Do you hate combo decks?

[Aetherium Slinky]

Follow-up question: how do you people feel about low power combos? Ones that are really hard to assemble or may not win the game on the spot? I know some people already replied but since I personally play a lot of combo on all power levels I would like to know how you would feel if I sat down across the table with a weak combo deck. Obviously I would mention the combo thing about my deck in the pregame discussion so that it wouldn't come as a surprise. Since I'm me and I like sharing information I would probably even tell you the combo parts, how it works and what the points of interaction are if I'm playing an obscure combo that isn't self-explanatory.

[anjinsan]

I think what matters more is probably how slow or telegraphed it is. Most combos are kind of all-or-nothing, but if it's actually about, say, playing enough cost-reducers or things that increase counters or whatever and your triggers are stacking up, it should be pretty obvious the direction things are going, and if some of those permanents are sticking around for a while, people have plenty of chance to remove them. Essentially, that's just a value engine that at some point happens to "go infinite"; more likely you're looking at something "stormy" (though that could be e.g. elfball) where it may not ever go infinite but it's good enough.

My Acererak deck is another example; it can technically go infinite eventually, but it will almost certainly win or lose before then because before it goes infinite it goes to the "OK I lose one life you all lose four life and I draw a card, as many times as I like" stage.

[Slyvester12]

I tend to just give people a heads up when I'm going to combo. Depending on who I'm playing, I usually just say something like "if y'all don't have interaction in two turns, I'm going to win"

That's almost always sufficient to make people feel like they had enough of a warning to not get salty.

[Serberus_08]

Depends. I'm not a huge fan of 2 card combos, especially if one of the pieces is in the command zone. It's just myopic and boring IMO. Top decking into a 2 card win is fine in most cases but if your deck is based on having a two card interaction, I usually don't take it personally. It's just uninspired.

When a combo is 4+ cards/effects to win then the window of interaction opens and it actually has some level of interest, to me. Mainly due to the ability to interrupt or stop one of several pieces. I also find that those combos make you think outside the box versus "Godo/Helm goes vert vert" and the like.

[fluffyp]

Hmm tough one.  I appreciate that combos can end the game.  I've sat through a lot of painful stalemate games I just wished would end.

However, for me, it depends on the combo and the consistency with which the pilot of the deck finds and assembles the combo.  Most decks probably have some sort of combo - some, are designed for a quick one-trick knockout of one troublesome opponent, some are designed to hit the whole table and end the game etc.  I don't mind any of them in principle, but, I personally don't find a deck that does the same combo every game, every time, every win very fun to play against.  That's just me.  I don't run many tutors (usually none, if you ignore things like Evolving Wilds - people ignore that this is, actually, a tutor), and I rely on redundancy and general overall synergy for consistency. 

Some of my friends in my playgroup run certain combos that annoy me more than others - mostly because of the answers my own decks can, or cannot, have to those combos.  So I guess it's not the combo, but rather my lack of ability to counter a particular combo that makes it less fun for me.

What I will say, is that if you run a combo, please, please, please, make it quick.  I like pilots who get their pieces out, say, ok, so let me run you through the loop, explain the combo, ask for responses and that's it if we all agree the combo goes off.  Slow, annoying combos that take forever but are inevitable drive me nuts (again, I will refer to my earlier point that this is in part due to MY lack of ability to do anything about it that makes it frustrating).  I find it interesting that practically no one who dislikes combos seems to acknowledge this.