I always had this preconception that people in general dislike playing against combo. In fact, the first build of my current deck didn’t even had an unfair wincon. What I found later on while actually playing is that my playgroup didn’t mind combos as much and I found myself losing everygame because I purposefully held back during deckbuilding. (Not saying you need combo to win, but that particular deck of mine did.)
IMO there cases where those 2-3 pieces “easy” combos like mykhaeus or hulk are actually positive:
1) To give hard control/Stax decks a quick kill after they established the lock. Often times these decks drag the game for too long. Having a “i win” button is actually an act of mercy.
2) To keep up with your playgroup’s power level. Many builds doesn’t have the natural strength to play against fine tuned commanders. Adding a few powerful combos can level the competition. This, of course, so long the combo serves your deck and not the other way around.
3) To punish non interactive decks. This seems odd to say because the common conception is that combo decks are also linear and non interactive. But people tend to forget that ramp->ramp->fattie->kill or ritual->ritual->razaketh is also linear and boring. Of course you have to be careful otherwise you will also become linear and non interactive.Still, running a few combos that can win mid game if undisrupted is an ok way to punishing people that only cares about developing their own gameplan.
In the end, it all comes to how is you playgroup power level and what you like and don’t like to play against.
What are you guys’ thoughts on the new incubation//incongruity ? It allows to have removal maindeck without compromising the combo. The blue splash doesn’t seem that difficult since all of our dorks already taps for blue.
IMO there cases where those 2-3 pieces “easy” combos like mykhaeus or hulk are actually positive:
1) To give hard control/Stax decks a quick kill after they established the lock. Often times these decks drag the game for too long. Having a “i win” button is actually an act of mercy.
2) To keep up with your playgroup’s power level. Many builds doesn’t have the natural strength to play against fine tuned commanders. Adding a few powerful combos can level the competition. This, of course, so long the combo serves your deck and not the other way around.
3) To punish non interactive decks. This seems odd to say because the common conception is that combo decks are also linear and non interactive. But people tend to forget that ramp->ramp->fattie->kill or ritual->ritual->razaketh is also linear and boring. Of course you have to be careful otherwise you will also become linear and non interactive.Still, running a few combos that can win mid game if undisrupted is an ok way to punishing people that only cares about developing their own gameplan.
In the end, it all comes to how is you playgroup power level and what you like and don’t like to play against.