This is my third in a series of articles on the five basic dominion deck types. This covers The Combo Deck, probably second-rarest of all, which rests between The Rush and Engine decks.
What Defines a Combo Deck?A combo deck is a one that revolves entirely around a particular specific combo of 2+ different cards, generally getting 5-20 copies of the required cards in total. Once the combo is in place, if this has happened quickly enough, the deck should basically just win. This archetype does not deal with cards that work well together - i.e. it's not just decks that have combos in them, a la Horse Traders-Duke, which is a slog, or warehouse-treasure map, which works together well but isn't an entire deck, but rather deals with combos that are self-contained, the-entire-deck-and-gameplan-is-this strategies. Typically, these combos are fairly resistant to adding other cards in with them.
Usually, with more than two distinct cards, you are really talking about an engine, which is a bunch of good cards that work well together and draw a lot, but this is not a hard-and-fast rule. Even things like Hunting Party stacks and minion decks aren't combos - they're engines - that's just (strong) cards being used to cycle you through, which can sometimes be extremely powerful with few cards, but isn't a combo - there needs to also be some particular synergy, a sum-is-greater-than-the-parts, but particularly in such a way that goes beyond the normal functionality of a cards. For instance, something like Worker's Village and Rabble pair really nice together, as they give you actions, attack, buys, and draw - everything you need for an engine except money (well, maybe you would also like trashing and/or alt VP, but you generally don't need ALL that) - but this is clearly not a combo, it is an engine, and part of how you can tell is that the parts are really modular - you might lose a little bit of efficiency by switching to another kind of village or smithy variant, but generally those roles can be filled by a number of other cards. Something like Native Village/Bridge, on the other hand is very much a combo - it plays quite differently than other decks featuring these cards, and more important, you can't get the same kind of functionality out of any other cards - you can get bridge mega-turns in engines, to be sure, but nothing plays that same way.
Some examples of Combo Decks include (not an exhaustive list!):
- The Native Village/Bridge deck
- The Chancellor(or Scavenger)/Stash deck
- The Golden Deck
- The Counting House/Golem deck
- The Apothecary/Native Village deck
- Various forms of the Deck Deletion Pin deck
- Some kind of KC/KC/Scheme/Scheme/Terminal Silver/Terminal Silver, though this probably isn't very good, even in the colony games it's designed for
- Tactician/Vault
What's good for combos?It really depends on the combo you're playing. Or... Combo pieces and/or ways of slowing opponents down to get your combo in place. But mostly combo pieces.
Interaction with OpponentsDon't. Well, have general tactical awareness, look for three pile ending possibilities. But largely, you're playing for your combo.
MatchupsAgain, this is all dependent on what combo you're playing, but there are some general tips. Usually, there is some weakness of the combo. Usually this is an attack or type of attack - i.e. the golden deck is vulnerable to junkers and discards, chancellor(scavenger)/stash is very vulnerable to discard, scheme-based combos are vulnerable to minion, and if it's a large enough scheme chain, things like fortune teller. There are also other kinds of holes - for instance, combos which eventually attack the opponent into submission can be vulnerable to reactions - most forms of the Deck Deletion pin can be blocked by moat or horse traders. All deck deletion pins can get into a stalemate (or lose) if there is a massive lead for the opponent, in VP chips or on a mat somewhere, or there are drawing duration cards available. Native Village-based combos are extremely vulnerable to possession. So watch out for these things, know when they counter you, if they can be fast enough, etc. And know how to use them to counter combo decks if you are on the other side.
Combo decks are also in general vulnerable to not getting up and running in enough time. What 'enough time' is depends on the combo - a deck deletion pin is in time if it ever gets in before buying out the curses (or rarely, coppers; I suppose ruins as well now) can effectively be used to pile out the game with the win for its opponent, but others need enough expensive VP on the board, or at least 50% in many cases, to be available.
The biggest threat to making this happen is generally a strong, fast engine, as they can certainly outrace Combos, most normally if they have strong trashing to kick-start them. Rush decks also pose a serious threat in being able to finish things off too quickly for the combo to get in place.
Mirrors become strange things. Either it is a race to get the combo up first, which is a combination of 1st turn and luck, generally, with some skill on the order of the build, or very often it will end up in a 3-pile ending, where you want to build as long as you can so that you can cash out, but if you DO cash out too early, then this gives them a lot of time to build up for a bigger turn, and if you build too long, you run the risk of them three pile ending you. So the timing of when you pull the trigger, particularly if your combo is one that can go off as a matter of scale, is a huge skill in this kind of matchup. If the three pile ending is very likely, you need to watch out for defensive greening. Sometimes, a seemingly random duchy can be VERY good - it gives you the lead, will be good in the long run, and most importantly, it can stop your opponent from being able to buy more engine components, by utilizing the threat of that three pile ending.
