Everybody loves a good underdog story. In the world of MTG, it’s always exciting when someone unexpected wins a major event, or when a unique card or deck puts up an impressive result seemingly out of nowhere. It’s even cool when a historically weak creature type makes headlines in a competitive environment.
Well, this past weekend, we saw a prime example of a neat underdog story that fits the final description perfectly. Despite being man’s best friend, Dogs are not an abundant or particularly strong creature type in Magic. While there are a few cool Dog legends designed for Commander, such as Dogmeat, Ever Loyal from MTG Fallout, it’s rare to see a Dog card dominate in the competitive Constructed scene.
Yet, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd has done just that. A full playset of the legendary Dog appeared in a Magic Online Legacy Challenge-winning Death and Taxes decklist, and the deck is clearly built to maximize it. Don’t be fooled by its cuteness, though. Phelia is a force to be reckoned with. Its rise to stardom in Legacy as well as Modern in recent weeks deserves to be highlighted.
Phelia as a Legacy Value Engine
Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd does a lot for a two-drop. As a Flash threat, your opponent may not know it’s coming. It also pairs nicely with Orcish Bowmasters in the two-drop slot, since you can leave up two mana and play either creature depending on what the opponent does.
What really sets Phelia apart from other threats, though, is its ability to generate an absurd amount of value turn after turn. All you need access to is a single nonland permanent with an enters-the-battlefield effect and you can create a big advantage turn after turn. This is why the Death and Taxes archetype makes for a perfect home for Phelia, even in a format as powerful as Legacy.
Death and Taxes decks traditionally maximize value-based creatures like Recruiter of the Guard and Skyclave Apparition in order to pull ahead. Even though they are a bit inefficient, Aether Vial helps make up for this problem.
Prior to Phelia’s printing, it was common to use Recruiter to grab Flickerwisp so you could blink your own creatures, including Recruiter, and dominate attrition battles. Now, Phelia assumes a similar role, except it’s more efficient, more versatile, and provides repeatable value every turn cycle.
Blinking Recruiter and tutoring up Solitude is a great line of play that helps ensure your Phelia doesn’t die in combat. Against decks with greedy manabases, like Grixis tempo, blinking White Orchid Phantom turn after turn can set your opponent back to the stone ages. You can even blink non-creature permanents like Pre-War Formalwear and keep the value flowing.
This brings us to one of the strongest plays you can make with this deck: cast Overlord of the Balemurk for its Impending cost, then exile it with Phelia. Not only do you get multiple Overlord triggers this way, but Overlord will reenter the battlefield as a creature!
The world truly is your oyster with Phelia at the helm. Not to mention, Phelia will continue to grow larger each time you target one of your own nonland permanents.
More Than Meets the Eye
Importantly, while you’ll often want to target your own nonland permanents with Phelia’s attack, you are welcome to target one of your opponent’s cards instead. Sometimes, you’ll do this simply to temporarily remove a big blocker and enable a big attack. However, you’d be surprised how impactful messing with your opponent’s board can be.
For instance, let’s say you’re playing against Stiflenought. Your opponent manages to land a copy of Phyrexian Dreadnought, using Stifle or Dress Down to make sure it sticks. Now, exiling Phyrexian Dreadnought with Phelia on your turn can be absolutely devastating. When it comes back into play, the opponent has to have another Stifle effect at the ready or their 12/12 will bite the dust.
This is far from the only matchup where Phelia has juicy targets. Versus mono-red Prison, resetting Chrome Mox can be a pain. The same is true for Mox Diamond out of Lands strategies.
Phelia is great at removing tokens. Construct tokens from Urza’s Saga will disappear forever. If you’re lucky, you may even be able to get rid of Marit Lage.
Phelia also does a good job resetting counters on opposing permanents. From Aether Vial to Murktide Regent, there are plenty of cards that become less scary once you blink them out. It’s amazing what this Dog can do, and we’re not done yet.
Other Shells for Phelia
Orzhov value decks may be the most popular home for Phelia in Legacy, but there are plenty of other places for Phelia to show up in Modern. With Amped Raptor and The One Ring now banned in Modern, Boros Energy players have been forced to look elsewhere to fill the vacancies. As such, some players have opted to some slots with Phelia and Seasoned Pyromancer, which combo nicely together.
There are also some unique brews that have popped up with Phelia as a key part of the equation. Take the Jeskai control deck shown above. In addition to the usual suspects, you’ll find a neat Phelia package alongside Overlord of the Floodpits, Solitude, and Teferi, Time Raveler.
I don’t know about you, but getting to use Teferi’s -3 ability in your first main phase, then blink it out with Phelia and have it come back with four loyalty counters sounds quite enjoyable. So does exiling Obsidian Charmaw in sideboard games and decimating Eldrazi opponents.
It’s not often we see a Dog have this much impact in MTG, especially in formats as powerful as Modern and Legacy. Phelia is one of a kind and is one good boy.
