Anatomy of a Combo Deck

[Morganator 2.0]

Combo gets a bit of a bad rap in Commander. In newer playgroups it can seem like a cheap win; it comes out of nowhere and most decks are equiped to stop combat damage, not combos. This can seem like a bit of an unfair assessment. There are a lot of things that go into building a good combo deck and you often don't see all the effort that goes into building a combo deck from just one game.

Think of this as a simple guide to combos. These are the things that deck-builders need to consider when making a combo deck. This applies for both casual and competitive commander decks, but casual often won't have all of these factors, while cEDH combo will.

Synergy with commander

If you can somehow incorporate your commander into a combo, do it. That's one less combo piece that you need to search up. For example, Zaxara, the Exemplary easily makes infinite mana with Freed from the Real. Then you just need an outlet for all that mana. Najeela, the Blade-Blossom combos with Druids' Repository (and a number of other cards). Siona, Captain of the Pyleas combos with Shielded by Faith. Keep in mind that including your commander as part of the combo is supposed to make things easier for you. If you're trying to make a 4 card combo work with your commander, it's probably not worth it. You also have to be careful about making your commander a target for removal.

Dead cards

Or rather, the lack of dead cards. A dead card is a card that is only good in the combo and is absolutely useless outside of the combo. Take for instance, Deadeye Navigator and Dockside Extortionist. These two creatures make infinite treasure tokens.



With this example, Deadeye Navigator is the dead card. 6 mana and then some isn't really worth it outside of a combo. Dockside Extortionist however is still useful, because he can also be mana ramp outside of the combo. When building a combo deck, you want to use the least amount of dead cards possible, so that way you don't get stuck with a lot of cards in hand that are otherwise useless.

Layering

This part only applies if you plan on using more than one combo in the deck. Layering is when a lot of the same cards are used in two different combos. For example , Food Chain combos will often use Demonic Consultation and Tainted Pact to get Food Chain, because it also might exile Eternal Scourge or Squee, the Immortal along the way. Thassa's Oracle also benefits from these cards, as they can exile the entire library for a win. Because these two combos use two of the same cards, they will often go together in deck building.

Infinite mana outlet

There are a lot of combos that make infinite mana. Just remember that infinite mana on it's own does not win the game; you still need something to spend that infinite mana on. Walking Ballista is a simple one. Thrasios, Triton Hero is another one that gets used in the 99, paired with Thassa's Oracle. The reasons why deck-builders use these cards is because they are not entirely dead cards; Walking Ballista can still be removal and Thrasios can still be card advantage.

The best infinite mana outlet to use is your commander. Commanders like Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Kenrith, the Returned King, and Oona, Queen of the Fae are used is because they can win the game with infinite mana. This is just another way that you can incorporate your commander into the combo.

Card advantage

This includes both card draw and search effects. Search effects get you into a specific card (your combo piece) while card draw gets you lots of cards. For a combo deck, you need both. I don't think I need to go into much detail about these two things, but I will say that combo decks need more search effects than say, a combat-based deck. If you're trying to assemble Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal, there are no substitutes for either of those cards. You need to search for them.

Protection

This is the thing that more casual decks tend to forget about. Experienced players are going to try to stop your combo with counterspells/removal spells. You need to protect your combo pieces. Above all you want your protection to be low-cost, because during combo turn you often won't have a lot of mana to spare. Some good choices are Silence, Pact of Negation, Malakir Rebirth, Deflecting Swat, and Veil of Summer.

If you have any questions or comments, or if you think there is something I'm forgetting, feel free to reply to this thread.

[Aetherium Slinky]

You should also outline ways to stop combos, timing and so forth. I think a great part of the saltiness comes from the fact that people aren't packing enough removal and don't know when to use it.

[Slyvester12]

You should also outline ways to stop combos, timing and so forth. I think a great part of the saltiness comes from the fact that people aren't packing enough removal and don't know when to use it.

This, and redundancy. I don't know how many times I've won because people try to remove Scion of the Ur-Dragon in response to me activating it's ability instead of waiting for the ability to resolve. Also, sometimes people get greedy and try to save resources because they THINK they've beat my combo, but I waited until I had a backup to go off.

[Morganator 2.0]

I've considered going over how to stop combos, but that would have to be it's own thread. It's not that easy of a discussion because there are a lot of combos out there. Also, the solution is almost always "just use removal". As a general rule though, you want to wait until the last possible moment to use removal. If someone is using Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant, you wait until Kiki-Jiki's ability is on the stack.

Redundancy is something I forgot to go over. Fortunately there's not much to talk about. If your combo can use either Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar, run both. As long as you're not adding more dead cards it should be fine.

[Aetherium Slinky]

I've considered going over how to stop combos, but that would have to be it's own thread.

Judging by the upvotes people are asking for some advice on how to stop combos. Maybe we should, as a community, go through some of the most common combos and see how they're stopped?

[WizardSpartan]

I've considered going over how to stop combos, but that would have to be it's own thread.

Judging by the upvotes people are asking for some advice on how to stop combos. Maybe we should, as a community, go through some of the most common combos and see how they're stopped?

I mean tbh, all it takes is some serious thinking about each step of the combo and what your combo opponent could do in response to you removing a part of it.

Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter: Remove Isochron Scepter at any point during the combo or, if your opponent is completely tapped out after activating Scepter, counter Dramatic Reversal (this only stops the combo for a turn, though). Krosan Grip is perfect here.

Food Chain + Eternal Scourge/Squee, the Immortal/Misthollow Griffin: Remove Food Chain at any point during the process. I'm pretty sure that trying to interact with the creature at any point during the process won't actually do anything, as they will just exile it in response to the removal spell. Krosan Grip is perfect here.

Thassa's Oracle + Tainted Pact/Demonic Consultation: Countering Oracle or her ability will leave the combo player scrambling as they have no library. Countering the Pact or Consultation works also, but it's less backbreaking. Trickbind is perfect here.

Jace, Wielder of Mysteries/Laboratory Maniac + Tainted Pact/Demonic Consultation: Even easier to deal with than Oracle, as you can just remove them in response to your opponent casting the spell/activating the ability that would have them draw from their empty library (they would lose immediately, too, which is nice). Sudden Spoiling/Sudden Death is perfect against Laboratory Maniac. I don't think there's any Split Second cards that work well against Jace, so regular planeswalker removal like Hero's Downfall or Bedevil would work fine, just try to account for counterspells from your opponent.

Karmic Guide + Reveillark + sac outlet: This combo is probably the first that I've mentioned that's actually difficult to remove. If the sac outlet isn't a creature with power 2 or less, you can remove it to stop the combo in its tracks. Using a Trickbind on either of the 2 creatures will also stop the combo. Unfortunately, I don't see a way to actually remove either of them that stops the combo. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Trickbind or maybe a removal spell for the sac outlet would be the best option here.

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + any of the 2.6 million cards that remove him: Remove Kiki-Jiki at any point, remove the very first target creature in response to Kiki-Jiki's activation (only works the 1st time), or obviously Stifle any of the abilities. Sudden Spoiling (can even defuse a lethal attack step with infinite tokens), Sudden Death, and Trickbind are perfect here.

Deadeye Navigator + Peregrine Drake/Great Whale/Palinchron/Dockside Extortionist: This is extremely difficult to disrupt. Depending on how much mana your opponent has, you really can't try to remove either piece or even Stifle the activated ability. If your opponent has 2 or more mana, than trying to remove either of the 2 will just result in them bouncing the creature and your spell fizzling. If you try to Stifle the activated ability, they will just let it resolve and activate it again. Really, to beat this combo, you need a card with Split Second.  The best option here in my opinion would be Sudden Death or Sudden Spoiling.

Fat mana dork + Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination/etc.: This combo isn't the most difficult to remove, it just takes the correct timing. Removing either of the 2 parts in response to either of their abilities will work. You can also Stifle either ability (assuming they don't have enough mana to just activate the ability again and continue the combo). What you don't want to do, though, is try to remove them when the mana dork is untapped and they have the ability to continue the combo. If you do it then, they can just bury your removal spell and combo off, ignoring it.

These are the most common combos I know of, but if anybody wants to know how to beat other ones, just say the word. Also, if I get something wrong, please tell me. I'm not 100% focused as it's early in the morning for me.

[Varatius]

Deadeye navigator + peregine drake the best way to deal with it is mana short or cards similar to it but you have to have perfect timing or follow up with any split second card bit this only stops it for the turn so find removal fast also doesn't work if the have enough mana rocks to restart the process.

[WizardSpartan]

Mana Short stops the combo like a Split Second card, but it's a lot less useful in other situations. Split Second cards dismantle multiple combos, while Mana short only stops one.

[Morganator 2.0]

Right yeah, guess I better make a topic on stopping combos. I just got to figure out a way to format it because I don't feel like going through all 6000+ combos in Commander.

I'm sure It'll be done either tonight or tomorrow night.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Right yeah, guess I better make a topic on stopping combos. I just got to figure out a way to format it because I don't feel like going through all 6000+ combos in Commander.

I'm sure It'll be done either tonight or tomorrow night.

I already thought about that. I think a combo is worth including if you've seen X players (other than yourself) use it. Maybe three players is a good estimation. That way we only get the most common ones. That ought to give an indication of how to stop a rarer combo.