"Nettle Drone EDH: Nettled to Death"

"Nettle Drone EDH: Nettled to Death"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Nettle Drone is simply one of those cards that scream combo at you right from the start. Combo! And one particular infinite damage loop comes to mind as I looked at it even more.

There is an existing combo of Ashnod's Altar(Or another sac outlet) + Enduring Renewal + Ornithopter/Memnite/Phyrexian Walker that grants its controller infinite colorless mana. On it's own this is already a powerful effect but it needs a 4th piece to make it lethal. Enter Impact Tremors and you could deal 1 damage to each of your opponents for each creature that comes into play under your control.

The Combo is simple , sacrifice your Ornithopter/Memnite/Phyrexian Walker to Ashnod's Altar and Enduring Renewal returns it to your hand. You could cast the Ornithopter/Memnite/Phyrexian Walker again and again. Hence the infinite damage with Impact Tremors and now another card that could do the trick is Nettle Drone who seems happy to ping someone for one damage and then untap whenever you cast a colorless spell. It so happens that Ornithopter/Memnite/Phyrexian Walker are all colorless Artifact spells that you could cast for free whenever they return to your hand.

While Nettle Drone is unimpressive in Standard there is a definite place for it in EDH decks that are already using this combo. A redundancy that could still get you a win when the lone Impact Tremors in your deck is beyond your reach. Make your opponents feel the pain as you nettle away at their life totals one ping at a time.

As an upgrade to this killer combo. X casting creatures like Endless One and Hangarback Walker could be used in combination with Enduring Renewal alone. Simply cast these creatures for X and they die once they hit the battlefield. At which point they return to your hand because of Enduring Renewal, Eliminating the need for a sacrifice outlet. Less combo pieces mean more chances of pulling of a Nettle Drone death. A little more pricey but hey it will get the job done.

And speaking of redundancy Molten Nursery could  also fill in the role of Nettle Drone in the combo as well. It doesn't die to Doom Blade. And might even survive the ton of enchantment hate in current EDH settings. I am excited at the options that has sprung up in such a short time. Time to ping away!

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Writers Note:
A big thank you to Judge Ian Mervin Go for the idea about the existing X creatures Endless One and Hangarback Walker .

I would also like to thank the Unknown user who commented about using Molten Nursery. I am sorry I don't know your name but thank you for your comment.

I am extremely happy about how this post was read and accepted by the Pinoy Magic Community. I love the exchange of ideas. Thank you for your support everyone.