With every new set comes nearly infinite new possibilities for innovative card interactions between the old and the new. Timmies will work huge monsters into their decks, Johnnies will find great uses for the bizarre, and Spikes will play with Pithing Needle. When all is said and done, does anyone ever offer up new ideas for the truly “special” Magic players of the world? I don’t think so! Today’s article deals with the fifteen most incredibly awesome Saviors of Kamigawa combos! And don’t leave before the end – I’m going to present ten truly impossible Magic trivia questions for your enjoyment!
1) Dark Ritual + Skull Collector
Imagine the envy of your friends when you power out this bad boy 3/3 regenerator on the first turn! Let the dumb kids play with Rogue Elephant – you’re the Black mage and you’re going to show the world that while Imaginary Pet comes down on turn two, Skull Collector is a first turn smashing!
2) Stampeding Serow + Stampeding Wildebeests
Picture this – you’re in a duel and you hit the eight mana mark. What do you do? Do you cast Avatar of Might? Scaled Wurm? Verdant Force? No! You cast Stampeding Serow and Stampeding Wildebeests, a combined ten power worth of trampling might! Both of these guys have a slight drawback of needing to bounce a Green creatures, but luckily the following trick will negate any disadvantage you might have by playing them both at once. Stampeding Serow = A. Stampeding Wildebeests = B. Returning a Green creatures is a negative ability most of the time, so we’ll represent the upkeep effects of Stampeing Serow and the Wildebeests as -A and -B. Upkeep, stack -A and -B or -A*-B, to get a result of AB since a negative times a negative equals a positive. That’s right – if you have both in play, they both stay in play without the need to return a Green creature to your hand during your upkeep thanks to the distributive laws of mathematics!
3) Ashes of the Fallen and Gorilla Titan
It’s the fifth turn and your graveyard is filled with assorted Elves, Birds and Beasts. Luckily, your grip is Gorilla Titan and Ashes of the Fallen! Play down the Gorilla, and then on your next turn play the Ashes, naming Phoenix! Watch your opponent’s face recoil in horror as you return all your creatures to your hand plus you swing for eight! Wowzers!
4) Ayumi, The Last Visitor + Karakas
Legendary Landwalking has never been so much fun! Just wait for your opponent to play Karakas and it’s fun time down 7 Easy Street c/o Green Fattiesville.
5) Captive Flame + Pyric Salamander
Tired of having your Salamander die the turn after it firebreathes? Captive Flame will let you be all “Sligh” by letting the little engine that could through for as much damage as you’ve got Mountains! Just remember to announce which pump ability you’re using so daddy rules lawyer doesn’t pull out the Chewbacca defense on your ass!
6) Eternal Dominion + Mana Severance
After you’ve cast that epic spell, you want to make sure you don’t draw lands the rest of the game! Just wait until you get to twelve mana, and then thin your deck plus steal from your opponent in one fell swoop!
7) Gnat Miser + Ebony Owl Netsuke
Your opponent won’t know which way to go when you play a first turn Gnat Miser and a second turn Netsuke! “Is he going to cast Ancestral Recall on me to make me take four and then have me discard down to six?” they’ll think as they ponder your superior board position. Swing for one a turn while the person sitting across from you sits dazed and confused at your magnificence!
8) Kagemaro, First to Suffer + Kagemaro’s Clutch
Give Kagemaro back his hand! Where’d you find it anyhow, in a bucket of Wendy’s Chili?
9) Measure of Wickedness + Kaervek’s Spite
Use the original One with Nothing along with Measure of Wickedness to deal a guaranteed thirteen damage! Once you sacrifice all your permanents, your opponent won’t be able to sacrifice enough to match that number and you are teh winz – unless they have a Kaervek’s Spite of their own!
10) Moonwing Moth + Dread of Night
Tech for the White on White mirror match! Side in Dread of Night and kill all your opponent’s White creatures, while keeping your Moth alive every turn! How will they ever deal with a one power pumpable flier? Note: If your opponent is also using this tech, make sure you keep at least two Plains open each turn!
11) Scroll of Origins + Fool’s Tome
You’ll be drawing cards all game playing both of these guys! First play out your hand, then use the Fool’s Tome, and you’re back on your way to using Scroll of Origins at twice the speed! Look ma, I’m the Flash and Dr. Strange rolled into one!
12) Sekki, Seasons’ Guide + Spike Cannibal
Tired of fiddling with small creatures? Here’s the two easy steps to a larger monster! 1) Play Sekki, Seasons’ Guide. 2) Play Spike Cannibal. Presto! Instant 9/9 creature, for only three mana! Throw in Skull Collector for an easy Phyrexian Dreadnought win!
13) Wine of Blood and Iron + Inner-Chamber Guard
A guy this small needs a little power boost. With just one Wine activation, you get double his power! Two, Quadruple! My head asplodes imagining the fantastic amount of damage you could inflict at twelve mana!
14) Twincast + Spellbinder
If the last combo doubled your creatures, then this should double your spells the rest of the game. Combine this with combo #13 to get up to sixteen copies of Twincast in one swing!
15) One With Nothing + Akki Underling or Cowed by Wisdom or Death Denied or Death of the Thousand Stings or Deathmask Nezumi or Descendant of Kiyomaro or Descendant of Masumaro or Descendant of Soramaro or Eiganjo Free-Riders or Elder Pine of Jukai or Endless Swarm or Erayo Soratami Ascendant or Evermind or Exile into Darkness or Glitterfang or Hanu-Onna or Ideas Unbound or Inner Calm, Outer Strength or Inner Fire or Ivory Crane Netsuke or Kagemaro’s Clutch or Kagemaro, First to Suffer or Kami of the Crescent Moon or Kemuri-Onna or Kiri-Onna or Kitsune Bonesetter or Kitsune Loreweaver or Kiyomaro, First to Stand or Masumaro, First to Live or Meishin, the Mind Cage or Mikokoro, Center of the Sea or Minamo Scrollkeeper or Molting Skin or Murmurs from Beyond or Neverending Torment or Nikko-Onna or Oboro Envoy or Oboro, Palace in the Clouds or Oboro Nightwatch or Oni of Wild Places or Oppressive Will or Overwhelming Instinct or Pain’s Reward or Presence of the Wise or Pure Intentions or Reki, the History of Kamigawa or Rending Vines or Rushing Tide Zubera or Sakashima the Imposter or Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant or Scroll of Origins or Secretkeeper or Seek the Horizon or Skull Collector or Sokenzan Renegade or Sokenzan Spellblade or Soramaro, First to Dream or Spiraling Embers or Stampeding Serow or Thoughts of Ruin or Trusted Advisor or Yuki-Onna:
For shame on Wizards for making a card which combos so easily with so many other cards from the set! You make it too easy!
Trivia Time!
Now it’s time for Ben’s Truly Impossible Magic Trivia! This ten question test will stretch your Magic knowledge to the absolute limit! If you get one of these questions right, consider yourself a Magic expert! If you get them all, I bow to your superior Magic knowledge!
1) Wizards of the Coast included a questionnaire in the Mercadian Masques tournament decks which offered the chance to win a free booster box of Mercadian Masques for mailing in a completed survey. Name five people who won boxes in this way.
2) There have been a lot of Mountains printed over the years. Name every Mountain every produced by Wizards of the Coast for the Magic: The Gathering card game. (Note: Factory defects and print errors such as crimping and miscuts do not count. Non-tournament legal cards such as Collector’s edition do count).
3) According to the Magic Rarities Webite at magiclibrary.net, there were 110 copies of Splendid Genesis printed to announce the birth of Richard Garfield’s first child. Name the first owner of each of these 110 cards, putting “not distributed” for any copies still in WOTC/Richard’s possession.
4) Speaking of Richard Garfield, what was his high school GPA?
5) The first Pro Tour took place in New York in 1996. Who finished in last place at the tournament, and what was their deck list (both main deck and sideboard?)
6) The first Grand Prix took place in Amsterdam in 1997. Who finished in last place at the tournament, and what was their deck list (both main deck and sideboard?)
7) Which Wizards of the Coast employee was held accountable for the misprinting of Serendib Efreet in Revised?
8) What were the contents of the first Magic: The Gathering auction ever posted on E-bay?
9) Three part question: What year was Star City Comics opened, what year did the StarCityGames.com website debut, and who were all the employees of StarCityGames.com/Star City Comics at the time of the website’s debut?
10) Speaking of gainful employment, name every member who ever worked for the Wizards of the Coast R&D department.
Good luck! You’ll need it.
Ben can be reached at [email protected]