Maybe someone can help me with this problem.
The
Paradox Engine ban is really messing with me. Initially my plan for dealing with the Shuffle Hulk combo (explained below) was to play some stax piece or strategic removal to slow down the Shuffle Hulk deck by a turn or two, and then get
Paradox Engine so I could combo off. Because the Shuffle Hulk deck would eventually find a way around the stax, I had to combo soon after. This is no longer a tactic that works.
So let's see if anyone has some good suggestions. A way to really hit this combo where it hurts, so when they try to combo, they lose the game instead of win.
The ComboThe combo starts when
Protean Hulk dies. Usually from
Flash, but not always. This can consistently happen around turn 2 or 3. When
Protean Hulk dies, the player searches for
Cephalid Illusionist,
Nomads En-Kor,
Viscera Seer, and
Blood Artist. They use the ability of
Nomads En-Kor on
Cephalid Illusionist, and start milling out their own deck. Eventually,
Narcomoeba gets milled, and enters the battlefield.
Blood Artist drains 1.
Narcomoeba gets sacrificed to
Viscera Seer, and then the self-mill continues until they hit
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. The entire graveyard gets shuffled, and the loop continues. Each time
Narcomoeba comes out, someone loses one life, so eventually, the game is over. In the event that Kozilek gets milled before
Narcomoeba, the graveyard gets shuffled anyway.
Combo ProtectionThis combo is also really good at protecting itself. First, the whole thing operates at instant speed. So a lot of the time, if somebody responds to it, the solution is to just keep milling away. Second, because blue is one of the four colors used for this combo,
Pact of Negation,
Dispel,
Swan Song, and
Force of Will can be used to protect the combo turn, as well as
Silence. Third, and this is the one that is really messing me up,
Memory's Journey. For one green, this card can put Kozilek or any other combo pieces back into the deck... also at instant speed.
Solution?So stopping
Flash is the obvious way of preventing this combo, but I would rather stop it half-way. Preferably after a bunch of cards have been milled, I do... something... that puts them at a disadvantage so they lose the game instead of win the game.
Any ideas?