The Casual Planeswalker

Tag: Killer Combos

Killer Combo: Doing the (un)Tap Dance

Hey Planeswalkers,

I was playing around with some cool ideas in Theros drafting, and I came across this little gem of a drafting combo. I haven’t decided where the color-power lies completely in Theros yet, and I’ve started some ideas. I’ll let you guys know when I’m ready to come out and make them public!

Until then, I think you’ll get a kick out of this:

Just saw a Prophet of Kruphix in your pack 1 or 2? Of course you’re going to windmill slam that guy down, if not for your current draft, for the commander deck that you just saw a great fit in (hey, I know rare drafting gets poo poo-ed, but we all do it sometimes so take a breath and sit back down). Now you have a question going through your mind- what are the best ways to optimize this card?

Of course, untapping the lands every turn is insanely powerful, and being able to play anything from your hand is good (don’t forget, play a creature in response to them trying to kill the prophet), but what’s the BEST way to optimize this?

Well, my brother in drafting, the answer to that question is common. Literally, it’s a common. Thassa’s Bounty. These cards are very expensive card draw, and hard to justify normally, but now that you’re untapping on your opponents’ turns, rock on! Spend that mana safely, knowing that you can just play out any necessary creatures on HIS turn! Now, I’ll buy that for a dollar.

Of course, you’re going to have to watch out for any removal from your opponents when you play the bounties, but it’s okay. If they want to play a slow game, you’ve got them there too because you’ll just play out creatures on their turn as well thanks to the prophet.

Obviously, any card draw is going to be powerful, but the Prophet of Kruphix actually turns marginal card draw (Thassa’s Bounty) into viable strategy!

I don’t know about you, but I’m always up for some extra card advantage a-la previously-unplayable common. How about you?

October 9, 2013
Killer Combo – “Ring Around the Rosy”

If you haven’t already heard the historical interpretation of that children’s rhyme, make your day a little cloudier and read up.

We’re really excited about M12 here at The Casual Planeswalker. We’ve been preparing for the release of the Core Set for quite some time and we’ll have a big announcement pertaining to M12 later this week. Stay tuned!

Core Sets are a great way for new and inexperienced players to play with classic cards and play in a Limited environment which is easier to learn and understand than standard expansions.

White, in M12, has some great enchantment support, so a red/white enchantment build make for a really fun casual deck. Consider making this combo a fun centerpiece of that deck.

First of all, let me just say that I love the flavor text on Manabarbs. As much as I admire the sentiments of Kamahl, pit fighter, a central character from the Odyssey block, I’d rather have a way to turn that double-edged sword into a strictly offensive weapon.

Personal Sanctuary is a great way to do just that. It allows you to tap your lands without feeling the burn during your turn.

Unless your opponent is packing green/white enchantment removal, this is going to be a hard combo to break up. Add in an Aegis Angel
Aegis Angel to protect one of them and you’ll test just how tolerant your opponents really are.

If you continue to build around this combo, feel free to throw in a few Auramancers
Auramancer for extra insurance, a Mesa Enchantress
Mesa Enchantress for card draw, and you’ve got a fun, casual enchantment-based deck.
We’ll keep the M12 combos coming this week, along with some addition discussion of the newest core set and what’s coming next!

Look for Innistrad spoilers to start later this week!!!

July 11, 2011
Killer Combo – “Join Them, Beat Them”

Throughout this week we’ve been giving you Killer Combos that directly involve the primary commanders of the five new pre-constructed decks which debuted last weekend. We’re continuing that trend today with Zedruu the Greathearted, commander of the “Political Puppets” deck. We’ll finish up tomorrow with “Devour for Power”‘s The Mimeoplasm.

If you haven’t already, check out our review of “Political Puppets”, then you’ll see exactly what Zedruu is up to and why.

“Political Puppets”, as we mentioned in our podcast this week, lived up to its name at the Commander Event. The goal of this deck is to lull your opponents into a false sense of security while you secure yourself a superior board position, ensure that you are gaining life and drawing cards at an absurd rate, and draw one of your game-ending cards, like Insurrection
Insurrection.

While Zedruu is a great way to accomplish this goal, Bazaar Trader is going to get you there even faster. While the goblin appears to do almost precisely the same thing as Zedruu (though Zedruu can hand off ALL permanents and do so multiple times per turn) there is one key difference between the two. Bazaar Trader’s ability reads “target player”, while Zedruu’s specifies “target opponent”.

This means that if you’ve taken control of a creature via Dominus of Fealty (or for any other reason), Bazaar Trader gives you the option of “regifting it” to yourself. For example, if you’ve grabbed someone’s Avatar of Woe
Avatar of Woe with the Dominus, Bazaar Trader’s can target YOU as the player and the Avatar of Woe as the creature and give you the avatar permanently (or at least indefinitely).

So, not only does Bazaar Trader speed up what Zedruu already does, but he’ll give you a way to make creatures you’ve borrowed for a turn into creatures you control for the duration of the game.

June 24, 2011
Killer Combo – “Lather, Lash, Repeat”

Spellskite is one of the most exciting cards to enter Standard with the release of New Phyrexia. You’ll see it included in plenty of competitive maindecks and even more sideboards.

What’s great about Spellskite is that he acts as a spell-absorbing wall around you and your creatures. The fact that his ability can be activated not only by paying one blue mana, but by paying two life gives him the flexibility necessary to be a truly powerful card.

By attaching a Livewire Lash to your Spellskite, you’ll be able to add injury to insult when your opponents spells bounce off you and stick to Spellskite. Remember though, Spellskite must be a legal target of any spells you send his way.

If you really want this combo to be lethal, get a couple of Spellskites on the battlefield and use their ability to switch the target of a spell back and forth between the two, every time a Spellskite equipped with Livewire Lash becomes the target, the Lash will deal the two damage.

If your opponent doesn’t have an answer, you’ll be able to spend blue mana and your own life to switch the target as many times as you need to. Keep in mind also that you could be the one to initially target the Spellskite which is carying the Lash, you don’t need to wait around for your opponent to cast the right spell.

Let me know how this one works out for you! Have fun, and keep it casual.

June 15, 2011
Killer Combos – “Life and Death”

When the Casual Planeswalker Crew went to the New Phyrexia Pre-Release, some of the cards we were most looking forward to snatching up were those employing the new Phyrexian mana symbols. Cards like Porcelain Legionnaire
Porcelain Legionnaire and T-t-t-Thundering Tanadon
Thundering Tanadon (inside joke, but I hope everyone else feels as silly as I do saying this card’s name – goofiest name since Wooly Whatsit, I mean, Woolly Thoctar) are still wreaking havoc in our playgroup as we experiment with decks restricted to the Scars block.

In the sealed event I played in at the Pre-Release, my rare from NPH was Phyrexian Unlife, a card that isn’t great in a Limited setting, but has proved to be a lot of fun in Constructed. I first threw the enchantment into my “Life for Death” pre-con, then made some alterations, picked up a full playset of Unlifes and have been tearing things up with a Red/White Phyrexian suicide deck.

So far I’ve had a lot of fun with Phyrexian Unlife, and I haven’t even started making decks with the broader range of cards. My first thought about Unlife in Standard is to combine it with Death’s Shadow.

As early as the third turn (with a Dark Ritual
Dark Ritual) you can play your Unlife, attack with Immolating Souleater
Immolating Souleater, pump him to reduce your life total to nothing (or next to it), and even if he doesn’t connect your opponent will waste a spell or blocker dealing with him.

Nine times out of ten your opponent is going to Doomblade
Doomblade/Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt/Glissa’s Scorn
Glissa’s Scorn your Souleater, which will make them even less prepared for the 11/11 Death’s Shadow you play in your second main phase.

There’s a lot of fun to be had with Phyrexian Unlife. Please comment and let us know how you plan to exploit this card, or add to this combo. Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Near-Death Experience, Fling…

May 30, 2011
Killer Combos – Das Ubermyr

When I first looked at Myr Superion, I thought: “OMG! It’s Juzam Djinn!” (Did anyone else think for the longest time that Juzam Djinn was awesome and legendary because he cost BB and not 2BB? The “2” is so faded that I looked at my Magic: The Gathering Encyclopedia for years thinking it was an impossibly good creature. I hope I’m not the only n00b that thought so…)

Anyway, Myr Superion is a big, bad vanilla for two mana, and it appeared to me initially that I’d need a Priest of Urabrask/Gix or an elf-deck to play him (the idea of having two smaller Myr in play beforehand doesn’t seem all that viable to me).

Fear no more! Throw that bad-boy in an artifact-creature deck with a Semblance Anvil and go to town! I was already experimenting quite a bit with the Semblance Anvil I pulled at the NPH Pre-Release and found that there very few non-artifact situations in which it was helpful. However, if I’ve got Myr Superion and any way at all to go looking for him or keep filling my hand, I can play my 5/6’s for FREE!

H/T:

http://twitter.com/#!/mtgrulestips

May 24, 2011