Whenever new sets are on the horizon, one thing that tons of players are routinely on the lookout for is combos. For instance, when The Lost Caverns of Ixalan spoilers were coming out of the woodworks, players were quick to realize the synergy between
Amalia Benavides Aguirre
Amalia Benavides Aguirre
Ward—Pay 3 life.
Whenever you gain life, Amalia Benavides Aguirre explores. Then destroy all other creatures if its power is exactly 20. (To have this creature explore, reveal the top card of your library. Put that card into your hand if it's a land. Otherwise, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then put the card back or put it into your graveyard.)
and
Wildgrowth Walker
Wildgrowth Walker
Whenever a creature you control explores, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you gain 3 life.
. Of course, not every combo that players come up with end up breaking out in the competitive scene, but they are always important to keep an eye out for.
Recently, we went over a new combo in the upcoming Standard format that emerged thanks to a Karlov Manor uncommon:
Forensic Researcher
Forensic Researcher
{T}: Untap another target permanent you control.
{T}, Collect evidence 3: Tap target creature you don't control. (To collect evidence 3, exile cards with total mana value 3 or greater from your graveyard.)
. With two copies of Forensic Researcher and
Deeproot Pilgrimage
Deeproot Pilgrimage
Whenever one or more nontoken Merfolk you control become tapped, create a 1/1 blue Merfolk creature token with hexproof.
in play, you can create infinite Merfolk tokens! Today, we are going to focus on some notable synergies that can lead to a quick kill as early as turn three.
Even though this isn’t exactly a combo in the sense that you can go infinite, it helps make an intriguing Karlov Manor Creature much more effective than it would normally be. Since
The Pride of Hull Clade
The Pride of Hull Clade
This spell costs {X} less to cast, where X is the total toughness of creatures you control.
Defender
{2}{U}{U}: Until end of turn, target creature you control gets +1/+0, gains "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw cards equal to its toughness," and can attack as though it didn't have defender.
was previewed, players have been intrigued by its massive toughness. Well, in Pioneer and Modern, it’s quite possible to cast the enormous Defender as early as turn two. With the right draw, you can attack for 20+ damage as early as turn three! Let’s take a look at the pieces necessary to accomplish this goal.
Aegis Turtle Opens the Door
In order to have the opportunity to play The Pride of Hull Clade on turn two, you want to have access to
Aegis Turtle
Aegis Turtle
. Aegis Turtle isn’t exciting, but because it has five toughness and does not have Defender itself, it’s the perfect card to pair with The Pride of Hull Clade. The simplest way to cast Pride on turn two is by casting Aegis Turtle turn one, then a second copy of Aegis Turtle turn two. Now, you can cast The Pride off of your second Land drop for turn.
From there,
Assault Formation
Assault Formation
Each creature you control assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
{G}: Target creature with defender can attack this turn as though it didn't have defender.
{2}{G}: Creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn.
and
High Alert
High Alert
Each creature you control assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Creatures you control can attack as though they didn't have defender.
{2}{W}{U}: Untap target creature.
are the perfect cards to pair with The Pride once it’s in play. Not only can the mythic rare Turtle attack as though it doesn’t have Defender, but it also will deal damage based on its toughness rather than its power. With access to either High Alert or Assault Formation, as well as Aegis Turtle and The Pride in play, attacking for 20+ damage on turn three is easy.
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Turn Three Assault Formation Kills
Notably, there are a couple other lines of play that do allow for this to happen, even if you don’t have access to two copies of Aegis Turtle. For example, in the tweet above, after casting Aegis Turtle turn one, you can cast Wall of Roots on turn two.
Now, with 10 toughness in play, you can cast The Pride by making green mana with Wall of Roots. Importantly, even though Wall of Roots will lose a toughness in the process of making mana, you can still cast The Pride for only one green mana, as you determine the costs of a spell before actually paying said costs.
What’s nice about the Wall of Roots kill is that, if you don’t have a third Land, you can still win turn three. Wall of Roots’ ability to make mana the turn it comes into play and on subsequent turns really comes in handy. You can also always lead with a mana dork like
Birds of Paradise
Birds of Paradise
Flying
{T}: Add one mana of any color.
turn one to make things easier.
Then, on turn two, you have access to three mana, letting you cast two copies of Aegies Turtle and The Pride or one copy of Aegies Turtle, Wall of Roots, and The Pride instead. This line even opens the door for you to cast
Arcades, the Strategist
Arcades, the Strategist
Flying, vigilance
Whenever a creature you control with defender enters, draw a card.
Each creature you control with defender assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power and can attack as though it didn't have defender.
instead of High Alert or Assault Formation on turn three, though this clearly requires more cards to accomplish and actually doesn’t allow Aegis Turtle to deal five damage when it attacks, since Aegis Turtle doesn’t have Defender to begin with.
Read More: Six Karlov Manor Cards that Could Warp the Pioneer Format!
Building a Pioneer Shell
Speaking of Arcades, it’s cool that Arcades, High Alert, and Assault Formation are all Pioneer legal. Wall of Roots is not, but Aegis Turtle is and The Pride will be, of course. The question is, how would you go about building a deck around these cards? The easiest method is to just fill your deck with high-toughness Creatures with the intention of attacking, but as elite MTG player Piotr Glogowski points out, there’s room to add in infinite combos as well.
If you control
Axebane Guardian
Axebane Guardian
Defender
{T}: Add X mana in any combination of colors, where X is the number of creatures you control with defender.
,
Secret Door
Secret Door
Defender
{4}{U}: Venture into the dungeon. Activate only as a sorcery. (Enter the first room or advance to the next room.)
, High Alert and at least three other Defenders, you can generate infinite mana in any color combination and win the game in a trivial manner. You can just tap Axebane Guardian for five mana total, use four of it to activate High Alert and untap Axebane Guardian, then rinse and repeat.
With infinite mana, you can dump all of it into Secret Door, repeatedly Venturing into the Dungeon. Because one of the Dungeon rooms of
Lost Mine of Phandelver
Lost Mine of Phandelver
Cave Entrance — Scry 1. (Leads to: Goblin Lair, Mine Tunnels)
Goblin Lair — Create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. (Leads to: Storeroom, Dark Pool)
Mine Tunnels — Create a Treasure token. (Leads to: Dark Pool, Fungi Cavern)
Storeroom — Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. (Leads to: Temple of Dumathoin)
Dark Pool — Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. (Leads to: Temple of Dumathoin)
Fungi Cavern — Target creature gets -4/-0 until your next turn. (Leads to: Temple of Dumathoin)
Temple of Dumathoin — Draw a card.
drains the opponent, you have a guaranteed kill by entering the same Dungeon over and over. This is obviously a lot to set up, but even without access to High Alert, Arcades and The Pride are fully capable of winning games in short order once in play.
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Modern Additions
In Modern, there are some sweet additions that can make it a bit easier to reliably cast The Pride, even in the face of removal.
Wall of Denial
Wall of Denial
Defender, flying
Shroud (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
, for example, brings The Pride’s casting cost down to three mana by itself. With Shroud, your opponent probably can’t kill it, giving you a window to cast The Pride the following turn.
Skinshifter
Skinshifter
{G}: Choose one. Activate only once each turn.
• Until end of turn, this creature becomes a Rhino with base power and toughness 4/4 and gains trample.
• Until end of turn, this creature becomes a Bird with base power and toughness 2/2 and gains flying.
• Until end of turn, this creature becomes a Plant with base power and toughness 0/8.
is another card that greatly reduces the casting cost of The Pride. With access to four mana, you can make Skinshifter into a 0/8 Plant, then cast The Pride.
It isn’t super likely that this archetype becomes highly competitive, especially in Modern where efficient reactive elements like
Solitude
Solitude
Flash
Lifelink
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target creature. That creature's controller gains life equal to its power.
Evoke—Exile a white card from your hand.
can put a wrench in your plans. Nonetheless, The Pride of Hull Clade is a strong card in its own right, so it’s worth monitoring if the card does end up successfully breaking out in a major format.
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