Phage the Untouchable - One Hit Wonder
Phage the Untouchable
Approximate Total Cost:
Introduction
Phage the Untouchable has a rather unique effect, she just needs to connect once and your opponent dies. There are just a few hurdles you need to overcome for that to actually happen.
Try Not to Die
Putting Phage in your Hand (Safe Options)
If you can put Phage directly into your hand, then you don't need to worry about her killing you when she enters the battlefield.
Campfire - It's a one shot effect, and it's fairly cheap. A little bit of incidental life gain when not used for it's primary reason for inclusion isn't terrible either.
Netherborn Altar - It's repeatable and cheap as long as you have life to spare. It's probably the best card in this category as long as using it won't kill you.
Phyrexian Reclamation - It's repeatable and cheap, but it does require you to have Phage in your graveyard. This isn't great for your first attempt to get her into play, but it can be handy for later on whenever your opponents kill her in a non-exile manner.
Command Beacon - It's a cheap one shot effect that can generate mana until you don't need it, and generally a little harder for opponents to remove than any of the other options in this category.
Mortuary Mire - It's a one shot effect with the same downsides as Phyrexian Reclamation. It is pretty handily the worst card in this category that I've chosen to include in my deck. Worst case scenario though, it's an ETB tapped land that may sometimes help you with Phage's downside, so it doesn't really hurt to include.
Stopping the ETB Trigger (Risky Options)
Sometimes you don't have any of the cards from the previous category in hand, or they aren't ideal to play at this moment for some reason. These are all useful cards for negating Phage's ETB trigger or making it so that it does not kill you. They are all inherently risky, as removing or countering anything in this category generally means you die. So, if you suspect an opponent has the appropriate removal or Counterspell then you will want some redundant effects in this category, or maybe you just go for the thrill of the risk and hope your opponents don't have the correct counter play in hand.
Platinum Angel - It's expensive and vulnerable to both creature and artifact removal. This can be one of the more risky options, however it can be protected by some equipment in the deck and it has the added bonus of shutting off your opponent's ability to win until it is removed, so I'm generally a fan of it.
Lich's Mastery - This generally requires an enchantment board wipe to remove so it's one of the safer options in this category. However, it gives you another fun mini-game of trying not to die to another effect. It can also be a source of card draw with some other cards in this deck. If you like to take risks, it's not a bad card. And, if you don't like risks, why are you playing Phage?
Sundial of the Infinite - It's cheap, and vulnerable to just artifact removal and Stifle effects. Once Phage is actually in play, it can also be effectively used as a Counterspell effect on opposing removal on your turn (with the downside of making Phage probably not actually connect in combat but that's better than her dying).
Torpor Orb - It's cheap, and vulnerable to just artifact removal. This has the added bonus of shutting off a number of opposing creatures. It does shut off Massacre Girl, Massacre Wurm, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but it's worth including.
The Golden Throne - It's not particularly cheap, but it's only vulnerable to artifact removal. You'll live through the ETB and be stuck at 1 Life (better than dying at least). It can function as a mana rock of sorts but this deck is fairly creature light. This is good as a redundancy piece for other cards in this category, just play it whenever you have the spare mana and forget about it. Also, it's useful in a pinch to stop opponents from killing you potentially.
Stunning Reversal - It is one of the more difficult to interact with cards of this category, requiring a Counterspell effect to stop. Similar to The Golden Throne, you have the slight problem of being stuck at 1 Life, but you do get a nice full hand to work with.
Making a Connection
I'm a fan of a number of static effects that give creatures -X/-X to help keep the board low on creatures, some of these are just "fun" choices because I wanted to include them in a deck (Plague Engineer) and some are more universally useful.
Equipment is vital for making Phage hit generally. Haste is a huge bonus if you have the option as the less rounds you have Phage sitting "doing nothing", the better. You can't fit everything in the deck, there are a lot of options for making Phage connect, and what I've included is by no means "perfect". Trailblazer's Boots is probably one of the most notable equipment pieces I don't have included, and it absolutely has a place in this sort of deck, but it just does one thing (and does it well) whereas most other equipment either helps on at least two categories of defense, haste, or evasion effects.
Alternative Win-Conditions
Endless Whispers is a popular card for Phage the Untouchable decks and it is easy to see why. You just need that in play, Phage in play, and a way to kill Phage, and an opponent of your choice will die. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this angle. Endless Whispers is very much a double edged sword, keeping opponent's creatures in play and your opponents are almost never going to give you their creatures when they die. In my opinion, this makes it a card you just keep in hand until you are able to pull off the combo kill usually. This deck is already running enough weird stuff that may be sitting in your hand as is, so I've decided against including it but it is absolutely a viable strategy to pursue if you are inclined.
Further Notes
This deck really needs its tutors, so if you are for some reason opposed to playing tutors, you are probably going to have to include more redundant effects of the "Try Not to Die" variety and ways to make Phage connect.
There are a few cards that are probably less than ideal that I've included more for fun and they don't have a place in my other decks. You could probably further optimize this if you really wanted to get rid of some of the jankier cards like Tendrils of Corruption or Deadly Tempest, but honestly I have found those to be fairly useful and the mana cost on them isn't a huge deal.
I've only been messing with this deck for the past few months so there are a couple of cards I know I need to get around to including at some point in the future like Volrath's Stronghold and Vampiric Tutor.
