This might work in multi-player where multiple team-mates are using the same decks.
Kenji18
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
The thing that I like most about cards such as this and Isochron Scepter is that they not only allow you to copy the spell, but to cast it, too. That means that Spellweaver Helix can do lots of silly things with cascade that other spells, such as Twincast, cannot.
Using Mystic Speculation instead of Raven's Crime would help you set up the cascade a little better, you don't have to discard for it to work, and it is more repeatable than the Crime (plus, I absolutely love Scry for some reason). The first Speculation won't set up the other spell's cascade, but it will set up future cacades.
And lastly, any buyback sorcery with a Time Warp means infinite turns.
This card is awesome.
rubber
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Maybe for casting Dragonstorm after being forced to discard it? But all those mana-boosting spells are instants, not sorceries... Would be cool if you could choose 1 instant and 1 sorcery.
Edit: Good point about the buyback spells. I'd probably use Mystic Speculation for that. Infernal Tutor lets you set up for this and can be a useful target for the helix if you have an empty hand.(Because the other tutors aren't legal.)
Lege
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
If you run 4 in your deck you probably can have 2 of these things at the same time in play. Then, if you put 2 different sorceries on one of them and the same set into the other you can create an infinite loop. Even funnier if you manage to put 2 of the same sorcery on a single helix and then cast a third one from your hand to create a similar loop. It's great.
Ritius
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I don't think you can set up an infinite loop with two of these, since it says "whenever a card is played" not a spell. The errata says "whenever a player casts a card" (which sounds silly, but w/e) which works to the same effect.
But Raven's Crime with Mind Funeral! Agh! Dirty! I'm looking forward to making many different decks around this card. Looks like a fun and reasonably challenging combo card to set up. 4/5
Beekhead
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
This card is epic! I put one of these in my draw-out deck. Traumatize is a scary card as it is, but when I imprint it and Memory Sluice onto this bad-boy, it's downright mean (I have 4 memory sluices in my deck).
Too bad Conspire doesn't count as playing a spell, though.
Imprint shahrazad and burning wish. Either you play shahrazad and get a burning wish to pull another shahrazad once the subgame resolves, or you play burning wish to grab a shahrazad and trigger a subgame, and then once you return to the main game you play the shahrazad you pulled before...
Remember, in unsanctioned events the wish cards aren't restricted to your sideboard and can pull any card, including more shahrazads (aside from the four in your deck)
Basically you keep bouncing your shahrazads between games. Even more fun if you imprint another shahrazad on panoptic mirror. Of course, people may not want to play against you after all the subgame shennanigans.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Entomb can put sorceries into your grave. So can Gamble.
dybeck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is still really a casual card, though.
Ava_Adore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
hmmm im confused here, it says split card is only half the name so it wont copy if you play a split card, but what if you play the other card, can you chose any side of the split card, the whole split card (both sides) or do you decide to chose a split card when you exile it and only that portion counts as exiled by spellweaver helix?
also if I have two spellweaver helixes out one with card A and a split card, another with card B and another copy of the split card, and I play card A, do (or if) I get the split card and then that triggers the other helix giving me card B (that is if I get both parts of the split card)
confusing....
Falgorn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Ava_Adore: First off, if you have exiled a split card and another sorcery (let's say a Raven's Crime), and then you cast another Raven's Crime, the Spellweaver Helix's second ability triggers. When it resolves, if you choose to cast the split card, as part of the casting process, you choose one side and that's the one you 'll actually cast. As long as it's on the stack, it'll have only the chosen side's characteristics. Previous choices don't matter.
You'll get one side of the split card from A's Spellweaver Helix, but B's Helix won't trigger.
@magog360: Would be fun, but it'll never be, for they are instants.
This would be a purely casual card, if it costed more. At {3}, it's quite the viable win condition, the most obvious choice being a cheap buyback sorcery, (I'm especially fond of Mystic Specualtion) and an extra turn sorcery (Time Warp, Time Stretch etc.)
high_tide_niv
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
burning wish, time spiral
Cyberium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Curse of the Cabal, being too expensive if you hard cast it, could be done with Suspend. Once it's in the graveyard you can use Helix to get it and another card to duplicate over and over.
Demonic Collusion is another good card to use. Using buyback you can discard two major spells into the graveyard while searching for Helix for instant combination.
01/12/2004 A split-card spell's name is only half the card's name, so Spellweaver Helix never triggers when a split card is cast.
What about Fuse-split cards?
El_Pared
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
obviously the best fetch spell with this card is Gifts Ungiven. gets you a minimum of 3 cards in your yard that you can hit with a helix.
another possibly nutty combination is with Strionic Resonator. It can copy both the imprint trigger (you get to imprint 4 cards that way), and also the casting trigger, allowing you to copy the other card(s) twice.
Because I dont think its quite obvious enough: buyback.
Mystic speculation is probably the best option here. Its one of the cheapest buybacks and is in color for self mill (which you really need if you want to pick a nice fat target for this card).
Too bad so many buyback spells are instants...
Note: while isochron scepter does say "cast", it also says "instant". That combo won't work.
phi1997
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is there a fossil in there?
Nucleon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have seen several people try to build semicasual Modern decks with this thing. Some opt for combos, others just rely on lots of value. Averaging what I've seen them do together, actually get a pretty interesting, not necessarily bad (or expensive) deck. Raven's Crime, Faithless Looting, and other Flashback or Retrace cards work pretty well with it, and those cards do provide helpful effects on their own. Even when they don't get their combo ready, it's still quite useful to copy utility spells.
Their problem is of course that this all hinges on a single artifact in a format where every single deck's sideboard has something to address Affinity. Even then, however, the strategy of using cards that are repeatable, cheap utility to maximize this is far from useless on its own. They're enjoyable to see if nothing else, who doesn't root for the underdog with the wacky deck?
Comments (26)
For example, Deny Reality and Raven's Crime can effectively be a Recoil with a CMC 4 or less spell tacked on.
Using Mystic Speculation instead of Raven's Crime would help you set up the cascade a little better, you don't have to discard for it to work, and it is more repeatable than the Crime (plus, I absolutely love Scry for some reason). The first Speculation won't set up the other spell's cascade, but it will set up future cacades.
And lastly, any buyback sorcery with a Time Warp means infinite turns.
This card is awesome.
Edit: Good point about the buyback spells. I'd probably use Mystic Speculation for that. Infernal Tutor lets you set up for this and can be a useful target for the helix if you have an empty hand.(Because the other tutors aren't legal.)
But Raven's Crime with Mind Funeral! Agh! Dirty! I'm looking forward to making many different decks around this card. Looks like a fun and reasonably challenging combo card to set up. 4/5
Too bad Conspire doesn't count as playing a spell, though.
Imprint shahrazad and burning wish. Either you play shahrazad and get a burning wish to pull another shahrazad once the subgame resolves, or you play burning wish to grab a shahrazad and trigger a subgame, and then once you return to the main game you play the shahrazad you pulled before...
Remember, in unsanctioned events the wish cards aren't restricted to your sideboard and can pull any card, including more shahrazads (aside from the four in your deck)
Basically you keep bouncing your shahrazads between games. Even more fun if you imprint another shahrazad on panoptic mirror. Of course, people may not want to play against you after all the subgame shennanigans.
So can Gamble.
also if I have two spellweaver helixes out one with card A and a split card, another with card B and another copy of the split card, and I play card A, do (or if) I get the split card and then that triggers the other helix giving me card B (that is if I get both parts of the split card)
confusing....
First off, if you have exiled a split card and another sorcery (let's say a Raven's Crime), and then you cast another Raven's Crime, the Spellweaver Helix's second ability triggers. When it resolves, if you choose to cast the split card, as part of the casting process, you choose one side and that's the one you 'll actually cast. As long as it's on the stack, it'll have only the chosen side's characteristics. Previous choices don't matter.
You'll get one side of the split card from A's Spellweaver Helix, but B's Helix won't trigger.
@magog360:
Would be fun, but it'll never be, for they are instants.
This would be a purely casual card, if it costed more. At {3}, it's quite the viable win condition, the most obvious choice being a cheap buyback sorcery, (I'm especially fond of Mystic Specualtion) and an extra turn sorcery (Time Warp, Time Stretch etc.)
Demonic Collusion is another good card to use. Using buyback you can discard two major spells into the graveyard while searching for Helix for instant combination.
01/12/2004 A split-card spell's name is only half the card's name, so Spellweaver Helix never triggers when a split card is cast.
What about Fuse-split cards?
another possibly nutty combination is with Strionic Resonator. It can copy both the imprint trigger (you get to imprint 4 cards that way), and also the casting trigger, allowing you to copy the other card(s) twice.
Also, Raven's Crime + Army of the Damned.
Shit just got real.
Yeah pyromancer Ascension does this better.
Mystic speculation is probably the best option here. Its one of the cheapest buybacks and is in color for self mill (which you really need if you want to pick a nice fat target for this card).
Too bad so many buyback spells are instants...
Note: while isochron scepter does say "cast", it also says "instant". That combo won't work.
Their problem is of course that this all hinges on a single artifact in a format where every single deck's sideboard has something to address Affinity. Even then, however, the strategy of using cards that are repeatable, cheap utility to maximize this is far from useless on its own. They're enjoyable to see if nothing else, who doesn't root for the underdog with the wacky deck?