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| The First |
![]() Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 12:44 pm |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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--- description ---
In this article I want to discuss yet another outsider in a set. Just like I discussed the Dimir Doppelganger from Ravnica, I now want to discuss one of the 5 Nephilims from Guildpact, namely the Ink-Treader Nephilim.
--- end description ---
“When it awoke, the mirrors of the world reflected only darkness.”
In this article I want to discuss yet another outsider in a set. Just like I discussed the Dimir Doppelganger from Ravnica, I now want to discuss one of the 5 Nephilims from Guildpact, namely the Ink-Treader Nephilim.
Ink-Treader Nephilim
Cost : RGWU
P/T : 3 / 3
Gametext : Whenever a player plays an instant or sorcery spell, if Ink-Treader Nephilim is the only target of that spell, copy the spell for each other creature that spell could target. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures.
First, let us take a look at the stats versus mana cost. Just like the 4 other Nephilims, this one costs 4 mana and for that mana you get a 3/3 body. Not bad, if those 4 mana wouldn’t have been all different colors. I doubt it that any Nephilim will be of much value in an aggro deck for this reason. Luckily for this Nephilim, one of those colors is Green which is well known for its mana fixing and acceleration abilities.
Let me start by saying that all Nephilims have fun game texts. Some are aggro oriented though and as I have explained in the previous alinea; using them in any kind of aggro deck doesn’t seem to be such a good idea. The Ink-Treader Nephilim has a game text that is more control oriented though. The game text of this Nephilim is like a knife: it can hurt on both sides. For example: if you play a shock on the Nephilim, all creatures will be “shocked” and most of them killed because of it. But that also means that a cleverly played Gianth Growth will help aggro decks a lot more than you would want it to.
The game text from your point of view:
- bounce spells : a bounce spell on this creature will work like a much cheaper version of “Evacuation”. Bouncing all creatures at end of your opponents turn could be a lot of fun. Or just before an attack fase…
- burn spells : well, can you imagine something like Char played on this creature? That would be a painful situation for you. But cards like Yamabushi’s Flame or Shock would become very cheap and instant versions of Pyroclasm. Lightning Helix on the other hand would be very, very good indeed. Ok, your Nephilim will be dead, but you would gain 3 life for each targettable creature in play! And deal 3 damage to all those creatures!
- But my favorite card to use on the Nephilim is (“bom” – “bom” – “bom” – “bom”) : Threaten. For 3cc you will control all creatures in play and be able to attack with them. Ok, it will only be for 1 turn, but that should be enough for the win if you ask me.
- A fun but somehow dangerous option is Eradicate (splashing the 5th color would be part of that risk). Can you imagine giving up your 4 copies of the Nephilim for all 4 copies of each of their creatures in play? Combined with a card like Flickerform, you don’t even have to sacrifice your precious Nephilim and remove the rest of the creatures later on.
- Cards like Kiku’s Shadow or Rend Flesh are always worth testing but remember that this would require the full spectrum of Magic colors.
- Devouring Light is cool to stop a full attack squadron. Block anything with the Nephilim and play a Devouring Light on it. Bye, bye opponent’s bravely attacking creatures. The drawback is that your Nephilim would be removed from play though.
- Righteousness would give all your blocking creatures +7/+7 for only 1 white mana!!
- Etc…
The game text from your opponent’s point of view:
- Burn spells played on the Nephilim are bad as they probably would destroy his own creatures.
- Removal spells played on the Nephilim are bad for the same reason.
- Spells like Giant Growth are good as long as his creatures are getting the better deal.
- Protection spells are good as well.
In short: destructive spells are good for you, constructive spells are good for your opponent which means that Green / White (Selesnya) are probably the worst decks to play against.
Because the Ink-Treader Nephilim has 4 different colors in his mana cost, we’ll need some serious fixing. We can either go the cheap way or the expensive way. Cards like Wild Cantor, Birds of Paradise, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Farseek and Kodama’s Reach are some options. While the Cantor is only temporary (can use it only once), it is a rather cheap - $wise - card that can be played from the moment that you either have a mountain or a forest. The Birds are ofcourse a lot better but also a lot more expensive. Farseek is superior to Kodama’s Reach as long as you have the shocklands to play it with (shocklands = expensive).
I’m afraid that this deck would be a bit too expensive for casual play:
4x Farseek
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Ghostly Prison
4x Wrath of God
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Reclaim
2x Recollect
4x Ink-Treader Nephilim
2x Moldervine Cloak
4x Shock
4x Lightning Helix
2x Threaten
4x Stomping Ground
4x Temple Garden
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Yavimaya Coast
4x Adarkar Wastes
Alternative :
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Wild Cantor
4x Ghostly Prison
4x Wrath of God (or any other mass removal – Pyroclasm or Savage Twister are good options)
4x Gifts Ungiven with the 2x Reclaim / 2x Recollect package
or
4x Commune With Nature and 4x Peer through Depths
4x Ink-Treader Nephilim
2x Moldervine Cloak
4x Shock
4x Lightning Helix
2x Threaten
8x Forests
5x Plains
3x Island
4x Mountain
This deck would probably be best in multiplayer games as your opponents probably won’t see you as a threath early game and Ghostly Prison usually buys you some time in multiplayer as well as they can still attack other players but not you unless they pay the price for doing so. Threaten will also be a lot more efficient in multiplayer 
Have Fun !
~ The First |
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| Osion |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:23 pm |
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Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Posts: 62
Location: MD
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This was a really original and fun article. I was thinking of combos to break the card all day. Very well done.
Really cool interactions, by the way. Props on the Threaten thing.
The Lightning Helix + Moldervine Cloak is pretty funny. Reminds me of pulling off this play at Grand Prix Richmond:
Opponent - 11 life, Hammerfist Giant, 3 other 1/1’s
Me - 12 life, 8 lands (I was manaflooded), Conclave Equenaut, Shrieking Grotesque, Birds of Paradise, and 2 saprolings in play
He Hammers when I declare attackers.
I tap 6WW and cast Chant Of Vitu-Ghazi. 
yeah I won that game after gaining, oh, 44 life. Hah Haha
Anyways, back on track:
your expensive deck version’s manabase is going to yield a lot of pain, I suspect 7 damage per game minimum.
Why not use a cantrip spell like Quickchange or something to fill your hand? More efficient than Gifts Ungiven once you have the nephilim out, imo.
Another option I suspect would be going mono green, with lots of saprolings and Chord of Calling to get nephilim into play, then Wildsize your army to draw 6+ cards and attack for a lot.
Again, really good article that got me thinking. |
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| inresponse |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:31 pm |
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Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 162
Location:
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| this is an interesting article, I never thought to use the nephilim that way. I just figured It’s ability is a great way to protect itself. |
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| The First |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:22 pm |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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Thanks for the positive feedback!
About Gifts Ungiven versus Quickchange: You mention the most important reason yourself, being that your option only works if the Ink-Treader Nephilim is already in play. Gifts can fetch him for you along with 1 other card (probably a sorcery/instant, wrath of god,...) or it can fetch 2 answer cards along with the recollect/reclaim cards.
You really need the cycling before the Nephilim is out since he’s the key player of this deck.
The mono-Green option might be a good idea... have to think about it though because I’m not sure that Green has the right sorceries and instants to make it worth you while to play the Nephilim, nor do they have cards like Wrath of God or Ghostly Prison to keep an early game strike team at bay.
~ The First |
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| Ilvaldi |
![]() Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:47 pm |
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Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Posts: 59
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I like the idea of originality, fun, flavor, and style in MTG. YOur article certainly has that.
When looking over your solutions to multicolor mana in the deck, I noticed that you didn’t have the orochi leafcaller anywhere mentioned.
Maybe you forgot about the fella or not, but I think he is better of a solution than most of the cards you listed into grabbing your lands. Especially for the fact that the most dominant land used in your alternative list is a forest.
Also, he’s cheap and easy to find as the guy is only a common.
Your nephilim seems a bit singled out, if you want to take the risk or to increase the potency of your deck in multiplayer matches, try adding in more nephilim as it will make the deck fun and exciting (you an have a witch-maw nephilim to help combo off with the many spells you play on your ink-treader nephilim).
But otherwise, its perfect for expressing the powers of a nephilim.
P.S. The idea of using threaten is wonderful and would be VERY, VERY, VERY FUN to see in a freee-for-all +3 player match. |
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| Karl |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:41 am |
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Joined: 07 Feb 2006
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Ilvaldi wrote: I like the idea of originality, fun, flavor, and style in MTG. YOur article certainly has that.
I’m all for having fun playing around with new decks, but although this is a fun idea I don’t think it’s original. The deck simply borrows an idea that’s already on that card. The discussion of interaction with cards like flickerform is good though, maybe you could come up with some other game winning combo’s to include in the deck?
Also, what about other creatures? Like, hmmm...creatures that can’t be targeted. Like Kordama of the North Tree, for example. |
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| The First |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:37 pm |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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Karl wrote: Ilvaldi wrote: I like the idea of originality, fun, flavor, and style in MTG. YOur article certainly has that.
I’m all for having fun playing around with new decks, but although this is a fun idea I don’t think it’s original. The deck simply borrows an idea that’s already on that card. The discussion of interaction with cards like flickerform is good though, maybe you could come up with some other game winning combo’s to include in the deck?
Also, what about other creatures? Like, hmmm...creatures that can’t be targeted. Like Kordama of the North Tree, for example.
I always say that 1 card doesn’t make a deck. Maybe it isn’t highly original. However, I haven’t seen anyone come up with Threaten or Lightning Helix. The deck is already 60 cards without any other combo cards and it should remain playable. What good would a game winning combo do to you if you can’t set it up in more than 20% of the games?
The creature count is a problem. I could (and probably should) add a card like the Kodama of the North Tree or Giant Solifuge. I can handle opposing untargetables thanks to Wrath of God and the Ghostly Prison. |
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| The First |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:46 pm |
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Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 195
Location: Anderlecht, Belgium
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Ilvaldi wrote: I like the idea of originality, fun, flavor, and style in MTG. YOur article certainly has that.
Thanks
Quote:
When looking over your solutions to multicolor mana in the deck, I noticed that you didn’t have the orochi leafcaller anywhere mentioned.
Maybe you forgot about the fella or not, but I think he is better of a solution than most of the cards you listed into grabbing your lands. Especially for the fact that the most dominant land used in your alternative list is a forest.
Also, he’s cheap and easy to find as the guy is only a common.
I actually did forget him but I’m not sure that he’s that good or that much better than my options. Take the Wild Cantor for instance; he accelerates the curve and fixes your colors (be it only for 1 turn). Compared to the Leafcaller: doesn’t accelerate and needs 2 forests to begin fixing as the Ink-Treader needs 1 regular green. On top, they will be destroyed by wrath of God or a spell like Shock anyway.
Quote:
Your nephilim seems a bit singled out, if you want to take the risk or to increase the potency of your deck in multiplayer matches, try adding in more nephilim as it will make the deck fun and exciting (you an have a witch-maw nephilim to help combo off with the many spells you play on your ink-treader nephilim).
But otherwise, its perfect for expressing the powers of a nephilim.
P.S. The idea of using threaten is wonderful and would be VERY, VERY, VERY FUN to see in a freee-for-all +3 player match.
The spells replicated by the Ink-Treader aren’t spells YOU play, are they? Otherwise it would be very good indeed. But I agree that the overall creature curve is very low. I will try to fix this.
The more players, the better Threaten becomes  |
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| La_Sin_Grail |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:08 pm |
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 806
Location: Maryland
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Props on origionality, finding a pretty nice card to use, and making it rainbowish. I think you could use another win condition, though, since it seems to me no matter how well you clear the board, you’ll have problems killing them. Also, you might want to find some way in case of cranial.
Very nice ideas, but you could stand to break out the polish a little.
Might want to leave out leafcaller, stick with BoP, Wood elves.
Side note: I worry about you killing yourself by playing lands. You’re either burning your own tempo or knocking yourself down a solid six life points a game. May find rush hard to beat. |
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| Ilvaldi |
![]() Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:28 pm |
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Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Posts: 59
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The First said:
Quote: I actually did forget him but I’m not sure that he’s that good or that much better than my options. Take the Wild Cantor for instance; he accelerates the curve and fixes your colors (be it only for 1 turn). Compared to the Leafcaller: doesn’t accelerate and needs 2 forests to begin fixing as the Ink-Treader needs 1 regular green. On top, they will be destroyed by wrath of God or a spell like Shock anyway.
I see what you’re saying about the cantor, but the problem is that the cantor is a one-time mana fixer which is also, like the leafcaller, vulnerable to shock and wrath of god.
Grail said:
Quote: Might want to leave out leafcaller, stick with BoP, Wood elves.
I would have to agree that bop is a nice addition. However, I would have to disagree that a leafcaller should be left out. A majority of cards used to answer multi-mana problems in mtg are of green. Leafcaller is the cheapest and most efficient in providing an answer. Although this is the case, bops (birds of paradise for those who don’t know grail’s languge) are good at mana accelerating w/ an answer to color problems but lack the power/consistency to play alot of spells with different colors or a spell with alot of different colors. I would have say though, that bops are way better of a replacement than wild cantor.
As I also said, the unfortunate can embrace a leafcaller if they don’t have a bop or the money to buy one. |
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