pedropohren
08-30-2020, 03:02 PM
This is a strategy i've been toying with for the last two years, testing endlessly on Cockatrice how i could make this combo be functional. Basically, the idea was to center a combo strategy around one of the best sleeper combo engines i've seen come to light in the last few years: Priest of Forgotten Gods.
It's a cheap creature whose effect basically: is a realiable sac outlet that gives you two LTB triggers "for free" and a potential third at the cost of 2 life; clears the opponent's board; damages them; add colored mana; and draws cards. It felt like a LOT of combo potential.
So i've seen two possible roads to take: either go UB, using Intruder Alarm + Nether Traitor/Gravecrawler + Genesis Chamber; or go BG, using Whisperwood Elemental + any number of 0 CMC creatures. The latter felt a lot more reliable for the lower number of cards on the battlefield it took for the combo to work out (how wrong i was :P), and as i ended up losing the UB list when i formated my old computer, here's the BGuw version it ended up being:
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Diamond
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
1 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Protean Hulk
1 Coral Trickster
1 Blood Celebrant
1 Academy Rector
4 Squandered Resources
1 Mortuary
4 Dark Ritual
2 Dream's Grip
4 Bayou
3 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scheming Symmetry
2 Grim Tutor
4 Tooth and Nail
So, how is this combo executed? Well, this is the part where it comes really clear how janky this whole list is :P
Between turns 1 and 2, you want to put a Priest of Forgotten Gods on the table. Simple as that.
Between turns 2 and 4, you want to have 9 mana available and 2 cards in hand: Tooth and Nail and Dream Grip. The order of the effects, then, is:
> Cast Tooth and Nail entwined searching for the 2 Protean Hulks;
> Activate Priest's ability targeting yourself (very important to always target yourself only at this very first cycle) and the opponent, and saccing both Hulks to its cost.
> With Priest's ability on the stack, both Hulks' triggers will go to the stack on top of it. When they resolve, with one of them you'll pull Whisperwood Elemental and Blood Celebrant, and with the other you'll pull Academy Rector and Coral Trickster. (Exactly 6 CMC at both cases, which is why it must be followed exactly like that or it won't be possible to set up the combo.);
> Priest's ability resolves. Opp's gonna lose 2 life and sac any creatures he or she may have. You'll lose 2 life, sac Rector and exile it to pull Mortuary from your deck to the battlefield, add BB and draw a card;
> With Blood Celebrant, you'll pay 1 life to 'filter' one of those B into a blue mana and cast Dream Grip from your hand, untapping Priest of Forgotten Gods;
> Finally, you'll sac Whisperwood Elemental to its own ability, and you have the combo set to win this very turn.
(It is VERY important that you ONLY sac Whisperwood when you have the certainty you'll be able to go off, because it's essential to be able to do so. Otherwise, you'll lose it - and the game.)
>> The combo loop:
>> Tap Priest of Forgotten Gods saccing Coral Trickster and Blood Celebrant, targeting your opponent;
>> Mortuary and Whisperwood's triggers will go to the stack; you order them always as Whisperwood's first, and Mortuary's last, in a way that always when those two creatures die, essentially, they manifest themselves;
>> After both triggers resolve and both creatures return to the battlefield manifested, opp's gonna lose 2 life and sacrifice any creatures he or she may still have. You'll add BB and draw a card;
>> With one of the B mana you just added, you'll turn over Blood Celebrant, and then, pay the other B mana plus 1 life to turn it into U mana, and then use that to pay Trickster's Morph cost to turn it over as well;
>> When Trickster is turned over, it will trigger and untap Priest of Forgotten Gods;
>> We've returned to the same point as we began. Repeat this process as many times as it takes to have opponent dead. You should finish this loop with something around 5-8 life.
Is it janky? Unreliable? Hard to set? Uncompetitive? Probably all of the above. But it shows the kind of value this card generates and the potential it has, due to how well it fuels each step of this combo, and how it sets it almost alone. Should anyone have any kind of tips on how to play/build it and/or would like to play it just to test and see how it would work out, feel free to do so.
It's a cheap creature whose effect basically: is a realiable sac outlet that gives you two LTB triggers "for free" and a potential third at the cost of 2 life; clears the opponent's board; damages them; add colored mana; and draws cards. It felt like a LOT of combo potential.
So i've seen two possible roads to take: either go UB, using Intruder Alarm + Nether Traitor/Gravecrawler + Genesis Chamber; or go BG, using Whisperwood Elemental + any number of 0 CMC creatures. The latter felt a lot more reliable for the lower number of cards on the battlefield it took for the combo to work out (how wrong i was :P), and as i ended up losing the UB list when i formated my old computer, here's the BGuw version it ended up being:
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Diamond
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
1 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Protean Hulk
1 Coral Trickster
1 Blood Celebrant
1 Academy Rector
4 Squandered Resources
1 Mortuary
4 Dark Ritual
2 Dream's Grip
4 Bayou
3 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scheming Symmetry
2 Grim Tutor
4 Tooth and Nail
So, how is this combo executed? Well, this is the part where it comes really clear how janky this whole list is :P
Between turns 1 and 2, you want to put a Priest of Forgotten Gods on the table. Simple as that.
Between turns 2 and 4, you want to have 9 mana available and 2 cards in hand: Tooth and Nail and Dream Grip. The order of the effects, then, is:
> Cast Tooth and Nail entwined searching for the 2 Protean Hulks;
> Activate Priest's ability targeting yourself (very important to always target yourself only at this very first cycle) and the opponent, and saccing both Hulks to its cost.
> With Priest's ability on the stack, both Hulks' triggers will go to the stack on top of it. When they resolve, with one of them you'll pull Whisperwood Elemental and Blood Celebrant, and with the other you'll pull Academy Rector and Coral Trickster. (Exactly 6 CMC at both cases, which is why it must be followed exactly like that or it won't be possible to set up the combo.);
> Priest's ability resolves. Opp's gonna lose 2 life and sac any creatures he or she may have. You'll lose 2 life, sac Rector and exile it to pull Mortuary from your deck to the battlefield, add BB and draw a card;
> With Blood Celebrant, you'll pay 1 life to 'filter' one of those B into a blue mana and cast Dream Grip from your hand, untapping Priest of Forgotten Gods;
> Finally, you'll sac Whisperwood Elemental to its own ability, and you have the combo set to win this very turn.
(It is VERY important that you ONLY sac Whisperwood when you have the certainty you'll be able to go off, because it's essential to be able to do so. Otherwise, you'll lose it - and the game.)
>> The combo loop:
>> Tap Priest of Forgotten Gods saccing Coral Trickster and Blood Celebrant, targeting your opponent;
>> Mortuary and Whisperwood's triggers will go to the stack; you order them always as Whisperwood's first, and Mortuary's last, in a way that always when those two creatures die, essentially, they manifest themselves;
>> After both triggers resolve and both creatures return to the battlefield manifested, opp's gonna lose 2 life and sacrifice any creatures he or she may still have. You'll add BB and draw a card;
>> With one of the B mana you just added, you'll turn over Blood Celebrant, and then, pay the other B mana plus 1 life to turn it into U mana, and then use that to pay Trickster's Morph cost to turn it over as well;
>> When Trickster is turned over, it will trigger and untap Priest of Forgotten Gods;
>> We've returned to the same point as we began. Repeat this process as many times as it takes to have opponent dead. You should finish this loop with something around 5-8 life.
Is it janky? Unreliable? Hard to set? Uncompetitive? Probably all of the above. But it shows the kind of value this card generates and the potential it has, due to how well it fuels each step of this combo, and how it sets it almost alone. Should anyone have any kind of tips on how to play/build it and/or would like to play it just to test and see how it would work out, feel free to do so.