Listen to the (other) kitsune! This card is a beast in EDH. Mono-blue Hero's Demise is what it is! And the upkeep cost is pretty "meh" worthy in late-game as most good blue spells have alt costs (Gush, Daze, Force of Will) or cost 3 or less.
Keeping that 2 extra mana open the turn you cast this helps you protect your copy with counter-magic. If you don't plan on just sac'ing the copy or using it to kill a legend.
If you bounce Dance of the Many on the stack with something like Boomerang, you can keep the token and not have the pay the upkeep. You can even replay the dance later if you want.
Posted By:
kitsunewarlock
(2/26/2010 4:41:35 PM)
Almost any clone effect is useful, and while this is generally weaker than the original, it could still be played to decent effect.
Posted By:
Radagast
(11/4/2011 7:58:33 PM)
I can see populate cards (e.g. Growing Ranks) flat-out loving this card. Why use just your usual tokens when you can populate your side of the battlefield with things like Sun Titan?
Posted By:
SkyknightXi
(9/27/2012 8:03:58 AM)
Interesting card, a cheap clone that's vulnerable is still quite a nice trick to pull. Still I wonder, like many old cards, exactly what this is supposed to depict. Are those butterflies? Moths? Flying slugs? What flavor does the art hold?
I'd love to see a feature on art from the early years of Magic, just to find out.
Posted By:
OmnicromXR
(8/4/2009 11:47:45 AM)
The upkeep cost, along with being vulnerable to more things (enchantment removal, hit much harder by bounce) usually more than outweigh the advantage of being cheaper up front than Clone.
Posted By:
jeff-heikkinen
(4/30/2009 12:56:36 PM)
Now M12 has brought us Phantasmal Image, and I will gladly take it's drawback over the several belonging to Dance of Many every time I want a cheap Clone.
Posted By:
voyager1
(7/14/2011 7:00:29 PM)
A weak clone variant, the upkeep keeps it from being really useful.
Posted By:
Dragon_Bloodthirsty
(7/12/2009 7:31:39 PM)
Costing only 2 mana more than outweighs the Dance's drawbacks when using it for some of the things Clone can be used for. Legend-kill (the rewrite of the Legend rule is probably the bigest reason this card will likely be never reprinted again), sacraficial blocker to stop your opponent's biggest threat, copy creature with sac effect. For fun, try this copying a Legend with a 'leaves play' or 'enters graveyard from play' effect.
Posted By:
A3Kitsune
(2/10/2010 8:44:41 AM)
Copy your opponent's Tarmogoyf and beat their face with it.
Posted By:
Hovercraft
(3/12/2011 5:18:35 PM)