Welcome back from the holidays. I hope you spent them exactly how you wanted to!
Now that we’ve exchanged niceties, let’s get down to the reason we’re here. I typically write combo articles excluding rares and mythics, as they will be far less common than, well, commons.
On the other hand, those rares and mythics are very much part of the format, and they have their own synergies and combos. I have had a lot of fun games recently, and seen some fun (and not-so-fun) combos that I wanted to shine a light on!
I just lost to this combination of cards as I’m writing this. Sure, it’s a bit slow, but every Spider brings in a new Powerstone to help produce the next. If you can’t kill Urza in a timely manner, the battlefield transforms from friendly daddy long legs to full-blown Arachnophobia a little too quickly for comfort!
This is actually a combo I’ve been able to assemble myself. Not only do you get a 3/3 double striker for two mana, you can discard your hand to draw three, and it can unearth again! I don’t recall ever needing to refill my hand, as a 3/3 double striker can end games on its own.
This doesn’t require too much explanation. Shooting your opponent for two points in the face for one of those junky Powerstones you keep tripping on is a recipe for a fast game! Overall, I’m not a big fan of Mechanized Warfare, but if the stars align, I’d be happy to try out this combo with some Strongbulls.
This combination is absolutely the precursor to your opponent saying, “Good game.” For a mere three mana, you get +6/+3, draw three cards, and gain 15 life! And they say the economy is heading downhill. What do they know anyway?!
Sometimes playing Magic as long as I have can actually hinder your play. I had no idea that Howling Mine had an additional line of text, as the Revised version is what’s imprinted in my mind, and I never even bothered to read the card since they changed the wording (which was a very long time ago). Either way, Citanul Stalwart changes Howling Mine into a Mine Mine, when you tap it for mana. Warlord’s Elite can also help take a turn off your opponent drawing off the Mine as well!
There are plenty of fun things to do with Drafna, and all of them are very slow and expensive. The most realistic is one of the two-mana cantrips, Elsewhere Flask and Ichor Wellspring included, as you will likely play them in your deck anyway. I’m sure there are some fun things to do with Liquimetal Coating, but I’m not that brave!
I’d want a solid control shell before being enticed into this combo. When assembled, however, it can be very powerful. Seven toughness is no joke, and removing every land in your deck isn’t either! A great Best-of-Three card for control matchups.
I’m happy I haven’t run across this combo yet, because it definitely takes the fun out of the game. If your opponent assembles this combo, and you don’t have an artifact removal + kill spell, you’ve lost the game, as they can just deck you.
This is a combo I’ve tried out a couple of times, and it was never very good, but I still have faith it can work out. I think, in addition to the self-mill 1/1s, you want some ways to get Sword of the Meek into your graveyard if you draw it, which feels pretty bad. Also, note, if your self-mill creature “whiffs” and ♫Still hasn’t found what it’s looking for♫, it will enter the battlefield as a 2/2, which is far too large to consider meek.
I listed Blanchwood Armor as the third piece of the combo, but it is attainable with anything that will put Cradle Clearcutter’s power to five or greater. Once Exodia is assembled, you can gain infinite life, draw as many cards as you want, and keep your opponent’s creatures tapped the rest of the game. In other words, you likely just win.
All right, this is sort of a meme, but I’ve seen it happen in person. I’ve never seen someone so happy to go 0-4 but kill someone with Door to Nothingness!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you learned a new combo! Now get out there and…
Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!
