Instant Kills Infinite Creatures Explosive Kills

Your Modern Combo Guide
Alexander Shearer
August, 2011
[email protected]
Instant Kills
Infinite Creatures
Explosive Kills
Cheating Things Out
ETB / LTB / GTG Loops
Locks
Hive Mind
Accelerate into...
+
...and then cast any one of the
Future Sight pacts.Your opponent’s
upkeep comes first, and when they
(typically) can’t pay for the pact,
they lose.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Seismic Swans
Use cascade spells to find Seismic Assault...
...then discard a land to Assault to deal 2 damage
to Swans, drawing 2 cards. Then keep pitching
lands to draw cards until you have enough lands
in hand to deal lethal damage to the opponent.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
(Most Swans decks run
36-40 lands)
Dragonstorm - getting there
Cheap mana accelerators build mana and storm count...
...and Spinerock Knoll can be activated via
fast burn spells to flip up key cards.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Dragonstorm - kill cards
Dragonstorm has a wide range of targets...
...and the deck can also win via other
storm cards, including Grapeshot and
Ignite Memories (sometimes with
Pyromancer’s Swath).
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Heartbeat
Heartbeat Combo uses Early
Harvest, Hearbeat of Spring,
and basic lands to generate
lots of mana in one turn.
Weird Harvest and transmute spells find Early Harvest,
Heartbeat, and various win conditions that use all that mana.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Ad Nauseam
Cast Angel’s Grace, then Ad Nauseam to draw your deck (feeling
free to go to negative life to do so).
Then use multiple copies of Simian Spirit Guide to pay double
red for Conflagrate, discarding X cards to pay the rest and kill
your opponent.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Splinter Twin
+
Splinter Twin plus any creature with an untap effect on
entering the battlefield lets you generate an arbitrarily
large number of creatures.
Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite are both popular choices
because they have Flash, and can be cast on the opponent’s
end step.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Kiki-Jiki
+
Kiki-Jiki plus any creature with an untap effect on
entering the battlefield lets you generate
an arbitrarily large number of creatures.
Kiki-Jiki and a combo companion
can also reach the battlefield via
an entwined Tooth and Nail.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Mythic
Fast mana creatures accelerate into
Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Eldrazi
Conscription. Alternately, if tempo
is needed rather than board position,
Sovereigns can find Helm or Mastery.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Living End
Cycling creatures fill
your graveyard and dig
for action...
...until you can cast a cascade
spell to find and cast Living End,
killing the opponent’s board
and generating an instant,
giant board position for you.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Time Sieve
Artifacts dig into your deck...
+1
...and Time Sieve converts
them into extra turns.
Sunrise and Vaults
return those artifacts
to the battlefield...
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
...letting you cycle into a kill via Tezzeret,
Glassdusk Hulk, or another artifact.
Hideaway Trap
Smaller creatures help
activate hideaway lands...
...which, along with Summoning
Trap, reveal bigger creatures...
...which trigger more lands and
reveal giant monsters.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
All-In Red
Red acceleration spells power out...
...giant monsters...
...hordes of goblins...
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
...and game-locking cards.
Polymorph
Token generators and creature duals give the Poly
deck access to creatures that are not creature cards.
These are “laundered” through a suite of spells...
...into game-ending monsters
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Enduring Ideal
Accelerate into Enduring Ideal,
then take the game over with...
...and disruption and inevitable finishers.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
...positional locks...
ETB / LTB / GTG accessory cards
There are many cards that trigger on creatures entering or leaving the
battlefield. They are the key finishing component of all ETB / LTB combos.
Make creatures.
Gain life.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Exile their deck.
Metamorph / LRW
Phyrexian Metamorph and Leonin Relic-Warder combine to make an
arbitrarily large number of ETB / LTB triggers.
+
Start with a
Relic-Warder...
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
...cast a Metamorph
copying it.
EXILE
Metamorph exiles itself with
Relic-Warder’s ability. When it
leaves the battlefield, the second
Relic-Warder ability triggers and
Metamorph returns from exile.
Repeat this as many times as you
want.
Metamorph / Sharuum
Phyrexian Metamorph and Sharuum the Hegemon combine to make an
arbitrarily large number of ETB / LTB / GTG triggers.
+
Both cards hit
the graveyard.
Start with Sharuum... ...copy it with Metamorph.
Use Metamorph’s “Sharuum”
trigger to return Sharuum.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Sharuum returns Metamorph.
Repeat as many times as you like.
Project X
+
Start with Saffi...
...cast Champion
not paying red
With Champion’s sacrifice trigger on
the stack, target it with Saffi’s ability
As Champion returns from the graveyard,
use its ETB ability to return Saffi
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Repeat this cycle as many
times as you like to generate
an arbitrary number of ETB /
LTB / GTG triggers.
Melira
Melira combines with any persist creature and a sacrifice outlet to
let you generate an arbitrary number of ETB / LTB / GTG triggers.
+
+
+2 life / cycle
2 damage /
cycle
Although you can combine Melira combo with an accessory card,
Persist creatures with ETB / LTB / GTG triggers can also generate
an arbitrary amount of life and damage.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Reveillark
Body Double copies Reveillark
in the graveyard, putting two
“return” triggers on the stack.
The right sacrifice outlet lets you place an
arbitrary number of “deaths” on the stack...
+ guest
...which means Body Double dies, and
its copied Reveillark triggers can
return it and one other creature.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
There are many popular ETB / sac
effects to abuse with Reveillark.
Emeria + Yosei
+
Sacrifice Yosei to Miren to tap down
5 of opponent’s permanents and
remove their next untap.
Use active Emeria to return
Yosei each turn, allowing
another sacrifice.
Once the Emeria + Yosei lock is online, for 3
mana per turn, you can gain 5 life and lock
your opponent out of untapping.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Slaver Ruins
+
Use Mindslaver to take control of opponent’s next
turn, then regain access to it via Academy Ruins.
The active Slaver Ruins lock requires 12
mana in addition to Academy Ruins, meaning
it is usually only played in decks powered by
Urza lands or Cloudposts.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
Pickles
+
With Brine Elemental on the battlefield, unmorph Vesuvan Shapeshifter to copy
its effect. Shapeshifter can then be turned face down during each of your
upkeeps and flipped back up to deny your opponent their following untap step.
The active Pickles lock costs just two mana
per turn to maintain.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])
No Stick
+
Isochron Scepter can
be combined with
other spells to...
...lock the
...lock the opponent
opponent out of
out combat
spells on their turn
No Stick is versatile but also a rather
soft lock, with many work-arounds
available to your opponent.
Alexander Shearer ([email protected])