MTG Salvation

Melira Combo works with the fact that with Melira, Sylvok Outcast on the board, persist creatures come back every time they die. This makes Murderous Redcap an instant kill and Kitchen Finks infinite life, provided you have something that lets you sacrifice creatures at no cost (like suspended Greater Gargadon, Carrion Feeder or Blasting Station.

Melira Combo shares a characteristic with Splinter Twin Combo: many of the cards are already in the Cube. However, you need three cards in order to get Melira Combo going, whereas Splinter Twin is a two card combo.

The combo can be assembled using only creatures, some of them green, and creatures can be tutored for with Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Birthing Pod, Green Sun's Zenith, Worldly Tutor and Primal Command. Birthing Pod only gets Carrion Feeder as a sacrifice outlet though and only if you have a token you can sacrifice. Green Sun's Zenith does not get any sacrifice outlet unless you add Scarland Thrinax to the Cube.

I thought of adding Blasting Station and/or Goblin Bombardment anyway to take advantage of the many recurring creatures added to black as part of the Pox Archetype. Would it be enough to add one of these and Melira, Sylvok Outcast? Or should I add additional sacrifice outlets, especially creature based ones, and Safehold Elite as an additional persist creature?

Does anyone have experience with Melira Combo in Cube? Can anyone think of more ways to abuse the combo pieces discussed? Is it worth a try or is it doomed to fail? Discuss!

Don't forget Mikaeus, the Unhallowed; it is also in some cubes and can act as Melira #2.

I guess I would be okay with it if there was a third persist/undying creature. Geralf's Messenger is just too black I think.

Note that Melira + Redcap is infinite ETB and death triggers, if anyone cares (redcap just targets itself), but unless you're playing Soul Warden, that's useless and even if, we're back to a three-card combo.

Rules question: Can you activate Gargadon's ability if there are no time counter on it? Does it still count as "suspended"?

Quote from NewbornMuse

I guess I would be okay with it if there was a third persist/undying creature. Geralf's Messenger is just too black I think.

Well, it has to be persist, because Melira only cares about -1/-1 counters. That's why I brought up Safehold Elite, or is there another remotely playable persist creature?

Quote from NewbornMuse

Rules question: Can you activate Gargadon's ability if there are no time counter on it? Does it still count as "suspended"?

You can respond to an activation with another activation, so you can get infinite activations, no problem.

edit: thanks for pointing out Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, mrbrightside!

Quote from Konfusius

Well, it has to be persist, because Melira only cares about -1/-1 counters. That's why I brought up Safehold Elite, or is there another remotely playable persist creature?

There's always Puppeteer Clique...

edit: thanks for pointing out Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, mrbrightside!

You're welcome. You've brought up an interesting topic, maybe I'll add the combo myself as well...

Puppeteer Clique is good, but 5 mana is a lot. Outside the combo it sure is the more Cube-worthy creature than Safehold Elite, though.

Juniper Order Ranger should work as an additional Melira as well.

And woodfall primus

Quote from Toad

And Glen Elendra Archmage.

I forgot about that one, likely because I focused on green, red and black. Now talk about protecting the combo! With Melira out, Glen Elendra Archmage basically never allows them to cast a non-creature spell, ever (provided you have U available for every spell they try to cast).

Quote from MrDumpkins

And woodfall primus

I forgot about that one as well, most likely because it costs 8. Thanks for pointing it out!

edit: Oh, and Natural Order is one more tutor.

Looking for Melira redundancy:

Cathars' Crusade
Ghave, Guru of Spores (sort of)
Sigil Captain (only works with Redcap and Safehold Elite)
Graft cards (not infinitely repeatable)

meh. There's also the twisted version of Mikaeus plus
Soul Snuffers
Tatterkite
Pith Driller
Skinrender
Canker Abomination
Carnifex Demon
Chainbreaker
Cultbrand Cinder
Grief Tyrant
Grim Poppet
Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
Leech Bonder
the Hatchlings from Eventide

Lots of crap on that list and the enabler is a six-mana creature instead of a bear, but the list of possible combos is a lot longer.

If Devoted Druid worked it would be infinite mana ... I don't think it does though.

Quote from Shalazar

If Devoted Druid worked it would be infinite mana ... I don't think it does though.

You're right, it doesn't. DD needs to tap to produce mana. So summoning sickness prevents the infinite mana loop.

What's more, you can't even activate the untap ability since you can't pay the cost.

Unfortunately, it's not the lack of persist creatures that make this combo not-viable in my opinion. It's the fact that there is just one Melira, and you need her. Mikaeus just isn't worth it for the combo potential, as he is a 6-mana finisher.

The thing about the "Splinter Twin" combo, is that there are a lot of ways to get it going:

Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki + Deceiver Exarch, Zealous Conscripts, Pestermite or Restoration Angel

These all set up an instant win with just two cards. And even then, it's only just good/consistent enough to be added to a cube imo, particularly because most of the cards are playable anyway (particularly Kiki-Jiki, Restoration Angel and Conscripts).

The Melira combo seems almost as hard as trying to support High Tide/Palinchron combo in a cube.

Quote from Juju

Unfortunately, it's not the lack of persist creatures that make this combo not-viable in my opinion. It's the fact that there is just one Melira, and you need her. Mikaeus just isn't worth it for the combo potential, as he is a 6-mana finisher.

I don't think only having one Melira is the main problem, the main problem is that the combo requires three cards which is so much harder to assemble than two. That is why Splinter Twin and Tinker work.

Quote from Juju

The Melira combo seems almost as hard as trying to support High Tide/Palinchron combo in a cube.

Don't crush my dreams! I always keep a High Tide and a Palinchron close at hand in case I can think of a way to support it in Cube! There are several tutors that get High Tide, the only problem I have to solve is what to do with all the mana or that storm count. The natural answer is Stroke of Genius (over Braingeyser because of aforementioned tutors) or Brain Freeze.

I guess I like to dedicate a few slots to enable niche combos. I have some hopes for the Melira combo despite the fact that it is a three card combo because it can be assembled with all the creature tutors in green. I'm currently debating whether I want to try a minimal package (just add Melira, Sylvok Outcast and Blasting Station) or an extended package (additionally add Juniper Order Ranger, Scarland Thrinax and maybe Goblin Bombardment). Either way I have to make some cuts, so I have to wait because I want to play first with other recent changes.

Now that we have Master Biomancer as Melira #3, do we now have a critical mass for this combo? Or is it a pipe dream, since it's still a 3-card combo? I really want this to be playable in cube...

I think that is playgroup dependent. If all your players want to do is win the draft, then this combo is not consistent enough. But if they like to play this combo even if it means they are less likely to win the draft, go for it. I think the cost is relatively low, because the persist creatures are Cube staples, the sac outlets are also very good in other decks, and two of the Meliras are good additions to token decks. The only really bad card is Melira, I guess, but at least she is a bear

Why not make it four cards. Melria, Sylvok Outcast/Master Biomancer/Mikeaus, the Unhollowed, Murderous Redcap with another persist creature (Kitchen Finks?), and Grafted Wargear

I know this isn't good, just found the interaction and was intrested in it as most cubes probably run three of the four listed

Quote from Tom Servo

Why not make it four cards. Melria, Sylvok Outcast/Master Biomancer/Mikeaus, the Unhollowed, Murderous Redcap with another persist creature (Kitchen Finks?), and Grafted Wargear

I know this isn't good, just found the interaction and was intrested in it as most cubes probably run three of the four listed

This is just another way to go infinite, from the point of view of the Cube designer it does not change anything, because the real question is whether or not to add Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Master Biomancer and/or Juniper Order Ranger.

Other combo cards like kiki jiki or splintertwin, or pestermite are pretty good cards on their own but the combo is icing on the cake. Melira is a sexy ginger grizzly bear. I'm reluctant to try adding this combo.

Id say biomancer and Mikaeus are better in cube at being melira, then melira herself.

I think Master Biomancer is close enough to cubeable that he's a fine include if you also have an interest in supporting a combo.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is a pretty good black finisher. I like him a lot, and he would be another sensible inclusion for going down this road.

Melira herself is underwhelming though, which is the real issue here. Juniper Order Ranger isn't anywhere near good enough in G/W either.

Okay, so one of my regular players asked if we could add a bit more combo to the cube. I currently run the Pestermite/Exarch/Zealous Conscripts/Kiki-Jiki/Restoration Angel set, and also have Oath of Druids as a one-card build-around. He suggested Melira, which intrigued me.

I already have Woodfall Primus, Finks, Redcap, Puppeteer Clique, and Glen Elendra, with Gargadon and Goblin Bombardment as sac outlets. (And heck, even if it isn't infinite, I'd probably run Melira in a green deck with Primus and Finks...)

However, Muzzio's Preparations makes this combo MUCH stronger, since it is guaranteed to be in play, thus changing the three-card combo into a two-card. Does this push it over the edge?

Does anyone still run this? Opinions?

There is yet another card for this combo package: Archangel of Thune, who allows you to gain infinite life (and arbitrarily large creatures) in combination with Kitchen Finks and a sac outlet.

I don't run the combo, but there are so many intriguing pieces - including a few cube staples - that I am thinking about including Melira, Mikaeus and Archangel to enable it.

I already run four of these cards as well as Muzzio's Preparations. I can probably find room for Melira to test this.

It doesn't work that well in our experience. Muzzio's also kind of makes the rest of the combo obsolete besides the sac outlet.

Admittedly, Melira, Sylvok Outcast plays much like Grizzly Bears. The good thing is that if they have no way of knowing your hand it is a bear with built in lightning rod. And occasionally you get a combo together. So it is really a playgroup dependent thing. If what you are looking for is mainly efficiency this combo is not for you, it is for tinkerers.

Muzzio's Preparations only enables one persist creature, but reduces the number of cards required for the combo. With Muzzio's I'd probably go for a grixis build because you have a lot of tutoring and card manipulation available in blue and black and the red is good for sac outlets (and for casting Murderous Redcap, I guess).