Players are beginning to experiment with different decks built around the new cards from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and one thing has become abundantly clear: these cards have opened up a world of awesome synergies.
In Standard,
Annie Joins Up
Annie Joins Up
When Annie Joins Up enters, it deals 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls.
If a triggered ability of a legendary creature you control triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.
looks like a nice addition to multi-color Legends decks. In Pioneer, players are already tooling with
Jace Reawakened
Jace Reawakened
You can't cast Jace Reawakened during your first, second, or third turns of the game.
+1: Draw a card, then discard a card.
+1: You may exile a nonland card with mana value 3 or less from your hand. If you do, it becomes plotted.
−6: Until end of turn, whenever you cast a spell, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
shells, focused on Plotting
Valki, God of Lies
Valki, God of Lies
When Valki enters, each opponent reveals their hand. For each opponent, exile a creature card they revealed this way until Valki leaves the battlefield.
{X}: Choose a creature card exiled with Valki with mana value X. Valki becomes a copy of that card.
and casting the Tibalt side for free. Meanwhile, in Modern,
Simulacrum Synthesizer
Simulacrum Synthesizer
When this artifact enters, scry 2.
Whenever another artifact you control with mana value 3 or greater enters, create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control."
has quickly made its presence felt in Modern Affinity, making
Frogmite
Frogmite
Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
look like a format all-star.
While there are definitely a few cards that look like multi-format all-stars from the jump (I’m looking at you,
Slickshot Show-Off
Slickshot Show-Off
Flying, haste
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
Plot {1}{R} (You may pay {1}{R} and exile this card from your hand. Cast it as a sorcery on a later turn without paying its mana cost. Plot only as a sorcery.)
), part of what makes this set so intriguing is the sheer volume of build-arounds that require specific homes to maximize. Without the potent Affinity role-players in Modern, Simulacrum Synthesizer likely falls short. Jace might not be strong enough in Pioneer without the Valki “combo” present. Annie Joins Up is just a mediocre removal spell unless your deck is filled with potent legends.
There are lots of gems in this set, and it’s up to us to find the diamond in the rough. As players continue to innovate, one spicy brew in particular immediately caught my eye like no other. This Pioneer deck is focused around abusing the power of
Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds
Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds
Haste
Nontoken creatures you control have "{T}: Create a token that's a copy of target token you control that entered this turn."
in order to generate infinite Creature tokens! This deck is sweet, but does it have what it takes to match up with the best decks in the format?
Ghired, Combo Enabler
To help answer this, it’s important to look at exactly what this archetype is trying to accomplish. The combo this deck revolves around was made possible by the printing of Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds. This powerful Creature gives you a one turn window when any tokens enter under your control to make copies of those tokens. All you have to do is tap any of your non-token Creatures, including Ghired. With this in mind, the objective is to make a token copy of either
Corridor Monitor
Corridor Monitor
When this creature enters, untap target artifact or creature you control.
or
Bounding Krasis
Bounding Krasis
Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
When this creature enters, you may tap or untap target creature.
while you have Ghired in play.
You can do this a number of different ways. If Monitor or Krasis are on the battlefield, you can use
Molten Duplication
Molten Duplication
Create a token that's a copy of target artifact or creature you control, except it's an artifact in addition to its other types. It gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
or the flip side of
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
to make a token copy. If Krasis or Monitor are in your graveyard instead, you can use the 0 ability of
Nahiri, the Unforgiving
Nahiri, the Unforgiving
Compleated ({R/W/P} can be paid with {R}, {W}, or 2 life. If life was paid, this planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty counters.)
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature attacks a player each combat if able.
+1: Discard a card, then draw a card.
0: Exile target creature or Equipment card with mana value less than Nahiri's loyalty from your graveyard. Create a token that's a copy of it. That token gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.
to make a token copy. From there, you can execute the following easy steps to make infinite Creatures:
- Tap Ghired, targeting the Monitor/Krasis token. Another token copy will be created.
- When the new Monitor/token enters the battlefield, untap Ghired
- Tap Ghired, targeting the Monitor/Krasis token once again
- Repeat this process infinite times
Notably, while Molten Duplication, Nahiri, and the backside of Fable all state that the original token copy of Monitor/Krasis will go away at the end of the turn, the new tokens will stick around. As such, even if you weren’t able to give them all Haste and attack for lethal, you can do that the following turn.
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Role Players
Now that we’ve touched on how the combo actually works, it’s important to go over the supporting cast that can help set the combo up. Creating infinite tokens does require a lot of different pieces to initiate the process, which is where the role-players come in.
First and foremost, you need ways to dig for Ghired. Krasis and Monitor are interchangeable combo pieces. Similarly, Molten Duplication and Nahiri can both serve token generators. Ghired is the one piece of the puzzle that is irreplicable. Fortunately, this deck digs churns through its library quite a bit.
Fable and
Bitter Reunion
Bitter Reunion
When this enchantment enters, you may discard a card. If you do, draw two cards.
{1}, Sacrifice this enchantment: Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn.
help you search for Ghired while simultaneously acting as discard outlets to enable Nahiri. If you ever do manage to make infinite tokens, you can cash in Bitter Reunion to give your team Haste. This isn’t always necessary, but it ensures you don’t get wrecked by a board wipe before your next turn.
Beyond Bitter Reunion and Fable, Collected Company digs quite deep for your missing pieces. If you’re lucky, you’ll find both Ghired and either Monitor or Krasis, potentially helping you win the game out of nowhere.
Finally, this deck with a large density of three and four mana cards needs some acceleration to get the train rolling ahead of schedule. As such,
Elvish Mystic
Elvish Mystic
{T}: Add {G}.
and
Llanowar Elves
Llanowar Elves
{T}: Add {G}.
are excellent inclusions. Thanks to the Elves, if you have the absolute nuts (turn one Elf, turn two Ghired, turn three Monitor and Molten Duplication), you can go off as early as turn three!
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General Inconsistencies
With that being said, this deck isn’t the most consistent at executing the combo. With only four copies of Ghired, assembling the combo is difficult enough, and your opponent is sure to make things harder. Pioneer is chock full of cheap interaction. Izzet Phoenix, arguably the best deck in Pioneer, plays multiple one mana removal spells in
Fiery Impulse
Fiery Impulse
Fiery Impulse deals 2 damage to target creature.
Spell mastery — If there are two or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, Fiery Impulse deals 3 damage instead.
and
Lightning Axe
Lightning Axe
As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard a card or pay {5}.
Lightning Axe deals 5 damage to target creature.
that kill Ghired. Rakdos Vampires plays
Fatal Push
Fatal Push
Destroy target creature if it has mana value 2 or less.
Revolt — Destroy that creature if it has mana value 4 or less instead if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn.
and
Thoughtseize
Thoughtseize
Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.
. Niv to Light has Lightning Helix and
No More Lies
No More Lies
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard.
as cheap forms of disruption.
Even Abzan
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.)
combo, which lacks Creature interaction, may be able to use its own combo to wipe your board of infinite Creatures before you get to attack with them. Part of what makes these matchups so problematic is that many of the cards in this deck are individually weak. Corridor Monitor, Bounding Krasis, and Nahiri are necessary for the deck to function, but do little outside of the combo.
At the same time, Collected Company is supposed to be a great value engine. However, this deck only plays 19 Creatures as is to hit and eight of them are mana dorks. This deck is definitely flashy and capable of fast kills, but it may take some reworking to become a prominent force.
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Potential Options
To help address concerns associated with removal-heavy matchups, this deck could use a few more value-oriented cards. With this in mind, there are a couple different avenues to take this strategy.
One direction is to up the number of potent three-drop Creatures for Collected Company. Unfortunately, though, this is quite hard to do. Most of the other non-Creature spells in the deck, including Nahiri, Molten Duplication, and Fable, are important to the functionality of the deck. Perhaps cutting Bitter Reunion can allow you to increase your Creature count a bit more, but Bitter Reunion is a pretty strong combo card in its own right.
This leads us to the more realistic road to take the deck down: cut Collected Company entirely. There are simply going to be too many games where Collected Company whiffs on what you need. One card I’m quite interested in to add in its place is The Huntsman’s Redemption. Much like Fable, this card immediately creates a Creature token that you can start copying if you have Ghired already in play, which is a nice backup plan to have. It’s a strong card to slam turn two as well.
From there, chapter II lets you sacrifice one of your mediocre Creatures to tutor up Ghired or Monitor. This is a much more consistent path to finding your combo pieces than Collected Company. The Huntsman’s Redemption is strong as a value engine while adding some needed redundancy.
This combo shell is a very cool home for Ghired, which offers some neat build-around opportunities. The deck is definitely in its early stages, but further showcases the wide range of possibilities that the release of Outlaws of Thunder Junction has presented. I look forward to seeing what other wacky amalgamations players come up with in the coming weeks.
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