to be easy though.
Pyromancer Ascension They have counterspells...AND BURN? We can win it, but it's brutal. L-Bolts tend to mess with us.
Vampires The deck is quick, and has longevity. We can try to force them to run out of gas with a steady stream of counters and blockers, but it usually works in their favor.
RDWYou may notice that we hate Red. A steady barrage of Counters and blockers can force them out of tempo and gas, which is arguably the only way we can win. Pack Mental Misstep, and probably Ratchet Bomb for this MU.
Kuldotha Red the deck is less stable than Goblins, which is good. Our best bet is to pray we can force them out of their tokens/ratchet bomb them away. It's like trying to exterminate Katy Perry fans though, THEY KEEP COMING.
Goblins Don't expect to win off the bat. Seriously, it's just...ugh. If you understand why we hate L-Bolts, and consistency in face-smashage, you understand the brutality of the MU.
Burn This is a thing! It's like, RDW, but they don't dick around with any of that "creature" BS.
A good Birthing Pod List Some lists just do horrible, horrible things to us. I'm kinda scarred thinking about it. The majority of Pod decks are at LEAST winnable, but it can just slip away sometimes.
The Reception
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, and more recently one in Deck Tech.
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.
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Creatures
4 Grand Architect
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Image
Enchantments
2 Spreading Seas
Instants
3 Mana Leak
3 Spell Pierce
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Ponder
4 Preordain
Basic Lands
14 Island
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Torpor Orb
1 Tumble Magnet
2 Spreading Seas
3 Flashfreeze
1 Into the Roil
4 Mental Misstep
2 Vapor Snag
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.
1 Halimar Depths
19 Island
4 Tectonic Edge
24 lands
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Dragon
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Renegade Doppelganger
20 creatures
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Spell Pierce
16 other spells
4 Flashfreeze
3 Mental Misstep
4 Neurok Commando
4 Spellskite
15 sideboard cards
In Conclusion,
Illusions rule, and this was the best primer ever. No really. In all seriousness, Illusions have made for a very interesting design process. It's been taken in so many directions, I genuinely struggled to include all of the ones I noticed (there were some U/G versions, but they were just plain weird, and not very good). Dedicated a good couple hours to this, though probably not enough to do this marvelous idea justice. Hopefully, you take my tips, put them to use, realize I'm just some guy who has too much time on his hands, build a deck for yourself, post it, and call me an A-Hole.
EDIT: Recent events really make me proud to have written this primer. The deck went from small Johnny project, to a varied and powerful deck that sees plays by new players looking for something fun, new, cheap and different, to Professionals, and the Excellent MTGS players in between. I thank you all for your hard work, and this is the least I can do. (That, and this thing gets plugged well outside the bounds of Standard).
(Old banner by:RCarlysle)
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Here is a possible work I may try:
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Grand Architect
4 Adaptive Automation
4 Phantasmal Bear
2 Phantasmal Dragon
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Preordain
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Duress
2 Mind Rot
Artfiacts:(4)
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Sword of War and Peace
4 Drowned Catacombs
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Tectonic Edge
7 Island
3 Swamp
The idea here is hand manipulation. If we can pull the threats out of our opponent's hand, it will be much easier to keep our illusions in play.
4 Phantasmal Beat
4 Aether Figment
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Phantasmal Illusion
4 Adaptive Automaton
4 Spell Pierce
4 Mana Leek
3 Unified Will
Removal 4
3 Into the roil
2 Go for the Throat
3 Dark Tutilage
Land 22
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
14 Island
The Creatures are pretty self explanitory for the most part. Unlike most prople I am running the Aether Figment. He is a pretty good late game drop and not to bad early game. He is unblockable and dosn't have the draw back the other illusions have.
The counters are high because you want to protect the lord. I feel 4 Spell Pierce is good because it hits so many things, palnes walkers, removal, draw, adn counter spells. The 4 leek are pretty seelf explanitory. The 3 unified wills seem like just a good counter spell.
The tutilage seems like a good fit. There is a chance I will be taking some life here because of the 7 3 drops but the added draw makes the risk worth it.
There are no ponder or preordain effects because everything I was going to cut for them, when I thought about it I would have rather had them instead of the ponders/preordains.
Not sure why someone would run 3 Into the Roil and 2 Go For The Throat. I'd switch the numbers, 3 GFTT, 2 ITR.
Swords? Err...equipment kill Illusions. Equip has "attach to TARGET creature you control," in the wording, so...well, equips are a no-go.
Methinks that Mind Rot+Duress should just become a 4 of Despise, bumping the Mind Rot and Duress pair into the SB. Mind Rot is good against control, can be useless elsewhere. You might keep Mind Rot as a 2 of MB, but I'd definitely switch Duress for Despise.
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I think that part of the reason that he was using 3 ITR was that he could use it to bounce the Dark Tutelage if necessary.
Dark Tutelage does make for an interesting addition to the deck for card advantage. I was just thinking about trying it out. The one thing that is stopping me is that, unlike vampires, we have no way of regaining life (Kalastria Highborn). In order to add in life gain, we would have to use something like Wurmcoil Engine, which might wind up killing us.
If somebody finds a way of getting around this problem, or if testing shows that it isn't a problem, I'll probably play it in my list.
I prefer Dismember over GFTT, just because, since we are mostly blue, if we have no black sources, we can still kill the creature. But GFTT does work better with Dark Tutelage, so that would probably be the better choice if we go that route.
I'm just still in shock that SoM block gave us no good continuos artifact draw cards. I mean it was an artifact block... if something would show up, it should show up here. I hate having my GA sit around doing nothing but pumping my other dudes.
-2 Hex Parasite
+2 Seer's Sundial
-2 Unified Will
+1 Mana Leak
+1 Spell Pierce.
Running out of gas happens way too fast, even with preordain and ponder.
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I really like the idea of weaving Illusions with Grand Architect builds...
I'll take a stab at a list and see what happens...
4 Lord Of The Unreal
2 Molten-Steel Masticore
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Illusion
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Spell Pierce
4 Misty Rainforest
Easily able to take advantage of an active Grand Architect without putting all of the eggs into that basket. I do like the idea of Adaptive Automaton in the mix, as it can be cast easily with GA or on it's own. Spellskites intruige me as well, as they protect your centerpiece creatures, and shut down Splinter Twin shenanigains for the time being.
Thoughts on something like this?
I recommend this idea:
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Adaptive Automaton
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Aether Figment
2x Phantasmal Dragon
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Shock
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Contested Warzone
10x Island
5x Mountain
This is a generic shell, and is built around the Aggro concept. It has a total of 20 damage in Burn spells, and enough digging to go through a good half your deck to find them. I do not have the cards to properly test this, but I think it would fair generally well.
Any thoughts?
Creatures [28]
4x Extractor Demon
4x Rotting Rats
4x Dregscape Zombie
3x Fatestitcher
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Hedron Crab
2x Kederekt Leviathan
3x Corpse Connoisseur
4x Spell Pierce
2x Consume Spirit
2x Tome Scour
3x Grim Discovery
Lands [23]
4x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Grixis Panorama
2x Swamp
12x Island
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Cheap counters are better than pricey ones. 4 of Spell Pierce works wonders.
Jace's Ingenuity is really nice, a 2-3 of is great.
You are playing more of Control. Take it slow, play when you have counter back-up.
Will PT a White Splash. We are a generally control deck, so Sun Titan looks pretty good to me. CA all up in this *****.
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Hmm, how do you make deck lists using the above clickable card info that links from magicinfo?
Here's what I've been using:
// Lands
18 [ZEN] Island (3)
4 [WWK] Halimar Depths
// Creatures
4 [M12] Adaptive Automaton
4 [M12] Phantasmal Bear
4 [M12] Phantasmal Dragon
4 [M12] Lord of the Unreal
3 [SOM] Grand Architect
4 [M12] Phantasmal Image
// Spells
3 [ZEN] Spell Pierce
4 [NPH] Vapor Snag
4 [M11] Mana Leak
4 [M11] Preordain
// Sideboard
SB: 3 [M11] Negate
SB: 3 [M11] Diminish
SB: 3 [M12] Flashfreeze
SB: 4 [M12] Swiftfoot Boots
SB: 2 [M12] Frost Titan
Cheap spell counters are indeed very good. I found 4 Mana Leak to be a must because any big creatures or spells that can cause havoc to your field must be taken care of. 1 mana cost spells like Pierce is great too. Vapor Snag helps keep artifacts in check so you can setup your counters and Preo is just for faster draw. I'm currently using Preo + Halimar to get my cards out faster.
23 Creatures with a larger emphasis on Dragon over Architect for setting things up.
EDH: Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Who told you this? Seer's Sundial is an artifact ability through and through, it doesn't even look for triggered or activated costs. It does work as intended, but is still slow regardless.
Creatures [28]
4x Extractor Demon
4x Rotting Rats
4x Dregscape Zombie
3x Fatestitcher
4x Viscera Dragger
4x Hedron Crab
2x Kederekt Leviathan
3x Corpse Connoisseur
4x Spell Pierce
2x Consume Spirit
2x Tome Scour
3x Grim Discovery
Lands [23]
4x Terramorphic Expanse
3x Crypt of Agadeem
2x Grixis Panorama
2x Swamp
12x Island
Check out my SELLING LIST of great pricing!
you were actually the person that convinced me to use architect in my build and i've been having such a great time with this awesome deck ever since!
2. Good Decks Have Good Plans
3. Good Decks Have Good Mana Bases
4. Good Decks Respect Their Opponents
5. Good Decks Have 75 Cards
6. Sometimes Even Good Decks Are Bad Choices
7. Sometimes Your 'Good Deck' Isn't
~Metamorph
No it doesn't. Grand Architect states that the mana can only be used for Artifact spells and ACTIVATED abilities. Doesn't work on Triggered.
The "activate abilities of artifacts" clause is misleading. It does indeed work on activated abilities only.
Seer's Sundial
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card.
Actually land fall is a triggered ability. If it has the word Whenever in the text of the ability then it is triggered.
Zelderex- The into the riols are much more usefull than the GftT. The into the Roils allow me to bounce a plains walker, enchantment (O-Ring), creature, and artifact. Plus theay also can draw me a card.
After play testing the deck tonight I have made a few changes to the main.
4 Aether Figment
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Illusion
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Adaptive Automation
Instants 16
4 Spell Pierce
4 Mana Leeks
2 Unified Will
3 Into the Roil
3 Go for the Throat
2 Dark Tutilage
Land 22
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Darkslick Shores
14 Islands
Side Deck15
4 Spreading Seas
4 Spell Skite
4 Mental Misstep
3 Flash Freeze
Dark Tutilage - After testing more I feel that only 2 are needed. I don't want to cut them because they are just so good aginst control. Sticking one of them turn 4-6 just puts the deck way ahead of the control matchup.
Into the Roil - As I said above this card is just so good for its utility.
Go for the Throat - I like this over dismember because spell skite can't swerve it, and it kills titans and sphinxs.
Unified Will - Most of the time I draw this card it is a Counterspell for standard.
U/w Illusions is fantastic. Build I'm running doesn't use GA, then a couple Sun Titans, JBs, and Ingenuity. Spectacular way to win. Vampires rips me to shreds though, can't keep up with 8+ pieces of removal.
Our RDW matchup is winnable, but curious. 4 Mental Misstep+3-4 spell pierces are pretty mandatory. Sit back, counter whatever you can, dump random soaks if you need to. The goal is to stall, as is common for playing RDW. O-Ring did wonders to deal with their final move-Koth. Past that, Sun Titan comes out hard and fast to screw with him.
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Can you expand on this a bit more?
Perhaps a sample decklist?
EDH: Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
I feel like Mirran Crusader could work nicely, though I'm not sure we can manage WW by turn 2. Turn 3 I can hit easily.
Thanks for the Sideboarding tips, I felt like mine could use some serious work.
Molten-Tail...I don't really like it much. The Card Disadvantage is hard to overcome, and my PTing with that thing is what pushed me to try out Ingenuity.
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Here is what I'm looking at running:
4 Grand Architect
4 Lord of the Unreal
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Adaptive Automaton
3 Treasure Mage
2 Steel Hellkite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Ponder
4 Mana Leak
2 Into the Roil/Disperse
2 Dismember
22 Island
I only have one Wurmcoil Engine currently, otherwise I'd run 2/1 with Steel Hellkite.
I really like the Grand Architect variant. Trying to figure out what to run in the sideboard to deal with the more difficult decks, such as RDW. I'm guessing Flashfreeze and Mental Misstep are top choices.
EDH: Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Black Splash section is up! Don't really have a sample list, since it's approaching 1 AM, hoping one of you guys (like Kastlet, RealOG, Rhogall, really anyone with experience building Illusions. Or anyone really) will post/send in a list, since early U/b lists were rather unrefined, and I didn't know at the time what to do about improving them.
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