[Casual Combo] U/R Duke Nuke 'Em

[Kich867]

I thought this up a bit last night and it kind of struck my fancy. For one, it's a three card combo which is pretty consistent with legacy standards for combos. Elves is a 3 card combo, solidarity is a 3 card combo, AdN is a 3 card combo...

So what cards does this deck need?

1: Training Grounds
2: Izzet Guildmage
3: Manamorphose

-- How it works: --

With a training grounds and izzet guildmage in play, play a manamorphose. Don't let that copy resolve, copy it, repeat, win. You net one mana per activation and draw a card. From here, you can have a 30-40 mana pool to either play a bunch of stuff and storm out, banefire them to the dome, whatever you feel like. For me, I'll be running a banefire, a grapeshot, and a brain freeze as win conditions.

-- The List: --

//Creatures: 7
4x Izzet Guildmage
3x Snapcaster Mage

//Spells: 28
4x Manamorphose
4x Ponder
3x Preordain
4x Brainstorm
4x Force of Will
3x Spell Snare
3x Spell Pierce
1x Banefire
1x Grapeshot
1x Brain Freeze

//Enchantments: 4
4x Training Grounds

//Lands: 21
4x Volcanic Island
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Arid Mesa
2x Misty Rainforest
6x Island
3x Mountain

There's a few downsides to the deck: the combo pieces have no redundancy. However, some of the upsides are the fact that once you go off, it's essentially unstoppable. If they counter the manamorphose you just copy it in response and win, if they discard it early, you can snapcaster it back if you can live that long (hopefully you can, there's a lot of protection and dig) or just dig deep for it.

I thought it'd be fun to play, I don't have all of the cards but I'll be playing it on cockatrice.

[Hireax]

It seems like a lot of fun to play :). Might be reliant on too many cards for Legacy, but for casual play it's definitely nice :)

[Mr. Safety]

I think you just broke modern :smile:. All three of those cards are modern legal.

Those cards are easy enough to get and can provide a turn 3 kill... uh oh, where's Tom Lapille when you need him? :tongue:

I like your idea, it is incredibly clever to say the least. I used to play the Guildmage + Desperate Ritual + Lava Spike combo when it was in standard, but it takes 6 mana to pull off. This combo takes only 2 mana to go off and you get to draw your whole deck. The only real worries is Stifle...because you can respond to Force of Will by copying again in order to draw into a Spell Pierce or your own Force. Even Stifle can be taken care of the same way, but it's a cheap way to counter the Guildmage's ability.

Nice work on an innovative deck here.

[4eak]

I'm pretty sure it is "consistently" having a turn 3 win which matters. This is a 3-card combo. You have to run 10 (!!) of each combo card to break a 50% chance to have all 3 pieces in your hand on turn 3 (and that isn't even taking into account the card requirements for being able to cast these cards).


peace,
4eak

[Kich867]

I think you just broke modern :smile:. All three of those cards are modern legal.

Those cards are easy enough to get and can provide a turn 3 kill... uh oh, where's Tom Lapille when you need him? :tongue:

I like your idea, it is incredibly clever to say the least. I used to play the Guildmage + Desperate Ritual + Lava Spike combo when it was in standard, but it takes 6 mana to pull off. This combo takes only 2 mana to go off and you get to draw your whole deck. The only real worries is Stifle...because you can respond to Force of Will by copying again in order to draw into a Spell Pierce or your own Force. Even Stifle can be taken care of the same way, but it's a cheap way to counter the Guildmage's ability.

Nice work on an innovative deck here.

I suppose it is a bit more fitting for modern rather than Legacy. Although doable, there's not many fantastic ways to find everything outside of hoping you draw into them.

At least with all the bannings Modern faces it may have enough time to set it up and win.

[JeroenC]

I'm pretty sure it is "consistently" having a turn 3 win which matters. This is a 3-card combo. You have to run 10 (!!) of each combo card to break a 50% chance to have all 3 pieces in your hand on turn 3 (and that isn't even taking into account the card requirements for being able to cast these cards).


peace,
4eak

Actually, I think the main combo is Guildmage+Manamorphose, which pretty much reads X: draw X cards. Eventually, you'll draw Training Grounds and Snapcaster and/or another Manamorphose, and you can finish from there.
This might actually have some promise in Modern, given some tinkering. Are there any reliable ways to find a Guildmage (since most of the cantrips are just bad now)?

[Kich867]

Actually, I think the main combo is Guildmage+Manamorphose, which pretty much reads X: draw X cards. Eventually, you'll draw Training Grounds and Snapcaster and/or another Manamorphose, and you can finish from there.
This might actually have some promise in Modern, given some tinkering. Are there any reliable ways to find a Guildmage (since most of the cantrips are just bad now)?

Sort of, in order to do that you need at least 5 mana to invest in since you can't let the first manamorphose resolve until you get a copy of it on the stack. I'll look into it though.

[JeroenC]

Yes, I do agree it takes quite a bit of mana to get started, so it might just be worse than SplinterTwin. However, Guildmage is a lot better on his own than Pestermite/Exarch, and if you don't have him, at least Manamorphose cantrips into more options of seeing him (and Manamorphose in the graveyard still allows for Snapcaster shenanigans).