For a mere two mana, you can get your own copy
of whatever's best on the board... but with a
catch. Your copy isn't as durable as it would be
if you'd paid four mana to play Clone. This may
be a blessing in disguise if you're running Lord
of the Unreal, as the Image keeps its Illusion
creature type and thus the Lord can protect and
pump it. But even with the Lord's patronage, you
can never use Auras or Giant Growth to improve
your copy, and-- most upsetting to a player who
uses copy effects like the Image-- you can never
use your bounce spells to bounce and replay
Phantasmal Image in order to copy some newcomer.
Though, to come back at your opponent's Kozilek
by spending two mana to kill it with the legend
rule, or to let your opponent cheat a Darksteel
Colossus into play only to show him that you
have one too, is well worth the price.
Today's card of the day is Phantasmal Image
which is a two mana Blue creature that copies
any creature on the battlefield with the
additional aspects of being an illusion and
being sacrificed if it becomes the target of a
spell or ability. This is a very nice
update of Clone thanks to the lower cost, even
with the weakness as most effects that would be
in an opponent's deck to target it would likely
remove it anyway. If you can get Hexproof
or Shroud on it through the Lord or the Image's
own effect it becomes dramatically better.
Overall this is a very solid addition to Blue's
arsenal, with or without an illusion theme, and
will be played in a number of decks alongside
control elements.
In Limited the chances of having protection for
the Image are small, though the odds of removal
are reduced somewhat as well. An easy
first choice in Booster as no matter what you
copy it will be equal to whatever your opponent
has available or your own best creature in play.
Support for it isn't likely as the Lord is also
a rare and nothing can target it, so it works
just as well in a third pack in Booster as the
first. For Sealed it works for any Blue
build and is a good incentive to splash the
color if not playing it as your primary.
Copy effects are sometimes surprisingly
powerful. The original Clone has always enjoyed
popularity as an "answer" to untargetable or
protection-from-blue creatures, and later for
legendary ones. For two mana, the effect's
appeal is only amplified - it can put you very
far ahead in terms of mana-paid-for-effect, and
leaves plenty available for your counterspells
and other creatures. Of course, you need to have
or to be playing against a creature worth
copying, but that's a very minor issue: have you
seen the kinds of six-mana creatures they're
putting in sets these days?
