At long last, prereleases for Magic’s newest set, Lorwyn Eclipsed, are just hours away. While the initial reception to many Lorwyn Eclipsed cards was somewhat mixed, there are some silly combos available for players to explore.
Utilizing the Vivid mechanic, one new MTG combo threatens to play out their entire deck as early as turn three. Originally brewed by MTG content creator Hello Good Game, it didn’t take long before multiple Early Access creators were putting their entire decks into play with Aurora Awakener.
MTG Aurora Awakener
Aurora Awakener has massive potential, but in order to maximize it, you need to go through a few hurdles. Getting all five colors into play to make the most out of Awakener is already tough enough, but you also need to spend seven mana to cast it. That said, as demonstrated by Etali, Primal Conqueror‘s similar entry trigger, Aurora Awakener is seriously powerful, meriting the effort to get it into play.
Fortunately, in Commander, these hurdles aren’t really that big of a deal. Any five-colored Commander, for example, satisfies the Vivid conditions of Aurora Awakener on their own. Some options, like Jared Carthalion, can create tokens of all colors, enabling Vivid even if the Commander itself dies.
Ramp can easily solve the mana issue for Aurora Awakener, but thanks to the Giant’s value happening on entry, cheating the card in is much more effective. This makes Aurora Awakener a great inclusion in decks like Slimefoot and Squee or Henzie “Toolbox” Torre, who can reanimate or otherwise reduce the casting cost of the Giant. In some cases, you can turn Aurora Awakener into a combo piece, combining cost reduction effects like Animar, Soul of the Elements and bounce effects like Cloudstone Curio. If you want to really make this card pop off, granting it Myriad with cards like Blade of Selves or Legion Loyalty can cause a cascade of permanents to come into play from your deck.
MTG Vivid Combo
Meanwhile, in Standard, Aurora Awakener creates a blisteringly fast combo, allowing the giant to prey on other uninteractive Badgermole Cub decks. By starting the game with Leyline of the Guildpact, you solve the colored permanent issue, allowing Aurora Awakener to put five permanents into play. This also allows Bloom Tender to tap for all five colors, giving you a quick way to ramp out Aurora Awakener on turn three.
Once Aurora Awakener is online, you’ll start cheating a bunch of cards into play. Since this card triggers on entry, this also opens the door for copy effects to keep the chain going. Between your extra copies of Aurora Awakener and cards like Waxen Shapethief, you should be able to consistently hit more copies of this giant, dumping your entire deck into play. Once you find Lavaleaper, you can swing for lethal immediately.
While this combo is flashy and explosive, we’d be surprised if it takes over Lorwyn Eclipsed Standard. Players are already prepared to take on Badgermole Cub starts, meaning that an early Bloom Tender won’t often live past turn two. Making things worse, if your opponent comes prepared with enchantment removal for Leyline of the Guildpact, your combo will lose a lot of its effectiveness.
That said, thanks to new additions like Formidable Speaker, assembling this combo is pretty easy, especially if your opponents aren’t prepared for it. Other new cards, like Tam, Mindful First-Year, can protect your Bloom Tender from targeted removal while allowing it to tap for five mana without the Leyline. Things do need to go right for this combo to work, but Standard has the toolbox to force an early Aurora Awakener into play through most things.
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