Unique Legacy Deck Joins Two Distinct Combos into One Shell!

It’s no surprise at this point that Wilds of Eldraine has had a massive impact on multiple formats as a premier set. We’ve seen Beseech the Mirror Beseech the Mirror Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.)
Search your library for a card, exile it face down, then shuffle. If this spell was bargained, you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost if that spell's mana value is 4 or less. Put the exiled card into your hand if it wasn't cast this way. show up even in Eternal formats like Legacy, while upgrades for specific decks like Sleight of Hand Sleight of Hand Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other on the bottom of your library. and Monstrous Rage Monstrous Rage Target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Create a Monster Role token attached to it. (If you control another Role on it, put that one into the graveyard. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.) in Pioneer shifted the overall metagame. Perhaps no card has had a bigger influence across different formats than 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. , though.

It’s incredible just how many different combos Cauldron helped open the door for. In Standard, some players have utilized the infinite mana combo utilizing Cauldron alongside Sleep-Cursed Faerie Sleep-Cursed Faerie Flying, ward {2}
This creature enters tapped with three stun counters on it. (If it would become untapped, remove a stun counter from it instead.)
{1}{U}: Untap this creature. and Kami of Whispered Hopes Kami of Whispered Hopes If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a permanent you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on that permanent instead.
{T}: Add X mana of any one color, where X is this creature's power. . In Modern, Cauldron has made its presence felt in Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Protection from Humans
Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card.
{B}{B}, Discard a card: Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) combo decks.

Today, we are going to focus on an innovative decklist that makes use of Cauldron in Legacy. This deck combines a well-established “Bomberman” combo using Auriok Salvagers Auriok Salvagers {1}{W}: Return target artifact card with mana value 1 or less from your graveyard to your hand. with a relatively new Cauldron combo using Phyrexian Devourer Phyrexian Devourer When this creature's power is 7 or greater, sacrifice it.
Exile the top card of your library: Put X +1/+1 counters on this creature, where X is the exiled card's mana value. . Let’s start by briefly going over the traditional Auriok Salvagers combo.

Classic Bomberman Combo

Bomberman strategies use a combo that has been around for a long time in order to create infinite mana. The two pieces necessary to do so are Auriok Salvagers and Lion’s Eye Diamond Lion’s Eye Diamond Discard your hand, Sacrifice this artifact: Add three mana of any one color. Activate only as an instant. . Notably, Lion’s Eye Diamond doesn’t have to be in your hand for this combo to work; it can also be in your graveyard from the start. This makes Goblin Engineer Goblin Engineer When this creature enters, you may search your library for an artifact card, put it into your graveyard, then shuffle.
{R}, {T}, Sacrifice an artifact: Return target artifact card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. a strong card for the deck, helping you find one of the combo pieces for cheap.

From there, Salvagers allows you to pay two mana to return an Artifact with mana value one or less from your graveyard to your hand. So, you bring back Lion’s Eye Diamond[/tooltips] and use Lion’s Eye Diamond to add three mana to your mana pool, discarding your hand in the process. You can use two of that mana to bring Lion’s Eye Diamond back to your hand and repeat this process to net infinite mana.

Of course, you won’t have any cards in hand at this point. However, Salvagers can also bring back Walking Ballista Walking Ballista This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target. from your graveyard to your hand, which is the main infinite mana payoff for the deck. While it may seem a bit difficult to assemble all the pieces of the combo, Goblin Engineer can also put Ballista in your graveyard instead of Lion’s Eye Diamond, depending on what piece you are missing. In addition, the deck plays Karn, the Great Creator Karn, the Great Creator Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated.
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its mana value.
−2: You may reveal an artifact card you own from outside the game or choose a face-up artifact card you own in exile. Put that card into your hand. and copies of Lion’s Eye Diamond and Ballista in the sideboard to tutor for. This helps make executing the combo easier and more consistent than it might look at first, so long as you can find a copy of Auriok Salvagers.

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Adding Yet Another Combo

Where this deck differs from pure Bomberman shells of the past is with the inclusion of yet another combo using Cauldron. Cauldron lets you exile Creature cards from graveyards to put +1/+1 counters on Creatures you control. Creatures you control with counters on them also have activated abilities of cards exiled with Cauldron. In order, to make this particular Cauldron combo work, you need a copy of Phyrexian Devourer in the graveyard, as well as a copy of Walking Ballista in play alongside Cauldron.

By exiling Phyrexian Devourer from your graveyard with Cauldron, Ballista will have the activated abilities of Phyrexian Devourer. This means that you can exile cards from your library for free, each time adding counters to Ballista equal to the mana value of the exiled card. Then, you can simply ping your opponent for a bunch of damage.

What’s nice about these combos is that many cards in the deck work well with both, allowing you to sculpt your gameplan accordingly. Goblin Engineer, for example, can find Lion’s Eye Diamond or Ballista if you have Salvagers in hand, but can also find Devourer if you have Cauldron in hand instead. Similarly, Karn can search for Lion’s Eye Diamond, Ballista, or Cauldron, depending on the situation.

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Role Players

Beyond the two combos, this deck is mostly comprised of ways to produce extra mana and keep your opponent off balance. In the manabase, Ancient Tomb Ancient Tomb {T}: Add {C}{C}. This land deals 2 damage to you. and City of Traitors City of Traitors When you play another land, sacrifice this land.
{T}: Add {C}{C}. provide you with extra mana to work with, and Cavern of Souls Cavern of Souls As this land enters, choose a creature type.
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a creature spell of the chosen type, and that spell can't be countered. can help guarantee your ability to resolve Salvagers or Ballista through Force of Will Force of Will You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell. . Playing a ton of Artifacts naturally also allows this deck to play Urza’s Saga Urza’s Saga (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. , which can not only potentially win the game on its own by making Constructs but can also search for Lion’s Eye Diamond as necessary.

Both Chalice of the Void Chalice of the Void This artifact enters with X charge counters on it.
Whenever a player casts a spell with mana value equal to the number of charge counters on this artifact, counter that spell. and Ethersworn Canonist Ethersworn Canonist Each player who has cast a nonartifact spell this turn can't cast additional nonartifact spells. do great work at slowing down the opponent. These cards are especially effective against opposing combo decks. Part of what makes Chalice so strong in this deck is that, between the Lands that produce two mana and Lotus Petal Lotus Petal {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color. , playing Chalice for X equals one on turn one is a real possibility, which can completely shut down Brainstorm Brainstorm Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order. players from casting a large percentage of their spells.

Funnily enough, this deck also gets to play Gyruda, Doom of Depths. Gyurda can win games on its own, especially in a deck that can generate lots of mana. In some games, if you can produce infinite mana with Salvagers and Lion’s Eye Diamond but don’t have access to Ballista, grabbing the powerful Companion and playing it can be enough to win. This is yet another example of just how strong having access to a Companion every game can be.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

This deck seems like a decent choice overall, especially if you expect a large number of midrange decks. Cavern of Souls and Urza’s Saga are extremely strong against opposing Counterspells, and getting to make use of Chalice of the Void is a huge boon in a format dominated by efficient cards. Where the deck can struggle a bit is against faster combo decks.

Outside of Chalice and Canonist, this deck has limited interaction for decks like Reanimator. This likely explains why many of the sideboard slots not dedicated to Karn targets are used for cards like Leyline of the Void Leyline of the Void If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. and Containment Priest Containment Priest Flash
If a nontoken creature would enter and it wasn't cast, exile it instead. . Still, these sideboard cards help a lot, and this deck is capable of winning rather quickly in its own right. If you enjoy unique combo decks, definitely consider trying this deck out.

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