MTG Combo: Buried Alive + Victimize

Gladiir on First Golgari EDH Deck

4 years ago

Bane of Bala Ged + It That Betrays is a fun combo to try out. Buried Alive + Victimize can two for one in getting you +1 counters for Jarad for combat step, then can also get those cards back out during second main phase. I also suggest some more recursion. has tons of options for getting things in the grave, and has options to take them out. Reanimate , Eternal Witness , Recollect Journey to Eternity  ^Flip to name a few.

Hope my suggestions help!

Lilbrudder on Breya, Etherium Shaper

7 years ago

Sorry for the double post and for getting carried away on my rant. I like fact or fiction but I prefer Buried Alive + Victimize or Intuition + Scrap Mastery a bit more. I prefer focused tutors over look at the top 5. As you can probably tell I'm probably going to have a reanimator subtheme for my version of the deck since we lack consistent ramp. Maybe build around yawgmoth's will.

Jewishman on

7 years ago

Bitterblossom is too slow, Paying and not getting something to sac immediately is unacceptable, Turn one Gravecrawler and Diregraf Ghoul means a turn 2 Buried Alive + Victimize with a Lake of the Dead and Culling the Weak, which wins me the game instantly. I almost always draw a sac turn one, and Buried Alive always gives me at least one Gravecrawler which is then an infinite sac that can be recast multiple times in a turn. Contamination is a bit of a placeholder card from the sideboard, trying it out as a contingency control if my combo gets shutdown.

Lilbrudder on All Nightmare Long (SBT Primer)

7 years ago

Pheardemons: I am always happy to chat about mtg. Now to your questions...Birthing Pod is easily one of the best combo enablers/card advantage engines green has. While not as fast as Survival of the Fittest it has the advantage of only needing colorless mana (and life) to work. Yet another reason why Trinket Mage is worth a slot. Pod can easily facilitate a win condition in a couple activations. With either Fatestitcher or Kiora's Follower in play I can win in a single turn most of the time. Pod adds a tremendous amount of consistency to the deck. Even if I only used it to pod Sidisi into undead Sidisi it would be worth a spot. Rather than being slow and clunky it is brutally efficient, which is why it is banned in modern. The deck it supported was dominant. Moreover this is reanimator deck that is creature heavy, which makes it particularly good, since it gives me access to the majority of the key spells in my library and I can reanimate the creature I podded.

Dance of the Dead is good, but for Baby jace's flashback and the many tap creatures I use I prefer exhume. If this deck had white I would use dance for its interaction with Sun Titan.

While I am not always a fan of redundancy in combo peices with Tainted Pact and Demonic Consultation as Food Chain tutors it is definitely necessary to run Misthollow Griffin. Doubling the chances you exile the right creature before you get to food chain means you can essentially demonic tutor for both cards for 1-2 mana at instant speed! That is absolutely insane value.

I don't particularly like Laboratory Maniac but he has synergy with my dangerous Food Chain tutors and Hermit Druid. This deck is a thought experiment in how fast I can win in a vacuum. He requires alot of counterspell backup but he is very fast. An alternative to him that is vastly safer if 1 mana slower is to Dread Return into Eternal Witness for Victimize for mike and trike. Memory's Journey can also keep.me from dying if they kill lab man, but I have yet to find a spot for it.

You are correct that sidisi is less of a focus in this version of the deck, but she is still an essential.combo piece for Food Chain and Deadeye Navigator + Peregrine Drake and the only general suited to this particular strategy.

Btw I feel like if you want to do your mill win condition with Dread and Altar of Dementia, the four horseman combo Aphetto Alchemist/Basalt Monolith + Mesmeric Orb and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant might be worthwhile. If nothing else it makes sidisi even more of a focus, which I suspect is important for you.

Because I am using an optimal 9-3-3 mana base and all my win conditions are colorless heavy, the fact many of my one drop mana dorks only produce one color is not much of a drawback. Moreover, most fuel Survival of the Fittest which has heavy green requirements. On the other hand, the massive tempo boost they provide is vastly more important. For instance they facilitate plays such as:

Turn 1 Llanowar Elves

Turn 2 Trinket Mage grabbing Mana Crypt

Turn 3 Buried Alive + Victimize gg

And

Turn 1: Llanowar Elves

Turn 2: Transmute Drift of Phantasms for Food Chain or Eternal Scourge

Turn 3: play Food Chain exile Llanowar Elves with 3 floating mana cast Eternal Scourge combo off gg.

As you can see playing a turn 1 mana dork allows you to tutor for the peice you need to win on turn 3 and play a card like Swan Song. That is not to say that turn 2 mana dorks don't have a place, but they need to be VERY powerful to justify a spot. I only use Kiora's Follower and Bloom Tender due to their raw power and previously described interactions, but Priest of Titania and Devoted Druid (for its Necrotic Ooze upside) have some merit as well.

Lilbrudder on MH - Tasigur, the Golden Fang

7 years ago

I dig the deck. I love me some tutors but I would actually cut back on some of the narrow ones for ramp cards and higher quality tutors like Vampiric Tutor, Entomb, Mystical Tutor, and Buried Alive + Victimize for Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron .

Lilbrudder on A Heart Three Sizes Too Small

8 years ago

trinitok Thank you for the amusing and insightful feedback. I probably need to revise my descriptions a bit. I agree that Laboratory Maniac is a somewhat flimsy wincon on its own so I probably need to take my own advice and use something like Notion Thief + Windfall beforehand to kill everyone elses hand first.

In most cases this deck will win with Craterhoof Behemoth a bunch of other creatures that include zombie tokens since this deck can build an impressive board state very quickly and Craterhoof Behemoth is really easy to get into play.

With all the tutors in the deck Buried Alive + Victimize or Living Death is pretty easy to assemble but I see your point. I originally had Tooth and Nail to assemble it but 9 mana proved to be a bit unweildy to pull off and still have counterspell protection.

With regards to the graveyard dependence I am actually pretty stingy with what goes in my graveyard until I go for the win and I generally prefer to outresource opponents and win the long game rather than combo quickly. If someone resolves a Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void. I have a number of ways to destroy it (ex. Maelstrom Pulse and Reclamation Sage) but they are definiely problematic. I'll look into diversifying a bit. As for your other suggestions:

I would definitely run rector but unfortunately it is white :-(

I definitely see the need for more ramp but I am not sure what else to run?

Earthcraft is intriguing but unfortunately only works with basic lands.

I am using Life from the Loam instead of Crucible of Worlds due to its dredge ability but crucible is almost too good to pass up.

I am not a fan of Blasting Station but I like the idea of using an infinite combo to kill the board by milling them or through damage. Do you know of some creature based combos that would work besides Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion ?

trinitok on A Heart Three Sizes Too Small

8 years ago

Hello, wagnerr2. After looking at your deck a bit, I would have to suggest you find a different source of infinite mana. How often does Buried Alive + Victimize actually come up? I think there might be an easier combo, but I am curious how easy this one currently is for you.

I would almost recommend getting Crucible of Worlds for your deck. It might help with some instances like Kermit the Frog

I see you are running Diabolic Intent but not Academy Rector. I guess it makes sense because you don't depend on your enchantments to win.

Based on the price of the deck, I am assuming you want to make this as competitive as possible. To do this though, I feel like you might need a bit more ramp unless you get that opening hand wombo combo. I see you have a couple turn 1-2 open hand combos but some of your other ones might not be what you are looking for. Also, what happens if I Leyline of the Void or Rest in Peace you? All your wincons instantly fall apart. Your entire strategy falls out the window. Decks like yours are the reason I run those. I think you should consider looking at alternative ways to win, not graveyard shenanigans. The only other one you have is lab maniac, but he is to well known in my opinion so everyone will realize what you are doing and probably instant target him with a kill spell. You need something unique, unknown, surprising. Something that will ruffle your opponents' jimmies. Something like...squirrels.

Look at that lil furball. What a badass.

In all seriousness, squirrels might not be a bad way to go. It is cheap, gets you infinite 1/1 squirrel terrorists to rush your opponents, and can be used with your deck to pull off all kinds of shenanigans. The combo I am referring to is Earthcraft + Squirrel Nest. Combine it with something like Blasting Station and you can just go pew pew to your opponents.

BornToDie on Mono-Black Zombie deck

8 years ago

By the way, the Buried Alive + Victimize combo is pretty nice.. Never thought of that myself. I may give that a try.