A short history on this deck, I started formulating the idea back in 2017 when Hour of Devastation came out. I overheard some people talking about infinite combo potential with
Steward of Solidarity
, and reaching into my card collection, I stumbled across my old
Intruder Alarm
s, and began piecing together a deck. The original list was a Jeskai build that was unreliable and ran cards like
Mass Hysteria
and
Krenko, Mob Boss
, but it performed horribly and was susceptible to a lot of other deck lists.
Now, while this deck is still a work-in-progress, it's much more reliable and can go off on Turn 3 if you've got the perfect setup. I'm still looking for optimal ways to snag combo pieces (like with
Tolaria West
and other tutors), protect my combo pieces, and to survive into a later game, but its overall chances have been pretty good so far despite what it lacks. Feedback is appreciated, as always.
THE STRATEGY
The deck has several win conditions that revolve around its staple,
Intruder Alarm
, though it can scrape together a recovery and/or a win without needing it. All of these combos seek to go off on Turn 3 at the earliest.
The first setup is the simple combo of Intruder Alarm + Steward of Solidarity
, creating an army of tokens to beat down your opponent in the next turn. The combo is rather self explanatory, with Steward creating a token, Alarm triggers and untaps Steward, rinse, repeat.
The second setup requires a little more cards, utilizing Forbidden Orchard + Intruder Alarm + Wind Zendikon
and
Trespasser's Curse
. First, you'll want Curse on your opponent, with Alarm in play, and then you can enchant Orchard with Zendikon, allowing you to tap Orchard and give your opponent a token, which drains them, and then Alarm triggers and untaps Orchard, since Zendikon turns it into a creature. Rinse and repeat.
If you don't have
Trespasser's Curse
, you can alternatively generate infinite mana with Forbidden Orchard + Intruder Alarm + Wind Zendikon
and then cast
Blue Sun's Zenith
, forcing your opponent to draw their whole deck. You can also use this to net yourself any number of cards so you can assemble the combo above instead.
If your combos fail to come together, you can still stand a fighting chance most of the time with the life gain through
Soul Warden
and
Soul's Attendant
, and beat down with
Sun Titan
.
THE CARDS
-
Intruder Alarm
,
Steward of Solidarity
,
Trespasser's Curse
,
Forbidden Orchard
,
Wind Zendikon
, and
Blue Sun's Zenith
are all combo pieces and each have their extra benefits, such as Alarm's ability to act as a pseudo-prison, Steward providing with chump blockers and life gain, Orchard's mana fixing, and so on.
-
Zur the Enchanter
can fish out enchantments for you, which can be essential in a quick combo assembly in the later game. If he survives, his chip damage and ability to fetch further enchantments to assist is extremely useful.
-
Soul Warden
and
Soul's Attendant
are life gain engines, and in addition to
Trespasser's Curse
, they make it so
Forbidden Orchard
will never betray you. Also punishes Burn decks severely when you can gain 4 life in a turn just by tapping a land.
-
Sun Titan
can revive a deceased combo piece, or pretty much any permanent in the deck other than Zur and itself. It's also a hefty beat stick if it survives past the turn it comes out, and its ability to net additional cards from the graveyard can save you outright.
-
Gifts Ungiven
is a useful tutor, as the deck is full of diverse combo potential, rarely ever do you end up with a situation where your picks are useless.
-
Hall of Heliod's Generosity
saves enchantments, and it can go really well in tandem with
Gifts Ungiven
.
-
Ghostly Prison
is a good prison alternative if
Intruder Alarm
isn't working out for you.
-
Oblivion Ring
for easy removal, plus can be fetched with Zur.
-
Apostle's Blessing
provides you with a quick and easy save on a creature. Nice!
-
Serum Visions
for card draw.
-
Mana Leak
counters.
- "I sac
Expedition Map
, get
Forbidden Orchard
, and play it as my land for the turn."
THE MAYBES
-
Drift of Phantasms
I could see being added over Zur or even
Expedition Map
, with the Transmute being able to fetch
Intruder Alarm
instantly.
-
Idyllic Tutor
is obviously guaranteed enchantment tutoring, but it's debatable how good it would be in the deck as the enchantment still has to be cast, leaving it vulnerable to a counter, whereas
Zur the Enchanter
can bring the enchantment directly into play, given that he survives long enough to attack. This one is a tough call, and the two cards could potentially be played in tandem.
-
Thraben Doomsayer
is run by several other Intruder Alarm combo lists, and it functions similarly to
Steward of Solidarity
and would make for an additional combo piece in the deck, but its 3 CMC seems like a pretty hefty penalty to take. I could see two in the deck at most.
-
Remand
over
Mana Leak
?
-
Altar of the Brood
for a mill wincon?
Additionally, I still need to acquire an appropriate land base with
Flooded Strand
and
Hallowed Fountain
, and a single
Tolaria West
seems like a must-have over
Expedition Map
, while an extra
Supreme Verdict
in the sideboard is necessary.
