Ever since pulling my first Simic Manipulator at the Gatecrash pre-release I've fallen in love with this tentacly bastard. I was new to magic at the time, and didn't really understand concepts such as tempo and mana-curves, so I just tried throwing him into any old simic deck I could mash together. This worked for a while, until my friends started putting burn into their decks to one-shot him as soon as he hit the field. Ever since then I have been trying to find a viable place for him, usually in counter-based deck to fit his mechanics, but nothing has been able to either reliably get and use him or defend him while he's out. Finally I decided to try scrapping all attempts at counter decks to just focus on control aspects, and I have found a surprising amount of success! Here is the latest installment in a long line of simic-manipulator decks, any feedback you can offer would be much appreciated!
Key cards:
Simic Manipulator - the backbone of this deck. He isn't very good compared to other creature-stealing cards like
Beguiler of Wills
or Memnarch, which is why I have such a fascination with making him powerful.
Agoraphobia
- Since this deck does not revolve around giving large numbers of +1+1 counters to manipulator,
Agoraphobia
allows me to bring my opponents creatures down to a level where just a few--usually no more than one--will be able to steal them. Another tricky move is to put it on manipulator himself to allow for almost indefinite evolves.
AEtherling/Deadeye Navigator - can both blink at will to evolve manipulator. I use both in my deck because each serves a unique purpose: AEtherling blinks slowly but can be a win-condition in-and-of himself, Deadeye Navigator can blink far more quickly and therefore is a much more powerful evolve engine.
Ring of Evos Isle - One of the few sources of +1+1 counters in this deck. Can also provide some cover for the manipulator in a pinch.
Drift of Phantasms - This essentially doubles the number of manipulators in my deck by allowing me to transmute one in a pinch. On top of that, it is a fat flying defender that can trigger evolve and slow down aggro decks long enough for me to start literally taking control of the game.
