THEY CALLED ME MAD! I'LL SHOW THEM! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! AH HA HA HA HA HAAAHHH!!!
Chamale
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I don't know about you guys, but I think I've found a use for my worthless copies of Thought Lash.
In his block, Laboratory Maniac will be a great card if mill decks are a threat. I doubt Innistrad has enough cards for mill to be a playable strategy, though.
For modern, don't even think about Leveler unless it's in addition to Mirror of Fate. Mirror of Fate does the same thing, but it can trigger whenever you want. And doesn't cost $5.00. Literally the only thing I can think of that Leveler has going for it is that you can use a creature tutor on it. But you're already playing blue; how hard is it to tutor out an artifact in blue? (Hint: it's not.)
And the vulnerability is a huge deal, too. The combo is so dangerous that if you lose one piece before it resolves, you don't just wait another turn; you lose. If you buy a Leveler and auto-exile your graveyard, then your Laboratory Maniac gets hit with Doom Blade/DoJ/Oblivion Ring/Shock before you can get your next draw, it's game over. If you cast Mirror of Fate, you can either wait until you feel confident that you have the countermagic to back up the combo, or wait until they're tapped out.
Plus, with Leveler, you need to have a way to draw afterwords or risk losing Laboratory Maniac during your opponent's turn. Even with an instant-speed draw, you can still lose to an instant-speed removal played in response, while Mirror of Fate lets you play around removal by keeping your mana open.
You all KNEW it was coming....how could I NOT comment on THIS ONE?!
@Vedalken_Arbiter: No, I'LL SHOW YOU!!!!
12 BILLION Post:
2x Ancient Den
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
2x Seat of the Synod
2x Tree of Tales
4x Vesuva
==============
4x Doubling Season
4x Followed Footsteps
4x Mycosynth Lattice
4x Parallel Lives
(20 enchantment artifact creatures)
==============
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
4x Voltaic Key
1x Time Vault
4x Precursor Golem
(12 'normal insanity' cards) = Twelve Billion Posts
==============
1x Lab Maniac
1x Back From the Brink (use with Precursor Golem)
4x Skullclamp
4x March of the Machines
(10 Darth Parallax insanity cards)
How it Works:
TwelvePost + Mycosynth Lattice + Tezzeret the Seeker + Followed Footsteps + Opalescence =
Lands are 5/5 artifact creatures;
Followed Footsteps is an enchantment artifact creature, and can therefore enchant itself,
and then Followed Footsteps can enchant everything else. Including the TwelvePosts.
Doubling Season and Parallel Lives. Now you have TwelveBillion Posts.
(Voltaic Key + Time Vault for extra turns. this is the most innocent use of these two cards I know of.)
Precursor Golem + Back from the Brink breaks all the calculators in a 12 mile radius.
But we're not done yet. Tezzeret was needed to keep the lands alive. Now we're going to kill them. Wait, WHAT?
March of the Machines + Skullclamp will kill all the CMC 0 lands we have, and then net us our entire deck.
The super secret win condition is Lab Maniac.
Remember Folks: I'm DARTH. PARALLAX. Ultimate Showdown ring a bell? I'm the most powerful Johnny ever.
Only Noel deCordova himself is Johnnier.
*And this is the version WITHOUT Knowledge Pool....dun dun dun!!!!
RJDroid
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(5 votes)
The day after this card was spoiled, Leveler went from a 20-cent junk rare to a 6-dollar Modern staple.
Granted, you'll only get the Mana Severance about one every three games if you mulligan down, and any removal will ruin it, but you gotta love the face they make if they can't stop it.
emmori
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Oh... this must be the guy that invented Thought Lash...
Drewsel
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(17 votes)
They all laughed when I opined the raw potential Thought Lash possessed. They called me MAD. I'll show them... I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!!
JaFaR_Ironclad
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(12 votes)
The flavor text seems a lovely preemptive commentary on what mill players did when this card was revealed.
Smithney
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(8 votes)
I just see him laughing maniacally while riding on a Leveler at Lethe lake's beach.
jsttu
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
unless this guy has constant instant draw he is too vulnerable to removal and loss by self-inflicted decking.
Falgorn
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
Worried by instant-speed removal? Then Chromatic Sphere is here for the rescue and the win!
None can respond to winning with this mana ability. Not even with Wipe Away. Actually, you can even win whileWipe Away is still on the stack.
And remember, you heard it here first...!
Lash_of_Dragonbreath
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So, I saw this card. I read its ability. Then I read it again. Still not believing, I had to do it a third time.
I am already ordering for of this. I can't wait to mill myself to victory. If I get to play it against any of my friends' mill deck, then I'll probably explode from all the happiness.
AmericanVigor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Yet another awesome reality-warping effect, endorsed by the man who made the game.
Shadowstorm42
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Grindstone + Painters servant + Laboratory maniac = Instant win. You make all cards one color with Painter's servant, this even includes all cards not in play. Then with grindstone you target yourself, since all cards now share one color you will card yourself out, and with the lab maniac, it makes it an auto win. Boss.
roguepariah
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(24 votes)
When you burn someone to death, you get an image of your opponent being immolated. When you kill someone with a creature, you think of them getting mauled. When you mill yourself out, the game ends, the screen turns to black,
and all you hear is maddening laughter...
Its the things you don't see that scare you the most.
dberry02
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My EDH deck is going to have a blast with this card...
@Steev, think they'll be putting errata on Demonic Consultation as a result, at least in Commander? It simply states that the card must exist.
Doomsday would combo pretty well with this too, and would probably be a little bit safer.
Do multiplayer groups battle it out for second if players get themselves an early exit win with cards like this, The Cheese Stands Alone, and Barren Glory, or is this unprecedented, since there are now fewer conditions required for the win?
mutantman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you didn't know, when Magic Online does beta testing, the beta testers play Limited with a slightly altered version of the latest set--the rares show up more often to facilitate testing, and cards from all the other sets are sprinkled in among the new ones. This means you can get some very interesting cards in your Innistrad Beta sealed pools.
Why yes, I did get Laboratory Maniac and Leveler in the same sealed pool. And yes, I did build my deck around the combo. And yes, I did pull it off. In sealed.
So yeah!
Zaneshift
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Mask of Avacyn him, toss down a Mimic Vat, then swarm the field with copies via Phyrexian Metaorphs or Cackling Counterpart... I mean you're playing blue anyway, you should have plenty of counterspells regardless. I was missing Archive Trap in standard but... honestly, 'shuffle your graveyard into your hand' effects were just such shutdowns for so little effort on my foe's part that mil was looking dead even with, say, a turn one win when their first land's an evolving wilds and I end up with 4 traps. Multiplayer mil? Now possible. Can they prevent it? With about as much difficulty as infect can be compared to regular life damage (they can try to prevent it, but they certainly can't reverse it so well). I'm the sort who plays magic EXACTLY for those moments where 5 other people at a table are gawking in confusion as I laugh hysterically at my own psychotic antics of countering my own spells and reverberating everything within arm's reach, so just the most perfect slice of insanity...
If you've ever redirected a sign in blood, if you've ever mindbreak trapped a banefire, if you've ever twincast a time stretch, if you've ever quashed a countersquall, if you've ever mind controlled an ornithopter, if you've ever sleeped yourself... then this is the card for you. I play magic with the most bizarre premise I can-- like passive mil that's build around a turn 50~ win just by counterspelling every card until your foe naturally decks out. It's not necessarily about the efficiency.. it's about the ingenuity! That said, self-mil in Innistrad is shaping up to look more effective than milling others anyway.
Kirbster
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(7 votes)
Pretty stylish win with Thought Lash! It staves off damage while you wait to draw into the maniac, then win in one turn. Just hope you don't pull him from your library in the meantime....
Leonidus78
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Every body keeps talking about milling themselves. This guy says if you would draw a card... So use one those many infinite draw combos out there and win instantly. My BG EDH use to run out of cards cause I drew them all. Not any more, now instead of running out I win!
Oyster450
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Lol, So I watched this game the other day. Turn 3 Player 1 casts a Curse of the Bloody Tome on Player 2. Player 2 was like "Darn" Turn 4 Player 2 Casts Curse of the Bloody Tome on self. Player 2 was like "WTF?" It ended AfterPlayer 2 used the Maniac, Leveler combo.
doombladez
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Any card that can spawn so many new deck ideas on its own deserves a 5\5/
First: it's a 2/2 on the curve. Second: There are a lot of ways to mill yourself to death. Mirror-mad phantasm is method #1. If you have a half-decent tutor and one copy of him, you should be able to mill yourself to nothing in a few turns.
Anyways, besides obviously being built as a primary win con in himself, he is also a wonderful safety net for overenthuasiastic dedge/self-mill decks when their mill engine is dragged into too long a game. Unlikely, but reassuring as a one-of at least.
"I'll show those tittering fools the true meaning of power! Quickly, Leveler! Fetch me my favorite Bauble! Tonight, we will show them! WE WILL SHOW THEM ALL!!"
Tivadercrusader
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Yeah, for those of you on lower budgets, Paradise Mantel & Puresight Merrow.
They called me MAD to run 4 Storm Crows in my Brothers Yamazaki EDH Deck! But I'll show them! I'll show them ALL! AHAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!!
Dnn
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(6 votes)
this on the battlefield, Doomsday in hand and Tome Scour in the library. Game.
"Mirror-mad phantasm is method #1. If you have a half-decent tutor and one copy of him, you should be able to mill yourself to nothing in a few turns" - yeah, Demonic Consultation FTW.
Low, flexible mana costs, all in the same color. The cards are cheap too ($0.19 for the Cephalid, $0.49 for Shuko, $1.00 for Laboratory Maniac at the time of this post).
Steinhauser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Winning with this dude in limited is the greatest feeling in the world. Deck him up with Unburial Rites, Memory's Journey, Runic Repetition, and all the self-mill you can get your hands on. Combine with durdley but effective removal that beatdown decks won't touch, like Ghostly Possession and Chant of the Skifsang, since they usually go late - just like this guy. Then watch your clock (if you're online) because your matches will be taking 15-20 minutes each, and enjoy winning in style!
poolboywax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
combos with Leveler and and draw card.
DeaTh-ShiNoBi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Falgorn Ya, but you can't win while Time Stop is on the stack :(
MithosFall
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You guys are making it too complicated. This + Leveler. That's it.
DysprosiumJudas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card's art is how I feel when I'm coming up with ways to win with it.
d-101
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Turn one: Island Turn two: Swamp, Merfolk Looter Turn three: Swamp, Dark Ritual, Laboratory Maniac, Demonic Consultation. I imagine a funny scenario playing out with this; the maniac, in his penchant for mad science, conjures a demon to summon Emrakul, only to remember that it's not in his library. The looter gets over excited and taps, causing the maniac to panic before he remembers his ability. In all seriousness, though, good for anti or self-mill, although I think you'd need a draw at instant speed to be safe. 4/5
I was thinking about running this in the manners of the zombie infestation and treasure hunt deck. Then have one apostle's blessing just in case to defend your laboratory maniac... So if you can't pull off your win condition swing for a zombie army victory.
tcollins
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
For those of you thinking of using this in combination with Thought Lash might I suggest Lantern of Insight? Lets see what you're about to exile before you exile it, and if you draw a second lantern, you can use it to disrupt your opponent's deck (by causing them to shuffle) Throw in a couple of {U} draw spells (instant speed is key!) and you've got yourself a genuine combo deck. Additionally, you can use Future Sight to have the top card of your library revealed, or if you're looking for something with more control aspect, Sphinx of Jwar Isle. For those of you that are really maniacs...there are some {B} instants that allow risky tutoring, things like Demonic Consultation or Spoils of the Vault would work, just make sure you name something that isn't in your deck. Although with Spoils you'd need some way to prevent the life loss.
someone might of mentioned it already, but it plugs the hole in the Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind+ Curiosity combo (which is the danger of milling yourself out before your opponent/s die), especialy in multiplayer games.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wow, roguepariah....... just wow. That is as perfect a descríption as I can think of for this card. Great imagination!
KokoshoForPresident
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Use with demonic consultation and name a card that's not in your deck. "I choose . . . Black Lotus!" Opponent stares at you in wonder until you remove your entire deck from the game, play a spell like think twice and win.
MechaKraken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is one of those rare occassions where using Jace, The Mind Sculptor's ultimate ability on YOURSELF can be a good thing. Look on opponent's face = priceless.
ConsoleCleric
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I run this guy in my cycling deck. A fluctuator with a whole bunch of 2-mana cycling cards will let you hit the table in no time.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This would be mythic rare if it had flash.
DacenOctavio
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ IUseBreakOpen
I'll do you one better. This one is from an article on MTGSalvation. Turn one Shuko. Turn two Cephalid Illusionist, deck yourself until at least one Dread Return, one Azami, Lady of Scrolls, one Laboratory Maniac, one Angel of Glory's Rise, and at least two Narcomoeba end up in your yard. In fact for this to work, just empty the damn thing. You target Angel with the return, which recurs the Azami and the Maniac. If you've gotten this far in the combo, you cannot lose.
Destroy2777
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This. Play Leveler. Wait a turn, or force yourself to draw a card. Game over.
Tivoko
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Goes without saying but I'll say it anyways: Oath of Druids.
drycanthra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Use Mirror of Fate for the Win or to play for a bit lol..
also a cephalid brakfast deck tweaked to have this as a win con works great since u dont actually have to draw him just the nomad en-kor/shuko + cephalid illusionist then when u infinite mill on t2 play narcomeba from graveyard and dread return for flashback cost and lab maniac
also interesting combo with that cephalid breakfast is sac narcomeba to flashback cabal therapy n create a zombie with bridge from below, u can therapy them 4 cards at max for retarded ammounts of pwn, but i cant get a deck with all those cards included to run smoothly, too clunky
tuxedosponge
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Combos with the upcoming Enter the Infinite from Gatecrash. Pretty fun way to go out in victory, actually.
Or just really cheap and stupid. I can't decide.
Existential
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
His mind whirled with grand plans, never thinking of what might happen if he were to succeed. But after weeks (months?) of experiments, after publishing hundreds, thousands of papers Ad Nauseam, his mind gleamed with a sort of satisfaction; even though he spent everything doing it, he finally realised everything his mind could handle; every trivial thought, every Brainstorm, all the hours for Pondering his life, where his Descent into Madness eventually stirred him to seek tutorship from the greatest, the exalted, even demons or vampires, but after an eternity of doing their Dark Rituals and the like, he took the command, "Glimpse the Unthinkable, free your self from the shackles of sanity, become a Deity!". And he won.
Avorna
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Combine with Hermit Druid in a deck with no basic lands. Activate during your opponents end step. Seems vintage viable as a turn 2 or 3 win.
Spockawitz92Y
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My #1 favorite card, The combos you can do with this guy, its just so much fun. I keep him sealed away in my "***" deck, pulling off a turn three win is very satisfying for you, not so much for your opponent. I like using U/B and Demonic Consultation or Doomsday, obviously after that just probe for the win, but sometimes I REALLY like to be a *** so I have Shared Fate and plenty of Leveler's to have some fun with before I just decide I've had enough and just want to instant-speed win the game. A instant classic that will be talked about for years to come. 5/5
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
yay, another win condition!
Winhert
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When you burn someone to death, you get an image of your opponent being immolated. When you kill someone with a creature, you think of them getting mauled. When you mill yourself out, the game ends, the screen turns to black,
and all you hear is maddening laughter...
Its the things you don't see that scare you the most.
You mean the duels of planeswalkers?
SquirePath
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know, I honestly love that this card is only REALLY viable in casual formats. That makes it super cheap for me... when i put one in all my EDH decks that can run him. He is in my Damia, Sage of Stone deck, usually right after I Defense of the heartPalinchron and Vorinclex into play, swiftly casting Blue Sun's Zenith for a fantastically hard to stop victory....
TravisBlanchard
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Now all those older blue self mill cards will no longer be considered drawbacks
Demonic_Math_Tutor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Easily one of the most fun alt-win conditions I have ever seen on a card (and a challenge too).
TruthElemental
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It should be stronger: "Whenever you would lose the game, or whenever any other player would win the game, you win the game instead."
Basically exile the first bunch of cards (36 cards) from your deck. The Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith both let you draw a card for 2 life, so your deck is basically:
Paradigm Shift with an empty or almost-empty graveyard is the most lightweight way to pull him off. iUseBreakOpen's combo is improved by going turn 1 Gitaxian Probe, turn 2 shift, turn 3 draw the probe as your last card, cast maniac, cast probe. One less card, and any one-cost spell whatsoever will do for the first one if you're willing/able to wait a turn. Of course, the sensible thing to do is run both combos
I was really sad that Lab Maniac wasn't a legendary creature. Geralf could've been a great candidate.
He was some kind of scientist, he was affiliated with Blue (Geralf's Mindcrusher) as well as Black, and if you read Rooftop Storm's flavour text, you'll understand that he has a Dr.Frankenstein-esque assistant. Not only that, but Maniac is pulling a lever in this art, and lightning is shooting everywhere. It's almost as if he was in the middle of a storm.... hmm...
But then I thought about it: How many effects empty your library? Leveler, Mirror-Mad Phantasm+Clone... Allowing a legendary card to have this ability is just... unacceptable.
Moxxy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I use this in my Primal Surge EDH deck. The deck has no sorceries or instants so I play my entire deck when it's cast. This card is a back-up so they can't just force a card draw to kill me.
I'm looking forward to the day where someone misses that I played this card (Most of the time they aren't going to look through the 50+ creatures that are played) and try to deck me only to accidentally make me win.
Comments (101)
Modern deck, maybe?
AH HA HA HA HA HAAAHHH!!!
In his block, Laboratory Maniac will be a great card if mill decks are a threat. I doubt Innistrad has enough cards for mill to be a playable strategy, though.
Demonic Consultation during your 4th turn's upkeep, naming, say... Wood Elemental. Because it's probably not a card in your deck.
And the vulnerability is a huge deal, too. The combo is so dangerous that if you lose one piece before it resolves, you don't just wait another turn; you lose. If you buy a Leveler and auto-exile your graveyard, then your Laboratory Maniac gets hit with Doom Blade/DoJ/Oblivion Ring/Shock before you can get your next draw, it's game over. If you cast Mirror of Fate, you can either wait until you feel confident that you have the countermagic to back up the combo, or wait until they're tapped out.
Plus, with Leveler, you need to have a way to draw afterwords or risk losing Laboratory Maniac during your opponent's turn. Even with an instant-speed draw, you can still lose to an instant-speed removal played in response, while Mirror of Fate lets you play around removal by keeping your mana open.
So yeah. Skip it. Run Mirror of Fate if you really want to pull off the combo in modern. And in outside modern, Divining Witch, Demonic Consultation, and Thoughtlash are far, far superior.
@Vedalken_Arbiter: No, I'LL SHOW YOU!!!!
12 BILLION Post:
2x Ancient Den
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
2x Seat of the Synod
2x Tree of Tales
4x Vesuva
==============
4x Doubling Season
4x Followed Footsteps
4x Mycosynth Lattice
4x Parallel Lives
(20 enchantment artifact creatures)
==============
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
4x Voltaic Key
1x Time Vault
4x Precursor Golem
(12 'normal insanity' cards) = Twelve Billion Posts
==============
1x Lab Maniac
1x Back From the Brink (use with Precursor Golem)
4x Skullclamp
4x March of the Machines
(10 Darth Parallax insanity cards)
How it Works:
TwelvePost + Mycosynth Lattice + Tezzeret the Seeker + Followed Footsteps + Opalescence =
Lands are 5/5 artifact creatures;
Followed Footsteps is an enchantment artifact creature, and can therefore enchant itself,
and then Followed Footsteps can enchant everything else. Including the TwelvePosts.
Doubling Season and Parallel Lives. Now you have TwelveBillion Posts.
(Voltaic Key + Time Vault for extra turns. this is the most innocent use of these two cards I know of.)
Precursor Golem + Back from the Brink breaks all the calculators in a 12 mile radius.
But we're not done yet. Tezzeret was needed to keep the lands alive. Now we're going to kill them. Wait, WHAT?
March of the Machines + Skullclamp will kill all the CMC 0 lands we have, and then net us our entire deck.
The super secret win condition is Lab Maniac.
Remember Folks: I'm DARTH. PARALLAX. Ultimate Showdown ring a bell? I'm the most powerful Johnny ever.
Only Noel deCordova himself is Johnnier.
*And this is the version WITHOUT Knowledge Pool....dun dun dun!!!!
Gitaxian Probe
1 Mana Severance
58 Island
Granted, you'll only get the Mana Severance about one every three games if you mulligan down, and any removal will ruin it, but you gotta love the face they make if they can't stop it.
None can respond to winning with this mana ability. Not even with Wipe Away. Actually, you can even win while Wipe Away is still on the stack.
And remember, you heard it here first...!
I am already ordering for of this. I can't wait to mill myself to victory. If I get to play it against any of my friends' mill deck, then I'll probably explode from all the happiness.
When you kill someone with a creature, you think of them getting mauled.
When you mill yourself out, the game ends, the screen turns to black,
and all you hear is maddening laughter...
Its the things you don't see that scare you the most.
Jace's Archivist + Consecrated Sphinx... YEAAAA! :D
Doomsday would combo pretty well with this too, and would probably be a little bit safer.
Do multiplayer groups battle it out for second if players get themselves an early exit win with cards like this, The Cheese Stands Alone, and Barren Glory, or is this unprecedented, since there are now fewer conditions required for the win?
Why yes, I did get Laboratory Maniac and Leveler in the same sealed pool. And yes, I did build my deck around the combo. And yes, I did pull it off. In sealed.
So yeah!
If you've ever redirected a sign in blood, if you've ever mindbreak trapped a banefire, if you've ever twincast a time stretch, if you've ever quashed a countersquall, if you've ever mind controlled an ornithopter, if you've ever sleeped yourself... then this is the card for you. I play magic with the most bizarre premise I can-- like passive mil that's build around a turn 50~ win just by counterspelling every card until your foe naturally decks out. It's not necessarily about the efficiency.. it's about the ingenuity! That said, self-mil in Innistrad is shaping up to look more effective than milling others anyway.
Turn 3 Player 1 casts a Curse of the Bloody Tome on Player 2.
Player 2 was like "Darn"
Turn 4 Player 2 Casts Curse of the Bloody Tome on self.
Player 2 was like "WTF?"
It ended AfterPlayer 2 used the Maniac, Leveler combo.
Throw in a couple Golgari Grave-Trolls too. Dredge 6.
Second: There are a lot of ways to mill yourself to death. Mirror-mad phantasm is method #1. If you have a half-decent tutor and one copy of him, you should be able to mill yourself to nothing in a few turns.
Anyways, besides obviously being built as a primary win con in himself, he is also a wonderful safety net for overenthuasiastic dedge/self-mill decks when their mill engine is dragged into too long a game. Unlikely, but reassuring as a one-of at least.
Should they not have anything to stop the combo as soon as it starts, you win.
it's kind of ironic how well he combos with Paradigm Shift
(which costs half what Thought Lash does).
Convoluted, but possible first round Vintage win:
Swamp
+Dark Ritual
+Black Lotus (Blue Mana)
+Laboratory Maniac
+Tormod's Crypt, sac to empty your graveyard
+Paradigm Shift
+Ancestral Recall
-----------------------
Draw Paradigm Shift, Win Game.
"Mirror-mad phantasm is method #1. If you have a half-decent tutor and one copy of him, you should be able to mill yourself to nothing in a few turns" - yeah, Demonic Consultation FTW.
T1: Shuko
T2: Cephalid Illusionist
T3: Laboratory Maniac
Low, flexible mana costs, all in the same color. The cards are cheap too ($0.19 for the Cephalid, $0.49 for Shuko, $1.00 for Laboratory Maniac at the time of this post).
Ya, but you can't win while Time Stop is on the stack :(
Turn two: Swamp, Merfolk Looter
Turn three: Swamp, Dark Ritual, Laboratory Maniac, Demonic Consultation.
I imagine a funny scenario playing out with this; the maniac, in his penchant for mad science, conjures a demon to summon Emrakul, only to remember that it's not in his library. The looter gets over excited and taps, causing the maniac to panic before he remembers his ability.
In all seriousness, though, good for anti or self-mill, although I think you'd need a draw at instant speed to be safe. 4/5
Opponent stares at you in wonder until you remove your entire deck from the game, play a spell like think twice and win.
I'll do you one better. This one is from an article on MTGSalvation.
Turn one Shuko.
Turn two Cephalid Illusionist, deck yourself until at least one Dread Return, one Azami, Lady of Scrolls, one Laboratory Maniac, one Angel of Glory's Rise, and at least two Narcomoeba end up in your yard. In fact for this to work, just empty the damn thing. You target Angel with the return, which recurs the Azami and the Maniac. If you've gotten this far in the combo, you cannot lose.
Also, behold his doomsday device!
T2: swamp, demonic consultation, him, then gitaxian probe
or if you want a more casual setup:
T1: same as above
T2: plains, him, tormod's crypt
their turn: play silence
T3: exile your graveyard,paradigm shift then probe.
or you could just mill yourself to victory... that works too.
Nuff said.
also a cephalid brakfast deck tweaked to have this as a win con works great since u dont actually have to draw him just the nomad en-kor/shuko + cephalid illusionist then when u infinite mill on t2 play narcomeba from graveyard and dread return for flashback cost and lab maniac
also interesting combo with that cephalid breakfast is sac narcomeba to flashback cabal therapy n create a zombie with bridge from below, u can therapy them 4 cards at max for retarded ammounts of pwn, but i cant get a deck with all those cards included to run smoothly, too clunky
Or just really cheap and stupid. I can't decide.
And he won.
When you kill someone with a creature, you think of them getting mauled.
When you mill yourself out, the game ends, the screen turns to black,
and all you hear is maddening laughter...
Its the things you don't see that scare you the most.
You mean the duels of planeswalkers?
He is in my Damia, Sage of Stone deck, usually right after I Defense of the heart Palinchron and Vorinclex into play, swiftly casting Blue Sun's Zenith for a fantastically hard to stop victory....
Decklist:
Playsets of Darkpact, Timmerian Fiends, Tempest Efreet, Rebirth, Jeweled Bird, Demonic Attorney, Contract From Below, Bronze Tablet, and Amulet of Quoz.
2 Laboratory Maniac
2 Shuko
2 Cephalid Illusionist
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Street Wraith
11 Island
Basically exile the first bunch of cards (36 cards) from your deck. The Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith both let you draw a card for 2 life, so your deck is basically:
2 Lab Maniac
2 Shuko
2 Cephalid Illusionist
10 Island.
Then Tunnel Vision
He was some kind of scientist, he was affiliated with Blue (Geralf's Mindcrusher) as well as Black, and if you read Rooftop Storm's flavour text, you'll understand that he has a Dr.Frankenstein-esque assistant. Not only that, but Maniac is pulling a lever in this art, and lightning is shooting everywhere. It's almost as if he was in the middle of a storm.... hmm...
But then I thought about it: How many effects empty your library? Leveler, Mirror-Mad Phantasm+Clone... Allowing a legendary card to have this ability is just... unacceptable.
I'm looking forward to the day where someone misses that I played this card (Most of the time they aren't going to look through the 50+ creatures that are played) and try to deck me only to accidentally make me win.
1x laboratory maniac
4x treasure hunt
55x Islands
Hope to god no one's got an answer for him until your next turn