Combofusion: Legends Timeshifted. - by Streetz

[Streetz]

This thread is reserved for the dicussion of the following article by Streetz:

http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/mdvarticle0207.htm

Please read it, enjoy it and discuss it here.

What did you like about the article? Was it inspiring, informational, ingenius? Was it inappropriate? Was there anything you really liked or didn't like about it?

Let the author know here!

Thanks!

[anon]

In Life of Sol'kanar, I immediately thought of Carnival of Souls. That way you get an extra mana...perhaps for a large drain life when you combo out if you can't attack.

[Friend Mairsil]

dang streetz for some odd reason i like most of the articles you write, so with that being said, nicol will be put into a deck thanx to your article. keep up the great work.

[DeathCompany]

I'm running a RUB reanimator deck for fun right now that's Standard legal and I totally forgot about Nicol Bolas, who I can support with no problem and would fit nicely in the deck. Thanks for giving a shout-out to these oldschool legends.

[jimtop]

nice article! I just love combo and i got a enduring renewal in my last TS draft. Ill definitely try that blood pet combo!

[Streetz]

This article is being reposted for Monday 1/14/08 as a part of the BEST OF 2007 series. Please feel free to discuss away.

NOTE: I have another one of these in progress... and using legends again too! What do you guys think of this series given its only had one article? Should I continue it or only focus on One Card to Rule Them All?

[jimtop]

Hi! To answer your question, i like this articles a bit more than one to rule them all, cause if i dont have the card your talking about, i probably wont read it. In a legend article, chances are I have a couple of those legend in my collection.

[hamsandwich]

i like building around legends, so i alike this article. i don't have access to all these cards so maybe mixing in some T1.5 or T2 cards could help us. i do like going to my local card shop and flipping through the boxes, though. also, maybe taking one legend and building two or three decks would be interesting. (do i smell a contest?) the sandwich is thinking...

[Streetz]

jimtop - the cards I discuss in my articles are very expensive for a playset so I would encourage you to still check out the article. If you like the card/decks, but buy a playset of under $5.00.

hamsandwich - In future articles I'll try and post a T2 deck or at least a deck using more T2 cards. I don't pay much heed to the T2 format since I have a collection dating back to Alpha and prefer some of the olders cards to some of the new ones. Ironic, isn't it?

To all -- thank you for you comments and feedback. I truly appreciate it.

[BootHill]

Ok, The first two decks sound great, but I have my doubts when it comes to Evacuating The Elders.

1) It requires a lot of cards to work. You need one of the three Nicol Bolas, one of the four artists, a viridian long bow, evacuation, and either Goryo's Vengeance, corpse dance, or Dimir Doppelganger. That's a five peice combo. Seems hard to get all the peices even with the drawing from frantic search.

2) It is taken apart easily. It is vaunerable because it is a five peice combo and because this combo requires creatures, artifacts, and instants. This opens it up to three common answers: kill spell, artifact destruction, and counterspell (or it's variants). In short combos are expensive and hard to put togather when compared with the cheep 2-3 mana cards that can kill them. The chances your opponent will have one of these is good.

3) I could be missing the point, but I dont understand why corpse dance is in the deck. Yes I see that it would put Nichol Bolas into play from the graveyard, but that means the whole combo must be pulled off in the span of one turn. That = three mana for the corpse dance, one mana to equip the bow, and five mana for the evacuate. Nine mana is a lot to pull off in one turn. It would be cool to pull off, but I dont see the deck pulling nine mana even with the artists and the sol ring.

Suggestions.

Now that I have ripped the thing apart a little (sorry Streetz) Here is what I would suggest. I think the slots given to dures would be better given to some counterspells. These would protect the numerous peices of the combo from the various things that can cut an essesntial link of the combo chain.

I would switch out the corpse dance for a third Dimir Doppelganger.

consider adding one or maybe two Boseiju, Who Shelters All. My local metagame is super heavy with control, so I like these a little more than I should. They have limited use, so maybe they would go better on a side board, but one of these on the board can seriously disuade anyone playing control.

What do you think of substituting howling mine for the frantic search? Frantic search would give you more cards to choose from, but would require more mana expenditure and forces you to discard. Howling mine costs 2 colorles mana and lets you draw an extra card, but it also lets you opponent draw extra. Personaly I would perfer the mine, but that is just me.

[Zaknifa]

Loved the article, but i was wondering, how could one make the Life of sol'Kanar T2 for it is depend on the blood pet or another self sac creature for mana is there anything out there that might work?

[FuDaWg45]

They left "Elder" on Nicol Bolas because it's frikkin awesome. I remember way back in the day it was really awesome to have not just an ordinary dragon, but one of the five rare Elder Dragons. You were really someone then.

Since Time Spiral was a nostalgia set, they would have been idiots to take out Elder from its creature type.

[Tresserhorn]

Zak: To make the deck type 2, you can use Basal Sliver and any 2 or less casting black sliver. Such as mindslash sliver or skeletal Changeling

Streetz: Nicely written and I like the decks alot. I'd like to see a mix of formats in this type of article if it's at all possible. for example of your gonna make 3 decks, make 1 legecy, 1 Extended and 1 Standard or whatever 3 formats your most comfortable with, this way giving every player something they're looking for

[Streetz]

Thanks for comments guys. I'll try to address them all this week. I'm a bit crazy lately.

Boothill - thanks for the in depth analysis and comments on the deck(s).