Pharika's Potential
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on April 14, 2014, 12:41 a.m. by CastleSiege
So Pharika, God of Affliction has finally been spoiled. At first glance she's a pretty meh card, but let's put some more thought into it. Here's just two uses I can think of off the top of my head:
She gives you deathtouch blockers, making aggro players think twice before they swing at you.
Her ability triggers the new keyword, Constellation, since the snake tokens are also enchantments.
What do you guys think? Could Pharika be a force to be reckoned with? Or overall is she just bad? What other uses might she have in formats other than standard?
chrishuffman95 says... #3
Wow, I missed the 2 more pages of comments. That was directed at the comment to mine on the first page
April 14, 2014 8:45 p.m.
One word in her ability text makes her bad, "owner's". If it was put onto your battlefield every time, she would be meh.
April 14, 2014 8:52 p.m.
I'm honestly disappointed in this one. The only good thing about this god is that its potentially an indestructible 5/5 for three but compared to the other gods that's definitely not great.
April 14, 2014 9:35 p.m.
Everyone is looking at this card from the wrong angle. Yes, it has anti-synegry in the current dredge build with jarad and nemesis. So how about... Don't play it in that deck. This isn't a graveyad-hate card, but it has that option if you need it. It's a defensive card that will be used in midrange decks. When your manadorks become unnecessary you trade them in for 1/1 snakes. This card would be brutal for aggro to face. Not only do your Lotleth Troll s probably trade off for a couple of creatures, but they leave 3 snakes behind to kill more stuff. Also: let's not forget that this is a 3-mana god. I know it's competing with atheros (which is hilariously broken) and Thassa, but I think this could work in some devotion build, which may just use gary for a black theme, or use all the stompies in green, as 5/5 indestructibles for 3 are pretty good.
April 14, 2014 10:09 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #7
I've put a lot of thought into Pharika and am starting to see some positive synergies and interactions. Could be similar to Thassa.
April 14, 2014 10:15 p.m.
KingSorin, sure, our snakes kill their creatures, but if we eat those, THEY get the benefit, not us like with Scavenging Ooze .
The only synergies I can see are with Doomwake Giant and Eidolon of Blossoms , which suits the whole enchantment-based crap trend going on now, and less of the dredge theme.
April 14, 2014 10:41 p.m.
contracrostipunctus says... #9
Horrible card due to lazy, lazy design. Like did they even bother? It's Moorland Haunt recycled. Wizards, you really couldn't think of a single thing that even borders on interesting for her to do? Also how does the god of potions, poisons, and medicine make illusion snakes from corpses? I just thought of this in 10 seconds, but why not:
Pharika 2GB (3/5)
BB: If a player would gain life, they lose double that much life instead.
GG: Exile a creature card from target player's graveyard. That player gains 2 life.
Doesn't that seem more in line with cures/afflictions? I'd be way more interested in playing with False Cure and Gnaw to the Bone , interacting with Obzedat, Gary, and lifegain decks, and the ability to dole out punishment in interesting ways. That is a card I could build around and a card I could get into. Instead we get the can of beach nuts you open and snakes come out.
April 15, 2014 1:20 a.m.
chrishuffman95 says... #10
KingSorin has the right idea, I think. Don't underestimate this just yet.
April 15, 2014 2:06 a.m.
I think people completely underestimate her, yeah sure she doesn't fit into dredge decks, and she doesn't counter them as well as Scooze, but that's not what she was made to do. She is EPIC with constellation and she knocks aggro decks out of the park. I'm working on an all enchantment aggro type deck with her. Oh you killed my Gnarled Scarhide , that's fine, i'll just feed it to Pharika to create a death toucher and trigger all my constellations.
April 15, 2014 2:15 a.m.
Not to mention that all the cards haven't been spoiled yet, so there might be some card that makes this card insane. Nobody thought Curse of the Swine , Gridlock , or Glimpse the Sun God were OP until Battlefield Thaumaturge was spoiled.
@Gienah You don't have to have Pharika for a Constellation trigger.
T1: land
T2: land, Sylvan Caryatid
T3: land, Eidolon of Blossoms , Draw a card.
T4: Land, Herald of Torment , Spiteful Returned , draw 2 cards
T5: Land, Doomwake Giant , Gnarled Scarhide , draw 2 cards, all your opponents creatures get -2/-2, attack.
T6: Assume you have a couple creatures in your graveyard by now, play Pharika, and exile 2 creatures, draw 3 cards, creatures your opponent control get -3/-3, attack with Herald and Doomwake.
You're keeping all your opponents creatures weak with Doomwake Giant, and getting plenty of card advantage from Eidolon of Blossoms, and if they want to kill one of your creatures, just use Pharika to trigger constellation and get a Deathtoucher. Plus you can have cards like Abrupt Decay , Thoughtseize , and Hero's Downfall for more board control. Oh they have Stormbreath Dragon, when they attack with it you just activate Pharika to bring it down to a 3/3 with Doomwake Giant, then trade Herald of Torment with it, adding another card to your graveyard.
April 15, 2014 2:45 a.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #13
Those who are comparing Pharika, God of Affliction
to Scavenging Ooze
are looking at it incorrectly. Scooze works best in decks in which he is feeding off of the opponent's dead creatures, whereas Pharika obviously belongs in a Dredge or Reanimator deck since it's only worthwhile to target creatures in your own graveyard.
That said, I think Pharika can be very powerful in the right build. An endless stream of instant speed Deathtouch blockers is nothing to take lightly. Also, since Commune with the Gods and Kruphix's Insight both allow you to get Enchantments, building a Dredge deck with Bestowers like Nighthowler , Herald of Torment , and Boon Satyr to throw onto those Snakes makes for menacing attackers as well. Add in Constellation buddies like Eidolon of Blossoms and Doomwake Giant and you have yourself a pretty annoying deck to deal with.
April 15, 2014 4:23 a.m.
thewyzman: this isn't a graveyard-hate card. You don't have to eat your opponent's stuff, and most of the time you won't, but if you're opponent is about to re-animate Obzedat, Ghost Council with Whip of Erebos or something ridiculous, then i wouldn't hesitate to give them a snake. The ability is optional, and should be treated as an option. You don't eat your opponent's grave with this guy whenever possible (as you would with Scavenging Ooze ), but if worst comes to worst you have this option to lean back on. Meanwhile, you can enjoy your supply of enchantment-Sedge Scorpion s and your potentially 5/5 indestructible 3-drop.
April 15, 2014 5 a.m.
Oh, and if my Lotleth Troll comment was unclear, i meant you discarded a couple of things to it, then ate them all with this. It also has half-synergy with Pack Rat .
April 15, 2014 5:02 a.m.
@ChrisHansonBiomancin: Exiling creatures from your own graveyard seems pretty stupid in dredge, specifically with Nighthowler.
April 15, 2014 10:52 a.m.
...Why does everyone keep mentioning Nighthowler , and Scavenging Ooze ...?
That's CLEARLY a different deck.
No, you wouldn't play it with Nighthowler .
No, it's not GY hate against your opponent. If I need GY hate, I'll still be using Scavenging Ooze , and only using this to remove opponents creature if absolutely necessary.
This is a completely different card, with it's own strategy.
If you can only think of it in terms of your current B/G decks, just stop thinking about it all together... I'm going to keep considering the NEW possibilities, and not the ones that are already second rate strategies in Standard.
April 15, 2014 11:23 a.m.
@Rayenous I know right, for some reason people think that Dredge is the only deck BG can have. All the cards haven't even been spoiled yet, so I think that there will be some cards with Constellation that will make Pharika insane.
April 15, 2014 3:43 p.m.
Some1TookMyName says... #19
Ive been following this and reading everything but to OP's question... I don't think she's a force to be reckoned with or a bad card. I want to play her and I bet I can win with her at local standard tournaments.
April 15, 2014 5 p.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #20
@TexasDice: It's all in the way you play it. Having diverse options to utilize the creatures in your graveyard is only bad if you misplay. Otherwise, you're giving yourself more ways to deal with different situations (ex- Pharika is better when mass blockers are needed against weenies and can stall an early threat from GR until you've built up your graveyard) as well as a backup plan in case your opponent has an answer for Nighthowler .
April 15, 2014 5:46 p.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #21
@Wolfninja because they don't play B/G, they just pretend that its some weird johnny strategy, in other words, they classify it with U/B mill and R/G land destruction control, outlandish decks that don't normally work, but are fun to play.
As I mentioned before, she has synergy with a lot, and clearly needs her own archetype, but, most people just think "oh, Black and Green, clearly self mill" in other words, B/G has more than one archetype, and Pharika is just support for a different one. While this may be some sort of dredge deck, it could work well with other strategies too. B/G reanimator may become a thing, especially considering synergy with Whip of Erebos and other instant speed reanimation, it may even make Champion of Stray Souls standard playable.
April 15, 2014 8:58 p.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin: If the opponent has an answer for the nighthowler tactic (Rakdos Charm , Crypt Incursion ), then Pharika is screwed too. Also, what good are those tokens against weenies? Here are three possible situations that could occur in a game against currently most popular weenie deck:
- The weenies have first strike. If the weenies are first (or double) striking, you'd be exiling away resources for nothing.
- Xathrid Necromancer turns this into a clear win for the humans.
- Soldier of the Pantheon and more so Brave the Elements laugh at both, those blockers and you, for weakening your own game plan in favor to do nothing.
Instead of wasting a deckslot to prepare for situations the card isn't helpful against, players will rather take something in that progresses the original game plan. Especially since the spot Pharika would bash heads with, is Herald of Torment , a card that is plain amazing in the deck.
BUUUT, I also have to give the girl some credit. The Snakes indeed have some uses, you just took the wrong enemy with them Weenies. Pharika seems useful against another archetype: Monsters. All creatures but Stormbreath Dragon can't attack into 1/1s with Deathtouch and the decks removal suit really poor with only Dreadbores of Flesh/Blood, since fighting is really bad against Deathtouch and Mizzium Mortars vanished, because it's not that good in the meta.
If there wasn't another card that fights the Monster decks so well (Lifebane Zombie ) Pharika could see play in the Dredge sideboard. Post rotation maybe, if both decks still exist.
bantam1234: Black/green has indeed a lot more to offer than Selfmill. Golgari is usable in the following things:
- Dredge
- Reanimator
- Control
- Sacrifices (Blood Artist, Gravepact)
- Big beats splash Removal.
Dredge and Reanimator get sabotaged by her, so these two fall away. She's not good in control, because control lacks creatures, Devotion and a purpose for 1/1s.Big beats seems okay, but not fantastic.
And finally, we reach Saccing stuff. No we're talking, because this judgement depends on the format. In older formats, Pharika would screw up the Bloodghast / Nether Traitor skullclamping.
In Standard however, saccing Voice of Resurgence and Xathrid Necromancer while also using Athreos could actually work in standard and possibly bring back Cartel Aristocrat and Varolz, the Scar-Striped . Throw in one or two Immortal Servitude and call it a deck!
Oh and of course, Pharika is bonkers in limited. Breaking News.
April 15, 2014 10:02 p.m.
Rozinasran says... #23
On paper, the weakest of the gods in Journey. She might be fringe playable in some janky graveyard-based combo deck though.
April 15, 2014 10:43 p.m.
@TexasDice With the additions of this set, there will be new type of Golgari deck, enchantment aggro. You have a bunch of enchantment creatures in the deck, you aggro it out with them, obviously your creatures are going to be dying, so you drop Pharika in, and recycle all your dead creatures, re-triggering Constellation. Of course you could just use Nighthowler instead of Pharika, and instead of getting a bunch of small creatures, you could have a big one, BUT Nighthowler only triggers Constellation once, while Pharika can trigger it as many times as you have creatures in your deck.
April 15, 2014 10:59 p.m.
Well, I play Pharika, God of Affliction in a fun modern deck for two reasons. The first is that this deck is based on DT so, with an Viridian Longbow and/or a Thornbite Staff , the little snakes have an utility. The second reason is cause of Pharika's CMC. You can play it turn 3, so, you can be wrathed one turn after, and put one or two tokens just after that. This isn't as stronger as some other gods but, in some decks like a DT or Constellation, I think it can help a little bit
April 16, 2014 5:57 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #26
Strength of the Fallen 1GEnchantment
Constellation - whenever ~ or another entchantment enters the battlefield under your control, target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creature cards in your graveyard.
April 16, 2014 10:14 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #27
Just another use for the serpents of Pharika, God of Affliction , seems interesting.
April 16, 2014 10:17 a.m.
contracrostipunctus says... #28
But Pharika doesn't make that card better, Nighthowler does! If you give the opponent the snake, you can't give anything of yours a boost. If you get a snake, it gets +(X-1)/+(X-1) because you lost a creature in the graveyard to make it. These arguments were made during Dragon's Maze from you optimistic types about how Emmara Tandris wasn't a horrible card but the answer is probably going to be the same: the cards that will supposedly make Pharika good are better with the cards Pharika is supposed to be replacing.
April 16, 2014 10:35 a.m.
I suppose I could see this against control? Low cmc gives it less of a chance to be countered. Make snakes after that Supreme Verdict . I guess they could always Detention Sphere Pharika, but that's what Golgari Charm is for!
Pharika: "Aha! I will kill you with my snakes!"
UW: "..." "Fated Retribution "
Pharika: "Nooooo!"
April 16, 2014 10:59 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #30
I don't see how being able to pump a creature and create a 1/1 deathtouch creature is bad. You don't pump the creature coming into play like a dummy unless you're creating a instant speed blocker. This has much more potential on offense and can be deadly on an unblocked creature.
I'm about as skeptical as they come and am probably the only person saying JOU is not that great. I play a lot of Standard competitively and casually and feel like I have a good grasp on the meta and how these new cards will impact it. Pharika, God of Affliction is one of the few cards I've voiced my support of. She is not amazing but nowhere near as bad as the majority is painting her out to be. She provides a lot of utility and an awesome body for 3 mana.
April 16, 2014 11:07 a.m.
contracrostipunctus If you're playing a normal Dredge deck, you're probably going to have at least 10 creatures in your graveyard. So, you have Strength of the Fallen and Pharika out, plus a couple other creatures. You lose one creature in your graveyard, creating a 1/1 snake, giving target creature +9/+9, bringing Nighthowler down from 10/10 to a 9/9 (big whoop), I think that would work pretty well. All you have to do, is make sure you keep like 5 creatures in your GY and she works great.
April 16, 2014 5:15 p.m.
Eduardogbg says... #32
Who said Mogis, God of Slaughter was designed to be played at BR (hue hue) aggro? Who said Phenax, God of Deception was designed to be played at UB(x) control/discard?
And Karametra, God of Harvests for any deck that isn't EDH and is not Bant? Ok, just kidding.
Pharika isn't meant to deserve a spot on dredge. Junk constellation is the future, or meant to be, at least.
April 16, 2014 5:42 p.m.
Eduardogbg says... #33
Oh, no one mentioned that you can flash the token. Just remembering.
April 16, 2014 5:43 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #34
Yes it does allow for instant speed blocking/killing, but gets lol'd at by graveyard interaction. not to mention flyers just woosh right over the top.
April 16, 2014 6:36 p.m.
Eduardogbg says... #35
they (snakes) could be a little more Nessian Asp , I agree.
April 16, 2014 7:06 p.m.
asasinater13 says... #36
ok guys. so pharika with Pack Rat , Eidolon of Blossoms , Lotleth Troll , Golgari Charm , Master of the Feast , Gnarled Scarhide , Herald of Torment .... turn one creature into a rat and a snake, at instant speed, while they're attacking. get a draw out of the deal. has fliers to handle a stormbreath, which can double as adding to rats and snakes. a troll to regenerate and grow. blossoms for the obvious card advantage. don't count out pharika just yet, just stop trying to make her dredge with you and give her something else to do.
April 16, 2014 8:50 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #38
I now retract my support of Pharika with O Ring being reprinted as Banishing Light . The 1cmc Pacifism and Decide. Not worth the trouble.
April 19, 2014 1:19 a.m.
WizardInTheWoods says... #39
I like Pharika, God of Affliction . Instant speed blockers become instantly more vital when Madcap Skills , Underworld Cerberus , or, to a lesser extent, Iroas, God of Victory hits the battlefield.
I'm more impressed by Nyx Weaver , though. She'd make a fine target for Nighthowler and laugh in Stormbreath Dragon 's face. She avoids removal also, digging up another of herself, perhaps.
April 19, 2014 3:12 a.m.
makes me wonder why this hassnt bin mentioned yet.
use this as a 1-2off in BGW. Play Eidolon of Countless Battles after that Pharika, God of Affliction and use her ability with all the extra mana you have and swing for 6 or more.
I dont think you should realy care for exiling your opponents grave with this one reanimator issnt played alot and unless its benefitial attacking into a creature with deathtouch...doubt it would happen alot.
April 19, 2014 10:55 a.m.
Can't speak for Standard but it won't see any significant play elsewhere (and my money says even standard won't use her). Why run this in Modern when you have Necrogenesis ?
ChiefBell says... #1
This is true. I just feel like the whole 'killing your own stuff' vibe doesn't work so well for gods.
April 14, 2014 7:43 p.m.