What was I saying yesterday about a viable black
aggro archetype? Well, find room for some
artifacts, because this is going into it. An
indestructible 5/5 for three mana is worth
having to drop an artifact and keep it around.
Everflowing Chalice might not be a big help in
an aggro deck, but the Tutelage will give it to
you for free and you can drop it early enough
that the Lich here gets to make his turn three
debut. Equipment is also a nice addition to any
deck that wants to attack, and any deck with an
indestructible 5/5 wants to attack.
Most of Magic's attempts to adapt modern
fantasy's concept of the lich involve players
turning themselves into one. Summoning one is
almost as good, though, especially when it's as
scary as Michael Komarck's interpretation here.
Fittingly, this lich can easily meet its end
against the forces of chaos or nature that can
target its phylactery, but much of the time, it
will be a powerhouse.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Phylactery
Lich
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
Phylactery Lich a flavorful and potentially
powerful card. In standard we don't have the
artifact lands but this card could be playable
in a mono black aggressive artifact deck
although the question is raised, is bending your
deck to suit a 5/5 indestructible body worth it?
Time will tell. In extended we have Ornithopter
and Vault of Whispers and more are all available
to you its impact is to be seen. In eternal this
card wont see much play creatures need to be
stellar, its possible vault of whispers dark
ritual into this but its easily handled. In
casual and multiplayer this is a powerful card
for black mages and flavorful for collectors, a
decent card for casual players and will probably
be popular. In limited this card is hard to work
around but if your mono black and have a few
handy artifacts. Overall a flavor fully
impressive card with great artwork and
constructed possibilities.
Today's card of the day is Phylactery Lich
which for three Black mana can be an
Indestructible 5/5 as long as a marked artifact
is in play.
In an all Black deck this can be a pretty
powerful effect, especially in multiples as only
one artifact with a counter needs to be in play
for any number of Phylactery Lich cards to
remain indestructible. They are still
vulnerable to other forms of removal, but a
three mana 5/5 is quite playable even with a
condition. With cards like this being
printed alongside the returning Nantuko Shade it
looks like the very aggressive time for Black
will continue unabated.
In any format it may be tempting to play an
artifact creature on the first or second turn to
set up a turn three Lich, but the creature will
be quite vulnerable to a variety of removal.
Equipment cards are an excellent choice here as
they can have the token placed on them on turn
three then equipped on the fourth turn for a
full attack from the Lich.
With the next set being a return to Mirrodin
expect a ton of artifacts and additional support
that may add even more value to a Black/Artifact
deck.
For Limited this may look like a very powerful
card, but the triple
Black cost is a bit problematic in an often
multicolor format. In
addition getting both the Lich and an artifact
card available at the same time can be harder to
manage than in a deck designed with it in mind.
Choosing this as a first pick in Booster really
locks you into an all Black and artifact deck
and any other players going for Black will
disrupt your potential choices. For Sealed
the ability to play a single color is reduced
and the number of artifacts in your pool can be
few to almost none. The playability
depends entirely on what is available and even
then hinges on the luck of the draw.
Running some Blue for library control can assist
in seeing the needed combination, but that makes
getting the three Black mana in the first few
turns impossible. By the time you can play
it the Indestructible aspect may be less useful
than a larger creature with less baggage.
