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Betrayers of Kamigawa is no exception. There are some pretty strong combos within the set, as well as introducing a lot more when looking at the rest of Magic's history. So here is a collection of some of the combos that I have discovered when looking at Betrayers. Only having received cards from the pre-release (the set not released as I write this) I haven't played with all these combos, so some might be jank that just appears good on paper. Most are of the casual variety that might simply suit peoples collection (or warped sense of humour/style of play), but there might be a few worth mining for a serious constructed deck.

Akki-Blizzard Herder and Kiki-Jiki, Mirrorbreaker

Maybe I'm wrong, but this combo could work if you have board control. I don't bring out land destruction decks or combos often, but I'm a closet fan. (You know, kind of like hiding the fact you steal lollipops from little kids)

Chisei, Heart of Oceans

I don't have any card in particular in mind, but this card lends itself to an old card subset – those with cumulative upkeep. A 4/4 flyer for 4 mana is pretty strong, if it can keep another strong cards upkeep under control. Casting a first turn Mystic Remora until you reach 4 mana, sacrificing it, then casting Chisei followed by another Remora ensures strong card advantage. Chisei can make a Tornado a lot more bearable.

Fumiko the Lowblood,, Caltrops and Deathpits of Rath

Not the easiest combo to put together, but forcing your opponent to attack, then killing their creatures with Caltrops and the Pit makes me smirk. Caltrops could be swapped with Barbed Foliage,, and there are are ‘force attack' cards if you wanted to build a deck around it.

Goryo's Vengeance, The Unspeakable and Slumbering Tora

Cast Slumbering Tora, discard The Unspeakable to give you a 9/9 artifact creature, cast Goryo's Vengeance on The Unspeakable and attack. It's pretty likely you'll get the Vengeance back with Unspeakable's ability. If you've got another Unspeakable or the one in play makes it to the graveyard before the end of turn (remember it is removed from the game) then it shouldn't take too long to take down an opponent.

Heart of Light and Avatar of Hope

Well, you do have to have a lot of mana or be low on life to cast Avatar of Hope, but with Heart of Light, she'll block just about everything every turn. Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo offers a less potent version of the combo, and there are many others ‘redirectors' that can make use of Heart of Light.

Heartless Hidetsugu and Spirit Link or Loxodon Warhammer

Hidetsugu truly is heartless and doesn't discriminate, taking a swath out of everyones life total (including yours) with each activation. So good old Spirit Link can come to the rescue here, as luckily in this instance he deals in damage, not life loss. The damage to yourself is counteracted, and you gain whatever you take from your opponent. This combo would be a beating in multiplayer (although you'd probably be taking a lot of damage elsewhere with this combo on the board!), but becomes truly evil with 2 Spirit Link; if you and one opponent were each on 20 life you would be dealing each of you 10 damage, you would be taking 10 but then gaining a whopping 40 (2 times the 20 total damage dealt), leaving you at 50. The next activation means you would be dealing 25 just to yourself, gaining you another 50, plus whatever you dealt to your opponent.

Heed The Mists and Sensei's Divining Top

A pretty simple combo, any topdeck manipulation would work instead of the Top. Just make sure something big is at the top, then cast the Mists for a big card draw. Of course you could make it a nice big fat creature that makes it way to your graveyard while you draw into the favourite re-animation spell of your choice.

Hokori, Dust Drinker and Ghostly Prison

Hokori, Winter Orb on legs. There are plenty of support cards in standard for this at the moment, which I'll speculate will be a strong block deck. The above combo will make it hard for an opponent to get a worthwhile attack in. Other support comes in the form of Talismans, the mana myr, and Orb of Dreams might show up to slow down the party even more.

In The Web of War and Saproling Burst

There are plenty of other cards that can let you do powerful things with In the Web of War. Dropping that and then Saproling Burst is like the old Fires of Yavimaya decks. You can take off 5 counters to put 5 4/2 into play, which is death for an opponent with no blockers. In block, Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens is expensive but has nice synergy.

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni (and other ninja) and Whispersilk Cloak

This combo works with any ninja, by making it unblockable to ensure that its deal damage clause gets met. If none of their creatures have haste, a simple Mistblade Shinobi is bound to put a wrench in their plans while you mess with their tempo. Throat Slitter is a little bit more lethal.

Lifegift, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Uyo, Silent Prophet, Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Lifegift works with any of the Moonfolk's ability, which all put land into your hand, but Meloku is the strongest. Having Azusa out is preferable so you can get the maximum out of your moonfolks abilities without losing tempo.

Lifegift and Ageless Entity, Well of Lost Dreams

Going back to Darksteel, there were a couple of card that triggered off life gain. The first time you draw a land each turn, throw it into play, Lifegift triggers, resolves and makes Well of Lost Dreams trigger, then tap your land to draw an extra card, ensuring card advantage.

Mark of Sakiko

This card seems a little hard to use. However, it may have a place in some kooky casual reanimator decks by slapping it on a reanimated creature and pumping out a lot of mana early.

Mirror Gallery

There are a lot of combos that can work from this card, if you want a full list do a search on legendary on the wizards website and see what is most abusable. Most obvious are the shrines (making less colours more viable, 2 Honden of Seeing Winds and 2 Hondens of Infinite Rage draws you 8 cards and deals 8 damage per turn) and multiple Azusas in conjunction with moonfolk.

Neko-Te and Frostwielder, Ronin Cliffrider.

I've chosen creatures from Kamigawa block, of course there are many others that will do similar tricks. Neko-Te triggers from any damage, not just combat. Frostwielder can tap down a creature at will (sans protection from red) and keep it tapped. I managed to pull the insane combo of Ronin Cliffrider and Neko-Te at the Betrayers pre-release; every time you attack, you lock their board before they can block.

Patron of the Kitsune, Ageless Entity, Well of Lost Dreams

This patron combos nicely the same as Lifegift with Ageless Entity and Well of Lost Dreams.

Patron of the Nezumi, Braids, Cabal Minion

This patron wants stuff in his opponents graveyard, and Braids helps out nicely. Already being in black offers lots of other options, such as Barter in Blood to help keep fueling your opponents graveyard.

Patron of the Moon, Meloku the Clouded Mirror

Again, this patron works with almost any of the moonfolk. At the end of your opponents turn send half the land back to your hand, then tap a couple of what's left to put them all back down again just before your untap step.

Patron of the Orochi and Hair-Strung Koto

While my decks don't seem to be able to pull it off that often, I love (errr… to try) running my opponent out of cards. With plenty of green defensive creatures you can tap them out on your turn and then your opponents to speed up the milling provided by Hair-Strung Koto.

Ronin Cliffrider and Death Pits of Rath

Similar to the Neko-Te combo, attacking with the Cliffrider kills everything not indestructible or pro-red.

Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

This card has already been talked about a lot in the forums here at mtgparadise. A few sentences just won't do this justice; expect an article soon. In the meantime, this guy plus the Zubera and Blood Rites is a block combo. (Well you don't even need the Blood Rites if you are chump blocking).

Myr Landshaper plus Splinter

An old combo with a reprinted card. Use the Landshaper to make an opponents land into an artifact, then remove it and all other lands they own with the same name from the game. Similar combos are available with Eradicate, using any number of land animators.

That Which Was Taken and Nevinyrral's Disk

This combo is evil. The Disk destroys everything but land, including itself, but note that it is not sacrificed. While I was initially excited about this combo, the disk will still have its divinity counter after it pops the first time… but That Which Was Taken gets trashed as well, and can't target itself, and it needs to be in play for its “Permanents with a divinity counter are indestructible” clause to work. Throw in Yomiji, Who Bars the Way and you've got yourself a janky but possible combo.

Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar, Sylvan Library, Possessed Portal

Tomorrow's ability is a replacement effect, so you never actually draw any cards, they just make their way into your hand. Sylvan Library lets you draw 2 extra cards during your draw phase; because we never drew them in the first place, we don't have any to put back and don't lose any life, netting us 3 quality cards every turn (well, 1 out of every 3 has to be quality, right?) Possessed Portal is also a replacement effect, so you get to choose which one; naturally you will be choosing to peer at your top 3 cards and find something useful while your opponents hand and permanents whittle away from the Portal.

Toshiro Umezawa, Forbidden Orchard and Night of Souls Betrayal

There are many ways to use and abuse Toshiro, but one combo is right here in Block. Tapping the Orchard puts a 1/1 under your opponents control giving them a creature which dies immediately, giving you the ability to trigger Toshiro anytime you want. Also in block is Hanabi Blast, which gets around the remove from game clause of Toshiro because it goes back to your hand; even if it then gets dropped from your hand to your graveyard, it has ‘forgotten' that it was supposed to be removed.

Umezawa's Jitte and Energy Chamber

In Kamigawa Block, there have been a few artifacts that use charge counters, giving them some synergy with Mirrodin block cards. Umezawa's Jitte is a powerful card, and Energy Chamber can make it doubly useful, even when it isn't equipped (I can picture a deck where the only creature is Coretapper, but that is my casual mind working overtime)

Hopefully some of these combos have inspired the Johnny in you to go and try some. Of course I'm sure I've only touched the surface of combos available (I've stuck to mostly standard cards here) and there are plenty more that might not seem obvious at first. So if you pick-up on anything else, share it with the rest of us so we can build some janky, but nevertheless fun to play decks.

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