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English-language Forums => General Magic => Topic started by: shoremuad on July 16, 2020, 02:50:56 pm

Title: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: shoremuad on July 16, 2020, 02:50:56 pm
I started playing in the mid 90s. A highschool kid at boarding school, not much money to spend on cards, so I played with what I had. My roommate was also a MTG fan and we played a lot, but I never did well against his Lure (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Lure) and Thicket Basilisk (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Thicket+Basilisk) and god forbid (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Forbid) he put it on his Cockatrice. Wow, what a newb!
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Schau on July 16, 2020, 04:37:50 pm
When I had just started playing I hated any infinite combos, but now I am fine if others play them (I don't play any of them myself).
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: MonteTribal on July 16, 2020, 04:52:11 pm
I think my first high synergy opponent was just elves. They just made near infinite life. I was swinging in with a 200/200 Aura Gnarlid (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Aura+Gnarlid) and it had no effect. Then they fireball (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Fireball)'d me.

Then I fought dredge....
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Aetherium Slinky on July 16, 2020, 06:39:02 pm
I had trouble with Phytohydra (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Phytohydra) + Pariah (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Pariah). Oh those times when I thought combat damage was the only way to go.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Judaspriester on July 17, 2020, 12:22:25 am
I had trouble with Phytohydra (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Phytohydra) + Pariah (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Pariah). Oh those times when I thought combat damage was the only way to go.

The nasty part about that is, that you'll need removal or lifeloss in order to win. Many infinite combos result in infinite turns/damage (like a fireball (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=de&card=Fireball) with over 9000 mana) and would be useless against this special combo. And you can't even use something like Stifle (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=de&card=Stifle) in order to secure your win, because we've got replacement effects here in stead of triggers.
A nasty solution for this problem would be Backlash (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=de&card=Backlash) with Disenchant (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=de&card=Disenchant) on response (remove pariah (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=de&card=Pariah)). It always feels satisfying to see people get smashed by their own stuff. 8)
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Firegriff on July 17, 2020, 12:58:50 am
Lure (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Lure), Regeneration (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Regeneration) and The Wretched (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=The+Wretched)... And it could hit the board by turn 2 to attack turn 3.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Slyvester12 on July 17, 2020, 01:51:39 am
Before EDH was more standardized, I played at a local game shop and no one used a ban list. The store owner would mess with people sometimes and play a pretty busted deck. The most nightmarish thing he would do had multiple variations, but the simplest went like this:
T1: Island (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Island)→Mana Crypt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mana+Crypt)→T:Island (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Island), Mana Crypt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mana+Crypt)→Tinker (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Tinker), sacrifice Mana Crypt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mana+Crypt)→Blightsteel Colossus (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Blightsteel+Colossus)
T2: Attack for 11 infect.

EDIT: Also, this is more of a combo I just really like that I've been playing since around when I started. Any combination of mana dork myr that makes at least 2 mana, 2 Myr Galvanizer (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Myr+Galvanizer) s, Myr Propagator (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Myr+Propagator), and Myr Battlesphere (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Myr+Battlesphere). I like it because every piece is mostly innocuous on its own, but it turns into infinite mana/tokens/damage. It can also be done in EDH with a copy spell like Phantasmal Image (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Phantasmal+Image). I built a Thrasios and Sylas deck out of it and it's crazy fun.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: shoremuad on July 17, 2020, 02:25:58 am
T1: Island (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Island)→Mana Crypt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mana+Crypt)→T:Island (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Island), Mana Crypt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mana+Crypt)→Tinker (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Tinker), sacrifice Mana Crypt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mana+Crypt)→Blightsteel Colossus (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Blightsteel+Colossus)

Haha, sounds like a closet psychopath, must have been awesome!
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: HarrisBop on July 18, 2020, 02:30:29 am
Before I spent money on singles, someone else in my play group bought modern DnT, and Leonin Arbiter (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Leonin+Arbiter) + Any destroy land hurt against my 5 colour singleton jankfest.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Lux_a_Ducks on July 24, 2020, 04:17:30 am
My first experience with MTG was playing commander with my big brother. He started playing first and had a nasty upgraded version of the commander 2016 deck, Entropic Uprising. He used Vial Smasher the Fierce (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Vial+Smasher+the+Fierce) and Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Kydele%2C+Chosen+of+Kruphix) as his commanders of choice. He used Kydele + Umbral Mantle (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Umbral+Mantle) with a Whispersilk Cloak (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Whispersilk+Cloak) to kill me. That really only happened cause my decks and I sucked.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Red_Wyrm on July 26, 2020, 01:09:57 pm
Hardest combo, fighting against two Knight Exemplars, as a new guy anyway. I wish that was the stuff I was afraid of now.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: WizardSpartan on July 26, 2020, 05:10:23 pm
Hardest combo, fighting against two Knight Exemplar (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Knight+Exemplar), as a new guy anyway.
Dat's some spooky shit right there ngl. You know what's even spookier? 2 Scion of Oona (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Scion+of+Oona).
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Red_Wyrm on July 31, 2020, 07:44:31 am
Hardest combo, fighting against two Knight Exemplar (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Knight+Exemplar), as a new guy anyway.
Dat's some spooky shit right there ngl. You know what's even spookier? 2 Scion of Oona (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Scion+of+Oona).

I feel like you're making fun of me
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: robort on July 31, 2020, 02:26:26 pm
It wasn't a combo that I had to deal with when I first started out playing. Being a new person and learning basic casual magic was interesting on its own. The guy who taught me, well his girlfriend also played. There was this 1 card that she played and it would always dominate (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Dominate) our games. Not knowing about wraths, removal and such at the time but I had learned to deal with was Hero of Bladehold (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Hero+of+Bladehold). However later on in my casual magic playing I kept playing against this friend who had a reanimate (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Reanimate)/recursion deck. Every time I played against this deck it would always win. Not knowing on how to deal with reanimation/recursion at the time would probably be the first combo I didn't know how to deal with
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: WizardSpartan on July 31, 2020, 06:07:36 pm
Hardest combo, fighting against two Knight Exemplar (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Knight+Exemplar), as a new guy anyway.
Dat's some spooky shit right there ngl. You know what's even spookier? 2 Scion of Oona (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Scion+of+Oona).

I feel like you're making fun of me
No, actually. Both Knight Exemplar (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Knight+Exemplar) and Scion of Oona (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Scion+of+Oona) in pairs are actually really difficult to deal with. I was just providing an even scawiew exampwe.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: ApothecaryGeist on July 31, 2020, 08:23:08 pm
Invisibility (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Invisibility) on a Juggernaut (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Juggernaut) was fairly fierce back in the day.  (Waaayyyyy back in the day.)


Of course.  So was the all Plague Rats (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Plague+Rats) deck.  And the all Lightning Bolt (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Lightning+Bolt) deck.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: MonteTribal on July 31, 2020, 09:51:48 pm
Quote
So was the all Plague Rats (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Plague+Rats) deck.

It has made a resurgence on Magic Arena lol
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: stuffnsuch on August 31, 2020, 06:50:40 pm
I was usually the guy looking for synergy and combos in my play group in high school, so I don't remember much that really got in my way besides being beaten out by aggro.  That being said, I distinctly remember the first time I ever got an infinite combo played against me.  The problem was, the guy I was playing dropped a few cards on the board and started rattling off what he could do and then scooped up the cards.  I was too shy then to ask for clarification as to what just happened, so I have no idea what the deck actually did.  I know it was simic and since it was in 2004, maybe 2005, can't use any more recent cards.  I'm pretty sure that there was a cephalid involved and the combo resulted in all my stuff getting tapped every turn so I couldn't ever actually do anything.  Any ideas what that could have been?

I do know that since then, I'm always a little more careful to explain combos to new players, sometimes even before we start playing so they understand what's going on in the game.  I really felt lost and frustrated that day, and I'd rather use my combos to inspire and show just how interesting this game can be, not as a tool to shut people out.
Title: Re: What was your nightmare combo as a Newbie?
Post by: Aetherium Slinky on August 31, 2020, 07:29:46 pm
I was usually the guy looking for synergy and combos in my play group in high school, so I don't remember much that really got in my way besides being beaten out by aggro.  That being said, I distinctly remember the first time I ever got an infinite combo played against me.  The problem was, the guy I was playing dropped a few cards on the board and started rattling off what he could do and then scooped up the cards.  I was too shy then to ask for clarification as to what just happened, so I have no idea what the deck actually did.  I know it was simic and since it was in 2004, maybe 2005, can't use any more recent cards.  I'm pretty sure that there was a cephalid involved and the combo resulted in all my stuff getting tapped every turn so I couldn't ever actually do anything.  Any ideas what that could have been?

I do know that since then, I'm always a little more careful to explain combos to new players, sometimes even before we start playing so they understand what's going on in the game.  I really felt lost and frustrated that day, and I'd rather use my combos to inspire and show just how interesting this game can be, not as a tool to shut people out.

The only cards that match your description are Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Aboshan%2C+Cephalid+Emperor) and Mystic Decree (https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Mystic+Decree). Could it have been that?