It's only an illusion (Modern MTG Deck)

Use Phantasmal Bear to drop a 2/2 on turn one. Then follow it up with a Lord of the Unreal to give it Hexproof and +1/+1. Use Phantasmal Image to either copy your oppenents' creatures, or your Lord of the Unreal to perma-hexproof everything.

Use cards like Into the Roil and Vapor Snag to slow down your opponents or protect your Lord of the Unreal. Into the Roil is also a temporary anything-removal and is awesome when followed up with a counter spell. I decided to use Vapor Snag over Unsummon because the only creatures I could protect with it are Krovikan Mist and Lord of the Unreal, in which case I'm fine with losing one life.

Use Dissolve or sideboard it with Negate or Nullify to counter your opponents spells around turns 4-5 and onward. Additionally the Thassa's Rebuff will be a decent Mana Leak that just gets stronger over time. If you're playing against a burn deck or something with lots of targeting, siding in Mizzium Skin will protect your creatures with its overload or let you survive combat pretty decently.

Side in Phantasmal Dragon when you need stuff bigger than your Illusionary Servants. Use Divination to dig around for the card you're looking for.

Also, a great turn one play for the deck is Gitaxian Probe in combination with a Phantasmal Bear. Looking at your opponent's hand turn 1 can tell you a lot about their strategy especially when they haven't played a card yet. Otherwise it is the only playable card for turn 1 when you don't have a Phantasmal Bear.

Turn to Frog is a really solid and unexpected way to get rid of almost anything (even indestructable) considering all the creatures except for a lonely Krovikan Mist will be 2/2 or greater.

It you want to make this deck even more competitive, you can probably replace one or two Thassa's Rebuff and the Dissolves with Remand. Also if you're playing casually you can just use Ponders in place of Serum Visions.

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Gitaxian Probe — March 27, 2014

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So I'm replacing Serum Visions with Gitaxian Probe since looking at your opponent's hand can be a lot more useful with all of the counter-spells and such. It also provides a nice and free cantrip in addition to summoning your Phantasmal Bear, which is the only other playable card for turn 1. It gives you something to play when you don't have a bear in your hand too. Serum Visions can setup my draws and get out of situations where you would be flooded or deprived of lands however. I might find a card to replace with Serum Visions in the main deck since they are so useful in certain situations. Although I will remove Mizzium Skin from the sideboard since it isn't very useful as an 'in response to' type card because the illusions will still die, so I'd have to overload it before my opponent even casts a targeting spell.

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Date added	10 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is not Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Rares 6 - 6 Uncommons 25 - 9 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	1.90
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