Tevesh Manifest

Calcifer
Posts: 16
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Calcifer » 2 years ago

This deck is an attempt at conceptually capturing the sneakiness of UB/Dimir in ways that aren't always captured by set mechanics. The core strategy of the deck operates like so:
1) Get Scroll of Fate onto the field
2) Manifest a big, deadly creature or other highly advantageous noncreature permanent
3) "Blink" the manifested card to reveal the high-cost permanent at a massive discount!

The true starting point of this deck was an extended art Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools a friend of mine gifted to me with a challenge, "I can't wait to see what you do with this guy"! Innocuous, but I felt the need to flex my creativity anyway. That's why I'm avoiding things more commonly done with Szat like aristocrat strategies, and why this deck is a bit convoluted.

Why Manifest?
There are certainly more straight forward ways to cheat the costs of high CMC permanents than this, so what are the benefits of manifest? For one, you can cheat the cost of ANY permanent type, lending a great amount of flexibility to the payoff cards included. This approach isn't limited to merely artifacts or creatures, Kiora Bests the Sea God and Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge are equally fair game. Second is style. Atemsis, All-Seeing and Phage the Untouchable may be in the realm of "achievement unlocked" win conditions, but playing them face down and swinging across can create for some tense blocking choices and potentially memorable closing turns! This is my attempt at capturing the stealth and subterfuge of the Dimir, cloaking your moves until the last possible moment and springing the trap (cards) at any opponent that crosses you. There's a certain satisfaction of laying your tricks on the board, hiding in plain sight, rather than simply holding them in your hand.

The Pledge
Placing complete faith in the Scroll of Fate is asking too much of one's deck, even for me. So some redundancy is called for in the set up stage:

Qarsi High Priest
Scroll of Fate
Dream Halls
Marshland Bloodcaster
Primordial Mist
Bolas's Citadel
Omniscience

This collection provides a variety of ways to slip past the check out line on paying for your spells. Three of them key off of playing a card off the top of your library, which leads to the other half of The Pledge.

Scheming Symmetry
Sensei's Divining Top
Lim-Dul's Vault
Scroll Rack
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
Insidious Dreams

These help us find our Scroll, another Pledge piece, or a proper payoff once the Pledge is in place. The addition of these and other tutors free us from having to rely on less desirable manifest cards.

The Turn

Malakir Rebirth
Cloudstone Curio
Ghostly Flicker
Release to the Wind
Cauldron of Souls
Conjurer's Closet
Rescue from the Underworld
Deadeye Navigator
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

With a combination of flicker and recursive black spells (along with a sacrifice outlet) we can recapture the manifested card to reveal its true form. This is where Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools relates to this strategy as a sacrifice outlet in the command zone. It's worth saying too, defending a planeswalker commander is a little more interesting due to your defensive creatures being obfuscated should your opponents want to cut Szat short of an ultimate. That 2/2 could very well be Meishin, the Mind Cage.

Back to the Turn, Release to the Wind actually brings instants and sorceries into play as viable manifest targets, the likes of Expropriate and Rise of the Dark Realms. Rescue from the Underworld is interesting in that it has a relatively unique wording: "Return that card AND THE SACRIFICED CARD to the battlefield..." Similar cards reference returning CREATURE cards, but this instant is agnostic of card type. I had some trouble finding a definitive ruling, but my understanding is that the 2/2 sacrificed will return to the battlefield regardless of whether it's a creature or not. I'd be happy to know if anyone can confirm or deny this interpreation.

The Prestige

Atemsis, All-Seeing
Nezahal, Primal Tide
Phage the Untouchable
Stormtide Leviathan
Omniscience

Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge
Kiora Bests the Sea God
Meishin, the Mind Cage
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

While not comprehensive, these illustrate the type of cards I'm looking to get a discount on. There are an array of options, aggressive, defensive, various combo pieces are all possibilities.


That's the general structure of the deck. It feels a little clunky in its current form, and I have to admit I spent a lot of time trying to find a combination of these three stages while managing a suitable mana curve and the necessary redundancies in place. Happy as always to hear about any other approaches to this idea within this color identity, and any omissions or other cool tech to leverage the manifest mechanic!
Decklist

Sorcery

Tutor

Approximate Total Cost:


Tags:

User avatar
Sefir
Posts: 234
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him
Location: Kavala, Greece

Post by Sefir » 2 years ago

Very intrigued by the deck.

My first thought was that it would have a very linear playstyle, but I can see you put just 2 tutors for Scroll of Fate and you mostly rely on card drawing. Good. This will result in different plays and experience each time.

How important you think Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is for the deck?
I feel that a WU or GU partner commander might help more colorwise, since there are at least some VERY powerful manifest options in both G (Whisperwood Elemental) and W (Mastery of the Unseen).
Last edited by Sefir 2 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
Zedruu the Greathearted 4-Card Combos Puzzlebox
Gluntch, the Bestower Controlled Hug
Sliver Queen Enchantress
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Saclands
Teneb, the Harvester AntiBlack Pestilence
Dakkon Blackblade Control
Riku of Two Reflections Dragon's Approach
Phelddagrif Hippo Factory Lifegain
Damia, Sage of Stone Casual Food Chain
Minsc, Beloved Ranger Win(nie)s
Thraximundar Zomblins
The Omenkeel Vehicles
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis Dredge/Reanimator
Hans Eriksson Smash

Dragonlover
Posts: 546
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Dragonlover » 2 years ago

I agree with Sefir, you possibly want some green in here. If nothing else, it opens up a swathe of stuff to manifest, in addition to having some really good manifest enablers. You also get Temur Sabertooth which is another route to using manifested non-permanents.

Staying in the chosen colours, have you considered Thieving Amalgam and/or Ghastly Conscription?

My Virtus and Gorm deck in my sig is based around face down creatures as well if you wanted to take a look at a deck coming from a similar place. I also saw an Ezuri, Claw of Progress morph/manifest deck many moons ago, but I can't remember if it was here or on Salvation.

Dragonlover
All my decks are here

Calcifer
Posts: 16
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Calcifer » 2 years ago

Thanks for your feedback and interest! I thought this was an intriguing idea and was hoping I wouldn't be the only one.
Sefir wrote:
2 years ago
How important you think Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is for the deck?
I feel that a WU or GU partner commander might help more colorwise, since there are at least some VERY powerful manifest options in both G (Whisperwood Elemental) and W (Mastery of the Unseen).
Silas has a few benefits. Deathtouch may discourage people from attacking Tevesh Szat and Silas can retrieve key artifacts, specifically Scroll of Fate. That being said, I am lukewarm on Silas as the perfect partnership. I am pretty set on Dimir as a color identity for now, but as I test the deck I could definitely see myself looking into W or G as a third colour, or to replace U or B. In addition to Mastery, white does also offer efficient blink options that aren't to be discounted, and have been a tempting direction to take the deck towards!
Dragonlover wrote:
2 years ago
Staying in the chosen colours, have you considered Thieving Amalgam and/or Ghastly Conscription?

My Virtus and Gorm deck in my sig is based around face down creatures as well if you wanted to take a look at a deck coming from a similar place. I also saw an Ezuri, Claw of Progress morph/manifest deck many moons ago, but I can't remember if it was here or on Salvation.
You've got a cool list there, thank you for pointing me towards it! I will say cards with brutal on-hit effects like Virtus and ebonblade reaper are something I haven't explored much but will have to look into.

Amalgam and Conscription were in the list but didn't make the cut as I pared it down. They're certainly on theme and get points for that, but I wonder about their efficiency, have you had good results with them? There is certainly a theft package or mass-blink package that could be added to take advantage of effects like these. But for seven mana I feel they're a bit conditional. But I do like that are a big supply of blockers for Tevesh...

Dragonlover
Posts: 546
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Dragonlover » 2 years ago

If you can get Amalgam to stick its amazing, especially if things are getting a bit grindy. I'm not sure if I've ever actually cast the Conscription, but that's more due to not seeing it at the right times.

Dragonlover
All my decks are here

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Decklists”