What it is
My version of Kcin 's deck, "And Just Like That... They Were Gone" (kudos to him).
Basically, a very fast aggro mono-blue (!) creature deck.
How it works
Nearly all creatures are illusions, of the blue subtype "I am very undercosted and more so for a blue creature, but if I become the target of any spell or effect, I am destroyed".
So, drop Lord of the Unreal to give them +1/+1 and hexproof! Copy then the lord with the 2-cost clone Phantasmal Image (or Clone, or Clever Impersonator or
Artisan of Forms
) and have hexproof 4/4 or 5/5 flyers suddenly staring at a jaw-dropped opponent likely to die in 2-3 turns. You can recover pretty fast from a board wipe also.
Krovikan Mist
is not that fragile and gets pumped by its friends the illusions, of which there are 21 in the deck! So it will be oftentimes a 4/4 flyer for 1U. Phantom Warrior is a 10-turn clock (or 5 to 7-turns when one of two Lord of Unreal are on the battlefield). Jace's Phantasm is the last of a very rare species like
Flying Men
or Galerider Sliver: a blue 1/1 flyer 1-drop, which is already pretty nice, but this one also punishes opponents abusing dredge and graveyard (and yes, I know this is a nombo with my current SB Tormod's Crypt).
Remaining things
Kcin states in his deck page and just like that... they were gone that counterspells are no good, and instead goes for bouncing back or
Ice Cage
... I still have to test mainboard Dispel or Stubborn Denial, for example, to protect Lord of Unreal and the other creatures which are not liable to being targeted... but recall that Phantasmal Image copying Lord of the Unreal becomes a Lord of the Unreal with hexproof himself...
I have playtested very little the deck here on T/O but my impression is that it might run fine with just 19 lands, probably provided that extra spell is 1 CMC or 2 at most (eg an extra Unsummon or a Void Snare)...
There remains to be seen if there is a cheap way of popping up illusion tokens, which would be really fun with a Lord of Unreal or a
Krovikan Mist
in play, aside of Aether Vial.
I also need to research specific SB hate against other colors, like longtime classic eternal staples
Suffocation
or
Blue Elemental Blast
...
