RULE ZERO. read this first.

Bracket 4 readout.

Compliance checklist

Read this before sitting down at a Bracket 4 Karlov pod. The pregame above is the script. The compliance is what to volunteer if asked. The combo disclosure is what you read out loud so the table can verify it during the game. The Q&A handles the specific questions players run at you across pods.

Game Changers

Combo disclosure

Disclose both. Players should be able to verify these by reading the cards on board.

Combo 1 · Heliod plus Walking Ballista

Cards required:

• Heliod, Sun-Crowned ({2}{W}, legendary enchantment creature, 5/5 indestructible)
• Walking Ballista ({X}{X}, artifact creature, enters with X +1/+1 counters)

Assembly:

1. Cast Walking Ballista for X=2, 4 mana total. It enters as a 2/2 with two +1/+1 counters.
2. Cast Heliod for {2}{W} (3 mana).
3. Activate Heliod for {1}{W} (2 mana), targeting Walking Ballista: “Another target creature gains lifelink until end of turn.” Ballista now has lifelink for the rest of this turn, so one activation covers as many pings as you want to fire.
4. Activate Walking Ballista: “Remove a +1/+1 counter from Walking Ballista: it deals 1 damage to any target.” Ballista is now a 1/1 with one counter and survives state-based actions. Target an opponent.
5. Lifelink trigger: you gain 1 life.
6. Heliod’s “Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or enchantment you control” triggers; the counter goes back on Ballista, returning it to a 2/2 with two counters.
7. Loop steps 4-6 indefinitely.

Total mana: 9 from scratch (Heliod {2}{W} for 3, Ballista {X}{X} with X=2 for 4, Heliod’s lifelink activation {1}{W} for 2), with WW colored requirement spread across the sequence. 6 mana on the kill turn if Heliod is already in play (Ballista 4 + lifelink activation 2). 5 mana if Ballista is already on board with two counters (Heliod 3 + lifelink 2).

X=1 is not a clean-board two-card combo in this deck. Cast at X=1, Ballista enters as a 1/1 with one counter; removing that counter to ping makes Ballista a 0/0 that dies to state-based actions before Heliod’s on-lifegain trigger can return the counter. To kill from a Ballista cast at X=1 you have to route an outside lifegain trigger (a Soul Sister on a creature ETB) into Heliod first to bring Ballista up to two counters before the loop starts.

Splits across turns cleanly: Heliod T3 or T4, hold 2W up for Ballista plus lifelink activation T5 or T6. The Heliod-already-out path is the practical one in most games because Heliod survives most wraths (indestructible) while you tutor or draw the second half. On turns you do not want to combo, Heliod’s {1}{W} can give lifelink to a beater for fair value (Karlov, Vito, Bloodthirsty Conqueror), so the ability is never dead.

Tutor paths: Demonic, Vampiric, Grim, Enlightened, or Imperial Seal for either piece. Enlightened finds Heliod because Heliod is an enchantment creature. Sun Titan recurs Ballista on ETB or attack (MV 0 with no counters qualifies under his 3-or-less clause), but Ballista returns at X=0 as a 0/0 and dies on arrival unless a counter source is already in play.

Disruption windows: Heliod is indestructible, so wraths leave him alive. Ballista is a vanilla artifact creature, dies to wraths or artifact removal. Counter Heliod or Ballista on cast. Once both are in play, only an instant-speed interaction on the Ballista activation stops the loop. Volrath’s Stronghold returns a destroyed Ballista or Heliod from the graveyard to the top of your library for {1}{B}, so a wrath that kills Ballista is recoverable on your next draw (a card in exile is not).

Combo 2 · Sanguine Bond plus Exquisite Blood

Cards required:

• A Sanguine half (your lifegain makes an opponent lose life): Sanguine Bond (3BB enchantment), Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose (2B creature), or Enduring Tenacity (2BB 4/3 enchantment creature that returns as an enchantment when it dies)
• An Exquisite half (an opponent’s life loss makes you gain life): Exquisite Blood (4B enchantment) or Bloodthirsty Conqueror (3BB 5/5 flying deathtouch creature)
• One starter trigger: any single lifegain or damage-to-opponent

Assembly:

1. Cast Sanguine Bond on T5 or T6 (3BB, 5 mana). Crypt Ghast plus Urborg plus Cabal Coffers makes this T4-castable.
2. Cast Exquisite Blood (4B, 5 mana). Split across two turns or in one turn with rock acceleration.
3. Trigger the loop with: a Soul Warden ETB on any creature, a Karlov swing with Vault of the Archangel active, an Authority of the Consuls trigger on an opponent’s creature, a Suture Priest trigger, even a Blood Artist death drain.
4. Sanguine Bond: target opponent loses 1 life.
5. Exquisite Blood: you gain 1 life because that opponent lost life.
6. Sanguine Bond: you gained, opponent loses again.
7. Mandatory triggers. Stack resolves until target opponent is at 0. If they die mid-loop, Exquisite continues because “an opponent loses life” still has targets; Sanguine picks a new legal target each trigger.

Total mana: 10 (3BB plus 4B), 8 with Jet Medallion in play. Any of the six Sanguine-half plus Exquisite-half pairings runs the same loop; the cheapest is Vito plus Exquisite or Conqueror at 8 mana, 6 with Jet.

Tutor paths: Demonic, Vampiric, Grim, and Imperial Seal find any card. Enlightened Tutor finds the enchantment halves (Sanguine Bond, Exquisite Blood) but not the creature halves (Vito, Bloodthirsty Conqueror). Redundant halves make the loop hard to fully answer.

Disruption windows: Enchantment removal answers each half. Vanishing Verse in a WB mirror is the worst-case interaction for our side. Wraths do nothing. Once both are in play with a trigger source, only an instant-speed answer to the enchantment stops the kill. Hall of Heliod’s Generosity recurs a destroyed Sanguine Bond or Exquisite Blood from the graveyard to the top of your library, and Volrath’s Stronghold does the same for the creature halves, so destroy-based and sacrifice-based removal is no longer permanent. Enduring Tenacity goes further: it returns itself as an enchantment when it dies, so it survives wraths and sacrifice without any help from the lands. Exile effects (Vanishing Verse, Farewell, Despark) still slip past both lands and exile Enduring Tenacity for good.

Variant lines:

• Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose (2B, 3 mana) replaces Sanguine at a much lower cost. Vito plus Exquisite or Conqueror is the cheapest variant at 8 mana total, 6 with Jet Medallion.
• Bloodthirsty Conqueror (3BB, 5/5 flying deathtouch) replaces Exquisite Blood as the Exquisite half on a creature body. Same loop, plus it attacks for 5 evasive damage and dodges enchantment removal aimed at Exquisite Blood.
• Defiant Bloodlord (5BB, 7 mana) replaces Sanguine on a 4/5 flier. Slowest variant; sideboarded out of the maindeck. Bring it back vs. enchantment-removal-heavy pods.
• Enduring Tenacity (2BB, a 4/3 enchantment creature) is a third Sanguine half. It returns to the battlefield as an enchantment when it dies, so it is the most removal-resilient half; a board wipe leaves you an enchantment that still combos with Exquisite Blood or Bloodthirsty Conqueror.

If they ask