MTG Salvation

I assure you that when you drop this guy on T2 and enchant it on T3 with Unflinching Courage your opponent will be very interested in removing it and very annoyed that they can't. I don't know if this card pushes the hexproof deck into a viable place but I do know that deck desperately wanted another hexproof creature.

But...but...why can't I make my own retarded snake and then use my own Domri to make it fight their 5/5? ;( It just doesn't seem fair that there could be board states where they could take advantage of having a deathtouch creature and I can't.

...If only there were some way I could fix that when I was choosing the cards to have in my deck...

tl;dr This is why we can't have nice things.

Even something as simple as Clan Defiance becomes fairly silly with Thaumaturge. Do 2 to a flyer, 2 to a nonflyer and 2 to the opponent all for just 2 mana? I'm happy with that all day long. As an aside, I will build a blue red deck running this guy alongside izzet staticaster before RtR rotates. Just because.

So much hate in this thread. I'm not blown away by her innovative design or immediate constructed applications, but I'm a little surprised that people see her in the Karametra tier of gods. Mainly because Karametra is absurdly bad.

Maybe it would help if we just focused on the things she can do instead of what she can't? She can give Domri Rade deathtouching snakes to fight with. She can help tie up a Desecration Demon for a couple turns. She can provide some limited form of board replacement after a Supreme Verdict. They can be used to regenerate Varloz or scry with Reaper of the Wilds...Oh, and she can become a 5/5 indestructible creature in the color combination that has, perhaps, the most sources of non-creature devotion in standard.

I mean, I agree with the majority of you that they could have done something a little more appealing and pushed but, at the end of the day, it isn't anywhere close to the Karametra disaster.

Okay. So, I mean, I get your attachment to the 15/15 wurm and the crazy artifact creature. I do. Who doesn't wanna kill someone with a 20/20 trampler at least once? I think my question is can you ever reliably cast either of those if you don't resolve Dictate? Can you count on resolving dictate every single game and gaining access to the mana? Especially after sideboard? Even if you do, what do either of those cards do to limit what your opponent does with the mana on their turn? Because the will get a turn considering neither of those guys has haste. And is your aggro game plan so good that resolving a single non-flying blocker will keep the aggressive deck from just killing you with an alpha-strike that turn despite the presence of your huge monster?

You spoke of consistency in your last post and I agree wholeheartedly. Consistency is the difference between an effective constructed deck and a fun FNM experiment. I guess I'm wondering how many times out of 3 you can have dictate to play, resolve it, have a big monster to play and not die in the ensuing turn taken by the opposition.

I don't think I'm willing to write her off just yet. The ability to make 1/1 tokens isn't very exciting. However, within the framework of an environment that has both scavenge and bestow it can certainly be relevant to be able to ensure that you have a target for those kinds of abilities whenever you would want one. A 1/1 snake bestowed with Herald of Torment becomes a 4/4 flying deathtouching doom adder. Likewise, being able to make a token to scavenge a Dreg Mangler onto after a Supreme Verdict could be handy thing to have. Even in an aggro on aggro match-up, if you keep trading creatures and keep putting tokens in play that also force the opponent to trade, eventually, you win the battle of attrition by default.

Maybe I'm just trying to look on the sunny side of the snake, but I think Pharika is definitely worth testing in a B/G aggro shell.

I think you can afford to be pretty flexible as far as your finishers go regardless of your build. That's one of the advantages of producing huge chunks of mana every turn, right? I mean, if you like your Worldspine Wurm and Colossus, those fit into any color shard you go with. By the same token, a monstrous Stormbreath or Polukranos are perfectly capable of quickly closing out a game with the added advantage of still being solid if your dictate doesn't show up on time.

I just feel like, regardless of your color choices, you need a very solid plan to deal with the mana you're giving your opponent. It seems pretty dangerous to invest it all in your really cool thing and hope the opponent doesn't follow it up with some really cooler thing and leave you a sad mage who's mana rich and life total poor. Rakdos Return just seems the easiest because its impossible for them to use that mana to cast cards they don't have, but maybe there's a better way. Maybe we should just fill the graveyard with critters using enablers like Commune with the Gods and Kruphix's Insight to find Dictate and follow it with a Rise of the Dark Realms to win on the spot.

To each their own. I'm not entirely sure that dumping a bunch of mana, and I mean a bunch of mana, into two win cons that can both be detention sphered for three mana is 'just fine' but I'm sure in some match-ups it would fare okay. For me, its just nice to see cards printed that give people something to think about and a reason to brew new concepts. A refreshing change from BnG. I'll be interested to see if, and in what way, Dictate of Karametra finds its way into a competitive constructed deck.

I was a little confused about your mana base comment though. Is there a reason that you have to run Blue with Dictate of Karametra?

I just kinda feel like the Flash ability on the enchantment turns it into a combo piece as opposed to a card for generating board advantage. Obviously I could be wrong, but it seems so easy for so many decks to just blow you out with access to the mana it produces. The alternative would be using it in conjunction with Rakdos Return, Worst Fears or similar play to keep them from utilizing the Dictate mana. Even removal spell + Sire of Insanity seems reasonable. But, as I said, maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong perspective.

I think it could see some competitive play. My first thought was Jund to use all that mana for a Rakdos Return.

I really just wanna use Ajani's first +1 ability with Experiment One, Fathom Mage, Simic Manipulator and Gyre Sage. Even 3/6 hexproof sylvan caryatids sound like fun to me.

Just wondering, but is it possible that the Marshmist Titan is part of a common cycle?

I won't be able to resist the temptation to at least *try* to play Pyromancer's Gauntlet with this guy. I'll lightning strike you for 5 and kill your Polukranos. I'll Warleader's Helix you for 6 and kill your Desecration Demon...
I'm sure it'll be terrible, but I appreciate the avenues of play this little Satyr opens up. Even if they're mostly streets that you don't really want to walk down.

I think the point the above poster unintentionally made is that you have to lose 4 out of 5 games with this card just to win the 5th by a landslide. Virtual advantages acquired by casting a card in future games in no way or shape offset the loss of a current game by giving up a 2 for 1.
I don't hate this card and in a format where Shrine to Nyx is a thing the manacost is not quite the limiting factor it could be in other standard seasons. Even with that being the case, I can't help but believe this is a 'win more' card. If you're already heaping large chunks of damage onto your opponents head you're probably going to win the duel regardless of extra cards you could possibly have drawn because of it.

Hmmm...Mebbe Prophet of Kruphix needs to join Phenax's team? Tap to mill during mine, tap to mill during yours...Untap for inspired during mine...untap for inspired during yours...