In a surprising and rather controversial decision, Wizards chose to errata Werewolf Pack Leader yesterday. This follows players discovering an interesting, somewhat convoluted combo that maximizes the new Federation Star Trek mechanic.
For those unfamiliar, the combo revolved around giving Werewolf Pack Leader every creature type with Amoeboid Changeling. Then, you can use Artificial Evolution to replace the type “Human” with “Borg” in Pack Leader’s textbox. All that’s left is to activate the Pack Leader’s ability, dropping the Borg creature type and becoming every other creature type in MTG.
This allowed the Pack Leader to make 300+ mana with Starfleet Academy, or get absolutely massive with something like Captain Jonathan Archer. Notably, this combo also means that MTG players using it need to know exactly how many creature types exist in MTG; something that Wizards of the Coast does not believe a player should need to know.
Wizards chose to reconcile this “issue” by altering Pack Leader’s final ability, which now turns it into a Werewolf rather than dropping its Human creature type, ruining a casual Commander combo. Since this combo is ultimately incredibly casual and has no competitive potential, players didn’t agree with this sudden errata.
Of course, the new errata also means Werewolf Pack Leader no longer plays as written, which complicates things even further. That said, even though Werewolf Pack Leader is out of the picture, that doesn’t mean the Federation combo is entirely done for.
In an amusing turn of events, players quickly discovered a new combo that abuses the Federation mechanic in a similar way. The combo is equally as janky as the first one, but if you wanted to play the Werewolf Pack Leader combo in your Commander deck, this is basically the perfect replacement.
Every Creature Type Except Borg: Part 2
Like the original Werewolf Pack Leader combo, the goal here is to turn a creature into every creature type except Borg, breaking Star Trek’s Federation mechanic. Combining Mistform Sliver
Mistform SliverAll Slivers have "{1}: This permanent becomes the creature type of your choice in addition to its other types until end of turn.", Sliversmith
Sliversmith{1}, {T}, Discard a card: Create a 1/1 colorless Sliver artifact creature token named Metallic Sliver., and Mutagen Man, Living Ooze
Mutagen Man, Living OozeTrample
Activated abilities of artifact tokens you control cost {1} less to activate.
When Mutagen Man enters, create X Mutagen tokens. (They're artifacts with "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.") makes this easier than ever.
With all three cards in play, start by activating Sliversmith’s ability to make a 1/1 token. Because this 1/1 is a Sliver, it gains Mistform Sliver’s ability to become any creature type in addition to its other types.
The only thing holding this duo back is that each activation costs one mana, but Mutagen Man solves this problem entirely. See, the 1/1 Sliver created by Sliversmith is both an artifact and a token, so it benefits from Mutagen Man’s activation cost reduction.
This way, you’re free to name every creature type one by one except Borg, executing the exact same combo as the pre-errata’d Werewolf Pack Leader did. What’s even funnier is that this combo is arguably even better than the last one.
Obviously, this combo is still quite difficult to pull off, since any removal spell breaks it up, but unlike the Pack Leader combo, these cards can actually do something individually in a Commander deck. Mistform Sliver and Sliversmith have some value in dedicated Sliver EDH decks, and Mutagen Man can do a decent amount of work in all kinds of builds.
Of course, the combo is still terrible, especially in a Federation-focused deck like Sarek, Federation Ambassador
Sarek, Federation AmbassadorFederation — At the beginning of combat on your turn, draw a card for every five creature types among non-Borg creatures you control. If you draw three or more cards this way, put two +1/+1 counters on each creature you control., but that was never truly the point.
If you want to go out of your way to make this combo work, Sliver Overlord Commander decks are likely the best place to do it. Your Commander can tutor out Mistform Sliver, as well as every other piece, and even Federation payoffs, if you use Arcane Adaptation.
Funnily enough, the combo also has some surprising redundancy. For example, replacing Mutagen Man and Sliversmith with Ashaya, Soul of the Wild and Blossoming Tortoise
Blossoming TortoiseWhenever this creature enters or attacks, mill three cards, then return a land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
Activated abilities of lands you control cost {1} less to activate.
Land creatures you control get +1/+1. gets you to the same end point. This line could be more appealing in a Simic Landfall deck like Tatyova, Benthic Druid, so keep all your options in mind.
Controversy Continued
After these new combos were discovered, it really looks like Wizards of the Coast ended up with some egg on their face. Since the errata didn’t ultimately stop Commander’s Federation combos, many believe that the rule change was ultimately “pointless.”
Technically, this combo does require you to name each creature type one by one. As some people have mentioned, though, shortcutting this in your pod isn’t necessarily a big deal.
The real awkwardness players noted is that this combo isn’t actually infinite. When it is pulled off, players technically need to know how many creature types there are at that time, which changes with each set release. Granted, winning with 300+ mana is usually trivial, but a mana sink like Walking Ballista may not actually kill everyone at the table.
Even with all this in mind, the main issue Wizards of the Coast has with these combos is that it requires players to know how many creature types are in MTG. Really, if someone is going out of their way to execute a combo as terrible as this one, knowing the current number is entirely reasonable.
Still, it could mean that Wizards of the Coast takes further action against these combos moving forward. Considering the reaction to the last errata, however, this does seem somewhat unlikely.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see if Wizards addresses these newly discovered combos moving forward. For now, players may be rushing to pull off this combo in their Commander pods in case anything happens.
Stick with us here at dev.mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast! MTGRocks’ editorial and corrections policy lets us create content you can trust.
