Check out the deck
As far as I’m concerned creature-based combo decks promote fantastic games of Magic – they can be interacted with through removal, discard, counterspells, and hate cards. They can usually play fair, longer games by engaging in combat. Be careful though – one blink and you can die to their combo seemingly out of nowhere. We’ve had many of such decks over the years and currently there is one that has recently won a Modern Challenge – GB Yawgmoth.
It might as well be called Tutor-Undying tribal as these are the core mechanics of the deck. It utilises 8 tutor effects in the form of Eldritch Evolution and Chord of Calling. It helps immensely to find the correct combo pieces at the correct time. Now, what are these pieces?
The deck plays 12 creatures with the Undying mechanic. It basically means that if the creature dies, it comes back with a +1/+1 counter. In the deck you can see some cards which are pretty weak on the surface – Geralf’s Messanger, Young Wolf, and Strangleroot Geist.
Why would you go through the hassle of playing tutors and individually average cards? To kill your opponent when they are unprepared! Here comes the namesake – Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. He sacrifices a creature to put a -1/-1 counter on a creature and draw a card. With 2 creatures with undying you can perform the loop of:
- Sac an Undying creature, it combines with a counter, draw a card.
- Sac the other Undying creature and put a -1/-1 counter on the first creature, draw a card.
- Sac the first creature and put the counter on the second creature.
This way you’re shuffling between two undying creatures and minus/plus counters. However, each iteration costs you one life. If one of those creatures is Geralf’s Messenger, your opponent will lose 2 life per loop – if your lifetotal is higher, they die.
What if your life is lower? Some one-ofs come to rescue – Zulaport Cutthroat and Prosperous Innkeeper.
Recently, the deck has also got a powerful walker in Grist, the Hunger Tide. With so many mana dorks in the deck, it will easily come down as soon as turn 2. What it does is provide bodies to be sacrificed and a removal spell on a stick.
This excellent creature combo deck can be deadly. Mass removal spell? Sacrifice the whole board, draw 5 and untap. It can also block ad nauseam with its undying creatures. It certainly is a force to be reckoned with!
