Primer: Winter Fruity Pebbles
I've decided to bring yet another 4-turn infinite combo to Modern. Let's see it in action!
Enduring Renewal
+
Grinding Station
+
Ornithopter
Based on the wonderfully-named Fruity Pebbles Legacy deck: found here
Also inspired by the recent Daily MTG Article: found here
This is a very proactive deck that races towards its end goal with little regard for the opponent's presence. While this style of play is not recommended against other, faster combo decks, this beauty can potentially be very competitive in the right meta.
BEST PART: Only costs ~$200 !!!
The Breakdown
THE TRIPLE TRIFECTA - Combo Pieces:
Enduring Renewal
- The quirky card that makes this deck possible. It possesses the unique ability of returning creatures to your hand, if they go to the graveyard from the battlefield. Hmm interesting... (4 copies)
Ornithopter / Memnite - Ah yes, the famous 0-cmc duo in Modern! These bad boys interact very well with the previous card, allowing you freely replay these creatures if they die; a pretty solid defense against a barrage of attackers. But how can we abuse this? (7-8 copies)
Grinding Station / Blasting Station - Ah-ha! Let me introduce you to your win-conditions. In tandem with the previous two pieces, these artifacts let you repeatedly sac your 0-cmc creatures to either mill or damage your opponents to death.
(6 copies)
Unlike Splinter Twin decks, creature removal does not interrupt the infinite combo because sacrificing is instantaneous! This renders many strong and popular interaction cards in the Modern meta, such as Path to Exile or Dismember, obsolete.
CARD FIXING:
Serum Visions / Sleight of Hand / Anticipate - These cards are essential in quickly assembling your combo pieces. Cheap mana cost and high redundance, so these are counterspell-resistant. Automatic 4-ofs, except for Anticipate, since it is a two-drop.
Idyllic Tutor - Essentially
Enduring Renewal
5-8, potentially (but you don't want more than two). While it is quite costly to play a 3-drop to find a 4-drop, sometimes it is absolutely necessary. You want to combo off as early as possible, so we will do whatever it takes to do so. (2 copies)
Spoils of the Vault
- So far, an excellent replacement to Idyllic Tutor! Very cheap, and can search for anything (other pieces, land, etc.). EoT makes the loss of life almost irrelevant, but really worsens the already terrible Burn match-up. From experience, don't use more than one in a game! (3 copies, still playtesting)
PLAYER BOARD INTERACTION:
Pyroclasm - Great against early aggression; play this to buy more time against creature-aggro decks. Cheap goodness that keeps us in the game if we don't have the combo yet. (3 copies)
Swan Song - This tool can either stop/delay your opponent's combo, or save your own pieces if necessary. Incredibly useful. (3 copies)
Gitaxian Probe - Hooray for free spells! This card pulls double duty in digging through the library and also checking the opponent's to ensure you can combo off safely or not. Definitely a useful tool to have. (4 copies)
Example Turn 4 Finish
T1 - Land, card fixing
T2 - Land, more card fixing
T3 - Land, Grinding Station (hold Spell Pierce)
T4 - Land,
Enduring Renewal
, Ornithopter = GG SON
Gameplay Tips and Tricks **Work in Progress**
As with any deck, the gameplay varies widely depending on which deck you are playing against. I will first give my thoughts about general play based on my experiences playtesting, and then I will go into to some detail about specific matchups.
OPENING HAND
For your opening hand (as a heuristic, not a set rule), you want at least **4** of the following:
***Lands (don't count islands beyond 2, to combo off you need at least two white-mana producers),
***Pyroclasm,
***Memnite/Ornithopter,
***
Enduring Renewal
/Idyllic Tutor/
Spoils of the Vault
,
***Blasting Station/Grinding Station
Don't count beyond 1 for each combo piece. For example, if you had two Memnites, you would only count that as 1 towards your goal of 4. A hand containing multiple of the same combo piece is useless beyond the first one (usually, use your judgment based on the match-up). In general, a hand with at least 4 of the above is a keeper, with some jurisdiction of course.
One-land hands should not be kept if you don't have at least 2 1-cmc card fixers. Likewise, 4 land hands should not be kept if you don't already have two white producers, or don't have enough combo pieces or fixers. Personally, I don't think you should keep hands with more than 4 lands.
SETTING UP
Don't play Memnite/Ornithopter (unless you have extra) or
Enduring Renewal
(even if you have extra) until the turn you going to go off. The latter card has a dangerous drawback of revealing your hand, which we want to avoid when necessary. As for the former, we don't want removal to hit them before we can combo. They're free to play anyways, so there's isn't much harm in waiting!
When possible, always play Blasting Station/Grinding Station over card fixers (unless you already have one on the battlefield). Also, Blasting Station has priority over Idyllic Tutor!
If you are looking for more than one combo piece or land, I would play Sleight of Hand/Serum Visions over Anticipate. Too many times I have revealed 2 or more things that I needed, and was only able to take one via Anticipate. Sadface...
I almost always play Gitaxian Probe by paying life. When you have a 4-5 turn combo, your life total does not matter (unless you're playing against burn or another fast aggro deck). I have turn one Gitaxian Probe into Sleight of Hand many times. You never know what you're going to draw, so usually it's safe to keep your mana saved.
Also, Serum Visions in tandem with Gitaxian Probe can be incredibly useful. Always play Serum first.
If you have below 4 lands, hold off on cracking fetches if you can. Once you have four or more, crack the fetches first!
And Lastly...
Enjoy my take on a Modern Fruity Pebbles deck! I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism and suggestions. Don't forget to +1 if you liked it!
, so deck price went up.