Welcome to Magical Christmas Land! Fresh and crispy multi-card Kraj combo's coming right up!
Experiment Kraj is a combo enabler in this deck. The combo usually has at least 3 parts:
1: Experiment Kraj (Quicksilver Elemental can also work)
2: A creature who can untap itself. Example: Horseshoe Crab
3: A creature who can tap to meet the requirements of 2. Example: Argothian Elder
Here's how it works. Since 1 has both abilities 2 and 3, it can tap and untap forever. If anything is leftover from 3, I now have as much of that as I want. This is usually followed up by +1/+1 counters from Experiment Kraj, but if there is any way to draw cards I can draw and cast my entire deck.
All told, when it works, these things happen ("X" means "any number of"):
1: Give X creatures X +1/+1 counters: Experiment Kraj
2: Destroy X artifacts or enchantments:
Wickerbough Elder
+ Devoted Druid
3: Gain control of X target creatures: Simic Manipulator
4: Exile X cards from X opponents' libraries, I may cast them: Knacksaw Clique
5: Win the game:
Laboratory Maniac
I would estimate about 90% of games I attempt to combo at least once, and multiple attempts is fairly commonplace as well. The earliest I have combo'd is turn 5, but around turns 6-8 are typical. Of course, if I have opponents, they probably don't want me to kill them. This usually makes things much more difficult, because they have things like sweepers and kill spells. Sweepers are the WORST.
I find that people don't understand what the important spells are when I play them. Often I will cast Pili-Pala to set up the win, and people say ok. Then I put a +1/+1 counter on it, and people say ok. Then I attempt to go infinite, and people say "hold on, path Kraj". I just respond by going infinite again, then making all my guys huge, then letting path resolve. If they had acted any sooner I would have been toast, but instead I have a very impressive board state left over. This type of play from opponents has taught me a couple things. Once I have a combo on board, I don't have to reveal that it is there right away. I can cast other spells from my hand before opponents know about the combo, like Gemstone Array or Zameck Guildmage. This gives me something else to do at instant speed in response to their removal spells. In particular, the draw effect will allow me to counter the removal spell as well. Another option I will consider is not comboing on my turn, but instead to doing it at instant speed at some later time. This can often help when I don't have a draw effect and my opponents have lots of blockers, and will really catch people off guard. Both of these are me playing sub-optimally as a win-more against sub-optimal play from opponents. As my play group gets more games in, I expect they will take to just killing Kraj as soon as they possibly can every time, with zero hesitation.
For the adventurous, there are lots of fringe combos that can work. I have actually won with Experiment Kraj + Devoted Druid + Gilder Bairn, despite them all being "Untap" enablers. Here is a list of some of my favorite combos that are off the beaten path:
Freed from the Real + Argothian Elder: Who needs Kraj for infinite mana! You're going to need something else to do with the mana though...
Devoted Druid +
Wickerbough Elder
+ Experiment Kraj: People play lots of artifacts and enchantments. Go ahead and smash all the things. Not an infinite combo though.
Experiment Kraj + Krosan Restorer +
Simic Growth Chamber
+ Pili-Pala: Yeah, that's a 4 card combo. Magical Christmas Land has no limits! Try with Temple of the False God. Does that count as an 8 card combo?
Wirewood Herald
+ Leech Bonder: People don't like to kill Wirewood Herald. Do it yourself, and fetch up the likes of Devoted Druid or Argothian Elder.
This space reserved for more interesting combos. 10 points to anyone who can tell me how many infinite combos there are total. Hint: It's a lot.
