Phantasmal Image
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Phantasmal Image

Creature — Illusion

You may have this enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except this is an Illusion in addition to the other types and this gains "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."

Andramalech on Enamored Rotpriest

1 month ago

wallisface you make some good points about this deck, but maybe you haven't seen Infect/Toxic shells enough to note their significant weakness; they're flimsy. In fact a lot of the community who don't play/don't like infect/Toxic decks, do actually have the commentary that the construction seems weak and unreliable. I detailed some follow up commentary to try and respond to each of your individual criticisms.

  • if we want to improve consistency in terms of "What's the back up plan" then maybe we include the well-known Glistener Elf. Or as I have detailed through other comments, Bloated Contaminator, Thrummingbird, etc.

  • this shell is a combo shell, and that being said I fully admit that yeah. The deck is kind of.. enamored by the Rotpriest. That was.. well, that was the point of the list. To have a deck that (inb4 glass cannon) focused on the Rotpriest because I really like the creature.

  • you said Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief wouldn't care about any of my spells being copied but do you know who does care when I target my own creatures? Rotpriest cares.

  • another comment was about Phantasmal Image being useless, but the utility exists in copying any of our own bodies on entry, or better yet, copying whatever big beefy dude your opponents have cast. Is it a strong choice? I mean, no? We could pick something better here but we're getting into the nuance of what/how/why to use something else, and that's more a reflection of one's own playstyle.

I'd recommend you check the commentary with BotaNickill because they were very helpful with deck construction, discussion, and direction, and we discussed how the shell could be built differently for different circumstances.

If you have any further questions about how this deck functions, please check the deck description, updates, and other comments detailed above before posting.

Tl;dr: the deck isn't meta, and honestly is not that good. If you feel it could be built better based on your own thoughts, I agree; it probably can. And would encourage you to build your own. Best of luck, wallisface.

wallisface on Enamored Rotpriest

1 month ago

Some thoughts:

  • the deck doesn’t look like it will function at-all without a Venerated Rotpriest, which is a problem as you have no reliable way to draw it. Added to this, if the opponent knows this piece is required for you to play the game, all their removal will be directed at it - imo your deck needs to be able to do something when this card isn’t in play.

  • Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief doesn’t appear to do anything here; i don’t see any spells here you’d particularly care about being copied onto this card.

  • Phantasmal Image does almost nothing at all for you - i’m not sure what it’s doing here??

Andramalech on Enamored Rotpriest

3 months ago

capwner I appreciate the feedback!

Phantasmal Image seems great in comparison to Artisan of Forms and you're correct, it would be wasteful of the interaction to not consider how that works in my favor.

I think between that, Spellskite, and Summoner's Pact, I'm most likely to use Image and Skite, so I'll figure out where that lands, and will consider that Growth Spiral is effectively a better use of my time than Explore would be on instant speed alone.

Please don't forget to hit this list with an upvote, I'd appreciate it!

capwner on Enamored Rotpriest

3 months ago

Interesting concept, I'm more familiar with the Gruul version of this deck that uses Ground Rift, Lava Dart, Underworld Breach, and other fun red stuff. The red part of that deck seems really necessary to get the quick combo kills that make Rotpriest worth it. But maybe the control aspect you get from blue ends up being good too. My recs are to add Spellskite, this lets you get double activations off every targeted spell and it protects your priests. I'd also consider Phantasmal Image over Artisan of Forms because Image enters as a priest, while Artisan essentially wastes a trigger in order to do its clone effect. Also since you're in Simic maybe run Growth Spiral over Explore?

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

6 months ago

Another combo involving dockside

I was thinking more deeply on the implications of Shrieking Drake. It is important to note that this ability doesn’t target. So it can return Phantasmal Image to your hand without it being sacrificed. That being said here is the combo:

Initial Conditions

Steps:

  1. Cast Phantasmal Image, ETB as Dockside Extortionist and generate a lot of treasure due to Panharmonicon trigger.
  2. Cast Shrieking Drake. Panharmonmicon trigger. The first ability returns Phantasmal Image to your hand, the second returns Shrieking Drake.
  3. Return to step 1.

Without the shrieking drake.. doubling a dockside ability with phantasmal image just once is going to be insane value.

Without Panharmonicon on the field, you can double the trigger by performing this loop just once. it is crazy how when Dockside is in the format, we are able to abuse it even though it isn’t in our deck.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

7 months ago

Another relevant almost infinite combo

I posted about this before and removed it because I wasn't sure if it actually works, but it does! So I will repost.

This combo involves Cloudstone Curio, Phantasmal Image, and Dockside Extortionist. Wait.. dockside is a red card, what gives?! Well dockside popular in cEDH and with phantasmal image, you can make a copy of it. This can be a win condition for Unesh given the right initial conditions.

Initial Conditions:

Steps

  1. Cast a sphinx (or Unesh)
  2. The ETB triggers Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign. Use the BFOF to get another sphinx. If you already have enough sphinxes in hand, prioritize Thassa's Oracle and counter magic to protect your wincon.
  3. The ETB also triggers Cloudstone Curio. Return Phantasmal Image to your hand. (!!THIS DOES NOT CAUSE PH. IMAGE TO SACRIFICE TO ITSELF!!)
  4. Cast Phantasmal Image as a copy of Dockside Extortionist (assuming it is still a valid target), to gain treasures greater than or equal to the amount spent on the Sphinx and Phantasmal Image.
  5. Return to step 1, unless Thassa's Oracle win condition is online in which case go to step 6.
  6. Cast Thassa's Oracle.

I think this combo sounds crazy to people who aren't used to playing Unesh, because there are a lot of things that can prevent you from finishing this combo. Is it likely you will keep finding sphnxes? Short answer, yes due to the 20% rule. In my experience this revision of the deck will get you to the bottom your deck almost every time. What if they remove Dockside from the field? If someone has to use a removal piece on the opponent's Dockside, you can counter it. And if you can't counter it, it feels really good that the removal piece isn't pointing at Unesh. What if they remove Unesh? Now you have another Sphinx to play and continue the combo if you have the mana.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

7 months ago

1 card sub + found another relevant combo

Replaced Spark Double with Orvar, the All-Form. Spark double and Sakashima are great cards with awesome text, in this deck they effectively do the same thing. I don't think the deck needs redundancy here. Seeing both of these cards in your hand is undesirable because they are relatively expensive mana-wise. A faster card needs to go in one of these slots. I chose to take out Spark Double rather than Sakashima because the text on Sakashima is better. Incoming Orvar. Orvar benefits from Unesh's cost reduction making it only 2 mana to cast. He is a cheap sphinx which is good enough and the rest of the text is an outstanding bonus. The first ability on Orvar synergizes extremely well with Unsummon, Snap, Ghostly Flicker, and especially Chain of Vapor. The second ability isn't as important, but it is not an unhappy thing to see.

Found another almost infinite combo that includes Dockside Extortionist. But wait this is a mono-blue deck, what gives?? Dockside is huge in the format right now, and with Phantasmal Image you can make one if your opponent has one. In Unesh this can be a win condition. Here is the order of events:

Initial conditions:

Steps

  1. Cast a sphinx. This triggers Cloudstone Curio returning Phantasmal Image to your hand. This also triggers Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign, you pull sphinxes, changelings, bounce spells, Thassa's Oracle, and counter magic if possible from the BFOF.
  2. Play Phantasmal Image as a copy of Dockside Extortionist to regain mana equal to or greater than the combined cost of the sphinx and Phantasmal Image.
  3. Continue to play sphinxes until you can win the game with Thassa's Oracle.
  4. Repeat until Thassa's Oracle win is online.
  5. Cast Thassa's Oracle

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

8 months ago

Palinchron added + talk about combos

Replaced Narset's Reversal. Reversal is a cute fun card in this deck. Reversal is a combo piece that is under utilized here. Reversal relies on your opponent to cast a cool spell, playing your own deck and theme is normally better.

Palinchron combos with SIX cards already in this deck to produce infinite mana, infinite storm count for Aetherflux Reservoir, and infinite card draw with Defiler of Dreams. These SIX cards are High Tide, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Power, Caged Sun, Panharmonicon, and even Phantasmal Image. This makes it extremely likely that you will be able to combo with Palinchron if you draw him.

Honestly I knew this card was bonkers, but after thinking about it and finally writing all the synergies on paper I have convinced myself to include it.

While we are talking about combos, I didn't realize there was another infinite combo in the deck. This one takes a bit of setup but here it is. Aetherflux Reservoir, Cloudstone Curio, and Defiler of Dreams. With all 3 of these permanents on the battlefield, if you have 1 low cost changeling in your hand, 1 on the field, and if you have any sphinx mana reduction you meet the criteria. For instance:

  1. The 3 combo cards are on the field, and so is Amoeboid Changeling and Urza's Incubator.
  2. You cast Mothdust Changeling from your hand using Defiler of Dreams blue cost reduction.
  3. Cast triggers Aetherflux Reservoir gaining you the life back you spent to cast it.
  4. ETB triggers Cloudstone Curio sending Amoeboid Changeling to your hand.
  5. Cast Amoeboid Changeling from your hand using cost reduction from Urza's Incubator and Defiler of Dreams.
  6. Cast triggers Aetherflux Reservoir to gain you back the life you used to cast.
  7. ETB triggers Cloudstone Curio sending Mothdust Changeling to your hand.
  8. Return to step 2.
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