It might look a bit confusing at first, but what’s happening here is that we’re calling out all the zones and transitions involved in executing the combo from end to end. E.g., the Sushi player needs to cast spells (Hand to Stack), put a Hulk directly onto the Battlefield from Hand (Flash), have Hulk proceed from the Battlefield to the Graveyard, search the Library and put creatures onto the Battlefield from there, and possibly activate a creature on the Battlefield (Nomads En-Kor).
You may be thinking to yourself, “this is cool I guess, but why?”
Two reasons:
First of all, this is a tool supporting the deck design process when we’re planning to play against a specific combo. For every line of transition, there’s a laundry list of cards that attack that surface either actively or passively. By calling out every transition, we can think about all the edges when selecting interaction and hate pieces. By holistically evaluating the points from which a combo can be attacked, we can pick and choose the best candidates (most efficient, most widely impactful, etc) and thus improve the positioning of our decks when facing off against that combo.
The other side to this practice is informing our piloting decisions. Having a detailed understanding of all the moving pieces involved in opposing combo lines will help us make good choices in what things we tutor for, how we sequence our lines, and when we absolutely need to mount an interaction. In just the same way that good design improves the expected outcomes of our matchups from a card perspective, better mental preparation and understanding will commensurately improve our capabilities as pilots.
So let’s get started.
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