pie chart

Does this Make Me an Asshole?

Commander / EDH Artifact Combo Enchantment Infinite Combo Theme/Gimmick WUB (Esper)

thuzra

Edit Live Edit
Edit
Upvote 0
0
Deckcycle Feature Queue
Feature Queue
Playtest v1
Similar Deck Space Card Recommendations

Creature (21)

Planeswalker (2)

Land (34)

Enchantment (8)

Artifact (22)

Instant (2)

Sorcery (10)

Commander (1)

Commander: Sen Triplets

Maybeboard

Creature (3)

Artifact (1)

Instant (1)

Yes. Yes it does.

updated description to come

I only run all of the infinite combos...

Many or most of these pieces can be used together with great synergy, but when paired appropriately they reveal their full potential. Let's break it down:

This deck was in the works a long time ago, as a great leap in Combo Theory made by yours truly. I was new to EDH, but I decided that one thing remained true throughout all formats: Combos are still good. I stuck to what I knew. In the early stages it was crude; it had all the same combos it does now (give or take a few), but it wasn't smooth, it wasn't... well-oiled enough. It was not the efficient machine looming above the Description box that it is today. Sydri claimed the helm, and she ran a loose ship. She captained a mean Tiny Leaders deck, but that was no combo cornucopia as this is. When I, at long last, found my old copy of Sen Triplets that I've had for as long as I've been playing this great game, I knew that the deck was going to go far beyond the primitive shell it had occupied. I'd like to think I've succeeded in that.

This is an aggressive combo deck. You have, at your disposal, every infinite combo in Esper I could cram into one deck (there may be others, but I either haven't heard of them or they aren't good enough for me to cut other combos for them). You have almost every relevant tutor available to you to make the combo dream a reality. There are so many ways to bring the game to a halt with just a handful of cards, and the only factor that can slow you down is the ability of your opponents to disrupt you.

Enter the Glass Cannon.

These are the combos that don't fit into other categories and don't deserve categories of their own; they just don't work quite like the others.
  • Thopter Assembly + Time Sieve
  • Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry
  • Infinite mana + Batterskull + Blasting Station
  • Mycosynth Lattice + Sydri, Galvanic Genius - Yes, you can snipe lands.
  • Mycosynth Lattice + Sen Triplets - Here is a combo focused on the phrasing of ML: "Players may spend mana as though it were mana of any colour." I can play spells from the hand of a Ruric Thar, the Unbowed player! I may spend colourless or blue or black mana as though it were green! This is not how Commander was meant to be played, but so long as the rules check out...
    • Is it even a combo deck if you don't have a way to go absolutely bonkers? Here are the basic mana tricks:
  • Grand Architect + Pili-Pala
  • Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron
  • Cloud of Faeries + Deadeye Navigator + any land that taps for 2+
  • ~Omniscience eheh
    • They don't even have to go infinite, these are all just good, anyway.
  • Infinite Mana + Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry
  • Infinite Mana + Staff of Domination
  • Infinite Mana + Debt to the Deathless
  • Infinite Mana + Exsanguinate
  • Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond
    • It's not always good in EDH, but when it's good, it's good. Let me also go over the first two, just so everyone is on the same page with these:
  • Helm of Obedience + Leyline of the Void
  • Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace
    • The phrasing on Helm says that it mills until it put X cards into the graveyard. Since the cards are instead exiled by the replacement effect of RIP and Leyline, it will mill until it puts X cards in the grave. But it can't, so it tries again. And again. And again and again, til the opponent has no cards left to mill/exile. The effect ends, and they will die upon their draw step, unless they have shenanigans. But their days are numbered.

    Now that that's covered, let's proceed:

  • Infinite Mana + Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry + Altar of the Brood
  • Infinite Mana + Batterskull + Altar of the Brood
  • Bloodchief Ascension + Mindcrank
  • Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank
  • Altar of the Brood + Cloud of Faeries + Deadeye Navigator
  • Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron + Altar of the Brood
  • Infinite Mana + Duskmantle Guildmage

    • This combo is unique for being something that's cropped up as a result of a common and an uncommon in the same set. Gatecrash was an interesting time. Anyway, if you want more information, here's an article actually going over the deck's birth, which was certainly eye-opening for me, even as someone so experienced with Legacy's crazy capacity for combos. And you can see how the deck's developed from here. Clearly, we cannot effectively run Balustrade Spy and Undercity Informer, but we can keep the spirit of the deck alive in many ways.
  • Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Laboratory Maniac
    • Now, obviously this deck is not composed only of spells, but the combo still runs if you can mill yourself competently. I will go over the, ah, more complicated way of pulling this off in the Four Horsemen section below.
    I mean, when it's good, it's good. And, in this frame, it's very useful, and carries very little in the way of consequences due to Coolamog, the Infinite Gyro. These also facilitate the Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Laboratory Maniac combo discussed above.
  • Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb
  • Grand Architect + Mesmeric Orb + Pili-Pala
  • Cloud of Faeries + Deadeye Navigator + Mesmeric Orb
  • Deadeye Navigator + Mesmeric Orb + Palinchron
  • Infinite Mana + Duskmantle Guildmage
    • This is a classic combo, and quite an interesting and robust Legacy deck.
  • -Enter the Infinite + Omniscience + any game-winning combo
    • Now, obviously, there are ways around doing exactly this; almost anything that produces the same effect will work.
  • -Infinite Mana + Enter the Infinite + any game-winning combo
  • Infinite Mana + Deadeye Navigator + Baleful Strix
  • Infinite Mana + Staff of Domination
    • This has also been called the Headless Horseman combo, but I've always been fond of sticking to the roots. Here we have a deck tech with a competent Horseman, and honestly he does quite a good job explaining the mechanics of the beast. However, if you would like to dive to the dark beginnings of the rogue combo deck, look no further than this article; this is the actual best explanation and primer for the Horsemen combo, and definitely worth a read if you give a damn. Anyway, let's get to the meat of this:

    Now, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is banned in EDH (woe is me!), so we'll run Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, who's at least decent on his own. Ula is the backbone of the combo, and Mesmeric Orb is the heart. You may use any number of ways to untap nonsense.

  • Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb
  • Grand Architect + Mesmeric Orb + Pili-Pala
  • Cloud of Faeries + Deadeye Navigator + Mesmeric Orb
  • Deadeye Navigator + Mesmeric Orb + Palinchron
    • Now what? You're waiting either for the Oops, All Spells! combo or the classic Horsemen combo. Let's go over both, right quick. I would like to point out that neither of these are happening as described below under Rest in Peace or an opponent's Leyline of the Void. Be careful.
  • Oops, All Spells! 2.0 - Mill your deck until you wind up with a castable reanimator spell (Dread Return or Unburial Rites), Angel of Glory's Rise, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, and Laboratory Maniac are in your graveyard and you can cast a sorcery (suffice to say, repeat until you have them, and Ula is not in your grave). Cast the reanimator, target Angel, bring back the Humans, mill yourself out the rest of the way, them respond to Ula's trigger with a draw. Win game. It's sometimes difficult to pull off, sometimes just from repetition and shuffling, but when it goes there is no question of victory. Eventually. You may end up taking rather a long turn.
  • Four Horsemen - This is the combo that this section cares about. This is the gipper. The first thing you do after setting up the engine is to, again, set up an "ideal" graveyard. The difference is the contents. Whereas O,AS! requires four cards, this requires only three. Sharuum the Hegemon , Blasting Station, and a reanimator. Reanimate Sharuum, bring back Station, proceed from there. Or, if Station is in your hand or out on the field, you can skip this bit entirely! From here, you just mill yourself until you can have Narcomoeba enter the battlefield due to milling. This will trigger Station, causing it to untap. Tap it, saccing 'Moeba, ping something or someone. Then mill til Ula shows up, lather, rinse, repeat. You can do this forever.

    • Of course, none of this would be possible (at least feasible) without a suite of tutors and card-advantage engines! While many of these combos have interchangeable parts, or can be replaced by better or more effective combos over the course of a game, having the ability to find the exact pieces I need is greatly valued and greatly appreciated.

    Hard Tutors Show

    Soft Tutors Show

    It is also true that some cards are just good, and to these cards I owe an immense debt, as they have kept me afloat in dangerous waters many times over. There's a reason Umezawa's Jitte is banned in Modern, let's simply say that.

    Pure Value Show

    As you can tell, there was a lot of research and effort and testing going into this to get it in any kind of competitive condition, and for that I must give thanks to all my friends who have helped me playtest throughout development, the Legacy players I've seen on YouTube and Twitch, and all the countless people whose deck techs I've watched to learn the combos inside and out. If you don't invest time in competitive Magic, go watch some matches and tech videos by any good content provider; there is no knowledge that is useless in the pursuit of greatness. Essentially, my greatest thanks for this deck goes out to the entirety of the Magic community - may you all, one day, find it in your hearts to forgive me!

    Suggestions

    Updates Add

    Why the hell not? — Jan. 13, 2016
    Edit

    Okay, let's just start off by saying that this was absolutely spinning the ball on my finger when I was doing this, and holy SHIT did it feel amazing. Let's do this.

    I have Baleful Strix, Trading Post, Sydri, Voltaic Key, Clock of Omens, Pili-Pala, and a bunch of irrelevant stuff on the field. Grand Architect is in my hand and I am ecstatic that my precious scarecrow lived to my next turn. Cast Architect, combo with P-P. Infinite mana floating, I cast Deadeye Navigator from my hand, also, and Soulbond to Strix. Draw deck. I had Helm of Obedience on the field, also, one of the irrelevant things, as I had neither RIP nor LotV. Now I did. I cast Staff of Domination. I use Sydri to turn Helm into a creature. Mill one of my opponent's decks into exile (Also, I used RIP so that my graveyard would also be exiled. For fun), then used Staff to untap Helm (Staff only does everything), lather, rinse, repeat. Not done yet. They're milled out but I care not. I cast everything in my hand that doesn't target things in graveyards, and then I turn Trading Post into a creature, use it and Staff to discard the rest of my hand (some 20-30 cards) and gain some life (fortunately for the "ball-spinning", Exquisite Blood was in my grave before I started, and was RIP'd), and exile everything of mine.then I tap Laboratory Maniac to draw a card, but I respond by using the Thopter Sword combo an infinite number of times, using Staff and Post to sac all the Thops to draw cards, forever and ever. Good times.

    If you found that entertaining, stupid, or both, then I am glad, and my work here is done! (But I'll never leave, I'll stick around for the new busted combo pieces that Wizards prints on accident.)

    GP PIttsburgh - Commander Side Event — Nov. 26, 2015
    Edit
    Image View Timeline
    Card Odds v1 Draw hand
    Add to folder Copy
    Download / Export / Embed Code

    Comments

    Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

    Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

    Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

    Please login to comment

    Revision 11 See all

    (6 years ago)

    Top Ranked
    • Achieved #35 position overall 8 years ago
    Date added 9 years
    Last updated 5 years
    Key combos
    Legality

    This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
    Rarity (main - side)

    12 - 0 Mythic Rares

    36 - 0 Rares

    29 - 0 Uncommons

    11 - 0 Commons
    Cards 100
    Avg. CMC 3.73
    Tokens Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Thopter 1/1 C, Thopter 1/1 U
    Folders decklists, edh, Favorites of ALL TIME, Want, Awesome Edh, Compare to.... , wish list, Otoro, Multi player EDH, Decks I WANT To Buy
    Votes
    Ignored suggestions
    Shared with
    Views