MTG Foundations has been with us for nearly a month now, all told. It’s to its credit, then, that players are still discovering new intricacies in the Standard format it established. It’s not surprising when you consider the sheer size of Foundations as a set, but it’s welcome all the same. One such intricacy, coming out strong this week, is a Valkyrie’s Call Combo deck for MTG Standard.
While it got some hype in the beginning, Valkyrie’s Call is now what most would call a bulk mythic. This list seeks to change that perception, taking the card and spinning instant wins out of it. The top dogs in Standard are certainly stiff competition, but I think this offbeat strategy has a real chance in the format.
Valkyrie’s Call Combo In MTG Standard
This deck was brought to our attention by MTG Creative Combos on Twitter. They also created a gameplay video showing the strategy in action on Arena. The Valkyrie’s Call combo is fairly simple but still pretty complex for MTG Standard. To pull it off, you need three things. Valkyrie’s Call itself, Infernal Vessel, and a sacrifice outlet. With all three of these pieces in play, you can pull off an infinite loop.
The loop isn’t super-intuitive, but it works like this. When Infernal Vessel dies normally, it can return to play as a Demon. If it then dies as a Demon you can use Valkyrie’s Call to bring it back again, as an Angel this time. You can repeat this an infinite number of times, flipping Vessel between Angel and Demon as you sacrifice it over and over. This results in infinite enters and dies triggers.
With the combo in place, you need one final piece to secure a win: a way to convert those triggers into damage. Standard actually has a few to choose from right now. The list from MTG Creative Combos leans heavily on Elas il-Kor, which offers a solid 2/2 Deathtouch body alongside its drain effect. It also runs Vengeful Bloodwitch, which is a very similar proposition.
The most interesting of these win conditions is Soul Enervation, a forgotten enchantment from Murders at Karlov Manor. Not only does this win you the game once you have the combo going, but it also serves as a passable removal spell to tide you over until you assemble it. A very nice hidden gem indeed.
Making It Happen
So that’s the core combo, but how do you actually pull it off? Outside of getting Vessel and Call into play, you’ll also need a free sacrifice outlet. At one time these were incredibly rare, but there are actually two available in Standard right now.
Bartolomé del Presidio is the best of the pair. It’s only two mana to cast, which means you can get your combo going earlier when using it. It also scales up as you feed it your Vessel over and over again, which means it can be a legitimate win condition in itself if your opponent is undefended. This cuts out the need for a damage outlet in some situations, which more than justifies the card being a four-of.
The other sacrifice outlet is the less conventional Dissection Tools. This one is significantly worse. It costs five to cast, and it requires two other creatures in play in order to offer infinite sacrifices since you need a new equip target each time. It does generate a creature itself on entry, however, so it’s not all bad. It’s also an artifact, which makes it much more resilient than Bartolomé in most situations.
Outside of the combo and its enablers, MTG Creative Combos has chosen to include some fairly stock Midrange staples to round things out. Cut Down and Go For the Throat get full playsets, as does Deep-Cavern Bat. These cards are well-tested in Standard and make sense as inclusions here. A one-of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is also hanging out in the list, which strikes me as a bit of an odd addition. It’s a solid threat, to be sure, but it doesn’t play particularly well with the rest of the list. One to optimize out, I’d say.
Ready For The Big Time?
Now that we’ve broken down the full Valkyrie’s Call Combo deck, let’s evaluate how well-placed it is in the current Standard metagame. The earliest this deck can win is turn five since that’s when you can get Call onto the board. That’s assuming you played Bartolomé on two, Vessel on three, and a drain effect on four, too. Basically, this is a deck that needs a fair bit of setup time in order to win games.
That’s a real problem, given how prevalent hyper-aggressive decks are in Standard right now. Mono-Red and Gruul Prowess are everywhere, and they can easily win before you get everything set up. The Lifelink on Dissection Tools gives a bit of a hedge against this, but on five it’s not really enough. I’d recommend including some copies of Hinterland Sanctifier in the sideboard, and maybe even the main, to shore up this weakness. The card pulls double duty in that it gains you infinite life once you assemble the combo, too.
Aggro aside, current Standard sideboards are also pretty well-stocked with answers to this deck. Ghost Vacuum is hugely popular, and can snipe your Infernal Vessel out of the ‘yard at instant speed to ruin your day. Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void also just totally shut you down. You’re also fairly soft to Tranquil Frilback, which can hit your graveyard and your key enchantments.
There’s not much you can do about Frillback, but some solid Disenchant effects can help with those other issues. Loran of the Third Path is probably the best option for this in Standard right now. If you really want to address these problems early, however, you can always run actual Disenchant.
