Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 23:48:29 -0400 (EDT) From: "John M Shuler" To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Subject: [Strategy] That Kooky Illusionist guy! So here I am, procrastinating. I've got 3 papers to write by wednesday, all for upper level classes, and I've only got one of them started, and I'm only about 2/3 of the way through it. I was going to go to the local type 2 tournament tomorrow (Game Parlor, in VA), but just made plans with the woman to go to dinner and see a show, instead. Ah, adulthood. :) Anyway, I had been tossing around this idea, and actually used a somewhat modified version of it last monday, and went 2-0 before I had to drop out to go to D.C., and I've been thinking about it since then. The idea is that the Vodalian Illusionist is a pretty damn good card, even in Type 2. Sure, he's mana dependant, but his ability is just too good to ignore. Let's look at him for a moment. U2 o o \__/ Vodalian Illusionist Summon Illusionist UU,T: Target creature phases out nice ascii art, no? So he can phase a creature out. Big deal, right? Actually, it *is* a big deal. Consider the level of importance that targetted removal has in the Standard environment. Plows, Incinerates, Taal, Terror, Banish, Fireball, Afterlife, et cetra. Now consider that the illusionist's ability lets you effective counter a single targeted removal. Sure, they can plow, then plow in responce to your phasing, but that's card advantage for you, and you've effectively countered the first plow. So we have advantage #1: He can effectively counterspell targetted removal. Remember, that's an advantage that can be applied to both him AND your other creatures. Not too shabby when you are applying the beatdown with Ophidian, and they want to incinerate it, but they have to get past the illusionist first. Tricky. This leads, naturally, to advantage #2. Advantage #2: He can effectively negate the effect of a mass removal spell with respect to a single creature. You opponent just wrathed to get rid of your Ihsan's? Phase him out in responce, and only lose your illusionist. Now they have to wrath *again*. Opponent have a scary looking Nev's disk out there? Don't worry, he's not going to get all of your creatures. You can save the best one. You have your OWN disk out there? Clear the board.. but leave one of your permanents out to play. Best of all, play with Jokulhaups. Now you don't have to time it in sync with a phaser, because EVERYTHING is a phaser. Advantage #3: He targets. This is extremely minor, but he has a built-in skulky killing device, a built in tar-pit killing device, and if you feel like it, you can wreak havoc with your opponent's war beast Advantage #4: He works like an icy to grant card advantage off of mass kill spells. Now you can keep phasing out your opponent's creature when he tries to attack, wait until he lays the second or third creature, and then phase out your illusionist and wrath/disk/ haups what have you. He grants the card advantage that an icy grants, but he can protect himself, which and icy can't do. Of course, if you are playing with an Ophidian, your opponent also needs 2 blockers (3 if you feel like being tricky) in order to stop the Phid, since you can just phase out one during the attack. Draw a card. :) I could go on and on about this guy, but instead I'll drop a rough deck listing so I can go work on my papers: 4 Illusionist 4 Ophidian 4 Impulse 4 Counterspell 3 Dissipate 3 Force of Will 3 Powersink 1 Dream Tides 2 Time Elemental 4 Boomerang 4 Nev's Disk 1 Disrupting Sceptre 2 Soldevi Excavations (disk synergy) 18 Islands 3 Thawing Glaciers (hand clog is why) Looks silly, but it really isn't. Boomerangs and Elementals slow your opponent down to where you want them. Illusionists guarentee you'll get card advantage off the disks, and that single creatures won't worry you for the most part. The countering armada allows you to get your disk through, so non-land board threats aren't really a problem. 4 boomerangs and 2 time elementals take care of land board threats (read-outpost), and if you can't lay a time elemental and protect it in this deck, then you suck anyway, and I can't help you. :) Get early control with the disk & counters. Maintain card quality superiority via impulse/excavations/glaciers, and maintain board control with illusionists & elementals. Card quantity superiority comes from glaciers/phid/[disk+llusionist] ok i'm feeling like I should get back to those papers. i look forward to commentary, whether it is emailed or in the form of followup, but let's get some strategy going on here. And don't make fun of my main deck sceptre, it is the absolute *bomb* shuler -- John M. Shuler jshuler@gmu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------- Of course, when your opponent makes the mistake of only drawing one land, he must be punished. - Eric Taylor --------------------------------------------------------------------