Aether Revolt added a lot of cards that gave birth to new combos in Standard format. Here are your Top 5 possible combos in Standard format post-Aether Revolt:
Minister of Inquiries + Greenbelt Rampager + Servant of the Conduit + Consulate Turret + Paradox Engine
I was quite certain that it’s impossible to mill out your opponent on an endless loop but I was able to discover a way to make it happen by adding an additional piece which is the Consulate Turret. See below how it rolls out.
Turn 1 – Cast Minister of Inquiries to be able to activate its ability later on, you get two energy counters.
Turn 2 – Cast Servant of the Conduit. You now have four energy counters.
Turn 3 – Cast Consulate Turret with one mana coming from Servant of the Conduit. You still have four energy counters.
Turn 4 – Cast Paradox Engine and wait for another turn, three energy counters left.
Turn 5 –You now have Minister of Inquiries, Servant of the Conduit, Consulate Turret and Paradox Engine in the battlefield with three energy counters left. Activate Minister of Inquiries’ ability leaving you two energy, use one energy to produce green mana from Servant of the Conduit. It now leaves you with one energy, cast Greenbelt Rampager, untap all nonland permanents from Paradox Engine’s trigger. You now have to return Greenbelt Rampager since you only have one energy left and won’t be able to pay its etb trigger and that will net you one energy. After that, tap Consulate Turret to gain one more energy leaving you back to three energy. Repeat the whole process until you mill out your opponent’s deck.
Felidar Guardian + Felidar Guardian + Panharmonicon + Thought-Knot Seer
It’s really quite hard to pull off since all combo pieces cost four mana but when you do, game over. You can definitely go mono-white with this one but with Transgress the Mind out there to interrupt anything you are planning next turn, you might have a hard time making it happen. Control decks have counterspells as well to stop you from executing the combo. In my honest opinion, splashing blue for counterspells might do the trick, preferably Dispel to counter your opponent’s counterspell and spot removals. It can even counter Appetite for the Unnatural if they intent to pack some artifact hate cards. The only card that you couldn’t stop with it is Fragmentize. If you were able to complete those cards in the battlefield then it’s game over. This is how it goes. . .
Turn 1 to 3 – The first three turns are also critical specially when you are up against Vehicle decks, you might want to pack up some spot removals or counterspells if you’re splashing blue to deny some of their spells.
Turn 4 – Cast Panharmonicon and pass the turn.
Turn 5 – Cast Thought-Knot Seer, remove any possible threat from their hand to stop your combo. Panharmonicon triggers, repeat the ability of Thought-Knot Seer.
Turn 6 – Cast Felidar Guardian, targeting Though-Knot Seer twice with the additional trigger from Panharmonicon. Though-Knot leaves play twice, letting them draw, trigger resolves so you get to take away two cards again from their hand.
Turn 7 – Cast another Felidar Guardian, target Thought-Knot Seer with the first trigger and the other Felidar Guardian with the additional trigger. The other Felidar Guardian triggers again, target Though-Knot Seer and the additional trigger targeting the other Felidar Guardian creating an endless loop. Rinse, repeat, smile as you are already in the process of milling your opponent’s deck.
Crackdown Construct + Wandering Fumarole + Slip Through Pace
Some are a bit confused if Wandering Fumarole’s ability is a mana ability but it’s not. A mana ability is an ability that produces mana and switching power and toughness of it is not. So, here’s how it goes . . .
Turn 1 – As much as possible you need to play Wandering Fumarole to avoid skipping a turn if you happen to get it on turn four in which Crackdown Construct should be played.
Turn 2 and 3 – You really don’t have much to do on these turns, packing Anticipate will definitely help you dig your combo pieces if you don’t have it on your opening hand.
Turn 4 – Cast Crackdown Construct, wait for another turn and wish that your opponent doesn’t have any spot removal.
Turn 5 – Activate Wandering Fumarole, use its ability a hundred, a thousand or a million times, it’s up to you. Crackdown Cosntruct triggers for each time you use its ability making it a monstrous creature. Cast Slip Through Pace to make it unblockable if ever your opponent have some blockers to stop you from relentlessly finishing him off.
Some may want to add green to speed up the process, get a mana dork preferably Servant of the Conduit on turn two to be able to cast Crackdown Construct on turn three. On the fourth turn, you can already activate Wandering Fumarole. Yes, you can do that. It doesn’t require you attack with Wandering Fumarole so you can just tap it to produce red or blue mana to activate its own ability. Cast Slip Through Pace using the mana from Servant of the Conduit to prevent the opponent from blocking with a creature he controls.
Greenbelt Rampager + Servant of the Conduit + Aetherflux Reservoir + Paradox Engine
As you can see, most combos require Servant of the Conduit. It is there to speed up the process, casting spells a turn earlier than it is supposed to be. With this combo, your main win condition is the Aetherflux Reservoir. Some thought it is not possible back then when Aether Revolt is not yet out in the open. So, let me tell you how it should happen in sequence. . .
Turn 1 – Cast Greenbelt Rampager for extra energy, you will be needing it later.
Turn 2 – It is quite important to cast Servant of the Conduit on turn two to speed up the process, you now have three energy counters.
Turn 3 – With the extra mana coming from Servant of the Conduit, you can now cast Aetherflux Reservoir a turn earlier. Two energy counters left.
Turn 4 – Cast Paradox Engine and wait for another turn. One energy left.
Turn 5 – You now have Servant of the Conduit, Aetherflux Reservoir, Paradox Engine and four or five untapped lands on the battlefield. You may want to splash blue again here to provide some back-up counterspells in case your opponent will try to disrupt the combo. You have Aether Hub and Botanical Sanctum so I could say you will not have too much problem with color fixing.
Just to make it clear, you have to use Servant of the Conduit to keep your energy in check for the combo to work. Use the last energy you have to cast Greenbelt Rampager, untap Servant of the Conduit from the trigger of Paradox Engine. Return Greenbelt Rampager to your hand since you are not able to pay its etb trigger, you net one energy from it. Do it all over again until you have enough life to pay for Aetherflux Reservoir's ability and win the game.
Saheeli Rai + Felidar Guardian + Reckless Fireweaver
It’s probably the best combo available in Standard right now. A turn by turn sequence with no filler turns. A possible turn four win if your opponent is tapped out or doesn’t have anything to disrupt it.
Turn 1 – Cast Hope of Ghirapur, I just found out that it fits perfectly on this deck.
Turn 2 – Cast Reckless Fireweaver. It doesn’t matter if your opponent decides to destroy it with Fatal Push. It doesn’t really care, with or without it, you can still win the game on turn four.
Turn 3 – Cast Saheeli Rai. Use its first ability or not, it doesn’t matter. No one’s stopping you, feel free to do so anyway. Just don't use its second ability to copy Hope of Ghirapur or Reckless Fireweaver to avoid miscalculating your actions on your next turn.
Turn 4 – Attack with Hope of Ghirapur, sacrifice it after you've dealt damage to your opponent. They can no longer cast non-creature spells, mostly spot removals to stop the combo. Cast Felidar Guardian, enters the battlefield triggers, targeting Saheeli Rai. The planeswalker then returns, use its second ability to copy Felidar Guardian. A copy of it now enters the battlefield which is an artifact in addition to its original type will now trigger Reckless Fireweaver’s ability dealing one damage to your opponent, the enters the battlefield triggers from itself exiling Saheeli Rai and returning with fresh loyalty. Do it again until you have dealt enough damage to your opponent, win the game without attacking. If you don’t have Reckless Fireweaver, you can make copies of Felidar Guardian. It depends on how much copies do you want and then attack with all of it since every copy of it gains haste.
There’s a lot of possible combos for you to dig now that Aether Revolt is out. You can just mix and match some cards if you want and I can just assume that it will most likely revolves around Paradox Engine, Aetherflux Reservoir or Panharmonicon. I hope you had fun reading this article and expect more crunchy stuffs to come!