I can't Lose. No Plat Angel

i like this, planned something similar

Hate to brake the news but you can not goto zero life with out platnium angel in play as soon as your life become zero game state checks say you lose so ultimately good idea but doesnt exactly work

How does this not work?
I don't lose the game for having zero or less life. I get poison counters instead.
But i can't get poison counters due to Melira. so as long as there both on the field i cant lse through damage or poison. how long have you been playing this game anyways?

Okay, so, you really want to make this funny, get Darksteel Plates and Puresteel Paladins. Turn 2, play Paladin, Turn 3, Darksteel plate and equip to Pally for free. Phyrexian Unlife, then Melira, then equip Darksteel plate to her for free xD Your enchantment is still vulnerable, but run 4, more equipments for draw power and you'll be fine :P

Hey, check out my Geosurge/Red Ramp deck if you got the time. Your deck is hilarious and I want your opinions :D

lol, I was thinking of combos to do with Melira, I forgot about unlife though. I was gonna go with something like everlasting torment... Also, I LOVE the win combo. Great deck.

Great idea but I would put in some kind of mana ramp to make shure you have 6 mana to use to tap Soul Conduit even when you think you have 1 more turn before you ''would die'' other than that LOVE the idea

You just need to find a way to keep melira alive. Add that darksteel plate.

i thought of doing this same thing but i dont actually own a Soul Conduit so i havent yet.

Yeah, I noticed this combo when looking at the new phyrexia cards. Check out my combo for standard. It can win on turn 3 and if it goes off it WILL win, when it does go off.
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=185319

Yes this combo works, but you werent the first to discover it
My deck in upcoming uses the same combo
I notices in spoilers
Im sure there are others too but nice job

Only suggestion is Canopy Cover your Melira to protect. Most people don't have stuff to deal with enchantments for now so I wouldn't worry about the Unlife.

maybe immolating souleater so you could get down on 0. cool

Privileged Position.

I would add moltensteel dragon to suck your life down.
look at my melira decks.
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=187460
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=187028

...unless I mill you...

Quick question... Let's say you're at 0 health and you have Phyrexian Unlife in play; for the spells that you have to pay 2 life to cast due to the insufficiant color mana... is it still possible to pay 2 life even if you have Melira in play? Since paying 2 life would cause poison counters, but you can't have poison counters put on you and you do not have the 2 life to pay? I'm thinking about putting the cards together for this deck atm I have every card in the set but 5 :P

take some stuff out and add whispersilk cloak that way your melira can't be removed from the game

I was absolutely disappointed when I opened Melira in my first booster pack.. nobody around here plays Infect, with the exception of a few newer players.. but running Melira is not worth it just for that. Then I noticed this combo too. Still never going to build it, but I got to thinking about it, and there are a few other cards that combo well with Melira. In R/G/W you can run Melira, Everlasting Torment, Kulrath Knight, Spitemare / Stuffy Doll + Guilty Conscience, direct damage such as Pyroclasm, Chain Reaction, etc.. It's an enchantment heavy concept that requires combo pieces. Luckily all the combo pieces are enchantments, which can be fetched by Idyllic Tutor.

Another fun combo with melira is the etched monstrosity

I also have fun combo using new phyrexia=http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=187416

Have Melira out, add a "Darksteel plate," and a "Whispersilk cloak" on her. :P

If you're playing Puresteel Paladin, I feel like you should have more equipments that kick ass. I'd probably drop the Vault Skirges, because you're not going to need the lifelink with melira and the unlife out. Argentum Armor comes to mind, or if you want to go cheaper, Loxodon Warhammer is a pain in the butt to play against. You could also go cheap equips like Darksteel Axe or Trusty Machete... up to you though.

Nice idea!
Tip: You need protect your enchantments and ofensives cards.
Dont lose is only half of the way to victory, you need more attack!

I would drop the vault skirges for some Spellskites. It can survive most burn spells (4 toughness) plus it can stop spells that would destory the key cards ie Melira, unlife, conduit

i built a similar deck last week, but w/out melira and instead draw cards. I think this would b a better way, but i'm on a budget. would melira b a good trade off for the price?

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=185983

It notes this combo in the set book that comes in the fat pack.

I would drop the vault skirges for some Spellskites. It can survive most burn spells (4 toughness) plus it can stop spells that would destory the key cards ie Melira, unlife, conduit

i built a similar deck last week, but w/out melira and instead draw cards. I think this would b a better way, but i'm on a budget. would melira b a good trade off for the price?

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=185983

before i saw this i guessed- unlife+the new person that makes u lose poison counters while having the life switch? yeah thought so... either way,

problem here- they destroy either your melira or unlife you SCREWED expecially with unlife because youll be just giving your life away after you get that out, and with that gone, so like the guy before me spellskite, 2 life for taking spells away. GREAT DEAL and then idk any otherway you can see as preventing those from being stopped. otherwise always loved this strategy after i saw it.

Sure you can lose, just nobody plays Door.dec anymore... It was weird to say the least, but it literally just outright makes you lose.

Mill still kills you.

Get some Glistening Oil in there imo. Kills off their creatures and they can't touch you while affected by it if she's on the field, then just focus your efforts on protecting her. The Oil recurs quite nicely too.

Melira+Oil is sweet shit.

Immolation Souleater!!!

Sorry,you can still lose to my Felidar Sovereign-he doesn't care how much life or poison you have,obviously would need to dispose of platinum angel through destroy or sac with vampires but they could have you too-add darksteel forge to make it a bit harder-phyrexian horror/eldrazi would ruin your day too,milling...Karn...there are ways,but a good build none-the-less :)

I liked this deck idea so much that I built my own version. with a few tweaks of course. :)

you might want to look into adding a couple cards that I did so that you don't have to worry about having to sac your guys.

it's still a work in progress and I don't normally do this but if you get a chance could you look and see what I might be able to add to make it a stronger deck please.

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=189035

thanks in advance.

this is a great idea but it still needs to work out the kinks like how to protect all ur cards try elspeth to protect pernaments with the emblem she makes and try to find a wide range shroud for all ur pernaments other than tha great job

the main weakness for this deck is bounce counters exile u need to find a way to protect ur combo cards and stall ur opponent at the same time

the main weakness for this deck is bounce counters exile u need to find a way to protect ur combo cards and stall ur opponent at the same time

i love it mite make a deck like this myself

possibly more sould conduits to improve chances of drawing one

Deck link: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=189476

ASSASSINS! CHECK IT OUT!

You've done a great job I'd make this deck apart from the fact it costs over $100!

I think either of these decks could stand up to it though:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=177786
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=181668

BTW, you can lose. Mill out. And with the new Bloodcrank combos coming out, it might be pretty quickly this deck gets beat out of the metagame. Sorry. I commented earlier helping you get this on the road and I just thought I'd mention some of the competition you'll have

ive seen this combo here and there, not to mention the fact when you buy a fat pack, the catalouge that comes w/ specifically details this combination lol good job though, but if you want to see something truly original, and not right out of WotC own bag of tricks, then come check out my newest 5 color hurt piece.

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=189030

All of the comments on this page so far have made me laugh.

1)Yes, other people thought of it, and wizards might have even mentioned it in the fatpack; but so what, he thought of it he's happy with that. I've seen it several times, its still cool, its hard to do anything really original these days anyways.

2)No, you can't pay life if you're at 1 or less, and Spellskite doesn't work with Ascetism, but it's still really helpful.

3)There are still a lot of ways to win, namely Mill and Eldrazi ramp (you'll need that Elf that prevents you from sacrificing creatures) Any fast deck can kill you before you get the combo; but it's still really annoying when you're playing against this with a burn deck and no enchant removal. Trust me, I've been there.

4)So many people complaining that you need more protection....please. W/G? What are you doing? The best version I've seen so far is W/G/B. Splash for some Counterspells, Preordain to find your combo, and you're set for the game.

So not originaly, but still really cool. I like it; it's very annoying to play against. So great job; and I like your win condition with the Soul Conduit that's just insulting to lose to :D

i agree with fiend its still got holes in it the soul conduit is hilarious made a deck similar to this with this combo my mates hated it unless i was on their team then they just laughed so great job

just out of curiosity how would green sun and omen machine work together with the whole x cost sould he get to chose whatever creature he wanted tha was green or would it be useless

heres sumthing totally evil no way to block my guys from attacking older cards are hillarious http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=141289

Wow! Creative deck! Good job, however what is your answer to surgical extraction or memoricide?

Hey guess what? Revoke Existence on Phyrexian Unlife. You lost the game.

anything tha destroys the enchantment makes him lose the game orif the enchantments is countered so he need to get counters into this deck and mabe elspith tirel to help protect the pernaments

Yeah, let's say that given a perfect opponent, say one that has zero removal or creatures, how are you gonna win the game? Any mono red deck burns you to the ground before you can even get anything out there. Your deck is so slow and needing so many perfect draws to even give it a chance to go off that you might as well consider this deck idea junk. One is that the only thing this deck will do consistent is be very inconsistent, and inconsistency is a fast track to losses.
Check out my deck idea and please comment. Open to positive and negative ones! http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=190725

I like this combo and currently am toying with it in a Soul Sister deck. I will post it on here when I get it to be viable, same with the Bloodchief and Mindcrank combo. Meanwhile check out my Puresteel Paladin deck and let me know what you think.

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=190736

are you relying on your opponent to smack you down that low? It's a decent combo but it is extremely slow and you are at the mercy of someone that can spot remove your vital cards

Love it. Deadly and Fragile at the same time. Don´t like decks that wins fast and you can't avoid the combo. This is really fun.

Everyone has suggestions, but here are a few that can help your combo...

1. This admittedly a little costly, but gives you another out, significantly helps you in a multi-player game, and does not break your color scheme.

Pristine Taisman: 3 colorless artifact, abiliity is tap for 1 colorless mana AND gain 1 life.

Near-Death Experience: 3 White, 2 colorless Enchantment, ability is if you have exactly 1 life at the beginning of your upkeep you win the game.

As the last opponent ends his/her turn and you have your 0 life going, tap Prisine Talisman, you have 1 life, your turn starts, game over. 5 mana may be expensive, but if you can clear out multiple opponents without even needing to attack them it can be a huge addition to your combo.

2. If you decide to add black to your deck (you have the Birds of Paradise, maybe sub some lands out for others that produce multiple colors) here are a few cards that can make games a little more interesting.

Repay in Kind: 2 Black, 5 colorless Sorcery, ability is each's life total becomes the lowest life total among all players. This is a huge instant kill if you have your combo going, fantastic in multiplayer (which I play a lot of.)

Another black card that nobody uses is:

Death's Shadow:1 Black, creature, it is a 13/13 that gets -x/-x, where x is your life total. You could get a 13/13 for 1 black mana if your combo is going, and you can easily cover that with just one of your Birds of Paradise.

you can also give Meldira protection from black and use
Pestilence: 2 Black, 2 colorless, Enchantment, ability is for every Black mana spent you do 1 danegae to each creature or player, sacrifice this enchantment if there are no creatures in play. You can wittle everyone's life to 0 while killing all creatures as long as Medira is protected.

And of course you can throw in your Platium Angel.

This deck already relies heavily on a 2 card combo that's not even a win condition. The real issue I see is that your combo is more of a "draw" condition, and you honestly only have two cards that will conceivably win you games (and even those are iffy, because you can't spend yourself to negative life and you have such few ways of actually dealing damage to your opponent) - and even those are based on two card combos as well. If you don't get a Phyrexian Unlife, you're flailing in the water - all of your win cons are contingent on that card, but that card's only truly effective if you have Melria AND ways to protect her. Your ways of digging for the cards you need are, also, fairly limited. To effectively play a combo deck, you need to be able to reliably get out your combo. This deck doesn't achieve that because you spend so much time trying to preserve your combo WHEN you get it out.

I've played a deck in this similar theme several times, and have never lost. My wins usually hinge on the backs of a couple of cards:

Memoricide - This comes in game 2 obviously, but if I take out either your Meliras or your Unlifes, your ability to win games is almost nonexistent as you have no quick win cons and are, essentially, counting on getting this combo out to win.

Phyrexian Metamorph - The deck has no real mass-removal of any sort, put yourself in a creature-based position to win, and then before you attack, throw down a Metamorph (Clone serves a similar function, but half the decks in standard don't play Metamorph) copying Melira, and get 10 poison counters quick and easy. There's no real way for you to counter this, either.

Honestly, there are some other suggestions I would give:

Puresteel Paladin is hopelessly out of place here, in my opinion. With only 11 artifacts and only 4 equipment, the chances of you making any actual use out of Puresteel Paladin is very small, particularly for the 2W requirement. He's fairly weak even in decks built around him, in this deck he will be dead draw 90% of the time. I'd even suggest scrapping the equipment altogether, throwing in Canopy Cover to replace Whispersilk cloak (there's less Enchantment hate than Artifact hate anyways) - and, also, replace Darksteel Armor with Savage Silhouette or possibly even Snake Umbra - which gives you the opportunity to get some card draw out of Melira.

I'd also suggest going with G/W/U as some others have suggested. While it may not have some of the win-conditions that make your eyes wide, it will make your deck far more consistent - adding Blue for just some Preordains and Tezzeret's Gambits. You could also throw in a treasure mage or two for more reliability in getting out Soul Conduit - and it would allow you to stick a one of, of potentially another card to help you win the game if you don't hit your Melira or Unlife - maybe a one-of Wurmcoil Engine to help you stay in it a little longer while you wait for your combo to materialize.

Either way, I think what this deck is really missing is a win condition that isn't based solely around you hitting your combo, but can still benefit from the same cards. It's a combo that seems way more powerful than it truly is, and there are a fairly solid number of ways to beat it - the most understated of which is how difficult it is to actually get the combo out and protected reliably. This is a deck that some games you will win convincingly because everything just goes according to plan - and then there are games which you will just never be in, because you're sitting on 2 Meliras in your hand, 1 on the Battlefield, and have yet to see a Phyrexian Unlife.

I play the combo in casual games, so there are no limitations. I also play multi-player, so One player specifically building a deck/sideboard against just me is not really an issue. In this game I do have plenty of outs.

if I have Unlife out, Soul Conduit (switch life totals between two players) I kill one opponent.

If I have Unlife out, Repay in Kind kills everyone, instant win.

If I have Unlife out, Death's Shadow's are huge (13/13 -x/x where x is life total)

If I have Unlife out, Pristine Talisman can be tapped for one life on opponents turn, and with Near-Death Experience (win if you have exactly one life)

If I have Meldira out, Etched Monstrocity (10/10 creature for 5 colorless, comes into play with 5 -1/-1 counters) comes into play as a 10/10 for 5 mana which is either a great attacker or lets you block and stall for other combos.

Platinum Angel (can't lose, opponents can't win) is a problem that opponents have to deal with along with Norn's Annex (no creature can attack you unless they pay 1 white mana or 2 life for each creature attacking) are options to seriously stall attacking opponents,

Asceticism protects my creatures, specifically Platinum Angel and Meldira.

Fill in with infect creatures (deal poison, not damage in case you don't have Meldira and you need to use Sould Conduit) and you have a deck that is not perfect by any means, but gives you a lot of options, especially in multi-player. Two separate ways to get an instant win is huge in multi-player, and it is flexible and fun to play. Any burn or mill deck can beat it one-on-one quickly, but those decks frequently don't hold up over the course of longer multi-player games. I love when an opponent chips away at my life total, gets rid of my Asceticism or my Meldira losing various creatures, bury spells or permanent removals just to have me drop an Angel, switch life totals, anything to make him start over until I finally nail him with poison counters,Repay in Kind or Near-Death Experience.

There are many ways to play this kind of combo. I am working on two decks. The first one is

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=192198

And it is filled with infect (which is fuly capable of winning on its own) and Norn's Annex (although I may change that to Crawlspace, no more then two creatures can attack you) to keep people busy while I wait for the Melira-Unlife combo to kick in. I do all out attacks (defense is not necessary) letting my infect creatures die while bouncing them back to my hand with Corpse Cur (Mirriorworks also worked in an old version I had.) I either get infect kills, or if they get me to 0 I Repay in Kind.or Soul Conduit for the win.

Option two: The Race to Zero method (name is under copyright lol) Unlife-Melira, Demonic Tutors to get your combo going, Platinum Angel and Asceticism for protection. Stick with Repay in Kind and Sould Conduits for Instant kills, and Near-Death Experience (Win if you have exactly one life) and Pristine Talisman (artifact, tap for one mana and gain one life)

This can get expensive as you need to seek out special cards. You want to get through your deck as soon as possible, and simultaneously get to 0 life. Once you have either the Unlife-Melira OR the platinum angel in effect, all you need is either Near-Death or Repay in Kind. What you can do for starters is Weathered Wayfarer. It is 1 White mana, tap it to get any land (not basic, ANY land) and put it into your hand. Every turn you are essentially drawing two cards, since you ar thinning all of the mana out of your deck. If you get more then one of these at a time, you suck all of the land out of your deck very fast. Weathered Wayfarer is not too expensive. Second is Tempest lands. I can only think of the name of the blue one, Remote Isle, of of thetop of my head, but there are 5, all produce one mana like a basic land, and they all of cycling for 2. If you already have the land you need, or a Wayfarer on the table, do not play it, cycle it for an extra draw. You can substitute for swamps and four plains for 8 of these and increase the rate you fly through the deck. Another method I use is the Legendary land Method. Flagstones of Trokair produces one white. If it goes to the graveyard, put a put a p[lains into play. Intentionaly put two in play, either by drawing or by Wayfarer and the Legend rule puts them in the graveyard, so you pull two more Plains out of your library which further speeds up the rate you will draw your Repay in Kind or Near-Death Experience.

The final problem? how do you get to 0 or 1 life when everyone knows what you are doing and refuses to hurt you while you have a Platinum, Soul Conduit, Unlife or Melira on the table (Asceticism also slows everyone down)? New Phyrexia of course. fill your deck with creatures and spells from the new set, and do not pay the cost with mana, but with life. It is possible by this time you could have 4 or 5 cards, all needing one or two phyrexia mana...this will get you to zero or one very quickly. If you are worried about not getting to the correct life total (you can't pay 2 life if you only have 1) you can throw in an eqipment that gives you protection from black, put it on Melira, and then use Pestilence until you get to the desired life total to execute Repay in Kind or Near-Death Experience.

I would assume that this will work very well after you have been using whatever variant of th above deck you have been playing. Your friends will stop attacking you while they wait to have a solyution for your defenses, knwing that you want to get to zero life. Once they realize that you are capable of taking your own life to 0 without them doing anything it will be too late.

Again, I know that a quick burn or mill deck will beat these, but in ,ulti=player, this many options, and two separate ways to instantly win, even if there are 4 other players still alive is wicked, and it is really fun to frustrate the hell out of the whole table, when they want to attack you, and it only plays into what you want them to do. Feel free to comment on the deck I kinjed above, I am always looking for suggestions and I will be putting up more soon once I fine-tune them abit more myself.

Just to be a thorn in your opponents' ass, you should add a Platinum Angel, maybe a Lich's Mirror as well. XD

My bud just copied this deck just so he could finally beat me. It didn't work against my Kuldotha red deck, at all. This deck is pretty weak against fast decks or decks with a lot of counters/opponent sacrifice. It's an interesting idea and a good one, but it relies too much on perfect conditions.

I made something similer http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=193005 Pls comment on it to see how i can improve it!

Found an UNBELIEVABLE card I missed for this. Phyrxian Hydra. 2 green, 3 colorless. It is a 7/7 infect creature that would never take damage. It's special ability reads IF (key word) IF it were to take damage, instead place a -1/-1 counter on it for each damage PREVENTED this way. Since Melira does not allow you to get counters it will always be a 7/7. Since it does not actually receieve damage under any conduitions Lifelink and Deathtouch abilities also don't trigger. This is about as close to undestructible as you can get.

Also, for further protection, Pariah's Shield. It is an equipment that costs 5 colorless to cast (a lot, I am just throwing it out here) and 3 colorless to equip. It's ability reads "All damage is redirected to equiped creature." If you have Unlife out, you can equip this to anything to stall until you get Melira. Not nearly as cost effective, just another idea.

i have a similar deck that uses asceticism to keep melira in the game. just a suggestion.
if you have time come look at my deck: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=193141

how do you prevent mill?

Well I'm just gonna go ahead and beat you with my Near Death Experience