Overview
Here's a
Means to an End combo deck designed around pulling off a combo that will, given an arbitrary game length, inevitably work. It's weak to a specific few cards - holding up a
Protect will 90% of the time make you lose, since it can block Means going off. And if
Steward of the Past hits the table, you're basically dead.
The Combo
The goal of this deck is to get
Vara, Fate-Touched,
Slumbering Stone,
Shadowlands Guide, and
Infernal Tyrant in the void. That's a tall order, and it won't happen on time every time, so you have to play extremely defensively. Attacking in is almost meaningless with anything except your
Memory Dredgers,
Umbren Reapers, and the gargoyles off of dead Slumbering Stones (If safe to do so.)
The play order works like this for the combo: while you have a Means out, use your
Grasping at Shadows to pick up Vara, then a Guide, then the Stone, followed by Tyrant. Tyrant will then gain you 6 life, kill the Guide and Stone, mill 6 cards, and then the Gargoyle generated by the Stone will let Vara pick something else up. Ideally, this puts another Vara and Tyrant into the void. If not, well, you can still grab Shadowlands Guide again, then the Slumbering Stone, and then whatever else. Maybe a Reaper.
The goal is, of course, to mill your entire deck with Lifeforce triggers and beat your opponent with Means. Umbren Reapers are a fine backup plan, too, if you never draw a Means or mill them with Sporefolks.
Playing around Problem Cards
If you're playing against Justice that has been leaving up 1 power every turn, then don't go all-in on the combo immediately. Hopefully you have a cheap unit in-hand for Umbren Reaper recursion (where you pick them up repeatedly and kill them repeatedly with Tyrants, or just by having a full board state. Easy to do when you're guaranteed four Varas out by the end of the combo.) This can kill your opponent even after they use a protect on the Means going off.
If they've played an
Eilyn's Favor or
Duelist's Blade, you're going to want to crack a Reaper to deal with that Aegis best you can. Consider spending a Grasping on one of those instead of a Tyrant early on. Never pass up a Vara, obviously, since that will be Vara
and Umbren Reaper.
If you're playing against Steward of the Past, well, 90% of the time that's going to be a loss. You might be able to fight them off with recurred 6/6s with no text, or maybe Stew hits the table and doesn't silence too much, but your Entomb and Summons are far, far too important for this deck to function without them. If you don't have a
Combust in hand to deal with it immediately, then honestly, I might just recommend conceding.
Additional Warning
Going too deep into the combo can crash the client. When the board is full and you still have like 6 units lined up behind them to get put on the table. Unlike most effects that put things on the board, Vara counts as playing them, so you get to choose and destroy things that stick around.
Thank you very much for your contribution MDCT