Land (23)
Creature (16)
Instant (7)
Artifact (9)
Sorcery (1)
Enchantment (4)
Sideboard
Instant (8)
Creature (6)
Planeswalker (1)
Video Deck Tech:
Here I explain the ins and outs of the deck, from where to acquire the cards to why their in the deck.
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Infinite Mill Win Vs Temur Flash
This opponent ran his Surrak Dragonclaw into my 5/5 Ensoul Artifact so I tutored up the missing combo pieces with Disciple of Deceit and got the combo win in the face of his flash creatures.
Infinite Mill Win Vs Esper Heroic
This match was interesting, it had some weakness that allowed my deck to get rolling in the face of what my opponent was able to present at each stage of the game.
After the match, I go on to talk about mtgotraders.com and how you can go there and get the cards I use in this deck for very cheap, cheaper than it says on the price estimator here on this site, minus the heavy hitter Mana Confluence which is optional along with Flooded Strand
Ensoul Vs Boss Sligh
Here is a match where I played against a garden variety red deck, and won the damage race with my Ensoul Artifact and had help Tutoring them up with Heliod's Pilgrim
Infinite Mill Win Vs Abzan Aggro
In this match I drew most of the combo pieces organically and had the combo assembled on turn 7.
Quick Ensoul Win
In this match, my opponent concedes after seeing Ornithopter get enchanted with Ensoul Artifact on turn 2 and swing 5 in the air.
Infinite Mill Win Vs Temur Monsters
This match came down to some decisive blocks I chose to make and I manage to get the combo win off on turn 9 at 1 life with a clutch Disciple of Deceit inspiration trigger to tutor the final piece.
Infinite Mill Win Vs Abzan Reanimator
This opponent takes forever to play some small green guys like Voyaging Satyr and Satyr Wayfinder eventually landing a Siege Rhino and then finally Hornet Queen
I play some timely Ensoul Artifacts to keep his Siege Rhino at bay along with an army of 1/1 green guys, I use many Disciple of Deceit triggers to find the combo pieces Ornithopter + Midnight Guard + Retraction Helix + Altar of the Brood and get the win with the combo.
Infinite Mill Win Vs Constellation
There was about 4 minutes of lag getting to turn 3... So I trimmed the video to start on turn three, it starts off with a Disciple of Deceit in play, and immediately goes into tutor mode, leading up to a combo win not long after I win with the combo on Turn 6.
Infinite Mill Vs Rogue Brew
This match-up was a little unorthodox in terms of what one would expect to see at any old FNM. I lose the first game but bring it back to win 2-1. Mostly off the back of Ensoul Artifact
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The Infinite Mill Combo in Standard:
Ornithopter The first piece of the combo, our repeatable 0 cost creature spell that trigger's our Midnight Guard into untapping while also triggering Altar of the Brood into milling our opponent.
Midnight Guard has had the word "COMBO" tattooed on his forehead ever since the card was printed back in Innistrad Block. Whether your enchanting him with Presence of Gond or still playing M15 Limited, the guard is on duty.
Retraction Helix is the real 'Combo' enabler. Once we have the necessary permanents in play, an Ornithopter a Midnight Guard and an Altar of the Brood the combo can 'Go Off' by casting the Retraction Helix and targeting the Midnight Guard so that it can tap to return Any non-land permanent to it's owner's hand. Tap and return your Ornithopter and recast Ornithopter for 0 which will trigger Midnight Guard to untap for seeing another creature enter the battlefield.. The Retraction Helix grants Midnight Guard the ability to tap and return a non-land perm to it's owner's hand, by untapping the guard I can tap him again and return another non-land perm. This creates an infinite loop of returning Ornithopter and recasting it for free. This of course doesn't win you the game alone, you need an Altar of the Brood to take advantage of this loop and beat your opponent.
Altar of the Brood This is the key to winning, once you have the infinite loop of recasting Ornithopter the Altar mills out your opponent.
Tutoring Up Combo Pieces:
Disciple of Deceit Now this is a spicy one, ever wish you could trade that Doom Blade for a Devour Flesh or a Naturalize for a Plummet your chance is here with Disciple of Deceit for the low low price of pitching away a useless card rotting in your hand for the exact answer you need at the corresponding cmc, now that's a bargain.
By design, the deck is set up to be transmutable in the sense that if you ever need that 1-drop Retraction Helix to Go Off, you can trade away that spare Springleaf Drum or extra copy of Altar of the Brood and Tutor up that Retraction Helix or let's say you only need to find a Midnight Guard and you will have all the pieces to Go Off next turn, pitch that Divination and find you some Midnight Guard. Or just hard cast Heliod's Pilgrim and Tutor up Ensoul Artifact the decks alternate win condition.
The Defaulternate Win Condition:
Ensoul Artifact With all the spare artifacts floating around like Springleaf Drum that has nothing better to do than tap your Disciple of Deceit to safely get the inspiration trigger, you might as well be bashing your opponents face for 5 with it by enchanting it with Ensoul Artifact.
A lot of games can be won off the back of a Turn 2 Ornithopter + Ensoul Artifact, as a result the deck gets a number of 'Free Wins' simply from that line of sequencing alone, similiar in the way that Thoughtseize + Pack Rat was almost a 'Free Win' when conditions were ideal.
As a result, the deck has an equal chance, if not better, of winning via damage from an Ensoul Artifact than it does winning by combo'ing off with the infinite mill combo. Because of this, it's only fair to refer to this 'Alternate' win condition as a Main Win Condtion or Default, ergo Defaulternate, as the majority of the deck is set up to facilitate winning via the Infinite Mill Combo, an early Ensoul Artifact can put games away quite handily.
"I was gonna mill you out, but your just dead to this Ensoul Artifact."
"I was gonna cast Gray Merchant of Asphodel, but your just dead to these rats."
Heliod's Pilgrim This aura fetching tutor is perfect for finding more copies of Ensoul Artifact our Defaulternate Win Condition, as well as sitting at a 3cmc which makes it perfect to pitch and find a missing Midnight Guard although going the Ensoul Artifact route is usually good insurance as the combo is inherently fragile to disruption.
Optimal Lines of Play:
The deck can combo off as early as Turn 3;
Turn One: Play Darksteel Citadel tap and cast Springleaf Drum, cast Ornithopter then tap drum and thopter to produce mana and cast Altar of the Brood.
Turn Two: Play Mana Confluence tap drum and thopter producing white, tap darktsteel citadel and mana confluence to cast Midnight Guard.
Turn Three: Play Island tap citadel confluence and island to cast Divination finding and casting Retraction Helix off thopter and drum, and go off.
This is under ideal conditions, our opponent is either on the draw, or unable to interact with our early creature/combo pieces, and we manage to draw exactly 3 lands and 4 combo pieces by Turn Three.
Still, the lines of play exist where you can 'Go Off' seemingly out of nowhere, most opponents won't be familiar with this version of "the combo deck" out there, as everyone is still clamoring about Jeskai Ascendancy in Modern and even Standard.
Additionally, the deck is capable of attaching Ensoul Artifact to a number of artifacts which allow it to swing for 5 on turn two.
Turn 1: Darksteel Citadel + Springleaf Drum + Ornithopter + Altar of the Brood. That's FOUR different artifacts on turn 1.
Turn 2: Island + Ensoul Artifact
Sideboard:
early testing showed that post-board games were actually quite difficult, depending on how game 1 went, our combo is either completely out of the bag or not even an option due to excess removal from our opponent.
That left us with the Ensoul Artifact to bring it home quite possibly two games in a row post-board. Thats some heavy lifting for a 2-drop.
To alleviate some of the strain of leaning on Ensoul Artifact as our sole alternate win-condition, I added a pair of Elspeth, Sun's Champion to the sideboard.
early test's with Elspeth have shown great results, backed up by 3x Negate and 3x Banishing Light Elspeth tends to perform above expectations.
4 copies of Nyx-Fleece Ram allows us to play a longer game of magic against Boss sligh style decks.
2 copies of Erase come in against any kind of Jeskai Ascendancy combo deck.
1 copy of Glare of Heresy because I literally can't stop naming things it hits. Siege Rhino Mantis Rider Jeskai Ascendancy Sorin, Solemn Visitor Elspeth, Sun's Champion Ajani, Mentor of Heroes Banishing Light Wingmate Roc Chained to the Rocks Suspension Field Anafenza, the Foremost Fleecemane Lion Seeker of the Way it seriously goes on like this.
In case you wanted to see how the Jeskai Ascendancy version of the combo works, here it is
Akroan Token Combo
Casual
SCORE: 25 | 18 COMMENTS | 8691 VIEWS | IN 15 FOLDERS
Formatted by Behgz
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 9 years |
| Last updated | 5 years |
| Legality | This deck is Casual legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 4 - 3 Mythic Rares 10 - 3 Rares 16 - 7 Uncommons 23 - 2 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 1.73 |
| Tokens | Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Soldier 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W |
| Folders | Interesting..., Likes, nice, Combos, Want to Build, Mid Range, Want to Build, Favorites, neat ideas, Deck Inspiration |
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