I've tried breaking this in standard and just can't seem to do it. Although once it's out, you basically can mill your entire deck next turn (maybe sooner with more support). Closest I ever came was having one already in the graveyard, activating it and casting Surgical Extraction in response, and milling myself in the process. Kind of unwieldy, but cool when you pull it off. Cheapest draw flashback I could think of was Think Twice, so the combo altogether took 5 CMC + 2 life for the extraction. Not bad, but just not practical.
Maybe it'll be different in classic, but not exactly sure why this is a mythic.
Posted By:
nirvava
(2/14/2012 12:37:18 AM)
Okay, I understand why he's good in a self-mill deck with cards like Laboratory Maniac, Splinterfright and Kessig Cagebreakers. I understand how good five damage in the air is good. I understnd how his activated ability can waste a removal spell and you return him to the battlefield for free.
What I don't get is how they consider this a mythic rare. Maybe if it had a lower mana cost, but even then a lot of the win condition depends on what you have on the field and how your opponent can deal with them.
Posted By:
nessy_ydissac
(3/18/2012 11:33:49 AM)
If you use necrotic ooze, doesn't it replace the text with "reveal cards from the top of That library until a card named Necrotic ooze is revealed?"
Edit: cool, I guess I was wrong. I want to use him in standard...there has to be a way.
Posted By:
MindAblaze
(4/15/2012 8:26:25 PM)
Play Laboratory maniac, then play Mirror-mad Phantasm, then any Clone effect. Activate ability on the clone and you win if you don't have another in your deck.
Posted By:
Rpetiger
(9/5/2012 12:23:23 AM)
Use this sometimes in my Arcum Dagsson EDH. Tutor up Grimoire of the dead and Citanul flute to get this and set it off for a truck load of fatties and ETB effects.
Posted By:
Twylyght
(12/8/2012 3:45:25 PM)
An incredibly perfect choice for mythic rare, with a phenomenally unique ability to build decks around. A mythic rare should have (in my opinion) some kind of gravitational force that motivate its users to craft around it, tinkering with other cards -- such a card should have a game-altering, astounding effect. (It doesn't have to be powerful or aggressive costed or game-winning.) And a mythic rare should have a strong, resonant identity. Something iconic.
A 'mad phantasm' is an incredibly iconic entity, and has been since its popularity in the late Victorian-era literature that this set hearkens to. Everyone's familiar with the notion of a ghost that flits in and out between paintings, or watches what's going on through the eyes of a painting. (Some modern-day examples include a side character in Harry Potter, Mario ghosts, and a villain in Ocarina of Time. The idea also gets parodied a lot, with actual people peering through eye-holes in paintings. Scooby-Doo stuff.)
And this card ... (see all)
Posted By:
Salient
(2/11/2013 11:51:46 AM)
I run a single copy with the follow key enablers;
2 Lab Maniac
2 snapcaster Mage
2 Obzedat, Ghost council (Strictly Plan B)
4 unburial rite
2 increasing ambition
Multiple cantrips (thought scour, forbidden alchemy, azorius charm)
Quite consistent build. Won me a quite a few games and alot of abuse from other players.
Posted By:
Gabby_Leow
(3/25/2013 10:10:00 PM)
I'm kinda new at this game and I was wondering if this card's ability can be activated while it is in the graveyard. I've been looking through the rule book and so far and don't see any rule saying I can't, but I'd like to make certain. Thanks in advance for your help!
Posted By:
turin6682
(4/28/2013 8:28:22 PM)
This single card, along with Laboratory Maniac, probably forcibly tuned hundreds of players into the concept of self-mill decks. "Why would I possibly want to put my library into my graveyard!?"
Ding.
Posted By:
DoragonShinzui
(4/30/2013 9:58:41 PM)
Fun in Bruna, Light of Alabaster EDH. You activate the ability until you can kill someone with commander damage in one turn. Unless of course it goes on the bottom of your library...
Posted By:
Aremath
(5/28/2013 12:26:31 AM)