Magic Deck Vortex: Coldsnap Combos

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Coldsnap (2006) Featured Combos. Last updated 2/14/07 (30/30 Combos, 13 Deck Links, 0 Infinite Combos) Note: The Drelnoch - Lure combo, as posted earlier, does not work as I intended.
Jotun Owl Keeper - Pride of the Clouds
This isn't so much a combo, but it is synergy. You can start out with either or both cards, but the goal here is to get as many age counters on the Owl Keeper as possible. When he dies, you get a bunch of 1/1 flying bird tokens and Pride of the Clouds becomes a big, nasty. Again, not a combo, but lots of deck building synergy. I had to put this here since the "Drelnoch - Lure" combo didn't work as I posted it earlier today.
Counterbalance - Sensei's Divining Top
Sensei's Diving Top works will just about any card that manipulates the top of your library in any shape or fashion. Correct that. Sensei's Diving Top works well with EVERYTHING!!! That includes Scrying Sheets. Counterbalance is NO exception to this. Your opponent plays a 3cc spell? Just Top your library and put that Hinder on top of your library so that when Counterbalance actually checks your top card, your opponent's spell will be countered. This won't work 100% of the time since you are only digging 3 cards in, but it will work more often if you stack your deck with a plethora of casting cost spells.
Perilous Research - Hatching Plans
This combo submitted by many a people. It's amazing how many cards that combo with another card are only sets apart. In this case, Hatching Plans in Dissension and then Perilous Research in Coldsnap. The combo is simple, although previously you had to result to cards like Claws of Gix or some big clunky cards to sacrifice the Hatching Plans. Now, you can do it with instant gratification. Five cards. That's beautiful. You are still getting a deal if you consider the total mana cost between the two cards: 2UU.
Darien, King of Kjeldor - Soul Warden - Flame Rift
For the record, there are MANY spells that replace Flame Rift such as Char, Painlands, etc. With that out of the way, know that Darien has a whole council of Soul Wardens in his royal cabinet. With Soul Warden, when you are dealt damage with Darien in play, you get that many 1/1 white Soldier tokens and you gain that much life. So basically, you actually lost no life and gain a mini-army of Soldiers. Flame Rift is just fun because it deals 4 damage to your opponent and nets you four Soldier tokens. Note: Auriok Champion works just as well in place of Soul Warden or in addition to Soul Warden.
Dark Depths - Æther Snap or ... or ... or...
This combo was submitted by MANY a people. OK. This is a tough one. Play Dark Depths. Put ten ice counters on it. Now play Æther Snap. Sacrifice Dark Depths and put an indestructible 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying named Marit Lage into play. That was easy. There are, of course, many ways to break Dark Depths. Stephen recommends using Chisei, Heart of Oceans. Then there's SCUD - he recommends using the Power Artifact - Grim Monolith infinite combo to fuel the Dark Depths. I would personally use that mana to cast a big Fireball or something. Oh, if you are into Unhinged cards, YWN suggests trying Yet Another Æther Vortex with Dark Depths... Need I explain that one?
Thrumming Stone - Relentless Rats
This combo was submitted by many people. Relentless Rats caused all the buzz a year ago when it was released in Fifth Dawn. And since then hundreds of decks were made with about 50%-70% Relentless Rats. Try adding Thrumming Stone to the mix and watch you deck slowly become nothing within a few turns. Cast one Relentless Rats and you have a good chance of bringing two to four more Rats into play. It depends on how you build your deck. A Sensei's Diving Top never hurt. Raine & Lionden_56 recommend trying Thrumming Stone with Congregation at Dawn (not necessary with Relentless Rats).
Tamanoa - Searing Meditation
This combo should come to you as a surprise as NO ONE has ever thought of it anywhere outside of Magic Deck Vortex! ... OK, so I lie... Anyway, with something to deal damage, the Tamanoa will activate gaining you that much life. Searing Meditation can trigger, with the help of some mana, and deal damage to something else, triggering Tamanoa and causing a loop that is as long as mana you have available to help it out. This combo was submitted by many a people.
Rimescale Dragon - Rimefeather Owl
Rimescale and Rimefeather are Rime-tastic. I mean, with both of these cards in play, you can tap down your opponent's entire board (sort of) since anything with an Ice Counter can't untap during the untap step. Both can put Ice counters on a permanents your opponent controls (note that the Dragon can only target creatures) and Rimescale's ability doesn't allow them to untap. Plus, you'll have HUGE flying Owl to beat your opponent down with. That's sounds like casual fun to me.
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge - Buried Alive
Haakon seems to be gaining a little momentum in the tourney scene with some hefty Knights in T2 to back him up. However, the trick to making Haakon successful is getting him into your graveyard. There aren't any Knights that discard from your hand so you'll have to find another way to get him into the grave. I find the easiest way to do this is Buried Alive. It's not in T2 right now, but I'm thinking casual. Not only can you get Haakon into the graveyard, but you get two of your most dangerous Knights to accompany him in the grave to be raised by Haakon once he is in play. You could always just Entomb Haakon, but then you won't have the graveyard knights to back you up. Or if you don't like Knights but like Haakon's ability - just play Ashes of the Fallen and turn all of your graveyard creatures into Knights.
Zur the Enchanter - Pacifism or Pillory of the Sleepless or..
This isn't exactly a "COMBO" as much as it is "SYNERGY" but I think you'll like how this works. Whenever Zur attacks, you search. Not when he deals damage. Not when he is blocked. When he attacks. SO! When he attacks you can search your library for an enchantment (or Aura) and put it into play. Mind you, it can't be more than 3 converted mana to cast. But, there are plenty of super-cool enchantments under three. Namely cards like Pillory of the Sleepless and cards like Pacifism. Now that your Enchanter has attacked, your opponent could block it and possibly kill it. Not if you Pacifism their possible blocker. To bonus, you could put the Auras into play targeting a normally untargetable creature since there's no target clause when it comes into play.
Your Combo Here!
You could have your combo featured in this spot right here (not literally, but on a future combo page). Email the webmaster with any combos you'd like to submit. Try to make sure your combo works and that there isn't already that combo on any other MDV combo page. You can always Search Magic Deck Vortex with the new search tool to make sure before submitting it. I greatly appreciate your efforts to make these combo pages better. Every once in a while I have a page chock-full of your submitted combos... although I will admit about 75% of all submitted combos are duplicates.
Lightning Storm - Trade Routes and/or Groundskeeper or Life from the Loam
This combo was partially submitted by Raine & azoriuswizard2006. The first time I read Lightning Storm I was confused. The second time I read it I was perplexed. The third time I read it I was puzzled. I still don't REALLY get it, but I think I now have the general idea of what it does. Basically, the more lands you have at your disposal to discard, the more chance you have keep control of it and to make it bigger. Trade Routes, Groundskeeper and Life from the Loam all help to keep lands in your hand. As mentioned, the more lands you have to discard to it, the bigger storm it is.
Panglacial Wurm - Dream Halls
This combo was submitted by Mad Mat. Mind you, you will need something to shuffle your library (Sakura Tribe Elder, Ghost Quarter, etc...) Also, mind you that you always have to pay mana for it, even if you are playing it from your library while shuffling it. Unless of course you discard a green card from your hand to pay it's cost thanks to Dream Halls. It's not like Dream Halls is a terribly broken card or anything... I do like the art of Panglacial Wurm...
Surging Sentinels - Congregation at Dawn or Reinforcements
Get the most out of your ripples. Stack your deck during play so that you can put all of your ripple cards (or most of them) on top of your library. This way, when you cast one, you will get a three for one deal. Congregation does this well, putting three creatures on top of your library in any order for only three mana. This combo was submitted by Jamerson & YWN. Then there's Reinforcements. It can be a nice substitution for Congregation if you want all white. However, it only pulls cards from your graveyard and puts them on top of your library. So your Surging Sentinels would have to be in your graveyard for Reinforcements to be as efficient as Congregation at Dawn. At least I gave you two perspectives!
Braids of Fire - Earthen Goo or Magmatic Core
This combo was submitted by YWN, Raine and Tekkactus. The cumulative upkeep costs of both Earthen Goo and Magmatic Core can get quite expensive. However, keeping them into for many turns is always to your advantage as you'll get lots of damage out of the Core and a big trampler out of the Goo. Use Braid of Fire to fuel the Cumulative Upkeeps of either card (or both if you are risky) and keep those cards around longer than you could ever do with just your normal mana base (all infinite mana combos aside).
Sheltering Ancient - Cytoplast Manipulator
This combo was submitted by Elias. While Aku Djinn works great with the Grafters from the Simic Guild, Sheltering Ancient works better. It's more localized instead just putting a +1/+1 on each creature your opponent controls. And, when you put a counter on an opponent's creature, you can take control of it with Cytoplast Manipulator. Simple. Fun. Freakishly controllish. If you don't want to control your opponent's creatures and prefer a more 'CONTROL' approach.. just use Gelid Shackles or one of its relatives to shut down the creature your putting the counters on. I'm not sure that made sense, but you get my idea here. Right?
Brooding Saurian - Sky Swallower
Yet another combo submitted by YWN. Hey! It's a restricted Brand on legs with a 4/4 body that goes off every turn! Use Brooding Saurian with Sky Swallower to ensure you get all of your cards back (just all of the nontoken ones). That's all. Nothing terrible complex or interesting in.
Jester's Scepter - Heidar or Temporal Adept
This combo was submitted by LSX Yiz via email. One approach to the Jester's Scepter card is using cards like Heidar or Temporal Adept to return permanents your opponent controls to their hand. Then, when they try to cast the card, assuming it was one of the cards the Scepter removed, you can counter it. Or you can go the opposite route, as YWN suggests, and keep playing the same Jester's Scepter by means of returning it to your hand with cards like Vedalken Mastermind and then casting it again. It would only take about 13-14 times of casting the Scepter to mill their entire deck, including anti-mill nasties like Darksteel Colossus and Serra's Avatar.
Vanish into Memory - Ball Lighting or Blistering Firecat or...
This combo was partially submitted by YWN. The trick to using Vanish into Memory effectively is finding a creature with a high power and a low toughness. Cards like Ball Lightning and Blistering Firecat are FINE examples. You draw cards equal to its power and then discard cards equal to its toughness. In Ball Lightning case, you'd draw six cards, then discard one. Of course, then there are token creatures like Marit Lage. Or tokens in general. Draw the cards and then because its a token, it can't come back into play as it will be removed forever.
Jokulmorder - Crucible of Worlds or Life from the Loam
Oooooh.. another Leviathan. I think we almost have enough to make a Leviathan Tribal deck. Anyway, this guys like to eat up your lands. And then he won't work for you unless you put more lands into play. The only way to make Jokulmorder fit into your deck is with land tricks. Crucible of Worlds and/or Life from the Loam both fit the category as they can help you bring back dead lands whether it be to your hand or directly into play. This will also help to untap Jokulmorder. This combo was partially submitted by YWN and azoriuswizard2006.
Woolly Razorback - Norritt
A 7/7 body for 7/7 is nothing to laugh at, even if it is a defender. But, by removing those pesky ice counters you can lose the defender and begin attacking. Enter block friend, Norritt. Norritt will force your opponent to attack you and you will block with Woolly. Most likely, Woolly will kill the attacking creature and before you know it, a 7/7 will be heading towards your opponent, charge style. YWN suggests using Power Conduit as a means to not only pump up your Razorback but to remove the ice counters so it can attack.
Phyrexian Soulgorger - Eon Hub
There are some cards with Cumulative Upkeep that need the age counters to be good. Then there are cards like Phyrexian Soulgorger that have a nasty upkeep like sacrificing a creature. With Eon Hub, you skip your upkeep and thus skip the cumulative upkeep cost. Thus, you get an 8/8 for 3 and might not have to sacrifice anything (depending on your timing). This combo was submitted by Robert. Your Worst Nightmare makes note that Eon Hub works with most if not all Cumulative Upkeep cards. Even though I would think that as obvious to most of you, I have to assume not everyone is as familiar with Eon Hub and cumulative upkeep like YWN or me!
Juniper Order Ranger - Vitu-Ghazi or Mobilization or ...
These combos were submitted by lots of people in different variations. Any card that generates a creature on a consistent basis works VERY well with Juniper Order Ranger. Cards like Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree or Mobilization. Little side note: This guy loves Spikes. Anyway, every time you activate one of your creature generators, you get a +1/+1 counter on it and on the Ranger. JSweeney recommends using Auras instead like Pollenbright Wings or Fists of Ironwood. Pollenbright is the better of the two as it can get out of real stupid, real quick. Of course, Fists of Ironwood gives the Ranger trample and some tokens. That's a definite bonus.
Frozen Solid - Simic Guildmage - Goblin Sharpshooter
*While I wouldn't normally post this kind of combo, it is rather cool. Haha.. get it... cool! Haha...* Ehem. Seriously, Enchant one of your opponent's creatures with Frozen Solid. Target it with Sharpshooter and it dies. Before it dies, move the Aura (Frozen Solid) from that creature to another creature your opponent controls using Simic Guildmage's ability. Goblin Sharpshooter will be ready to ping so repeat this until your opponent has no creatures left or until you run out of mana. This combo was submitted by YWN
Mishra's Bauble - Auriok Salvagers
This combo was submitted by several people. This combo isn't anything new but it uses a new card. Mishra's Bauble costs nothing and does almost nothing. However, when you tap it you net a card. Combine that with Auriok Salvagers, and suddenly white can draw cards. "1W: Draw a card." That's what this combo translates into...
Herald of Leshrac - Zuran Orb or Overgrown Estates
This combo was submitted by YWN. Herald of Leshrac is great for having a very unique and new card ability. Stealing your opponent's lands is always fun and having it on a black card isn't even more interesting. The unfortunate thing is that you will eventually have to lose your Herald because there won't be any more lands to steal that aren't yours. when this happens, have Zuran Orb or Overgrown Estates handy. Sacrifice all of their lands before the Herald dies and then they are more screwed than before (although they won't have a hefty flying Leshrac Herald staring down at them). Note: You could also try Trade Routes so your opponent can keep playing lands to fuel the upkeep on the Herald. Of course, there's always New Frontiers.
Wall of Shards - Reverse the Sands or False Cure
Since Ran of Gore doesn't work with Wall of Shards, both Reverse the Sands and False Cure are a decent approach to taking advantage of the Wall of Shard's unique ability. After your Wall of Shards has quite a few age counters on it and your opponent has a big life total - cast Reverse the Sands. Now you have a huge life total and your opponent is stuck with your life total, whatever it may be. With False Cure, you want to wait until Wall of Shards has lots of Age Counters to cast it to make the most out of False Cure. Unfortunately, its not nearly as efficient as Rain of Gore could be if it didn't have the 'its controller' clause in it. However, False Cure on a stick is MUCH more effective with Wall of Shards. These combos were partially submitted by YWN & Lord_Sage_of_Ronevia.
Icefall - Shard Phoenix
This combo was submitted by Mogg. It's expensive, but it's repetitive land destruction every turn (or every other turn if you don't have a large mana base). Cast Icefall and destroy something. Then make sure you next cast creature is Shard Phoenix and pay the Recover cost. Sacrifice the Phoenix and repeat the process. Again, this is very expensive, but I believe it is legal in T2 right now. And it will always be legal in Casual.
Arcum Dagsson - Myr Servitor (2)
This combo was submitted by YWN. Want to Tinker every turn? Well, tinker for a noncreature artifact every turn? Try Arcum and a team of Servitors. As long as you have one Myr Servitor in play and one in your graveyard every turn, you can use Arcum Dagsson to search your library for a noncreature artifact card and put it into play every turn. If you don't understand how, I would highly recommend reading the rules text for Myr Servitor.
Adarkar Valkyrie - Avatar of Woe
Two beautiful white and black Magic creatures that together have an end result which is really a blue or red ability: creature control. That is, literally gaining control of a creature. With both in play, just tap the Avatar of Woe to kill one of your opponent's creatures. Then tap Valky to gain control of it. It's elegant. It's expensive. It's cool. Need I say more?
Jotun Grunt - Mesmeric Orb or Dreamborn Muse
What a strange ability on a white card. In the past, this 'putting cards on the bottom of the library from your graveyard' ability was either green or artifact. Anyway, you will need to make sure the graveyards have cards in them in order to keep the Grunt in play. Cards like Mesmeric Orb and Dreamborn Muse help to facilitate this by dumping cards from one's library into their graveyard. I would love see if Jotun Grunt would be a good addition to a Leveler deck. Think Soldevi Digger - Browse combo. This combo was submitted by YWN.
Did you know...?
To the right and left of this text is something called the MDV Deck Link. You will only find these link buttons on the combo pages. When you click on a MDV Deck Link it will take you to a deck related to the combo where you found it. If the button is to the left of the combo text, this means there is a deck already linked. If the link is to the right, there is a deck found or that is going to be posted. Or it is a combo I am currently looking for a deck using it. Mind you, not all decks links are going to center around that particular combo, although most do. Remember, I strongly encourage you to not copy any deck on MDV, but to use it as a reference or inspiration for your own. Enjoy the combo pages! ~John Streetz~