Manifest and Champion

[Cptn Funbags]

Am I correct in thinking Manifest gets past enter the battlefield effects like Champion? So my Nova Chaser can be flipped for four mana, and no Champion trigger happens? Also useful elsewhere, like Phyrexian Dreadnought or Lord of Tresserhorn. I want to put stupid-bad card Rageform in a deck with some of this nonsense.

[korvys]

Yep. Manifest means ETB effects don't trigger. I think there's an old vintage/legacy combo that uses Illusionary Mask to cheat Phyrexian Dreadnought into play that's pretty similar.

[Atifexe]

You are correct - because the Champion ability triggers on entering the battlefield, Manifest allows you to sneak Champion creatures past the requirement to sacrifice or exile. Same goes for any other ETB triggers you want to dodge. You can Manifest Phage the Untouchable without losing the game, for example.

[AdmiralMemo]

Oh my... I just realized that Standard will have some nice combos for a while. Use Scry from Theros to set up your draws, then Manifest them to bypass any negative ETB effects.

[Atifexe]

Are there many cards in standard right now that have negative ETB triggers?

[AdmiralMemo]

Not really, other than Necrogen Scudder and Bellowing Saddlebrute (if you didn't attack).

A few have conditionally-bad ETB triggers:
Blood-Toll Harpy
Forge Devil
Invasive Species
Necromancer's Assistant
Quickling

[MowDownJoe]

I'm tempted to try a deck that aims to manifest a Leveler or Eater of Days into play...

[phlip]

Kinda makes me want some sort of combo deck with Manifest plus Worldly Tutor... perhaps with Phyrexian Dreadnought again...

[korvys]

You could also use Enlightened Tutor for that, for redundancy, which also gets Leveler and Eater of Days.

[Asthanius]

Brainstorm, anyone?

[Atifexe]

Do we want to collectively build a deck list?

[chetoos]

Manifest also works with cards like Master of Pearls and Kheru spellsnatcher, if you can keep them on top of your library.