"politely" is the key here 😂 What I was missing was "how can you pay the red pip of the dragon's ability" until I remembered that the cauldron lets you pay mana of any color
And this is another astonishingly cunning build from the wizard from Belgium. His kingdom has quite a reputation in brewing and he surely knows how to brew, beers i don't know but decks, definitly.
Geez, match 1 though. I would have quit so long before the end, just knowing I had absolutely lost, and yet LVD finds the win. That is the content I'm here for. LVD, you are just the best.
Yeah he could've. Would've been more mana efficient that way and provided a better outcome, although to be fair it's not like he needed much help winning that match, lol
32:20 Not that it mattered in the end but I think you could have untapped the 6/6 Sleep Cursed Faerie to eat the 4/4 attacker here for free. Really enjoyed the video and deck though, keep up the great work! 😊
I made a simic brew focused on the combo, and I was pretty impressed with it. Crazy that some people took the combo to the World's championship. I'm excited to see how the mono blue version taking advantage of surge engine performs.
At 32:40 the more straightforward win would be to exile Surge Engine with Cauldron, so you can make two of your creatures unblockable with Surge Engine's first ability.
Currently other MTGA content creators busy on copying and playing and discussing about worlds championship tournament and top 8 decks......... Meanwhile LVD making a never b4 seen Mono Blue Combo deck. One of the best brew ive ever seen. LOL LVD is the best! No drama, no flowering words, no face on screen (which is blocking the screen, and annoying! at least for me. since i want to watch the game , not to watch someone's face lol)
LVD is my favorite creator by far and he's a fantastic brewer, but this deck isn't his. It was used by 3 players at the world championship. There was also a simic version that almost made it into the top 8. Luca may have come up with this version, but it's unlikely because the lists are almost identical and this combo has been talked about quite a bit. Just clarifying.
Yeah, I love that he plays some of these jank decks once in a while, they're so fun. Of note, this type of deck also works very well in Sultai (Blue/Black/Green) because it gives you access to stuff like Deathbloom Ritualist which can tap for a ton of mana, Goyf/Stickfingers to get creatures in the yard more easily and Tyvar to let you pull off the combo the turn you get a creature on the board. Also, y'know, removal to slow your opponent down.
@@Uberriffic. Definitely not jank. This deck performed very well in the world championship, it's a legitimate combo deck. The sultai deck you described is something else entirely. LVD has played similar decks in recent times, in case you want to check them out.
@@spemtjin 9th place was Alexey Paulot and his deck was simic cauldron, which is a very different list. Philippe Gareau did end up in 20th place with this monoblue version though, and managed to win matches against very strong decks like domain ramp, golgari and esper midrange.
This deck is powerful because 1) at low mana this deck functions as a toolbox, and 2) the combo pieces are creatures that you can play as chump-blockers because you want them in the graveyard anyways.
So a slight correction and some more jank you may want to explore, if you use Rona's (or any other creature's) transform ability on *most* creatures, it won't do anything. If you were to use it on something like, oh I don't know, an Enduring Angel? Or an Elesh Norn? Something that has a transformed side, then it would actually flip to its backside without needing to meet its conditions. Or its front side, in the case of stuff like sagas that turn into creatures. Shame Fable of the Mirror Breaker is banned. So if you figure out a way to do that consistently, please do make a video on it. I'm sure some people would flip (hehe) when they learn of the interaction.
Aha, I knew Hypnotic Grifter's day to shine would come! I totally wasn't just hoarding every card I open in draft in a shoebox in my bedroom, no siree...
In Match 5, turn three, didn't you already have the chance to have infinite mana? After the first connive, when you drew the land, you still had one blue in the pool for abilities and enough normal mana for the cauldron to exile the sleep-cursed, put the 1/1 counter on the Hawker and then go off from there?
I don't have the Training Grounds, so it's time for Agatha of the Vile to shine in a horribly convoluted build!! Yay! At least I'll have Royal Treatment as protection...
I can confirm: Agata + Surge Engine quickly becomes ridiculous :) I'm not even playing the infinite mana combo, I never can assemble it before winning (or losing...) I'm playing a toolbox build, with Fauna Shaman as discard+tutoring and I can include All-Absurd-Stars like Goro-Goro or Zopandrel, lol Janky but funny... still playing with the cards, the options are endless
At about 25 minutes you mention nothing happening when you transform with rona, but I'll note some budget-ish beatdown focused versions of this use Delver of secrets in place of sleep cursed fae and you can actually transform deliver with Rona's ability to get a three power flyer without waiting on the luck of your reveals
21:50 if you put the omen hawker ability onto the grifter you can save it! it's taking 3 damage and you can give it 3 toughness by tapping it for 2 ability mana, conniving twice, and then have the +1/+1 from the cauldron! do you think this would've been better than looting with rona? curious to hear your thoughts, only seen this at worlds and i'm looking to pilot the deck lol
NEVERMIND i missed that the grifter had summoning sickness so it couldn't tap for mana lol, if it didn't have summoning sickness would this have been a better line?
Game 4 makes me want to see if there's a less combo-oriented version of this deck that plays a stompy midrange game and cuts some combo pieces, probably including Grifter and Hawker. I don't know what you do when you don't draw Training Grounds in that version of the deck though. Probably wants at least one other color, and I don't know which. Cauldron seems like a strong synergy piece, but not a key card for that version.
I love how much instant speed action and choices this deck demands from the pilot. I am considering crafting this, but I currently have zero Surge Engines and also no mythic rare wildcards. If you would have to replace the Surge Engines with something else, what would it be? Is there anything good, maybe even in a different color if need be?
I'm not understanding something. Why can you activate Hellkite's ability with just blue mana? Don't you need Energy Refractor or something to wash it red?
I only watched the deck tech so far so maybe you explain it during the gameplay but wouldn't Make Disappear/Spell Stutter or another counterspell be pretty good to have over the 2x Impulse for example? You're holding up mana anyways and protecting your permanents seems important. Edit: Ah, you mentioned it at the end.
Around 22:01 cant you exile the one that creates mana for tapping, put counter on 3 1, tap it for 2 mana and connive twice to get it out of removal range?
The draw 3 would be discounted but wouldn't make much of a difference in that spot. Training Grounds can't make abilities cost less than 1 so connive would still cost the same.
It’s certainly an option, but a lot of answers to artifacts are actually the channel lands which we can’t Spell Pierce. Not too worries about most creature removal since it plays into our Cauldron plan. Farewell is the main one we would need to counter, but it it’s not as popular as Sunfall right now.
Actually, I beg to differ. The best creature in the game is the creature that wins you the game in the current circumstances. Yes, you could play a 0 mana 300/300 with unblockable indestructible shroud hexproof haste vigilance and the abilities that say "This spell cannot be countered. While on the stack, this spell has hexproof. While on the stack, opponents can't activate abilities or cast spells. When this creature enters the battlefield, they untap. When this creature enters the battlefield, you win the game. When this creature enters the battlefield, each opponent exiles their hand, battlefield, and library. Opponents can't play lands, cast spells, or activate abilities. You and all permanents and spells you control have protection from everything you don't control. Any time an opponent would breath, they must exile all their permanents, their active effects, their battlefield, and their library, then they lose the game. You cannot lose the game, and your opponents cannot win the game. If this card is in your starting hand you may start with it on the battlefield. This creature cannot leave the battlefield. If this card is in your library, reveal it. If you reveal this card you cannot lose the game and you win the game."... But if you attack your opponent with a 1/1 with no blocks and they have no mana, cards they can cast, nor creatures and they only have 1 health, you still win the game.... but I guess that 300/300 is kinda good....
@@LegenVD I can see that, but between Rona and the Surge Engine seems like it's more valuable on the battlefield than as a discardable card? You would have saved quite a bit of mana that game had you played out the 2nd training grounds. Seemed like mana was more your limiting resource that game than cards in hand. Then again, it could have played out differently.
Legenvd: Keeps an one-lander with full combo pieces, gets a land immediately next draw step, proceeds to annihilate his opponent. Me: Keeps an one-lander with full combo pieces on any deck, proceeds to draw 4+ mana cards, gets destroyed without ever playing anything all game...
Man that surge engine card is pretty insane. Too bad it's blue and I can't stand blue. Sigh. Nice card, I like it. Feels like training grounds and surge engine can just win the game without worrying about going off.
no no no.... "I" created the best creature in standard and It's Atraxa with cauldron exiling Fleeting Spirit. It doesn't make infinite mana but it makes infinite card draw while being unkillable and untargettable :)
Flickering a creature like that resets its counters. Soul Cauldron only gives abilities to creatures with +1/+1 counters, so you'd need another piece to make it repeatable. Cauldron can help a little, but it's once per turn and requires a creature in the grave for each activation
@@LordZurkov for the multiple +1 counter in the same turn I tried remnant of the rising star but it didnt seem necessary. For having a creature in the graveyard is fairly easy to hit one with atraxa and use atraxa blink to discard it. tbh resolving atraxa ends most games, being tapped out and able to blink him at instant speed is overkill.
I don't understand the joy it can give to win with a deck that can be used even by a child (I am referring to all combo decks, not this one in particular).
