It's soooooooooooooooo much better than Sakashima. The creature never has to even enter play to get copied. It could be milled, discarded, or even countered and you still get to copy it. Also, hexproof.
I think the idea is that you could have two of this guy
You cannot have two Lazav in play, even if they copied two different creatures, or one copied something else and the other was just an ordinary dude. Lazav keeps its name and legendary status, and this invokes Legend Rule.
"Possibilities abound, too numerous to count."
"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)
"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion Backs)
I personally like him and might use him in a mill deck, but I will admit he's probably not main deckable for your average super competitive players deck. You don't really get any control on what he might become. He may end up a Grisselbrand or he could be stuck as a 3/3 forever as your opponent discards nothing but chump 1/1's and tokens.
It's soooooooooooooooo much better than Sakashima. The creature never has to even enter play to get copied. It could be milled, discarded, or even countered and you still get to copy it. Also, hexproof.
I think the idea is that you could have two of this guy
You cannot have two Lazav in play, even if they copied two different creatures, or one copied something else and the other was just an ordinary dude. Lazav keeps its name and legendary status, and this invokes Legend Rule.
Sakashima doesn't copy the name either, so whatever Lazav copies, Sakashima will become a copy of that, plus the extra goodies.
One question, is what happens when Sakashima the Impostor copies this guy?
He has this, You may have Sakashima the Impostor enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except its name is still Sakashima the Impostor, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains "2BlueBlue: Return Sakashima the Impostor to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step."
Then gains this, Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind become a copy of that card, except it's name is still Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, it's legendary in addition to it's other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability.
Will Sakashima have two names or will the player have to choose which name to apply?
One question, is what happens when Sakashima the Impostor copies this guy? He has this, You may have Sakashima the Impostor enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except its name is still Sakashima the Impostor, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains "2BlueBlue: Return Sakashima the Impostor to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step." Then gains this, Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind become a copy of that card, except it's name is still Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, it's legendary in addition to it's other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability. Will Sakashima have two names or will the player have to choose which name to apply?
The name would default so the modified text would be
Sakashima the Impostor
Hexproof Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Sakashima the Impostor become a copy of that card, except its name is still Sakashima the Impostor, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability. :2:: Return to hand
What's interesting about that is that I think if you then USED the Lazav ability it would lose the : Return to hand ability.
