This is a combo deck that aims to get several mana rocks or dorks onto the field, then use the commander, League Guildmage, to copy Dramatic Reversal repeatedly and create infinite mana. Once you have infinite mana, the deck has several ways to kill players, including mill by Persistent Petitioners, an infinitely large Fireball split between players, and Valakut Invoker.
To set the combo up, you first have to get mana rocks or dorks that are able to produce at least (3)(R). Then, you need League Guildmage on the field and without summoning sickness, a wincon on the board or in hand, and Dramatic Reversal in hand. Then, the loop breaks down like this:
- Play Dramatic Reversal.
- While DR is on the stack, tap all your mana rocks to produce (3)(R).
- Use League Guildmage's second ability for (2)(R) to copy DR.
- You will have (1) floating in your mana pool. Now let the new copy of DR resolve.
- Now you have League Guildmage and all your mana rocks untapped, with the original copy of DR still on the stack. Repeat, starting with step 2, until you have an arbitrary amount of mana in your mana pool.
If you use a copy of Persistent Petitioners as your win condition, then you will be using that (1) floating in your mana pool to use its tap ability each loop of the combo. If you use Fireball or one of its variants, then you will wait and use all of the mana you have accumulated when you stop looping. The copy ability can also be used to get around a counterspell aimed at the killing Fireball.
So, that covers the mechanics of the loop. As for how to find the loop, there are enough mana rocks that you can usually draw into them or use Drift of Phantasms or Muddle the Mixture to find the last one you need. Dizzy Spell, Muddle the Mixture, and Drift of Phantasms can all search for different mana outlets, as well. The trickier part is finding Dramatic Reversal. Muddle the Mixture and Merchant Scroll both search for Dramatic Reversal. In my testing of this deck, I have pretty consistently been able to get the combo off by turn 8. If you're really struggling to put together your pieces, you can resort to the draw ability on your commander to dig a little extra with all that extra mana from rocks.
In terms of dealing with threats, you have a few tools that can deal with everything but voltron commanders. Luckily, everyone is afraid of voltron commanders and people tend to aim removal at them instead of at the combo player with nothing but mana rocks and a 2-drop. Aggro decks usually can't kill you in time because they have two other players to worry about and a well placed Lightning Bolt or Flame Slash copied by our commander are usually enough to slow them down. Control decks can try to shut down the combo by countering Dramatic Reversal or killing League Guildmage at instant speed when the combo starts, but we have several 1- and 2-CMC counterspells to try to deal with that. You don't have enough interaction to fight the table, just enough to buy you that last turn and maybe defend the combo.
When I updated the deck, I mostly added low-cost cantrips. Using the Guildmage to copy things like Serum Visions means you can dig 6 cards deep for only 3 mana, making it much easier to find your combo pieces or tutors. It's also important to note that rummaging cards like Cathartic Reunion are great for this plan, too, since you only have to discard for the cost for the original copy, so you can pay 5 to discard two cards and draw six.
