In this experiment, we take the three best and then donate the rest.

So, Demonic Pact offers some pretty low-hanging fruit when it comes to the realm of combos. I generally avoid low-hanging fruit, but hey, it looks fun, so what can I say?

There are a couple obvious routes. Let’s take a look.

Givin’ It Away

If you control Demonic Pact when you have to choose a mode, you’ll benefit from it—unless all you have left is the lose-the-game mode. In that case, it’s greatly to your detriment. So the idea is to choose the best three modes and then force an opponent to gain control of the Demonic Pact so that he or she has no choice but to choose that fourth mode and thusly lose the game.

Donate is the most straightforward way to share the Pact with an opponent. It takes several turns to get going, and the opponent will probably see it coming, but sometimes, he or she will just have nothing to do about it.

The Reset

In case we run through the three great upsides of Demonic Pact and haven’t found a Donate to give it away, we want to have plenty of ways to reset the Pact so we can continue benefiting from it instead of losing the game.

Flicker — This is the most straightforward option: Simply pay , and regain access to three great upkeep-trigger modes.

Brago, King Eternal — Brago is the king of Flicker, resetting any number of our Pacts when he hits an opponent—in addition to whatever else we want to reset.

Venser, the Sojourner — Venser has already lost the game, but his memory can help us avoid doing the same. His first ability reset Pacts, his second ability can be handy in a pinch and help Brago reset Pacts and other things, and his ultimate sets us up to completely control the board. Meanwhile, the Pact that’s being continually reset will help us defend Venser through massive card advantage.

Blinky Suite

With all these cards around to Flicker the Pact, let’s include some more value-generating, Flickerable cards.

Baleful Strix — This only costs 2 mana, replaces itself, and trades with basically any threat our opponent throws down. And if our opponent lets us sit around with the Strix in play, we can generate advantage with Brago triggers and Venser activations.

Wall of Omens — This acts much like a Baleful Strix, but it can stay in play even while effectively blocking. However, it doesn’t have flying or create a threat of trading, but it’s still solid.

Mulldrifter — This is kind of the de-facto option for Flickering, as it draws us two cards instead of one (as the previous two options do). It gives us a Divination option early or when we’re stalled, and when it becomes a three-for-one with more potential upside with Flicker, Brago, and Venser, things start to spiral out of control.

Possessed Skaab — This newcomer from Magic Origins draws us a single card when it enters the battlefield, but that card can be any instant, sorcery, or creature from our graveyard. It won’t bring back a Venser or a Pact, and it’s unlikely to return a copy of itself (because if its exiling death trigger), but it can return a Flicker (such as one we just used on the very same Skaab!), a removal spell, any of our Flickering or Flickerable creatures, and a countered or milled Donate.

Rune-Scarred Demon — This one’s pretty expensive, so casting it probably precludes us casting a Flicker, so we won’t be able to threaten that, but we will be able to search up our Donate or other key card for the situation. And like Possessed Skaab, it imitates Baleful Strix and Wall of Omens in terms of granting card advantage for Flickering, but the card it draws is rarely one we won’t be extremely happy to gain.

Sunblast Angel — A one-of Angel will reset the board against an opponent who’s trying to finish us off after our early-game setup, and it can be reused, so as to threaten future aggression. Brago and his trigger will let us attack and safely trigger Sunblast Angel in a single turn, so if we can cast, resolve, and protect it, we should be able to take over the game from there.

Demonic Donation ? Casual | Andrew Wilson

• Creatures (19)
• 2 Rune-Scarred Demon
• 3 Possessed Skaab
• 4 Baleful Strix
• 4 Mulldrifter
• 4 Wall of Omens
• 2 Brago, King Eternal

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Venser, the Sojourner

• Spells (14)
• 4 Smother
• 1 Donate
• 4 Flicker
• 1 Sunblast Angel
• 4 Demonic Pact

• Lands (24)
• 2 Swamp
• 2 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Watery Grave

Buy This Deck

This deck is less about crazy combo potential as it is about extreme synergy in a control shell. Yes, targeting a Demonic Pact with Donate to make our opponent lose the game is very much a combo sequence, but I feel that playing four Donates and hoping to draw one in the same early game as we drew, cast, and resolved a Demonic Pact is unlikely enough that we want to diversify our game plan.

That’s where the Flickering fallback came from, and that’s where the Flickerable creatures came from, and the rest of the deck evolved from there—until only a single Donate remained. But with all the card advantage, we’ll be able to find that Donate a reasonable amount of the time.

Our opponents will be forced to constantly play around a Donate (if they even can) while respecting the fact that our deck is full of other synergies that will spell their downfall most of the time. This is how Splinter Twin decks in Modern play: You have to treat the deck like a normal control deck while also understanding that if you tap out and the opponent just happens to “have it,” you’ll lose there and then. That’s very much unlike a control deck, but that’s the effect of including an instant-win combo in a control shell.

Demonic Pact probably isn’t strong enough for Modern play, but perhaps a Standard deck could run it and sideboard in Shifting Loyalties against Constellation decks. Or perhaps Demonic Pact with Puca's Mischief could actually cut Modern mustard.

These ideas aren’t strong enough to support entire archetypes, but Demonic Pact can be strong on its own if you’re somehow able to prevent yourself from losing to it, and being able to threaten the opponent with an instant loss at several points in the game can be very powerful.

So if you love Donating, if you love Flickering, and you love cards that say, “You lose the game,” give this deck a try.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com