Thanks to rotation, Standard is a totally new MTG format. There’s a lot of opportunities to innovate, and a lot of strange decks are popping up as a result. Recently, a death combo using Insidious Roots appeared in the fringes of the Standard format. With some innovation, it could become a meta contender.
Today, we’re looking at yet another bizarre infinite combo that ends the game on the spot. This time, two new Bloomburrow cards are being utilized to create yet another infinite combo alongside an uncommon that many failed to notice.
Dragonhawk Rises
Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest is your ticket to winning the game out of nowhere. It might be a bit tough to see from here, but Dragonhawk can technically deal absurd amounts of damage if it can enter the battlefield over and over. That’s how you’re going to win the game.
The second Bloomburrow card we need to pull this combo off is Jackdaw Savior. This card rightfully got a lot of hype in preview season. The ability to constantly revive creatures on the death of others is a terrifying thing. Thanks to a bizarre contingency, Jackdaw Savior can be used with Dragonhawk, Fate’ Tempest to create infinite ETBs for the Legendary Dragon. Here’s the last piece of the puzzle:
Visage Bandit bizarrely answers the constraints of Jackdaw Savior. Because the card can enter as a copy of another creature in play, Visage Bandit can have two different mana values. This allows the Legend Rule to do the heavy lifting in this combo. Here’s how it works:
- Start with Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest and Jackdaw Savior in play.
- Cast Visage Bandit and have it enter as a copy of Dragonhawk.
- The Legend Rule will apply. Remove your Visage Bandit from the board.
- The entry of Visage Bandit as Dragonhawk will trigger the Dragonhawk that died and Jackdaw Savior. Jackdaw Savior saw Visage Bandit as a Dragonhawk on death, so you can revive anything with mana value four or less. That includes Visage Bandit.
- Revive Visage Bandit and have it enter as a copy of Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest. Rinse and repeat the loop until you can kill your opponent with Dragonhawk triggers.
A Potential shell
Showcasing the combo, Twitter user HexMTG offers a shell with lots of controlling elements combined with the Dragonhawk combo in order to win the game. Starfall Invocation, in particular, is an interesting boardwipe that can abuse Dragonhawk’s ETB ability to maximum value. Not only do you get to wipe a problematic board, but you can also have your win condition re-enter and even cantrip.
Assembling this three-card combo could be somewhat difficult. Being able to plot Visage Bandit allows you to go for the win with less mana than expected, but I could see drawing the wrong parts of the combo being a somewhat consistent problem. While your other cards are buying you time, there is little in the way of card selection here.
Unfortunately, because the combo pieces for this unique deck cost so much mana, you’re almost forced to draw the game out. The earliest that this combo can win the game without ramping out or cheating out Dragonhawk is turn five. You also need a turn to deploy Jackdaw Savior and Plot the Visage Bandit, so there’s a total mana investment of 11 in order to make the combo work.
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Is This Competitive?
Unless the Standard metagame slows down to an absolutely snail-like pace, our prediction is that this combo deck will not be viable. Not only do you need a ton of mana to make this work, but a better combo already exists in the Standard format.
Innkeeper’s Talent and Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting is already a more efficient combo than the Dragonhawk one. Only two cards in two colors are needed. You do need to invest a lot of mana into this combo as well, 13 in total, but Vraska and Innkeeper’s Talent are decent cards on their own.
Between being rather clunky and a strictly better combo existing in the format, our bet is that this combo is not a particularly viable one. That said, if you really want to go infinite with a Dragon, this may be one of the best opportunities to do that in the Standard format.
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