Extreme Doubling Season Combos
The Ravnica: City of Guilds Prerelease begins, and the Magic players ecstatically break open their packs. A flurry of wrappers, intense reading, and squeals of glee ensue. This is the moment when a lucky few get to read, for the first time in person, Doubling Season.
Magic Gamer Psychology 101 states that everyone will have one of these three reactions:
- Timmy - "Math?!...so confusing...my brain hurts..."
- Spike - "Bah!" (* searches uncommons for Lightning Helix and Putrefy *)
- Johnny - "SEKKI BEATDOWN!!!"
But that's because it's just another bad Green rare, right?
There's a difference between bad Green rare Forgotten Harvest, bad Green rare Greater Good, and bad Green rare Tooth and Nail. So which one is it?
Let's start by reading the card.
A Friendly Reminder from the RTFC Police:
- Your Doubling Season only affects you. Not your opponents. Just your stuff. Not your opponent's stuff. Just your Umezawa's Jittes. Not their Jittes. Your Meloku. Not theirs.
- Moving counters from place to place doubles them. Power Conduit eats one counter and makes two. Spikes come into play twice as big and can get bigger.
- Doubling Season is Not-a-Combo with the Cumulative Upkeep ability, which uses age counters to count how much you upkeep have to pay.
- Multiple Doubling Seasons multiply; that is, two of them offer quadruple bonuses.
And that's Doubling Season. Got it?
So what can a Green mage possibly do with Doubling Season? Let's begin with my tried, tested, and tuned inspirational decklist:
As far as archetype classification, I would entitle this Mono-Green Mid-range. If "Mid-range" isn't an obvious or descriptive archetype to you, I offer my definition of Mid-range:
- Against Beatdown decks, a Mid-range deck uses mana acceleration to play its comparatively larger three and four mana creatures to block the outclassed Beatdown deck's creatures. This stymies the Beatdown deck long enough to reach the mid-game, where the Mid-range deck has enough defense to begin attacking into gang-blocks and chump-blocks to ultimately win. Mid-range destroys Beatdown.
- Against Control decks, a Mid-range deck has sizeable threats but is supremely outclassed in disruption. Mid-range's mana acceleration is likely a liability for dead draws. Mid-range is the underdog against Control.
- Against Combo decks, a Mid-range deck tries to accelerate into a fast clock but is usually lacking in adequate disruption. Mid-range loses to Combo.
Deck Breakdown
4x Mishra's Factory
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
4x Stalking Stones
4x Treetop Village
4x Mirrodin's Core
2x Forest
Wow, isn't that the face-smashingest mana base ever? That's sixteen manlands. Sixteen! That's enough creatures for a whole deck all by itself.
Mirrodin's Core is quite the underpowered Forest in a Mono-green deck, but every so often you'll have a Power Conduit with no ammo. This deck doesn't need green mana until turn 2, and only then for Wall Roots, and only then if you don't have Aether Vial - so plenty of colorless mana is very useful with all the artifacts and colorless activation costs this deck employs. In all honesty, it could use a couple more Forests over Stalking Stones, but color screwing is rare enough that when it does happen, I just smash with manlands instead.
Playing with sixteen manlands generates a large amount of raw card advantage. Once your hand is spent, there's still plenty of manlands for your opponent to deal with before you are truly out of gas. Even the nightmarish "Mutilate, Mind Sludge" sequence from Mono-Black Control still leaves four or so points of manland beatdown coming across each turn.
4x Aether Vial
Aether Vial makes creatures better - especially three-, four-, and five-mana creatures. Some reasons why creatures historically suck are:
- They are slow-cast spells (as in, "Sorcery-speed").
- They are the only permanent type that suffers from summoning sickness.
- The only creature ability that works on the stack is "This creature cannot be countered."
Many times in tournament Magic, you'll pay main phase mana for a creature, put it on the stack, put it into play, wait a full turn, attack with your creature, and stack combat damage. Should this combat damage resolve successfully, congratulations, your creature has made an impact on the game by decrementing a variable of your opponent's (his life total) rather than only decrementing variables of your own (cards in hand, available mana).
Aether Vial removes the "main phase," "mana," and "stack" costs from this equation, allowing you to do other things with your mana besides play the game's worst spell type. It gives you the power of Winding Canyons and Boseiju, Who Shelters All in a one-mana artifact - provided you wait a couple of turns before getting anything useful from it.
Here are some great homes for Aether Vial:
- Curving Creature decks - Goblins
- Aggro-Control strategies that require untapped mana during their opponent's turn - Fish
- Creatures at a heavily-concentrated mana cost above two - Crystal Witness
Many lists of Ravager Affinity also play Aether Vial, yet it doesn't fit into these categories. I call that archetype "extreme" beatdown. There it fixes colored mana issues, ups your Affinity count, dodges countermagic, and makes the deck "tricksy."
4x Power Conduit
Power Conduit gets most of its ammo from Wall of Roots, Aether Vial, and Mirrodin's Core. It can ramp up Aether Vial in the early game and set up Chalice of the Void in the mid-game. In the meantime, it's a cheap Dragon's Blood.
4x Chalice of the Void
Chalice of the Void is a strangely powerful card designed by Gary Wise. It represents the disruptive element of this deck. Try to Chalice for zero, one, or three. If you have a Power Conduit in play, you can safely Chalice for two without locking out your Power Conduits, which is your only way to break it.
You definitely don't want to Chalice for four without Aether Vial.
You can't move counters on and off Chalice of the Void with Power Conduit to actively counter spells; you have to pick a number and leave it there to counter them when they are played. This card has the random ability to completely lock your opponent out of the game gripping a handful of uncastables.
1x Umezawa's Jitte
This card's game text has been ingrained in every Beatdown player's skull against their will.
Attach Jitte to your Green creatures: start winning.
It's really that easy. Cheap, effective, repeatable creature kill is the most precious mechanic of all mechanics for a Green mage. Give a Green mage a gun and suddenly he fears nothing.
This card is similar in function and power level to Masticore. While Green decks were happy enough to play Masticore, now you can turn any old Elf into a new, upgraded Masticore (now with lifegain)!
4 Wall of Roots
A beautifully designed card, Wall of Roots is defense, acceleration, and a reservoir of Power Conduit ammo. A near-perfect fit.
4 Spike Feeder
3 Spike Weaver
Highly defensive and efficient, these Spikes saw as much tournament play in their day as Troll Ascetic and Ravenous Baloth did a year or so ago. There's a billion ways to Weaver lock your opponent (or opponents) in this deck, which some decks simply scoop to.
4 Forgotten Ancient
Forgotten Ancient is by far the deck's best creature, so move those +1/+1 counters somewhere else like a manland whenever possible.
2 Mindless Automaton
This janktastic artifact creature most certainly should have been reprinted in Mirrodin Block, probably next to all those Modular creatures.... But nope. We got Cathodion back instead.
1 Genesis
My unhealthy love for Genesis merits him one slot in every green deck I play. If you've never played with Genesis, he's kind of like Grave-Shell Scarab, except he's just green, you pay 2G instead of dredging, you can get back any guy you want, and you keep your draw step. Yes, Genesis makes Grave-Shell Scarab look terrible.
3 Triskelion
Triskelion is creature removal and a finisher, making it the best place to pile all your +1/+1 counters. A very large Triskelion is a potent political tool in Multiplayer.
1 Pentavus
The top of the curve, and thematic flier defense. Pentavus is the good version of Thopter Squadron and the bad version of Meloku the Clouded Mirror.
3 Doubling Season
Would you believe, fellow casual player, that I built, played, and tuned this deck far before Doubling Season was even printed? Here's the secret: it's really a Power Conduit deck from Mirrodin.
While it may look like I simply read Saturday School for casual tech, the truth is the deck was left completely unchanged until Doubling Season was printed. It started with Mirrodin's Power Conduits, Triskelions, Pentavus, and Chalices of the Void. Darksteel added the powerful Aether Vial and Blinkmoth Nexus. Some time passed, then Betrayers of Kamigawa brought the infamous Umezawa's Jitte.
Then some crazy member of R&D decided his Power Conduit deck just wasn't good enough, so he made himself a present. He made Doubling Season.
And the peasants rejoiced.
I couldn't believe by eyes. I (and many others, I'm sure) had made a whole freaking deck that combos with Doubling Season a year before it was printed. Every card in the deck can in some way, shape, or form benefit from Doubling Season. Every card! Well, technically, Wall of Roots doesn't combo with Doubling Season... But it does, in a craptacular way.
As a demonstration of this deck's improvement after adding Doubling Season, let's say I have a Spike Feeder (2/2), two Forgotten Ancients (0/3), six lands, and a Doubling Season in play.
How's this for synergy?
- At the end of your turn, I pay six mana to move three Spike Feeder counters onto itself.
- At the beginning of my upkeep, I pay six mana to move three Spike Feeder counters to my Forgotten Ancient.
- I resolve Forgotten Ancient's triggered ability, moving his +1/+1 counters onto my other Forgotten Ancient.
- I resolve my other Forgotten Ancient's triggered ability and move his +1/+1 counters onto my Spike Feeder.
- I attack with my 26/26 Spike Feeder.
If you missed the math, that's 3 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 24. I created three +1/+1 counters on my Spike Feeder, and by the time those three counters came back around, it became 24 counters.
Of course, it gets SEA-ZEN-tional with multiple Doubling Seasons in play! Re-VIAL-till-MIZE-ing!
But wait, here's more Extreme Doubling Season Combos!
I'll play Mindless Automaton. He comes into play as a 4/4. I'll pay one and pitch a land, he's a 6/6. I'll draw a card, he's a 4/4. Wow, I'm cycling through my deck like a madman. I could kill you Mongrel-style if I wanted to...
End of turn Vial out a 7/7 Triskelion. Attack. No blocks? Okay, take seven. Shoot your Akroma, Angel of Wrath.
Pentavus. 10/10. Pay 1, make two 1/1 fliers. Pay one, sac one flyer, Pentavus is 11/11. Think you can keep up, Meloku?
Deletions
Here are some other cards that had potential but got cut for one reason or another:
1x Arcbound Reclaimer (replaced by Genesis)
A thematic way to regrow Power Conduits, Chalices of the Void, and artifact men. Slowly. The only thing I ever wanted back was Triskelion, and Genesis does that while being bigger and producing real card advantage. I can also just pitch Genesis to the Mindless Automaton.
1x Altar of Shadows (replaced by Umezawa's Jitte)
In case you've already forgotten what Umezawa's Jitte does, remember that repeatable creature kill is almost nonexistent if you're a green mage (we've got Shinen of Life's Roar and Contested Cliffs). This card represents just how scarce this mechanic is and shows to what lengths a green mage may go to for such an effect.
Altar of Shadows fits loosely into the deck "lock" parts in that an active Altar of Shadows locks big creature decks, Spike Weaver creates a Fog lock, and Chalice of the Void skillfully set locks out your opponent's key spells.
1x Orochi Hatchery
While this card quadruples in power from Doubling Season, it's not what the deck needs. This deck has plenty of beatdown, a finisher with Triskelion, and repeatable effects and mana sinks through Power Conduit and manlands. It's better to invest in an Altar of Shadows to shore up a real weakness.
1x Engineered Explosives
Since this is a Mono-green deck, you need Mirrodin's Core and/or Power Conduit to get to a useful range of counters on the Explosives. The colorless lands help you dodge your own Chalices (you can pay 1G for an Engineered Explosives so it dodges Chalice for one, yet hits the table with one charge counter). This card is an attempt to play thematic artifact and enchantment removal, but all I found it truly useful for is blowing up hordes of token creatures or an army of huge, flying, untargetable, two-drop Slivers.
Truth be told, this deck only messes with the charge and +1/+1 counter side of Doubling Season. There's an entire second ability that combos with creature token generators like Spike Breeder, Verdant Force, and the entire G/W Selesnya Guild.
Just to be thorough, I present to you even more Extreme Doubling Season Combos:
The Craptactularest Doubling Season Combo
I'll play a 9/9 Aboroth. At the beginning of my upkeep, Aboroth gets two age counters and four -1/-1 counters. Swing with my 5/5 Aboroth. Next turn, he has four age counters and eight more -1/-1 counters, totaling -12/-12. My Aboroth dies.
You aren't going to get much done with Aboroth because Doubling Season quadruples his drawback. In fact, you aren't going to get much done with Aboroth, period. Aboroth was created during an era when large Green creatures were terrible. The design philosophy at the time stated that summoners of large green creatures would suffer horrible tempo loses to creature removal, countermagic, and bounce, but be rewarded against gangblocks and red mages. These were the times when Green was laughed at by tournament players because "There are only four colors in Magic." You can relive these moments by playing the Aboroth + Doubling Season Combo versus a goldfish.
Or, you can fast-forward to the present where Green can be a force of reckoning. And a lot more fun.
The Coolest Doubling Season Combo
I have Doubling Season in play. I play Soul Foundry, imprinting Deranged Hermit. I'll activate Soul Foundry. Each turn...
...because Saprolings just aren't cool enough.
There's a large gradient of combos in between, including Blastoderm, Vinelasher Kudzu, Magistrate's Scepter, and Beacon of Creation. There are too many green cards that combo with Doubling Season in one way or another to list them all here.
So what are you waiting for? Make a deck!
But whatever you do, don't make these next couple decks...
The Meanest Doubling Season Combo
Arcbound Ravager.
Now, all this Green casual Doubling Season deck-building combo stuff is for fun and enjoyment. If, instead, you really want to be mean, you can summon Arcbound Ravager with a Doubling Season in play. Got four artifacts and another artifact creature? That's twenty +1/+1 counters at your command for no additional mana. What's that? You have an additional Doubling Season in play? Well, in these circumstances you get eighty +1/+1 counters.
The Noninteractive Doubling Season Combo
Darksteel Reactor. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. I win.
I have casual decks that I've built, played, and tuned for a number of themes. One theme includes Alternate Win Conditions. Almost all of them. I thought for sure that this deck would be the Darksteel Reactor deck, but I've changed my mind. While theoretically sound, Darksteel Reactor just doesn't do anything, nor is it very fun.
My Mortal Combat deck is fun because I have to spill tons of Cephalids into my graveyard without decking or dying in the process. My Test of Endurance/Epic Struggle deck is criminally underpowered, but at least its cards rapidly change zones. My Chance Encounter deck is fun because of all the randomness, and also because it plays four of the most thrilling spell in Magic - a Fiery Gambit when you win all three flips.
Suffice it to say, when every card in the deck is calibrated for player interaction and the combat phase, yet there's one card in the deck that isn't but still included for a thematic reason, sometimes you have to let a little love die and cut the Darksteel Reactor. While it's only about ten turns to win the game, I used it more for free Power Conduit ammo than for its coveted conditional triggered ability. Ten turns should be plenty of time to kill someone, don't you think?
And of course, there's the best card of the cycle, Battle of Wits. Battle of Wits, in my opinion, is a fantastic reprint for Standard. The Wizards marketing and sales department make a killing; the casual players love playing with it; and should Battle of Wits turn out to be the statistical best deck in any format, Spike players will have to pay a Top 8 finish in prize money just to acquire the cards to compete. Everybody wins.
In all honesty, Battle of Wits is a very powerful, noninteractive win condition. It happens to be my best deck in Two-Headed Giant Standard. In that format, Battle of Wits has plenty of time to find and protect its fast win condition, especially with aid from a MonoBlue Control deck. It makes me wonder if it could be good enough to compete with the infinitely-less fun sixty-card decks. Battle of Wits doesn't have issues with the impossible, only the improbable.
Just think of it: A format dominated by Battle of Wits. Blue would finally be the best color in a sanctioned tournament format! The best win condition would be a five-mana Blue card. The DCI would need to breed and train shuffle monkeys to prevent pros from breaking their wrists during the Pro Tour. The only people that could afford to play the format competitively would be NFL players, the Sultan of Brunei, and Pete Hoefling.
In short? A Magic Utopia. All because of a single five-mana Blue Rare that says, "you win the game."
Why can't they ever make five-mana Green rares like that?
Kenneth Nagle
NorrYtt
Casual Green Mage Extraordinaire
NorrYtt@gmail.com
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