Cephalid Illusionist

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Cephalid Illusionist

Creature — Cephalid Wizard

Whenever Cephalid Illusionist becomes the target of a spell or ability, put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.

(2)(Blue), Tap: This turn prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by target creature you control.

OLucas on Budget Sultai Tormod combos

1 year ago

Added the cephalid breakfast self-mill combo with Cephalid Aristocrat, Cephalid Illusionist and Shuko. With Gaea's Blessing in the deck and Tormod, the Desecrator on the battlefield that's infinite zombies. Also added Memory's Journey as a way to shuffle Gaea's Blessing if its in the graveyard from drawing and discarding/casting.

Grafted Wargear and Lightning Greaves also serve the same function of Shuko in the combo. The greaves should definitedly be added for mtgo since it's cheap there.

temeref on SIBBBBHTSFHFTDOI

2 years ago

mlequesne, hey, fair warning, big ol' blurb incoming. I really appreciated you getting my thought train going again since it's lead to a really fun night of brainstorming ways of getting the Isochron Scepter combo into the list and I wanted to talk about it a bit.

Initially I was skeptical about the combo since Dramatic Reversal didn't target anything or provide too much on it's own. That said, I still don't think it's the perfect new addition, but it's definitely not useless. In playtesting it usually ends up being used as a minor ritual to net 1 mana. On the other hand, Isochron Scepter is an AMAZING new addition. Like, I didn't realize how many solid targets I already had in the deck for it! In the realm of infinites, for 7 mana both Path to Exile and Tithe loop with Emeria Shepherd and Repository Skaab as long as any Plains remain in the deck, and I can replace Reanimate with Shallow Grave to loop Repository Skaab since it sacrificing itself gets around SG's EoT exile. For just solid value being able to cast Lim-Dul's Vault every turn for Axis of Mortality seems nice, being able to fill the graveyard with Entomb is a decent option as well, and of course there's always Swan Song. On the rare occasion that I do get Dramatic Reversal on the scepter, Cephalid Illusionist can actually mill the whole deck and win like that, Verity Circle can tap everything forever, Vilis, Broker of Blood gets silly, Magus of the Bazaar and Mirror-Mad Phantasm mill as much as needed... honestly the options are crazy.

Anyways just wanted to say thanks again for getting me back in the groove. I've already ordered in the new additions and can't wait to get them sleeved up.

Daedalus19876 on Endless Forms Most Beautiful: Vadrok EDH [PRIMER]

3 years ago

The changes I'm testing right now, to fit a Cloudstone package and a discount Cephalid Breakfast.

Cut: Wheel of Misfortune , Lightning Bolt , Izzet Charm , Treasonous Ogre , Thing in the Ice  Flip, Rielle, the Everwise , Cephalid Constable .

Added: Whirlpool Warrior , Goblin Engineer , Cloudstone Curio , Lightning Greaves , Intuition , Cephalid Illusionist , Spectral Sailor .

Abridged explanation:

Wheel of Misfortune was just too hard to control effectively, and I can't force my opponents to draw with Narset or Hullbreacher out (also, making it work right often cost too much life if I was the archenemy). Whirlpool Warrior does that trick better.

Cephalid Constable was cute and won me some games, but it always left everyone unhappy at the end of the game. Cephalid Illusionist costs one less mana, mills cards to give Vadrok fuel, and sometimes can help on defense.

Speaking of Illusionist, I'm testing Lightning Greaves to mill my whole deck along with him (by alternating between Illusionist and another creature). I'd rather run Nomads en-Kor , but I'm not running any white... Lightning Greaves can help protect something like Toothy or Con Sphinx anyway, so hopefully it's not TOO bad on its own.

Goblin Engineer can fetch Curio, and Cloudstone Curio can reset Vadrok's mutation, or simply go infinite with Cloud of Faeries and/or Dockside Extortionist (potentially with help from Birgi, God of Storytelling  Flip).

Intuition has been in and out before, but I'm testing it to try packages like Lore Drakkis / Snap + Underworld Breach + Dockside Extortionist / Sea-Dasher Octopus (assuming I already have Vadrok on field). At the very least, it's essentially an Entomb for Underworld Breach , since no opponent in their right mind would ever allow me to have that card in hand.

king-saproling on Never Fear the Grave

3 years ago

You could include combo lines around Intruder Alarm , such as Alarm + Deranged Assistant + Hua Tuo, Honored Physician . There are actually a lot of cheap self-mill creatures that work here like Cathartic Adept , Vantress Gargoyle , and Millikin among many others. Drift of Phantasms could be nice to include here since it can find either Alarm or Hua Tuo.

Another good combo card is Mana Severance . You could follow it up with Balustrade Spy , Hermit Druid , or Undercity Informer to mill your whole library. This is good since you could then flashback Dread Return targeting Necrotic Ooze, which in turn is good if you toss in Necrotic Ooze combo lines (there are many) such as Phyrexian Devourer + Triskelion .

Another notable self-mill card is Cephalid Illusionist . With it and Lightning Greaves you can mill your whole library, 3 cards at a time. The 3 card chunks is significant since you'll get a bunch of triggers from Sidisi, so a finisher like the above-mentioned Necrotic Ooze combo may not be needed since you'll have tons of zombies. Dimir Infiltrator and Muddle the Mixture are nice here since they can find either combo piece.

Drac24 on Kwain Bunny Hugs

3 years ago

Thanks a lot for the feedback on the deck TotesMcGoats!

Ive actually thought about replacing the Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor combo since ive got few ways to assemble it besides drawing into it, especially after some more testing. Actually thought of Mind Over Matter and Ive bought a copy since and added an Idyllic Tutor to help out with it and to fetch some of the pillow fort pieces if needed. The idea of the deck is to be as passive as possible only interacting when needed and using the silver bullets wisely ((need to up the interactio a bit imo after testing).

I tried the "everyone draws X cards" and I'm not a fan of them but they are a great replacement for a more steady win and more budget friendly than trying to get a MoM.

On the Tidal Barracuda thing I prefer Leyline of Anticipation since its a bit harder to interact with and my playgroup does play a lot of creature removal and semi reanimation through Hall of Heliod's Generosity .

Thanks a lot for the feedback and I really do love your Kwain list! The playstyle has been a blast in my playgroup and others, Im really proud of the list.

TotesMcGoats on Kwain Bunny Hugs

3 years ago

Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor is a neat combo but its not my favorite since they doesn't really do anything for you besides when you put the two together. I'm also not a huge fan of Laboratory Maniac because he doesn't do anything on his own and we have better versions of his effect. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is definitely still playable but Thassa's Oracle 's ETB trigger is just so reliable that you don't really need the redundancy IMO.

If your plan is to deck yourself and win with Thassa's Oracle, I'd highly recommend picking up a Mind Over Matter to combo with Kwain, Itinerant Meddler or Temple Bell . Its a heckin' powerful card and on the Reserved List, so I'd pick one up now before it spikes like a lot of Reserved List cards have been doing lately.

I also see you're running Hullbreacher and Smothering Tithe which pair excellently with cards like Prosperity , Minds Aglow , Skyscribing , Fascination and even Folio of Fancies . This is the primary combo I use in my own Kwain deck! You dump a bunch of mana into drawing everyone X cards and get 3 times X Treasure back to dump into the NEXT Draw X Cards spell so you can chain them together bigger and bigger. Then you can win with Thassa's Oracle , mill everyone out with Fascination or Folio of Fancies , or my personal favorite, just force the game into a Draw by drawing out everyone's decks simultaneously with a big Draw X or a huge Windfall . But even without comboing off, all the Draw X spells are far more useful on their own than Cephalid Illusionist and Nomads en-Kor .

Tidal Barracuda is also a fun group huggy for your opponent's that works like a Leyline of Anticipation for you as well but also keeps your opponents from interfering when you try to combo off on your turn.

Hope this helps! Check out my own decklist if you like! I focus a LOT on playing a neutral political game. Wizzardrix (Kwain, Itinerant Meddler)

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