[Discussion] What are the best Living Wish targets in the game & when are they useful

[Jon Stewart]

I was hoping to get a discussion on the most potent Living Wish targets in the game. I don't want to restrict the targets to any color in particular, but feel like it would be a good and useful exercise, particularly for players who could opt to play Living Wish...

There is of course the obvious choices that I'll get out of the way first

Creatures
Tidehollow Sculler
Qasali Pridemage
Gaddock Teeg
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Shriekmaw
Wispmare
Faerie Macabre
Ethersworn Canonist
Magus of the Moat
Kitchen Finks
Windborn Muse
Wickerbough Elder
Meddling Mage
Sower of Temptation
Flametongue Kavu
Gilded Drake
Vendilion Clique
Trygon Predator
Ingot Chewer
Tarmogoyf
Tombstalker

Lands
Wasteland
Phyrexian Tower
Bojuka Bog
Karakas
Maze of Ith
Kor Haven
Tabernacle

Which of the above cards do you think are not worthy of being in the list? Which cards did I leave off that deserve a place on the list?

Countless other cards exist that bounce, destroy or steal artifacts, creatures, lands and enchantments, disable activated abilities, stop burn decks, combo decks, grayeyard based decks, prevent opponent's swarm creatures from attacking and perform all sorts of other useful functions.

I would love to hear your opinions on which of these functions is most useful and which creatures are the best at performing them.

Thank you.

[morgan_coke]

Bojuka Bog, Karakas, and Volrath's Stronghold all come to mind as land wish targets you left out.

[Koby]

Dark Depths Package:
Vampire Hexmage
Dark Depths
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

This package has worked tremendously well for me in an Eva Green shell. It really makes the deck explosive and gives it lots of outs to reanimator (hello Karakas!). I would only really consider Living Wish a good strategy as a way to not to lose to Iona. I could also see it being used in a more traditional Rock package for added utlity (like most wishes are).

Utility:
Dustbowl
Volrath's Stronghold
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Shriekmaw

[Nonex]

The targets in my Astral Slide build are / have been:

- Riftsweeper: the only way to get exiled things back.
- Aven Riftwatcher: gives life faster than Kitchen Finks. Lone Missionary is valid as well. Loxodon Hierarch is also viable, but I don't run it because it's not Unearth-able.
- Harmonic Sliver: it's more synergistic with Astral. Qasali Pridemage, on the other hand, should be better in non-Astral decks.
- Withered Wretch: for obvious reasons. It actually competes with Loaming Shaman.
- Peacekeeper: now Moat gets serious.
- Karakas: already mentioned. Good as a land drop and as Mox Diamond food, besides bouncing Iona, Shield of Emeria and possible Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.
- Glacial Chasm: replaced Peacekeeper as a less vulnerable way to stop Progenitus.
- Kor Firewalker: the few times I dropped it against Dragon Stompy, I won.
- Eternal Witness: sometimes I sideboard one.
- Gaddock Teeg: against combo and some sort of control (with planeswalkers and such).
- Ethersworn Canonist: for obvious reasons.
- Bone Shredder: in my case, Unearth makes this one better than Shriekmaw.

In short, I value recurrency, life gain, and all sorts of hate (creatures, artifacts / enchantments, aggro, combo, graveyard, and metagame-specific if necessary).

[Vacrix]

Well it really depends on the deck. I've been trying a SI/Golden Grahams Hybrid recently in which Living Wish can fetch:
- Xantid Swarm -
Excellent Storm protection
- Tinder Wall -
To colorfix
- Kobold -
As a Culling the Weak Target
- Slithermuse -
As a Draw7 engine
- Auriok Salvagers -
As a win condition with LED and Chromatic Sphere
- Ingot Chewer -
As an answer to artifacts

Its been pretty badass so far.

[Jon Stewart]

Great suggestions so far, thanks.

What do you guys think of

Aven Mindcensor when you are playing a lot of land destruction to supplement.

Do you think

Jotun Grunt would be effective as a beater that can also slowly wither away your opponent's yard, or would you always want something instant like Bojuka Bog when you are looking for that functionality.

and I'm curious what you guys think of...

Mangara of Corondor

It's a damn shame the card doesn't have haste imo.


P.S: It would really help if you guys used decktags. Simply border the list of card names with [ c a r d s ] [ / c a r d s ] but without the spaces.

[death]

Nomads en-kor/Cephalid Illusionist > Cephalid Breakfast
Painter's Servant > Next Level Painter

[Jon Stewart]

There has to be a lot of others we're missing.

Has anyone tried something like Windborn Muse.

In theory, it seems like it could be awesome against say Belcher tokens and Ichorid and such matchups.

Is there any creature you can think of in white, black or green (no blue and thus no trygon predator), that can be to take out artifacts and enchantments?

Wickerbough Elder seems like it could be awesome.

[chokin]

Why would you Living Wish for a Goyf?

I think Living Wish could be a neat toolbox card to get you out of tough scenarios.

Harmonic Sliver/Qasali Pridemage/Trygon Predator are options for artifact/enchantment hate if you're tight on spots and they cost 3 mana to use them. Wispmare and Ingot Chewer are cheap removal for the same stuff, but you need the two slots. Wickerbough is good, but it does cost 5 to use it for artifact/enchantment removal. You do get a 4/4 after though. I think that it's too slow though.

Gravehate creatures could include Loaming Shaman, Faerie Macabre, Jotun Grunt, Yixlid Jailer. It just depends on the deck. Macabre is nice because it's "free" which is a huge benefit.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

Beloved Chaplain could actually be pretty cute against some decks.

[Vacrix]

I forgot to mention. Pulpficition tried playing Living Wish in Belcher, fetching Magus of the Moon, Xantid Swarm, Deus of Calamity, or Multani Maro Sorcerer.

[BreathWeapon]

Ancient Tomb is essential, IMO, for turn 3 four drops.

Deus of Calamity actually looks decent G2 for Belcher when STP gets boarded out.

[Vacrix]

Deus of Calamity actually looks decent G2 for Belcher when STP gets boarded out.

If only the control players I face were that dumb. :/ I think people have caught on, unfortunately, and leave STP in for Swarm. Multani is pretty sweet though. Shroud Fatties that keep getting bigger are pretty awesome.

[Malchar]

Bane of the Living is pretty good for mass removal. Of course, the morph trickery is gone, so any good player makes sure to play their Scornful Egotist immediately after wishing.

[Nelis]

Underplayed in legacy but how about Mulldrifter?
or:
Vampire Nighthawk (best uncommon creature ever)
Cadaver Imp
Yavimaya Elder