Combo and Synergy - September

Like many of you...I am wondering what the next best builds will be with our beloved (and often hated) Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks leaving Standard. So this month's Combo and Synergy installment include four card pairings that have inspired Lad and I to some new Magic builds for Standard and Extended play.




This an awesome combo that will likely see lots of play by players this year. Play Dauntless Escort on turn 3 (or 2 with Birds of Paradise's or Noble Heirarch's help) and play Day of Judgement on the next 1 or 2 turns. While Day of Judgement is on the stack, sacrifice Dauntless Escort to wipe out your opponent's board while your other indestructible creatures remain and attack unthreatened.




This is an amazing 2 card combo that Lad is using in one of his new decks. Play Goblin Assualt on turn 3 and Elspeth on 4. Every turn, starting with 4 your new Goblin token will attack and Elspeth will give it +3/+3 and flying. So you will basically have a 4/4 flying Goblin token with haste each turn. A devastating combo that can easily get out of hand.




I love Chandra Ablaze. Ever since I first saw her, I thought about adding her to my new Cruel Control deck. Chandra first ability is awesome and her 2nd is okay, but her final is amazing. On turn 6, she can discard a copy of Cruel Ultimatum and deal 4 damage to target creature or player. On turn 7, you can play another Cruel or discard it. Then on turn 8, you can play all sorceries and instants in your graveyard...Hello Cruel Ultimatums and Twincasts :)




The final card pairing is an amazing Extended combo. Play Rampaging Baloths (or any other Landfall creature) and on the next turn play Scapeshift. When Scapeshift comes into play, sacrifice each land you control to replace them with other lands and put that many Beast tokens into play.

I hope these ideas give you some new thoughts on your next builds. Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas for future combos and synergies.

Playing against Blue Control

Hello everybody,

It's been a while since I've posted but I hope I have some useful information for you with this one. Before I get into the subject matter I want you guys to know that my partner and I will be heading down to Austin for, believe it or not, Pro Tour - Austin on the weekend of Oct. 16 - Oct. 18. We'll be blogging about our adventures and, um, misadventures I'm sure.

Now, back to the task at hand. I know quite a few people that hate playing against counter decks. Every time you play a spell it seems to get countered and the frustration mounts. With this post I'll try to go in depth at how I feel are the best ways to play a counter deck.

I've found that one of the best ways to counter a control deck is speed. If someone is playing heavy counter spells you're going to want to play as many creatures at once as you can. Don't play one per turn, play three on the same turn. Granted, you won't be able to use them as fast, but at least one of them should sneak through. The other thing you're going to want is cards that disrupt their counters. Guttural Response is a Blue players worst nightmare!

You may also want to try token producing cards. If you can get a card like Bitterblossom to stick on the board then you'll keep producing a creature each turn without having to play a spell. I recently ran a Green/Black token deck at a tournament and beat a very tough Faerie deck because I was able to gain card advantage through numbers. Of course, my Green/Black Token deck didn't fare so well against Volcanic Fallout in the next match but that's besides the point.

Here are a few last tips when playing against a control deck.

1) Force him to react to you not the other way around. You should have him wondering what you're going to play next and whether or not he wants to counter it.

2) Don't be afraid to play dummy spells. For instance, don't make the first creature you play in a turn your 5/5 monster because he will counter it. Instead, play a smaller creature or two. Who knows, maybe he'll run out of mana or maybe he'll run out of counterspells. Maybe he won't counter your small ones because he's expecting you to play a big one. Either way you end up on the winning side because he'll either be wasting his spells on your weenies or you have a couple creatures in play.

3) Try to keep his hand empty. If he doesn't have any cards in his hand he can't counter your creatures. Cards like Thoughtseize, Duress, and Tidehollow Sculler are great for this.

4) If you're losing don't keep using the same deck setup over and over. The definition of insanity is repeating your actions over and over and expecting a different result.

I hope this helps all of you that love playing Aggro and hate playing against Blue Control. Maybe next time we'll try to figure out a way to beat those pesky Wrath of God/Damnation type Control decks. There is nothing worse than building up an army of Soldiers only to have them wiped of the board. Those damn control freaks!

That's it for now and good luck on your next coin flip!