Archon's Glory

Instant

Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment or token as you cast this spell.)

Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. If this spell was bargained, that creature also gains flying and lifelink until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (4)

SaberTech on What exactly is the hard …

7 months ago

As someone who runs Volcano Hellion combos in one of my bracket 3 decks, I do think that comboing off like that on turn 3 goes against the spirit of the play experience that Bracket 3 tries to foster. This is just my interpretation, but I was under the impression that Bracket 3 was more about encouraging medium-speed games where people are setting up and making their initial swings at each other before the real haymakers begin to land starting with turn 6. Even if you can get your expensive combos out earlier thanks to ramp, waiting until turn 6 to complete a combo is more in spirit with what bracket 3 is attempting to achieve.

That being said, Commander damage takes a lot of the sting out of life gain combos since any commander that can deal at least 1 combat damage is a way of taking a player down regardless of their life total. That player going off with Volcano Hellion on turn 3 could arguably be doing the other players a favour since it makes it clear to the other players that many turns sooner that they need to team up to make sure the Hellion player goes down to either commander damage or another combo first.

If a turn 3 Volcano Hellion combo is followed up with something that uses life as a resource though, like NecropotenceGC, then I think that's a bit unfair for bracket 3.

As for Archon's Glory's bargain cost making it a three card combo instead of just two, I think that's a technicality that's trying to skirt the rules a bit. The idea behind a combo requiring three specific cards is that it mathematically reduces the chances of getting all the pieces before turn 6. It also makes the combo easier to identify and disrupt if the pieces of the combo need to be played across two or more turns. A three-card combo would generally take more mana and turns to play out. Saying that Archon's Glory requires two resources total (the spell and a permanent that you can sacrifice to bargain) to give lifelink is technically true but since the sacrificed permanent could be a wide variety of things it isn't quite in line with what the allowance of three-card combos is trying to achieve.

clayperce on What exactly is the hard …

7 months ago

Short story: I use Commander's Spellbook as a "neutral arbiter" on combos, and they would call this a 2-card infinite combo with a notable prerequiste. Since the combo requires a 4 drop and 1-drop on the same turn, it's obviously castable on Turn 5 in any deck, and earlier in any deck with a reasonable amount of Ramp. So for me, this combo belongs in a Bracket 4 deck ... and if the deck isn't otherwise strong enough to play on those tables, I'd pull it out of the deck.

A few more points, in no particular order ...

• Commander Spellbook unfortunately doesn't list any combos for Archon's Glory, but here are other 2-card combos that require an artifact as a notable prerequisite, and here's one with a Bargain mechanic, just like Archon's Glory.
• From a Comprehensive Rules and Tournament Rules standpoint there isn't actually an "infinite" anything in Magic, just an arbitrarily large number of iterations of a loop ... and 1 trillion obviously counts for that! :-D
• From a Bracket 3 standpoint, it's important to remember the line is drawn at "No 2-Card Combos (before turn 6) - Game-enders, lockouts, or infinites". So a combo doesn't have to be both game-ending and infinite ... infinite alone is enough to bump the deck up a bracket.
• I totally understand where your opponent was coming from though ... I once tried to argue a very similar issue myself. I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it; I was just honestly convinced Warren Soultrader + Gravecrawler wasn't a 2-card combo, because it didn't actually do anything ... sure I could loop the Gravecrawler an arbitrarily large number of times, but it needs a third card (e.g., a Blood Artist or Impact Tremors or whatever) to end the game. I was wrong though, and I now think of it like this: Soultrader + Gravecrawler is a 2-card infinite combo, and Soultrader + Gravecrawler + Blood Artist is a 3-card infinite and game-ender combo.

Good luck in your future games with this opp; cheers!

legendofa on What exactly is the hard …

7 months ago

For the Archon's Glory combo, I'm going agree with your opponent and the bystander. As I understand, ramp shouldn't be included in the turn calculation. The intent is to prevent Tainted Pact + Thassa's OracleGC, Helm of Obedience + Leyline of the Void , that sort of combo, where the cards can be played on a normal curve and lead directly to a kill effect before turn 6. There are ways to drag someone down from a trillion life, or just bypass life totals, so I don't consider that a lockout (but I might concede if someone did that, depending on the matchup).

But I would not consider Sol Ring as part of the combo, because it's such a loose requirement. I'd compare it to something like Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar. Technically, you need a third effect and another Zombie for this to mean anything. But that's so easy to get to, it doesn't even really need a dedicated deck. Yes, you need a token, enchantment, or artifact to sacrifice, but that can happen incidentally during normal play. If a combo needs a third card, but that card can be any (insert category here) or a basic land, it shouldn't count toward the combo requirements.

Ultimately, my call is that this was a lucky play with a combo that's legal in Bracket 3.

StopShot on What exactly is the hard …

7 months ago

Disclaimer: (This is not a "who-is-the-antagonist" post. This matter has already long been resolved respectfully with an in-game vote. This example is given to point out potential gray-areas over what defines a 2-card combo with the intent to invite thought and discussion on what the nitty-gritty details and restrictions should entail when deck-building combos under the bracket system.)

The other day my playgroup had a bracket 3 match that caused an argument over what constitutes a 2-card combo over a play one of my opponents made. Bracket 3 officially states that there are:

No 2-card combos (before turn 6)

[Combos are] game-enders, lockouts, or infinites

In the game my opponent played a turn 1 Enlightened TutorGC to fetch a Sol Ring, turn 2 played the Sol Ring, and on turn 3 played a Volcano Hellion having it deal 1 trillion damage to itself, but with its ETB ability on the stack they casted Archon's Glory bargaining the Sol Ring to give the Volcano Hellion lifelink which would result in my opponent gaining 1 trillion life by turn 3.

The playgroup insists the play is a 2-card combo that violates the spirit of bracket 3, because:

• The combo was pulled off by turn 3 and not turn 6 or later.
• The combo is a 2-card combo and not a 3-card combo as any sacrificed permanent required to bargain Archon's Glory shouldn't count in a mana-rock heavy format.
• The infinite life gain counts as a lockout since some decks would be unable to realistically break the lock via commander damage.

My opponent and a bystander watching the game argue the play fits within the confines of bracket 3, but for different reasons from each other:

• Ramp and Sol Ring shouldn't be factored in on how early a 2-card combo can occur when deck-building combos, otherwise ramp should count as an extra card in the combo making it a 3-card combo as the ramp was necessary for pulling off the combo early.
• If there had not been any ramping the combo would have occurred by turn 5 at the earliest with no means to win until turn 6 or after.
• The card bargained with Archon's Glory should count as card 3 as it was necessary to pull off the combo which is why they're running Archon's Glory over a card like Swift Justice.
• It doesn't fit the bracket definition of a combo as it's not a game-ender because it doesn't end the game, it's not an infinite because it's a one-time effect that is not loopable by itself, and it's not a lockout because it doesn't impede the functions of anyone's deck and players can still cast spells and attack no differently than before.

There was also discussion if bargaining a token for Archon's Glory would have still made it a 3-card combo if they had sacrificed a treasure token instead of a mana-rock. This further begged the question if and when any card should be counted as being a part of a combo like in the combo Flameshadow Conjuring + Felidar Guardian + Mountain. (The Felidar Guardian always blinks the Mountain effectively untapping it so you can always pay the Flameshadow Conjuring's triggered ability while the hasty token blinks the original Felidar Guardian to restart the loop.) Since the basic land is necessary for the combo, would a basic Mountain count as card 3 of the combo or does it go against the spirit of the 2-card combo rule? Molten Echoes + Felidar Guardian isn't allowed in comparison as it's a 2-card combo that doesn't require blinking a mana source to generate infinite hasty tokens, yet that combo is no less difficult to pull off than the Flameshadow Conjuring variation.

How would you best define what is or is not a 2-card combo before turn 6?