Well it’s been a while since I’ve touched back down with you gentlemen. Given this is Evil Combo Week, I feel obligated to touch back here as a good starting point until the Shadowmoor pre-release and the week after First Impressions. Now others are taking a normal route of saying, “Oh yeah, I know a great evil combo for this week.” So really, for what I can see, we are not flexing the parts of our brains that allow us to make these evil combos. This article is not only about trying to create evil combos but to look for them anywhere you see Magic.

First: I have to find a combo or a single card that I would build the combos around. So I decided to flip around the many sites of Magic that I normally check in with MagicTheGathering.com and mtgsalvation in addition to MDV. While going through the Magic Arcana on MTG.com I found one little interesting piece called “Ten Generations of Chronozoa.”

Yes, the card of the day for this Forgotten Power is: Chronozoa.

At the very end it says that at generation ten you would have 1024 Chronozoa tokens. 1024 x 3 = 3072 damage with flying. Now the question becomes, “How many of those do I need to deal at least 20 damage?” 20/3 = 6 and 2/3; 7 for all good's sake. At third generation I have eight Chronozoa tokens, so that’s where I want to get to before the opponent finds a way to stomp on my deck.

Note: that’s only if I used ONE Chronozoa. Now if I had four of them, it just needs to be second generation.

So I’m going to assume that I need anywhere between the second and third generations of Chronozoa before I can stomp my opponent in a single fell swoop. The gestation period for Chronozoa is three turns. That means between the second and third generations are turns 9 to 12, naturally. Normally a player playing his A game has you cooked and ready to serve about 5 turns prior. (In MWS this would be turns 18 through 24) And you have to get to the mana to play Chronozoa in the first place, so that’s +4 turns.

Now the question becomes: How do I speed this up into something usable? I want a generation a turn if I can help it. Maybe every three turns have two generations, I could live with that.

First thought is bring in the Clones: 4 copies of standard Clone would work. Use them to target Chronozoa, or if in a hard stop to copy an opponent’s creature for defensive measures. Body Double and Dimir Doppelganger might also be options.

Second thought is that vanishing uses time counters, so all I have to do is find spells that allow me to add, or better yet REMOVE time counters. Fury Charm, Timecrafting, and Clockspinning work well here. How about creatures that remove time counters? Chisei, Heart of Oceans; Ferropede; Timebender; Shivan Sand-Mage; and although not a creature but fits the bill, Power Conduit.

Now here’s a card some people might be bringing up: Aether Snap. I thought that would be a good card too, until I realized that every copy after the original card is a token. I don’t want to get rid of them, so I can’t use the Snap.

Here’s another set of thoughts: Paradox Haze can boost the vanishing act and Chisei’s power all in one. Just in case I do go overboard with Paradox Haze, I’m going to keep around the Goblin Bombardments just in case I need to do a quick sacrifice for damage move. Yes this would hurt the bacterial growth of the Chronozoa, but if I have an extra in the hand or grave then I should be okay with Body Double in the deck.

Total Cost: $40.00 USD with shipping from MTG Fanatic.

Right now this deck hasn’t even been tested, just put together. Thusly, take it as a guide and a selection of options. If you want to test it then by all means.

Some tips on playing this deck: You should only have one Paradox Haze in play unless you get Goblin Bombardment down, then play the second. Three upkeeps = one generation. Let it sit for a turn or two like that then just launch all the bacteria at your opponent. Fury Charm is to remove counters from Chronozoa or to pump Ferropede. Clone should only clone Chronozoa, Ferropede, or Shivan Sand-Mage; same goes for Body double if any of them are in your graveyard. Power Conduit is to move counters off of Chronozoa onto Ferropede. A note to those who wish to use this deck: Add something to get back on the offensive if you move into the defensive game.

Alright, so I like that deck, but what if I wanted a mono-Blue variant? Well I'd start by taking out the Red.

-12 Mountain
-2 Shivan Sand-Mage
-4 Fury Charm
-3 Timecrafting
-2 Goblin Bombardment.

That leaves a few spots open. Add ten Islands, and since I have two lands left and am running artifacts I'll put in an Academy Ruins. I'll replace the Bombardment with Life Chisel. Jhoria's Timebug will help against the loss of Charm and Crafting. More Timebenders and Clockspinnings, and a little extra defense with Delay (for flavor, really).

Total Cost: $45.00 USD with shipping from MTG Fanatic.

This deck like the other is untested, but just like the other the running theory with it is the same with just less Red; ping and boost. Delay and the Timebug might be able to keep a spell at bay until it's really really bad to play. In addition if you have to you can use Paradox Haze on the opponent and let them have the extra upkeep; it's beautiful if they have things that hurt them during their upkeep.

Another idea I had is, "What if I went Green and Blue with this deck idea?" So I looked back at the UR variant and removed the Red again, this time adding Green. I came up with something that looks like:

$70 USD with shipping via MTG Fanatic.

First noticeable thing (besides the price) is the decrease in land count, but the addition of mana acceleration via Fertile Ground and Search for Tomorrow. Life Chisel makes a comeback due to its great synergy with Ageless Entity. Rushwood Elemental + Paradox Haze = more fun. Doubling Season + deck = just more of everything, tokens and counters.

An interesting thought on Doubling Season + Paradox Haze + Chronozoa. If Doubling Season is played before Chronozoa (and its tokens) it becomes Vanishing 6, which means it'll be around quite a bit longer, but with Paradox Haze you'll still remove two each turn. Chisei still removes one, Ferropede once it gets in damage does the same, as does Power Conduit. The benefit here is that you get four tokens for one card. Those four tokens are each 3/3s, meaning with Life Chisel and Ageless Entity that's +24/+24 on top; very nice if I dare say.

As this article now quickly draws to a close I look at the cards that no one seems to pick up on and make something of them. I don’t say that I’m a junk rare type of guy, but I have to say if I like the card enough I’ll find a way to make it work. As we do the Shadowmoor Impressions on casual players, look for those cards like Chronozoa, who seem to have a lot of potential, but are not always the best card.

This is MZ, and it’s back off to the Æther with me.

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Articles Spotlights from 2008:
How to Win with Milling: A Guide to a Slow Painful Death
Memories of an Old Magic Player 10: The Outsiders Journal #3.
The Apprentice Magician, Part Three.
Class-Wars Deckbuilding Contest Results!
Tribal Coffee: The Smaller Tribes.
[Mini-Article] Controlling the Game: Without Blue.
Raiding the Dollar Bins: Return of the Vault Ninja.
A Fresh Perspective: Stasis - Part One.
More Evil Than Evil.
Memories of a Jarhead.