Chainsmoker

[Vacrix]

Chain of Smog and Witherbloom Apprentice is the combo.



Chain of Smog can be copied any number of times when you target yourself. Magecraft triggers for each time you copy the Chain of Smog.

Vulnerable to removal. Both pieces cost 2 means Spell Snare is good.

Here's a super-rough SI shell of it. Summoner's Pact can be a mana source or a win condition seems quite strong.

4 Witherbloom Apprentice
4 Chain of Smog

4 Ad Nauseam
4 Wishclaw Talsiman

4 Summoner's Pact
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

4 Hope of Ghirapur

4 Dark Ritual
4 Culling the Weak

4 Lotus Petal
4 Chrome Mox
4 Mox Opal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond

1 Dryad Arbor
3 Bayou
4 Verdant Catacombs




Entomb and EoE is another route, which leads to reanimation lines for Witherbloom Apprentice. Diabolic Intent could be good with Summoner's Pact.

[Barook]

I like the idea of Pact as both Apprentice tutor and mana generator via ESG.

Dumb question: What's the role of Ad Nauseam here? You don't need to generate storm, you have compact 2-card combo that deals infinite damage. I would rather be concerned how you protect the combo aside from Hope of Ghirapur since going off with Smog will leave you hellbent.

[Vacrix]

The SI shell might not be optimal for the combo itself, but it makes absurd amounts of mana to make Ad Nauseam castable early.

Scheming Symmetry (perhaps with cantrips like Street Wraith), Diabolic Intent, and Entomb could fetch out a piece of the combo.

EDIT:
Responding with Weather the Storm with Witherbloom Apprentice in play puts storm far out of kill range, or can kill the storm player. The combo vs. storm matchup could be strong in game 2/3.

[Lexi]

I really think you want silence effects in this type of combo deck. Imagine you're starting to go off and your opponent counters chain of smog after you've discarded your whole hand. There's virtually no recovering. I also noticed your shell doesn't include thoughtseize which seems very very questionable. If you decide to run blue you can have up to 3 different uncounterable tutors for either piece of the combo the combo in Muddle the mixture, Dimir infiltrator and shred memory.

[FTW]

4xAd Nauseam seems bad in general and especially unnecessary here.

Because this is an A+B combo, not a critical mass combo (like Storm), you don't even need to play such an all-in SI-type shell. You can just play good cards. You don't even need something like Ad Naus or the draw 4s to draw a lot of cards. You just need ways to find and protect it. Even better if you can do it vs a disruptive opponent.

In an SI shell you probably want cards like Defense Grid and Veil of Summer (which also makes a fair Chain of Smog @ opponent a viable play). You can run direct tutors like Diabolic Intent or Scheming Symmetry with cantrips. But these seem like high variance cards.

You could also just play Xerox. Xerox works well for A+B combos.



//Combo: 8
4 Chain of Smog
4 Witherbloom Apprentice

//Fast Mana: 8
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal

//Spells: 28
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Thoughtseize
3 Veil of Summer
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Lim-Dul's Vault

//Lands: 16
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest


Potential sideboard cards:
Defense Grid
Flusterstorm
Assassin's Trophy
Brazen Borrower
Chain of Vapor
4th Decay
4th Veil

Edited to add Veil back in
That's 14 draw fixing + 14 interaction slots

[kirkusjones]

4xAd Nauseam seems bad in general and especially unnecessary here.

Because this is an A+B combo, not a critical mass combo (like Storm), you don't even need to play such an all-in SI-type shell. You can just play good cards. You don't even need something like Ad Naus or the draw 4s to draw a lot of cards. You just need ways to find and protect it. Even better if you can do it vs a disruptive opponent.

In an SI shell you probably want cards like Defense Grid and Silence (NOT Veil of Summer because Hexproof from Black breaks the combo!!!). You can run direct tutors like Diabolic Intent or Scheming Symmetry with cantrips. But these seem like high variance cards.

You could also just play Xerox. Xerox works well for A+B combos.



//Combo: 8
4 Chain of Smog
4 Witherbloom Apprentice

//Fast Mana: 8
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal

//Spells: 28
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Thoughtseize
3 Hymn to Tourach
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Lim-Dul's Vault

//Lands: 16
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp

How does Veil of Summer break the combo? Hexproof only prevents you from being targeted by the opponent's spells and abilities, not your own.

[FTW]

How does Veil of Summer break the combo? Hexproof only prevents you from being targeted by the opponent's spells and abilities, not your own.

Isn't the copy of Chain of Smog controlled by your opponent?

Edit: Oh, you're targetting yourself not chaining it back and forth. Nevermind.