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Blue illusion aggro/control, I'm working on doing this better by making it Legacy legal.
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Okay, to begin, I play Magic, but I play for fun, so I am not that good. Now as for what to put in, your creatures seem good to me, but I would drop the three Levitations and add a Grand Architect, or another creature. I personally do not have one, but from doing research on this type of deck, he is in most of them. If you cannot afford one, I run Aether Adept. As for your other spells, I run a lot of counters in my deck. Illusion creatures are a glass sword, they can hit hard, but if your opponent has something up their sleeve their gone. So I would suggest running cards like Turn Aside, Negate, and Cancel. Keep the Mana Leaks and Ponder cause they are very good. Anyway, I have playtested my deck so far, and it runs pretty fast, and the counter spells really piss off opponents. Well I hoped I helped and sorry if this was a lengthy answer.
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First I appreciate long constructive answers! I also just play for fun, tournaments/competetive play is certainly not my cup of tea.. Great advice, grand architect is kind of obvious ^^I also felt that the levitation was bad, and that I needed more consistent cards. Take a look at it now and tell me what you think :)
The creature base looks good to me. The other spells, I like but I have this to say, Zendikar is going to be banned by September 30th, so for now Spell Pierce is a great card, just have a substitute ready to go, like Turn Aside. As for Divination I would say get rid of it, Three mana for only two cards is not worth it. Plus you already have four Ponders and that is is good enough for me, but I do not know about you, I mean drawing is never a bad thing. I would ditch them and add Cancels. Three mana and it counters target spell, or if you are lucky enough, try getting some Redirects. Also Adaptive Automan is a good card, and should a least be sideboarded. You could run two and swap out two dragons. I mean the fact that he can become and Illusion and then boost them, without the drawback is nothing to scoff at. So that's it for me again, and many thanks on not hating the long answers, I like to explain my logic.
Yeah I'll find something for the cards that will rotate.. Divination is crucial since it's my only card drawer, of course 2 cards for 3 mana is horrible (hello ancestral) but I mean I can't afford those and I want it to be standard so this is the best I can think of. I don't want to end up without any cards (which aggro decks easily can do) so I'll stick with my Divination hehe :P Well frankly Counter sucks. It's a horrible counterspell and I don't think they're worth it, but that's just me. I'm kind of happy with the deck right now as it is, the only thing left is the sideboard which leads me to Adaptive Automan. I shall out toghether something and then we'll see :)
You do realize that Ponder lets you draw a card right?
Yes, but Ponder isn't card drawing, it's called cycling when you get a new card for another, to draw means that you for example play one card and get to draw 4. Basically you draw more than what you played. So Ponder won't fill my hand like divination does.
I WOULD SUGGEST USING PHYREXIAN METAMORPH OVER GRAND ARCHITECT HIS ABILITY IS NO USE TO YOU WITHOUT ARTIFACTS.
Yeah maybe you're right.. but frankly I don't give a damn about this deck ^^
good deck , but 3 cards is lose??
try adaptive automaton buddy. and yes grand architect he's right.
Yes but I can't find room for it, I'd like to keep my counter count as it is and I can't really cut any creatures :/
I think you can cut the Architects for the automatons, because they serve the save purpose And if ur going to play levitate might as well play gravitational sift
krovikan mist, illusionary servant, phantom warrior, chronozoa, aether figment and draining whelk are all really cool illusions that you could use. Aether figment is the only one in standard from those. You could cut back on spells in the form of vapor snag and gitaxian probe. Good job!
Well I love Legacy but I wanted this to be standard so I'll keep it that way.. And yeah, vapor snag and probe are just filler right now :P
Hey Dude, this is quite nice. The main weakness I see is you have no spot removal, so if opponent gets any permanent with a targetted ability into play you're pretty screwed. Dismemeber or even some bounce spells may help. I think you have too many counters and draws. Counters are too reactive, you wanna be spending your mana on illusions. And draws should not be as important in aggro since almost all your cards should allow you to do some killin' ;0 Like others have said, I would also put in adaptive automation. Swiftfoot boots may also be cool here as well. Can't use them on your illusions but will protect your lord and architect while allowing for some quick damage.
I agree, there are too much draw and counterspells! Dismember would not be good in this deck I have to pay 4 life to remove a creature, I'd rather play Unsummon/into the roil over that.. Take a look at it now n' tell me what you think :)
Better. 4 life isn't a big cost in an aggro deck, imo. Feck, just thought of Spellskite! Should definitely be in here. Cheap and can protect your illusions. Sub it in for divination.
My bad spellskite doesn't work, because illusions ability triggers as soon as targetted :(
Exactly, well 4 life ain't much I agree, but the fact that I can't play it otherwise makes it bolder to use. Will see if I get this deck, to it's just a normal Aggro without any tricks really, + it's made for standard which makes it boring imo.
spellskite should still be in there to protect yourself and your human wizard, who is protecting your illusions with hexproof... check out my version... was build shortly after me and a friend crack opened a box (6x36 booster packs) http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=210930
Whoa did you get 6 Booster Boxes? :O
yeah... there so many awesome rares in m12.. we had to do it.. :)
Well, It would be much cheaper to just buy singles if you don't wanted like two playset of all cards ^^
we played draft with the boosters... was great fun...
In my opinion id take out negate and the divination to put in the fourth phantasmal image and add a couple wurmcoil engines as a finisher, they are easy to get out by turn 4 with grand architect
Yes good advice but I don't have any Wurmcoils :(
Wurmcoils can come out as early as turn 3, actually.
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=213408
dood i totally just pushed another illusion deck up to the front page =]
LOL that makes 4 of uss illusion decks on front page MUAHA HA HA illusions will conquior alll.... providing you dont target us :) i like the counter count in yours...
Gotta add something to cast with your architect mana. Wurmcoil is the go-to fatty, but I've been experimenting with a couple batterskulls. Steelhellkite is an option for a cheaper, more control type creature. People all talk about automaton, but I feel he has no place in an illusion deck. It doesn't have anything overly powerful. LotU and GA are more than enough for lords for this kind of deck. It's a much better card for tribes that don't have major lords already.
I agree. I'll see what I'll do, i'm not muhc into this deck and I can't believe how it made it to the front page :P
ive seen sooooo many illusion decks and i still dont have one yet lol check out my ooze deck http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=214735 o ya cool deck
Yeah this is just something I put together I don't think it's that funny ^^
It seems like a lot of people are using their grand architect to tap their U creatures and get a wurmcoil engine out by turn 3. It's definitely a scary card to get out there, even by turn 6 and I think you should consider maybe running some, but thats just my 2 cents.
Yes, but this is a budget and I don't have any Wurmcoils but thanks anyway.
If you could get another Pantasmal Image, they are very killer.
Remove a Grand Architect for it. Also, Vapor Snag is a great card for this deck and you might want to bump it up a 1 or 2.
I'll follow your advise!
Krovikan Mist?
If you need another good illusion creature you should use phantom warrior. Hes a 2/2 unblockable illusion for 3. Also since you have a grand architect in there anyway it way be in your best interest to throw in a Coat of Arms artifact to power up your illusions. Also just in case you dont have a Lord of the unreal on the field have Lightning Grieves or Swiftfoot Boots in your deck. Grand Architects ability can be used to play both of them since them both cost 2 and give the creatures protection from spells your opponents control. It helps a lot in late gameplay in an illusion deck.
Phantom Warrior was great, but he isn't standard legal :/ I don't need to power up them further, instead I preach more field control/disrupting however Swiftfoot Boots was a good point, however I use my counters as protection and they are more versatile so I'll stick with the list :)
Except equipping any of those Illusion creatures would cause you to sacrifice it... Equip = targeting Also, counters won't save your creatures either. Say someone targets your Phantasmal Bear with a Doom Blade, you play Negate to counter Doom Blade. Doom Blade gets countered, and you have to sacrifice your Phantasmal Bear because it got targeted and it's triggered ability goes on the stack immediately. Many people aren't understanding how these illusion creatures work, I hope this helps!
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Someone may have mentioned this already, but this may actually be a deck where Xenograft could work! Think about it, you drop it and choose illusion and suddenly the final 2/5 of your creatures are now Illusions as well. Just dropping this with 1 Lord of Unreal makes it a 3/3 hexproof for 2! Not bad at all! The only problem I could forsee is it costing 5, but it seems decent regardless. The total lack of Preordain is perplexing as without any fetchlands or anything like that to shuffle your deck, it's almost strictly better than Ponder, and running both is not the worst either if you'd want. If it were me, I'd stick with Preordain over Ponder, and probably even Forsee over Divination. Hope this helps a bit.:)
I completely agree about Preordain. ALMOST EVERY BLUE DECK CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS CARD. Scry and card draw? Thank you very very very much. Preordain replaces Divination period.
Do you realize that you should play 4 phantasmal images b/c you can copy your lord there for making your illusions untouchable (by spells excpt. doj/slagstorm) for the rest of the game. you can play evasion enchantments until Zendikar leaves with things like levitate/Gravitaional shift. Turn to a frog can make big scary creatures toothless. you can cut Architects for Adaptive Automatons. for other aggro deck or in general play Unsummon/ Vapor Snag. as for counters you should bee safe with mana leaks. However I would wait and see what Innistrad brings caues right now I'm having problem about what to keep and cut for my deck too: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=217157 it's really subtle so make sure you read carefully
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I have a semi intelligent question. If Grand Archetect's first ability gives blue creatures a 1;1 Would you still have to sacrifice the bear, the dragon AND the P. Image Regardless if you have Lord of the Unreal on the field? From my understanding L. Unreal only protects them from being the target of an opponents spell or ability. Not yours. Correct me if im wrong because i REALLY want to use these guys in a U/G deck.
Wait. I just realized that Grand Architects ability is a Mass Effect ability so none of the illusions are being TARGETED by a specific source. Awesome I just had an idea for a deck.
Your very right ;) awesome I love U/G, please send a link when it's done!
Okay so if you're going to make this Legacy, here's some suggestions. - 4 Grand Architect - 1 Phantasmal Dragon - 3 Divination - 2 Negate - 3 Spell Pierce + 4 Phantom Warrior + 1 Phantasmal Image + 4 Preordain + 4 Counterspell Ta-da! Much better.
It says in the description that he wants to make it Legacy but in his comments it seems like he's trying to keep it standard. I am confused! If you want to keep it standard, use Aether Figments (since you can't use Phantom Warriors) before they rotate out!! And definitely use Preordains...no less than 4 lol
Majician, I need a draw engine, what do you suggest? I feel that Divination is not that good, So I've been thinking about adding some proliferate for Tezzeret's Gambit. Cardaconda2, I recently updated the description, in the beginning I wanted it to be Standard, hence all the comments, but now I want it to be legacy. I run Ponder Over Preordains since I plan on getting fetch lands.
Ok i'm going to do as many has suggested, I'm going to put in some Wurmcoils, I'll keep it standard, however, I will make a new legacy designed illusion deck, check it out!