This is a list of combat tricks which in many games allowed me to get an action advantage. IMO in the end, most games are won as a result of accumulated action advantages. Therefore, it might be quite helpful to know these tricks.
The turtle cracker trick:
Lets assume you and your opponent have some heavy hitters and it’s a stall. During the next rounds your opponent summons even more creatures hoping to get ahead of you. Instead of doing the same, you cast enchantment transfusion, nullify, jinx and force hold on your own creature! Now, teleport the opponents mage into your zone (you might need to pull off his nullify first) and reveal enchantment transfusion to move jinx, nullify and force hold to his mage! BÄM he is at a MAJOR MAJOR action disadvantage and wont get out of your zone for 2 rounds at least (you can cast a second jinx in the next round to make sure). His creatures will need some time to follow their master. Often, this time is enough to kill the opponent with your heavy hitters and maybe a wizard tower.
I had so many games in which the opponent turtled and suddenly he was defeated without his creatues being of any use.
A variation of this trick is to cast transfusion + turn to stone+force hold on your own creature while in a stalled situation. When the battle begins you can move turn to stone and force hold on the attacking creatures which will give you a major action advantage as well.
Some might argue that enchantment transfusion costs an action and mana, so you start this combo with a disadvantage. But, in some situations an action/mana disadvantage doesn’t hurt that much. An action disadvantage especially hurts if it is an accumulated disadvantage, which this combo is able to cause in a later part of the game. So in the end, this combo is not useful if you are in the middle of a battle. But it is great if you are preparing for an upcoming battle!
The timed Jinx:
Cast enchantment transfusion + jinx on your own creature. If the opponent casts a quickcast you really don’t like this round, reveal transfusion and move jinx to the opponent during the counter spell step. He will be able to cast that spell in the next round and you will have spent quite some mana and two actions while he lost only one. So this trick does cost a lot. But, unlike normal jinx, you can decide which spell to jinx!
The timed Nullify:
Cast enchantment transfusion + nullify on a creature which your opponent might not target with a random enchantment or incantation. If he targets a different creature of yours with an incantation you really do not like (e.g. teleport, force push, explode, dissolve, purge magic, drain life, drain soul, knockdown), reveal transfusion and move nullify to that target to counter the incantation. This is especially useful against incantations which cost a lot, since usually your opponent will make sure there is no nullify on the target. But, in this case, although there is no face down enchantment on the target the incantation still gets nullified!
The timed whatsoever:
You can use enchantment transfusion together with reverse magic, block and reverse attack. In all these combinations, the base protective enchantment does not allow you to decide when it is triggered. But, the combination with transfusion grants you this freedom of choice unless the creature you casted it on is targeted or the creature you want to move the protective enchantment on is out of range.
The ultimate push:
Use force push + wall of thorns + wizard tower + jet stream to do over 20 damage in one round!
This combination can end a game very quickly if the opponent is unaware of this threat. The downside is, 2 armor decrease its damage by roughly 45%. So, it is risky to prepare it even if the opponent has zero armor, since he might foresee it and cast a rhino hide or nullify before the action phase.
The Forcemasters instant kill combo:
Maybe one of the most effective combos, but only the FM can use it. Cast Mordok's Obelisk or Essence Drain on a creature followed by a Mind Control. In the next Ukeep Phase refuse to pay the upkeep -> the creature is gone forever (unless its resurrected
).
Playing around initiative:
This is not a special combo per se, but it is very important to think about initiative if planning combos. Often the best time to start/prepare a combo is when the opponent has initiative. The reason for this is that you will have the last quickcast in this round and the first quickcast in the following round. Therefore, in between these two quickcasts your opponent cant react unless he has a face down enchantment prepared!
If you have at least as much creatures as your opponent and he used his quickcast already, you will have 3 actions in a row if you use your mages action last (if you got a wizard tower even more). Three actions (+wizard tower) give you the potential to lay down some devastating combos. E.g. you can push off his nullify, teleport him and then jinx/force hold/nullify him. After that he will have a quick action which should be eaten up by your jinx/nullify and then your heavy hitter and wizard tower can attack him.
If you dont want to focus him, but one of his heavy hitters, save the action of your own creature with the highest damage output till the end. Then, teleport his heavy hitter (preferably the one without a face down enchantment) into your zone and attack it with your big creature and the wizard tower. In the next round, nullify his heavy hitter to prevent a teleport or protective enchantment/heal and hit it again with your big creature + wizard tower. Thats two hits from your big creature (e.g. a grizzly with bear strength) + two casts from wizard tower - most creatures do not survive this.
To sum up: Playing with initiative is often crucial to finish off big creatures or to deal impressive amounts of damage to the opponents mage.
Using the Battle Forge during late game in combination with Mage Wand to save actions:
Usually the downside of the Battle Forge is that at some point you dont have any (useful) equipment left to make use of its action and mana. But, if you still have two mage wands at that point you can use the forge to switch the bound spell without spending your mages action! Just cast the second mage wand with your BF which will put the wand in your hand into your spellbook. The new casted wand will have a new spell bound to it.
Sure, its cheaper to just use your mages action to switch the spell for 3 mana, but you loose an action and with this trick you might even save mana since during endgame your Forge might have quite some mana on it which you cant effectively use otherwise.
To be continued ...
