Magic: The Gathering is a game of nearly infinite possibilities and card combinations. One of the most exciting parts of the game is when you discover two or more cards that interact in a way that opens up those possibilities. This page lists a few of those card combinations from the most recent sets.
When played well,
Pariah can act like both a
Holy Day and a
Terror. How? Enchant your opponent’s biggest attacker with it. As long as that creature remains in play, all damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to that creature instead. Your opponent will most likely have to stage an attack just to deal enough damage to kill his or her own creature and get the Pariah off the table!
When played extremely well, Pariah can make you completely immune to damage for the rest of the game. How? Enchant your own Cho-Manno, Revolutionary. All damage that would be dealt to you is dealt to Cho-Manno instead ... and all damage that would be dealt to Cho-Manno is prevented. Congratulations, you’re invulnerable!
Fog Elemental is one of the most efficient creatures ever printed: A 4/4 flier for three mana! What a deal! Of course, there’s that pesky drawback—it gets to attack or block only once per game. This means it usually stays home on defense, and the threat that it can take out your opponent’s best attacker will prevent that attack from happening. Late in the game, it might get one attack in if your opponent’s life total is low enough.
Well, Vedalken Mastermind has found a loophole. (It is a mastermind, after all.) Attack with your mighty flier, bash your opponent, return the Elemental to your hand with the Mastermind before you have to sacrifice it, then play it again. Fog Elemental is once again ready for defense—or for more attacking next turn.
You might think that the two black Lords wouldn’t get along too well, what with lordly rivalry being what it is. Happily, however, they’re the best of friends. If you have an extra Zombie lying around (and who doesn’t?), Lord of the Undead will keep Lord of the Pit happily fed for the rest of the game. Simply sacrifice that Zombie to Lord of the Pit during your upkeep, return it to your hand with Lord of the Undead, and replay it so it can get eaten again next turn. Festering Goblin is a great choice for a recurring snack because it’s cheap to play each turn and can take out small opposing creatures when it gets munched on—but really, any Zombie will do.
Saying that Furnace of Rath is a combo with another red card isn’t a big stretch. It’s a combo with just about every red card. For example, Furnace of Rath and Lava Axe combine for 10 damage! It’s not that clever, but who needs clever when you’re dealing 10 damage a pop?
To get even more blatantly brutal, bring in Siege-Gang Commander. By itself, this card is good for 8 damage if the Commander sacrifices each of the three Goblin tokens it creates, and then itself. Double that with Furnace of Rath and we’re up to 16 damage with just two cards. If two of the Goblins manage to deal combat damage to your opponent, that’s an even 20.
Back in Alpha (the first Magic set), one of the deadliest combos available was
Thicket Basilisk enchanted by
Lure.
Lure would force all opposing creatures that were able to block Thicket Basilisk to do so, and
Thicket Basilisk would destroy all those creatures (except Walls) at end of combat.
Thicket Basilisk would often be destroyed as well since it would probably be dealt lethal combat damage, but it certainly did its job.
Swap Basilisks, and the combo gets even more ridiculous. Sylvan Basilisk destroys each creature that blocks it (including Walls) at the time it gets blocked. This is before those creatures deal combat damage, so Sylvan Basilisk will live through the assault, ready to clear out all blockers turn after turn after turn!
Every time you sacrifice a creature to give Nantuko Husk +2/+2, Grave Pact forces your opponent to sacrifice a creature, too. If you really need to get rid of your opponent’s last creature, you can even sacrifice Nantuko Husk to itself!
Angelic Blessing turns the meek 1/1 Cephalid Constable into a vengeful 4/4 flier. When your new and improved Constable hits your opponent, it sends four of that player’s permanents flying—back to their owner’s hand.
Loyal Sentry will pay the ultimate price to destroy any creature it blocks, but you can slash that price by enchanting it with Regeneration. Every time the Sentry would destroy itself, you can pay 
to keep it in play.
Orcish Artillery deals 2 damage to anyone or anything—as long as you don’t mind taking 3 damage yourself. But if you can survive that, a Spirit Link enchanting the Artillery gives you 5 life back!
Merfolk Looter lets you tune your hand by drawing a card, then choosing a card from your hand to discard. If you discard Squee, Goblin Nabob, the Looter’s ability might as well be “
: Draw a card.”
Royal Assassin’s ability to destroy a tapped creature tends to keep opponents from tapping any creatures. Icy Manipulator solves that problem: You can tap it and spend 
to tap a creature of your choice.
Arcane Teachings lets the creature it enchants tap to deal 1 damage, but Horseshoe Crab can use this ability over and over again in a single turn. Tap the Crab to deal 1 damage, and then pay 
to untap it. Repeat as necessary.
This combo is so awesome that the cards' names hint at the combo! When
Deus of Calamity hits for 6 damage you can destroy one of your opponent's lands. With
Runes of the Deus giving it double strike, you can be hitting for 16 and destroying two lands every turn.
Swing away with the Witherscale Wurm and put your opponents in a bind. Blocking your Wurm causes Flourishing Defenses to spit out an army of 1/1 Elves. Then you can use Fate Transfer to kill another of their creatures—and get even more 1/1 Elves!—by moving the Wurm's -1/-1 counters onto their best creature. Of course your opponent can always decide to let Witherscale Wurm through and take 9 damage. It's a win-win situation!
Murderous Redcap can come out and kill a 2-toughness creature on its own. Then when its persist ability brings it back, it will do another 1 damage. Just when your opponent thinks the pain has stopped and Murderous Redcap is truly gone, cast Torrent of Souls. Since the Redcap has 4 power when it comes into play, it will deal 4 damage and start the carnage all over again!
Why settle for a 6/6 when you could have two 12/12s? But when settle for two 12/12s when you could have three 18/18s? Or four 24/24s? Or five 30/30s? Every time you cast Spitting Image on a Primalcrux, every Primalcrux gets 6 more power and toughness! As long as you can keep drawing lands to pay Spitting Image's additional retrace cost, you can grow your forces to 60,000 power! (well, if you made 99 copies plus the original.)
These three cards combine to wipe out your opponent's army of creatures while leaving yours unscathed! First, play out Crumbling Ashes. Next drop Soul Snuffers to give every creature (including Soul Snuffers) a -1/-1 counter. During your next upkeep, and every upkeep for the rest of the game, Crumbling Ashes destroys a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it. Before your opponent runs out of creatures, bring out Quillspike to eat any -1/-1 counters on your side of the table and make your creatures immune to Crumbling Ashes.
Doomgape hungry.
Doomgape eat Worms. Just in case a 10/10 trampler isn't big enough! When
Creakwood Liege comes out,
Doomgape grows to a 12/12! Sacrificing a creature every turn isn't such a burden with
Creakwood Liege making a 3/3 Worm every turn. As a finishing touch, the eaten Worms boost your life.
They're both Treefolk. One costs three mana and one costs four mana. They share a color. And Doran (which acts like a 5/5) will make Indomitable Ancients act like a 10/10. So sure, this might be the most obvious combo of all time. But that doesn't mean it's not smashtacular!
The Borderguard is a great creature to save with Graceful Reprieve. When it leaves play, you'll put a number of Kithkin Soldier tokens into play equal to the number of +1/+1 counters it had on it. Then it'll come right back into play with a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of Kithkin you have in play! Not only did you save your Borderguard, but it's at least as big as it used to be and you got some token creatures in the process!
Borderland Behemoth is a big fellow who loves to play with other Giants. You can put together the biggest Giant party on the block thanks to Shields of Velis Vel. How does giving your Behemoth +4/+4 for each creature you control sound? Thanks to trample, it'll take a lot of blockers for your opponent to slow down this attack.