"Hornet Nest:Stingers and Burners"

"Hornet Nest:Stingers and Burners"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Hornet Nest has been on my mind lately.I knew that there was  a lot of potential for abuse when I saw it during the M15 Pre- Release. At first glance it is just a 3 to cast Defender who produces 1/1 flying tokens with death touch.It seems kind of limited because of its 0/2 frame. It could block a 3/3 creature and die but it would produce 3 1/1 tokens. However I didn't want to limit the Hornet nest usefullness to just that.It is great as a defender and a well timed Ajani's Presence or Mortals Resolve it would be able to stop a big 13/13 monster without trample in its tracks. It would stop that onslaught and net you 13 1/1 tokens. This is what it was designed for , Stop something big and create tons of tokens so you could give one hell of a payback. This is just in standard but there are other things that you could do besides this.

So I came up with this 4 card combo that may not be as easy to pull off but would be very satisfying once it could be pulled off. Sometimes being able to do the hard thing and win is a reward in itself.

Upkeep Production:

Fatal Attraction + Hornet nest + Darksteel Plate+

Doubling Season or Parallel lives - 8 tokens per upkeep

So the first step is to equip the hornet nest so that it becomes indestructible. Next is the Fatal attraction , a personal favorite of mine since it worked wonders with Stuffy Doll. The initial damage of 2 from Fatal Attraction would produce 2 tokens for you. Well 4 tokens if you already have either Doubling Season or Parallel lives already in play.Every upkeep you are sure to have 8 tokens. More on what to do with those tokens.

Now this other combo is when you are not able to draw Fatal attraction or Darksteel plate. In short this is the Non-Indestructible version of my combo.

Infinite Token Production:

Blasting Station + Hornet nest + Doubling Season/Parallel lives

Sacrifice an initial creature to Blasting Station , ping Hornet nest for 1 damage , create 2 tokens because of Doubling Season/Parallel lives , untap Blasting station because a creature just came in. When you have sufficient tokens you could simply use Burn at the stake , tap all those tokens on your side of the board and  Burn at the stake deals three times the damage equal to all creatures tapped this way. If you don't have Burn at The Stake at hand you could also use the 1 red mana costing Last Ditch Effort that allows you to sacrifice your tokens and deals damage equal to their number.

With all the pieces , it might not be an easy win to pull off but it would be rather to cool to see it in action. I would like to put this as an alternate win condition in one of my existing R/G EDH decks.

So maybe I could keep it simple and just use this combo.

Infinite Burn:

Hornet Nest + Purphorus, God of the Forge + Blasting Station

This was what I wanted to do when I first saw Hornet Nest , burn someone , well in this case burn everyone. So the combo is pretty straight forward with Hornet Nest + Purphorus, God of the Forge already in play. Then all we need is the Blasting Station and a creature to sacrifice to it as a trigger to set things in motion. Ping 1 to Hornet Nest , Hornet Nest being a 0/2 doesn't die and instead brings out a 1/1 token , Purphorus then sees this creature coming into play and deals 2 damage to each of your opponents. Blasting station also sees this creature and untaps ready to begin the cycle once more.

Time to make a test run.