MTG Salvation

Quote from Unkle-J

sure.



This is only a 3 card combo. One of each, mogg fanatic, enduring renewal and deathrender. Since you control both abilities and they trigger at the same time you stack it how you want. The mogg fanatic can be returned to your hand and the replayed by the deathrenders ability. (I use to run this in my double infinite deck along with the brion stoutarm, mirror enitity, ceaseless searblades combo.)
Of course this in now way involves the strider but you asked.

Still a 4 card combo. It needs 2 Mogg Fanatics. You still need to do it with 2 of them.

I was asking for 3 cards, not 4.

All of these combos will make for a great deck.

The problem so far is that they are all 4 card combos (inclusing the innitial one I came up with).

anyone have any ideas for a 3 card combo, something much more simple to pull off?

Se la vee! And good riddance (not the time of my life). I never liked Scrye. The articles were boring, lacked humor, and were as bland as saltines. The prices, as stated by most here, were waaayyy off.

The magazine I miss is Inquest. If it were still in print, I'd subscribe to it for it's content, which was original. From the still-life based comics (where I think the idea of Robot Xhicken partially came from), to their joke cards.

In regards to trade "predators", 2 things:
1) It's all about what each individual values the cards at. I have a friend who will not part with his Masticore, even though it is still only a $5.00 card. Someone can offer him $15-$20 in decent cards, and he'd still tell them no. I'll admit to trying to trade of my jank for something good, but I also make sure the trade is worth it on both end.

2) This how a collection is created at the beginnings for most of us. We begin with nothing. We open up a chase rare. Someone comes along with 5 crap rares and trades it to us. I did it at first to build my collection when I got back into Magic after selling off my collection and going on a 2 year hiatus. I knew I was trading away a great card, but I also knew I needed to get a few deck ideas from paper to the real thing. I explain this to others who question my trades.

Most kids cannot afford a box of 32 packs when a new set hits. They'll pick up a pack here & a pack there. They'll get most of their rares & uncommons through trades. When Conflux comes out, midnight, on a Thurs., I'll have my box open and the cards I need put aside. I'll then take the left over rares & uncommons, put them in a sepparate spot in the back of my binder to trade to the kids who cannot afford to do what I do. I'll rifle through their trade, find some medium range cards, or 1 or 2 good rares, and start the trade. Everyone walks away happy. They do not feel ripped off, and I get a few cards I need.

In the end, rember this:

A pound of granite and a pound of silver on a scale are equal.

Quote from ~Tilde~

Carnival of Souls would work, though I'd just use Sludge Strider, Ornithopter (or Phyrexian Walker/Shield Sphere), Ashnod's Altar and Enduring Renewal..

With the Ornithopter & Shield Sphere, you would still need to get them into the G.Y., which would turn this into a 5 card combo. Too much for even casual. I chose the Marauder and/or Shifting Wall because them com in w/ a toughness of 1. With the Alter & the Sludge Strider, there was the 2 generated for it's ability cost of 1.

Or any 1cc artifact would do in this case, as long as it has a toughness of 1, like the arcbound worker.

This will also give the Sludge Strider a boost of "infinite" power & toughness, since the modular counters are now going on it.

Let's throw Disciple of the Vault in the mix for more insult to injury.

Now a serious bastard of a casual deck is coming into view. Super-duper 1 trick pony action here!

Quote from fullmetaldante

it sounds like you are forcing this combo. wouldnt it just be easier to have Deathrender, 2 mogg fanatics and the enduring renewal for the infinite damage?

I do not think it's being forced. It's a new infinite damage trick. The one you mentioned is also a 4 card one trick pony. The first idea is a 4 carder also (Sludge, Renewal, Marauder/Shifting, and The Altar).

The second it just extra fuel for the fire of the first. A deck can be made from both combo's requiring Renewal for a casual deck, even though the second idea (with the Composite golem) is pushing the boundaries a bit.

And it does more than infinite damage, it's infinite life. It's a novelty, like the recently mentioned Lich's Mirror (from a recent Wizards article) combo of making your apponent lose infinite times.

A wrench hath been throweth in thy gears!

OK, so it's not infinite, but a drainlife for any mana produced is allllmmmost as nasty. Still work playing if you ask me.

EDIT: problem solved NOW IT IS INFINITE DAMAGE, muahahahaha, look at the green added details to the first post. Just about anything is possible in this game given the right amount of ingenuity

I was reading somewhat thuroughly the rulings list created by WotC for Conflux when I figured out a way to gain infinite life while dealing infinite damage to any/all players in the game (I know, I know, technically you can't deal "infinite" - you have to choose a numerical value) that is simple and three carded.

And yes, it used one of the most broken, yet fun card ever made: enduring renewal!!!

Here's the card that makes the magic also happen:

Sludge Strider
:1mana::symw::symu::symb:
Artifact Creature -- Insect
3/3
Whenever another artifact comes into play under your control or another artifact you control leaves play, you may pay :1mana:. If you do, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.


Herw's the offical ruling for it:

* If an artifact creature with 0 toughness comes into play under your control, Sludge Strider's ability will trigger a total of twice: Once when that creature comes into play, and once when it's put into a graveyard. Both abilities will be put on the stack after the state-based effect check that puts the 0-toughness creature into the graveyard is finished.

Now, the third card is (either one of these):Phyrexian Marauder or shifting Wall!!!

Do you see it??? It's as plain as daylight. Play Sludge Strider. Play the Marauder. Then play Enduring Renewal. Then find a way, anyway, to get him into the graveyard (I called this a three card combo because pretty much any removal card with get the Marauder into the G.Y.).

OK, this is getting sloppy now, but it will definitely work:

Cast the Marauder as a 1/1, costing you only 1, sacrafice it to Ashnod's Altar, giving you 2, so there is a left over 1 to pay for the cost of the sacrifice cost to the Sludge Strider

Another idea is along simuliar lines, but different. Have out the Sludge Strider and Enduring Renewal, but now have... (bad card idea removed, continue on reading...) out the Composite Golem from 10th/5th Dawn will work with 2 Helm of Awakening or 2 Cloud Key. The Composite Glome's cost is now equal it's cost. Perfect also for a 5 Color Enduring Renewal deck.

OK, so it's now a 4 spell combo, but if all of this was in the same deck, it'll be a blast!

OK, the combo is now pretty much been whittled down to casual play, but it could be a lot of fun, and a ghastly surprise.

Sure, your friends won't find it funny, and it might get you dirty looks at FNM, bt it's another way to break Enduring Renewal. Fun, isn't it?!?!

What other synergies/combos can come out of the Sludge Strider?

Makes sence. When I clicked on it, the "blank card/missing" pops up. Must be an internal error on their part. So why is that the only card with an asterisk?

The second part of my posts mentions card from outside Shard of Alara. Shouldn't all of them have an asterisk? Not all readers of their articles know that incinerate or pacifism is from a past set. There may be confusnio at the ranks.

Looking on the pre-made deck lists from the Wizards site, I noticed a strange floating asterisk (*) next to the Fire-field Ogre in the Grixis pre-made deck.

http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/114

Does anyone know why it is there or what it represents?

Is this some sort of strange hint at something?

Normally at the end of an article, or if it's print media, the bottom of the page as a foot-note, the reason for the asterisk is explained. At the bottom of the article it isn't.

Wouldn't be funny (peculiar, not ha-ha) if it was just a typo. An anomally that wasn't meant to be there?

On another note, in the premade decks, there are cards from past sets that are not naturally part of Shards of Alara, like terror, incinerate, remove soul, and pacifism. Will they have Conflux logos, or 10th edition logos?

This reminds me al ot of when Ice Age cards, like swords to plowshares, made guest appearances in the Coldsnap pre-made decks. Maybe they will have Conflux logos, but sleightly tweeked to set them apart, like the Ice Age snowflakes were in Coldsnap.

Any thoughts to this specualtion?

Can we look to Futuresight for clues? It was the experimantal block that grabbed past keywords & put a twist on them?

The trick here is to take the smattering of clues from all over the place and glue them together to make them coherent.

Quote from ElricJC

He's a spell-casting, inherently magical cyborg. Dude, he's the Terminator :D. Well, the Mortifier at least. 4/4 works.

Well, if you put it that way, then each time you use his mortify ability, you have to say, "Hasta la vista, baby."

I see him more like a dude with that fillagree-steroid juice pumin' through his veins. Wait, they're not veins anymore, they're circuits.

The coolest thing since sliced bread... Geaorge Carlin would smack me for saying that (props to anyone who knows what I'm talkin' about).

Flavor-wise, this is interesting and makes sence that it's a mythic:

I once read that a vanilla 1/1 would represent the common, average person. A gray ogre is a 2/2, a hill giant is a 3/3. Even a magical 30-40 foot tall djinn, Juzam Djinn is a 5/5.

So this mythical power-house of fun removal is physically stronger than a giant, yet only sleightly weeker that the grand & mighty Juzam???

I don't buy it - so flavor wise, someone explain to me how he's so strong and tough. I do not thing he should be a human, that's all. Maybe an elemental, a titan, a djinn/geenie (it could work), or even be the first blue giant.

Don't get me wrong, I want a place set. I just do not thing anything mortally human in this world could be this big. It would have to be partially mutant, a mix breed w/ another kind, a super hero (think Wolverine or the like), or angelic/demonic in nature.

Quote from kamahl789

i've never seen a white or black shapeshifter.

I said the same thing about Thornling and hey, look, it's also a shapeshifter. Funny thing about Magic R&D, they're unpredicatable.

And mentioning that Alara Reborn has something never done before is like all of the other bombs that come around each set, something new to keep us on our toes.

I wouldn't be more surprised to see black & white shapeshifters like these if I woke up tomorow sewn to the carpet.

Here is the difference I see between the more tradional artifact and a colored artifact: bang for the buck.

Look at the traditional artifact creature for example: week (mostly), high cost to ability inequal. Mostly useful in limitted play (drafts & sealed). The plus side to being bland and mediocre is that any deck can play them, regardless of it's color. Which is what made cards like masticore, cursed scroll, sensei's divining top, and many many others so highly desired; their universal nature.

Would Umezawa's Jitte be as strong a card if it was red or black?

It would still be an awesome bomb, but a solid color blue deck wouldn't run it, especially if it had activated abilities that required red mana. The blue deck would have to splash, and that would cause a possible slow-down in tempo.

(I know some of you out ther looovvveee to argue, but this is just an example. It would be a waste to argue my example. What is so pathetic is that I actually have to give this post-warning just to keep the vultures on topic. It's just a really bad arguement tactic.)

Back on my point. Giving an artifact color(s) just limits what colors get access to what incredible artifact ability. The recent additions of colored artifacts is not just an example of power creep, but of great & interesting twists with a fresh, new look. Colored artifacts have given us some great cards, even though there's a limit on what colors can play them.

Look on the flipside, the powerful artifact creatures can now be considered creatures that can now be detroyed with artifact removal, i.e. krosan grip, smash to smithereens. Colored artifacts are now cards that can be destroyed with red elemental blast or celestial purge.

OK, sure, red, in general has mostly hated on red, but there has been some red cards benefiting from artifacts, remember shrapnel blast, atog, and slobad, goblin tinkerer (sure, the bonuses come from the detruction of your own artifacts, but that's how red benefits from artifacts).

Green artifacts? Wishy-washy. Would like to see, but only if there's enough justification.

Basically, I would welcome colored artifacts in the future with open arms, like an Italian grandmother welcoming another into the family.

p.s. - didn't you see it coming with the transguild courier???

So, I am sure all of you, the community, remember the classic tough-guy "Ernhamgeddon" deck that gave us all the sweats when we see ol' Ernnie and at least a plains & a forest.

I have updated the old formula with the new g/w knight who will benefit by the 'Geddon.

The rest is self explanatory in regards to creature control and damage pumping.

If there is any confusion why I added a card or didn't add a card, just ask.

For example: I already own 3 g/w fetch-lands, but buying Savannahs would be too expensive for me.

Please, give me feedback & ideas. The deck feels pretty tight as it is.