Bonus item to add: When phasing was originally printed, the rule specified that phasing would trigger leaves-play effects but not enters-play effects. This brought the world the ErTog deck, which used Ertai's Familiar to generate food for Necratog.
That rule also led to infinite turn decks with Wormfang Manta (phase it out with Vodalian Illusionist or Vanishing, then do it again). I built the deck, and about 2-4 months later, they changed the rule so it didn't trigger anything at all.
As a Dodge mechanic, phasing is really easy to use, and it was even very early on. I actually didn't know about dreadnoughts with phasing. But a friend of mine played sneak attack with Teferie's Vail. He played his dragons with sneak attack from the hand, attacked directly by the haste of the sneak attack, and in the "end of combat" they phased out from Teferie's Vail. Phased out they dodge the "end of turn" trigger of the sneak attack, since they did not had vigilance, they would not be able to block anyway, and they and they were even protected from sorcery speed removal. That was really a strong combo synergie.
You also forgot to mention Oubliette from Arabian Nights, the FIRST phasing card (even though they didn't have a word for it yet back then, but they do now)
Phasing on a permanent is trash. Phasing as an effect is good. I built a "Phasing" deck back in 2000. It was amazing, and was amazing until mana burn was removed. It used equipoise, Teferi's realm to disrupt normal game play long enough to get sands of time (stops phasing by skipping untap steps) and using Chimeric idol to ensure my lands were tapped each turn cycle. And to ensure victory I would use vision Charm to phase my sands of time at the end of opponents turn allowing me to phase everything in and still keeping everything of the opponents phased out.
"Mandatory" phasing on permanent is trash. Ability to phase in and out is pretty balanced with the right mana cost. That gives me an idea why not just change phasing into phasing 1 or some number that lets you pay mana to phase creature instead of mandatory
The Blue Enchantment that phases your creature out for UU also happens to be completely, nerve-wrackingly aggravating in a Narset Enlightened Master Auras deck, and turns each and every "No I won't pay the 2" on a Smothering Tithe into a betrayal.
One thing that wasn't mentioned was how the rules for phasing changed over the years. For example, it used to trigger "leaves play" abilities, but not "comes into play" ones. Phasing only got put on modern cards once the rules had been hammered out and stopped changing every couple of years.
The "Leaves Play" triggers made it useful to have creatures like Floodgate and give them Phasing. You could also play your Phasing creatures so they all phased out on the same turn, then use a Wrath effect and retain your less powerful team while wiping the enemies board.
in Casual multiplayer commander (not in cEDH evidently) the SILENT (renegade Silenbt) is a GREAT example of phasing. Cuz they goad the opponent, get a +1/+1 and phase out. So the opponent hits somebody else with the goaded creature. Wchich damages an opponent and/or makes the target lose a character possibly to thge goated status if it wasn't a warrior type
@@TheRealBitterbub He basically spends the second half of the video addressing this... "Phasing" as a singular keyword ability that affects permanents and does the in-out-in-out every turn is terrible and has never been revisited since Mirage block. "Phases out" as a pseudo-keyword action has come back, e.g. TefPro.
Phasing was level 9 on the Storm scale. The Storm scale is something Mark Rosewater came up with to indicate how likely it was that a keyword or mechanic would return to MtG. Level 1 means 'will definitely see again'. Level 10 means 'it would require a major miracle for it to return.' So, he was very surprised when they brought back Phasing.
So, initially, phasing was kind like an even worse version of Spirit monsters bouncing themselves to hand during the End Phase. Idris Elba's Protection is kind of nutty, just remove your whole board for the turn, you can't die, and you bring all your stuff back.
Usually the phase out card of choice for dreadnought was vision charm. It costed just U so it mimics stifle, but also serves as protection in case of a removal spell for dreadnought. Would see legacy play back before 2010 now and then as that was when dreadstill was at the height of it's popularity before falling to the wayside. Even in those days it wasn't particularly good as a deck either though some people really liked playing it.
The thing about Fenetic efreet is that it will never die, because you can just flip a coin in response to a lost flip until you win, the won trigger will resolve first, phasing the efreet out before it can be sacrificed
Unfortunately, this is not how the ability works. Phasing out/sacrificing the Efreet is all a part of the ability's resolution, along with actually flipping the coin. Essentially, this means they all have to happen at once. You won't get to know the result of a coin flip until it's too late.
While the keyword "phasing" was not good at all, the actual mechanic of creatures not existing has seen tournament success. Rainbow efreet saw standard play as an evasive attacker for a mono-blue control deck, and oubliette was once an iconic(ly expensive) card in pauper.
@TheManaLogs pardon my ignorance, but for Taniwha, wouldn't you still have access to mana each turn since you could tap all your lands right before they phase out during your upkeep? You still wouldn't have access to your lands or countermagic on opponent's turn but at least you still get to play all of your turns.
When Mirage block was standard legal, very few phasing cards saw standard play. Tereri's Imp and Ertai's Familiar saw a little bit of play in graveyard fueled decks with Necratog and Circling Vultures. Shimmering Efreet wasn't horrible, as it could remove a blocker(but then you also lost an attacker, and your own blocker, so it was kind of a wash). Video completely misses Rainbow Efreet, which was Randy Bubleher's only creature in his 98 World's deck. Largely, phasing creatures were, for the reasons mentioned in this video. I think Vaporous Djinn MIGHT have been playable but was probably outclassed by Waterspout Djinn
I think Phasing may have been... better if every Phasing creature also had haste. As it is, they effectively act like they suffer two turns of summoning sickness. I'm really tempted to playtest that and see if the creatures are better that way...
Hay, could you talk about the _"Craft with"_ mechanic? most of the craft cards are way to slow or just useless but a hand full seem like they could be borderline broken and yet I've never seen them in play, Is the mechanic just too slow to work?
I always said the opposite, too, because, as I understood it, the original Flicker had the target return right away. Then blink got EoT by process of elimination.
How did u not mention Vanishing? It is the only card to make things phase out from back then that still sees a bunch of play in EDH, especially as a staple for Zur the Enchanter decks
Phasing isn't hard to understand at all. The card just ceases to exist. No leaving, no entering, no memory issues. That makes the minutia much easier to understand than a flicker.
I thought the basic concept of phasing was to have phasing permanents and on turns they phased out, to have mass destruction of permanents. Your phased out permanents would not be hit; your opponents' cards would. That said, I do not recall making or seeing a successful deck along those lines.
why do so many ppl comment before watching the video? this is literally brought up halfway in, you just sound like an idiot with the full context of the video
Commentators literally cannont listen/ read. Phasing as an ability doesn't appear again. Phase out creatures/ target/ wheatever like teferis protection, march of swirling mist or guardian of faith exist. But not a creature with the keyword phasing..
14:35 it doesn't "force" anyone to learn a new rule; they should already be familiar with it and understand it when they are taught the game. Blame the teacher of the student, but inherently, they are not forced to learn it, they should have already learned it themselves (or now will learn it when they experience it for the first time and will re-educate themselves later to be more familiar with it)
Bonus item to add:
When phasing was originally printed, the rule specified that phasing would trigger leaves-play effects but not enters-play effects. This brought the world the ErTog deck, which used Ertai's Familiar to generate food for Necratog.
That rule also led to infinite turn decks with Wormfang Manta (phase it out with Vodalian Illusionist or Vanishing, then do it again). I built the deck, and about 2-4 months later, they changed the rule so it didn't trigger anything at all.
Ertai’s Familiar does still work, though, since it received errata to trigger on LTB or phasing out
That at least explains phasing's purpose a little. lol
I still don't get the point of phasing in current day Magic...
A reminder that Oubliette had been errata'd to be a card that banishes by phasing.
Rather unnoteworthy, but still a viable card nonetheless.
As a Dodge mechanic, phasing is really easy to use, and it was even very early on. I actually didn't know about dreadnoughts with phasing.
But a friend of mine played sneak attack with Teferie's Vail.
He played his dragons with sneak attack from the hand, attacked directly by the haste of the sneak attack, and in the "end of combat" they phased out from Teferie's Vail. Phased out they dodge the "end of turn" trigger of the sneak attack, since they did not had vigilance, they would not be able to block anyway, and they and they were even protected from sorcery speed removal. That was really a strong combo synergie.
You also forgot to mention Oubliette from Arabian Nights, the FIRST phasing card (even though they didn't have a word for it yet back then, but they do now)
it wasn't realy phasing whe it was printed
Phasing on a permanent is trash. Phasing as an effect is good. I built a "Phasing" deck back in 2000. It was amazing, and was amazing until mana burn was removed. It used equipoise, Teferi's realm to disrupt normal game play long enough to get sands of time (stops phasing by skipping untap steps) and using Chimeric idol to ensure my lands were tapped each turn cycle. And to ensure victory I would use vision Charm to phase my sands of time at the end of opponents turn allowing me to phase everything in and still keeping everything of the opponents phased out.
Phasing as an effect is pretty fucking cool tbh
"Mandatory" phasing on permanent is trash. Ability to phase in and out is pretty balanced with the right mana cost. That gives me an idea why not just change phasing into phasing 1 or some number that lets you pay mana to phase creature instead of mandatory
The Blue Enchantment that phases your creature out for UU also happens to be completely, nerve-wrackingly aggravating in a Narset Enlightened Master Auras deck, and turns each and every "No I won't pay the 2" on a Smothering Tithe into a betrayal.
Phase out cards are my favorite (Slip out the back, March of Swirling Mist, Vanish, Teferi's Veil) 💙✨
Slip out the Back is one of my favourites too, so much versatility and strategy in such a simple card!
In defense of Taniwha, it found a good home as one of the best creatures you can put in a Jon Irenicus deck.
Rainbow Efreet was played in standard and old extended.
Phasing also saves tokens in a way that flicker cannot.
One thing that wasn't mentioned was how the rules for phasing changed over the years. For example, it used to trigger "leaves play" abilities, but not "comes into play" ones.
Phasing only got put on modern cards once the rules had been hammered out and stopped changing every couple of years.
The "Leaves Play" triggers made it useful to have creatures like Floodgate and give them Phasing. You could also play your Phasing creatures so they all phased out on the same turn, then use a Wrath effect and retain your less powerful team while wiping the enemies board.
@@Grunge1791 You could take a bunch of turns with Wormfang Mant's ability.
The Manta would even conveniently come back each turn.
early for new mana logs woo keep up the great work man
in Casual multiplayer commander (not in cEDH evidently) the SILENT (renegade Silenbt) is a GREAT example of phasing. Cuz they goad the opponent, get a +1/+1 and phase out. So the opponent hits somebody else with the goaded creature. Wchich damages an opponent and/or makes the target lose a character possibly to thge goated status if it wasn't a warrior type
"Phasing has never come back"
*Teferi's Protection:* "Am I a joke to you?"
Isn’t teferi’s protection phases out instead?
@@U1TR4F0RCE True, I was just thinking of cards that are specifically about cards phasing in or out, instead of "Phases in / out"
@@TheRealBitterbub He basically spends the second half of the video addressing this...
"Phasing" as a singular keyword ability that affects permanents and does the in-out-in-out every turn is terrible and has never been revisited since Mirage block.
"Phases out" as a pseudo-keyword action has come back, e.g. TefPro.
Phasing was level 9 on the Storm scale. The Storm scale is something Mark Rosewater came up with to indicate how likely it was that a keyword or mechanic would return to MtG. Level 1 means 'will definitely see again'. Level 10 means 'it would require a major miracle for it to return.'
So, he was very surprised when they brought back Phasing.
You forgot rainbow efreet. Best legacy wincon ever for a solid blue control deck. People would have to stop to read it, then still not really get it.
So, initially, phasing was kind like an even worse version of Spirit monsters bouncing themselves to hand during the End Phase.
Idris Elba's Protection is kind of nutty, just remove your whole board for the turn, you can't die, and you bring all your stuff back.
Oh thank God I'm not the only person who sees it.
Blue March shows the versatility potential of Phasing as an offensive and defensive measure. I wish we had more cards like that
In Maori, "wh" is pronounced as an "F". This it is pronounced as Tanifa.
My theory is that they brought back phasing because it is easier to learn the mechanic now that MTG Arena exists.
They originally were looking for a method other than bounce to give blue for removal and landed on streamlining how phasing works IIRC.
Rainbow Efreet. Still playable imo
Usually the phase out card of choice for dreadnought was vision charm. It costed just U so it mimics stifle, but also serves as protection in case of a removal spell for dreadnought. Would see legacy play back before 2010 now and then as that was when dreadstill was at the height of it's popularity before falling to the wayside. Even in those days it wasn't particularly good as a deck either though some people really liked playing it.
The thing about Fenetic efreet is that it will never die, because you can just flip a coin in response to a lost flip until you win, the won trigger will resolve first, phasing the efreet out before it can be sacrificed
Unfortunately, this is not how the ability works. Phasing out/sacrificing the Efreet is all a part of the ability's resolution, along with actually flipping the coin. Essentially, this means they all have to happen at once. You won't get to know the result of a coin flip until it's too late.
meh
While the keyword "phasing" was not good at all, the actual mechanic of creatures not existing has seen tournament success. Rainbow efreet saw standard play as an evasive attacker for a mono-blue control deck, and oubliette was once an iconic(ly expensive) card in pauper.
another bizarre difference between phasing and slow flickering is that the latter can be interacted with using eldrazi processors
@TheManaLogs pardon my ignorance, but for Taniwha, wouldn't you still have access to mana each turn since you could tap all your lands right before they phase out during your upkeep? You still wouldn't have access to your lands or countermagic on opponent's turn but at least you still get to play all of your turns.
Phasing in and out like an absent parent from their childs life.
When Mirage block was standard legal, very few phasing cards saw standard play. Tereri's Imp and Ertai's Familiar saw a little bit of play in graveyard fueled decks with Necratog and Circling Vultures. Shimmering Efreet wasn't horrible, as it could remove a blocker(but then you also lost an attacker, and your own blocker, so it was kind of a wash). Video completely misses Rainbow Efreet, which was Randy Bubleher's only creature in his 98 World's deck. Largely, phasing creatures were, for the reasons mentioned in this video. I think Vaporous Djinn MIGHT have been playable but was probably outclassed by Waterspout Djinn
I think Phasing may have been... better if every Phasing creature also had haste. As it is, they effectively act like they suffer two turns of summoning sickness. I'm really tempted to playtest that and see if the creatures are better that way...
thanks this is interesting see this worked in day!
So how does phasing fail?
It's too slow.
Hay, could you talk about the _"Craft with"_ mechanic?
most of the craft cards are way to slow or just useless but a hand full seem like they could be borderline broken and yet I've never seen them in play,
Is the mechanic just too slow to work?
Amazing!!!!
slow flicker bugged me so much, i'm so used to say blink if it just happens and flicker if it comes back at eot
I always used the opposite.
funny@@Lucat_the_Nerd
I always said the opposite, too, because, as I understood it, the original Flicker had the target return right away. Then blink got EoT by process of elimination.
How did u not mention Vanishing? It is the only card to make things phase out from back then that still sees a bunch of play in EDH, especially as a staple for Zur the Enchanter decks
Something I’m curious about is how viable is a creature that phases out instead of leaving the battlefield?
What about best/worst 3 or 4 color comanders?
Can you please do a failed mechanics video on Bushido?
Phasing isn't hard to understand at all. The card just ceases to exist. No leaving, no entering, no memory issues. That makes the minutia much easier to understand than a flicker.
So theoretically, the most annoying creature would have hexproof, indestructible, and an activated ability that phases it out. Scary thought 😅
I LOVE YOU THEMANALOGS
I thought the basic concept of phasing was to have phasing permanents and on turns they phased out, to have mass destruction of permanents. Your phased out permanents would not be hit; your opponents' cards would.
That said, I do not recall making or seeing a successful deck along those lines.
They literally brought it back as a new name
why do so many ppl comment before watching the video? this is literally brought up halfway in, you just sound like an idiot with the full context of the video
Commentators literally cannont listen/ read. Phasing as an ability doesn't appear again.
Phase out creatures/ target/ wheatever like teferis protection, march of swirling mist or guardian of faith exist.
But not a creature with the keyword phasing..
If you count unsets there's old fogey but he's not tournament legal
Sad that a lot of people are like this these days. They form an opinion and ignore any facts in the video.
I beat someone with a meandering towershell one day. It was a miracle.
Ephemerate is a blink effect, not a flicker effect
It’s back now with haystack in acr
Wither deserves a video.
3:38, if you give this monster to another player it's kind of hilarious!
you forgot oubliette D:
Just make a 10/10 with shadow and phasing for 1 black and when it phases in, you lose 5 life. It's a mythic. It's called Teferi's Vampire.
Goodnight!
You say failed I say untapped potential
Here to say Taniwha is pronounced tani-far. Its a mythical creature from Maori legend, so a wha makes a far sound.
14:35 it doesn't "force" anyone to learn a new rule; they should already be familiar with it and understand it when they are taught the game. Blame the teacher of the student, but inherently, they are not forced to learn it, they should have already learned it themselves (or now will learn it when they experience it for the first time and will re-educate themselves later to be more familiar with it)
Phasing out has specific rulings that need to be learned. What are you talking about?
MtG is stupidly complicated and requires months to learn properly
@@lachlank.8270we call that a skill issue
/fren et tik/
So what your saying is Phasing was... phased out of the game
Why do you pronounce things wrong so frequently???
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