Magic: The Gathering's Most Broken Card Combos

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

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[@Casual_BackPacking]

Stella wild card has some broken combos

[@OpusCulo13666]

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[@pharmacistjudge]

Flash Hulk gets dirtier as time went on. LOTR Samwise Gamgee, Caldron Familiar, Viscera Seer is a 4 Mana win and then you get 2 free mana to stop interaction as you see fit. If it is your turn, you can use Grand Abolisher which stops practically all interaction your opponent could have.

[@aliismat543]

I run this exact set up in my Thalia and the Gitrog monster deck. Super handy when your commander can sack the Hulk!.

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

Just a little note, the Legend Rule doesn't have you sacrifice the objects that you don't keep. They are simply put into the Gtaveyard. If you controlled a Korvald, it wouldn't trigger if you Legend Ruled a creature away.

[@theaamanable]

Incorrect, quick google search says that the second copy is indeed sacrificed

[@charlessmith208]

Nah, he’s right. Rule 704.5j. 704.5j If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are controlled by the same player, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.” Note that put into graveyard is distinct from sacrifices, but not from dies. You would still get leaves the battlefield triggers.

[@thorbalt1]

@@charlessmith208 except on arena, which is made, owned and run by wizards, you sac the extra. As such, its a sac and not a put, per the creators of the game

[@mordechai9644]

@@thorbalt1 arena isnt the best way to learn the rules of magic

[@ThisIsACommanderChannel]

@@theaamanable Sorry, but that quick Google search is incorrect. I've been a Magic judge since 1999. If you can let me know where you found that answer then maybe I can reach out to the person who wrote the article or whatever and hopefully get the page updated to contain the right info so that players don't get confused.

[@patrickridenour6546]

I like that while you were discussing the key//vault combo, you had the card "key to the vault" in the background

[@tholzak]

Good eye for detail!

[@SchemingGuide]

Could u make a lore video about the idk top 10 most powerful characters in all of magic? That would be great!

[@OnePointSafety]

If I had to guess it would be something like this: 1. Guff 2. Yawgmoth 3. The Ur Dragon 4. Eldrazi Titans 5. Pre-mending Bolas After that I'm not really sure would be pretty debatable

[@styfen]

Leaving Emrakul off your list eh? She's not on the same level as the other two.

[@Ed_d_19]

​@@styfenthey said eldrazi titans as in all 3

[@skynyrdjesus]

​@@OnePointSafetyI would put Urza at one, but that's a fantastic list.

[@Marikk2]

Have urza and bolas ever fought? I feel like urza would win.... pre mending bolas got smoked by toshiro

[@Tyler-Clark]

I've only been playing MTG for about 3 months and these are crazy. For me the 2-card combo of Bloodletter of Aclazotz and Rush of Dread is pretty crazy considering it wouldn't matter if your opponent has 301k hp, they're still dead.

[@richardsmith9615]

It's dumb and a testament to poor design.

[@snood4743]

Bruvac the Grandiloquent plus Traumatize lets you do the same 1/2 x 2 shenanigans with milling instead of damage. Wizards of the Coast thankfully didn’t put that combo into standard at least, lol.

[@roguebarbarian9133]

Yeah, I had someone play it against me, posted to my friends how unfair the combo was, and because I already had Bloodletter in one of my black decks, loaded up on Rush of Dread. I ultimately abandoned that deck because I felt dirty playing it.

[@Tyler-Clark]

@@roguebarbarian9133 I would probably feel that way in paper Magic but playing that combo against faceless opponents on the Arena app doesn't bother me

[@VolvoxSocks]

Just general shout out to Solemnity. Also allows for Dark Depths to pop on Etb, allows for infinite mana with Devoted Druid, shenanigans with Persist/Undying, immunity to life loss with Phyrexian Unlife. I don't think any of them are as innately strong as the stuff on this list, but just a lot of neat stuff.

[@supersmashseandx1991]

Legit thought the sponsor was going to be Morgan and Morgan. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad disappointed

[@TattyBojangles81]

More like Markov's and Manors

[@seanobrien5350]

I'm a big fan of "Oops! All Spells" which is a variant of the thassa's oracle combo: play any kind of fast mana to ramp into ballustrade spy, mill your whole library because you don't run any lands, get 3 Narcomoeba to sac to dread return targeting thassa's oracle. Less powerful than demonic consultation, but you don't need to rely on drawing the thassa's oracle because you get it out of the graveyard.

[@freya3217]

and with protean hulk/summoning pact you can do it turn 0 despite flash being gone lol, i used to have a very dumb turn 0 oops all spells that used lab maniac instead of oracle EDIT: wait, summoner's pact just puts it into your hand, it's been so long... oh well, it was basically what you're talking about but with a lab maniac lol

[@ljlk8583]

yes! I have a pauper deck which is '2 land spy' (usually 1 land but I prefer the consistency of 2 lands). It wins by pulling the 2 lands out of your deck, flipping over your deck with spy, then unearthing dregscape zombies to flashback dread return to bring back lotleth giant. Very fun deck!

[@ForeverLaxx]

The Flash Hulk combo I'm more familiar with is the Disciple of the Vault version. Though honestly, they're all instant wins so it doesn't really matter.

[@Interrobang212]

It's crazy because Hulk keeps getting better over the years because you can do it with less colors. BG Hulk is honestly a pretty solid cEDH deck.

[@xChikyx]

my version won by giving a token of Phage to each opponent lol they should have banned proteanhulk instead of flash in commander tho

[@FearOgre]

@@xChikyx lol no

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

​@@xChikyx, Flash is turn 0 even without Program Hulk. Both cards can make new cards better but Flash could make them broken.

[@xChikyx]

@@TheSpiritombsableye i Know, but protean hulk is what makes the combo, when It was banned, flash wasn't a problem

[@JohnSmith-vk9ds]

5:02 sponsor ad ends

[@Mr.StarrordG]

Nah bro you be killing me not including reverberate and second breakfast. What is more powerful than a second second breakfast?

[@Anatak2222]

I don't think the Professor has heard of second second breakfast user-sc8xt7fh7o.

[@zakmaniscool]

@@Anatak2222 What about brunch? Elvensies? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper?

[@benjaminloyd6056]

I wouldn't count on it

[@ReyosBlackwood]

Second Breakfast was a combo deck that I used to play, it just took so long to combo off and played the whole deck...

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

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[@TheSimmus]

Atog + Fling A combo so powerful they banned Atog in Pauper. I miss my smiley gremlin

[@BenchForAllTheMarbles]

Don't forget, Professor: you can tutor up Thassa's Oracle, Blood Pet or Wild Cantor, and Spellseeker. Thassa's Oracle triggers at the bottom of the stack, followed by Spellseeker. Spellseeker tutors Demonic Consultation, which you can cast by sacrificing the Pet/Cantor. Yes, the #1 most powerful combo in MtG's history can lead into the #3 most powerful combo in MtG's history.

[@BenchForAllTheMarbles]

This was what finally got Flash banned in Commander, btw.

[@QjoWilwolf]

Shoutout to the Commander combos: Heliod + Ballista, Triskelion + Mikaeus, Lethal Vapors + Teferi's Protection, Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood

[@AtriumXP666]

and Karn, the Great Creator + Mycosynth Lattice LOL

[@Link71386]

Exquisite Blood + Vito, Thorn Of The Dusk Rose

[@QjoWilwolf]

@@Link71386 Vito is just a Sanguine Bond on a body, at the end of the day =P

[@Link71386]

@@QjoWilwolf Yes, I know. It's easier to reanimate than an enchantment.

[@charlieawerbuch5352]

I think that the Hangarback Walker infinite loop deserves some kind of honorable mention. While yes, it is primarily a combo/loop you see in Commander, it is very consistent and fully capable of just ending games from out of nowhere. And there are so many ways to pull it off, with a ton of variants ranging from the Heliod or Mikaeus loop that pings everyone to death, to the Emry loop that generates infinite storm count, to the Sifter of Skulls variant that generates infinite mana, and so many more.

[@SkillsByNiels]

hangarback walker loops?

[@anthonydelfino6171]

I think you're thinking of Triskelion/Walking Ballista

[@rodzeroher]

For me the Tolarian Academy combo decks from combo winter in either the standard or extended version remains the most broken stuff ever, Flash/Hulk can still be stopped with Force of will, tolarian academy decks have so many lines that is basically impossible to stop it two turns in a row.

[@DualSwordBesken]

Can we discuss how for a short time #1 was being used to grab #3 in cEDH? 2 of the most busted combos just hanging out together in a shell of mostly just the strongest control cards legal in commander.

[@xChikyx]

yeah, the RC is a joke

[@IcaroMendonca]

Yeah, Breakfast hulk was probably the strongest version of the deck. It combined hulk's instant speed win and extreme cheap cost with ThOracle's narrow counterplay. For people who don't know, here is the combo: Cast flash putting Protean Hulk into play and immediately saccing it to get a Hulk death trigger. Grab Nomads en-Kor, Cephalid Illusionist and Thassa's Oracle from your deck. When they enter the battlefield, Thoracle's trigger goes into the stack, and you activate Nomads en-Kor targeting Cephalid Illusionist. Nomads' ability cost zero and its effect is meaningless, but every time Cephalid is targeted you mill three cards. When you have no cards, and Thoracle trigger resolves, you win. If anybody tries to put literally any game action on the stack proceed to put more Nomads activations on the stack, until you have enough to win anyway. The only way to stop this is either by stifling the Thoracle trigger or by making the person draw a card, but differently from a straight Thassa's Consultation win, you can do it on instant speed, as an answer to someone else's combo. Infact, the way the cEDH meta of its time developed, the only viable way to stop te win was to either counter the Flash, or wait for the hulk to die and ... cast your own flash hulk to win instant speed, with the opponent win on the stack.

[@felity1773]

​@@xChikyx formats like cedh don't need to be overlooked by some arbitrary force as long as they are no "official" mtg sponsored cedh tournaments

[@Dtoszi]

@@felity1773 considering there now are startings of that with one already now being officially sponsored and others playing for ridiculous amounts of money, the current RC needs to be disbanded and replaced.

[@atk9989]

@@Dtoszi or, cEDH players can stop crying anytime someone suggest splitting it into its own format separate from casual EDH, then you can have your own ban list for your format without it ruining casual decks.

[@Trevdawg48]

What a fun list! There are many other great combos, including Painter-Grindstone and RIP or Leyline Helm.

[@Googahgee]

Similar to the Flash Hulk kill, the Hive Mind + Pact kill is really exciting to see. I think it was specifically run in Bloom Titan (before bloom got banned) resulting in some possible super quick kills. Maybe not as powerful, but really cool!

[@janmelantu7490]

The new Flash-Hulk package is so much tighter than it used to be thanks to LOTR. Samwise Gamgee is 2 mana and says “whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield, create a food token”. Cauldron Familiar is 1 mana, drains an opponent for 1 life on etb, and allows you to return it by sacrificing a food. Together with a 1-mana free sac outlet this is literally infinite, and you now have 2 extra mana to include Grand Abolisher to lock your opponent(s) out of interacting. No clone shenanigans needed. This is the main reason Flash went from 5 to 7 points in Canadian Highlander, bringing it in line with other combo cards like Thoracle, Vault, Black Lotus, and Time Walk. Speaking of Time Walk, one of my favorite combos is SeekerWalk. You might think it’s as simple as using Spellseeker to find Time Walk, but to go infinite you need a few extra pieces that are cool. Your first Spellseeker finds Ephemerate, which you then use on seeker to find Walk and take an extra turn. Then you rebound the ephemerate (which now goes to the graveyard) on seeker and find Neoform (birthing pod but it’s a sorcery), then Neoform seeker (3 cmc) into Timeless Witness (a 4 cmc eternal witness), which returns a card from your graveyard to your hand, in this case ephemerate. Then you ephemerate the Witness and bring back Time Walk. Because of rebound, the Ephemerate-Witness-Time Walk loop is infinite turns for only 3 mana each turn, but in formats without Time Walk you can do it with 6 mana instead (using Time Warp or similar)

[@IcaroMendonca]

The version of Flash Hulk that got it banned from cEDH is arguably even stronger, because it doesn't fold to creature removal. Named Breakfast hulk, it was a mix of flash hulk, Thassa's Oracle, and an old combo called Cephalid Breakfast. Here is the combo: Cast flash putting Protean Hulk into play and immediately saccing it to get a Hulk death trigger. Grab Nomads en-Kor, Cephalid Illusionist and Thassa's Oracle from your deck. When they enter the battlefield, Thoracle's trigger goes into the stack, and you activate Nomads en-Kor targeting Cephalid Illusionist. Nomads' ability cost zero and its effect is meaningless, but every time Cephalid is targeted you mill three cards. When you have no cards, and Thoracle trigger resolves, you win. If anybody tries to put literally any game action on the stack proceed to put more Nomads activations on the stack, until you have enough to win anyway. The only way to stop this is either by stifling the Thoracle trigger or by making the person draw a card, but differently from a straight Thassa's Consultation win, you can do it on instant speed, as an answer to someone else's combo. Infact, the way the cEDH meta of its time developed, the only viable way to stop te win was to either counter the Flash, or wait for the hulk to die and ... cast your own flash hulk to win instant speed, with the opponent win on the stack.

[@gedtheflayer]

Honorable mentions should probably go to Krark-Clan Ironworks combos, as they abuse KCI's mana ability to pull combo nonsense off in the middle of activating abilities on other cards. The complexity and obscurity of the rules interactions was one of the factors cited in banning KCI.

[@mitchellsidebottom9271]

I know this is mostly focused on combos that are incredibly powerful and easy to execute, but there’s some fun infinites that are wincons with some setup that can be responded to. Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond: Two 5 cmc enchantments, but once both are on the field, the moment an opponent takes damage, you enter a feedback loop of gain life/lose life that trigger each other until all opponents hit 0 life. Nim Deathmantle/Composite Golem: Infinite Mana of any color. Nim Deathmantle has a triggered ability where you pay 4 to reanimate a creature when it hits the graveyard from the battlefield. Composite golem has a mana ability where you sacrifice it to gain one of each color, for a total of 5; sac for 5, reanimate for 4. Since this is a combo of a mana ability and a triggered ability, it beats most removal spells. Graveyard hate thwarts it though. Slivers have SO MANY! Most are done with Basal Sliver but cards like Morophon, Herald’s Horn, or the First Sliver have some BS as well. Most of these combos can be achieved without them even needing to be the focus of the deck; they just kinda happen. Sliver Queen with Basal Sliver and Heartstone generates infinite slivers with infinite Black. With a haste sliver and a mana sliver you won’t need heartstone. Pulmonic Sliver and Realmwalker with Basal Sliver can let you sac and cast a 2cmc black sliver from the top of your library as often as you want. Cost reducing cards or The First Sliver can enable this feedback loop as well. With Firebelly Sliver having been printed last year you can just passively kill the opponent doing these combos now. I’m still finding Sliver combinations that result in infinite combos just playing them. In mono white you have Famished Paladin, who can infinitely tap if you have a repeatable means of gaining life. Resplendent Mentor keeps him busy. Throw in an Aetherflux Reservoir and you can just nuke your opponents once they’re both ready. Melira lets creatures with Persist die and come back with no cost to you. Murderous Redcap can target itself for infinite ETB or death triggers. If you have another sac outlet just nuke the opponent instead. I have more but this has already become an essay.

[@menlockeverquester2303]

My favorite combo was one i accidentally discovered while making my Nekusar deck. I pulled a borderless Bloodchief Ascension, put it into the deck, then my Mindcrank hit the board an im like "wait a minute, this goes infinite. I win 😂" It was probably one of my favorite MTG moments that happened when no one else was around to see it

[@michaelsparks1571]

The amount of "I win" creature piles you can build off Hulk really does push it to #1 over Vault/Key imho. In one of my EDH decks, Hulk is mainly used to find Conspicuous Snoop (2) + Boggart Harbinger (3) + Torch Courier (1). Use Harbinger to put Kiki-Jiki on top of your library. Sac Torch Bearer to give Snoop Haste. Tap Snoop to make copy of Snoop, then Snoop-copy to make Copy of Snoop ad infinitum. Tap last Snoop-copy to make copy of Harbinger. Put Mog Fanatic or Sling-Gang Lieutenant on top of library. Sac every last Snoop and Snoop-copy to put all opponents to 0 life.

[@Kokuswolf]

There are really many Bearers in Magic. You can't imagine what they all bearing. But there is no Torch Bearer. Norin the Wary bears something like this, but he isn't called that way. It's the Torch Courier.... curiously.

[@michaelsparks1571]

@@Kokuswolf I'm not certain if you were hoping to sound clever, but you really only had to say "I think you meant Torch Courier".

[@Kokuswolf]

@@michaelsparks1571 Wow. No need to be that unfriendly. It was just my experience searching for Bearers in hope of finding the one you mentioned. Maybe you should not guess, if you're uncertain. And train your social skills instead.

[@Oso-Gaming]

I particularly like a combo that I found using Reprecussion and Chandra's Incinerator. Any damage dealt to an opponent's creature will trigger Reprecussion which will then trigger Chandra's Incinerator to deal that much damage to a creature that opponent controls. That loops back to triggering Reprecussion and you now have a consistent board clear for your opponents while also pinging them for as much toughness they hand on board. Goblin Sharpshooter can start the combo on each of your opponents boards provided they all have creatures.

[@bizarrum]

Hi Professor! Great video, as always! I was hoping to see illusions of grandeur + donate, it may not be the best combo as of today, but it was the core of one of the, if not the most, oppresive combo decks of all time, Trix.

[@jamesmcternen4608]

So, I haven't been playing for ages before I picked it back up when AFR came out. I only recognized Channel/Fireball and Time Vault combos if that tells you how long ago I originally played! I wanted to say, I really appreciate the editing on this video. Just before you explain how the combo works you put a copy of each card up. So, being unfamiliar with most of these I could pause and read the cards and figure it out really quick before you drop it on me. Thanks for that! One thing I wanted to say about Channel/Fireball (which a lot of people probably already are aware of) is that the first turn win is great and all and that's what you hope for, but all you really need is Channel and Fireball and 3 mana plus 1 more life than your opponent and that's a check situation leaning on checkmate. I never had access to Lotus and Moxes and such, but I had plenty of success using just those two anyway. Of course, the number of responses opponents had in those days was more limited. It was much easier to look at an opponents remaining mana and know what they CAN'T play at least. For Time Vault, the combo I remember was casting Animate Artifact on it and then enchanting it with Instil Energy. At that time, Time Vault gained a time counter when you tapped it for an extra turn and then couldn't be untapped if it had the counter. Then you could give the opponent an extra turn to remove the time counter So, the instil allowed you to untap it on your turn even with the counter, giving you infinite turns. One last thing! I got the Thollasian Oracle, Demonic Consultation one right away, but when you showed Tainted Pact, I totally glossed over the word MAY. I was so utterly confused as to how the card worked. 😅 Anyway, thanks again for a great video!

[@NotQuiteAllHere]

I won a few FNM at my local store of the time with red/black infect, using the Immolating Souleater and something like Tainted Strike (as well as a few other methods as backup) to do a Channel Fireball style one-hit infect win combo on turn 3. Was good times.

[@Singe0255]

My Flash-less Hulk/Flash deck is still my most consistent Legacy deck. It uses draw/discard effects like careful study to bin the Hulk, then reanimates it with Footsteps of the Goryo or Necromancy to prompt an end of turn sacrifice that starts the combo. Dark rituals, hand disruption, and free counterspells round out the package.

[@ZerohSyks]

I only have one Commander magic deck. But it's a pretty good deck. It's got one combo like you're talking about that would be the Heliod Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista or Triskelion "it just machine gun pokes everybody at the table to death for one damaged repeatedly". I usually change my commander out to make it harder to get this combo. But on occasion at the local game store there's some folks there that want to play rough.

[@17Tomtac]

Probably not the most broken, but I've always been a big fan of "Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank" combo. Especially because the way I discovered it was by inadvertently putting it in a deck, lending said deck to a friend, and then having them teach me the combo by abruptly obliterating my life total with it :D

[@stevensvoice]

I have always loved the Mindcrank - Bloodchief combo. I think its very easy to include in most lists that play swamps. The fact that Bloodchief's can just win, is a decent upside. Probably doesn't meet the criteria you put forth, but I like it. 😊

[@ljlk8583]

8:45 fun fact: you actually don't tap lion's eye diamond in order to activate it's ability! Unlike things like treasures, black lotus, and lotus petal, tapping is not actually a requirement to get the 3 mana from lion's eye diamond, making this combo work through effects such as manglehorn and dauntless dismantler that make artifacts enter the battlefield tapped. This can also be used with effects such as urza to get an extra mana.

[@shivatrance]

Mind over Mana and Recurring Survival are my favorite broken combos from the past. The fact that Recurring Nightmare is banned in Commander still shows the power of the card.

[@kevinwestermann1001]

It shows more how slow the CAG is than how strong Recurring Nightmare is.

[@AceChampJames]

I have one every game of magic that I've resolved Mind over Matter. It's the most powerful permanent in blue. No matter what you use it for. If it resolves, and you didn't win, well...

[@isaacbuddy]

One of my favorite combo pieces, and one I'm sure Prof appreciates too, is Deeproot Pilgrimage. I love it because it can win in other ways than just making infinite merfolk. Wanderwine Prophets makes infinite turns, Drowner of Secrets and Intruder Alarm mills everyone, Mutavault and Intruder Alarm makes infinite colorless mana, there's a couple merfolk that tap to ping, and it really makes Kumena do his thing.

[@AgentMurphy286]

I’m partial to the Mana Geyser-Reiterate loop followed up with Comet Storm. Or the Curiosity and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind/Niv-Mizzet, Parunn combo. They’re not near the levels of being broken as this list, but I enjoy them.

[@tastybouillon]

I didn't read all 310+ comments but has no one mentioned *Exquisite Blood +Sanguine Bond* ?! I'm not a huge fan of playing mono black OR Orzhov personally but there's a few different creatures that could be used for one of the pieces of this combo. So many options to get the cards into play quickly/efficiently , even in Commander. If you're playing Orzhov you can double down and add another game winning combo with *Teysa, Orzhov Scion + Darkest Hour + Blasting Station* I even added this one to my (whatever you prefer to call) White/Black/Green, Insects "Death by a 1000 Bites" commander deck.

[@ginov.7039]

Yes the Teysa combo is my favorite

[@tastybouillon]

@@ginov.7039 it's definitely effective. A lot of people don't see it coming and the pieces alone aren't huge threats they'd want to waste removal spells on.

[@Protanly]

If you’re at the point where you want a two card combo in mono black, there are better options. Professor Onyx for instance goes infinite with Chain of Smog as you target yourself and recast infinitely until the table dies, also takes 2 cards, and is 2 mana cheaper. It also doesn’t require you to need a way to start the life gain/loss chain.

[@Link71386]

20:00 I'm going to mention two here at the risk of a card, or cards, getting banned. Regardless, Kaya has become my favorite MTG character and I'll be playing her card even if it gets banned. Admittedly, I have the second one built in a commander deck. 1) -Kaya The Inexorable (emblem) -Karn's Temporal Sundering 2) -Kaya The Inexorable (emblem) -Braids, Arisen Nightmare -Ugin's Sylex

[@scottii]

Bloodline Keeper + Intruder Alarm. Infinite vampires on your turn. Painter's Servant + Grindstone. Instant win, possibly on first turn if you have the correct set up.

[@AnonymousHuman-ku5wh]

Not instant. You still need to go to their draw step.

[@scottii]

@@AnonymousHuman-ku5whI've won with this combo card in tournaments many years ago. It is instant. You just need to have Painter's Servant in play first. The color doesn't matter and could be a completely different color in the opponent's deck. Grindstone: Target player mills two cards. If two cards that share a color were milled this way, repeat this process. Painter's Servant: As Painter's Servant enters the battlefield, choose a color. All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are the chosen color in addition to their other colors.

[@Interrobang212]

@@scottii they dont lose the game by having an empty library. They lose by going to draw a card with an empty library. Players will usually concede before they get to that draw step, but on rare occasions they may try to sneak the win with what they have in hand/ in play.

[@stefankuschmierz297]

It’s funny because almost all those cards are included in a vintage cube. So they are kinda legal in at least one format. You just need to be lucky and draft the right cards. Thassa‘s Oracle also pairs nice with Doomsday. It’s always fun to see LSV agonizing his opponents with those combos. Still I think in a cube format those combos are absolutely fine.

[@kevinwestermann1001]

Cube isn't a format, though.

[@TezzerethPrime]

I just remember playing Niv-Mizzet for the first time against friend in EDH and he hadn't know the dragon yet, and I got Niv and Curiosity off on them, and I just got the dirtiest look. He asked me not to do that again. So then the next game I Ophidian Eye.. He asked me not to use that deck anymore.

[@ridleykiller93]

I used to do the Niv + Ophidian Eye combo in standard back in those days. Never won a game when it mattered. But man it was a fun time. Especially using Gelectrodes with Ophidian Eye as a way to dig through my deck.

[@swiftyspike]

Really liked this would enjoy seeing some more cedh combos

[@theamericanwordsmith2670]

I'm not surprised it's not on the list, but Stuffy Doll + Guilty Conscience is one of my favorite combos.

[@Theorak]

Honorable mention for me would be all the Devoted Druid plus preventing counters combos. Had various cards added too it in the past, but sometimes a splash in Standard and Modern. It's wild how far Flash got and Hulk just got to enjoy it so long.

[@Tylur308]

I’ve never commented on a KZbin video before. But I had to give my input here. I play a somewhat dragon deck in commander, and I surprisingly get a healthy amount of wins with this silly combo I have in it. Worldgorger Dragon (in graveyard) + Animate dead = infinite basic land mana Then use Animate Dead on Inferno of the star mounts and buff it with all the mana! (Because it has haste, it can attack no problem) Out of a 99 card deck, I shockingly get these cards in my graveyard often. Definitely a counter-able combo, but it’s pretty fun to pull off.

[@magatsu82]

can anyone understand what the voice says at 21:16? "nissas mae by shuffle up and play" ???? the captions don't understand the first part either

[@headwaste5277]

Its german and means next time on shuffle up and play. No idea why they went with german there lol

[@cax1175]

That was one hell of a stretch to the ad lol but nice prof

[@TheStephenation]

18:41 "Sure you lose if you draw any of them, but this deck wins so quickly, so easily, that there won't be time to draw them." Hulk Flash decks ran a single copy of Body Snatcher as a failsafe. If you topdecked one of your combo pieces, you could fetch Body Snatcher instead, discard the stuck combo piece to Body Snatcher's ETB trigger, then sac the Body Snatcher and use its death trigger to the combo piece. For most of the decks using Carrion Feeder piles, if Carrion Feeder was the topdecked creature, you'd simply need one more mana to combo off anyway. But Body Snatcher could deal with the problem of drawing any of the other creatures.

[@Qaos]

One of my favourite combos, though it's not nearly powerful enough for this list, is one I love for how janky it is. First, you have any creature that can be tapped this turn and a way to untap it (my personal favourite is activated abilities with untapping in the cost) Then, you play Ashaya to make that creature a Forest land. Then you just enchant that creature so it taps for more mana than it costs to untap it, and you now have infinite mana. This combo can be even more fun when the creature is something like Hateflayer or Duergar Mine-Captain, since those can win you the game without even needing the infinite mana.

[@giantninja9173]

I love how I cracked the thassa’s oracle combo in minutes, never had a chance to prove it, then later heard it’s one of the most powerful win cons ever

[@Unit-3D]

Honorary mention to all those infinite loop Enchantment decks where a bit of setup and a flicked match sets off a dust explosion of life gain triggering life loss triggering life gain triggering life loss and so on. Also literally any "ruin half of your opponent's entire day" card + "double any ruination inflicted upon your opponent" card combo, like Bruvac + Traumatize deleting your entire library.

[@slayerofthebuzz1]

IllusionsDonate was pretty good in its heyday, and Slaver lock is worth a mention; but my favorite combo is one that isn't very good or consistent and is very fragile and even salty: Chronatog, Orb of Dreams, Stasis - skip all your turns, sleep for eternity, win by not playing.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Similarly, this was a combo I used in commander in a Zedruu deck + Venser the Sojurner He's one of the few effects in the game that allows you to exile something you own (as opposed to control) then return it to play under your control. In the multiplayer environment it meant you could cast the enchantment to gain 20, use Zedruu to donate it, flicker it with Venser to make your opponent lose 20, then have the enchantment enter again under your control gaining you another 20 life. And you could repeat that every turn so long as you could protect Venser

[@verylongclaw4428]

One of my favorite combos... Play a Mountain, Cast Cacophony Scamp; Pass turn. Next turn Play a Plains, tap Mountain for Colossus Hammer. Swing for 1, Tap Plains play Resolute Strike, Attach the Hammer and get +2+2. Hits for 13, Sac The Scamp for an additional 13. 26 damage turn 2.

[@whosilence]

My pet peeve with Thoracle is that I've had my eyes on consultation for YEARS and right when I was thinking "I should by one" it made it spike way and I mean WAY beyond reason

[@fullmetaldovahkiin]

My favorite combo is casting Niv Mizzet and enchanting it with Curiosity (or something along that line) if I spent the game building up my battlefield with double damage enchantments like Furnace of Rath and a few others each card drawn does damage exponentially. I personally like it because since it's limited to how many cards are in my deck it isn't infinite which feels more...idk...fair? Especially if I'm playing with a big group

[@xileets]

Nord VPN: I don't want my friends, or ANYone, to know I'm looking up winter orb...

[@Hundo_Mo]

Dies to removal

[@clasherking4528]

I discovered an interesting interaction in Jeski when I was first getting into commander Have noyan, dar roil shaper and Jeski ascendency on the field and cast haze of rage stack the triggers so that noyan dar turns your lands into creatures then have Jeski ascendency untap them and now you have infinite mana because of the buyback ability on haze of rage (it's an expensive and hard to pull off combo but it's fun when it works, throw in some cards like archmage ameritus or something else that can draw you cards for casting spells, and lab man and win the game

[@AnonymousMaykr]

The Time Vault erratas are very funny, worth a read @14:38

[@procheesy2355]

I'd like to mention a card combo. While not quick like the ones on this video it is interesting. Solemnity into illusions of grandur and then play felidar guardian. You'll win the next upkeep. Solemnity is needed cuz it turns off cumulative upkeep. Cumulative upkeep requires the player to put an age counter on the permanent with the ability. We can play glacial chasm with this to make it impossible for us to lose by normal means. Tutors and some ramp brings it all together so it isn't overly slow. Still about 4 to 5 turns to get to a win best case

[@willowscott3508]

A slept on EDH combo (bc it's a bs amount of mana, unless you know how to ramp or cheese it somehow): Dynaheir, Invoker Adept + (any copy creature/permanent) + Door to Nothingness. Create a copy of Dynaheir, Tap both Dynaheirs to copy 4+ cost mana abilities twice, like Door to Nothingness' double wubrg mana ability, "Target player loses the game", now the non-copied Door + 2 copies make all 3 opponents lose.

[@felipimacedo]

I remember that I used to play demonic consultation in a crazy storm deck in a non-format friends group (it was a backup win con with lab maniac), and at that time nobody in my area knew about that card lol

[@thesarcasticliberal]

In EDH, I would bring in a favorite of mine--Bloodchief's Ascension + Mindcrank. Ascension is just an amazing card on its own, and Mindcrank is an easy include to tutor up once the Ascension is active.

[@B1gLupu]

Ascension already does so much damage, that including a useless card like Mindcrank is not really needed. You can achieve almost the same effect with a Wheel of Fortune or a board wipe.

[@HangerHangar]

The cheapest price wise is Krakclan Ironworks, 2x Myr Retriever, and Disciple of the Vault. Just need to buy two starter decks for that infinite combo. (there's probably cheaper, but this was playground achievable, which is an achievement in itself). The "starter"/"planeswalker"/"introductory" deck infinite combo video would probably be pretty funny as well.

[@daemon9150]

I never understood the Vault key combo? Timevault clearly states that "to untap it, you must skip a turn" thus it cannot be untapped any other way, right?

[@TheArcSet]

Thanks for this. Any chance of a jank combo episode. I'm partial to all the tricks you can do with Wall of Blood, or Wall of Shards, or changeling human-werewolves, or Pariah.

[@brailleeulogy120]

I liked Enduring renewal, Goblin Bombardment, and Ornithropter.

[@slygore]

Probably my favorite AD transition you've done

[@TheMasasame]

My favourite combo is with Mizzix of the Izmagnus. With at least 6 experience counters and 4 red mana, you cast Electrodominance where X=6, then while its on the stack cast Reiterate with the Buyback. Reiterate resolves, goes back to your hand, resolve the copy of Electrodominance, dealing 6 damage to something and casting Reiterate for free from the copy. Repeat till satisfied.

[@ReyosBlackwood]

There's another Flash Hulk combo: 4 Disciple of the Vault and as many X cost artifact creatures like Phyrexian Marauder and Shifting Wall (and newer options like Stonecoil Serpent or Walking Ballista) as you want. You can play all of the X cost artifact creatures you want, since they add nothing to the total mana value, and since x is 0 they enter without counters, immediately die, triggering all of the Disciple. 5 of them give you 20 damage, 4 if the 5th card is another death trigger effect like Blood Artist, and unlike the Carrion Feeder combo it just happens, no loop to play out.

[@hayokamikaze5896]

Flash Hulk also has the relatively unique in Magic property of needing cards to remain in your deck to work, which is much more common in Yugioh. The Yugioh community calls cards you need for a combo but never want to draw Garnets, after Gem-Knight Garnet. Tinker Citadel has something similar but a Lotus can let you just cast the Citadel so it’s not as bad.

[@Sipulih]

Stasis Combo remains one of my absolute favorites (Chronatog+Root Maze+Stasis), its such a funny way to win the game. I think Trix needed a honorary mention tho kinda (Illusions of Grandeur+Donate) or the first top modern deck with the Stroke of Genius over-draw.

[@bamjo9]

Nailed, I would choose these 5 too. I would also do an honorable mention to karn + mycosynth lattice, since it is worse than all these combos (4+7 mana), but it is literally a 1 card combo

[@aluvayadur7862]

not super related but I really did love the segue into the sponsored message XD

[@PsychedelicSlayer88]

So, this is a different interpretation of the word "broken" but I've always loved seeing the expression on people's faces the first time they encounter Eye of the Storm + Shahrazad

[@Redcoat86]

I’m a fan of tainted remedy + beacon of immortality. Not only ko’s a player but you can do it again and again as beacon shuffles into your deck. Not as strong as the ones in this video but can come out of nowhere if remedy is played early/resolves and no one is the wiser. It’s fairly tame on its own and doesn’t scream “remove me”.

[@Robshi]

I remember playing a Cube Draft where I opened with a huge mana advantage setup, only for my opponent to cast Channel followed by Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

[@Moshinoki]

Painter-Grindstone is really cool

[@tychoMX]

That and Helm/Voidwalker are my wildcard choices if I have room in a given build. I like the second one a bit better because the Dauthi Voidwalker is a legitimately good card that’s not dead on its own. But a bit easier to find artifacts so it’s close.

[@stefanlowe9067]

Painter ugin is annoying, karn and the one artifact that locks the game is annoying, cat oven super annoying, double grief mega annoying, turning platinum angel in in’s destructiable, with hexproof, and regeneration is annoying too lol

[@taktak1999]

If you have done top 10, would Tolarian Academy, MoM, Stroke of Genius combo would make it? It's lot of pieces but it sure was consistent at the time. I'm old enough to remember them being legal in standard, but it was the most memorable combo to me as it defeats the opponent by decking instead of damage.

[@dashkatae]

I always think of Saheeli combo when I think combos. Not because it's stupid powerful but because of the banning of felidar guardian so quickly after release.

[@misterdoctor9693]

Also that they printed them in the same set so it was briefly standard legal.

[@TheWeissrond]

I have fond memories of tolarian academy/mind over matter/braingeyser. Chuck in candelabra and some artifact ramp to make it really absurd. Never killed turn 1 but turn 3 wasn't uncommon.

[@wheredango]

personally, I like Kiora's Chosen with a Freed From The Real. put a Fertile Ground on an island, and that's infinate mana, as well as infinate untap a permanent! I have a deck based on that, with things like Archavist, Disruptive Pitmage, and Experimental Kraj.

[@SeraphRyan]

similar to splinter twin - Kiki Jiki does the same thing for 1 more mana. I have used that a fewt times, not with pestermite, but with restoration angel (its my secret win con for my Kaalia commander deck)

[@bexdor]

I remember, back when I was in college, them changing the errata on Flash to be consistent with the printed text (it had previously been errata'd to something like "You may cast the next creature spell as though it had flash; reduce its cost by 2"). Effectively, they decided that it would be confusing for players to cast a spell and have it function differently than the printed text would indicate it does. So their solution was to "fix" the errata, and then ban it because of how broken the combo was. Which, in a way, does fix their stated problem: can't be confused about how the card works when you play it, if you can't play it at all because it's banned everywhere. I feel like they should have just left the errata alone, honestly.

[@johnbellamy1167]

Hey Professor what do you think of Viscera seer + Malakir rebirth + Overwhelmed Apprentice?

[@tychoMX]

I am old, so honourable mention to the Necropotence obscenities definitely would make it for me. Heliod/Ballista, Breakfast, and the all spells variants too (those seem more fragile to me but still very busted).

[@mattpk1609]

I feel Urzas Saga is mentioned in every other of your videos. What a card.

[@pops91]

Other than the combos mentioned other combos that come to mind is emrakul sneak attack or tooth and nail into makeas and triskelion

[@shadowfrost__]

So does making your opponents scoop count as directly leading to a win? If so then Narset, Parter of Veils + Teferi's Puzzle Box should be included in the list. Your opponents have to the end of turn of the person to their right to answer it otherwise they have no hand for the rest of the game unless they already have a draw engine on board, and even then they have to have an instant speed removal piece for an artifact or planswalker because if they get to their up keep their hand is wiped yet again.

[@darksteelmenace595]

Dualcaster Mage + Twinflame (or the new Molten Duplication) is almost good enough to make the list I think, with a seething song and a Spiritguide you can put it out turn 2 (or maybe even turn 1 with an additional lotus petal) and then you just win. Pretty overlooked too, if you ask me.

[@moodformagikarp7935]

There's an utterly vile combo with inalla in the commander zone. Play spellseeker and have an extra floating black mana? Goes infinite. Inalla really goes infinite with anything

[@CrimsonInquisitioner]

well my favorite 2 card combo is Xenagos, God of Rebels and Emrakul the Aeons Torn, since i only need to cast a Tooth and Nail with entwine (and i only need 1 of each and not even in hand), and it is easily doable in Tron, since it is easily "hidable" because i play the usual tron and from out of nowhere, a 30/30 flying with haste and annihilator 6 comes your way you panic and on sideboard I have Iona, shield of emeria and painter's servant

[@joshrobinson2409]

One of my favorite combos to pull off in commander is necrotic ooze with triskelion and pyrexian devouerer in the graveyardthe ooze gets the activated ablities of both and i can kill everyone by exiling my deck and killing everyone with the counters on the ooze. Great thing is that its a hard to interact with combo as if anyone decides to do anything to the ooze i can pit a bunch of activations on the stack and have them resolve before the interaction

[@Vile_Vilhelm]

I always liked using Time Sieve and Thopter Assembly in commander. I've built decks that focused on getting time sieve out and having enough cheap artifacts to power until I get a win con.

[@B1gLupu]

You don't need Thopter Assembly if you just play Tivit as your commander.

[@kevinwestermann1001]

Isn't Geological Appraiser/Beseech the Mirror which was legal for an extremely short time window in Pioneer also a good example of one card combos?

[@B1gLupu]

It is, but overall it's kinda a shit combo. It folds to creature removal and you have to dedicate a lot of slots in your deck for it. You can't play any good cards below cmc 4, which is particularly rough.

[@sirpotatolord2219]

not stupid broken or anything but i found a very fun commander combo with agent frank horrigan and railway breaker from thunder junction, railway breaker says whenever a creature other than it enters the battlefield it get +1/+1 counters equal to it's power, so you you plot away railway breaker til you have a haste enabler and one other way to proliferate cards, then you cast railway breaker for zero and cast frank horrigan wo says when this card enters the battle field or attacks proliferate twice. frank will enter, get 8 +1/+1 counters then proliferate those counters to 10, add your haste enabler and swing at an open player he proliferate twice again to 12 giving him a total commander hit of 20, activate your additional proliferate engine (I recommend plaguemaw beast sacrificing the railway breaker to avoid spending more mana) and you now have a one turn 21 damage swing for game or at the very least a very massive commander hit since frank has trample built into him.

[@chrisjackson8529]

Anybody know what the most consistent sleeves are? As far as sleeves from different stores/ batches being the same cut

[@bcoo111]

Does Dark Depths also work with one of the cards that stops etb effects?

[@drewforchic9083]

See this is why I run *fair* one hit kill combos, like Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood with a creature that can extort, or Sanguine Bond + Blood Tribute kicked with a vampire. Or Blood Tribute kicked with either Defiant Bloodlord or Vito Thorn of the Dusk Rose specifically, to skip needing Sanguine Bond entirely.

[@lefloidNemesis]

I would even argue that the thassa combo is more powerfull then hulk, at least in cedh, since it can be part of your hulk package win (blood pet + oracle + spellseeker that searches consultation) which reduces the amount of deadraws since those cards are also hood if you draw them, with the exception of blood pet, although even that one has it's uses. Although nothing beats timevault as it's pretty assuredly the strongest combo in unrestricted cedh, thanks to our bird tactician friend