Tsuyoshi Ikeda's Blue-Black-Red Trix

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In celebration of the impending release of Shards of Alara, Daily Decks looks at past creations that combined the colors of Magic into those of the shards found in Alara. The plane of Grixis would shiver the spines of most planeswalkers, just as the deck known as Trix chilled many a tournament player to the core. Arguably the most powerful combo deck of all time, this particular version was used by Tsuyoshi Ikeda to make the Top 8 of Grand Prix–Kuala Lumpur in 2000. He forced Necropotence on the board with Duress and Force of Will, then used the power of "the Skull" to fill his hand. To combo, he would simply play an Illusions of Grandeur, gaining 20 life in the process, then Donate it to his hapless opponent who would eventually fail to pay the cumulative upkeep and, conveniently, lose 20 life. Firestorm allowed Ikeda to keep the board clear of pesky creatures as well as do the final points of damage in the event his opponent tried to gain life to get out from underneath the Illusions. Check out a Shards of Alara preview card from Grixis here and make sure to visit the Shards of Alara product section.