Meta Banning - Infinite
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on May 4, 2015, 2:54 p.m. by Karns_Pyromancer
What are some of the most broken and cheap infinite combos that your meta frowns on?
For my meta, it's Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond
Combos that shouldn't be suggested here are things like Enter the Infinite + Omniscience . Sure, it's a great combo, but it's too expensive both in money and casting cost to be added to this list.
ThisIsBullshit says... #3
Deadeye Navigator and anything that provides infinite mana technically isn't banned in my playgroup but almost everybody hates it for some reason.
May 4, 2015 3 p.m.
It's very good on its own but becomes exponentially better with a Seedborn Muse or Prophet of Kruphix on the field. Even without infinite mana you could blink, say, Terastodon 8-10 times a turn in any Bant EDH.
I personally dislike Nevinyrral's Disk + Darksteel Forge + Mycosynth Lattice . It's very easy to pull off in Sharuum the Hegemon, Arcum Dagsson, etc.. If you don't have the ability to exile artifacts you basically lose.
May 4, 2015 3:43 p.m.
For paid commander games, our LGS has banned infinite combos. Anything that would go infinite can only be done three times. It gets confusing sometimes when you really want to get the most value you can out of a combo that can only be done 3 times, but it awards those who plan ahead. Straight up banned Purphoros, God of the Forge too, just because of the sheer value you get out of him in a large group setting. Same with Felidar Sovereign etc
we play at my house the rest of the time, where combos are allowed and 10 poison counters lose you the game (although I don't play commander damage). if someone is playing the same combo every game and it drains all the fun, gtfo
May 4, 2015 5:11 p.m.
jandrobard says... #8
Anything involving Deadeye Navigator is automatically classified as obnoxious in my book. The card is a powerhouse that basically combos with everything.
May 4, 2015 5:11 p.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #9
My favorite (and only) Deadeye Navigator combo is with Riftsweeper.
May 4, 2015 5:36 p.m.
Megalomania says... #12
IMO, there's nothing wrong with going infinite. It pushes everyone to anticipate and prepare for contingencies instead of just being reactive to the board state.
As far which combos are broken, Palinchron and Hermit Druid-based combos are pretty degenerate.
May 4, 2015 6:38 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #13
Somebody tried to play Hermit druid in our playgroup once. We shamed him so hard he never did it again.
May 4, 2015 6:47 p.m.
Megalomania says... #14
And that's exactly what non-combo decks should do. Ganging up on an "overpowered" deck sounds a lot more fair than simply banning it from being played. It pushes everyone to improve their decks and keeps everyone from whining.
May 4, 2015 8:51 p.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #15
There's nothing wrong with comboing out, I just want to know what people deem "off limits" as a general guideline.
For instance, would Athreos, God of Passage + Grave Pact + Tainted AEther /Gray Merchant of Asphodel be acceptable in your meta?
May 5, 2015 11:30 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #16
Orrrrrr we could just build our decks to not lose to a certain type of deck. That said, I'd say that the RC needs to really reevaluate the banlist as there are a handful of cards that should probably be banned/unbanned.
May 5, 2015 1:28 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #17
I'm going to have to disagree that Omniscience and Enter the Infinite is too expensive of a combo. First off, ETI is not that expensive of a card at all, and Omni is reasonable enough for most EDH players, and part of what makes the combo so good is that you only have to cast half of the combo, or use some tricky method to get out Omni (you should see Academy Rector).
As far as infinite combos go, they're not as broken as some of the things you could potentially see in EDH. I play a lot of MTGO, and I run a deck with the SB+EB infinite combo in it, although I've never actually won with it in game, but either piece in the combo have contributed to some epic victories. We're talking about EDH here, the format where I've seen Primal Surge dump peoples' decks onto the battlefield to win with Laboratory Maniac, or Armageddon followed by Faith's Reward. Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood are only frowned upon by people because they haven't yet seen the kind of madness that EDH is capable of.
May 5, 2015 2:59 p.m.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #18
@Fleetwood-Mat, firstly, I agree wholeheartedly that banning a combo is poor form.
However, I do believe that some combos are poor form as well (Altar of the Brood + Phyrexian Metamorph + Sharuum the Hegemon /Disciple of the Vault for instance). Combos that make the game, which is firstly a casual format, unfun for others are often frowned on by metas. I said my meta banned the Blood Bond combo, we didn't ban the cards though, just having them out at the same time. We did this because we felt that there are more creative combos (like Primal Surge into Laboratory Maniac) that we'd like to push for.
Also, I pretty much taught everyone in my meta how to play, so-while they aren't inexperienced-I'm prodding them to experiment a bit more.
May 5, 2015 3:27 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #19
Yeah, if it's obvious that every game the same three people are going for the same three combos, the games DO get a little stale. My brother often goes for Academy Rector in our games to get an early Omniscience, so often times the game doesn't really start until someone has exiled the Rector. It just sucks when there's a new person playing and they don't listen to our advice to stop those instant win situations. My deck can be pretty brutal for other people too. Check out my Cruel Council of Maralen deck and just look at how many crazy combos are in that deck. Like I said, Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond combo are in there, but that combo looks tame compared to some of the other stuff that deck does to you.
May 5, 2015 3:43 p.m.
Megalomania says... #20
Karns_Pyromancer, Any combo is acceptable in my playgroup as long as the deck subscribes to the ban list. We have a guy that plays control and a control heavy Jhoira of the Ghitu in the group not to mention a large number of removal in other decks so resolving combos are never as simple as drawing and playing them.
EDH is a casual format until someone commits to start constructing powered decks. Choosing to keep decks dumbed down regardless of the archetype just seems to go against the essence of deckbuilding.
May 5, 2015 6:57 p.m.
readerrw07 says... #21
I personally dislike any combo or win-con that uses two cards or less. I've never really considered banning any of them, though I wish Deadeye Navigator would get banned because, imo, its a card as deserving of a ban as many cards that are currently banned (still undecided on Infinite Token Goblin). In my local store infinite combos lose you points in the league. I think its -2 points before turn 5 and -1 after turn 5 (or is it +1 after turn 5 I dont remember). Anyway, comboing out early loses you points, and that leads, most times, to interesting pods as long as someone isnt playing an oppressive control deck (whole other rant there). Combos are a thing that wont go away, and arent always bad, as long as they arent the only win cons you have
ducttapedeckbox says... #2
Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron . Or just Palinchron by himself when you have the right lands.
May 4, 2015 2:58 p.m.