Tag: Killer Combo

Killer Combo – “Clear Your Mind… and Your Library”

Do you, like myself, wish for the day when you could slap a Glimpse the Unthinkable
Glimpse the Unthinkable down on the table and watch your opponent wince slightly at the thought of having to throw 10 cards straight into the graveyard?

I longed for those days until I saw this new little diddy that we have to play with in M12. All you have to do is add equal parts Jace’s Archivist to Jace’s Erasure.

Most people recognize that the erasure is annoying, but it doesn’t really give you too great of an edge over your opponent as your library is dropped by the same cards that they lose.

What if you could get a little edge, and speed the whole thing up? Well that’s exactly what Jace’s Archivist does for you.

You get a fresh 7 cards, and your opponent gets a fresh 7 cards, but your opponent also has to mill 7 more cards. Now, you’ve just turned Jace’s Erasure into something of an annoyance.

You just put your opponent on a 3-4 turn clock, and, as a blue mage, you have nothing but answers in your hand every turn thanks to Jace’s Archivist.

Building a deck around this gem is all too easy since it just takes 4 Mana Leaks
Mana Leak, 4 Unsummons
Unsummon, and 4 Negates
Negate to ensure that you won’t have to worry about too many things.

The Unsummon works like an effective counter since they are discarding their hands. For added fun, throw in Phantasmal Image
Phantasmal Image to ensure that any creature coming out finds itself staring down its own barrel.

Also worth mentioning, if you happen to have any merfolk mesmerists, you could put those in just for some added color. It will also help when you didn’t have to do anything defensive and have some extra mana to burn at the end of your opponent’s turn. I know two isn’t a huge gain, but it will put their clock down to three turns if you’re playing with the combo out.

See what kind of fun things you can do with these guys, and let us know what you think!

August 10, 2011
Killer Combo – “Infinite Regress”

Commander, for those of you who are new to the game, is a casual format that used to be called by its player-given name: Elder Dragon Highlander. Anyone who isn’t up on the old-school terms should learn that Elder Dragons were a series of tri-color legendary dragons in the creatively titled MTG expansion, Legends. The “Highlander” part of the name refers to the movies and TV series about Connor and Duncan MacLeod, two immortals engaged in a time-and-space spanning competition to be the last (immortal) man standing. A major “catch-phrase” from the Highlander storyline was “There can be only one!”, which is how it came to be associated with what is now the Commander format.

What’s really impressive about Riku of Two Reflections is the fact that his ability violates the spirit of the format in a pretty major way. He allows you to copy spells and creatures, providing you with a way to have “multiples” of cards in a format that fundamentally forbids it.

I’m sure that most people who played “Mirror Mastery” this weekend realized that there is almost no “bad way” to use Riku’s ability. If you’re casting a spell, you would rather have two of it than one – though in same cases the second would be redundant. However, as the decklist suggests, Riku’s ability is best employed when you can copy a creature with a great “comes into play” (now, “enters the battlefield”) ability.

While I won’t claim that any one sorcery, instant, or creature is the “best” to copy with Riku, I’ve got a couple ideas about cards that would be especially fun for him to multiply.

First, if I could copy any non-mythic rare creature in Standard, I think it would be Chancellor of the Forge. The Chancellors were sort of a lackluster cycle for New Phyrexia, but I think his comes into play ability would be killer in this particular setting. The triple red in his casting cost makes him difficult to play in a more mana-limited setting, but part of the beauty of this combo is the fact that once you’ve paid his RRR, you only need GU to pay for Riku’s ability.

Chancellor of the Forge will give you a fistful of Goblins (according to the number of creatures you have in play), doubling the number of creatures you control. His token-copy will then hit the battlefield and will double that number again. Because most Commander decks contain multiple board wipes, an army of tokens isn’t likely to live long, but the Chancellor’s little buddies have haste so you’re much more likely to get in one good attack.
I also think that Riku would make a great addition to a Legacy or Commander deck designed to mill your opponent. While it may not be entirely consistent with the strategy of “Mirror Mastery” out of the box, his ability to copy cards like Archive Trap, Traumatize
Traumatize, and other mill staples would greatly accelerate the process of eliminating your opponents library.

That’s all for today’s Killer Combo. Let me know what other ideas you have and look forward to our post on Kaalia of the Vast
Kaalia of the Vast tomorrow.

June 22, 2011
Killer Combo – “Hide and Seek”

We spent Game Day at Hall of Heroes – a great little shop in Mt. Pleasant, MI, and we had a lot of fun despite the fact that we were rather poorly equipped. Having just got in from Colorado all I had was a Pre-Con combined with cards from a couple drafts. Brad, my TCP compatriot, decided to play with the “Rot From Within” Event Deck.

While I did win a few games, Brad actually made it to the final four with “Rot From Within” which is a testament to that deck’s out-of-the-box power.

Today’s combo is one we came up against a couple times at Game Day. Using Gitaxian Probe to prepare the ground for Inquisition/Duress is something that came to our minds when we first started looking over the New Phyrexia spoilers, but we yesterday was the first time we really saw the power of this combo.

Not only does a first-turn Gitaxian Probe allow you to prepare for everything your opponent has in store in the coming turns, but it allows you to most effectively play a discard spell, and when followed by Inquisition of Kozilek in particular, can ensure that your opponent’s start is slow.

Gitaxian Probe’s second effect of drawing a card to replace itself leaves you with a card advantage where you would have otherwise had to do a one-to-one card trade.

This combo, which we like to call “Hide and Seek”, is one of the best first turns in Standard, in my opinion. It gives you much-needed data about your opponents hand and the often-crucial card advantage at the outset of the game.

June 13, 2011
Killer Combo – “Word of the Day”

Phylactery

Today’s word, children, is “phylactery”. A phylactery is an amulet or charm. More specifically a phylactery is that thing that your opponent uses to clean himself up after you play an indestructible 5/5 on the first turn – or at least that’s what it sounds like…

Dark Ritual will help to ensure that Phylactery Lich is your game-opener, but, as you can all see, the Lich won’t be surviving very long unless his phylactery – in this case a stone or vial from D&D lore – isn’t attached to artifact in the vicinity. So, in order to actually pull off a first turn play you’re going to have to have an artifact on the board before the Lich hits.

Luckily we’ve got a number of ways to do that in Standard today without the inconvenience of actually paying for it. In the case of Darksteel Relic, you can even ensure that the Lich is more or less in it for the long haul. However, don’t get too cocky or a Hex Parasite might end the Lich’s run by eating his soul…

June 8, 2011