But, are there some combos that even at casual tables are so mana-intensive or otherwise "janky" as to be deemed acceptable? Something like Vela the Night-Clad + kicked Rite of Replication. RoR on Reaper King also works.
What are some other "janky" combos that come to mind that the majority of EDH players might not be super mad to lose to?
Most people don't mind my mono green infinite turn deck. It takes a metric crap ton of mana off of one permanent to do it, so I run Sasaya, orochi ascendant as my general. So, I get her out and then flip her (13 lands is where I like to be. 6 on battlefield, 7 in hand). Then I need a way to untap the mana, so there are the usual suspects like rude awakening and early harvest, but then I found malachite talisman. This card very much likes +3 mana and a buyback spell. The cheapest possible is wurmcalling at x=0, meaning G+kicker 2G and 3 more mana to untap the land off of the talisman trigger, so you need a minimum of 8 mana off of that land to go infinite this way. (You can create a 1/1 wurm token and substitute wurmcalling at x=1 for infinite mana off of an earthcraft.) Once you get this going? After that you get your win condition of choice down. My favorite is magistrate's scepter because someone said mono green couldn't do infinite turns. However, any number of win conditions work. Rocket launcher is beautiful as is whetwheel.
In order to get away with it, you need to see a TON of cards, so I run the usual suspects like sylvan library, oath of nissa, crystal ball, kodama's reach and friends, etc. If the spell puts lands on the battlefield it's actually bad in this deck. However, probably the single most broken card in the deck is abundance. I remember drawing 3 cards a turn with it and sylvan library..scott free.
Best part? No mana rocks, 3 wrath effects ( I did mention it's combo/control, right?) (and none of them are permanents), not a single mana doubler because my general is mana squared! In essence, if you lost to a 17 card infinite combo, I believe you really can't too angry.
In my Ezuri U/G Fish list, I accidentally killed the board with Seahunter + 3 other creatures + Cryptolith Rite + Intruder Alarm, grabbing every creature from my deck, pumping Ezuri's experience to extreme levels, then swinging for lethal in multiple directions.
I had no idea the deck could do that when I built it.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Would repeatable draw using Sensei's Divining Top and Rings of Brighthearth count? It's a sorcery speed "draw a card" for 3... although you could technically draw your deck if you added in Basalt Monolith. You can use it in any deck, but it's still two (or three) artifacts that you would need on the table, at the same time, with zero disruption from your opponents.
Its fun. I built a Cao Ren deck based entirely off that idea. Spend life like mad and then mirror universe some poor bastard, or just drop lich and repay to win (because even though its a two card combo, its 11 mana and horrendously easy to disrupt, and disrupting it might just kill you).
Private Mod Note
():
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Going infinite with Linessa, Zephyr Mage is probably the only time people have been happy when I combo'ed out
Have Isochron Scepter on the battlefield, imprinting Dramatic Reversal. Use this with a couple mana rocks (the deck ran like 20) to get infinite mana. Then cast Linessa, Zephyr Mage from the command zone, and then a Clone effect, keeping the cloned Linessa. Cast Codex Shredder, use it's ability to recur Linessa to your hand and then discard her to the clone triggering grandeur. Cast Salvaging Station to recur your Codex Shredder, sac it to get back Linessa, discard her, untap Salvaging Station with Scepter, repeat until opponents have no non-planeswalker permanents on the table and repeat the loop at instant speed whenever they play anything else while beating them to death with your cloned Linessa if they didn't scoop already
Private Mod Note
():
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UG Arixmethes Combo UGR Wanderer UGB Tasigur Control URB Jeleva Storm RW Gisela Control
Would repeatable draw using Sensei's Divining Top and Rings of Brighthearth count? It's a sorcery speed "draw a card" for 3... although you could technically draw your deck if you added in Basalt Monolith. You can use it in any deck, but it's still two (or three) artifacts that you would need on the table, at the same time, with zero disruption from your opponents.
Its fun. I built a Cao Ren deck based entirely off that idea. Spend life like mad and then mirror universe some poor bastard, or just drop lich and repay to win (because even though its a two card combo, its 11 mana and horrendously easy to disrupt, and disrupting it might just kill you).
Activating Grandeur by discarding the creature to its own ability:
Activate Words of Wind.
Activate a Grandeur ability while Suppression Field is on the board.
Use Chromatic Sphere or a card from the eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg, etc.) as part of paying the mana cost to activate Grandeur.
The card draw is replaced with bouncing a permanent (bounce the Granduer creature).
Discard the Grandeur creature to finish paying for the Grandeur ability.
Causing a draw by tapping a forest for mana:
Play Caged Sun naming green.
Animate the Caged Sun in some way (March of the Machines, Karn, Silver Golem, etc.).
Turn Caged Sun into a Saproling (Conspiracy, Xenograft, etc.).
Play Life and Limb to turn Caged Sun into a Forest Saproling (Song of the Dryads is not an option, since it removes the permanent's other abilities).
Tap Caged Sun for G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
.
.
.
Zedruu as my general, donate Price of Glory to one of my opponents, have Sacred Ground in play. I have infinite mana during other players turns only. Usually it just makes people nervous.
@SlaveToPhage
Yep, even funnier after blasting someone with Aetherflux.
You essentially kill two players and put yourself in a good position to kill a third.
Magic is much more fun when you play bad cards here and there.
I mean, I could win with Chainer by using exsanguinate effects every game, but sometimes its fun to slap down a Phage the Untouchable.
Whatever the outcome, it's hilarious. Maybe they bounce her one game to kill me idc; I just go watch TV or play overwatch.
Then again, maybe someone forgets shes in my grave and uses Diluvian Primordial on my Rise of the Dark Realms.
Activating Grandeur by discarding the creature to its own ability:
Activate Words of Wind.
Activate a Grandeur ability while Suppression Field is on the board.
Use Chromatic Sphere or a card from the eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg, etc.) as part of paying the mana cost to activate Grandeur.
The card draw is replaced with bouncing a permanent (bounce the Granduer creature).
Discard the Grandeur creature to finish paying for the Grandeur ability.
Uh...no. Pretty sure it's impossible to do other things while at the same time trying to pay for something else.
Have Tarox, Welder, Codex and both artifact lands in play. Twinflame and strive targeting Tarox and Welder, keep the cloned Tarox in play. Sac the Codex to recover the Tarox. Discard the Tarox to Grandeur the cloned Tarox. First welder sacs an artifacts land and recovers the Codex. Rinse and repeat once more. Cloned Tarox now is a 32/31 hasty flier that will insta-gib anyone who doesn't stop it.
Activating Grandeur by discarding the creature to its own ability:
Activate Words of Wind.
Activate a Grandeur ability while Suppression Field is on the board.
Use Chromatic Sphere or a card from the eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg, etc.) as part of paying the mana cost to activate Grandeur.
The card draw is replaced with bouncing a permanent (bounce the Granduer creature).
Discard the Grandeur creature to finish paying for the Grandeur ability.
Uh...no. Pretty sure it's impossible to do other things while at the same time trying to pay for something else.
Sphere/Eggs is a mana ability, which you are allowed to activate while paying costs.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
UG Arixmethes Combo UGR Wanderer UGB Tasigur Control URB Jeleva Storm RW Gisela Control
Step 1: All of the above cards must be on the battlefield except Veilborn Ghoul who is in hand.
Step 2: Activate, sac, then copy Korlash, Heir of Blackblade with the Mirrorpool. Keep the token copy around and let the actual one go to the graveyard.
Step 3: Pay and activate Tortured Existence and discard Veilborn Ghoul in order to return Korlash, Heir of Blackblade to your hand.
Step 4: Discard Korlash, Heir of Blackblade from your hand to the graveyard by activating his token counterpart's Grandeur ability in order to bring in two swamps from your library into play tapped.
Step 5: Because two Swamps entered the battlefield, return Veilborn Ghoul to your hand.
Step 6: Amulet of Vigor untaps the two swamps.
Step 7: Rinse and repeat steps 3-7 until your library has no more swamps or until you have satisfied that Gravestorm count with the remaining available mana you have from untapped swamps.
Assuming the stars align, this go off as soon as Turn 6. Earlier with acceleration.
Activating Grandeur by discarding the creature to its own ability:
Activate Words of Wind.
Activate a Grandeur ability while Suppression Field is on the board.
Use Chromatic Sphere or a card from the eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg, etc.) as part of paying the mana cost to activate Grandeur.
The card draw is replaced with bouncing a permanent (bounce the Granduer creature).
Discard the Grandeur creature to finish paying for the Grandeur ability.
Uh...no. Pretty sure it's impossible to do other things while at the same time trying to pay for something else.
You can pay costs in any order. Suppression Field adds a mana cost to the Grandeur ability activation, which gives you the opportunity to activate mana abilities during the process of activating the ability. Sphere/Eggs have you draw a card as part of the mana ability resolution (unlike, for example, Chromatic Star which draws a card as a triggered ability afterwards). Words replaces the draw with a bounce.
But, are there some combos that even at casual tables are so mana-intensive or otherwise "janky" as to be deemed acceptable? Something like Vela the Night-Clad + kicked Rite of Replication. RoR on Reaper King also works.
What are some other "janky" combos that come to mind that the majority of EDH players might not be super mad to lose to?
R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
Ermahgerd... I need to do this...
R.I.P. Sundering Titan (6/20/12) and Braids, Cabal Minion (9/12/14)
Most people don't mind my mono green infinite turn deck. It takes a metric crap ton of mana off of one permanent to do it, so I run Sasaya, orochi ascendant as my general. So, I get her out and then flip her (13 lands is where I like to be. 6 on battlefield, 7 in hand). Then I need a way to untap the mana, so there are the usual suspects like rude awakening and early harvest, but then I found malachite talisman. This card very much likes +3 mana and a buyback spell. The cheapest possible is wurmcalling at x=0, meaning G+kicker 2G and 3 more mana to untap the land off of the talisman trigger, so you need a minimum of 8 mana off of that land to go infinite this way. (You can create a 1/1 wurm token and substitute wurmcalling at x=1 for infinite mana off of an earthcraft.) Once you get this going? After that you get your win condition of choice down. My favorite is magistrate's scepter because someone said mono green couldn't do infinite turns. However, any number of win conditions work. Rocket launcher is beautiful as is whetwheel.
In order to get away with it, you need to see a TON of cards, so I run the usual suspects like sylvan library, oath of nissa, crystal ball, kodama's reach and friends, etc. If the spell puts lands on the battlefield it's actually bad in this deck. However, probably the single most broken card in the deck is abundance. I remember drawing 3 cards a turn with it and sylvan library..scott free.
Best part? No mana rocks, 3 wrath effects ( I did mention it's combo/control, right?) (and none of them are permanents), not a single mana doubler because my general is mana squared! In essence, if you lost to a 17 card infinite combo, I believe you really can't too angry.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I had no idea the deck could do that when I built it.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Its fun. I built a Cao Ren deck based entirely off that idea. Spend life like mad and then mirror universe some poor bastard, or just drop lich and repay to win (because even though its a two card combo, its 11 mana and horrendously easy to disrupt, and disrupting it might just kill you).
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Have Isochron Scepter on the battlefield, imprinting Dramatic Reversal. Use this with a couple mana rocks (the deck ran like 20) to get infinite mana. Then cast Linessa, Zephyr Mage from the command zone, and then a Clone effect, keeping the cloned Linessa. Cast Codex Shredder, use it's ability to recur Linessa to your hand and then discard her to the clone triggering grandeur. Cast Salvaging Station to recur your Codex Shredder, sac it to get back Linessa, discard her, untap Salvaging Station with Scepter, repeat until opponents have no non-planeswalker permanents on the table and repeat the loop at instant speed whenever they play anything else while beating them to death with your cloned Linessa if they didn't scoop already
UGR Wanderer
UGB Tasigur Control
URB Jeleva Storm
RW Gisela Control
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
Hey, my Selenia, Dark Angel deck wins 28.5% of the time! No Lich, but swapping life totals is what it does.
I wouldn't count this as remotely janky. While not necessarily one of the best combos, Basalt Monolith/Rings of Brighthearth is solid and Sensei's Divining Top is always good. Each piece individually is better than say, Morselhoarder.
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
Jolt539 on Youtube has an Arcum Dagsson deck which uses Phyrexian Processor, Armageddon Clock and Mirror Universe for its win condition. It's pretty fun to watch, but it really only works in a 1v1 situation.
Activate Words of Wind.
Activate a Grandeur ability while Suppression Field is on the board.
Use Chromatic Sphere or a card from the eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg, etc.) as part of paying the mana cost to activate Grandeur.
The card draw is replaced with bouncing a permanent (bounce the Granduer creature).
Discard the Grandeur creature to finish paying for the Grandeur ability.
Causing a draw by tapping a forest for mana:
Play Caged Sun naming green.
Animate the Caged Sun in some way (March of the Machines, Karn, Silver Golem, etc.).
Turn Caged Sun into a Saproling (Conspiracy, Xenograft, etc.).
Play Life and Limb to turn Caged Sun into a Forest Saproling (Song of the Dryads is not an option, since it removes the permanent's other abilities).
Tap Caged Sun for G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
Caged Sun triggers, adding G.
.
.
.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Yep, even funnier after blasting someone with Aetherflux.
You essentially kill two players and put yourself in a good position to kill a third.
Magic is much more fun when you play bad cards here and there.
I mean, I could win with Chainer by using exsanguinate effects every game, but sometimes its fun to slap down a Phage the Untouchable.
Whatever the outcome, it's hilarious. Maybe they bounce her one game to kill me idc; I just go watch TV or play overwatch.
Then again, maybe someone forgets shes in my grave and uses Diluvian Primordial on my Rise of the Dark Realms.
WBRG Saskia the Unyielding
WUB Sharuum the Hegemon
RWU Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
RG Wort, the Raidmother
WU Brago, King Eternal
B Chainer, Dementia Master
Uh...no. Pretty sure it's impossible to do other things while at the same time trying to pay for something else.
Seriph0 on cockatrice
EDH Decks
WBGKaradorWBG
Have Tarox, Welder, Codex and both artifact lands in play. Twinflame and strive targeting Tarox and Welder, keep the cloned Tarox in play. Sac the Codex to recover the Tarox. Discard the Tarox to Grandeur the cloned Tarox. First welder sacs an artifacts land and recovers the Codex. Rinse and repeat once more. Cloned Tarox now is a 32/31 hasty flier that will insta-gib anyone who doesn't stop it.
Sphere/Eggs is a mana ability, which you are allowed to activate while paying costs.
UGR Wanderer
UGB Tasigur Control
URB Jeleva Storm
RW Gisela Control
Step 1: All of the above cards must be on the battlefield except Veilborn Ghoul who is in hand.
Step 2: Activate, sac, then copy Korlash, Heir of Blackblade with the Mirrorpool. Keep the token copy around and let the actual one go to the graveyard.
Step 3: Pay
Step 4: Discard Korlash, Heir of Blackblade from your hand to the graveyard by activating his token counterpart's Grandeur ability in order to bring in two swamps from your library into play tapped.
Step 5: Because two Swamps entered the battlefield, return Veilborn Ghoul to your hand.
Step 6: Amulet of Vigor untaps the two swamps.
Step 7: Rinse and repeat steps 3-7 until your library has no more swamps or until you have satisfied that Gravestorm count with the remaining available mana you have from untapped swamps.
Assuming the stars align, this go off as soon as Turn 6. Earlier with acceleration.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs