Pointed Discussion

Why is it that almost every serpent creature sucks? Most of the time serpent can't attack without the other player controlling an island or something useless like that. But phasing your own lands? Really, who is going pay five for a mediocre 7/7 trampler that phases out lands? What is the point of that?

Bring this guy in with something in play that will blow up all lands, next turn blow up all lands when yours phase out....instant success!

sorry to break it to you but phasing doesn't work like that

702.23d The phasing event doesn’t actually cause a permanent to change zones or control, even
though it’s treated as though it’s not on the battlefield and not under its controller’s control
while it’s phased out. Zone-change triggers don’t trigger when a permanent phases in or out.
Counters remain on a permanent while it’s phased out. Effects that check a phased-in
permanent’s history won’t treat the phasing event as having caused the permanent to leave or
enter the battlefield or its controller’s control.

landfall won't be triggered from phasing in lands

Well if you have, say, that beast with landfall that puts 4/4 beast tokens into play, then youd LOVE this card.
Every 2 turns you can have some VERY nasty stuff happen with landfall abilities with this guy out.

Personally, I like the play 4 hedron crabs, turn 5 play this, turn 8 they mill 18-ish, version.
Repeat every 2 turns.

EDIT: WeAreTheFury is correct. Phasing just changes a permanents "phased out" or "phased in" status.
Its like giving or removing trample. Nothing will ever proc off of gaining an ability.
Phasing really is kinda pointless isn't it?

WotC, if you're going to name Magic creatures after creatures from legend, at least familiarise yourself with the legends first. THAT is not a Taniwha. It does not look like a Taniwha, it's abilitys do not fit with a Taniwha's, a Taniwha is a river and lake creature, not a sea creature and Taniwha come from Maori, ie: South Pacific legends, so they DO NOT fit in Mirage's African setting. Oh, and Taniwha is the name of a type of creature, not of a specific creature, so they are not a legendary.

Cast it, Donate it then put Pacifism on it

Perhaps I'm not understanding something. How are you going to cast Sunder or any other board sweeper when all your lands are phased out? You could tap them in response at the beginning of your upkeep, but your mana pool will empty before your main phase.

@Achilleselbow: You tap the mana in response to the trigger, then after the trigger has resolved and your lands have phased out, you cast Sunder. It is an instant.

@A3Kitsune: While your points are mostly valid, I have but one thing to disagree with you about. Whether or not Taniwha are a type of creature, and not a specific individual, you have to remember this:
Taniwha's uniqueness or not-uniqueness in our world doesn't mean anything in the magic world, because it's not our world. Saying that Taniwha shouldn't be legendary implies that the depicted legend exists in our world's tales, but this isn't the Taniwha of our tales, this is the Taniwha or Jamuraa's tales. And Jamuraa only has one Taniwha. And it phases.

In other words, don't argue about the legendary status of a creature based on the world we live in. It's not the world the creature live in.

Now that that's out of the way, I like this card. Sunder does wonders with it, and as far as beaters in blue goes, this one's pretty efficient. 5cmc 7/7 trampler isn't shabby, but phasing helps keep it outta control. I'm building this serpent for EDH, and I'm proud to say, my deck wins more than it loses. This is one serpent you don't want to underestimate. Phasing helps it dodge that fateful sweeper, and a 7/7 body gives burn fits. I give it 3/5, mainly because it's nigh unplayable in constructed.

Oh yeah, and Klauth, good luck getting 6wuuu

The most stylish kill card of a Sway of the Stars deck.

Ok, someone find me a landfall card for this to combo with!

Cast Taniwha one turn, then with it phased out next turn, Jokulhaups. Swing in for 7 against a mostly empty field.

t1 Teferi's Isle
t2 Island small merfolk guy
t3 Sands of time
t4 This

One of the best creatures to equip a Worldslayer onto. Lands phase out, Taniwha blows up all permanents, lands phase back in next turn.

run he is coming

One day, one day I will make that Taniwhageddon deck... Somehow...

This creature has SWAG

IMHO: Worst EDH general ever.

This guy has the winning combination of creating confusing situations ("So wait he phases out so do I get my land back this turn or next turn?") and simultaneously being terrible.

lol

As an EDH general, he gives you a few options to play tricks with and build around. Simply because he has phasing doesn't mean it has to be seen as a detriment but as a benefit to avoid sweepers you cast. Plus, since any EDH deck built specifically around him will be blue you have access to all the blue control spells and blue draw spells which is what blue does best, and he gives you a good Win Condition with Sway the Stars cast when he's phased out which will reset all life totals to 7 and give them exactly one turn in which to come up with a 1 mana answer to Taniwha which is due to come back with haste the next turn.
If the land phasing out is an issue, it really isn't as most of the time he won't be in play until you need him to be, plus there is a lot of artifact mana out there to use which will negate a portion of the drawback of having your lands phase out if you have to cast him to stabilize. The EDH deck I've been fishing hasn't needed to actually cast Taniwha until I'm ready to cast Sway of the Stars.
Also, you can Stifle his upkeep effect.

Is he the best General for EDH? No, but he's far from being the worst and good for a combo-player to build around.

Some cards to consider for a Taniwha EDH deck:
Sway of the Stars : Resets the board and life at 7 with Taniwha waiting to phase in
Reality Ripple : Instant removal avoid / temporary removal.
Time and Tide : bring Taniwha back for another 7 damage, combine with Isochron Scepter for some additional fun
Vanishing : Want Taniwha everyturn?
Sunder : Taniwha just came back and is going to phase out all your lands? Make everyone else have no land as well!
Evacuation : So....Taniwha is phased out and it's the end of their turn? No better time like now than to remove all their blockers for when Taniwha decides to make his grand entrance!
Isochron Scepter : Makes all your blue control spells even more delicious.

Plus if you run Sway of the Stars you could also run cards like Icy Prison, Wormfang Drake etc to have cards sitting in exile waiting for the Sway to bring them back.

Taniwhere the hell did all my lands go.

Belongs in a murderous Jhoira of the Ghitu deck. Beat face after sending in various global cataclysms, and then get all your land back next turn as a bonus. Jhoira needs no mana on her own turn anyway...