How much do you love Nephilims?

L

Limited

Guest
With their totally unplayable manacost and totally awesome abilities!
Look at them!

I opened one Dune-Brood Nephalim at the prerelease and sooo want to make a deck with it. A small start:

DuneBrood.dec said:
Creatures (24)
4x Dune-Brood Nephilim
4x Civic Wayfinder
4x Silhana Starfletcher
4x Siege Wurm
4x Selesnya Guildmage
4x Nullmage Shepherd
Spells (12)
4x Vorrac Battlehorns
4x Wildsize
4x Kodama's Reach
Lands (24)
12x Forest
4x Plains
4x Swamp
4x Mountain
 
J

jorael

Guest
Their art is very cool. But 4 colors?! It's just too must I feel.... I mean they have awesome abilities but come with no evasion....

*still resisting to buy 5 more playsets during the preorders...*
 
T

TheVert

Guest
A way around the cost would be Orochi Leafcallers, because then you could tap a forest and it could give you any of the mana you need. That is useful combo to get the Bringer of the (insert color, usually Green) Dawn in play quickly.
 
L

Limited

Guest
So, something like this?
DuneBroodv2.dec said:
Creatures (24)
4x Dune-Brood Nephilim
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Orochi Leafcallers
4x Silhana Starfletcher
4x Selesnya Guildmage
4x Nullmage Shepherd
Spells (12)
4x Vorrac Battlehorns
4x Wildsize
4x Kodama's Reach
Lands (24)
12x Forest
4x Plains
4x Swamp
4x Mountain
Or perhaps really play the Snake part and add Sosuke's Summons and Seshiro?
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
Whipersilk Cloak seems like a good call in here. Reusable and also protective.

Also, is there any card (probably an enchantment) that allows you to sac a creature to make other creatures unblockable?
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
These guys seem really cool.

Dune-Brood Nephilim: Since this guy costs four different colors of mana anyway, he goes along perfectly with the theme of fetching extra lands. I see him being played in a GBrw control deck (Train?) that can make him a powerful card without wasting too much energy on getting around blockers. It will be a solid card in a deck that can use a 3/3 body without worrying about the color requirement too much.

Glint-Eye Nephilim: The obvious use for this guy is to pump him after attacking, taking advantage of the fact that each mana expended damages the opponent and replaces a dead draw. Card advantage plus some significant damage is a recipe for winning, but is he worth it? My gut reaction is "yes." But I don't have any experience with a card quite like this one to make a comparison. The cards he reminds me of are broken ones that he can't hope to measure up to. I'm still unsure as to just how good this one will be. But he's probably even better than Dune-Brood. After all, there's no rule against pumping him up with something other than his ability and gaining much more card advantage than any Ophidian ever gave.

Ink-Treader Nephilim: This one seems the worst of the bunch (maybe). Copying spells is some cool stuff with other cards, but it seems unbreakable (and we want to break it, of course) on this guy. I can take advantage of the fact that my opponent has no creatures and hit this guy with something that pumps him up, or I can hit him with something to try and wipe all of my opponent's creatures (as well as my own) off the board. There are some spells you can use him with that will only help you and not your opponent. And there are untargetable creatures that can be used alongside him while you wipe out the opponent's creatures. But you can't do all of this at once, and he isn't good enough to have an entire deck built around him.

Witch-Maw Nephilim: I'm partial to this one, since I always liked Forgotten Ancient (which is similar). This guy is a rehashed Quirion Dryad (also similar) and weaker since he has a much more restrictive mana cost. The trample (basically) is nice, but the important difference is that he gains TWO counters for every spell you play. It's like Miracle Grow. Remember quickly Quirion Dryad became huge? This guy, once he's in play, gets huge TWICE as fast. It's silly to predict that he could be as good as Quirion Dryad (or even Forgotten Ancient, which is an underrated card). But it's close enough that I can definitely see it being used for the same purpose in casual games (and hopefully in tournament decks, although I am not so optimistic as to believe he's THAT good).

Yore-tiller Nephilim: All of these guys are decent. I don't know which ones, if any, will stand the test of time. But right now it really looks like this one is the best (and I mean really). Its ability is ridiculous. Dune-Brood and Glint-Eye have great abilities that are triggered whenever they successfully hit your opponent. Yore-Tiller doesn't have to. As long as you can keep it alive, it's there every turn to swing and bring one of your creatures back from the dead (attacking). That includes other nephilim and other Yore-Tillers in particular (although any of the others do nicely). And it's not like there have ever been cards that dump creatures into your graveyard. Oh wait...

In conclusion...

Yore-tiller = awesome
Witch-maw = awesome
Glint-eye = good
Dune-Brood = decent
Ink-Treader = meh
 
T

TheVert

Guest
A Witch-Maw/Doubling Season combo would pretty sweet, since he would gain +4/+4 every spell you cast
 
L

Limited

Guest
Glint-Eye Nephilim with Brawn, Anger, Wonder and Filth.. it gives you a way of discarding the incarnations, in return they make sure his damage gets dealt to your opponent.
 
L

Limited

Guest
I am thinking you can combine the Ink-Treader with stuff like Twiddle.. You attack with all your creatures, and then tap your Ink-Treader (which is already tapped and attacking) and all blockers are tapped..

Wait, ideas are brewing.. need to check the comprehensive rules..

Too bad! I was hoping if you play a spell with different modes (a charm or something) the mode would not be copied (so you could use a Funeral Charm on your Nephilim to give all your creatures swampwalk and opponents' creatures +2/-1 or something)
But a spells "mode" is a copiable value. Alas!

Still, I think playing a Twitch on your Ink-Treader Nephilim to tap all creatures during your opponents' end of turn step (and draw an insane amount of cards) is pretty funny.

Oh wait..

Maybe with Wild Might? During an attack, after blocker are declared, you play it on your Nephilim, stacking all copies that target your opponents' creatures on the stack first, then the ones targetting your own.
This way, the copies on your creatures resolve earlier an you can see which creatures get the +1/+1 bonus and which get the +5/+5 bonus. You can then choose which of your opponents' creatures need to be denied the extra bonus..
Stacking FUN!

Ink-Treader Nephilim.dec said:
Creatures (24)
4x Ink-Treader Nephilim
4x Gruul Guildmage
4x Lore Broker
4x Wild Mongrel
2x Valor
3x Wonder
3x Anger
2x Genesis
Spells (12)
4x Twitch
4x Wild Growth
4x Kodama's Reach
Lands (24)
10 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Plains
6 Island
Can't wait for my playsets!
 
D

DarthFerret

Guest
Nephilims vs. Slivers

The Main Event! Only on pay-per-view, Saturday Night! 6:00 pm EST

There will be a small introductory fight starting at 5:30 pm

Elves and Spikes

vs.

Goblins and Minotaurs

Special Tag Team Featurette

:D
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
DarthFerret said:
Nephilims vs. Slivers

The Main Event! Only on pay-per-view, Saturday Night! 6:00 pm EST

There will be a small introductory fight starting at 5:30 pm

Elves and Spikes

vs.

Goblins and Minotaurs

Special Tag Team Featurette

:D
Those matches would all be completely unfair. Slivers would dominate Nephilim. Just look at what Mythosx's 160-card deck has done in the tribal games over in the games run forum. Hey, I wonder if anyone could make Nephilim work in tribal...

Spikes can be good, but elves are ridiculous. No one ever complains about spikes being broken. Back when Onslaught was the newest block, I could barely keep up with them. Masticore helped. :D

And what are minotaurs supposed to do against goblins? Block the Piledriver and take the rest?
 
L

Limited

Guest
And what are minotaurs supposed to do against goblins? Block the Piledriver and take the rest?
Pyroclasm. Steam Blast. Earthquake for two..
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
None of those cards as minotaurs.

And none of them stop goblins from being the most feared archetype in Legacy either (not that Legacy is the be-all-end-all of formats, but I'm not sure if goblins are making any waves in other formats or not at the moment, although they obviously have in the past, whereas minotaurs have always been rogue at best).
 
L

Limited

Guest
The point is that Minotaurs survive two damage.. but of course you're right. There is no comparisson. Goblin will always win easily.

But if you want to make a Minotaur deck that has a chance of putting up a fight, pack it with Hurloon Shaman and Minotaur Explorer (both 3 toughness) and a lot of " 2 damage to everything" spells. (and either green for enchantment removal (foodchain) or perhaps black for graveyard removal (is goblin bidding still played? Anywhere?)
 
L

Limited

Guest
Oh, and Ink-Treader Nephilim with Shelter! Saves your creatures from removal and you choose on resolution, so it can be different for each creature. And draw a lot of cards!
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Limited said:
Oh, and Ink-Treader Nephilim with Shelter! Saves your creatures from removal and you choose on resolution, so it can be different for each creature. And draw a lot of cards!
I hadn't thought about how he interacts with cantrips...

Okay, that makes him better in my eyes, but it still seems that a deck utilizing him would have to be built around him (since most of the spells that interact well with him don't particularly combo with anything else). It still might make something worthwhile for casual games though.
 
D

DarthFerret

Guest
I think y'all missed my point .... Elves AND spikes versus Goblins AND Minotaurs.

Not Evles vs. Spikes

and

Not Goblins Vs. Minotaurs.

Let your imaginations run wild!
 
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