One of the most amusing ways to win games of MTG is to have your opponent gain control of a permanent you own that comes with a major downside. Back in the day, using Donate to send Illusions of Grandeur your opponent’s way was a pretty sweet combo. More recently, we saw a combo play out with Demonic Pact and Harmless Offering in a Standard setting.
Now, another exciting Donate-style combo has emerged in Standard. Boasting a strong performance in a Magic Online Standard Challenge, this surprise archetype is showcasing its power.
How the Combo Works
The main combo this deck is looking to pull off revolves around two specific cards. The first is Coveted Falcon. Coveted Falcon is going to function as your Donate effect. Your goal is to Disguise the Falcon. Then, when you turn it face up, you’ll be able to give any number of permanents you control to your opponent.
Traditionally, you’d want to use Coveted Falcon as a card advantage engine. Gifting your opponent some of your excess lands or useless trinkets to draw cards, then steal them back when Coveted Falcon attacks is a cool line of play.
In this deck, though, you get a huge bonus if you manage to stick Greed’s Gambit. Greed’s Gambit provides a big reward with its enters-the-battlefield trigger. From there, you get punished on each of your end steps or whenever Greed’s Gambit leaves the battlefield.
Well, if you’re able to send Greed’s Gambit to your opponent with Coveted Falcon before it gets destroyed, your opponent ends up in a bind. Every turn cycle, they lose life, resources, and board presence. Eventually, this will drain the opponent of all their life and win you the game. If they have a way to blow up the enchantment, they still lose six life and any advantage they had in the process, all while you pulled ahead in a big way thanks to Greed’s Gambit’s initial triggered ability.
Interestingly, this deck goes as far as to use Virtue of Knowledge as a way to further maximize Greed’s Gambit. If you have six mana available, you can cast Virtue’s Adventure to copy Greed’s Gambit’s triggered ability when it resolves. As a result, you’ll get to draw six cards, gain 12 life, and make 6 2/1 fliers! This may be enough to close the game before Coveted Falcon even works its way into the equation.
Control Support
The rest of the deck is filled with control elements to help buy you time. It can take a while to set up your combo, especially considering that you ideally want to play Coveted Falcon face down and flip it face up on the same turn. That way, you don’t expose your Donate effect to a removal spell.
So, you’ll find a ton of removal spells in the mix. At two mana, Nowhere to Run is your primary kill spell. As an enchantment that just sits in play, it’s another card worth giving your opponent with Coveted Falcon to draw extra cards in the exchange. Its triggered ability also synergizes with Virtue’s Adventure in its own right.
From there, Bitter Triumph and Shoot the Sheriff allow you to remove bigger threats when applicable. To prevent your opponent from going too wide against you, a couple copies of Deadly Cover-Up make an appearance as well.
You won’t find a ton of counter magic in the maindeck, though Dispelling Exhale is clutch in some spots. Marang River Regent makes Dispelling Exhale more reliable, while doubling as a source of card advantage and beefy threat in the late game. Remember, Marang River Regent can be used to bounce Greed’s Gambit after giving it your opponent to trigger the final ability and let you recast Greed’s Gambit on a future turn. The same can be said for Into the Flood Maw.
As you continue to extend the game and hit your land drops, Consult the Star Charts becomes the ultimate card selection spell. It does a great job finding your combo pieces, board wipes, and anything else you might need.
Backup Plan
This Dimir shell looks like an absolute blast to play. Obviously, your combo cards play a big part in that. However, part of what gives this deck a better shot at having success is its ability to win traditional control games. In the event your opponent has answers like Annul and other Counterspells that make it tough to stick Greed’s Gambit in the first place, you have a solid backup plan.
In the sideboard, extra copies of Marang River Regent as well as Quantum Riddler let you lean more on classic finishers to close games. You then have extra interaction for specific matchups. Annul makes lets you keep Agatha’s Soul Cauldron or Proft’s Eidetic Memory off the board. Long Goodbye gives you extra answers to cheap creatures, Add in some extra pieces of interaction and Stock Up, and you’ve got a gameplan.
Considering how hostile the current Standard environment is, especially to brews, seeing Coveted Falcon and Greed’s Gambit finally make their presences felt is awesome. Keep this strategy on your radar in the coming weeks.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!