[EDH] Pharika, the unloved posterchild for MTG reverse capability 🐍
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- 🐍🐍my Pharika list with primer: www.moxfield.c...
Sift Through Sands - Pharika/Umori and Zur, by Wes Stuckey: commandershera...
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"Does this do anything"
"Shes just a beatstick with incedental gv hate?"
"Ok, but what is she getting you that Sidisi doesnt?"
I have gotten a lot of comments and questions surrounding pharika being one of my favorite commanders. I talk about them in addition to talking about how she made me grow as a magic the gathering deckbuilder.
P.S. Sorry if you love Keranos for some reason, I didn't mean it..
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You can support me if you found this video helpful/entertaining! ko-fi.com/33elk
You can also find me on twitter.. x.com/Painterl...
![[EDH] Sephara: Please don't run Healer's Hawk](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QdbzQz-YT5g/mqdefault.jpg)
![[EDH] Sephara: Please don't run Healer's Hawk](/img/tr.png)
Great, now do keranos
I actually strongly considered putting keranos in a deck that didn't run front-facing lands, but decided against it when I went for the zendikar party and ally stuff with the tazri that cares about them.
Real :(
Keranos is insanely good. One of my favorite decks. Of course Izzet decks are not that different, but with Keranos you have a different playstyle and he provides so much value
@@FelippeARJ what sort of deck do you have him at the helm of? I could see how he can be powerful as just value rather than building a deck around him
@@bryankopkin6869 well. Mainly I use him as a Draw engine running 38 lands. Like almost every Izzet its a spellslinger deck but I dont use extra turns and dont use the Niv Mizzet/Curiosity combo and I mixed the deck with Big Spells like Thousand Year Storm, Arcane Bombardment, Double Vision. And I mainly dont use the copy spells to win with storm or burn. I ramp a lot using Keranos, mana rocks and Mana Geyser to play with my opponents cards using Wand of Wonders and copying Blatant Thievery or Bribery and then, in the next turn, copy those as many times as possible with Mnemonic Deluge. And I have one unnusual combo and not that easy (but probably my favorite combo) in this deck that needs a lot of mana wich is Confiscate + Radiant Performer to stole all permanents in play
Great first vid! I'm excited to see what's next!
Between you, Trinketmage, and Snail I feel like my entire deck building philosophy has changed more in the last 3 months than the prior 7 years.
3/3 artifact snail
That deck actually sounds super cool. I also love that you don't have a blindingly white background on your vids, the gentler grey is much appreciated :)
LOL, NO OFFENSE TO SNAIL BUT THATS WHY ITS GRAY.
I recently got into magic and for a while just got by using precons. But after a friend of mine showed me his werewolf deck and after it absolutely kicked my ass, he suggested that I take a look into building my own decks to try out against our group. After searching around for a while I decided I wanted to do a Golgari deck and Pharika honestly resonated with me. So I made a snake themed deck with a lot of removal and deathtouch. I finished the deck just this week and it was extremely rewarding. Pharika is underrated, but not unloved.
I think thats when the game grabs you. It happened to me when the invasion expansion launched. We were playing the game with what we could buy in the big city in Argentina, far away from small hometown. Only a couple old cards and some mercadian cycle cards. Then invasion launched and the boosters were sold at our hometown and it was multicolored and slower as a format. It grabbed us. I made a deck of blue flyers and some bounce. It ended up being similar to a championship deck called blue skies. Created to beat a fast deck at the time called Fires of yavimaya (I leave this decks names so you can check the meta at the time). You had rebels vs blue skies vs fires of yavimaya vs UB control. This is me using your comment to remember such times. Almost 20 years ago. I know when the game grabs you.
Please share werewolf deck haha
Love the vid also super cute sona. Hope to see more from you!
I think for me, discovering Kagemaro, First to Suffer was my Pharika moment. I was trawling the depths of EDHrec's mono black page when I saw this commander with less than 100 decks in their database. This card, for a single black mana and at INSTANT speed can wipe the board provided you have a big enough hand, so I got to brewing with all the combat tricks that bring creatures back if they would be destroyed like Not Dead After All + black draw spells that have been printed in the 20 years since the card was released.
I took the deck apart somewhat recently as I wanted to brew other things (+ sell Sheoldred the Apocalypse) but it was a ton of fun whilst I had it! Fully endorse more people seeing what's possible with old jank
Wait... THIS is your first video?? Very impressive, and enjoyable to watch. Simple style and editing choices that drive focus to the discussion. Really really amazing!
I was absolutely sold once you said you could give an opponent a secret blocker, that's my favorite kind of thing to do ever
Been brewing around Pharika for almost 6 years now!!! Started as a tiny leaders rock deck and grew into a deck that used a lot of instant speed constellation critters and creatures that sac/etb.
Also I think that you can do Umori with Pharika if you choose creatures instead of Enchantments!
I'm REALLY HAPPY that someone else has discovered this ridiculousy underrated commander
Absolutely you can do Umori if you choose creature instead of enchantment, but honestly i think I’ll miss wilderness reclamation, sol ring, tortured existence, and especially insidious roots too much. Not impossible though!
Trust me i want to be a believer, just too steep for me to rationalize at least for now.
Edited pre-vid comment with post vid thoughts.
Pulling this card I tried it in 3 different decks in standard, and even in the sb it was disappointing. In a Jarriad deck, my forest EDH deck, I tried it and it was the 3rd or 4th card cut when aether revolt came out.
I love this card, it just had the impact of a wet paper towel. I hope I missed something!
Holy cow! The snakes are enchantments! That's a really good call I should have used that. THOUGH WHEN I used her I was not an enchantress gamer.
Also those new charts like tormod is a great point. I'm super happy to know she has
I wrote that article! Crazy that people read it. Pharika rules.
Insta-subbed! Excellent video, looking forward to your next!
loved this video, great topic and well explained. Would have loved to hear more about green collect evidence mechanics in the murder at karlov manor set play into her gameplay to make the point about old decks not being a good place to start for this brew hit home more, but you got there in the primer. Bravo
Rarely has a first video been so good. This primer really gave me an insight into how to build pharika, as well as making me reconsider my own deck building patterns. I wait with anticipation for your future videos. Automatic subscription.
Feel like I'm on the ground floor of a future great MtG channel! Nice video, loved your thoughts on an underrated commander. Cool sona, too.
I've got a Pharika deck too, built around the fact that her ability gives deathtouch snakes to any player so long as they have a stocked graveyard, allowing me to not only protect myself but to make deals with the other players by blunting attacks from enemies, and helping allies build up a board. The deck plays lots of effects that mill all players, so I can get to making snakes ASAP, as well as political cards like Shared Trauma (look that one up, it's comically bad) Tempt with Immortality/Discovery, and Incarnation Technique. It spends most of the game arranging the board in just the right way that I can take over the game when at least one player gets knocked out, typically with some sort of Overrun effect or a mass reanimate. This works great in my low-to-medium power playgroup, but this video has really made me curious what a less "cute" build of the deck could be.
Your vids feel like a mtg Ted talk, something with your cadence is just right, great vids
literally started flapping my hands when u revealed that these were **enchantment** snakes... that's sick!!! and as someone who's mtgsona is also an animal (izzet leauge Minotaur) i respect ur elk
Yes the snakes being enchantments make for some super funny plays lmao
What is an mtgsona?
That's the absolute most autistic comment I've ever read in my life.
Super excited to build this! The second you pointed out each token was an enchantment I was in.
Coming out the gates with a great vid, gotta respect it. Hoping you grow quickly. ❤
Heh, I actually built a deck with leaves your graveyard synergies recently too, but using Sivriss/Cloakwood Hermit instead as I wanted to build a squirrel deck before bloomburrow dropped. That didn't work out but turns out Sivriss works well with insidious roots and friends.
I tried building around Pharika as a commander for Snake/Gorgon tribal, but ended up scrapping it because it just could not come together to do anything. As you say, the card quality isn't there. I'm very glad other people can give her some love 🐍🐍🐍
Been brewing Pharika based on your list, I'm deeply in love (again), this will certainly be a keeper! Does so much so early. I'm a child waiting for christmas, can't wait to get the rest of my cards 🤟
This reminded me of when I first found my current favorite commander, Sivriss with Cloakwood Hermit. I really sympathized with your story, and found the deck to be right up my alley. I have most of the cards in my collection or in my Sivriss deck, so I will likely be trying it out at my table, albeit with a few alterations where the deck has cards I dont own. One I'm definitely going to be putting in is Death Denied, to bring a bunch of key creatures back from your graveyard. Its a great "got ya" moment to fill up an empty hand or set up for big turns, and its instant speed and X cost makes it very versatile.
This is such a cool deck! I was just trying to build something with Tormod and Desecrated Tomb, Varolz felt too janky focusing on counters but Pharika with enchantment synergies sounds really cool!
I've been a Golgari fan since I got into MTG and Commander, and I've always looked at Pharika and been kind of puzzled by her. This definitely makes me interested in building her, since it sounds like she would be doing something a little bit different from my other Golgari decks.
I’ve seen a few of your videos now. I don’t know exactly what it is, but something about your format, the way you present your information just makes my brain happy. Keep it up please!
this reminds me of my recently built Reveka deck
the ammount of "better frogify"printed lately has allowed me to build a decently funny mono blue ping deck
I call it "that otter had a gun!"
(after a great game with thieving otter)
I believe ppl were detered from her do the general focus ppl put on keeping their things in EDH, and more so the graveyard in Black decks. This deck inspires me to try this new techs from karlov manor into making a gyrus deck, also a niche commader that feeds on its own graveyeard. Just in jund.
I actually put this card in my Myrkul, Lord of Bones deck; I know..I know but the white pip does help immensely with creature enchantment token creatures. Now if you add all the constellation effects and repeated token creatures, thats another way to ensure a dominate board state.
Might try this, Pharika was my first mythic. (which was why I clicked) Also great job on the first video!
That's really interesting yeah. It seems like a no-brainer when you say that old cards get new toys. But it takes actual new research to discover those synergies yourself unless that old card is already popular I guess.
Your videos refueled my will to look at my own brews again and see if I missed some part of the card. And even look at old cards I used to run/want to run.
Wow that actually seems really cool!
Considering slotting her into my anikthea precon (self mill, enchantress and token strategies)
I have either 2 or three copies in my various old decks and boxes. I loved journey into nyx and i look forward too playing with this card again
Kinda crazy your first video is doing this well. i love your deck and am considering trying it out. it reminds me of my glissa the traitor deck that just keeps getting new tech. i love these old underated and misunderstood commamders
Really love the sound of this deck. Might have to try putting something together myself now!
I Love Pharika, really wanted to do a deck with them. Many Thanksss!
I love building unpopular commanders and started building Pharika just a few days ago. Neither the EDHREC article nor any of the RUclips content about her was appealing to me at all for the build. So excited to get recommended this exactly when I needed it! Great video!
i have always felt drawn to Pharika as a card and just never could come up with any ideas that seemed fun
P.S great username
really cool video and the deck on moxfield was super synergistic, i might actually brew her! For a first yt video this was really well done btw, keep it up and im sure you can reach more people :D
Tysm!!
I just want to get rid of stuff in graveyards. Reanimator players have had it too good for too long
Awesome v positive videos! Great voice. Please stay positive you will do great
Very exciting and unique deck, I love this video!
Oh boy I remember Pharika, back in the day this was one of my favorite commanders however the support for the way you built it wasn't there at the time.
I had instead built her to abuse on death triggers and to act as kind of a Voltron deck. I eventually disassembled her because she was far too mean and nobody wanted to play against her (a sentiment I absolutely agreed with).
I would run every enchantment under the sun that could destroy creatures with the deck signature card being Pestilence, Pharika would survive because of the indestructible, I would summon snakes to my opponent's fields to get more death triggers, and then I would give her auras to buff her damage. Winning through either commander damage, pestilence damage, or Revel in Riches.
I am so glad you were able to find a version that is not nearly as unplayably mean as mine was. It was good seeing her again and I'm glad others are enjoying her, thank you.
Pestilence is such a messed up card. Pharika started in the 99 of my grismold deck but I graduated her to the command zone and retired grismold for the literal EXACT reason why you retired your old commander deck, it would just prevent my friends from playing.
Great first video 🎉
Ps, I love your avatar! So adorable 🥰
I also had a Pharika moment!! Maeve, Insidious Singer, has some of my fav magic art. She was released in the Game Knights set and basically forgotten, since on the surface her deck seems whatever. Every suggested list told me to cram goad into it, but Maeve doesn't care about goad. She cares the creatures she goads attack. I built her with artifacts and activated ability synergy, to get big mana fast and turbo goad. From there, she loads her hand up and when its time, she combos out. Going infinite with her is a way to draw your deck out, since she hits her ability on self and swings. Labman/Jace or Psychosis Crawler/Thoracle are the finishers, and the deck never draws heat since everyone sees Maeve and is like huh, interesting goad card. It taught me a ton about brewing myself!
One of my friends is the creator of the Mutate Pharika deck! She is such a creative deck builder, though we tease her sometimes for the jankyness 😅. The deck was a actually a bit of a powerhouse in our pod, being very resilient against removal and the activated ability working well to threaten unfavorable attacks and play politics simultaneously.
Commented on this a while ago but I've since made pharika with a lot of your suggestions and really love it.
Was curious about your opinion of a super tight crime package though
Forsaken miner
Raven of fell omens
Gisa the hellraiser
Are the primary "makes sense" ones tries other ones too but then it seemed to be leaning to hard into the giving my opponents snake boys.
Is there anything in duskmourne you're eyeing to add?
@@robertcarsten4050 i dont play crime because you often target your own graveyard. I’d say for every 5 things i exile from my own i do 1 from an opponent. For DSK, I’m looking at a few cards. We talk about it in the spoiler chat in my discord link in bio
Great video! Look forward to seeing more videos. Subbed👍👍
I like the combat trick aspect of giving your opponents a surprise snake token. Can you think of another commander deck focusing around combat tricks?
I don’t build these decks just for the channel. They are decks I’ve specifically been playing for awhile already. That being said, zada, feather, gargos (vicious watcher), ivy (gleeful spellthief); these are all cards that can make such a deck work really well.
One of my decks, built around Fain, the Broker, is really quite good at forcing my opponents to check for any tricks I can do. Sacrificing artifacts for surprise blockers, sacrificing creatures to flip a block in my favor, throwing away chump blockers, sometimes even putting counters on my opponent's creatures so they can win a combat unexpectedly. Plus he natively has the ability to untap to double down on the shenanigans when need be.
I can relate to jank because I run thraximundar sac at my LGS
I too have a Pharika deck and took delight in the recent cards added from MKM. The consistency you mentioned is very real, the Doomwake Giant you flashed up I've found can get pretty oppressive.
I also really like just having gravewlyard hate in the command zone. 90% of the time I'm using her ability on my own grave but the utility to deal with someone's muldrotha or whatever is cool. Her grave strategy feels more fair and she forces the turbo grave decks to play fairer.
And she is just an indestructible 3 mana 5/5, devotion isn't always on but when it is, you have an excelent blocker and a decent threat. As I've grown as a player I've gravitated from big and splashy/obvious combo to more subtle synergies and utility cards, and I feel like Pharika is perfect in that space
The gravehate is really nice yeah
I always try to make Nazahn work while utilizing as much green artifact and equipment synergy as possible. Sadly wizards decided that WR is way better for equipment theme, so I take what I can get, but its fun to dig through a new sets to see if WOTC left me a present! I guess thats why he's even lower than Pharika on EDHREC with only around 511 decks.
I love nazahn. Never built him truly but it’s cool he just gets you a sigarda’s aid.
I love your avatar they're so cute!!
i've only played with precons or decks of my own making since i got back into the game last year, but decided to try this one out because it looked really interesting.
I love the way it works, requiring a fair amount of setup to fully get started, but providing the deathtouch as a surprisingly powerful level of protection in the meantime. And the reward is a deck that can become scary very suddenly, and is very resilient to boardwipes, making it feel almost like they are good for the deck as a lot of the time the creatures that get sent to the graveyard can then just be immediately used as fuel for the next few pharika triggers (alongside the way pharika sticks to the board by being an indestructible god card).
Also I found the way you have to think about the snakes on top of the base cost for exiling a card from an opponents' graveyard a real enjoyable experience. It really makes me think about the perfect moment i should be using that ability, which i feel is a good tool to help me improve at the game
Really happy to hear you enjoyed the deck! Pharika is my baby.
As a long time lover of Pharika, I fully agree with you. She was the first Golgari commander I built after buying the Meren precon to learn how to play the game back in 2015. After quickly realizing Meren is way too good of a card and often drew tons of hate I switched things up. Often she is seen as weak, underpowered jank. A deck that is probably just Golgari Goodstuff. She is certainly a card that doesn't look like much compared to what other Golgari commanders can do. She makes for a unique experience. When I first read the card Desecrated Tomb when it came out in M19 I desperately wanted more cards like it. When we got Tormod I was elated lol. One of the first cards I found for Pharika that really made me fall in love is Eternal Scourge. It is so mana inefficient to do it but man do I love spending 5 mana I have lying around to make a snake and recast Eternal Scourge, especially when it triggers 4 or 5 pieces on my board. The Runes from Kaldheim are all pretty cool with the Theros gods because they do not fall off when switching between creature and noncreature. In that same vein, keyword counters are cool with her, I personally like the big cycling creatures that give deathtouch and trample. Cycling in general can be good with her. Chain of Acid becomes a 3 card combo with Witherbloom Apprentice when Pharika isn't turned on yet. Sure you could do it with Chain of Smog in a 2 turn combo win but why not run both lol. Pharika is great at committing crimes too, especially when those crimes are political. Pharika is a deck that I tinker with every few sets and I am always on the lookout for new tech. I find her level of shenanigans amusing and she always goes under the radar in games.
I wasn't into the witherbloom apprentice combo line because it felt like it had nothing to do with pharika and yeah eternal scourge is a bit too much mana and a synergy i originally missed, but the rest of this is definitely things are definitely cool things i saw and thought about for this deck haha. Glad to see someone else sees the potential!!
Did WotC do a pronunciation guide for this expansion like they did for the last Ixalan one? Because I always thought her name sounds like "fuh-REE-kuh." Love your channel's name!
Thanks for the compliment haha, I also considered 'burnished hart.' Fuhreekuh makes sense too its just that i got the stupid caliboy accent so fairehka is just easier to say for me. Plus then i don't gotta say "reek" all the time.
I have built a mono black partner deck with tormod and nadier with the aim of triggering tormod like effects as many times as I can, and it struggles. Couldn't say how many times I've considered taking it apart for pharika, despite everyone telling me how lackluster she is. No vision, any of them
@@jonnykill78 tormod + Ramirez was a deck I experimented with somewhat and it wasn’t that bad!
Athreos is my favorite Theros god, cause Charon is my favorite Greek god... but Pharika is a close second! I wish she had more synergy with Hapatra cause they seem cool together.
Have you tried or thought about running Gift of the Deity?
6 mana athreos looks super interesting to me. Its a matter of when rather than if for building that one.
So, you could also do a fight theme where your snakes fight opponent's creatures and getting bonuses when opponents creatures die. But more in the theme of this video, you can combine her with eldrazi processors or Wilds of Eldrain enchantment dying theme or having enchantment creatures matter (ex. Weaver of Harmony) or even have her commit crimes in OTJ!
Yes these are all examples of things that are possible, that being said the enchantment dying cards are better as just normal aristocrats creature dying cards since they are all higher quality and i used to have weaver but cut it because a lord isn’t exactly what the deck needs. Crimes don’t have a loot of good payoff either versus exiling our own stuff but these mechanics are all things i am keeping my eye on in case of further development… I’ll need to look through some eldrazi processors but im not sure if any will get my goat
I stopped playing MtG about a decade ago but I *have* a Pharika deck! It's pretty much a watered down version of this idea using cards available at the time. A bit of self-mill, some constellation triggers, and various creature-based removal to restock the graveyard. I don't like the direction MtG has taken since then so I don't intend to pick the deck back up, but it's nice to know that people are giving this card another look as the engine it offers is second to none in creative potential.
If you love magic but hate how it is currently I can't recommend cube enough. I'll do a video on it someday soon. Hopefully you're already super into cube.
@@33elk The only cube I've played recently is one with way too many modern cards, and I hate it. But I love cubes that don't use cards printed after 2014 or so (or are very careful in what they curate from after that era).
If you want a funny anecdote about cube, I absolutely despise Stax builds in every single form of MtG other than cube. I think they're an obvious affront to the idea that they don't let people meaningfully play the game. But I ADORE them in powered cubes. I will slam-pick Balance, Smokestack, and Armageddon every chance I get if I think I can grab all the pieces. I really don't know how to explain why that is. My best guess is that because the power level of those cubes is so high, the idea that I'm holding back the floodgates of letting my opponent slam game-ending bombs at any moment is really exciting.
@@shuttlecrossing1433 I love low power cubes, my next video is actually about how cube is a better casual format than commander is lol
You said “but this is due to brewers advantage” can you explain that concept? I’ve never heard that before. Thanks! This was an excellent first video by the way, well done!
brewer's advantage basically is referring to playing the deck with a group of strangers. If you see an Ur-Dragon deck for example, you're probably going to have a very good idea of how that stranger's deck will play. You can warp your play around countering that opponent because you know how the deck functions. The same is a lot harder for a deck that you've never seen before/has many different ways of being built.
Hey I loved this video! I’m not sure how often you are targeting opponents graveyard, but Freestrider Lookout seems like an interesting fit here, ramping you on each pharika activation.
You’re not alone in thinking about it. I haven’t gotten around to trying it
I think the biggest thing Pharika has going against her is Hapatra who also makes deathtouch snakes. They are completely different decks but many Commander players are animal centric and a possible player base for Pharika would be attracted to her because of the snakes.
I don't think you're far off base with people looking at pharika and going "if i wanted a snake deck I'd play hapatra" without thinking about the finer nuance
I am myself building a "graveyard burning" deck where I mill and then exile cards from graveyards to fuel abilities
And I am using amzu and other leave battlefield cards that you proposed with pharika
great video hope to see more cool commander decks from you in the future
Hah, I was very much not with you until you pointed out the constellation activation and then it all dawned on me XD . Good vid. I've been historically a bit bummed out that she wasn't as solid as some of the other original theros gods so it's good to see her find a niche.
She is a very good commander! Wasn't always the case but she definitely is very unique now and has quickly become my favorite to play
Love this video she was the first mythic card I ever owned and she was in my deck for a good amount of time 🙌🏻
Awesome insights, I also never realized her tokens were enchantments. Reading is hard.
@@TippettRugby very much so! In my kura video I mention how when i first read her I inserted a phantom “basic” into her rules text
i love theros and i love niche commanders so this video drew me in so much, AND YOUR PHARIKA ART IS BEAUTIFUL!!
yoo this is some top-notch quality video right there !
I'm still not convinced about the deck's strength until I've seen it in action (I'm worried it relies too much on its commander and its value pieces) but your presentation was super good and you gave me a lot to think about, thanks!
The conclusion is gonna have me retroactively look at way too many cards x3
I agree with you unironically. Most of the time I wouldn’t build a deck that is this needy for its commander in play, but pharika is a theros god so out of 50 games with her (I’m guessing) she’s only actually gotten removed maybe 5 of those games because indestructible enchantment is hard to deal with. Even then the deck has good mana acceleration and so it’s not hard to recast her and activate her a couple of times if she does get killed for only 5 mana (and you might get some constellation triggers from recasting her too lol).
Against a drannith magistrate, gravehate, or pithing needle it gets slightly harder but remember the deck is black/green so any permanent you don’t like isn’t going to stay around for long.
I've always had a vague interest in Pharika, mostly a curiosity around "What was the design philosophy for a (seemingly) group hug Golgari card?" She just needed time to have support for her printed
Pharika was my first legendary creature I ever pulled back in OG Theros block and I tried to make her work in Commander for FOREVER as a teenager, and eventually consigned to run her in my 60 card golgari Constellation build me and a friend threw together with then only the OG Theros constellation cards so this is actually super validating. Loved this video, and looking forward to seeing more!
You have a very clever way of building decks. I have most of the cards for this deck and look forward to building it. Your Kura deck looks fun but would need too many proxies. But either way, very happy I stumbled upon your channel!
Yeah i plan for my first few videos to be about decks I literally own so nothing like “you can build this deck for 20$!” where I’ve never played the deck or anything. Basically, I don’t want to make a deck tech video about a deck I’m not confident I at least have some experience in so you’re gonna see some wild fluctuations in deck quality and price because these decks are ones I actually play and upgrade in paper frequently. Like I’m literally invested in their success haha. Also you may have noticed i talk about most cards in the deck pretty broadly/loosely because decks change overtime and I want this video to stand the test of time which is why i say “please read the primer!” Cuz i can actually update that thing haha
I don’t really have a gimmick after that. I have maybe 6 decks maximum I want to talk about. Maybe after them I’ll talk about my commander deck graveyard or touch on how building a cube has been a good way of finding a home for pet cards I really want to play but can’t find a deck for because they’re too weak. That’s right, imma make some cube propaganda and try to turn some players away from being commander only mwuhahahaha.
@@33elk wonderful to hear, elk! I believe players need to try other formats to understand magic better and honestly even just to have more fun.
Decks like High Tide, Manaless Dredge, even just good old fashioned Burn helped me start seeing lines of play I couldn't before. Evaluating board states and knowing when to buy time versus when to commit entirely is a skill best learned in 60 card formats.
Drafts helped with making the best of a bad situation and living by the phrase "make them have it." Real games aren't goldfished so expect the removal. Expect to be sandbagged or be a turn away from a combo loss. Have the removal and always push your opponents to need it for you. Bombs, removal, evasion, aggro. Drafting is deck building bootcamp and more players need to do it to break their habits of decks with not enough lands, card draw, or removal, just stuffed with bombs and pet cards that never get their value.
So I'll be down in the comments helping nudge people into cube too. Magic is too lovely a game to know only one of its faces.
As a Person who build a EDH Deck of each of the OG two color- and each new mono colored Theros Gods, this is truely a interesting casual build.
I had build Pharika multible times, first as enchantent focus, who was back in the early days, lacking of enchantment support. Then as a Apostel/Demon deck.
Now i play her as a Protean combo deck, because until now it was the fastest and efficientest way to play her. This was necessary because of the Powerlevel most people play today and im very successful with this deck.
With the new enchantment cards i could give Pharika another try.
thank you for this video, i really like your ideas behind this lovely legendary enchantment creature. she is one of the gods that i hold dear, because she is so unknown.
I love pharika more than any of my decks for sure. Absolute peak magic, has everything I love: jank combos, activated ability abuse with seedborn, hate cards (i mean gl reanimating with me holding open pharika mana), and a resilient commander that I probably only need to at max cast twice. Like its the perfect storm with these new cards from mkm. Hope you have luck with playing her
@@33elk with the Protean Hulk combo infinite reanimate of ALL graveyards, Pharika makes sure that only creature come back into play that are worth of her love. the others are turned into a exile-snake.
i love my snek goddess!!
Sometimes I come back to this video and I'm always surprised this is your first video. How did you already have your avatar ready to go! How did you have the editting prowess?
This is super neat, kinda makes me want to make a Pharika deck of my own!
I'm still yet to finish a working decklist for her, but one of my favorite underrated commanders is [Rayne, Academy Chancellor]. Giving all your permanents effectively "Ward - Let me draw 2 cards" is an exceptionally silly ability, and it gets even more fun when you start mixing in redirection effects like [Spellskite] to double, triple, and quadruple trigger off each spell your opponents aim at you. The main problem I've been having so far is that she kind of lacks direction for finding a wincon besides "draw your deck with [Laboratory Maniac]", and I have a tendency to accidentally overfill on cheap protection enchantments to put on her and not leave enough room for... anything else, really.
Loved this video; seems like a super cool and deceptive strategy at second glance! Do you think Altar of the Brood could find a place in the deck? Or even mesmeric orb?
I originally actually considered mesmeric orb! The reason why I don't run them for the most part is that the deck NEEDS a density of creatures to make sure the milling is consistent. That is why Snarling Gorehound makes the cut but not altar of the brood.
Also mesmeric orb has a tendency to be annoying so players naturally move their ire to you even though milling isn't actually a detriment to most decks. They just go "nooo my cards" and start spite targeting you LOL. I gotta do a video or short about milling sometime its funny how much people hate it.
@@33elkthat makes sense! I ended up picking up most of your deck list, but as my pod’s resident mill guy; I was wanting to see your opinion on those options. Can’t wait to try out the deck when it arrives! Also would love to see a video on mill, it is by far my favourite style to play; despite not being as effective in commander!
I think the worst part of Pharika is how you pronounce her name.... Second syllable stress and pronounce it fa.ree.ka.
Fair-ika sounds less gross than Fair REEK uh. Also i blame my cali accent
@@33elk this video did inspire me to change my Tymna Halana death touch matters deck into a Pharika Death touch/constellation pile instead. I'm excited to give it a try. Can't wait to see the look on friends faces when I give an opponent blocker a 1/1 deathtouch snake to turn the tide of battle.
I don't know if it's workable, but my first thought was to combo with Toxrill to create slug tokens.
Edit: Toxrill is Dimir identity. R.I.P. my jank combo dream.
Riftsweeper and Bramble Sovereign might be your friends there :D and Karn the Liberator + proliferation, to re-grab those exiled cards.
Also, the "Forbidden Orchard" deck might be deadly (Massacre Wurm in hand + 2BB, then Argothian Elder that can TAP + Wirewood Lodge + Forbidden Orchad -> infinite creatures tokens on opponents' sides and M.W. killing everybody).
Also also, Blood Seeker & Trespasser's Curse love your opponents to gain board: by making them bleed.
Spellweaver Helix was a straight up unplayable card in EDH before Dragon's Approach, but now it's an amazingly fun secret commander to build around (like casting Clone Legion every turn, or insta-winning with Worldfire)
I think that players originally liked Keranos better because it was easier to randomly either draw or remove small creatures with cantrips on top of your normal draw and, most importantly, use zero additional mana while doing so. Wizards adding more payoffs for enchantments entering play and token creatures in BG definitely improved Pharika but Keranos' bolt factory is better at controlling problem creatures than maybe blocking with deathtouch tokens. Wiping the board with Setessan Tactics or using Ulvenwald Tracker to scare off attacks in a deathtouch deck never gets old though.
I don't think I have a deck like this, even though I spent a while trying to make Athreos, God of Passage work without the Apostle strategy. However, my absolute pet deck feels like it fell out of favour in recent years being Azami, Lady of Scrolls. I first built around her around 2017 and loved her since.
Dismissed Pharika when she was released. Never gave her any thought. But now you bring her up, my immediate brew would be MillDrazi, utilising the eldrazi that return exiled cards to graveyard for additional effects
With 3 eldrazi? Nope!
This is so cool! I enjoy enchantment strategies, graveyard decks and snakes (Shigeki from NEO is my favorite card), and I've never even considered building around Pharika😅 Thanks for the deck!
Also you made me want to look at old, janky commanders to try and build
Sure, I'll subscribe to this 3/3 Elk, but only because it used to be a food token and I miss Oko.
Thanks for the deck, too ☺️
I used to go to a casual commander place, and only one person had a Pharika deck, maybe they shared your excitement for its janky potential.
And now I'm interested.
Omg, I'm so glad this popped up in my feed. Literally this morning, I was brewing a Blex deck that I wanted to theme around cards leaving the graveyard, will definitely be checking your list out, if not pivoting entirely!
Keranos saw fringe cEDH play, which is probably what boosts the deck numbers.
I love the Theros Gods, even the bad ones like Keranos. It's probably my favorite cycle of cards. I had a kind of Pharika moment myself. I bought all the Theros secret lairs when them came out, and at first I just wanted to build a display to show them off in. But then I had an idea, why don't I make a deck with them? It would be turbo jank but it would give me an excuse to actually use the cards I bought. So I made a list with Child of Alara as the commander, but then what gets released? Kaldheim. And with it, The World Tree. The greatest God Tribal support piece we'll ever probably get.
I was immediately hyped with my decision to make this deck, and the new goal was finding the world tree and ramping to its ability so I could Slam all my fancy gods onto the table at once.
But whats the best way to find the world tree? Ah, look a five color commander who can tutor any land to play, Golos. So I made Golos the commander. Everyone groaned I built a Golos deck and they kept killing him on sight, exactly what I wanted. So I kept tutoring out lands till finally I cast him and found the world tree. Suddenly my playgroup realized what was up. It was glorious getting them all on the field with that.
Fast forward not very long and Golos gets banned for sins my deck wasn't committing. So I switch to Esika as the commander and put alot more land tutors in. My playgroup still fears the deck but it is certainly weaker without Golos as the commander.
But anyway, the new support piece of The World Tree was what made me actually build this janky deck and make it actually pretty good.
I honestly love my enchantress deck AND love graveyard decks, so I’m tempted to steal this decklist outright! 😂
But seriously, excellent video! I’m loving all the new edh content creators coming out of the woodwork to post about much more enlightened and informed deckbuilding strategies and philosophies! I suffer from tunnel vision myself when brewing and it can lead to frustration when cutting cards or figuring out synergies so content like this can help refocus my mind.
Best of luck and hoping for your channel’s growth!
Okay, which one of you cast Kenrith's Transformation on Salubrious Snail?
okay you mentioned Insidious Roots and I'm in. I love Golgari decks (fave is Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest) and this feels like this goes in a fun different direction
Great video!
My Pharika moment was building Tuya Bearclaw mith mostly bulk from my collection and some from my lgs to round out the list. The very first game I take down 2 people in the same turn and win the game.
Love love the amount of careful consideration you put into the way cards interact :3 I was awaiting insidious roots from the start of the video 😅 Subscribing even though EDH is far from my preferred way to play magic. Also, your voice is very nice ☺
I rub Keranos as an earthquake tribal commander. I run plenty of cards that do damage to creatures and players symmetrically. I also run an artifact life gain package. You think that izzit is typically a fast paced archetype drawing and slinging spells at a pace that the value keranos gives just isn’t worth it. Normally you’d be right, but if you focus on slowing the game down, you end up with an awesome indestructible value piece as you work to burn out your opponents.
Hey 3/3 Elk.
I challenge you to make a deck based on Shameless Charlatan. Find what commander best partners up with it.
I had my own Pharika moment with it. I want to see someone else's take.
Oh hey a Pharika deck! This is awesome, I somehow pulled like four of her when I first started playing back in Theros but I never found the right place to put her back then, really cool to see a deck using her now, she's always been a favourite. That's a sub from me.
first thing i thought of when you started talking about maximizing pharika's ability was tormod! i've never found a place for him in my black decks but i always wanted to make him work since pulling him in a commander legends draft.
nice video. hope to see more
I've been looking to Pharika for the longest time, but other decks have always taken priority since I couldn't find a way to build around her... well, this is just brilliant