Pointed Discussion

It's at best a 6/6 for 6 that requires you to mill yourself. You can get far better for 6 mana.

In my usual gaming group, this got nicknamed the Phyrexian Exploder, because whoever was running it would always get too greedy and end up having to bury it.

Oracle text needs some fixing. The sacrifice rules is stated two times there.

@holgir

Oracle text says to sacrifice it, so being indestructible is worthless.

This can get huge with Darksteel Forge.
Edit: @dragon504: You're right, what a shame they sometimes translate "bury" into a sacrifice and sometimes into "destroy, can't be regenerated" (how it should be IMO).

Maybe they restated the sacrifice clause in the activated ability because of cards like Experiment Kraj.

Too bad that they changed the wording. I was hoping to combine this one with fling, and really surprise some people. (Since you could keep growing it while the trigger was on the stack.)

This
Necrotic Ooze
Triskelion
What is this I don't even

Magic blackjack.

@ratchet1215: I'm curious as to how that would actually play out. I mean, in theory it sounds great and all, but wouldn't the Ooze still die as part of the Devourer's ability if you ever revealed a card with converted mana cost 3 or more? It would get 3 +1/+1 counters, raising its power to 7, and then the last part of the ability would cause it to die before you have the chance to do anything else, wouldn't it?

@drp527

Yes, that's exactly what would happen. The ooze would be sacrificed the moment you revealed a card with CMC 3 or more. It's a terrible combo.

@MrQuizzles:
It is not. You just got it wrong. The combo works like this:

You activate the Devourer's ability. If it costs 3 or more, you do it again. This works because you don't have to pass priority between the two activations. Also, since the cost is exiling the top card of your library, you'll know what it is before it resolves. Then, if the card does not cost 3 or more, you let it resolve, then activate the Triskelion's ability. Repeat until your opponent is dead. You don't ever need to resolve one ability that would make you sacrifice the Ooze.

@Elysiume: I'm afraid you don't see the glory of this card. In a deck that doesn't work around +1/+1 counters, yeah it's a 6/6 at best, but build a deck that caters to spreading the wealth, and you have yourself a +1/+1 generator. Spike Rogue Power Conduit Ion Storm. This is the obvious way to use this card. The Necrotic Ooze/Triskelion seems like a good combo too, but a bit much to pull off. All in all, I think it's worth every bit of it's 6 colorless casting cost.

no MrQuizzles, Shiny_Umbreon you're both wrong Necrotic ooze gets all ACTIVATED ABILITIES thus it does not get the static ability of if it's power is 7 or greater sacrifice it! So learn to read cards before you make stupid comments or try to correct others with even stupider comments.

New card to combo with it, Myr Welder. Lots of fun with the buff and no sacrifice clause.

I seem to be one of the few people here who understands that Necrotic Ooze will NOT kill itself if it uses this card's ability. The ooze only has its ACTIVATED abilities, the too much power and it dies ability is not an activated ability (note the lack of a cost followed by a colon). Hence the combo with Necrotic Ooze and Triskelion is perfect, especially if you run Reanimate and Buried Alive, get yourself 4 mana on turn one with those 2 in your hand and it's all over.

Shadow's Vengeance, you seem to be one of the few people not reading the card before making claims about how this card really works.

You see, the card has two abilities, one that kills it when it when it has seven or more power, and then one that makes it grow and then, if it has seven or more power, kills it. Now that first ability is not stolen by Necrotic Ooze, as it is a triggered ability. This means that if you play the Ooze with six Glorious Anthem-style effects in play and this card in your graveyard, it won't blow up right away.
However, it does gain the second ability as that's an activated ability. So, if you want, you can reveal a card and have your necrotic ooze grow. If you do so, however, it does kill itself if by the end of the ability it has more than 7 power (be that through +1/+1 counters or through Glorious Anthems.

wow a card that lets me put a good two thirds of my library into my graveyard...

Wow what the hell is wrong with some of you guys.

If Phyrexian Devourer is in the graveyard, and Necrotic Ooze is on your field it has the ability "Exile the top card of your library: Put X +1/+1 counters on Phyrexian Devourer, where X is the exiled card's converted mana cost. If Phyrexian Devourer's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it." That is a part of the activated ability. It would die at 7 or greater

However, the original wording makes the opposite true. Since it only has the static ability of "When its power is 7 or more sac it" it would not die

Wizards really f'ed this card up when they changed the wording. You could perhaps make a big creature, with no trample, and some cards. Now it is really really bad. Just leave it alone unless you play R & D's secret lair (Which almost never autocards correctly)

They totally should have reprinted this in New Phyrexia. It's so unique and fickle. I LOVE IT

1, 2, 3, 5, FUCK!
--What happened when I tried this card in casual
But I like it anyway and my friends are constantly quoting that.

Basically, in order to kill an opponent that hasn't taken any damage nor gained life (that is, an opponent on 20), you need at least '20 mana' in the mana costs of 1 and 2 CMC cards remaining in your library. So, for example, you could do it with 4 1 CMC and 8 2 CMC cards left in your library - which is a pretty big ask unless you're running all cheapies except for this (and you won't be given you're also running Triskelion and Necrotic Ooze).

But yes, the severe difference in wording between the actual card and the Oracle text, as well as people hearing about the combo but not investigating it, means that lots of people don't get that Necrotic Ooze will die to any card that's got 3 or more CMC. I had an opponent try to do it in EDH, and I was quite pleased when he exiled Necrotic Ooze and Primeval Titan with his Mimeoplasm, with Devourer and Triskleion in the grave (so he had a 10/9 Necrotic Ooze). He said GG after doing so, so it was nice pointing out that he'd effectively rendeded the combo useless.

Wow, so much people not understanding that you can put another instance of his ability on the stack after exiling something with cmc>3. You NEVER have to let the ability that would cause you to sac him resolve until after your enemy is dead. The combo with Necrotic Ooze still works, if you do it right.

Also, JaxsonBateman, The Mimeoplasm has +1/+1 counters on it. So, in your example, he could just remove them for the Triskelion to shoot you then combo with the Devourer and you are dead.

For those of you who still don't understand Shiny_Umbreon what they are trying to explain is this, the ability reads Exile the top card of your library *cost of abiliy*: *this part goes on the stack because its the effect of the ability* Put X +1/+1 counters on Phyrexian Devourer, where X is the exiled card's converted mana cost. If Phyrexian Devourer's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it. This means that Necrotic Ooze can exile the top card and if it costs 3 or more put that on the stack and exile another card off the stack (2 abilities are now on the stack) if this one is cheaper than 3 you let it resolve and continue exiling your deck and removing +1/+1 counters whenever they get added on to the ooze.

September 2011 Oracle Update Bulletin. Read it. There is a big change in how the Devourer works, especially in regards to combos involving ability coppiers like Necrotic Ooze or Experamental Kraj.

Yeah, they really screwed up the wording when they tried to bring this up to modern templating. Should be destroyed without regen when power >=7, should still use +X/+X counters (non-standard, but who cares - it could matter in a counter-based deck), and activating the ability shouldn't also check the power as part of it's resolution (you should be able to do something at instant speed with your giant creature if you mill a bomb).

As it stands now, it's nearly worthless outside of a +1/+1 counter deck, as all the interesting loopholes in the card have been closed. 6 for maybe a 6/6 and I have to mill 1 or more cards? Pass.

*Update 9/27/2011* Hooray for the Oracle update. Now I can at least see a use for him. Necrotic Ooze is way sweeter now.

Wow, when did they change the oracle of Phyrexian Devourer? The Oracle read:
"When Phyrexian Devourer's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it.
Exile the top card of your library: Put X +1/+1 counters on Phyrexian Devourer, where X is the exiled card's converted mana cost. If Phyrexian Devourer's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it."
Now this sacrifice trigger that used to be checked by activating the ability is gone.

I think it's closer to the printed card text once again, since it no longer checks the power by activating the ability.
And this allows some great combos with cards that can copy Phyrexian Devourer's activated ability!

The Necrotic Ooze/Triskelikon combo also worked before if you kept exiling cards and only let the cards with a cmc of 2 or less resolve to get fuel for Triskelikon's ability. But now it's much easier: just let any trigger resolve, the bigger the exiled card's cmc, the better!

And obviously Necrotic Ooze now works great with Phyrexian Devourer in your graveyard even without Triskelikon - which is a notable advantage to otherwise superior Necrotic Ooze combos (with combo enablers like Buried Alive), since PD isn't too useful by itself.

Myr Welder now also can grow insanely big with him in the graveyard.

Skill Borrower used to get killed by the old Oracle's trigger if you didn't come up with something else to shrink her before the trigger resolves, like Serendib Sorcerer or Urza's Avenger.
Now you can simply cast her with PD on top and you just got yourself a 7/7 for three mana - that will even gain further abilities! (E.g. the aforementioned Myr Welder, which synergizes with both cards)

Cast Congregation at Dawn the next turn, get two PDs and a Jodah's Avenger. Make her a 13/13, give her shroud and attack with a 11/11 double striker with shadow!
(You could also give her Vigilance or make her Shivan Meteor-proof, just in case.)
Oh, the trick also works with Insidious Dreams by the way. Which lets you discard the cards that your Necrotic Oozes and Myr Welder will love to have there.

(Experiment Kraj and Quicksilver Elemental also work with PD, but they're rather pale in comparison.)

Last but not least, Laboratory Maniac allows you to win the game with these combos even without using your fatties.

@ratchet1215; if you do that, you have two 6 cmc cards in your deck, so that means the ooze will sacrifice itself upon using the pump ability often enough for that to be a fun and silly yet still not very secure combo
EDIT; Oh, they erratad this card again since I posted that. It works now!

How about This + Aluren + Garruk's Horde?
Cast the creatures that cost 3 or less out of your deck, and exile the other cards. Do this at instant speed before any counters resolve and kill the Devourer.

Lots of ways to win at this point, but here is an interesting one:
Four of them should be Laboratory Maniac, and four should be Elvish Visionary.
As soon as you have at least one visionary on the stack, exile any others that come up, so that a couple Maniacs will resolve earlier and you will win the game instead of losing it.

"If Phyrexian Devourer's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it" is not part of the activated ability... I'm pretty sure you CAN make a giant Necrotic Ooze without having to sacrifice it.

Today on Masterpiece Emoticon Theater, the tale of the worst Oracle edit in the history of the game: why it got done, and why it got undone.

le Phyrexian Devourer resting in junk rare box U_U

Legacy peoples: Survival of the Fittest! Vengevine! DOOD!

Phyrexian Devourer: U_U

Legacy peoples: Necrotic Ooze combos with Phyrexian Devourer! OMG my Necrotic Ooze is now a 114/114 crazy terrorist creature and survives to attack THANK YOU PHYREXIAN DEVOURER

Necrotic Ooze: High Five!

Phyrexian Devourer: ^_^

le Wizards: "ATTENTION PLEBEIANS. ATTENTION. Phyrexian Devourer now has an errata that completely changes how the card's main mechanic works..."

Phyrexian Devourer: o_O

Wizards: "...solely because we want to wreck its usefulness for this one particular combo, thereby hosing one particular degenerate Survival deck in one particular format, without banning Survival."

Phyrexian Devourer: ಠ_ಠ

Wizards: "... We're adding to the buff ability: 'If Phyrexian Devourer's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it' ..."

Phyrexian Devourer: x_x

Wizards: "...look, I don't know what else you expected. It's not like we can ban Survival. People like it too much."

Phyrexian Devourer: ._.

... le time passes ...

The Plain People of the Internet: (・_・) "Wizards! Y U NO BAN SURVIVAL?"

... le time passes ...

... nearly every top 16 tournament deck is based on Survival ...

Wizards: "Fuck it, fine, Survival of the Fittest is banned..."

Phyrexian Devourer: |~_~|

Wizards: "...and we're making another change to poor ol' Phyrexian Devourer."

Phyrexian Devourer: 0_0

Wizards: "We're gonna revert the original Oracle wording."

Phyrexian Devourer: O_O

Wizards: Yeah. Man, that hack edit was some bulllllshit. Sorry."

Phyrexian Devourer: ^_______^

Secondary Market: "Oh and by the way this means Phyrexian Devourer is once again a fifty-cent trash rare kthxbai."

Phyrexian Devourer: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Doesn't this work just fine with fling still?

Exile cards until sacrifice trigger is on the stack (one at a time.) Then instead you start exiling a bunch more in response to the sacrifice trigger. These each resolve before the trigger thus making him huge. You then fling him for 20+ damage.

I think I may build a {B} combo deck out of this. There are so many ways to get the various combos to work via Necroplasm, reanimating, and having redundant kill combos.

Run this in a U/B self-mill deck and don't run any cards above 6 cmc. Simple enough. It's not like you have to exile more and more cards.

Ooze Flux

Brainstorm

With the original function back you can just attack, and if isn't blocked exile your entire library (by repeatly responding to its own ability) and cast Ovinize.

That's how you kill your opponent with a 50/51 sheep.