MTG Salvation

That's a fair point that you raise - she rewards you for having a large army, but in a roundabout way that doesn't really support the overall strategy of swarming in with multiple attackers. I think she'd be decent in a deck that also played Rancor, since her big weakness is that it would be fairly easy to chump a single creature each combat and has little resistance to removal. Jubilation seems much better in any deck that can reliably get the triple white.

No, it will not. The rules check that the target of a spell is legal both at the time you cast the spell and put it on the stack, and again when the spell resolves. Since the stack operates in Last-In, First-Out order, Alexi's Cloak will give the creature shroud before Beast Within resolves. When Beast Within tries to resolve, it sees that the creature is no longer a legal target. Beast Within no longer has any targets, and will be countered by game rules.

I should point out that you can't pod in response - Birthing Pod's ability can be activated only anytime you could cast a sorcery, which means your main phase and an empty stack.

Still, hitting a Vapor Snag and bouncing an Insectile Aberration is not the worst thing you could do. I think this card is not going to be played beyond a one-of in pod lists, but I think it could be quite good in the right matchup.

I don't think Delver is a great creature on his own. With that said, there's no denying that he's an excellent creature beside a wall of cantrips, most especially Ponder (and Brainstorm in Legacy, but that's a different thread) to fix draws and filter instants and sorceries to the top of the deck. Without a fixer like that and Thought Scour, he's a high-risk, high-reward dude that's really kind of a dud. Once rotation hits, I expect him to be a lot weaker, though not outside playability.

I'm split on Jace's Phantasm, though I do expect it to be played in Delver Mirrors in the board for the next couple months until rotation.

Apologies - I checked the first four pages of this forum and being new to the site, neglected to check the table of contents as well.

I guess my question would be: Is it better to go the completely creatureless route for removal-blanking, or would it be more advantageous to go in a somewhat more "traditional" route with Solemn Simulacrum, Sun Titan, and other dudes to block the board?

I'm going in the Angel of Jubilation camp, since we can more-or-less assume some sort of tokens or other aggro-swarm type of deck here. Odric is decent, but he has to swing to be effective, which involves him being on the board for a full turn cycle, which you can't always count on. Archangel is even more counterproductive to the deck, since he actively punishes you for doing what you want to be doing the most - building an army and crashing in. Jubilation helps you pump your field, while also having the side effect of being basically immune to Dismember and making Pod players cry.

If we assume that we must play one of the two options listed, it would be Odric, simply because he's much harder to deal with once he gets going - he can't be blocked when you don't want him to be, and you can orchestrate major swings with his attacking ability.

Mindclaw Shaman - Whenever it enters the battlefield, target player reveals his or her hand. You may cast an instant or sorcery from that player's hand without paying its mana cost.

It is 5 mana for a 2/2 without other relevant abilities, but this one is pretty good, and I am surprised that it hasn't really seen much play lately. Granted, the only deck that's going to really want this is Pod, and this card has to compete with Conscripts and Thragtusk in the slot, among others. However, I still think this card could be viable in competitive Type 2 - it's often going to be a 2-for-1, leaving you with a creature and them down a card, and if you manage to strip a removal spell or card draw spell like Ponder or Doom Blade, that may well turn into a 3-for-1, which isn't bad at all. The things setting this card back are high cost (5 mana is not good when 4 is the top end in many decks) and the fact that the meta is very creature heavy, making this often a blank against a deck like Dungrove.dec or Pod itself, which probably isn't playing non-creature spells besides Bonfire, Pod itself, and maybe an O-Ring or Purge/Divine Offering/Timely Reinforcements. As such, it's probably limited to a 1-of in the Pod board against Delver matchups, but I don't think it's outside the playable sphere altogether. What do you think?

I'd really love to see Judge Foil Library. Judge shocklands would be nice, but they already exist in foil (though new art would be nice)

Would really also like to see Foil Karakas - to my knowledge, it was Uncommon in Legends, and therefore was not placed on the reserve list. Especially with updated art. If not Judge Foil, then maybe in FTV:R? Sadly, Tabernacle was rare, so that's not going to happen...

Close to Mono-Brown control, but with some added white cards to use as win-conditions. This is designed to be a fun (if somewhat annoying) deck to play against, while still being decently competitive. While not a deck I'd play at a PTQ or SCG 5K, I've had fun with it at FNM's

First, the deck, then an explanation:



The main goal of this deck is to blank as many cards as possible with the virtual card advantage of blanking all creature removal in the opponent's deck - with the exception of a pair of token creators and Batterskull, the deck is utterly devoid of creatures in game 1. The main win condition is to use the Staff of Nin or Karn Liberated to pull far enough ahead to ensure a slow, laborious victory, while stalling (not in the cheating sense) with an array of spot removal, life gain, and board sweepers.

A brief description of some of the more interesting card choices:


This deck is pretty slow, and generally doesn't win before turn 15, so it's probably not the deck you want to play if you want to relax and enjoy yourself between matches - you're probably going pretty close to time in every match. You'll want to drag this game out - against everything but the most dedicated of control decks, you are NOT the beatdown (and even then, you're still sometimes not as such). Stall whenever possible - use your sweepers liberally, and don't be afraid to drop O-Rings as needed.

I hope this gets some gears turning, and perhaps this list can be turned into a respectable deck that can possibly go to a 5K somewhere. Advice and constructive criticism are always welcomed and appreciated, and thanks for your time.

I want to make sure this interaction works the way I think it does.

Phantasmal Image
Sun Titan
Sakashima the Impostor

Scenario: Sakashima is copying Sun Titan. Phantasmal Image enters the battlefield as a copy of Sakashima.

Here's what my interpretation of the rules leads me to deduce: Since Sakashima is under a copy effect, Phantasmal Image enters as a copy as Sun Titan, except that it's still legendary, it's name is Sakashima, and it has the bounce effect. Phantasmal Titan's ETB effect triggers, but before it does, Legend Rule sends Sakashima and Phantasmal Image to the graveyard. After this happens, Phantasmal Image's ability goes on the stack, at which time the target of the ability is chosen. Therefore, Phantasmal Image can return itself to the battlefield by its own ability.

Have I missed something, or is my interpretation of the rules here correct?

Hello, and I hope that everyone here is enjoying themselves. I'm a very long time lurker of this site, and finally decided to actually register and post and all that good stuff. You can refer to me as Skies, Drifter, or anything along those lines. Been a long time M:tG player - about 10 years in total, competitively for two and a half. Been to a few PTQ's, frequent FNM'er, and hoping to enjoy my time here; may drift along some day, but until that time comes, I hope that we can all enjoy our time here.

So, do stop by and say hello, and, well... I will probably see some of you guys here... and there...