3, Feb, 25

Players Discover New MTG Aetherdrift Combo Kill with Commons

During the spoiler season of every MTG set, one thing players love to look for is any new combos that arise. In some instances, the introduction of a new combo has a massive impact on Constructed, as we saw when Amalia Benavides Aguirre was printed. Other times, new combos fall short of expectations.

Regardless of which way they go, the discovery of new combos is always an exciting time for casual brewers and competitive players. With this in mind, there’s plenty of reason to be excited about the upcoming release of Aetherdrift. After all, players have already found a unique two-card combo kill that’ll be coming to Pauper very soon.

Magmakin Artillerist Combo

Magmakin Artillerist

The new combo revolves around two key cards: Magmakin Artillerist and Ophidian Eye. Similar to how Curiosity is worded, Ophidian Eye lets you draw a card whenever the enchanted creature deals damage of any kind to the opponent, not just combat damage.

So, the goal here is to enchant Magmakin Artillerist with Ophidian Eye. From there, any time you discard a card, Magmakin Artillerist will ping your opponent, triggering Ophidian Eye to draw you a card in the process.

This alone is cool, but it gets even better. If you manage to get to eight cards in hand, you can draw your whole deck and deal a boatload of damage to the opponent by simply going to your cleanup step!

Typically, when you go to your cleanup step, you simply discard down to seven cards and the turn immediately shifts to the next player. That changes, however, if a triggered ability goes on the stack.

In the case of Magmakin Artillerist and Ophidian Eye, you will discard a card during your cleanup step if you have eight cards in hand. This will trigger Magmakin Artillerist to deal one damage to the opponent, and you will draw a card thanks to Ophidian Eye as a follow up. Well, now you’re back to eight cards in hand, so the same steps repeat.

As long as you have more cards in your deck than the opponent has life points, this process will end with a victory.

Potential Support Cards

Aquamoeba

Obviously, getting to eight cards in hand and having your combo go undisrupted is a lot to ask. However, there are a handful of support cards that can make winning the game easier to achieve.

First up, we have creatures like Aquamoeba or Tireless Tribe that allow you to discard cards at will. If you add one of these creatures to the picture, you don’t need to get eight cards in hand anymore.

Instead, you simply discard a card from your hand to Aquamoeba or Tireless Tribe. This triggers Magmakin Artillerist, which in turn triggers Ophidian Eye to let you draw a card. You still need enough cards in your deck to win the game in this manner, but you don’t need to involve your cleanup step.

Next, you want ways to protect your combo. Magmakin Artillerist is vulnerable to removal, and you do not want to get blown out with Ophidian Eye on the stack. Simple effects like Shore Up make for solid protection. Digging a bit deeper, Circular Logic pairs super well with Aquamoeba, doubling as protection for your combo and interaction for opposing combos.

You can then fill out the rest of the deck with cantrips and other ways to discard cards for value. Lorien Revealed is a natural fit. It cycles for one mana to trigger Magmakin Artillerist, helps you hit your land drops, and can be hard cast so you can more easily reach the eight card threshold when you don’t have Aquamoeba.

Competitive Viability

Lightning Bolt

Even with some support, it does seem a bit unlikely this combo will make a ton of noise in Pauper. Magmakin Artillerist does get a bump because it doesn’t die to Lightning Bolt. Still, the fact that Magmakin Artillerist and Ophidian Eye are vulnerable to Hydroblast and Pyroblast effects, respectively, makes the situation even more dire.

For right now, the Basking Broodscale+Sadistic Glee combo seems more robust and efficient. Relying on two three-drops for a combo isn’t exactly ideal given how cheap the disruptive elements are in Pauper.

That being said, the one thing going for the Magmakin Artillerist combo is redundancy. Beyond just Ophidian Eye, Snake Umbra accomplishes the same goals alongside Magmakin Artillerist. Any other effects that deal damage, such as Kessig Flamebreather, pair nicely with these two enchantments, even if they don’t open the door for the same combo kills.

All in all, there’s still a chance this combo breaks out. A ban to the Sadistic Glee combo in some capacity, which seems like a real possibility in the coming months, would only help the cause. Magmakin Artillerist is a sweet design, and we’re excited to see how players work to maximize it.

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