|
Home Decks Combos Articles Visual Spoilers Features Art Links Search Forum |
|
|
|
|
Why is it that when we in the Magic the Gathering world see a great combo we all start to go ooh and ahh? I'll tell you why we do. It's simply because when we as Magic players see a combo go off it makes us all wonder "How did he pull that off?" Or perhaps it's more along the lines of, "Man that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!" It's the manipulation of this game that make some of us go wild. For me, it's all about the manipulation. Allow me to share with you what I know. I'll be your narrator on this adventure. My name is Cain Valentine, but you can all just call me Cain. So hello everyone. My intent with this series of articles is to help you better understand a lot of combo decks, and maybe even show you how to use it to its full potential. First things first; let's look at the word combo for a minute.
Well we know that we're not looking at a band here...
Ah, there we are, "An instrument designed to perform two or more tasks." I guess I might have jumped the gun when I said we're not looking for a band here. You see, the band has to work together in order to produce the sound that they are wanting. You too also have to make the cards work together to get what you want as well. So what is it you really want? Do you want to play a deck that can make your opponent laugh when they lose? Do you want a deck that will go off so smoothly that you made it look easy? Or maybe you want a deck that makes it to where every time a player looks at you, they will remember the unbelievable loss they had at your hands...or mind. Whatever it is, I'll help show you how to fine-tune that into a reality. As I said before in the beginning of this article the key is how well you can manipulate your deck. Now, manipulation in Magic is quite easy to do. There are many ways to do it, from drawing and searching, to resting. You can even go into your sideboard in the middle of game one now. But what way is the best way to do it? Really it all depends on you, what kind of player you are and of course how you want to be remembered. I'll help you all that I can. So let's move on to our deck that we will be looking at and breaking apart.
Alright, now I'm sure a lot of you Magic players out there are very familiar with this card right now, especially if you play Legacy like me. The deck based on this card has been tearing up the game for many years on and off. It first really started back in 1998 - 1999 season. On this site there is even a primer for the deck and a really good deck list from Kai Budde from GP Vienna in 1999. For reference we will start here.
Okay now you see that's an original deck list for High Tide. One thing I guess I should say is High Tide never was a standard deck. It however was extended. But what made it so good back then for extended? Time Spiral and Frantic Search helped the German juggernaut find the pieces that he needed, not to mention that it was great to generate a whole lot of mana via High Tide. Playing Time Spiral restocked your deck, then just untap the lands from Time Spiral. This goes into a new and fresh start with hopes of a High Tide and another Time Spiral, Frantic Search or Turnabout with a fist full of draw, or a Palinchron to go infinite with a Stroke of Genius to win.
Now we look at the current day High Tide that can only be found in Legacy or Vintage. This deck no longer has the advantage that it once had back in the deck for Kai Budde. No longer is Time Spiral or Frantic Search an open option. Instead we look to a new way to untap and a new kill, one that isn't so mana intensive. How about Brain Freeze? Many players have chosen it to be their kill card of choice.
There are many reasons as to why this deck is superior to Kai's version. Number one would have to be Cunning Wish. I mean we now have the ability to go to our sideboard main game for key pieces of our combo that we need at any given time. We can also goldfish though are entire deck in almost one turn, if not in one turn, looking and churning for what we need. We even have a better untapping ability for that matter, Reset. No deck however is without it's issues. The problem with this deck is this, Chrome Mox is not needed, it's just dead weight in here. You don't get extra mana off it from High Tide. It doesn't untap from the Reset or the Turnabout. It can from Turnabout but it would be a waste of a very much-needed spell. Another major problem I see with this deck is not enough draws to goldfish down to what you need. AKs' and Impulses don't do it alone. Sure, Brainstorm is here but there it just puts things back in your way. Meditate is the best draw card in this deck... and that is sad. They have let themselves become restricted by Reset. In a game where you can do so much more manipulation, people have let themselves become a slave to what everyone else does. There is nothing wrong with playing High Tide. In fact, I enjoy playing High Tide. However, please realize that Kai was on to something. Our real key to victory was his one creature, Palinchron.
How is this seven mana costing creature the key to victory? It's simple. You see Kai and many other deck designers back then had the ability to use Reset, however they knew that you need more than speed to be able to manipulate your deck over and over again. That's what they did with the Time Spirals. They would play out as much as they could and then use the Time Spiral to start over again with even more mana than what they probably started with. I mean think about playing High Tide 7 times in one turn. Yeah I know, but that is what they did. You see Palinchron was not the key to winning back then. Now on the other hand, it is. Imagine if you will, a turn four, which is just as fast as the current day High Tide deck, where you are generating infinite mana and/or infinite storm. I present you with my High Tide.
Now, THAT has power. Look at all that draw in the deck. You can count the twenty-seven cards to help you draw. This deck has no Wishes either, it doesn't need them. Flash of Insight is all the wish you need. Turn one, use Careful Study, discarding a Flash of Insight. Come turn four when you start drawing like mad crazy looking for your Palinchron (if you don't already have it) or your Brain Freeze, you will be able to look at a good 10 - 17 off the Insight with Flash Back.
Another really good card in this deck that keeps it running would be the Ideas Unbound. For UU you get 3 cards, almost an Ancestral Recall. As for its drawback, you will win the turn that you start playing these like mad anyways so it doesn't matter. This deck can goldfish faster than a normal High Tide deck. I've found it to be much more proficient at it. As for the combo in this deck, you can and will get to a Palinchron. When you do, you will generate infinite mana and an infinite storm with him. You need not draw to increase your storm count, but make it whatever number you want. So even if your opponent is playing Battle of Wits you can still deck him or her out. This can be done by the fourth turn with two High Tides, turn five with just one. Once you have done this you play Palinchron. Now for the sake of argument we will say this is a turn four combo. So you play High Tide, then another one. You now have one blue mana floating. Tap the other two for six and viola! You have the mana to pay for Palinchron. Now, when he comes into play you untap up to seven land. So untap the 4 Island you have and retap them for twelve mana. Use four of that mana to Palinchrons' ability of bouncing himself to your hand. That would drop you to eight. Repeat. Every turn you will gain an extra mana. Also, you are building up your storm count.
From here it is simple, search. Find the Brain Freeze. Also, don't be worried about mana burn. Just use your left over mana to play Palinchron and bounce him until you have none left in your pool. You see, manipulation can take many forms: Draw, Search, and Reset. There are many different ways that you can do one deck. I hope that I have helped some of you understand and see this. You of course will choose your own way. I just hope I can help you understand that way. May you never have to "Top Deck" again, ~ Cain Valentine You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here. Most Popular
Articles of 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
High
Tide. 
Okay
so now we are up to the current day deck that is dominating major legacy
tournaments. This bad boy right here is packed with things that even Kai Budde
couldn't have handled. We now have an all-instant speed deck.
