Since the August ban announcement, the Standard metagame has been fairly open and diverse. While Izzet decks are still popular, there are plenty of other things to do, including crushing events with successful brews. Recently, one player won their Store Championship with a gnarly combo deck centered on a multitude of TMNT cards.
Consistently Assembling the Combo
This archetype piloted by Ricky is designed to deal infinite damage to the opponent as early as turn three. To set everything up, you’ll want to stick
Redshift, Rocketeer Chief
Redshift, Rocketeer Chief
Vigilance
{T}: Add X mana of any one color, where X is Redshift's power. Spend this mana only to activate abilities.
Exhaust — {10}{R}{G}: Put any number of permanent cards from your hand onto the battlefield. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.)
and
Chrome Dome
Chrome Dome
Other artifact creatures you control get +1/+0.
{5}: Create a token that's a copy of another target artifact you control. That token gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
, while having
Guac & Marshmallow Pizza
Guac & Marshmallow Pizza
Flash
When this artifact enters, target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Untap it.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.
lined up in hand.
From there, tap Redshift to float two mana to activate on abilities. Then cast the Pizza, untapping Redshift and buffing it, so Redshift can tap for four more mana. With six mana floating, you can make a token copy of the Pizza via Chrome Dome’s activated ability, letting you untap Redshift again.
At minimum, this loop grows Redshift infinitely large and nets you infinite mana to sink into Redshift’s Exhaust ability. With a second copy of Chrome Dome, however, you can use the infinite mana to make infinite Chrome Dome tokens and attack for lethal. Alternatively, by jamming
Biotech Specialist
Biotech Specialist
When this creature enters, create a Lander token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.")
Whenever you sacrifice an artifact, this creature deals 2 damage to target opponent.
, you can funnel mana into sacrificing your many Pizzas to deal lethal damage.
While assembling a three-card combo may seem difficult at first glance, this deck has plenty of ways to dig for its pieces. For example, both
Rapid Rescue
Rapid Rescue
Mill two cards. You may put a permanent card from among the milled cards into your hand. You gain 2 life. (To mill two cards, put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard.)
and
Dredger’s Insight
Dredger’s Insight
Whenever one or more artifact and/or creature cards leave your graveyard, you gain 1 life.
When this enchantment enters, mill four cards. You may put an artifact, creature, or land card from among the milled cards into your hand. (To mill four cards, put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard.)
can find any part of the combo. Additionally,
Courier of Comestibles
Courier of Comestibles
When this creature enters, you may search your library for a Food card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. If you don't put a card into your hand this way, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
reliably grabs the Pizza, while
Formidable Speaker
Formidable Speaker
When this creature enters, you may discard a card. If you do, search your library for a creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
{1}, {T}: Untap another target permanent.
gives you access to either creature. This deck even has some bonus redundancy, since
Topiary Lecturer
Topiary Lecturer
Increment (Whenever you cast a spell, if the amount of mana you spent is greater than this creature's power or toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
{T}: Add an amount of {G} equal to this creature's power.
can fill the same role as Redshift.
Surprisingly Resilient
Naturally, this creature combo deck shines brightest against archetypes with little removal. Decks like Mono-Green Landfall and Selesnya Offense typically struggle to put together a fast enough clock to race your combo, especially when you start with
Llanowar Elves
Llanowar Elves
{T}: Add {G}.
.
Interestingly, though, part of what makes this deck so intriguing is that it still fights through interaction better than you might expect. Redshift and Chrome Dome having three toughness is a huge deal versus Izzet Prowess and Spellementals, dodging
Burst Lightning
Burst Lightning
Kicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to any target. If this spell was kicked, it deals 4 damage instead.
and
Traumatic Critique
Traumatic Critique
Traumatic Critique deals X damage to any target. Draw two cards, then discard a card.
to an extent.
Even against more robust Dimir Midrange kill spells,
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to activate abilities of creatures you control.
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters on them have all activated abilities of all creature cards exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
{T}: Exile target card from a graveyard. When a creature card is exiled this way, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
turns your other creatures into combo pieces on a whim. As such, if the opponent ever taps out or runs out of answers, they risk losing anyway.
Notably, this deck only gets better against control thanks to
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1: Exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card. If you don't, Chandra deals 2 damage to each opponent.
+1: Add {R}{R}.
−3: Chandra deals 4 damage to target creature.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, this emblem deals 5 damage to any target."
from Reality Fracture. After all, this tool provides card advantage and a win condition in one, potentially helping you win even if you fail to put the combo together.
With all that upside, this archetype has a real chance to keep picking up steam after this performance. It’s always nice to see players get rewarded for bringing fun brews to an event, and this one certainly has legs.
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