Much Abrew: Tameshi Combo (Modern)
Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of Much Abrew About Nothing. This week, we're heading to Modern to check out one of the sweetest combos brought to us by Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty in Tameshi, Reality Architect Combo! The idea is that we can use Tameshi, Reality Architect to reanimate Lotus Bloom repeatedly to make a ton of mana. We use that mana to play Cultivator Colossus, which will put all the lands we picked up with Tameshi, Reality Architect back into play (and also draw us a ton of cards) so that we can make even more mana with Tameshi, Reality Architect. Eventually this should draw us through our entire deck, and we'll find Finale of Devastation to give our team haste so we can smash our opponent to death with one huge Cultivator Colossus (or many of them)! When things go well, we can be doing this all as soon as Turn 4! How good is Tameshi, Reality Architect in Modern? Does the combo actually work? Let's get to the video and find out on this week's Much Abrew About Nothing!
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Much Abrew: Tameshi Combo
Discussion
- Record-wise, we finished 2-3 with Tameshi Combo, although the deck felt good in general. If you look at our losses, one came because we timed out, in part thanks to Bear chewing wires, and one came against Neobrand combo, where our opponent won the die roll and managed to out-goldfish us om two out of the three games. The only match where it didn't feel close was against Jund, and even there, we managed to assemble our combo. Our opponent just happened to have the removal they needed to keep us from going off. All this is to say, even though the record was middling, the deck felt pretty competitive.
- As far as the combo itself, the plan is actually pretty simple. While we technically do need three pieces to win the game, we've got an absurd amount of redundancy thanks to a bunch of tutors. First, we need a Lotus Bloom, which can be either on the battlefield or in our graveyard. Apart from drawing one naturally, we can find Lotus Bloom with Wargate and Goblin Engineer, giving us 11 virtual copies in our deck. Second, we need Tameshi, Reality Architect, which we can snag with Eladamri's Call, Finale of Devastation, or Wargate, giving us 14 copies of the Moonfolk. Finally, we need Cultivator Colossus to actually win the game, but we can find it with the same creature tutors as Tameshi. So, even though we need a lot of pieces to get started, the deck is actually surprisingly consistent.
- For the combo itself, we need a Lotus Bloom, a Tameshi, Reality Architect, a few lands on the battlefield, and at least one white mana available. We sacrifice our Lotus Bloom for three white mana, activate Tameshi, Reality Architect, pick up a land, and put Lotus Bloom back into play for one mana. Since Tameshi, Reality Architect only costs one mana and Lotus Bloom makes three, we're netting two extra mana in the process. We do this again and again until we pick up all of our lands, and then we play Cultivator Colossus, which will draw a bunch of cards and put all of our lands back into play. At this point, we should be able to win the game if we've drawn a Finale of Devastation (if we just tutor it up and play another Cultivator Colossus to draw even more cards). We can make a bunch more mana with the Tameshi, Reality Architect / Lotus Bloom loop, cast Finale of Devastation to find another Cultivator Colossus, give our team haste and something like +20/+20, and hit our opponent for a massive pile of damage!
- And that is basically the deck. We've got a touch of removal in Portable Hole and Prismatic Ending, one copy of Wrenn and Six to help fix our wild mana, a Spellskite for combo protection, and a playset of Esper Sentinel for card draw. Otherwise, every card in the deck is either a combo piece or a way to tutor up a combo piece.
- The good news about the deck is that it's shockingly consistent thanks to all of the tutors. It's also fairly fast, winning on Turn 4 with a good draw. The bad news is that it can be disrupted by counterspells, creature removal (on Tameshi, Reality Architect, since it can only be activated as sorcery speed), and graveyard hate. While we do have answers to all of the hate cards, with things like Spellskite to protect Tameshi, Reality Architect, Boseiju, Who Endures for graveyard hate, and Cavern of Souls for counterspells (along with more answers in the sideboard), as we saw against Jund, decks overloaded with discard, removal, and hate cards can be tricky matchups for Tameshi Combo.
- It's also worth pointing out that this is a super-early version of the deck. I think it should get better as people brew and tune in. As much as it pains me to say it, Teferi, Time Raveler could be a great addition to the deck as a way to keep our opponent from disrupting our combo turn with counters or removal. Wrenn and Six didn't feel super necessary, and we could probably trim back a bit on tutors to fit in a few copies.
- So, should you play Tameshi Combo in Modern? I think the answer is yes. The deck is consistent and powerful, and it should only get better as people figure out the best way to support the combo! If you like big-turn combo decks or are a fan of Moonfolk, it seems like a really fun and fairly competitive option for our post-Lurrus Modern format.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
