The Most Convoluted Combo in Standard | Against the Odds

[@MTGGoldfish]

Since some people are confused by step 4 in the combo (they one where we sort of repeat the same process of using Beseech to get another Cursed Recording), the reason that step exists is just to get a copy of Beseech the Mirror in the graveyard for Reenact the Crime a few steps later.

[@Petronio39]

I love stuff like this that's basically unique to this format. Like, you couldn't make this work in commander, and it might be too slow for other formats like pioneer, but for this one little pocket of time, this is a thing you can be doing in standard.

[@zirilan3398]

You definitly could pull that in Pioneer

[@nikhilchhagan7371]

@@zirilan3398UW control is one of, if not the best deck in the format. Good luck hitting this combo against that

[@zaterface]

Dying on turn 2 40% in standard nowadays...

[@zirilan3398]

@@nikhilchhagan7371 people like you are the reason Formats like Modern consists of only 2-3 Decks

[@OlgaZuccati]

@@zaterface in standard every deck that is not red aggro is running a bunch of creature removal, if you get paired with not red aggro they'll struggle to remove any of your combo pieces

[@christophkrass6929]

The guy who came up with this is a genius.

[@majordude83]

Yep. Jason Ye (I'm pretty sure) figured out a different version as soon as Bloomburrow came out, using Twinferno to copy Beseech the Mirror and Collector's Vault for bargain fodder/ramp (since that version required 6 mana all on one turn). Cursed Recording subs in for Twinferno to copy the spell and bargain fodder for Beseech at the same time, and while it's 8 mana instead of 6, you can split it over two turns.

[@l0lan00b3]

@@majordude83is he the dude that’s part of team sanctum?

[@kripkenstein5294]

I really want the editor of the mtggoldfish videos to extend the "Saffron Olive" by a few milliseconds each upload to see when people will start noticing it.

[@zachgray4767]

I haven't calculated it yet, but I literally think this has been happening already for some time.

[@ZeroG]

Start adding in a flanger effect, then phaser OoOooooOoolive

[@theduckcompany]

Dear god no, i skip through that everytime. No hating, love the content overall but that part is like nails on a chalkboard.

[@crppledizzle9374]

​@@theduckcompany hellooo everybody it's seth, probably better known as saaaafronoooooolllive

[@EightnotesHideout]

SaffronAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....................

[@polarisnvega]

This will be one of those decks that gets a weird nickname like Bant Rakdos combo or Bant cursed mirror none of which have bant

[@kylejohnson4662]

I’m all for this nomenclature

[@sidneypowelstock6812]

I might craft this deck just to name it Bant Rakdos Recording 😂

[@skirk248]

I nominate cursed bant

[@zawarudo497]

call it "bant grixis rakdos combo" just to get as many color combos in there as you can

[@polarisnvega]

In truth its going to end up being called Lantern Control

[@molicc]

Drink when Seth says "Cursed Mirror" instead of "Cursed Recording"

[@rykx0r]

You'll die.

Or stormsplinter

[@jorgelanuza]

thats a good name for the deck though

[@garageink74]

Thanks now I have liver failure.

[@flaetsbnort]

Beseech the Recording

[@MinghaoLi-c7d]

step 1 "Activate cursed mirror" step 20 summon quaser dragon

[@melissagrenier2200]

Step 7 synchro summon junk speeder

[@ThisAintAStupidName]

This has the feeling of a Yugioh combo. Tutor stuff ad infinitum, abusing timing windows, OTK out of nowhere, weird recursion loops.... this feels like Yugioh in MtG.

[@ezra2107]

At least it's turn 5 minimum and disruptable

[@gwenyurick9663]

Nah magic has had decks like this for literal decades. Eggs and KCI are two notable ones that pave the way for decks like this (also the classic legacy ANT does lines like this sometimes)

[@alternatedimensions]

I think it's more fair to say Yugioh decks play like Storm. It's easier to parse Yugioh imo if you just compare a regular match to a Storm mirror, where both players can combo off but has instant speed interaction to try and break their combo.

[@mr.thekid3827]

This deck is literally just a current deck in yugioh called Tenpai, you play a card, search a monster, that monster summons a whole lot more monsters and you just delete the opponent with 5x the damage you needed, without being an actual infinite. 'Course, Tenpai is hard to interact with, whereas this has a few notable choke points, Tenpai just *doesn't* have any Choke points, because it's all either uninteractable, or gets to the point it's too late *to* interact with it. But it does have a very similar vibe, tutor up a bunch of crazy stuff, chain things together to make a ton of monsters to attack with.

[@GroundThing]

I can almost guarantee that this combo in Yugioh would miss timing, though. Stormsplitter feels like it'd be a "When ... you can ..." effect

[@jaj103]

Seth is absolutely wrong. The fish win is the most spectacular win possible in your storm deck.

[@mattjones2811]

wow getting through stone brain was impressive. This seems like a legit deck

[@JC-ue2io]

Holy Sheoldred! Right?? Like I was sitting here trying to shame scoop KZbin when the brain came down. Good Lord that was a fantastic game

[@bobwilson679]

@@JC-ue2ioHoenstly one of the most spectacular wins on against the odds. Winning a standard match against golgari planeswalkers with only a fountainport and a bunch of removal spells was truly something to behold.

[@sandolsman]

5 minutes since posting, meeting cancelled, coffee in hand, Seth’s seranading voice *bliss*

[@HiiSteaks]

had a full giggle fit when you made SirLank touch grass. great deck.

[@AbelianGrape1]

The reason you start by grabbing a second mirror is that you need a beseech to already be in the graveyard when you fetch reenact the crime. It cant flash back the beseech that fetched it. If there's already a beseech in your yard, there's no need for the second mirror; just fetch stormsplitter and reenact with the first one.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, you are correct, I just got to locked into following the steps, in that case it wasn't really necessary.

[@RunitsaBear]

The issue with the combo that catches people out is that the first beseech isn't in the graveyard until it fully resolved so if you copy it can get a stormsplitter with the copy and then get a re-enact with the actual spell you have to cast the spell during the resolution of beseech and at this point as the spell isn't resolved its not in the graveyard to be targeted by re-enact. You don't need to get another recording as long as you have another token as you just get beseech with your beseech, cast that and then you re-enact the crime from that beseech and then combo in the same way you normally would.

[@samogburn2662]

This and the "Oops all surgical extractions" deck have singlehandedly kept me engaged with 60 card magic. Keep it up!

[@TROLOLOLOLO007]

48:45 the fish win made me laugh so hard, this was the most spectacular win, hands down

[@MrBreakmind]

0:51 "Oh Yeah, It's All Coming Together"

[@kylejohnson4662]

I feel like the whole community flopped on not seeing the synergy/combo potential of Beseech the Mirror and Cursed Recording during spoiler season.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yep, I know I missed it.

[@BuFFoTheArtClown]

Minus one person of course.

[@majordude83]

​@@MTGGoldfish Jason Ye (I think) deserves some of the credit. They figured out a version using Twinferno to copy Beseech and Collector's Vault for ramp/bargain fodder which they were playing during the Bloomburrow content creator prerelease. But yeah, considering the shell existed a whole set ago (the only real difference is the spell copier), it's surprising that it took a while to figure out that Cursed Recording fits in perfectly.

[@kaptainkokujin4986]

48:10 I'm sold, Fountainport is officially the best card in standard

[@EndTheEnding]

Just in case anyone is wondering why you have to first cast another set of curse + mirror before going for the otter and crime, the reason is that you need the mirror already in your graveyard to be able to cast crime. Because resolving the tutored spell is part of the effect of mirror, you cannot cast crime from the first mirror because the mirror is still on the stack there is no target in the graveyard. All there is to say is how genius Bant4Life is, the steps they came up with is the most optimized steps (outside of edge cases like surveil a mirror into graveyard on the same turn, or having extra bargain fodder), very impressive!

[@AgentConundrum1]

I appreciate that after the first opponent scooped after game one, denying us a game, Seth went ahead and won the second round with the rare 3-0 to get it back.

[@alexkuzela9266]

Okay, so we all know that Seth occasionally performs atrocities against English, but hearing 'purpi' as the plural of 'purpose' has definitely got to be a new one.

[@hurrdurrrderp]

"Cursed Mirror" is the coolest deck I've seen in standard for a long time

[@andyspendlove1019]

I find it weirdly satisfying that this combo involves 4 cards that are all from different sets

[@samsprague3158]

I thought the same thing! 4 cards, 4 sets, 4 mana. It makes it feel like a legit “organic” combo, like it seems pretty unlikely WotC thought about these interactions when designing those individual cards. Though I’d love to hear their thoughts if I’m wrong!

[@andyspendlove1019]

@@samsprague3158 yeah exactly! I’d be shocked if anyone at WotC realized this combo existed before printing Cursed Recording. Not as a diss to their skill, but just because it’s so obscure and convoluted haha. Also it’s almost one card from each Standard set since Wilds of Eldraine! The only set not represented is Thunder Junctjon

[@dieguitopp]

I get completely lost after step 4 but I still have fun watching your videos Seth. I just simply love you. Thanks for sharing

[@goomshill]

The initial steps to get extra spells are a bit convoluted. After that, its actually pretty linear. Every beseech the mirror is just replacing itself on the stack at the cost of a stormsplitter token, and every reenact the crime can target another reenact the crime / beseech the mirror to replace itself, its just trying to cast a free card on the stack repeatedly. You could empty your whole deck of those cards and rack up more than 8 casts since you're getting back copies from the graveyard but stormsplitter deals geometric damage so just a few casts does it

[@davidb4935]

Also be careful in arena if you make more than like 200ish tokens then Arena freaks out and crashes

[@zacharywilliams3597]

I think Seth could’ve demonstrated the combo without the self sacrifice pieces. Doing it with some extra treasures or bargain permanents it’s really straightforward: how many free spells can we put on the stack? (like @goomshill said) Doing it without the setup just helps it to come out of nowhere, and cursed recording is a way to kickstart it with some extra free spells / tutors as long as you remove it before it kills you!

[@COBsomeone22697]

I love that he included instructions for the combo in the message. Didn't want another Bolas's Citadel situation lol

[@thelunchlady8276]

Decks like this is why Against the Odds is my favorite series.

[@emerson685]

2:47 - the inflection on “you gotta go into full control mode” gave the exact vibe of Mac saying, “I gotta have you behind me” to the Waitress in It’s Always Sunny. 😂

[@derpyderperson2912]

That fish win was EPIC

[@12triproberts]

Oh my god. Neoform is back. My Historic baby that Alchemy powercrept to death is alive again in Standard. I am building this.

[@Qiaoster]

I actually never figured out how to manually full control. I hold ctrl down but full control goes away in a few seconds.

[@atto.m]

It's Ctrl+Shift

[@MTGGoldfish]

You have to hold ctrl + shift to lock it.

[@Qiaoster]

Ah, thanks guys

[@YohWolf]

Setting a stop in your main phase is better than trying to fumble full control. A stop will hold you priority just fine for this combo

[@l0lan00b3]

Have this same issue. On one account it shows the phases and different priority points and on my other account it shows main phase, combat, and mp2. I haven’t been able to figure out how to get the phases bar to fully show/hold priority where I set it every turn.

[@cakelegend6582]

Maybe the real combo was the fish we made along the way

[@provostparkpass]

When Seth was explaining the combo I had flashbacks listening to my Organic Chemistry Professor. I was nodding like I understood what was being said but, having no clue what was going on.

[@AutkastKain]

So this is just like the Twinferno version from Bloomburrow standard that you did but better and more convoluted. This is not a criticism. I loved that deck, but it struggled to win after Duskmourn

[@davidb4935]

Lets be real it struggled before 😂 i loved that deck and wanted to do well with it (the secret tech is scene of the crime and/or valgavoth lair for free bargains)

[@AMassiveHeadache]

I can not believe you beat the hero play of Stone Brain, with fish. I'm mad, but that's incredible. also, i love the otter cards, stormsplitter wins are just so nice

[@chrisbonjour111]

Magic gods giving some blessings is always a satisfying watch

[@kaikoacorvikeiagreen3265]

Immediately clicked, always fun to see more Against the Odds!

[@RiKSh4w]

PSA: Seth didn't mention it but; Lock Full Control: Ctrl + Shift Lock Pass the Turn: Shift + Enter I basically never use 'regular' full control when you can just lock and unlock it when you need it.

[@deshka7563]

That last game was wild lol

[@gustavowadaslopes2479]

Felt a bit fishy to me

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

I really don’t like the Duskmourn setting in Magic, if I’m being honest, but I’d be lying if I said Cursed Recording isn’t a really cool card with how well it conveys the plot of The Ring with its mechanics. The corporate side of Hasbro and WotC may be shamelessly shitting up the game, but R&D is still slaying it as hard as ever.

[@coreysierchio4650]

This video made me laugh. *Thanks for the Content!*

[@PKSandles]

Now I understand why my opponent quit when I exiled his Cursed Recording

[@kylarcheng1346]

That's an adorable thumbnail

[@Roweshow321]

This was incredibly usefull to me (much like the rest of your content on here). Thank you for doing this.

[@Marshalltroll]

I played it, lots of fun! I fought a deck that had 2 one with the multiverse by turn 5 and was reanimating atraxas and etalis… I won at 2 life by holding up an instant to get another trigger of stormcatcher to blank his kill spell!

[@reyntime8735]

That last game is the epitome of my love for fountainport

[@CDShap]

Props to that last opponent for the stone brain in the sideboard

[@bensteinhauser784]

Seth, how many times do you click on links for new combos and end up just getting rick rolled..?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Only like half of the time ;)

[@joshua_lee732]

Im convinced, definitely building this in paper

[@Admiral_Golbez]

This is absolutely fantastic lmao.

[@JonaxII]

Jim Davis played a Deck that won with the Reenact/Beseech Loop and Stormsplitters a while ago in Bloomburrow. The Cursed recording turning it into a much denser twocard combo does push it into maybe a real thing, tho.

[@haxploitationpeople]

the MTGGoldfish themselves bring it home for a win!

[@crimsonking905]

Arena definitely needs a menu option to leave full control on all the time

[@rekenner]

Teaching Arena Zoomers about how annoying it is to play against draw step stops in a format without Miracles

[@imofage3947]

I haven't seen a combo this convoluted since I invented my Slaughter Pact combo where I force my opponent to wrath the board with Slaughter Pacts in 2007. And yes, it did win a few games at FNM.

[@crppledizzle9374]

ever played inalla?

[@imofage3947]

@@crppledizzle9374 In standard? Nobody has. Never used her in EDH and I won't either because my Azami list is too strong for my play group.

[@crppledizzle9374]

@@imofage3947 the spellseeker combo is pretty whacky, id recommend looking into it if you like silly convoluted combos

[@JJpleex]

Best video in a while, what a deck

[@cgarland14]

Fish win was incredible

[@kalierdarkekd]

This is the kind of decks I used to make when I played standard. My first, and most favorite, I did like this was a Turbo Fog Knowledge Pool deck that had only one card in it that could actually beat an opponent. the rest was just 0 power mana dorks, fogs, ornithopters, knowledge pool, and Leyline of Anticipation. it literally just beat the opponent up with their own deck and stole everything of value with the KP leaving them with only ornithopters and fogs to do anything with. The one of card that could actually win me the game itself was obviously an Emrakul. Which, the entire deck came about because someone at my lgs was saying knowledge pool as the worst card ever printed in magic and refused to listen when I said it wasn't, and literally bet me that I couldn't make a deck that won with it. Said deck won FNMs for the next 2 months. (not every FNM, mind, but it was top 2 every week.)

[@WhizzerdSupreme]

*_this_* is why I love playing Grixis

[@xSnarfsx]

The moment I saw cursed recording I immediately thought of beseech lol. That's cool that it ended up being a thing.

[@seanheath4492]

I didn't think of Beseech specifically, but it does seem tailor-made for Bargain.

[@fromadhdtodndtomtg]

STORMSPLITTER! My favorite little jund build in pioneer using insidious roots and plot. I had wondered about this, but didn't get the loop (reenact the crime, didn't see that at all). Give me my little otter wizard or give me death!

[@coolguy12345ist]

Raid bombardment could be an interesting addition to this decklist - halves the damage that the stormsplitters need to deal and can be got from a final Beseech at the end of the combo.

[@daledullnig1778]

It's almost strictly worse than just playing another Reenact the Crime to extend the combo, alss.

[@NightmareFuelsYou]

Swap go for the throat with Cut Down. This is a leyline meta after all. Cool deck thanks zeth

[@LordZurkov]

Any pump spell puts them out of Cut Down range. :c

[@UEENavy]

Fish beatdown was spectacular

[@gloamgirl]

Thank you for introducing me to a deck for which I will blast away my wildcards on & not quite complete before one of these cards gets banned from standard lmao

[@nickatwork]

This feels like when I first go into Magic and Swans of Bryn Argoll was a big combo card and I couldn't begin to grasp it

[@miloetripnoend3053]

Cursed recording Storm it up Storm it off Still Working. The words of a true poet.

[@jurischwarzer9877]

Really cool combo, tickles my yugioh player brain, it even has a hard garnet!

[@xxPow3rslave]

that last game was incredible

[@newt8655]

This has given me new respect for cursed recording

[@jorritdriessen5728]

Well done BantForLife!!!

[@srpad]

Shortly after Bloomburrow came out, I faced a deck on Arena that made infinite Otters with just Beseech the Mirror and Reenact the Crime so there is definitely a way to do this without Cursed Recording but I was not sure exactly what they did. Also maybe it was more fragile that way somehow.

[@tamharo8299]

When you remove its natural predator, the otter, the fish become unstoppable

[@davidb4935]

Ahhhh its like the older stormsplitter combo - that one uses the 1R copy a spell card so you just need 6 mana to go off in one turn. This one lets you split the cost over 2 turns so you can go off turn 5 or earlier but you are open to artifact hate

[@majordude83]

Yep. If you ramp a treasure off Collector's Vault and put any other bargain fodder in play, you can also do it on T5 with Twinferno. Cursed Recording is better against Temporary Lockdown, ha, and better at copying removal spells for a turn or two if you don't have the combo.

[@thesirmaximus6121]

“This 11 step process” *thinks of the Charlie Day conspiracy meme* I’m all buckled up Seth

[@VinegarAndSaltedFries]

I love love love this thumbnail.

[@montefrenkel8205]

Amazing. I wonder if the sideboard (or main) could also trade out the stormsplitter for another payoff. Geralf would make insane, but non-hasty tokens. Rona, Sheoldred's faithful would straight burn them out (and can come.back from the graveyard. Could also use the lizard that untaps when you cast a noncreature spell and taps to ping for that as well. (Or unruly catapult or even urabrask)

[@spomsmaghetti506]

Curse you, Seth! For baiting me into opening arena again

[@petersteiman2443]

That was super duper sweet.

[@homebrewed]

Sirlank - "Nah, I ain't dealing with bullsh*t!"

[@disafear3674]

That was sick!

[@AlmostM]

I saw something similar previously that used Twinferno + Beseech the Mirror with 6 mana, but I guess this version can combo off slightly earlier.

[@loganshy2570]

Sweet gameplay and deck

[@frogpizza]

00:28:34 pwuuh hahahaaahaaahahaa the magic gods have smiled upon us

[@ScrabblePlays]

Leyline of the Void looking better and better in standard.

[@snocrab6501]

"one two skip a few" ahh life total

[@iishinobiii]

This seems like a better version of the Jim Davis one he came out with when stormsplitter first came out. It was just twinflame, and beseach the mirror or storm splitter into beseach.

[@jhonea6535]

Every other two card combo: "this is basically splinter twin." A two card combo that generates massive copies of a jank creature: "this is basically legacy storm." ... ... ...

[@dracish123456789]

You can use the copy spree card if you have mana inplace of the recording

[@nulshift]

Wouldn't you have to pay the spree cost of the second return the favor, which would make it require 5 mana when you cast the combo? I guess it makes it sometimes a bit faster if you have a treasure. And honestly I think I'd rather have return in my deck over cursed recording. It even shuts down the vraska combo by redirecting the poison counters with the other mode (which should win you the game because their innkeeper will double the poison counters they put on themself)

[@trixielulamoon2262]

Is there a way to build the deck where you do the combo game 1 and then just have a normal deck game 2?

[@jacefairis1289]

you could definitely transformational sideboard this deck. beseech, recording, stormsplitter, and reenact are only 13 cards, so you could just board out all 13 and board in a bunch of normal rakdos stuff.

[@nulshift]

@@jacefairis1289 imagine your opponent's face when they stone brain a card that isn't in your deck

[@Crusina]

Im curious, if in the first match you have the combo and you aren't afraid of counters. Then why not keep the draw three cards spell/tutor just in case? What exactly would be a better draw? (Note, I am not saying you made the wrong decision. I'm just curious what made you decide that)

[@ivannintendo]

Now I know why nobody noticed the combo until now

[@pmangano]

Me first time seeing storm splitter: "wtf this sucks why is this mythic rare." Me after seeing this, inner vitality storm and convoke storm: "oooooh ok, i get it."

[@winssports4830]

This is amazing.

[@muffinhydra]

I feel like the deck could use a chandra hope's beacon as an alternative wincon for those drawn out games.

[@evanjohnson6884]

Love the thumbnail

[@casteanpreswyn7528]

I just got my friend into mtg and she doesn't really get how combo decks work, so imma craft this to show her firsthand. Lol

[@Xorthis]

Full control is 100% absolute bait. It falls of randomally for unknown reasons. You need to ctrl+shift for HOLD full control. That one tends to persist no matter what (unless you accidently press the button).

[@nulshift]

I've seen in another comment that you can also just put a stop on your main phase. Which makes sense. Stops are basically just single phase full controls.

[@swampybwoy]

Very cool deck and Combo, shout outs to bant forever . “Full control “ is such a joke on arena. Just turns itself off whenever it feels like it. I lose so many games playing storm in timeless to that.

[@GollumDerechte-ti2rc]

Awesome deck

[@ericmiles9630]

After this, you gotta do an against the odds deck with 0 creatures where you only make fish as creatures

[@jacquesbautista-plante5497]

Damn, ive been playing a deck almost just like this in timeless. Just gotta have a young pyromancer type effect in play and then you finish off a ridicoulous loop of reenacts and beseeches by tutoring a tendrils of agony