Building a combo deck in Magic: The Gathering is about more than just assembling cool interactions. It’s about making sure those interactions happen reliably, under pressure, and against a variety of opposing strategies.

Whether you’re brewing for Modern, Pioneer, Commander, or just casual play, the goal is consistency: getting your combo pieces together quickly and executing your win condition before your opponent can stop you.

1. Define Your Win Condition Clearly

Start by identifying your core combo—what two or three cards win you the game or create a game-breaking advantage. This could be a classic like Splinter Twin + Pestermite or something more grindy like Kiki-Jiki + Restoration Angel. The combo should either win on the spot or put you so far ahead that winning becomes inevitable. Once you know what the deck is trying to do, every other card should support that goal.

2. Maximize Redundancy

Consistency comes from redundancy. Include multiple cards that serve the same purpose or support the same role. If your combo needs a specific creature, find other cards that function similarly or serve as backups. Tutors like Eladamri’s Call, Demonic Tutor, or even more conditional ones like Wishclaw Talisman can act as extra copies of your key pieces. If your deck dies without one card, run the ways to find it.

3. Include Card Draw and Filtering

A good combo deck sees a lot of cards each game. Cantrips, looting effects, and library manipulation help you dig faster and smooth your draws. Cards like Opt, Consider, Faithless Looting, or Stock Up not only find your combo faster but also help you recover if a piece gets removed. The more cards you see, the faster you assemble your combo.

4. Build in Protection and Interaction

Most combos are fragile. Smart opponents will try to disrupt you with removal, counterspells, or discard. So your deck needs to defend itself—either with cards like Counterspell, Veil of Summer, or Silence, or by forcing your opponent to act at the wrong time. Alternatively, you can run discard or tempo tools to slow your opponent down while you assemble your pieces.

5. Keep the Mana Base Tight

Your mana base needs to be as smooth and fast as your combo. Ideally, you want to operate on as few lands as possible and make sure all your colors are available early. Use fast lands, shock lands, or mana dorks depending on your format. If your combo relies on a specific sequence of plays on turns 3–5, make sure your mana never gets in the way.

Thanks for reading, and until the next blog post.