So, since Felidar Guardian came out, I really liked the concept of the chain of 3 CMC persist creature → Kiki combo in Pod. It costs 9 mana total. Fundamentally I don't think this specific combo is probably good enough in CEDH but it just got me thinking about having a pod thread - so don't take this as a "Why don't they play this in CEDH?" My guess is because finks is a crappy card and CEDH wants to minimize bricks.
I remember when I first read the Blood Pod primer thinking it could use some detailed analysis of pod chains so I started thinking about it and wondering why people didn't run 3 cmc persist creatures (even just finks), for the 9 mana total pod chain that hits Kiki-Resto.
I looked at the list and I could not see a chain, even with karmic guide, that reliably gets Kiki combo off one turn of podding without having both commanders out (woof, 7 mana + 3 for pod + 2 activations for 12 mana).
Does anyone who knows more than me know enough to put some detailed analysis of pod chains together? I'm happy to help out with the ones I can think of. Doesn't seem to be a comprehensive birthing pod guide out there that I can find, especially not in 5c.
The key I think is to restrict it to the less fanciful ones - fewer steps, <12 mana, fewer dead cards, single turn (so as to be less situational)
I've seen some really wild combos in the
Vannifar thread, but Pod is much less flexible than vannifar (but also gets to play in more decks).
The basic one I started thinking about this with:
Combo 1
Precondition: 3 CMC creature on battlefield or in hand/command zone, birthing pod in hand or battlefield
9 total mana: Pod 3 CMC creature → Felidar Guardian blinking pod → Karmic guide returning Guardian, blinking pod , pod Guardian → Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Kiki-Jiki activates copying Karmic Guide returning Felidar Guardian. Blink Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. Combo!
Combo 2
Precondition: Kitchen finks and Birthing Pod in hand or battlefield
9 total mana: Kitchen Finks → pod into Felidar guardian, blink pod → Pod persisted Kitchen Finks into clone or Restoration Angel, blink guardian, blink pod → Pod 4CMC into Kiki jiki, Mirror Breaker
-dead cards: kiki, guardian, finks, resto (if played - metamorph or phantasmal image would not be dead cards since they're good)
Combo 3
Just trying to get moving a little on our initial charter: