this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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For the uninitiated, the likelihood of being able to pull off a 4-card combo on turn 1 is very small, even in unrestricted formats. Decks that rely on this interaction either include ways to win on later turns or are unreliable.
The typical variant I've seen is using a bunch more Moxes and Lotuses and so forth to play Ancestral Recalls/Timetwisters or Timewalks or similar to either pull the right cards from your deck or skip your opponent's turn until you draw them naturally. And doing such a thing nowadays is... expensive.
Also, if you shoot your load and your opponent has a way to counter your fireball, now you're standing there with your pants down around your ankles and 1 health. Ready to be done in by a single goblin, or possibly a stiff breeze.
Even so, in modern formats where Black Lotus, Moxes, and Channel are not outright banned you can only have one of each per deck anyhow. So the notion of having 4 of each to pad your deck out to the minimum 60 cards likewise goes out the window. Still, having this spread available is sort of like having a nuke in your suitcase. You're never actually going to set it off, but it's nice sometimes to let everyone around you know that you could if you really felt like it.
I also have an Enduring Renewal based infinite mana deck that is similarly impractical, but no less spectacular when you actually manage to pull off its core combo. Your ability to put your opponent into the negatives -- or yourself into an insurmountably gargantuan health pool via Alabaster Potions -- is limited only by your opponent's patience and lack of conceding on the spot in disgust as you shuffle your Ornithopter back and forth and back and forth...
I have a more straighforward lightning bolt/shock/goblin grenade deck that is less exotic, but considerably more reliable. The explosions it makes are smaller, but everyone explodes sooner or later.
Back in the day decks had a 40 card minimum and no max copies of cards. There were decks that were just mountains and lightning bolts. So getting a combo like this out wasn’t completely unheard of.
Nowadays, combos need lots of drawing and fishing to hit in the first couple turns.
Confirm, and I am guilty of having owned, and currently owning, functional decks that basically just boil down to mountains and lightning bolts. The "new" (decades old) rules forced me to diversify a bit, but Fallen Empires brought us the gift of the Goblin Grenade, so it's all gravy for me. Four goblins and four Goblin Grenades is a win, even if you don't attack with any of the goblins. You can spice things up in the interim with Lightning Bolts if you like.
Also, isn't a black lotus worth tens of thousands of dollars?
A mint Alpha Black Lotus would be in the hundreds of thousands.
A moderately played Unlimited Black Lotus would be in the thousands.
Not if you have a printer