Multiple combo decks have increased in popularity thanks to a handful of Wilds of Eldraine cards. In Legacy, 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.
utilized in Storm shells alongside
Gaea’s Will
Gaea’s Will
Suspend 4—{G}
Until end of turn, you may play lands and cast spells from your graveyard.
If a card would be put into your graveyard from anywhere this turn, exile that card instead.
. In Modern,
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 saw an uptick in popularity thanks to the new dynamics that
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.
brought to the table.
Recently, we went over a few different combos in various Constructed formats associated with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. While Yawgmoth combo in Modern started to utilize Cauldron, it wasn’t making much of a splash in Pioneer or Standard. At least, that was until late last week, when there was an enormous Arena event with over 500 players! After nine rounds of Swiss, one player playing an infinite combo built around Cauldron ended up with seven wins. This is quite a strong showing, especially for an archetype that has been relatively unexplored. This deck has a lot going on, so let’s start by looking at how the combo itself actually works.
Executing the Combo
The combo this deck has access to involves three specific cards. First, you need a copy of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron in play. Second, you need a copy of
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.
on the battlefield that doesn’t have summoning sickness. Finally, you need a copy of
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.
in your graveyard. Once you have this assembled, you can generate infinite mana!
By exiling Sleep-Cursed Faerie from your graveyard with Cauldron, you can put two +1/+1 counters on Kami of Whispered Hopes, due to Kami’s triggered ability. Kami is now a three-power Creature, meaning you can tap it for three mana of any color. Thanks to Cauldron, it also has Sleep-Cursed Faeries ability, letting you untap Kami by spending two mana. From here, you can simply keep tapping Kami to make three mana, using two of that mana to untap Kami, and repeating this process.
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Winning the Game
Once you have infinite mana, this deck needs a couple more cards to win the game on the spot. The easiest way to accomplish this is by utilizing
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life.
and
Faerie Mastermind
Faerie Mastermind
Flash
Flying
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you draw a card.
{3}{U}: Each player draws a card.
. With infinite mana, you can activate Faerie Mastermind over and over, forcing each player to draw cards. This alone can win the game, but only if your opponent will run out of cards in their deck first.
With Sheoldred in play, though, your opponent will lose two life every time they draw a card, making Faerie Mastermind’s activated ability a reliable win condition. What’s nice about running these cards instead of a traditional mana-sink like
Light up the Night
Light up the Night
Light Up the Night deals X damage to any target. It deals X plus 1 damage instead if that target is a creature or planeswalker.
Flashback—{3}{R}, Remove X loyalty counters from among planeswalkers you control. If you cast this spell this way, X can't be 0. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
is that both Sheoldred and Faerie Mastermind are solid cards on their own. Comboing is not necessarily required for this deck to win. Agatha’s Soul Cauldron can grow your fliers over time, and Sleep-Cursed Faerie is a fine card to play turn one with the intention of just beating down with it.
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Adding Consistency
With regards to the combo, however, it does take a decent number of resources to actually pull off. Luckily, this deck has a few tricks up its sleeve to help find the necessary combo pieces. To help fill your graveyard and dig for Cauldron, the deck plays both
Wasteful Harvest
Wasteful Harvest
Mill five cards. You may put a permanent card from among the cards milled this way into your hand. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
and
Fallaji Archaeologist
Fallaji Archaeologist
When this creature enters, mill three cards. You may put a noncreature, nonland card from among the cards milled this way into your hand. If you don't, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
. Both of these cards not only help find Cauldron, but can potentially mill over Sleep-Cursed Faerie to be exiled later. Milling cards also helps improve Cauldron naturally by providing extra Creatures to exile. Getting to distribute counters to your Creatures throughout the course of the game can be strong, especially given the number of Fliers this deck plays.
Speaking of Fliers, one of the strongest cards in the deck that helps tie everything together is
Likeness Looter
Likeness Looter
Flying
{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
{X}: This creature becomes a copy of target creature card in your graveyard with mana value X, except it has flying and this ability. Activate only as a sorcery.
. Looter is an interesting card that fills multiple roles in the deck. First of all, it can dig for missing combo pieces and discard copies of Sleep-Cursed Faerie or excess copies of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron that might not be super useful. Additionally, though, Likeness Looter has the ability to become a copy of any Creature in your graveyard. This means that if you previously milled over Kami of Whispered Hopes or had one of them killed, you can use Looter’s ability to copy Kami. Copying Sheoldred can be quite powerful too.
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Strengths and Weaknesses
As a combo deck that requires a lot of pieces to pull off, this deck is bound to have weaknesses, however. Basic removal spells like
Go for the Throat
Go for the Throat
Destroy target nonartifact creature.
can be a bit of a pain. While Agatha’s Soul Cauldron can help speed up your clock a bit by putting +1/+1 counters on your Creatures, most of your Creatures are pretty small on their own. Both Kami and Fallaji Archaeologist have zero power, for example.
Without finding Sheoldred, it’s also quite possible you can generate infinite mana and not have much to do with it. The good news, though, is that this deck’s plan b is reasonably effective. While Kami and Archaeologist don’t provide much pressure, Sleep-Cursed Faerie does. Against some decks, such as five-color ramp, playing a couple Faerie Creatures early and backing them up with Counterspells can be enough to cross the finish line. Kami can also be used to simply accelerate Sheoldred out turn three, which can be quite effective against aggressive decks.
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron can help a lot against opposing midrange decks. Getting to continuously grow your Creatures is powerful, and so is giving them extra activated abilities. Getting to give a copy of Fallaji Archaeologist Likeness Looter’s abilities can be quite strong, for example. Overall, this deck has more potential than we initially thought. There’s still plenty of room for exploration, and it’ll be cool to see if this combo continues to put up results.
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