As more and more Modern Horizons 3 leaks continue to get revealed, it’s amazing how many intriguing, flashy designs there are to marvel at. For instance, a whole new cycle of “free” spells awaits us with MH3’s release. Meanwhile, some players believe Ugin’s Labyrinth is going to be completely broken in Modern.
Recently, a new Boros Escape Titan reminiscent of Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath and Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger was leaked as well.
With all these cool rares and mythic rares coming out of the woodworks, it’s hard not to get excited. However, it’s important to make sure to not overlook some of the commons and uncommons in the set. Today, we are going to focus on one common revealed in a recent MTG story that has opened the door for multiple different infinite combos.
The card in question is none other than Basking Broodscale. This two-mana threat has a lot more combo potential than may appear at first look. Interestingly, multiple of these combos are going to be legal on MTG Arena when Modern Horizons 3 comes out. These synergies may not quite be up to par in Modern, but they should certainly bring some noise to Historic and beyond.
Scurry Oak 2.0
Our first Basking Broodscale combo is one that is very similar to an infinite combo already on MTG Arena. When Rosie Cotton of South Lane was first spoiled, there was a lot of hype surrounding it in conjunction with Scurry Oak. With Scurry Oak on the battlefield, playing Rosie Cotton would result in the creation of infinite 1/1 tokens by executing the following steps:
- When Rosie enters the battlefield, you get a Food token. This triggers Rosie’s second ability.
- Put the +1/+1 counter on Scurry Oak and make a 1/1 Squirrel token out of the deal.
- When the Squirrel token enters, Rosie’s second ability triggers again.
- Repeat this process to end up with infinite Squirrels and an infinitely large Scurry Oak
Scurry Oak and Rosie Cotton still see some Historic play. As it turns out, we may have a bit of redundancy for this combo in the form of a little Eldrazi Lizard.
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Redundancy and Efficiency
Basking Broodscale functions extremely similarly to Scurry Oak in the sense that it makes Creature tokens whenever you put +1/+1 counters on it. As such, if you follow up Broodscale with Rosie Cotton, you can execute the same loop described above. This time, though, you end up with infinite 0/1 Eldrazi Swamp tokens instead of 1/1 Squirrels.
This is certainly a tradeoff, because if the opponent can chump block your Broodscale for a turn, they can untap and kill it. From there, despite having infinite board presence, your Creatures tokens have zero power and may not close the game. Even still, there are some major upsides to Broodscale that are worth mentioning.
First and foremost, Broodscale costs two mana, not three. This means that you can curve turn two Broodscale into turn three Rosie Cotton no problem and attack with a lethal Broodscale. Second, the Eldrazi Spawn can be used to create infinite colorless mana right away.
Unfortunately, Walking Ballista isn’t on Arena yet, but this is something to keep in mind if it gets implemented. Staff of Domination is on Arena, though, so you could gain infinite life if you had Staff in hand after executing the original combo. Either way, there’s a good chance these decks just run both Broodscale and Scurry Oak to make the combo more consistent.
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Infinite Life or Infinite Drain
In addition to Broodscale’s effectiveness in a two-card combo with Rosie Cotton, Broodscale also works well in three-card Heliod combo. Once again, Broodscale can fill the same role that Scurry Oak does in generating infinite life. If you control Heliod and any Creature that gains you life when another Creature enters the battlefield, such as Soul Warden, playing Broodscale or Scurry Oak can net you infinite life:
- When Broodscale enters, you gain a life from Soul Warden. This causes Heliod to trigger
- Use Heliod to put a +1/+1 counter on Broodscale, netting you an Eldrazi Spawn token as a result
- When the Eldrazi Swpan token enters, you gain a life, causing Heliod to trigger once again
- Repeat this process
Some Historic decks that utilize the Scurry Oak+Rosie Cotton combo incorporate Heliod into the mix for additional synergy. What’s nice about Broodscale, though, is that the creation of Eldrazi Spawn tokens specifically opens the door for an infinite life drain combo as well. See, if you replace Soul Warden with Blood Artist in this case, you can force your opponent to lose all of their life at once! You just need to get the first counter on Broodscale to get things started, but Broodscale’s Adapt ability has you covered:
- Adapt Broodscale, generating an Eldrazi Spawn token
- Sacrifice the Eldrazi Spawn token to make a mana, triggering Blood Artist
- Drain the opponent, which in turn triggers Heliod
- Put a +1/+1 counter on Broodscale, making another Eldrazi Spawn
- Repeat steps 2 through 4 over and over
These combos are super cool and will likely garner a lot of attention when Broodscale makes its way onto Arena. Who knew a random common would have so much potential?
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Pauper Combos
Speaking of commons, Broodscale is going to be legal in Pauper, too. With this in mind, there’s a unique combo that can be executed in the format with the help of Sadistic Glee. All you have to do is Enchant Broodscale with Sadistic Glee, Adapt Broodscale, and reap the rewards by following these steps:
- When you Adapt Broodscale, you create an Eldrazi Spawn token
- Sacrifice the token to make a mana, triggering Sadistic Glee
- Put a +1/+1 counter on Broodscale with Sadistic Glee, creating another Eldrazi Spawn token
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 over and over
The end result is an infinitely large Broodscale and infinite colorless mana. From there, you can close the game in a number of different ways. Notably, Rite of Consumption can let you win the game immediately without forcing you to branch into other colors.
While Basking Broodscale may look like a mediocre common at first glance, there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Whether you’re playing Historic, Pauper, Modern, or Commander, there are a multitude of cool combos available even beyond the ones we covered today. Basking Broodscale is indeed a powerful card, adding itself to the long list of potent Modern Horizons 3 spoilers.
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