[Deck] Seance (combo)

[Kryptnyt]

The Core

Deck
4 Seance 2 Laboratory Maniac 1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm 4 Armored Skaab 4 Screeching Skaab 3 Tower Geist

Possible Supporting Cast
Unburial Rites
Tracker's Instinct
Snapcaster Mage
Forbidden Alchemy
Faithless Looting
Memory's Journey
Desperate Ravings
Think Twice

Faith's Shield

So if the idea is to play out Seance, upkeep mill with skaabs until you hit Mirror-Mad Phantasm, upkeep activate phantasm token to mill library... then your upkeep, make a lab maniac token and win on draw... How do I want to build that deck? I need lots of help with this one, but I've got the basic cards down. We're gonna need to play at least blue white, and it looks like we're going to splash another color out of necessity. But what should the deck look like?
Our biggest problem is vulnerability to common creature removal spells if you ask me. Memory's Journey will buy us more turns but that's it. Ranger's Guile?

[Ninja Bob]

Originally Posted by Kryptnyt

Our biggest problem is vulnerability to common creature removal spells if you ask me. Memory's Journey will buy us more turns but that's it. Ranger's Guile?

2-4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Faith's Shield

[Kryptnyt]

Hmm actually protecting the guy isn't a problem since we can draw at instant speed with several of our flashback spells. But faith's Shield can protect Seance when they go to destroy it after you mill yourself out. Very cool. Into the list of things we want!

[Morimacil]

Yeah, removal wouldnt be the biggest issue here. For starters, there isnt actually much removal that can kill the maniac at instant speed. gesitflame, devil's play, rolling temblor, fiend hunter, and sever the bloodline all cant actually hit it, so its fine there, the only removal that is played that could actually hit it would be brimstone volley, and as mentioned, you can probably just draw in response and be fine.

The main issue that Id see would be staying alive long enough. Even if you get a turn 4 seance, turn 5 phantasm mill, turn 6 win, well thats still only turn 6, so slower than a lot of decks out there. And thats with a god draw pretty much.
So you need to either be able to very reliably mill yourself out super fast, or be able to survive, ideally both.

Id probably look at playing more than 1 phantasm. With 1, you get to make a token, and millyourself for sure, which is obviously pretty good, but its unlikely that you do get one. If you have 2 instead, well instead of once in a blue moon getting to mill your whole library, you get to more reliably mill half your library and get a 5/1 flyer. And then if needed, you can block, kill something, save yourself some life, and THEN mill your whole library. So if you play 2, its a turn slower, but its a turn where you have a 5/1 blocker, and it will also happen a lot more often.


Second, I dont think that you would need 2 maniacs, one should be enough. If you bring it back, and it gets killed before you can draw, well you are pretty much dead anyway, so I dont see the use for a second one.

Slayer of the wicked is on color, can come in to kill a creature, and then block another, and then be brought back with seance to kill something else. He might be worth looking into, though maybe only as a SB card.
Saving graspworks well with him, and can be nice with the milling skaabs. Probably more cute than anything though. Its amazing with a fiend hunter in hand though.

Dawntreader elk, silverchase fox, brain weevil, huntmaster of the fells, and so on might also be worth looking into, they have decent sinergy with seance.


Then the biggest question of all is whether to try and make it a standalone deck, or a value plan? What I mean by that, is that you could shoot for the combo every game, and base your deck entirely around that. OR, since you already want to selfmill, and are already going to be running the blue skaabs, you could also add 1 maniac, 1-2 phantasms, and 3-4 seance to a UG mill yourself shell, and try to work with that, youd then still have the possibility to combo, and youd also have the option to just start playing ghoultrees and splinterfrights and cagebreakers and boneyard wurms and whatever other huge threat you want to include.
There might be a conflict here, since the green cards want creatures in the yard, and seance wants to remove them, but I think it would probably work out. After all, if you remove a skaab, and get to mill yourself, the number of creatures in your graveyard is likely to actually increase.

[Kakita Jamie]

I was contemplating a control list that just self-milled, used Gnaw to the Bone to stay alive, Blasphemous Act to clear the board and dropped Geralf's Mindcrusher as a finisher.

This is the shell I have so far:

Deck
Lands: 4 Sulfur Falls 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Evolving Wilds 1 Mountain 1 Forest 10 Island Creatures: 4 Deranged Assistant 4 Screeching Skaab 4 Armored Skaab 4 Tower Geist 4 Geralf's Mindcrusher Other Spells: 4 Blasphemous Act 4 Gnaw to the Bone 4 Thought Scour 4 Silent Departure

Since this used blues two enemy colors the mana looks decent.

Removing Mindcrusher as the finisher for the Seance Combo and going with red for the Wrath effect I could see a shell like this:

Deck
Lands: 4 Clifftop Retreat 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Evolving Wilds 1 Mountain 1 Plains 10 Island Creatures: 4 Deranged Assistant 4 Screeching Skaab 4 Armored Skaab 4 Tower Geist 1 Laboratory Maniac 1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm Other Spells: 4 Blasphemous Act 4 Seance 4 Thought Scour 4 Silent Departure 2 Think Twice

The mana base isn't good and it needs a tweaking for creature protection but as a base shell it's a start. Alternatively dropping Red and putting Green in I could see this:

Deck
Lands: 4 Forest 4 Hinterland Harbor 4 Evolving Wilds 2 Plains 10 Island Creatures: 4 Avacyn Pilgrim 4 Screeching Skaab 4 Armored Skaab 4 Tower Geist 1 Laboratory Maniac 1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm Other Spells: 4 Gnaw to the Bone 4 Seance 4 Thought Scour 4 Silent Departure 2 Think Twice

Once again the mana base isn't perfect and the deck needs tweaks.

Playable area:
Silent Departure in both versions could be numerous other removal/stall type spells. The reasoning is to bounce Champion of the Parish even if he has multiple counters. Also works twice and/or can be milled. Feeling of Dread is also a possibility.

Thought Scour could be other things as well. It's just another card to burn through the deck.

Tower Geist could move down in number in the red version but cutting creatures in the green version is risky unless putting another creature in.

[Party Petey]

I don't think this combo works to be honest. I'm pretty sure they made a ruling for mirror mad phantasmal if you would make a token of it and would use the ability you would place a token of a copy of mirror mad into your library then resolve its ability. I may be completely wrong here but you might want to check out the ruling on this.

[~AutimnZephyr~]

Originally Posted by Party Petey

I don't think this combo works to be honest. I'm pretty sure they made a ruling for mirror mad phantasmal if you would make a token of it and would use the ability you would place a token of a copy of mirror mad into your library then resolve its ability. I may be completely wrong here but you might want to check out the ruling on this.

And the Token fizzles upon leaving the battlefield... Anyways, I know someone who ran this deck in Bant colors in standard, running a midrange control style...

The deck itself was pretty hard to SB against, only bc ppl didnt have a lot of GY hate at the time...

For Block Constructed I have the feeling that you would want to run the Aggro Dredge list and then just run Seance and Lab Maniacs in it....

[supermoo9999]

The combo works. Phantasm's ability looks for a card named Mirror-Mad Phantasm in the library. Tokens aren't cards. (The token will still be in the library during the resolution of the ability; it just won't matter.)

[Uranium]

Originally Posted by supermoo9999

The combo works. Phantasm's ability looks for a card named Mirror-Mad Phantasm in the library. Tokens aren't cards. (The token will still be in the library during the resolution of the ability; it just won't matter.)

No it won't. When a token leaves the battlefield for ANY REASON, it ceases to exist. A token cannot be shuffled into your library.

The combo still works because the rest of the ability resolves and looks for a card that is not there.

[TheChosen1]

This is in no way too slow. Skaabs provide early chumps, or in the case of Armored, long-term blocks. Gnaw to the Bone is insane lifegain, and buys 5-6 turns against anything but Entreat and Silverheart.

For anyone who has ever played Moment's Peace or Remand in a combo deck, Time Walking your opposition twice is usually enough to combo out.

[Rubin]

I think this deck might want to go a Frites direction, playing Mulch and Unburial rites, and Griselbrand. Seance is pretty great targeting Gris, so it doesn't even take too much away from that plan.

I'd say, off the top of my head

Deck
4 Hinterland Harbor 6 Forest 3 Plains 7 Island 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Armoured Skaab 4 Griselbrand 2 Screeching Skaab 1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm 1 Lab Maniac	4 Mulch 4 Tracker's Instincts 4 Seance 4 Thought Scour 4 Unburial Rites

Faithless Looting would be great, but I don't know if I'm THAT greedy. Also, you could potentially cut some mana sources because of pilgrim and mulch, but that also seems greedy. Another fatty, such as Avacyn, would make the unburial rites plan more reliable. This version loses pretty much all interaction, too. Gnaw to the Bone just doesn't fit.

[Blubberburg]

Originally Posted by Party Petey

I don't think this combo works to be honest. I'm pretty sure they made a ruling for mirror mad phantasmal if you would make a token of it and would use the ability you would place a token of a copy of mirror mad into your library then resolve its ability. I may be completely wrong here but you might want to check out the ruling on this.

for absolute proof. Click the card and it brings up some handy judge rulings to do with it like this one:
9/22/2011: If no card named Mirror-Mad Phantasm is revealed (possibly because it was a card copying Mirror-Mad Phantasm or it was a token), all cards from that library will be put into their owner's graveyard.


So whats our plan when they side in some rest in peace?? hardcast mirror mad phantasm and turn it sideways?

[benbuzz790]

You can use Seance to bring the human-resurrecting angel back, right? Why not just adapt that deck to use seance?

[MTGPhreak]

Originally Posted by Party Petey

I don't think this combo works to be honest. I'm pretty sure they made a ruling for mirror mad phantasmal if you would make a token of it and would use the ability you would place a token of a copy of mirror mad into your library then resolve its ability. I may be completely wrong here but you might want to check out the ruling on this.

This is the rule that you're looking for:

110.5g A token that has left the battlefield can't move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.

Tokens can't enter the library. It will stay in play and then cease to exist the next time state based effects are checked (when its activated ability is done resolving).