KeyForge Public Radio is honored to host this article by KeyForge strategist John, a.k.a. SecondAct., the next part of his long-running KeyForge Comobs series.
Now that Winds of Exchange is out in the U.S., and hopefully will soon be out internationally, I thought it was time once again to look at some combos that you might find in the set. I appreciate Zach hosting my writing here on KeyForge Public Radio since Timeshapers is currently on blackout.
1. Total Recall and Space Invaders
Total Recall is a fantastic card in WoE. It brings all your tokens back to your hand so that you can use them as their normal versions, and it gives you lots of Æmber for doing it. However, there is a problem. You might not want all those cards in your hand! You might have pulled back a creature like Chancellor Dexterus or Revered Monk that is simply going to clog up your hand until you can get rid of it. That’s where Space Invaders comes in. It lets you get rid of all those creatures you don’t want and play them back out as tokens. It’s kind of like Martians Makes Bad Allies, except that the creatures become tokens instead of Æmber. It’s even better because if the Space Invaders gets tokenized, it doesn’t matter, because it’s coming to your hand on the Total Recall, anyway. Thanks to BHawk for his suggestion on this one.
2. Rogue Operation and Grunt Work
In general, Star Alliance is not very good in Winds of Exchange. They simply want board states to exist that are not easy to achieve and maintain. However, there are some good cards in there. One of these is Rogue Operation. Steal 2 is a very good effect. There’s a reason why late-game Bo Nithing or Evil Twin Sea Urchin are considered really good cards. Rogue Operation can get you that effect some of the time, but what if you could get it every time? Enter Grunt Work. By allowing you to arrange the top two cards of your deck, Grunt Work guarantees that you will almost always hit a Steal 2 on your Rogue Operation (unless you flip three cards of the same house). Navigator Ali has a similarly beneficial effect to supercharge Rogue Operation, and he might even be better, since he allows you to protect one of your three cards so that you will draw it instead of tokenize it. Thanks to ketzer for this suggestion.
3. Zephon the Opulent and Knightapult
Zephon the Opulent can be a very strong card. Not only does he give you two token creatures when he enters play, but he can potentially reap for three, which is half a key! However, he’s only two power, so he’s pretty easy to kill, and thus unlikely to ever get to reap. If only there were a way to bring him in ready… oh right, there is! Knightapult allows a creature (usually Sanctum) to come in ready. That allows Zephon to be used as soon as he enters play, creating a three aember burst. This combo comes via everyone’s favorite Sanctum expert, joelker.
4. Market Crash and Tya-Arhĭ, Esquire
Board sweeps can be a bit of a bummer. Not only do you wipe your opponent’s board, but you lose your own board, too. However, if you have the Esquire in play, then not only do you clear your opponent’s board, but you also get a bunch of tokens for your effort. I have this combo in a deck that has two Esquires, and that’s even better, as you get twice as many tokens as you had non-token creatures. Just make sure you always remember to kill your opponent’s Esquire before you sweep the board.
5. Ether Spider and Epic Poem
Ether Spider is good at accumulating a lot of Æmber fast, since it captures all your opponent’s Æmber by default. This makes it a good target for effects like Epic Poem or Inspiring Oration that want a creature to have a lot of Æmber on it. It’s also a good target for cards like Exchange Program that can ship it over to your opponent, kind of like a Tribute/Exile combo from Worlds Collide. If your opponent has Ether Spider, you should probably kill it as soon as possible before they do something with it that causes problems for you. Thanks to BHawk and ketzer for suggesting this combo.
6. Hymn to Duma and Whirlpool
Ever since Whirlpool first debuted, the best strategy has been to load a creature up with Æmber and send it over to your opponent. Well, Hymn to Duma does this very effectively. However, that’s not all. If your opponent managed to ship a creature with a bunch of Æmber over to you, Hymn to Duma allows you to blow up your own battle line to send it back to them. It’s almost as if these cards were meant to go together. Thanks to Mrperfect1 for the suggestion here.
Cpt. Stupendous also suggested that Hymn to Duma makes an excellent combo with Epic Poem as well.
7. Zizok and PYR*0
This one’s pretty simple. Zizok benefits from having strong splash-attack, so why not give him more splash-attack? With PYR*0 attached, Zizok could easily wipe an opponent’s board, and then even reap afterwards. Thanks to r0gershrubber for suggesting this one.
8. Talent Scout and Pull Up Stakes
Talent Scout is really good. You get an Æmber and you get to take the best creature in your opponent’s hand. What could be better? Well, how about using it twice? After you play Talent Scout, use Pull Up Stakes to get it back, and then play it again. You can nab two creatures from your opponent’s hand. Your options will be even better for the second nab, because chances are your Pull Up Stakes put some more creatures back into their hand. Thanks to VendettaVXV for this cool combo.
9. Gĕzdrutyŏ the Arcane and Sandhopper
As I mentioned earlier, Steal 2 is a really good effect. Gĕzdrutyŏ the Arcane can do it, but only once. After that, Gĕzdrutyŏ becomes a token. However, what if you wanted to use it again? Well, Sandhopper lets you do that. Turn Gĕzdrutyŏ into a token, bounce it to hand to play something else, and then play it down again. Next turn, steal another two Æmber. Thanks to Dauntless for suggesting this combo.
10. Legionary Trainer and Scholar
This has been one of my favorite combos in Winds of Exchange so far, probably because I was fortunate enough to open a number of decks that have the combo. Play Legionary Trainer, reap with Scholar, hope to draw into something that can make more Scholars and allow for more reaping. You can generate a bunch of Æmber and a big board in just one turn of using this. If your opponent doesn’t respond, do it again next turn! The only limit is the sky (or the rule of six).
Summary
Well, there you have it. Ten more combos for Winds of Exchange! I asked the community to help me with this and they responded in droves, so there will certainly be more articles coming. This didn’t even use half the combos I received. Remember, if you ever want to talk KeyForge, I can be found on TCO and on most KeyForge Discords as SecondAct. Also, feel free to check out my podcast, Weekend KeyWarriors, which I co-host with Arly. It can be found on most major podcast platforms.
