List of Compact Combos

[Iranon]

I think it would be quite useful to make a list of compact combos that you can build around or that you could throw into a variety of decks.
I'm ignoring combos that require more than 15 slots or extreme design restrictions (which rules out most open-ended engines, like the ones used in typical Storm decks).

The numbers behind the combos stand for cards/mana/chaff. The first refers to the number of specific cards you need in hand, the second to the total amount of mana required, the third to the number of additional useless cards you need in the deck to make the whole thing work.

It would be nice if someone could expand this with playable combos, preferably with a few short pointers on how they work. If their numbers are dominated by something already on the list, I would appreciate a short summary of their advantages if those aren't obvious.




Doomsday: 1/6/5

Play Doomsday and assemble a winning stack. A typical one would be Predict, Grapeshot, Conjurer's Bauble, Lion's Eye Diamond, Second Sunrise; to win outright in one turn, we also need a cantrip, cycler or something else of the sort.
The plan is to Predict the Grapeshot, play the artifacts, sacrifice the Bauble targeting nothing and crack the LED in response for white mana. You can now return the artifacts an arbitary number of times, then break the loop by cracking the LED for red and sacrifice the Bauble for Grapeshot.
There are other Doomsday stacks, but to my knowledge 3 additional mana and 5 useless cards is as good as it gets and I prefer one that doesn't die to creature removal.



Tooth and Nail: 1/9/2

Play Tooth and Nail, put Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite or Sky Hussar into Play. Copy the flier an infinite number of times and swing for the win. Rather simple, but requires a big chunk of mana to be paid in one go.



Full English Breakfast: 1/9/3

The combo works by abusing synergy between Survival of the Fittest and Volrath's Shapeshifter, typically by turning it into an Akroma, Angel of Wrath (to attack immediately), Cephalid Inkshrouder (to make it unblockable and untargetable) and Phage the Untouchable (to make an opponent snuff it as soon as they take damage) in the same turn.
Survival-based combos can often reduce effective mana costs by tutoring up their own acceleration, in this case probably Palinchron (to be on top of the graveyard when Volrath's Shapeshifter enters play).



Saffi Survival: 1/9/3

Survival of the Fittest puts Saffi Eriksdotter and Caller of the Claw into the graveyard while fetching Crypt Champion. Crypt Champion and Saffi set up a loop which you end with Caller, giving you an arbitrary number of bears. While the pieces aren't individually strong, they aren't as unwieldy as the classic Full English Breakfast combo.



Survival/Sky Hussar/Kiki-Jiki: 1/10/3

The combo is rather straightforward: Fetch a Karmic Guide with Survival of the Fittest while depositing Kiki-Jiki and Sky Hussar or Pestermite in the graveyard. Play it returning Kiki, copy the Guide returning Sky Hussar, copy the Sky Hussar an arbitrary number of times and attack. Strictly speaking, the Karmic Guide isn't necessary but eases the mana and colour requirements.
On the upside, this is as small as it gets without extreme limitations to deck design (e.g. 2-Land-Belcher) and the 'chaff' is actually pretty decent for the high end of a creature-based deck, albeit a little colour intensive. As with all Survival-based combos, we can grab acceleration as we go along, in this case probably Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
On the downside, the combo is a bit on the fragile side.



Cephalid Breakfast: 2/3/5

This combo requires a Cephalid Illusionist and something to target it for free, such as a Nomads En-Kor. From then on, we mill ourselves until we can flashback Dread Return for either a Karmic Guide returning Kiki-Jiki and Sky Hussar or a Tarmogoyf-fueled Sutured Ghoul with Dragon Breath. Narcomoeba and Cabal Therapy ensure that we can do this even if we drew something we'd rather have in the yard. Please note that I didn't count Tarmogoyfs and Cabal Therapies under the 'chaff' needed as they are bloody fine cards in their own right and assumed 3 Narcomoebae. If you don't want Tarmogoyfs in your deck, 2 Phyrexian Dreadnoughts (Stifle targets?) or a single Lord of Extinction works as well, the latter probably being chaff.
To my knowlege, this is currently the cheapest way to kill someone outright with 2 cards, but it requires running a fairly large amount of junk.



Skill borrower / Worldly Tutor: 2/4/1

With Skill Borrower active, we play Worldly Tutor for Kiki-JikI. Since the Skill Borrower itself isn't legendary it can copy itself an arbitrary number of times. If you do this at the opponent's end step, you can swing for lethal in your turn. Cheap and easy to set up, this combo is also disturbingly fragile so some backup and preferably Haste would be welcome.



Aluren: 2/4/3

Under Aluren, playing an Imperial Recruiter for free allows us to fetch Man-o'-War or Dream Stalker, bouncing it. We play the Recruiter again for Cavern Harpy (bouncing the bouncer) and can now enter a loop fetching and bouncing new creatures. Parasitic Strix makes this sustainable and provides the kill.
While Aluren is neither terribly fast (4 mana are needed in one go) nor ultra-compact, it sets up an efficient engine that provides a lot fo flexibility, allowing us to play around many things at the expense of additional creature slots that tend to be weak on their own. There are many tricks and pitfalls to the combo, and it might be a good way to leverage a difference in skill level.



Buried Alive/Reanimate: 2/4/3

Yet another way to attack with infinite Sky Hussars/Pestermites, again brought into play by Karmic Guide. Buried Alive gets them in the yard, Reanimate gets Karmic Guide into play for cheap. Reanimating Necrotic Ooze with Phyrexian Devourer and Triskelion in the graveyard is a possibly more robust alternative. There is a lot of redundancy available in reanimation spells.



Helm of Obedience/Leyline of the Void: 2/5/0

This one is very interesting in a metagame heavily infested with graveyard-dependent decks. If cards are exiled instead of milled when Helm of Obedience works its magic, we remove their entire library. Samurai of the Pale Curtain works as an alternative to Leyline that doesn't need to be in hand to start out with, but that drives the cost up to 7.



Mesmeric Orb / Basalt Monolith: 2/5/5

Mesmeric Orb and Basalt Monolith allow you to mill your entire library similar to the Cephalid Breakfast combo, with the same considerations of how to translate this into a win. Not involving creatures seemingly makes it more resilent, but more expensive and you can't rely on Aether Vial.



Stuffy Doll/Guilty Conscience: 2/6/0

Another efficient 2-card combo with individually weak pieces... at least both Stuffy Doll and Guilty Conscience are both fetchable with Enlightened Tutor.



Painter's Servant/Grindstone: 2/6/0

This is currently a more attractive option to the one above, as mana can be paid in chunks and it's easier to build an efficient shell around it... so much it works thrown into fairly random decks, but is also a decent starting point. With Painter's Servant in play, all cards in hand are the colour of your choice so Grindstone will deck your opponent. As with all library kills, it will only win next turn unless you also have a way to make them draw.



Hive Mind / any Pact: 2/6/0

This isn't 100% reliable as a 2-card combo and 6 mana need to be paid at once so this is probably not competitive. The idea is to force an opponent to copy one or more of the Pact series of spells from Future Sight like Pact of the Titan thanks to Hive Mind. This forces a mana payment in their upkeep to avoid losing the game, before we have to do the same.



Academy Rector / Diabolic Intent: 2/6/2*

This can fetch the above for the same convertedl mana cost, but allows us to split it up. It can also fetch something less conditional albeit more expensive, like Near-Death Experience and something that lets us control our life total, like Plunge into Darkness or Blood Celebrant.



Angel's Grace / Ad Nauseam: 2/6/?

Ad Nauseam causes life loss, it is not a cost. Ergo, with Angel's Grace in effect you can draw your entire deck without consideration for your life total. This should allow you to kill your opponent somehow - Storm would be an obvious option but decks built around the mechanic don't usually need Angel's Grace.



Swans of Bryn Argoll / Chain of Plasma: 2/6/?

Another way to draw your deck for 6 mana, with both cards being somewhat useful outside a dedicated combo shell. You target the Swans of Bryn Argoll with the Chain of Plasma, then discard a card to copy the Chain. If you have the Swans but not the chain, you can turn Lightning Bolts into Ancestral Recalls.



Trix: 2/7/0

Donate an Illusions of Grandeur and have them lose 20 life once they can't pay the upkeep any more.
Delightfully clean and simple, this doesn't care about creature or graveyard removal. On the down side, at least 5 mana have to be paid in one go, life gain needs to be considered and it doesn't kill outright... some decks can cheerfully burn through 40 life in time, others can use the delay to find a Stifle.



Frenetic Efreet / Chance Encounter: 2/7/0

Frenetic Efreet allows you to flip an arbitrary number of coins, Chance Encounter allows you to win on your next upkeep. I suppose you make your own luck.



Near-Death Experience / Plunge into Darkness: 2/7/0

Anything that lets us control our life total works with Near-Death Experience, and if we can stall for a turn Blood Celebrant allows us to do this for 6 mana. More interestingly, Plunge into Darkness and Lim-Dul's Vault work as companions and powerful tutors are always welcome.



Pestermite / Splinter Twin: 2/7/0

Enchanted by Splinter Twin, Pestermite can be tapped to add a hasty copy of itself that untaps the original when it comes into play. Repeat ad nauseam, attack.



Academy Rector / Kaervek's Spite: 2/7/1

With Academy Rector in play, cast Kaervek's Spite. The dying Rector fetches Barren Glory, making you win in your next upkeep. With style.



Kiki-Jiki/Pestermite: 2/8/0

Kiki-Jiki and Pestermite are potential finishers in many more efficient combos, but hardcasting is also an option. The cards might even be moderately useful on their own; Kiki is somewhat decent in most creature-based decks and Pestermite can be a nasty surprise to the opponent in many situations. If you have many mana critters, Sky Hussar can be effectively cheaper than Pestermite, if you have many cheap blue or white creatures it can become a decent draw engine.



Panoptic Mirror / Savor the Moment: 2/8/?

Panoptic Mirror with an imprinted Savor the moment allows you to take as many turns you want. While you don't get untap steps, drawing your library and playing the lands still in it should give you more than enough resources to win with.



Severance Belcher: 2/9/0

Without land, a Goblin Charbelcher activation deals damage equal to the number of cards in your library, which should usually be enough. Mana Severance enables this.
Another less efficient alternative to Trix, without the obvious drawbacks and an at least somewhat useful card in Goblin Charbelcher.



Pandemonium / Saproling Burst: 2/9/0

Another very straightforward combo: You use up the Saproling Burst immediately, having Pandemonium cause 21 damage to your opponent.