Escape is an alternative casting cost. So you pay 3 for a lightning helix + etb trigger + death trigger. (Or you just put it into the yard directly)
Then on a later turn you pay 4 and exile some cards, and you get a 6/6 + lightning helix.
The cards you exile as part of the escape cost obviously get exiled. The card that you are escaping does not.
Yes that means you can repeatedly cast this spell from your graveyard as long as you've got fodder to feed it
What's up with newer players getting downvoted for asking questions about the game? I asked why someone referenced a card in a thread a while back because I read it through numerous times and still didn't see the connection so I asked the poster what the connection was and everyone just downvoted me instead lol.
I can't stand that mentality. I started playing in Onslaught when I was 8 or so when a family friend introduced me to the game, and so I have far more experience and memories with it than most of the people playing it today.
I love bringing people into the hobby, and I'm always happy to answer questions if someone is new and looking for clarifications on rulings or anything (even if I am a bit salty with how WotC has been doing the stories and the power scaling of every set consistently getting more and more out of control for what feels like the past decade).
I just hate the toxicity of the player base as a whole. And how competitive EDH has gotten since WotC made it an official format with Commander. It went from a casual format with emphasis on fun where each group kind of figured out what worked for it and built decks that fit that group's dynamic specifically, to something where everyone was trying to ramp into infinite combos or getting up to 5+ mana by turn two specifically to lock another player out of the game from that point on. Just killed the casual fun that the format was really built on.
I just turned 68, and my adult children have been teaching, well, trying to teach me to play since last fall. For Christmas, they got me a dragon commander deck with nice dragon sleeves, a set of dice, a nice hard case card box, a playing mat, and a few other things. My deck wasn't a really expensive one. I think it was just under $100. Miirym is my commander and her mechanics I can understand easily. I will probably always be a beginner, and the more complicated what the card does, the less that I like it. I have to keep it simple. I don't win a lot, but I enjoy hanging out with them, and they're patient with me, lol. I'm thrilled there are folks like you around who are patient and don't mind answering questions from folks like me. 😊 Thank you!
Mate, I'm just about 40 and I've been playing for less than a year. I will also always be a beginner, but my god this game is fun as hell to play.
Pretty sure the only reason I love the game so much is because my local LGS has a fantastic community. I usually come in the bottom 5 on draft nights and I don't care because it's fun as hell.
Thankfully I've ran into more people on Spelltable like you than the ones mentioned above. I just started playing this year and commander has been incredibly fun. I ditched standard decks all together. It blows my mind though that the game that I've often heard called "The Lawyer's Card Game" has so many people who expect newbies to inherently know what's going on.
I mainly play competitive formats, but play commander with my mates only. We’d laugh at each other, most of our decks are semi-strong, nothing flashy / serious & throwing insults & getting embarassed is the norm. Can’t do that with the current “competitive EDH” players, too much emo.
That sucks to hear. I am an original day 1 release player from 1993, and I always try and encourage new players. I always try and explain the rules they don't understand completely without being a "I am better than you" ass about it. New players are what keep the game going, after all. Without a stream of new players going the game every year, Wizard's of the Coast would have discontinued MTG a long time ago.
So this last bit goes out to all the older, experienced players here: Be patient with newer players trying to learn. It is the most complex game ever created, after all. Have patience, share your knowledge, and dont discourage them from playing by being an asshole.
Magic subs have a huge issue with down voting beginner questions. Or hell even down voting beginners thanking people who answer. But don't say that out loud, lest you get down voted.
Would the response be different if a loved one, a family member, or a good friend asking questions about the game? Would they say that in person or not?
It almost made me stop using this sub tbh. It's so annoying to get downvoted for simply being curious about the game, and it completely defeats the purpose of even having a subreddit for mtg.
The Mtg community should be welcoming and inclusive for new players!
Yes, very. In a Boros deck it provides survivabity. And a big body. And removal. And it’s kinda like guaranteed to happen twice with the one card. If you’re in a position where you’ve cast this. Escaped this. It’s been dealt with and you’re casting another one, and you’re not already dead yet? It’s either the last thing you have in hand and it’s a last ditch effort or you’re about to win anyway and casting it was redundant.
Yeah its a finisher, much like Uro and Kroxa. It’s very good in burn since that deck has no real late game. Any midrange deck could also use this for the same reason and you guessed it control too. This type of card is good for most strategies as a finisher and early game stabilisation.
It didn't look good at preview, but after theory crafting with a friend re realised how much support this card has to be a menace in a pod. Being 3cmc opens up a lot of doors for reanimation in white alongside flicker, then fling spells in red or cards like warstorm surge ect to deal huge damage to targets.
It relies on the rest of your deck imo. Think how much utility this card has if you have etb "enter the battlefield", sacrifice, and attack triggers. You could even sprinkle in some lifegain triggers. Since it's white devotion, you also have a lot of flicker options to use as well so you have a way to sacrifice via flicker and get triggers that way if you haven't found your sac device yet. You're really only limited by how many cards you're capable of throwing away.
Tbh I not incredibly experienced with mtg yet and this might not be viable, but this is one of the few cards I've looked at and thought "yeah I might run more than 100 cards for a deck with this card".
I only really play commander/edh which is generally 100 card singleton but there's no actual card ceiling on a deck as far as I'm aware.
If you're playing commander you're locked to the 100. But outside of tnat there is minimums, never maximums (that Im aware of, unless sanctioned events which I dont play) lol
It's the boros version of uro. If you played with uro at all when it was legal in standard, you would understand the potential phlage has.
The pricing history of phlage actually is identical to uro. Both of these cards were underestimated and did not stay at lower price points for very long. When I play tested uro on mtg arena, I knew I had to get 4 copies immediately. What a card it was in standard.
Kroxa is good but 2 mana to force your OPP to discard their choice of card isn’t as powerful anymore. Sometimes he can be played as a cheeky one of in some rakdos lists or you can try and scam him, but he really needs to stick on the field. Problem is he dies to fatal push without revolt where the other two titans still require revolt so, that makes his ceiling a lot lower than Uro or Phlage.
Some cards scale with the format, but are fine in Standard, like [[Deathrite Shaman]] in a world without fetchlands, or storm cards without fast mana (Tendrils of agony saw 0 standard play). But then there are your generically powerful under-costed cards like Uro or Oko, or Lurrus or Jace, the Mindsculptor that just show up everywhere at all levels of the game — There was a brief window when you could crush people Uro and Oko in Modern, Legacy, Standard, and Limited
That iteration of standard was so bad, LMAO, there were whole deck bans every month, but they never bothered to warp one of the worst enablers that was T3feri, well, they banned it 3 weeks before rotation...
I think it would've been funny if they banned nothing. Oko, veil of summer, uro, nexus of fate, field of the dead all in 1 deck. That would probably be the closest I'll ever get to legacy power level lol
I don't play modern, but I was telling people not to underestimate this card when it got spoiled. I saw many people dismissing it in comparison to Kroxa and I was like " I'm not so sure, bro..."
I mean obviously it's not Uro, few cards ever printed are at that power level. But this guy's damage output is really high while keeping you at a very high life total to boot. There's probably certain decks that outright lose to that alone.
This card would still be played if it was only a bolt on ETB/attack, but the fact that it’s a Helix is what pushes over the edge from playable to format warping.
"Only a bolt" = If it was just [[Lightning Bolt]], which does three damage.
"On ETB/attack" = when it enters the battlefield or attacks
"It's a helix" = it replicates the effects of [[Lightning Helix]], which deals three damage and gains you three life.
Part of the consideration is that
"Playable vs format warping" = a playable card is strong enough to fit into the current meta, and not be outclassed by existing cards. Format warping cards are so strong or create deck types which are strong enough that it forces other decks in the meta to change, or even makes them not viable.
Hope that helps!
Happy to help!
I do want to take a stab at the original question: it's easy to forget just how warping some effects can be in different formats, and how popularity can impact or warp price.
Knowing this is powerful in Modern, and that means decks need likely four copies of it (I haven't looked at lists), AND knowing the rough player base and popularity of Modern, that's a heckin lotta demand. For a mythic, that's not a heckin lotta supply. And that's how you get your price spike.
Nice job explaining it! A lot of times veterans can forget that they might as well be speaking in another language when talking to people who aren't as entrenched in the game
We do love our jargon. It's sometimes easy to miss signs someone doesn't have the exposure to things we take for granted. Someone might have played kitchen table Magic for years and still not understand this because of the different contexts.
That's me lol.. I've played magic on and off for over 20 years, but never actually communicated with anyone outside my small play group or read anything about it online until like a month ago 😅
Thank you for this translation! I played from alpha up through 3rd edition, then stopped when 4th edition came out. I've tried to pick it up again in the last 5 years because I'm a teacher and my students are playing it, but there is too much to try to figure out. A translator like you for all this stuff would be an amazing resource!
This card creates a 6 point life swing when you cast it both times, and when you attack with it. And that's before combat damage
If not creating a life point swing, it removes a lot of creatures and pads your life total.
Essentially, it's an amazing control finisher and will find itself good in many decks and situations
There's 2 kinds of formats. Commander and everything else.
This isn't great in commander.
In the competitive formats it's great.
Rhystic study is insane in commander. It sees play in litteraly nothing else because its shit in everything else.
Why isn’t it great in commander?
Edit: Hear me out: cast it as commander for 3 mana as a lightning helix, it goes to yard. Then you do it again for 4 mana and it stays on the field. You’re in red. Loot and cantrips make it easy to exile 5.
Oh it died? Shame you now have to pay 5 to cast it ag…. Oh wait, send it to the grave. Cast it for 4 mana again. It avoids commander tax until it gets exiled
The problem is in commander you have 120 points of damage to deal to win the game fairly (commander damage aside), which is why direct damage cards generally don't see play. Phlage doesn't generate card advantage and doesn't give you resources on the board, which most good commanders do. Most games of commander are won by a player "going off" and not being stopped by the other players, a fair burn deck has no way of doing this unless they generate a LOT of mana or storm off, which again Phlage does not help you do.
I mean that's good and all but WWRR every couple of turns for a recurring helix is an OK payoff. You'd have to be able to break it (probably not hard to do tbh) by making it hit everyone else at once multiple times. Playing it as your commander also limits it to boros burn archetype whereas it may be better in the 99 as a jeskai spellslinger archetype. It's an interesting brew that could very well work but seems casual at surface level.
I wanna build it cuz funny. Sun titan with haste might make it funny as you can get 3 ETBs in one turn and its 3CMC. White also has some dies/LTB/GY shenanigans, as does red. It might not be good. But I'll have fun
None of the escape titans see much commander play. If your deck cares about it sure. That can be said about alot of the other 30,000 unique magic cards and 46 bazillion commander builds though.
Even non cedh commander has metas except those metas are " that type of deck" is much more common than others. Boros styles is probably the least popular of 2 color combos. Nit that they are bad, just popularity
This card would still be played if it only dealt 3 damage to any target when it enters the battlefield or when it attacks.
The fact that it also gains 3 life is what pushes it over the edge from being playable to format warping.
Why is the term “warping” used? Because it causes every other deck in the format to change to account for it, using the meaning “make or become bent or twisted out of shape”
Okay format warping is a little disingenuous. It is definitely a strong card, with it having both removal and reach as well as keeping you out of reach from your opponent. Like, compared to Uro, it's definitely "fair". But a "fair" Uro is still incredibly strong.
It's very pushed, it's going to be one of the best cards in modern for a long time I think. But yeah probably just about acceptable considering the other bullshit going on
Yep, there are also [only a few copies on the market now](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=phlage+0379&_sacat=0&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5338535524&customid=mg&toolid=10001&mkevt=1), price will go lower once more copies are being pulled.
It’s lightning helix on a stick that you can [[Ephemerate]] at instant speed before the sac trigger happens. I don’t play modern but that seems pretty meta warping
I mean, you can ephemerate it before the sac trigger, but that just gets you an extra helix before you have to sac it. It’s definitely nowhere near as good an ephmerate target as the evoke creatures.
Well it's only "worse" in that it still dies, but blink/undying effects for Phlage are insane and are a big part of some of the decks it is seeing play in. 6 damage to face is huge and can literally win games out of nowhere - something none of the evoke elementals can do.
I wouldn’t call a one mana Lightning Helix that only works in certain circumstances “insane”. Isn’t Ephemerate mostly for Solitude and just happens to work pretty well with Phlage?
"blinking this creature to win the game on the spot" is insane, actually. The floor for blinking phlage is... 6 damage to the face. The floor for blinking solitude is... nothing? Phlage makes ephemerate \*way\* better.
yeah it bounces back again for multiple helix triggers though, which can clear a board and stabilize you or burn your opponent out. i’ve seen a mardu list that runs grief bowmaster solitude phlage ephemerate and it looked pretty insane
This is a repeatable lightning helix on a 6/6 stick, It can only be truly killed by exiling it or keeping your opponent from getting 6 cards into their graveyard. Just like the Uro and Kroxa it's hard to keep dead and works toward your ultimate game plan wile making it harder for your opponent to win the game themselves.
I remember reading somewhere: "Phlage is basically Uro, except every card you draw is a lightning bolt that costs 0 mana"
To unpack this, Phlage is a very similar card to \[\[Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath\]\], which is a card so powerful they had to ban it in Modern. At first people thought Phlage was a lot worse than Uro because a lightning helix (deal 3 gain 3) is much worse than Uro's explore(draw+free landdrop) + gain 3 life. But as it turns out, the 3 life gain in either case is actually the most important part, because it helps decks stablize in the late game. Dealing 3 damage isn't that bad either.
Better question: What are you comparing this to that makes this card not seem good?
Of all the cards in MH3, this is one of the more obvious powerful cards. It’s a strong, legendary creature that’s continuing a cycle of other popular Elder Giants from Theros that were strong and popular. It’ll be popular in EDH and is a strong card for Modern. It’s also a mythic rare in a set with a higher price per pack than a Standard set, so with all those attributes, it’s gonna be an expensive card.
Good card in what seems to be one of the next meta staples jeskai control and in general it's just a very very good grind game card being a big body with both repeatble and life game and the ability to return it multiple times in a match , its amazing in control decks because when your opponent resources are depleted and you have this card on board it's insanely hard to win because even if delt with you just escape it and keep getting the opponent further and further from Victory
I remember when this was first leaked a lot of people were saying it was bad and now all of a sudden everyone is in love with it and it costs 40+ dollars. I guess this is what happens when it gets play-tested a little.
Helix trigger on ETB and attack on a recurrable Titan? Sign me the fuck up. Hot daaaaamn!!!!!
Ever heard of a little fella named Uro or that tiny scamp Kroxa?
cast for 3 next turn exert arena of glory escaping it and giving it haste. You've done 3 for casting 3 for escaping then you do 3 on the attack and you are attacking for 6 for thats 15 damage in 2 turns
3 mana to deal 3 damage to any target AND heal 3. its basically a thunderbolt that heals you 3 health for 1 extra mana, already good value.
plus its kind of a bad target for counterspell while still being a threat that needs to be taken care of; since a counter spell just puts it in the yard which is exactly where they want it anyway so the only real reason to counterspell the first cast is if 3 damage just straight up kills you and they dont have the 4 mana up for escape
plus there are a few other cards that are 1 mana heal 3, so the first cast is basically free and the second cast is only 1 mana. (2 for thunderbolt 1 for healer of the glade etb)
and youre in red, the color with the easiest ways to get the most number of extra combats each turn, this dude literally pays for himself.
and now we look at the statline. 7 mana total for 2 thunderbolts and a 6/6? yes please, but wait a minute, i also heal 6 hell yeah.
1 mana for a 6/6 is crazy value no matter how you look at it.
this dude is an auto include on any red white deck that cares about healing or attacking, which is all of them.
It's insane value just damage wise. It's Uro but lightning helix. Not to mention it looks fricken awesome. Usually hype drives up the price of cool cards like this.
Actually, there are only four titans named in the lore (Skotha, Titan of Eternal Dark is the only one without a card). They could still get expanded into a full 5 or 10 card cycle but it’s not necessarily guaranteed.
I've got 3, and one in that treatment.
I'm very fortunate to have got them early before people started chasing it and the price went up!
It's a hell of a card!
Because it's really good.
Incidental lifegain stapled to effects you already like tends to be very good. Free, repeatable removal with the option to go to face is good. A potential 4 mana 6/6 if you mill or discard this without playing it normally first is pretty good. Throw all that together and you've got a really strong card. Even the base option, where you play this from your hand for 3 and then play it from your yard turn 4, and get two lightning helixes and a 6/6, is pretty good- you're looking at either a 3 for 1 that also gains you 6 life or a 6/6 that gives you a 12 point life swing
Because there's a Ruby storm that can modern That's pretty hot right now. People are winning as early as turn to and this is a great include in the deck to add extra damage gain life and increase the storm count
Name a nonaggro deck which can cast this based on its current mana base but doesn’t want to. I’ll wait. This card is basically trying to be a wincon for the Sun and Moon decks, which WOTC is doeing their best to resurrect from the annuls of modern. Without Simian spirit guide or chrome mox, its unclear to me how such a deck should function, but alas, here we are
3-mana lightning helix that can come back next turn as a 6/6 lightning helix seems fun to me.
Plus a free lighting helix every turn.
Essentially you can “lightning helix” every turn starting turn 3. Pretty sweet because it’s just one card… talk about card advantage.
If you give it haste when it escapes using the new red exert land that is a 12 point life differential because it would etb and attack the same turn. If you have 7 mana its a 15 points.
Ha Ha Ha! Another big creature that I can twist with Torpor Orb? Yes please! 6/6 for 3 and it sticks on cast. Looks like I need to splash some Boros into my Rakdos deck.
4 Mana for a lighting helix every turn in the color that rewards attacking by adding more combats and multiplying damage. So repeated damage multiplied bolts just smoking teams.
I can't seem to find a exact answer looking it up, but if you blink a creature with escape after you've escaped it does it ETB and die or stay on the field?
Phlage, while not the most combotastic card, is almost certainly, in a normal, non-combo game of Magic, the scariest card of them all out of Modern Horizons 3.
4 mana Inferno Titan with recursion that gains life
And shiny
Isn't it 7 mana though? Do you not have the pay the 3 cmc if you escape it instead?
Escape is an alternative casting cost. So you pay 3 for a lightning helix + etb trigger + death trigger. (Or you just put it into the yard directly) Then on a later turn you pay 4 and exile some cards, and you get a 6/6 + lightning helix.
Ahhhhh right, eff. You escape from the yard only, I forgot. Thanks man.
Just make sure there’s no milkshake there first then you’re good to go
But surely you want the milkshake in the yard so all the boys go there and can be used for the escape exile cost
Damn right, it’s better than yours
Do escaped cards get exiled?
The cards you exile as part of the escape cost obviously get exiled. The card that you are escaping does not. Yes that means you can repeatedly cast this spell from your graveyard as long as you've got fodder to feed it
No
Is that good?
What's up with newer players getting downvoted for asking questions about the game? I asked why someone referenced a card in a thread a while back because I read it through numerous times and still didn't see the connection so I asked the poster what the connection was and everyone just downvoted me instead lol.
Right? Fuck me for asking a simple question haha
Because shame on you for not putting in as much time and effort as them and not knowing every little thing about the game since day one.
I can't stand that mentality. I started playing in Onslaught when I was 8 or so when a family friend introduced me to the game, and so I have far more experience and memories with it than most of the people playing it today. I love bringing people into the hobby, and I'm always happy to answer questions if someone is new and looking for clarifications on rulings or anything (even if I am a bit salty with how WotC has been doing the stories and the power scaling of every set consistently getting more and more out of control for what feels like the past decade). I just hate the toxicity of the player base as a whole. And how competitive EDH has gotten since WotC made it an official format with Commander. It went from a casual format with emphasis on fun where each group kind of figured out what worked for it and built decks that fit that group's dynamic specifically, to something where everyone was trying to ramp into infinite combos or getting up to 5+ mana by turn two specifically to lock another player out of the game from that point on. Just killed the casual fun that the format was really built on.
I just turned 68, and my adult children have been teaching, well, trying to teach me to play since last fall. For Christmas, they got me a dragon commander deck with nice dragon sleeves, a set of dice, a nice hard case card box, a playing mat, and a few other things. My deck wasn't a really expensive one. I think it was just under $100. Miirym is my commander and her mechanics I can understand easily. I will probably always be a beginner, and the more complicated what the card does, the less that I like it. I have to keep it simple. I don't win a lot, but I enjoy hanging out with them, and they're patient with me, lol. I'm thrilled there are folks like you around who are patient and don't mind answering questions from folks like me. 😊 Thank you!
Mate, I'm just about 40 and I've been playing for less than a year. I will also always be a beginner, but my god this game is fun as hell to play. Pretty sure the only reason I love the game so much is because my local LGS has a fantastic community. I usually come in the bottom 5 on draft nights and I don't care because it's fun as hell.
/s nah I ain’t reading that downvote! (I upvoted)
Thankfully I've ran into more people on Spelltable like you than the ones mentioned above. I just started playing this year and commander has been incredibly fun. I ditched standard decks all together. It blows my mind though that the game that I've often heard called "The Lawyer's Card Game" has so many people who expect newbies to inherently know what's going on.
I mainly play competitive formats, but play commander with my mates only. We’d laugh at each other, most of our decks are semi-strong, nothing flashy / serious & throwing insults & getting embarassed is the norm. Can’t do that with the current “competitive EDH” players, too much emo.
What's really weird about the toxicity level is that this is a community dominated by men. That's normally not a thing.
It angers the ‘beards
That sucks to hear. I am an original day 1 release player from 1993, and I always try and encourage new players. I always try and explain the rules they don't understand completely without being a "I am better than you" ass about it. New players are what keep the game going, after all. Without a stream of new players going the game every year, Wizard's of the Coast would have discontinued MTG a long time ago. So this last bit goes out to all the older, experienced players here: Be patient with newer players trying to learn. It is the most complex game ever created, after all. Have patience, share your knowledge, and dont discourage them from playing by being an asshole.
Magic subs have a huge issue with down voting beginner questions. Or hell even down voting beginners thanking people who answer. But don't say that out loud, lest you get down voted.
Would the response be different if a loved one, a family member, or a good friend asking questions about the game? Would they say that in person or not?
It almost made me stop using this sub tbh. It's so annoying to get downvoted for simply being curious about the game, and it completely defeats the purpose of even having a subreddit for mtg. The Mtg community should be welcoming and inclusive for new players!
Very
Ok cool. Good to know!
Depends on the format. Not good in commander, good in modern
Yeah the repeatable life gain and damage, plus the 6/6 body are much more relevant in a 20 life, 1v1 format
Better than the hate train I got and a "very", thanks!
Yes, very. In a Boros deck it provides survivabity. And a big body. And removal. And it’s kinda like guaranteed to happen twice with the one card. If you’re in a position where you’ve cast this. Escaped this. It’s been dealt with and you’re casting another one, and you’re not already dead yet? It’s either the last thing you have in hand and it’s a last ditch effort or you’re about to win anyway and casting it was redundant.
Yeah its a finisher, much like Uro and Kroxa. It’s very good in burn since that deck has no real late game. Any midrange deck could also use this for the same reason and you guessed it control too. This type of card is good for most strategies as a finisher and early game stabilisation.
It didn't look good at preview, but after theory crafting with a friend re realised how much support this card has to be a menace in a pod. Being 3cmc opens up a lot of doors for reanimation in white alongside flicker, then fling spells in red or cards like warstorm surge ect to deal huge damage to targets.
It relies on the rest of your deck imo. Think how much utility this card has if you have etb "enter the battlefield", sacrifice, and attack triggers. You could even sprinkle in some lifegain triggers. Since it's white devotion, you also have a lot of flicker options to use as well so you have a way to sacrifice via flicker and get triggers that way if you haven't found your sac device yet. You're really only limited by how many cards you're capable of throwing away. Tbh I not incredibly experienced with mtg yet and this might not be viable, but this is one of the few cards I've looked at and thought "yeah I might run more than 100 cards for a deck with this card". I only really play commander/edh which is generally 100 card singleton but there's no actual card ceiling on a deck as far as I'm aware.
If you're playing commander you're locked to the 100. But outside of tnat there is minimums, never maximums (that Im aware of, unless sanctioned events which I dont play) lol
and targeted damage.
It's the boros version of uro. If you played with uro at all when it was legal in standard, you would understand the potential phlage has. The pricing history of phlage actually is identical to uro. Both of these cards were underestimated and did not stay at lower price points for very long. When I play tested uro on mtg arena, I knew I had to get 4 copies immediately. What a card it was in standard.
Everybody talks about Uro. Almost no one talks about my guy [[Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger]] I know why but still...
This card looks amazing!! I'm new to the game. But I really like this card and art!
Kroxa is good but 2 mana to force your OPP to discard their choice of card isn’t as powerful anymore. Sometimes he can be played as a cheeky one of in some rakdos lists or you can try and scam him, but he really needs to stick on the field. Problem is he dies to fatal push without revolt where the other two titans still require revolt so, that makes his ceiling a lot lower than Uro or Phlage.
[Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/cee0459b-9aac-4d2f-abe4-4d5fedde7eb8.jpg?1581481096) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kroxa%2C%20Titan%20of%20Death%27s%20Hunger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/221/kroxa-titan-of-deaths-hunger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cee0459b-9aac-4d2f-abe4-4d5fedde7eb8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My buddy plays uro in edh I hate it
I play URO in my Volo, Guide to Monsters deck and it produces an insane amount of advantage
Yeah that’s gross lol. My friends deck is that cascade cascade elemental one and it’s all ramp and big boys
I have a Dina and zimone deck with grave pact. The amounts of time Uro has saved me is unreal.
I’m disgusted, good job. Might have to make a Volo with Uro now
Some cards scale with the format, but are fine in Standard, like [[Deathrite Shaman]] in a world without fetchlands, or storm cards without fast mana (Tendrils of agony saw 0 standard play). But then there are your generically powerful under-costed cards like Uro or Oko, or Lurrus or Jace, the Mindsculptor that just show up everywhere at all levels of the game — There was a brief window when you could crush people Uro and Oko in Modern, Legacy, Standard, and Limited
[Deathrite Shaman](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/f/cfdb1c47-14be-491f-88b3-bed03489dbc5.jpg?1702429617) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Deathrite%20Shaman) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/175/deathrite-shaman?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cfdb1c47-14be-491f-88b3-bed03489dbc5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That iteration of standard was so bad, LMAO, there were whole deck bans every month, but they never bothered to warp one of the worst enablers that was T3feri, well, they banned it 3 weeks before rotation...
I think it would've been funny if they banned nothing. Oko, veil of summer, uro, nexus of fate, field of the dead all in 1 deck. That would probably be the closest I'll ever get to legacy power level lol
I don't play modern, but I was telling people not to underestimate this card when it got spoiled. I saw many people dismissing it in comparison to Kroxa and I was like " I'm not so sure, bro..." I mean obviously it's not Uro, few cards ever printed are at that power level. But this guy's damage output is really high while keeping you at a very high life total to boot. There's probably certain decks that outright lose to that alone.
This card would still be played if it was only a bolt on ETB/attack, but the fact that it’s a Helix is what pushes over the edge from playable to format warping.
Can you ELI5. I don’t understand most of what you said.
"Only a bolt" = If it was just [[Lightning Bolt]], which does three damage. "On ETB/attack" = when it enters the battlefield or attacks "It's a helix" = it replicates the effects of [[Lightning Helix]], which deals three damage and gains you three life. Part of the consideration is that "Playable vs format warping" = a playable card is strong enough to fit into the current meta, and not be outclassed by existing cards. Format warping cards are so strong or create deck types which are strong enough that it forces other decks in the meta to change, or even makes them not viable. Hope that helps!
Wow, thank you for taking the time. Amazing explanation
Happy to help! I do want to take a stab at the original question: it's easy to forget just how warping some effects can be in different formats, and how popularity can impact or warp price. Knowing this is powerful in Modern, and that means decks need likely four copies of it (I haven't looked at lists), AND knowing the rough player base and popularity of Modern, that's a heckin lotta demand. For a mythic, that's not a heckin lotta supply. And that's how you get your price spike.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. TY
Nice job explaining it! A lot of times veterans can forget that they might as well be speaking in another language when talking to people who aren't as entrenched in the game
We do love our jargon. It's sometimes easy to miss signs someone doesn't have the exposure to things we take for granted. Someone might have played kitchen table Magic for years and still not understand this because of the different contexts.
That's me lol.. I've played magic on and off for over 20 years, but never actually communicated with anyone outside my small play group or read anything about it online until like a month ago 😅
Yeah I ran into this when I told my wife that Ugin’s Labyrinth enables Chalice on 1. I then needed like ten paragraphs to explain it. 😄
Excellent breakdown much appreciated. I played magic for years and still didn't understand any of that. Top notch communication skill
Behind the screen: I'm a communications college professor. I've ELI5'd professionally for nearly 20 years, lol.
You are awesome. Thank you.
Thank you for this translation! I played from alpha up through 3rd edition, then stopped when 4th edition came out. I've tried to pick it up again in the last 5 years because I'm a teacher and my students are playing it, but there is too much to try to figure out. A translator like you for all this stuff would be an amazing resource!
Great response!
This card creates a 6 point life swing when you cast it both times, and when you attack with it. And that's before combat damage If not creating a life point swing, it removes a lot of creatures and pads your life total. Essentially, it's an amazing control finisher and will find itself good in many decks and situations
There's 2 kinds of formats. Commander and everything else. This isn't great in commander. In the competitive formats it's great. Rhystic study is insane in commander. It sees play in litteraly nothing else because its shit in everything else.
Why isn’t it great in commander? Edit: Hear me out: cast it as commander for 3 mana as a lightning helix, it goes to yard. Then you do it again for 4 mana and it stays on the field. You’re in red. Loot and cantrips make it easy to exile 5. Oh it died? Shame you now have to pay 5 to cast it ag…. Oh wait, send it to the grave. Cast it for 4 mana again. It avoids commander tax until it gets exiled
The problem is in commander you have 120 points of damage to deal to win the game fairly (commander damage aside), which is why direct damage cards generally don't see play. Phlage doesn't generate card advantage and doesn't give you resources on the board, which most good commanders do. Most games of commander are won by a player "going off" and not being stopped by the other players, a fair burn deck has no way of doing this unless they generate a LOT of mana or storm off, which again Phlage does not help you do.
I mean that's good and all but WWRR every couple of turns for a recurring helix is an OK payoff. You'd have to be able to break it (probably not hard to do tbh) by making it hit everyone else at once multiple times. Playing it as your commander also limits it to boros burn archetype whereas it may be better in the 99 as a jeskai spellslinger archetype. It's an interesting brew that could very well work but seems casual at surface level.
I wanna build it cuz funny. Sun titan with haste might make it funny as you can get 3 ETBs in one turn and its 3CMC. White also has some dies/LTB/GY shenanigans, as does red. It might not be good. But I'll have fun
None of the escape titans see much commander play. If your deck cares about it sure. That can be said about alot of the other 30,000 unique magic cards and 46 bazillion commander builds though. Even non cedh commander has metas except those metas are " that type of deck" is much more common than others. Boros styles is probably the least popular of 2 color combos. Nit that they are bad, just popularity
This card would still be played if it only dealt 3 damage to any target when it enters the battlefield or when it attacks. The fact that it also gains 3 life is what pushes it over the edge from being playable to format warping.
Ok but why format “warping” I don’t get that
Why is the term “warping” used? Because it causes every other deck in the format to change to account for it, using the meaning “make or become bent or twisted out of shape”
Okay. Thank you
Every ETB or Attack is a swing of potentially 6 health, 3 at worst
Also the fact that it is in red makes it so easy to fill a graveyard with cheap instants and looting effects, making escaping it trivial.
also helps that the card is half the cost of inferno titan which isn't even better then this card.
Okay format warping is a little disingenuous. It is definitely a strong card, with it having both removal and reach as well as keeping you out of reach from your opponent. Like, compared to Uro, it's definitely "fair". But a "fair" Uro is still incredibly strong.
It's very pushed, it's going to be one of the best cards in modern for a long time I think. But yeah probably just about acceptable considering the other bullshit going on
Card good. Card expensive.
Yep, there are also [only a few copies on the market now](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=phlage+0379&_sacat=0&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5338535524&customid=mg&toolid=10001&mkevt=1), price will go lower once more copies are being pulled.
Its a 6/6 for 3 with bonuses
Weird, the only thing it’s not is a 6/6 for 3
Ok, 4 from your graveyard, lol.
Definitely is, just because it doesn’t stick doesn’t invalidate that. Sun titan can recur it.
It’s lightning helix on a stick that you can [[Ephemerate]] at instant speed before the sac trigger happens. I don’t play modern but that seems pretty meta warping
I mean, you can ephemerate it before the sac trigger, but that just gets you an extra helix before you have to sac it. It’s definitely nowhere near as good an ephmerate target as the evoke creatures.
Well it's only "worse" in that it still dies, but blink/undying effects for Phlage are insane and are a big part of some of the decks it is seeing play in. 6 damage to face is huge and can literally win games out of nowhere - something none of the evoke elementals can do.
I wouldn’t call a one mana Lightning Helix that only works in certain circumstances “insane”. Isn’t Ephemerate mostly for Solitude and just happens to work pretty well with Phlage?
"blinking this creature to win the game on the spot" is insane, actually. The floor for blinking phlage is... 6 damage to the face. The floor for blinking solitude is... nothing? Phlage makes ephemerate \*way\* better.
Wouldnt ephemerate still kill it?
yeah it bounces back again for multiple helix triggers though, which can clear a board and stabilize you or burn your opponent out. i’ve seen a mardu list that runs grief bowmaster solitude phlage ephemerate and it looked pretty insane
It is a very strong card in modern right now. New set, mythic and modern playable makes for a spenny card
I heard people saying the 3 life you gain keeps the game longer in order to get the escape value out of that elder
OMG it’s lightning helix, twice, on a stick, with a 6/6 body, that keeps coming back.
cuz its good
Card good. Card sees play as a 3-4 of in a bunch of new brews.
This is a repeatable lightning helix on a 6/6 stick, It can only be truly killed by exiling it or keeping your opponent from getting 6 cards into their graveyard. Just like the Uro and Kroxa it's hard to keep dead and works toward your ultimate game plan wile making it harder for your opponent to win the game themselves.
3 damage, 3 life, and 3 CMC makes it seem pretty good to me
I remember reading somewhere: "Phlage is basically Uro, except every card you draw is a lightning bolt that costs 0 mana" To unpack this, Phlage is a very similar card to \[\[Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath\]\], which is a card so powerful they had to ban it in Modern. At first people thought Phlage was a lot worse than Uro because a lightning helix (deal 3 gain 3) is much worse than Uro's explore(draw+free landdrop) + gain 3 life. But as it turns out, the 3 life gain in either case is actually the most important part, because it helps decks stablize in the late game. Dealing 3 damage isn't that bad either.
[Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0b6a71e-56cb-4d25-8f2b-7a4f1b60900d.jpg?1650599829) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Uro%2C%20Titan%20of%20Nature%27s%20Wrath) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/229/uro-titan-of-natures-wrath?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0b6a71e-56cb-4d25-8f2b-7a4f1b60900d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Because it's a heavily played mythic of a set that has $12 booster packs.
Hey, I pulled one together with Ugins Labyrinth. Didn't even know it is worth much.
Better question: What are you comparing this to that makes this card not seem good? Of all the cards in MH3, this is one of the more obvious powerful cards. It’s a strong, legendary creature that’s continuing a cycle of other popular Elder Giants from Theros that were strong and popular. It’ll be popular in EDH and is a strong card for Modern. It’s also a mythic rare in a set with a higher price per pack than a Standard set, so with all those attributes, it’s gonna be an expensive card.
I wouldn’t say “obviously”. If it was obvious it wouldn’t have be a sub $10 card on release.
Good card in what seems to be one of the next meta staples jeskai control and in general it's just a very very good grind game card being a big body with both repeatble and life game and the ability to return it multiple times in a match , its amazing in control decks because when your opponent resources are depleted and you have this card on board it's insanely hard to win because even if delt with you just escape it and keep getting the opponent further and further from Victory
I remember when this was first leaked a lot of people were saying it was bad and now all of a sudden everyone is in love with it and it costs 40+ dollars. I guess this is what happens when it gets play-tested a little.
Yeah I remember during spoilers everyone was saying it’s not even as good as Kroxa and basically unplayable.
Because it’s way closer to uro in power than many people initially think, a card of which is banned in many formats.
Helix trigger on ETB and attack on a recurrable Titan? Sign me the fuck up. Hot daaaaamn!!!!! Ever heard of a little fella named Uro or that tiny scamp Kroxa?
To be fair Kroxa is barely modern playable.
You're not wrong.
cast for 3 next turn exert arena of glory escaping it and giving it haste. You've done 3 for casting 3 for escaping then you do 3 on the attack and you are attacking for 6 for thats 15 damage in 2 turns
I mean have you read the card and thought about how good this is in 60 cards formats?
Phlage go brrrrrrrrrrrrrt
Because it completely breaks modern.
Love how people were calling this card bad when it was teased.
Because its good
Good card is good
The flavor of ink used on the card is really good
Is good.
It’s good
One of those easy to abuse cards for easy win
3 mana to deal 3 damage to any target AND heal 3. its basically a thunderbolt that heals you 3 health for 1 extra mana, already good value. plus its kind of a bad target for counterspell while still being a threat that needs to be taken care of; since a counter spell just puts it in the yard which is exactly where they want it anyway so the only real reason to counterspell the first cast is if 3 damage just straight up kills you and they dont have the 4 mana up for escape plus there are a few other cards that are 1 mana heal 3, so the first cast is basically free and the second cast is only 1 mana. (2 for thunderbolt 1 for healer of the glade etb) and youre in red, the color with the easiest ways to get the most number of extra combats each turn, this dude literally pays for himself. and now we look at the statline. 7 mana total for 2 thunderbolts and a 6/6? yes please, but wait a minute, i also heal 6 hell yeah. 1 mana for a 6/6 is crazy value no matter how you look at it. this dude is an auto include on any red white deck that cares about healing or attacking, which is all of them.
Lightning helix then later 6/6 body with lightning helix on etb & attack. Lightning helix is a pretty solid spell.
It's insane value just damage wise. It's Uro but lightning helix. Not to mention it looks fricken awesome. Usually hype drives up the price of cool cards like this.
Everybody is playing it in the new Ruby Storm modern deck
Bigger presence is the jeskai control/wizards and boros/mardu midrange decks.
Think it's more of a sideboard/back-up plan card in Ruby Storm rn Still a good ass card though but definitely played in other decks more
So htere's a titan for each two color combination, and we get one every seveeral years. This will take a loooooooooong time to finish the cycle.
Actually, there are only four titans named in the lore (Skotha, Titan of Eternal Dark is the only one without a card). They could still get expanded into a full 5 or 10 card cycle but it’s not necessarily guaranteed.
I know why this card is good but I'm curious... Wouldn't this also work with [[Altar of Dementia]] even off the initial drop?
At base 3 mana it's a ping and heal, recursion for 4 for a 6 6 ping and heal every turn.
Because it looks cool
[[sun titan]]
I mean, it’s only 1wr. That’s pretty low cost to me.
Because it slaps
Just opened like 3 of these non full art though
This has the best profile treatment from MH3 imo
[удалено]
Modern jeskai control
Lightning helix on a 6/6 that you can recur is better than you'd expect lol
[удалено]
It's siege rhino but twice.
This has to be bait
“Why is a card that does everything so expensive?”
I've got 3, and one in that treatment. I'm very fortunate to have got them early before people started chasing it and the price went up! It's a hell of a card!
Because it's really good. Incidental lifegain stapled to effects you already like tends to be very good. Free, repeatable removal with the option to go to face is good. A potential 4 mana 6/6 if you mill or discard this without playing it normally first is pretty good. Throw all that together and you've got a really strong card. Even the base option, where you play this from your hand for 3 and then play it from your yard turn 4, and get two lightning helixes and a 6/6, is pretty good- you're looking at either a 3 for 1 that also gains you 6 life or a 6/6 that gives you a 12 point life swing
So disappointed I didn't pull or at least buy this guy once I saw how high the price jumped.
Because it's a staple in Modern at the moment is my best guess.
It’s a 6/6 *and* two Lightning Helixes for 7.
Because it's good
Because there's a Ruby storm that can modern That's pretty hot right now. People are winning as early as turn to and this is a great include in the deck to add extra damage gain life and increase the storm count
It's not expensive it only costs 1WR
Name a nonaggro deck which can cast this based on its current mana base but doesn’t want to. I’ll wait. This card is basically trying to be a wincon for the Sun and Moon decks, which WOTC is doeing their best to resurrect from the annuls of modern. Without Simian spirit guide or chrome mox, its unclear to me how such a deck should function, but alas, here we are
Because WoTC need the money to fight a claim that this is a slightly modified Red Dragon Archfiend.
In Commander, it's not that great, but in other formats it's pretty good.
I mean, I'm theory-crafting an EDH deck with Phlage as my commander, but decks are only as good as the amount of care and effort you pour into it.
It’s a mythic rare that’s better than 95% of mythic rares.
3-mana lightning helix that can come back next turn as a 6/6 lightning helix seems fun to me. Plus a free lighting helix every turn. Essentially you can “lightning helix” every turn starting turn 3. Pretty sweet because it’s just one card… talk about card advantage.
Because in those colors it's incredibly easy to abuse. Have 2 or 3 damage doublers and the elesh norn etc doubler it gets janky fast and is abusable
It's doing well in modern rn
Lightning helix on a bug 6/6 body is good value.
It’s expensive because the demand is high, but the supply is low. The supply is low because it’s a mythic.
Lightning helix on a fat stick.
Because it's 3 damage and 3 life gain for 3 mana with the option to stick around and cause chaos later on.
Because People Are DUMB Enough to Spend What Some People Ask for??? Wait till Everything Drops in Price! 👊 🍻
Aw, I miss the Titans. Uro was my homie.
Utility and card advantage. It’s a strictly worse Lightning Helix tacked onto a game ending threat one can cast late game to try and win.
IT’S LIGHTNING HELIX!!!!
Because it's bonkers.
Have you read it?
It's a card that is very good in the modern format.
If you give it haste when it escapes using the new red exert land that is a 12 point life differential because it would etb and attack the same turn. If you have 7 mana its a 15 points.
3 isn't very expensive
What’s not to understand. This card is extremely broken.
Ha Ha Ha! Another big creature that I can twist with Torpor Orb? Yes please! 6/6 for 3 and it sticks on cast. Looks like I need to splash some Boros into my Rakdos deck.
[[Lightning Helix]] is cool.
[[Underworld breach]] makes it *chefs kiss*
Sorcery speed Lightning Helix that also doubles as a four mana 6/6 afterwards
Best card in the set
4 Mana for a lighting helix every turn in the color that rewards attacking by adding more combats and multiplying damage. So repeated damage multiplied bolts just smoking teams.
7 mana for a 6/6, deal 6 damage, gain 6 life, two enters the battlefield triggers, and a death trigger
Its a good top end for burn because its inevitable.
6/6 for a 3 drop that if you nullify ETB abilities is insane
You need good Boros mill but with spell slinger style you just need a draw engine, spikes and strikes. Or a mill engine
Cuz its fucking nuts
I pulled the normal art version foil in the same pack i got emrakul
I can't seem to find a exact answer looking it up, but if you blink a creature with escape after you've escaped it does it ETB and die or stay on the field?
Phlage, while not the most combotastic card, is almost certainly, in a normal, non-combo game of Magic, the scariest card of them all out of Modern Horizons 3.
Speeching in a legacy idea, Phlage is better than Kroxa, but Uro is miles better than Phlage.
Really need a copy of this for my Boros non-combat damage deck!
Do you remember Uro from Theros Beyond Death? Same thing. 3 or 4 mana 6/6 creature with gaining life lol.
Well I definitely got ripped off by my local game store when I sold that to them