This is my first combo deck. I focused it around enter the battlefield effects and triggered abilities. I will be explaining most the combos and how they work as well as why I put in a lot of the cards I did. There are some that just synergize well that give card draw If you discard/ sacrifice. It isn’t uncommon to go off turn 5-6 and win but has a lot of utility and removal to help it mid to late game. Any suggestions are always welcome, I am working on a version of the deck that is less combo etb effect oriented for a more casual play group as well so feel free to suggest options for that as well. :)
Infinite Murderous Redcap Triggers Show
Sac outlet+
Murderous Redcap
+
Solemnity
/ Card:Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
Sacrafice murderous redcap while still a 2/2 to start off this combo. Persist triggers bringing it back. Solemnity won’t allow the -1/-1 to go into redcap making persist activate every time it’s sacraficed. Anafenza allows you to Bolster 1 when a creature enters the battle field canceling the -1/-1 out and allowing persist to go off infinitely.
Sun Titan + Fiend Hunter combo Show
Sac outlet +
Fiend Hunter
+
Sun Titan
/
Karmic Guide
Have Fiend Hunter enter the battle field exiling your Sun Titan or you Karmic Guidr, sacrafice Fiend Hunter and The creature exiled returns triggering the ability to return a creature from the graveyard, target Fiend Hunter Again and repeat. If paired with
Altar of Dementia
, you can mill your opponents entire library. Combined this with cards like
Impact Tremors
or
Blood Artist
for infinite damage. With
Ashnod's Altar
and
Skullclamp
you can make infinite card draw and colorless mana as well.
Unblockable Master of Cruelties Show
Master of Cruelties
+ Card:Break Through The line/
Behind the Scenes
/
Key to the City
While Master of Cruelties is in your graveyard, attack with Alesha triggering ability targeting Master of Cruelties. This is possible because Alesha brings the creature in tapped and attacking getting around the only attacking alone clause.
Whispersilk Cloak
on Alesha or activate
Break Through the Line
on any of the smaller attacking creatures. Activate Alesha’s Triggered ability to bring back Master of Cruelties tapped and attacking then pay for Break Through the Line targeting Master of cruelties. It brings their life down to 1 while the the unblockable creature attacking with Master of Cruelties comes in for he kill. A similar effect can happen with
Behind the Scenes
depending on what your opponent is running.
Permanent Exile Combo Show
This one has a little bit of trigger manipulation involved with it. For this you will need instant speed sacrafice like
Altar of Dementia
or
Ashnod's Altar
(There are a lot of free instant speed sacrifice outlets in this deck). Either cast/ reanimate
Fiend Hunter
or
Tidehollow Sculler
. When they enter the battlefield their abilities go on the stack. While their abilities are on the stack, sacrafice the Fiend Hunter or Tidehollow Sculler. The first part of the ability resolves exiling target creature or card from an opponents hand. Because there is no creature on the battlefield, the LTB effect never triggers exiling the target card permanently. And because you can reanimate both you can make this a repeatable effect.
It is important to note that the creatures/ cards stay exiled even if you bring back the creature that did the exiling.
Protection
Alesha only being a 3/2 first striker can cause problems late game when bigger creatures start to show up as well as having an army of creatures with 2 power or less so protecting her and creature you reanimate that you want to keep late game is very important and was one of interesting parts of building this deck. Important cards that do this are:
Key to the City
this one has multiple purposes, all of which are things this deck needs. Discarding a card is something you want to do so Alesha can cheat out what ever you just put into your grave yard. Making a creature in blockable is great for evading blocks that could potentially take your creatures out. And when it untaps you can draw a card if you pay 2. One of my favorite cards to get out and a staple in this deck for sure.
Behind the Scenes
, and
Break Through the Line
These are cards that have a major effect on the board almost every time they are out. With everything being so low power in this deck, This makes A lot of your stuff unblockable.
Swiftfoot Boots
,
Lightning Greaves
, and
Whispersilk Cloak
all protect your creatures with shroud/ hex proof A lot of the common removal spells can’t target Alesha or whatever they are equipped to. Whispersilk has the added benefit of making you unblockable so feel free to swing and use Alesha’s ability safely.
Reconnaissance
,
Maze of Ith
If you don’t have unblockable, your next best thing is pulling a creature from combat before damage is dealt. Reconnaissance is very good in this deck because it essentially gives vigilance by pulling your creatures from combat untapped at the end of combat after damage is dealt/ before depending on if you want a blocked creature to live or not. Very versatile on what it does.
Peacekeeper
This is where you can break the rules on a card and lock people out of combat and lets you be a little more reckless with combat. I put this in protection because it protects you from combat damage when you get this combo off. How it works is Alesha attacks and brings Peacekeeper tapped and attacking into the battlefield. If you have any of the ways to make it up blockable or pull it from combat you get your attack off and makes it so combat can’t happen on other people’s turns. It also has the self sacrifice bonus on your upkeep if you don’t pay the mana cost allowing you to lock combat to only your turn. Keep in mind, if you have Peacekeeper and
Karmic Guide
with a sac outlet you can have the same effect without bringing Peacekeeper into combat at all.
Archetype of Finality
Probably one of my favorite forms of protection and removal. Cheat this in with Alesha and punish anything that blocks you. First Strike, Death touch being a nasty combo of abilities to play against.
How it Plays
Ideally, you are looking to get your combo pieces from above in your graveyard. Whether that be with discard effects like
Key to the City
,
Cathartic Reunion
, etc. or
Buried Alive
/
Entomb
and bring them out using Alesha’s ability cheating the mana cost. If you don’t get your discard effects/ tutors out there are plenty of ways to stall the game out until you hit your combos. A lot of removal options are repeatable making it very difficult for an opposing deck to maintain momentum and keep important things on the field. When doing your mulligans, ideally you are looking for the mana to cast Alesha as well as a tutor/ way of putting your stuff into your graveyard And a sac outlet. The cards you put into the graveyard with entomb/ buried alive vary and is all dependent on the situation. If you have a card like
Blood Artist
/
Impact Tremors
and a sac outlet you are going to want to bury an infinite etb life drain combo. Any of the infinite loops above will work for this. Most of the time you ar looking for Karmic Guide to bring in a Fiend Hunter and loop the damage of the sacrifice or the etb. I personally like entomb for
Master of Cruelties
. Instant speed, attack, entomb, pay the triggered ability cost and swing in for lethal. You can do this on an in expecting victim who hasn’t seen you put anything into your grave yard and they may still be ramping (if it’s early in the game) or someone who left themselves open thinking they had time. All else fails if you have
Key to the City
or
Break Through the Line
you can make it unblockable and it doesn’t matter if they have blockers available. In the end, it’s about reading your situation and picking what works best for that situation, whether that be removal and trying to prolong the game until you go off or going for the win. Most important thing to keep in mind: Use the value you get from Alesha to cheat in creatures that you normally wouldn’t be able to get out until turn 6-7. If you can avoid it, do not hard cast your stuff as that can get expensive.
