Combat tricks in Magic: the Gathering gameplay are surprise plays that can turn the tide of battle, catching your opponent off guard and leading to favorable outcomes. It is somewhat of a funny feeling to catch your opponents by surprise with your combat trick and get ahead of the board after that instance.

Here are some of the best scenarios where combat tricks can shine in Magic: The Gathering:

 1. Ambushing an Overconfident Attacker

• Scenario: Your opponent attacks with a creature, confident that they’ll win the trade or push through damage.
• Trick: Use a combat trick like Giant Growth or Blessing of Belzenlok to boost your creature’s power/toughness. This can allow your creature to survive the attack, kill the attacker, or even deal extra damage back to your opponent.

2. Exploiting Block Decisions

• Scenario: Your opponent double-blocks one of your creatures, expecting to take it down with two smaller creatures.
• Trick: Play Might of Oaks or Ahn-Crop Crasher to increase your creature’s power or grant it abilities like trample. This can lead to both blockers being destroyed or allow you to break through for unexpected damage.

3. First Strike and Deathtouch Synergy

• Scenario: Your creature has first strike, and your opponent blocks with a larger creature, expecting to survive.
• Trick: Cast Touch of Moonglove or Terminate to give your first strike creature deathtouch. This combination ensures that your creature kills the blocker before it has a chance to deal damage back, potentially swinging the game in your favor.

4. Preventing Lethal Damage

• Scenario: Your opponent attacks with enough creatures to deal lethal damage, believing they’ve secured the win.
• Trick: Use a combat trick like Fog or Moment of Heroism to either prevent all combat damage or give one of your creatures lifelink and a toughness boost. This can completely negate the lethal attack, potentially setting up a counterattack on your next turn.

5. Turning the Tide of an Alpha Strike

• Scenario: Both players are at low life, and your opponent launches an all-out attack, hoping to overwhelm you.
• Trick: Use Settle the Wreckage or Fumigate at instant speed to exile or destroy all attacking creatures. This not only clears the board but also leaves your opponent wide open for a lethal counterattack on your turn.

6. Luring with a Weak Creature

• Scenario: You attack with a small, seemingly harmless creature, baiting your opponent into a confident block.
• Trick: Surprise them with Apostle’s Blessing or Brave the Elements to make your creature unblockable by giving it protection from the blocking creature’s color. This allows your creature to deal its full damage, bypassing the block entirely.

7. Capitalizing on Trample Damage

• Scenario: Your creature with trample is blocked by a smaller creature, and your opponent is at low life.
• Trick: Use Colossal Might or Temur Battle Rage to boost your creature’s power and ensure maximum trample damage carries over to your opponent. This can turn what seemed like a safe block into a devastating loss of life for them.

8. Dodging Removal

• Scenario: Your opponent targets one of your attacking creatures with a removal spell during combat.
• Trick: Cast Blossoming Defense or Ranger’s Guile to give your creature hexproof and potentially a boost in toughness. This keeps your creature alive and allows it to continue the attack, often turning what was a losing situation into a winning one.

9. Utilizing Double Strike

• Scenario: You have a creature with double strike that is about to deal damage in combat.
• Trick: Use Boros Charm or Uncaged Fury to further boost your double-strike creature’s power. Since double strike deals damage twice (first strike and regular), the boost applies twice, potentially leading to massive damage output.

10. Maximizing Death Triggers

• Scenario: You have a creature with a powerful “when this creature dies” ability that your opponent is about to kill in combat.

• Trick: Play Undying Evil or Supernatural Stamina to give the creature a boost and return it to the battlefield after it dies. This allows you to not only get the death trigger effect but also keep the creature in play, ready for another round.

Using combat tricks in these scenarios can dramatically alter the outcome of a game, often swinging the momentum in your favor with a single well-timed play. The key is to remain unpredictable and keep your opponent guessing, turning their confident plays into costly mistakes.