I hope everyone had a fruitful holiday weekend with friends, family, and the Arena Open. I personally fell one win short of cash this time, acquiring my second loss in the second draft with a final record of 4-2. While I had considered breaking down the run for this article, combos are far more interesting!
As usual, I’ll keep the combos restricted to commons and uncommons, to keep it practical (sorry, infinite Staff of Domination combos).
Warlord’s Elite is on the short list of Soldiers I’m looking to throw back into the line of fire. There are plenty of ways to get them into the graveyard, with Airlift Chaplain and Scrapwork Mutt being a couple of personal favorites. There is also the possibility that the Warlord’s Elite die of natural causes before being resurrected, but that’s not quite as fun.
If you’re squeamish, you should look elsewhere while we discuss this one. If you’ve been got by this combo, you likely remember it. What can even hit more out of left field is if you aren’t even playing black to begin with! I’d suggest multiple Flasks or ways to discard a dead Corrupt in this instance.
A tried and true combo, introduced in Scars of Mirrodin. I can’t really see too much value in running a Liquimetal Coating unless you’ve got some really cool combos involving rares like Scrap Trawler. Still, I figure it’s worth mentioning, so we can let Oxidda Scrapmelter rest, you were the best dog Beast.
One of the best targets for Mightstone’s Animation is the already partially living statue. On Turn 4, you can attack with at least a 5/5 flyer and draw a card. As if a floating statue wasn’t scary enough!
As if Fallaji Vanguard isn’t scary enough, a suspicious attack can turn into a violent ambush from this Paratrooper. There are only a couple of other flash creatures at common or uncommon, both of which are in blue, making Ambush Paratrooper the most likely surprise. Note: spookiness can intensify with seven mana open to activate said Paratrooper.
Growing up as the youngest of four, I know my way around a Sibling Rivalry or two, but I still have much to learn from the death gymnast. On its own, Kill-Zone Acrobat is very unexciting, but if you get multiple copies of Sibling Rivalry, it starts to become one of the better sacrifice outlets as its activation cost is free, turning Sibling Rivalry into a four-mana kill spell that creates a Powerstone. Shoutout to Penregon Strongbull, Junkyard Genius, Powerstone Fracture, and Thraxodemon.
There are tons of ways to activate Goblin Blast-Runner, but it and Bitter Reunion tend to end up in the same deck. GBR (Goblin Blast-Runner) decks want to go as quickly as possible, so what’s better than a Thrill of Possibility that can provide haste to new recruits as well as activate GBR?
If you end up with a deck with multiple Third Path Iconoclasts, they typically dictate your gameplan. There aren’t many great go-wide payoffs in Izzet in this set outside of Mishra’s Onslaught, which can be underwhelming at times. Sigil of Valor is the best card to combine with the Izzet Monk, and not many other decks will be interested in it.
I haven’t been overly impressed by Take Flight this set, but I have lost to its combo with Thopter Mechanic before. It doesn’t take long until the little Mechanic-that-could turns into a must-answer threat. This combo also works with Gurgling Anointer, but I figured Thopter Mechanic was a better example because they’re both blue (da ba dee da ba di).
I’m sure there are some great combos I haven’t come across yet, especially when rares get involved. Hopefully you learned something from the interactions mentioned. That’s all for today. Now say it with me!
Lose and learn, learn and win.
