The ability to exile and creature and make a snake could be very useful against a reanimator deck. I'd rather have my opponent have a 1/1 deathtoucher than anything worth reanimating.
Trygon_Predator
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
She's not bad, but I'd like to see what she was before playtesting because she seems significantly nerfed. At the very least she's a repeatable constellation trigger.
Continue
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Perhaps the worst of the final five gods, which really says something about how good the other four are.
MasterOfParadox
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
...People are overlooking the fact that it's snakes can trigger Constellation abilities, which is mostly in it's color. She's rather good in dredge, and hates against reanimators. I'm giving her a "meh".
Yes, she's in the two most powerful devotion colors. But the body is still very conditional. And her ability is both somewhat expensive and conditional. Useful, yes. Especially if you are running her in a Constellation deck, since the Snakes are enchantments, too.
However, five mana for a death toucher is a lot, which is what she'll end up being more often than not. Which makes her comparably slow, even slower (and more expensive inthe long run) than the gods with higher casting costs that grant you their abilities without investing any additional mana.
She would have been perfect if the activation cost was instead, and if there was a may-clause for putting the token onto the battlefield (so you could exile your opponent's creature cards without giving him tokens).
djh119
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
To all of the "constellation" people - if only there was a GB constellation deck worth making...
TheWallinator74
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(3 votes)
At least she's good in-block...
anotherfan321
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(6 votes)
Honestly, with the way people are reacting to her, I wish she said "Exile a creature card from your graveyard:". I think of her as a Moorland Haunt. She's not great, but there's more to using your graveyard than reanimator. As someone who enjoys something just eating your graveyard for effects, it is nice to see this represented.
Though it is a bit odd coming out of RTR block with the Golgari usually wanting to keep their creatures there.
SevesDariku
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
It's sad that Strength from the Fallen is both one of the best cards to mix with Pharika, and yet it's effect is hurt by Pharika.
That being said, green has the best constellation effects (eidolon of blossoms as well) and with the other graveyard-fill cards coming out (Kruphix's Insight, Nyx Weaver, and Renowned Weaver) I'm looking forward to some serious graveyard play from Golgari. Add the fact that every card mentioned so far triggers constellation, and I think we may have a winner here.
She's no Athreos, but I approve.
lordchimera
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Still the ability to generate instant little killer nippers is something that should not be taken lightly.
SkyknightXi
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
As a reminder, her ability was meant as a counterbalance to Whip of Erebos. In short, it's specifically unearth hate.
That said, she's apparently also good in multiplayer--give someone you're not crosshairing (yet) a deathtoucher to Deal With that big, mean, groundbound, and probably installed with shroud or hexproof goon charging them, and hopefully watch the attacker's face fall.
Arachibutyrophobia
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
one of the most unfairly hated on cards in a long time. if you get just one snake with her, then you've technically gotten value, since the snake will trade with most things. of course, getting three or more snakes should not be difficult for any deck.
and there's nothing on her that says you ever have to target your opponent's graveyard. she wasn't meant to be reanimator hate.
I think this card is one of the most blatant contenders for the "Create the Most Awesome Token" Award. I mean, 1/1 black and green deathtouching enchantment snakes? Wow, that's some wordy awesome.
Pretty good all around, but I feel she got the short end of the stick compared to the rest of the Gods in this set.
RAV0004
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Would have been better as
"Whenever a card in the graveyard is exiled, it's owner puts a 1/1 snake token onto the battlefield with deathtouch"
"2: exile a card in a graveyard"
Then she functions as anti-grave hate. SOMETHING BLACK GREEN ACTUALLY DESPERATELY NEEDS
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't really get an affliction/medicine vibe here so much as "snaaakes snaaaaaaakes!!" .
That said, I am happy with her! She isn't graveyard hate, she is awful for that, she is a great token generator though! What a great commander for pillow-fort EDH? Just like her 3 mana twin Atheros she offers cool multiplayer shenanigans too. I don't think she belongs in Reanimator or other stuff green is famous for, but I like to see them make cards like her that use the graveyard for things beyond cheating/recasting stuff.
I think she is balanced and fun, but her flavor is a bit off.
Atali
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I hadn't realized that the Snakes were enchantments too. Factoring that in, I think she's quite good. She re-uses your dead as Ambush Vipers, she enables Constellation cheaper than Heliod (able to gain more triggers in a turn), and in a pinch she can nail problem creatures from your opponent's graveyard, then personally tank the deathtouch from the token, and she's cheap.
Gcrudaplaneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Would it have been too overpowered if it gave your creatures deathtouch INSTEAD of just the snakes?
DJK3654
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
great for a deck with constellation, easy triggers as long as you have the cards in graveyard. good stats and is a trigger herself, I like it
Dr.Pingas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not even discussing reanimator, I hate how she eats your grave In a way that hurts strength of the fallen and nighthowler. It competes with scavenge, if not dredge, especially since it can only hit dudes. How is a god worse than necrogenesis AND scavenging ooze?
orzhov20
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I first saw phirika and thought she sucked then I saw two people at the prerealese use her and make 1 snake token tha ended up doing little to nothing and thought she sucked even more.
Flyinpenguin117
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ Gcrudaplaneswalker Maybe, maybe not, since Bow of Nylea does mostly the same thing.
cha0sc0w
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I didn't see the "it's owners" part of the snake token, I can see why they didn't let you get a token for every creature you exiled. Still doesn't seem bad, turns your opponents kill spells into your kill creatures, which they have to waste another spell on or lose their best creature to, and I am guessing even if they do something like crypt in response you still get the token (assuming you are targeting your own creature in a graveyard). Overall I think its a 3.5/5 or so, the longer the game goes on you can get amazing value out of this.
Tribor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@sweetgab: Polis Crusher has protection from enchantments, so the Black Green Enchantment Snakes with Deathtouch will do nothing.
Kirbster
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
She's so nice with Creakwood Liege, though! He alone provides enough devotion to make her a creature, so if you play her turn three and him turn four, you'll be attacking with a three-mana indestructable 7/7. Plus he turns all of the snake tokens she makes into 3/3s with deathtouch for two mana. That sounds a lot more exciting, doesn't it?
I like her. At the end of the day, she's an indestructible 5/5 that makes deathtouch blockers that in turn trigger constellation. I just wish it had been "Exile target card from a graveyard"; that way she could at least synergise with the other B/G 'dredge' cards in the set e.g. Nighthowler, Strength From the Fallen, Graverobber Spider etc. I'll still probably play her though.
Mr.Freshness-Timmy
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
Why the heck does the mother of all gorgons, the god of affliction, and a deathtouch snake pooping machine NOT HAVE DEATHTOUCH?!
Rayenous
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I just played with this in a quickly thrown together deck....
It's obvious that if you always got the deathtouch snake it would be stupid. That's not the problem.
The real problem is why its ability doesn't feel like an "affliction". Wizards said that Pharika would be disease-related, and literally the only thing remotely disease-related on Pharika is the snake having deathtouch. If Pharika had something like "Creature you control have deathtouch", it would already feel way more disease-related than its current form. Power levels aside, Pharika is probably the worst god flavor-wise.
ThisisSakon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@mdakw576: Pharika grants the finality of death through her afflictions. As we all know, love to use their graveyard as a resource. Pharika gives mortals escape from that, by exiling the creature in the graveyard and finally giving the soul rest from Erebos's whip.
That is a flavor home run, sir and or madam
Jesterskull25
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Since I play black/Green I will use this against you if I was you opponent, sorry snake lady, your not worthy of my devotion.
Is this not supposed to be one of those gods who is supposed to be feared by her enemies and strengthens those who worship her......give those who worship her death snakes does not cut it, I would give all summons on your side fear or intimidate or give them undying or both or addition of the death snakes which you can only summon, also by lore you should be able to scry somehow. Black green needs a card worthy of praise, snake lady you are not it.
I also don't grant you as mother of gorgons, because you do nothing gorgon like, your just a snake lady.
Black green needed a god to be praise by, most of the other colors have worthy gods, but remember you are not. I rather be under Erebos and Nylea, then you. I was hoping for great card by the lore, we did not get it.
TheJord01
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ethan Fleischer, lead designer of JOU, just succinctly explained why Pharika doesn't give you tokens when she exiles from an opponents GY in his Reddit AMA today
"Consider what would happen if Pharika gave you tokens for exiling your opponent's creatures from their graveyard. You opponent attacks, you make a 1/1 deathtouch Snake, block their creature, which goes to the graveyard. You now have fuel to make another Snake, to block their next attacker. You opponent would be pretty helpless at that point."
That would have been an oppressive ability in Constructed, never mind limited.
@kirbster Read the rules for devotion. Hybrid mana only counts as 1 devotion to one colour. Creakwood Liege would only give 3 devotion to Pharika
Ike38
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This god is being underestimated so much.... There are so many reasons to love her.
1) Get rid of some annoying creatures : Get rid of Chandra's Phoenix in graveyard and counter the ability of Scavenging Ooze before Ooze uses its activated ability so that Ooze could not grow and give your opponent's life. These two creatures are very annoying to go against if you have played Dredge before.
2) Mana sink : Super good against control. Your ability is at instant speed. You can decide whether to abrupt decay their detention sphere or get a little snake to attack them next turn.
3) Easy to transform : You just need only Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Deathrite Shaman to transform her. 5/5 for 3 CMC. Does that sound similar with the other most expensive god (Thassa) ?
4) Good with combos : So far there are only 2 creatures that could generate enchantments almost infinitely (in the right deck) : Heliod, God of the Sun and her. The fact that Heliod, God of the Sun ability is way too expensive makes Pharika probably the only playable creature to generate infinite enchantments for your constellation mechanic and some other cool enchantment such as Sphere of safety or Ethereal armor.
I think she is playable in T2. What could I ask for more???
MojoVince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Ethan Fleischer: "Consider what would happen if Pharika gave you tokens for exiling your opponent's creatures from their graveyard. You opponent attacks, you make a 1/1 deathtouch Snake, block their creature, which goes to the graveyard. You now have fuel to make another Snake, to block their next attacker. You opponent would be pretty helpless at that point."
This is bowl sheet! Snakes cannot block flying, first strike, opponent isn't forced to attack ... Green and white can deal with pharika, black with the tokens , blue got a lot of flyers and red plays in T2 Chandra's Phoenix and Ash Zealot with firststrike ... They had to nerf down a god and Pharika was the chosen one... Akroas is just laughing out loud since he prevents the damages taken by his attacking creatures...
Drewskithelegend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So basically it's a 5/5 indestructible legendary if your devotion to black or green is 7.
I mean if you are desperate enough you might use the secondary ability, but then you would have to back up a play intended to deny your opponent a creature that was most likely going to be a plus for them anyways by either making your own dude or killing theirs somehow. Why couldn't it have done a more sickness-and-death sort of thing?
surewhynot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She's not BAD, let's get that out of the way. It's more that she's just boring and disappointing. We get it wizards, snakes are poisonous! Poison god likes snakes, cool...Doesn't mean that can be THE ONLY THING TO FOCUS ON with her. Honestly, her body, her disciples, and her ability all have to do with snakes, so it feels like a complete lack of effort and/or creativity went into her design. They could have done something with -1/-1 counters, deathtouch, tapdown abilities, etc.
It's also worth noting that Pharinka is the only god in the pantheon that does nothing unless you pay into it. Every other god does something passively. Boring snake issue aside, that's annoying. At the very least I'd have liked to see something like "Whenever another creature enters a graveyard from anywhere, exile it. That creature's owner puts a 1/1 black and green Snake enchantment creature token with deathtouch into play under their control"
Anyway, that's my two cents. Boring, lacking in flavor, and overall disappointing.
steev
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pharika is a champ. She stuffs up the board like you wouldn't believe. I played against her in prerelease and the only thing that could turn it around for me was dropping a Doomwake Giant. Really, really cool, also cool snake lady whom cool.
Aurgelmir27
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Erebos's Emissary can make her ability surprisingly useful. Discard junk creature cards that are clogging up your hand, boost up a creature, and get cheap constellation triggers that act as good lines of defense.
Batteryman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When you combine Pharika with Illness in the Ranks, her activated ability basically reads, "Exile target creature from a graveyard.", or (for EDH players), "Exile target creature from Reanimator player's graveyard."
Simply delicious. 4/5
rainbownorth
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
More solid than a lot of people are giving her credit for. Her cc is great for a 5/5 indestructible (eventually at least). Her last ability seems weak but in the right deck can wreak some terrible havoc. With combo cards like Nyx Weaver, Humbler of Mortals and Strength from the Fallen (although that last obviously has diminishing returns), she is pretty solid. More just a way to get a 2nd run out of your creatures for chump blocking than anything else, although the fact that the snakes are enchanments is a win too. I like her more for the fact that she's one of the more interactive Gods than anything else.
I've read through the comments and found comment after comment trying to justify thi card, but it requires too much. One card from the opponents hand reduces it to dust. What is all the setup worth then? Pharika is by far the worst god. And probably even one of the worst cards claiming to be competitive in standard at the moment. It's the greatest dissapointment in golgari in recent standard. Why would you use pharika when you have Deathrite Shaman that can do the exact same, even better. It's a waste of space and an insult to the entire block. There is no justifying this card in standard.
P1aneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Creatures you control have b/g regenerate." That simple Wizards damn.
One's not really better than the other, but if all you want is the effect, and you don't care about having a 5/5 indestructible for three mana, you DO have a more splash-able alternative. Oh, and necrogenesis gives YOU the token from an opponents graveyard.
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Drewskithelegend
Really? Pharika's ability is actually quite useful. Once you get a few creatures in your graveyard, the opponent isn't going to want to attack with any significant creature because you can just block with a 1/1 deathtoucher and kill it. One thing you could do with Pharika is use her with creatures that have flash, such as Boon Satyr. During your opponent's turn, if they attack, you get out a deathtouch snake, and if they don't, you cast a flash creature. Don't get so obsessed with your idea that Pharika's ability is never useful simply because there are some times when it isn't. Keep in mind that you will have creatures in your graveyard more often if you build your deck right. Think. Pharika is much, much more than just a possible 5/5 indestructible body.
@MarlKarx
Oh, so this card is bad because it dies to removal? While I'm not saying that you are unskilled, it's hard for me to respect your skill when you make arguments like that. Yes, Deathrite Shaman is a better card overall. However, Pharika's ability is better than all of the shaman's abilities combined. The ability to repeatedly get deathtouchers is insane. I have faced hordes of deathtouchers, and I can tell you that they are very, very nasty. Deathtouch is one of the most underrated abilities in Magic.
RetroGamer3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rated too low from noobs who can't see past standard play. She says "A graveyard" for multi player games like commander. (And she makes a very good one at only 3 mana) plus you can help your partner out in a 2HG game! 4/5 minimum.
cotf1692
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
People seem to not notice that if she gave you the snakes from your opponents graveyard that she would make it pointless for your opponents to make creatures, cause you would kill it and make a death touched, ready to kill again and make another.
@Marlkarx So deicide works well against gods!? Ignoring that green canngive hexproof, two of those cost a bunch of mana and require it to be a creature, while this costs 3 and can do quite a bit of work before then, and if its a creature before hose get cast you can do quite a bit of work with a 5/5 indestructible. Two enchantment spells? I sure wish there was a color that had a way to deal those. A creature? If only there was some color that specializes in creature removal. And counter spells? Ignoring the fact that wizards is needing them a bit, that argument is beyond stupid because you might as well only run blue or "can't be countered" spells. Unless you were pointing out that all those spells kill your opponents snakes, then realize there are answers for everything.
Yeah, the shaman is very strong, but what if you need a blocker to stop a lethal and kill your opponents big creature? The shaman can only work once a turn bar shenanigans, it doesn't have a chance to become a 5/5 indestructible, and doesn't cycle out soon. The fact is they are both different cards so comparing them is as bad as "hurrr removal"
DoorDie
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Her ability is a fine test of human judgment and Magic mechanics/language. Give her an ability that can impact the opponent but improves their position, and watch the hate flow. In contrast, look at Dakra Mystic.
For one, the Mystic's ability affects both players at once. If Pharika's was somehow simultaneous, I think we'd be seeing less hate. The timing of Mystic converts it into an interesting mini-game as opposed to presenting an option that seems almost always bad.
For two, the Mystic's wording presents you with an explicit choice ("You may"), whereas the choice in using Pharika's ability is implicit. Imperative language exaggerates possible negative outcomes and stifles the imagination.
And three, the Mystic doesn't interact with the graveyard, while Pharika does when we've beenspoiledalready. We've been spoiled with library manipulation too; just not in Standard.
Aged_Gorgon_Zola
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I also would have preferred if she had deathtouch/lifegain, at least it would have made more sense from a mechanical flavor perspective based on what she is supposed to represent-but if you look at a larger version of the art it appears that she has scars running through her eyes, making her blind-accounting for the lack of deathtouch on a gorgon, which could also explain why her Menders wear the helmet over their eyes as well.
Comments (52)
I'm giving her a "meh".
Yes, she's in the two most powerful devotion colors.
But the body is still very conditional. And her ability is both somewhat expensive and conditional.
Useful, yes. Especially if you are running her in a Constellation deck, since the Snakes are enchantments, too.
However, five mana for a death toucher is a lot, which is what she'll end up being more often than not.
Which makes her comparably slow, even slower (and more expensive inthe long run) than the gods with higher casting costs that grant you their abilities without investing any additional mana.
She would have been perfect if the activation cost was
Though it is a bit odd coming out of RTR block with the Golgari usually wanting to keep their creatures there.
That being said, green has the best constellation effects (eidolon of blossoms as well) and with the other graveyard-fill cards coming out (Kruphix's Insight, Nyx Weaver, and Renowned Weaver) I'm looking forward to some serious graveyard play from Golgari. Add the fact that every card mentioned so far triggers constellation, and I think we may have a winner here.
She's no Athreos, but I approve.
That said, she's apparently also good in multiplayer--give someone you're not crosshairing (yet) a deathtoucher to Deal With that big, mean, groundbound, and probably installed with shroud or hexproof goon charging them, and hopefully watch the attacker's face fall.
and there's nothing on her that says you ever have to target your opponent's graveyard. she wasn't meant to be reanimator hate.
The latest Night Soil:
Night Soil
Drudge Spell
Bearscape
Necrogenesis
"Whenever a card in the graveyard is exiled, it's owner puts a 1/1 snake token onto the battlefield with deathtouch"
"2: exile a card in a graveyard"
Then she functions as anti-grave hate. SOMETHING BLACK GREEN ACTUALLY DESPERATELY NEEDS
That said, I am happy with her! She isn't graveyard hate, she is awful for that, she is a great token generator though! What a great commander for pillow-fort EDH? Just like her 3 mana twin Atheros she offers cool multiplayer shenanigans too. I don't think she belongs in Reanimator or other stuff green is famous for, but I like to see them make cards like her that use the graveyard for things beyond cheating/recasting stuff.
I think she is balanced and fun, but her flavor is a bit off.
then I saw two people at the prerealese use her and make 1 snake token tha ended up doing little to nothing and thought she sucked even more.
You know what Pharika works really well with? Cheap deathtouch creatures! Like Thrill-Kill Assassin, Wasteland Viper, Deadly Recluse, Sedge Scorpion, and Pharika's Chosen, just to name a few. They trade with your opponents' bigger creatures, then you recycle them for snake tokens.
T1: Forest, Elvish Mystic
T2: Swamp, Burning-Tree Emissary, Burning-Tree Emissary, Pharika, God of Affliction.
5/5 Indestructible creature active on T2.
The real problem is why its ability doesn't feel like an "affliction". Wizards said that Pharika would be disease-related, and literally the only thing remotely disease-related on Pharika is the snake having deathtouch. If Pharika had something like "Creature you control have deathtouch", it would already feel way more disease-related than its current form. Power levels aside, Pharika is probably the worst god flavor-wise.
That is a flavor home run, sir and or madam
Is this not supposed to be one of those gods who is supposed to be feared by her enemies and strengthens those who worship her......give those who worship her death snakes does not cut it, I would give all summons on your side fear or intimidate or give them undying or both or addition of the death snakes which you can only summon, also by lore you should be able to scry somehow. Black green needs a card worthy of praise, snake lady you are not it.
I also don't grant you as mother of gorgons, because you do nothing gorgon like, your just a snake lady.
Black green needed a god to be praise by, most of the other colors have worthy gods, but remember you are not. I rather be under Erebos and Nylea, then you. I was hoping for great card by the lore, we did not get it.
"Consider what would happen if Pharika gave you tokens for exiling your opponent's creatures from their graveyard. You opponent attacks, you make a 1/1 deathtouch Snake, block their creature, which goes to the graveyard. You now have fuel to make another Snake, to block their next attacker. You opponent would be pretty helpless at that point."
That would have been an oppressive ability in Constructed, never mind limited.
@kirbster Read the rules for devotion. Hybrid mana only counts as 1 devotion to one colour. Creakwood Liege would only give 3 devotion to Pharika
1) Get rid of some annoying creatures : Get rid of Chandra's Phoenix in graveyard and counter the ability of Scavenging Ooze before Ooze uses its activated ability so that Ooze could not grow and give your opponent's life. These two creatures are very annoying to go against if you have played Dredge before.
2) Mana sink : Super good against control. Your ability is at instant speed. You can decide whether to abrupt decay their detention sphere or get a little snake to attack them next turn.
3) Easy to transform : You just need only Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and
Deathrite Shaman to transform her. 5/5 for 3 CMC. Does that sound similar with the other most expensive god (Thassa) ?
4) Good with combos : So far there are only 2 creatures that could generate enchantments almost infinitely (in the right deck) : Heliod, God of the Sun and her. The fact that Heliod, God of the Sun ability is way too expensive makes Pharika probably the only playable creature to generate infinite enchantments for your constellation mechanic and some other cool enchantment such as Sphere of safety or Ethereal armor.
I think she is playable in T2. What could I ask for more???
"Consider what would happen if Pharika gave you tokens for exiling your opponent's creatures from their graveyard. You opponent attacks, you make a 1/1 deathtouch Snake, block their creature, which goes to the graveyard. You now have fuel to make another Snake, to block their next attacker. You opponent would be pretty helpless at that point."
This is bowl sheet!
Snakes cannot block flying, first strike, opponent isn't forced to attack ...
Green and white can deal with pharika, black with the tokens , blue got a lot of flyers and red plays in T2 Chandra's Phoenix and Ash Zealot with firststrike ...
They had to nerf down a god and Pharika was the chosen one...
Akroas is just laughing out loud since he prevents the damages taken by his attacking creatures...
I mean if you are desperate enough you might use the secondary ability, but then you would have to back up a play intended to deny your opponent a creature that was most likely going to be a plus for them anyways by either making your own dude or killing theirs somehow. Why couldn't it have done a more sickness-and-death sort of thing?
It's also worth noting that Pharinka is the only god in the pantheon that does nothing unless you pay into it. Every other god does something passively. Boring snake issue aside, that's annoying. At the very least I'd have liked to see something like "Whenever another creature enters a graveyard from anywhere, exile it. That creature's owner puts a 1/1 black and green Snake enchantment creature token with deathtouch into play under their control"
Anyway, that's my two cents. Boring, lacking in flavor, and overall disappointing.
Simply delicious. 4/5
I've read through the comments and found comment after comment trying to justify thi card, but it requires too much. One card from the opponents hand reduces it to dust. What is all the setup worth then? Pharika is by far the worst god. And probably even one of the worst cards claiming to be competitive in standard at the moment. It's the greatest dissapointment in golgari in recent standard. Why would you use pharika when you have Deathrite Shaman that can do the exact same, even better. It's a waste of space and an insult to the entire block. There is no justifying this card in standard.
One's not really better than the other, but if all you want is the effect, and you don't care about having a 5/5 indestructible for three mana, you DO have a more splash-able alternative. Oh, and necrogenesis gives YOU the token from an opponents graveyard.
Really? Pharika's ability is actually quite useful. Once you get a few creatures in your graveyard, the opponent isn't going to want to attack with any significant creature because you can just block with a 1/1 deathtoucher and kill it. One thing you could do with Pharika is use her with creatures that have flash, such as Boon Satyr. During your opponent's turn, if they attack, you get out a deathtouch snake, and if they don't, you cast a flash creature. Don't get so obsessed with your idea that Pharika's ability is never useful simply because there are some times when it isn't. Keep in mind that you will have creatures in your graveyard more often if you build your deck right. Think. Pharika is much, much more than just a possible 5/5 indestructible body.
@MarlKarx
Oh, so this card is bad because it dies to removal? While I'm not saying that you are unskilled, it's hard for me to respect your skill when you make arguments like that. Yes, Deathrite Shaman is a better card overall. However, Pharika's ability is better than all of the shaman's abilities combined. The ability to repeatedly get deathtouchers is insane. I have faced hordes of deathtouchers, and I can tell you that they are very, very nasty. Deathtouch is one of the most underrated abilities in Magic.
She says "A graveyard" for multi player games like commander. (And she makes a very good one at only 3 mana) plus you can help your partner out in a 2HG game! 4/5 minimum.
@Marlkarx
So deicide works well against gods!? Ignoring that green canngive hexproof, two of those cost a bunch of mana and require it to be a creature, while this costs 3 and can do quite a bit of work before then, and if its a creature before hose get cast you can do quite a bit of work with a 5/5 indestructible. Two enchantment spells? I sure wish there was a color that had a way to deal those. A creature? If only there was some color that specializes in creature removal. And counter spells? Ignoring the fact that wizards is needing them a bit, that argument is beyond stupid because you might as well only run blue or "can't be countered" spells. Unless you were pointing out that all those spells kill your opponents snakes, then realize there are answers for everything.
Yeah, the shaman is very strong, but what if you need a blocker to stop a lethal and kill your opponents big creature? The shaman can only work once a turn bar shenanigans, it doesn't have a chance to become a 5/5 indestructible, and doesn't cycle out soon. The fact is they are both different cards so comparing them is as bad as "hurrr removal"
For one, the Mystic's ability affects both players at once. If Pharika's was somehow simultaneous, I think we'd be seeing less hate. The timing of Mystic converts it into an interesting mini-game as opposed to presenting an option that seems almost always bad.
For two, the Mystic's wording presents you with an explicit choice ("You may"), whereas the choice in using Pharika's ability is implicit. Imperative language exaggerates possible negative outcomes and stifles the imagination.
And three, the Mystic doesn't interact with the graveyard, while Pharika does when we've been spoiled already. We've been spoiled with library manipulation too; just not in Standard.