Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube | Art by Johan Grenier

Cosmic Combos

I'm back with another article about five ways to use a card, but this week is Combo Week, so we're gonna switch it up a bit.

Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube is our card of choice today, an artifact from Marvel Super Heroes that casts spells from the top of your deck for free, as long as you've got a creature attacking with power greater than or equal to the spell's mana value. It's a pretty useful card, and we're looking at the five best cards that combo with it.

Why the five best cards that combo with it, and not the five best combos you ask? Well, it's because I preemptively picked Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube before checking if it actually comboed, and now I'm realizing there's not a single infinite with fewer than four cards. Yeah, maybe Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube isn't the ideal card to write about today, but I love a good challenge, and it draws out some pretty unique cards. So let's see what this hastily picked prompt forces us to uncover!

Aurelia, the WarleaderAurelia, the Warleader

Because Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube triggers on attack, there are only two ways to go infinite with it. Extra turns, or extra combats. With any of the combos that we're exploring, our goal is to break the limitations of one of these cards, using the Cube.

Aurelia's limitation is that she only triggers the first time she attacks in a turn. But if we were to put her on top of our deck between when she triggers and when Cosmic Cube triggers, (a narrow window, I know), then we could use Cosmic Cube to recast her, resetting the extra combat ability. Boom, we've gone infinite!

The reason I'm highlighting Aurelia instead of some other extra combat creature is quite simple. Haste. Combat CelebrantCombat Celebrant will do the job just as well if we have a pair of Lightning GreavesLightning Greaves out, but that's one more card in our already complicated combo, so we're going to stick with Aurelia.

Wanderwine ProphetsWanderwine Prophets

In the intro I mentioned that I haven't found a single combo with fewer than four cards. That's true, unless we get really lucky. Wanderwine ProphetsWanderwine Prophets is honestly one of the easiest cards to go infinite with, requiring only a single Merfolk a turn.

Technically, Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube is a way to get a Merfolk every turn. Of course, there's a problem, which is that our odds of getting a Merfolk in the top six cards of our library aren't perfect. In an all-Merfolk deck, they're quite good, but there's always the chance we get six Islands in a row, and then the combo is broken. Still, it totally could work, and because Wanderwine Prophets has enough power to let Cosmic Cube cast 3-drops, it can happen with literally just two cards, the best rate in this article.

Naturally, there are a million better ways to go infinite with Wanderwine ProphetsWanderwine Prophets, but that's kind of a given for every single combo here.

Nexus of FateNexus of Fate and Beacon of TomorrowsBeacon of Tomorrows

Now for a combo that's not nearly as simple. Most extra-turns spells try to prevent players from reusing them, usually by exiling themselves, or in the case of Nexus of FateNexus of Fate and Beacon of TomorrowsBeacon of Tomorrows, by shuffling themselves into our library. Luckily, that just happens to be where Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube looks.

There's no guarantee that those spells will be in the top six cards of our library, unless, of course, our library only has six cards in it. Is this a ridiculous idea already? Absolutely, but I'm gonna keep going. With six cards in our library, we can go infinite, but only for six turns. After that, we'll deck out and lose. So what if we ran a card that prevents us from drawing cards, like NecropotenceNecropotence? Problem solved, and we've got a perfect infinite combo.

Hua Tuo, Honored PhysicianHua Tuo, Honored Physician

Now let's get back to where we were at the start of this article. We need a way to put Aurelia, the WarleaderAurelia, the Warleader from our battlefield to the top of our deck, and it's gotta be at instant speed so it can happen before Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube triggers. Enter Hua Tuo, Honored PhysicianHua Tuo, Honored Physician.

He can tap to put a creature from our graveyard on top of our deck, so all we have to do is sacrifice Aurelia, the Warleader with an Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia before the Cosmic Cube trigger resolves. Then we can resurrect her with Hua Tuo, recast her with Cosmic Cube, and do it all again next combat.

Except... Hua Tuo's text only allows us to activate him before attackers are declared on our turn. When I first found him, I thought that was just weird wording on an old card, and that the updated Oracle text would say he could only be activated during the phases before the declare attackers step. But nope, his text means exactly what it says, and we can only activate him before our first combat phase. Therefore, he's completely useless with Aurelia.

Haunted CrossroadsHaunted Crossroads

Luckily, there are alternatives. Haunted CrossroadsHaunted Crossroads is the ultimate card to combo with Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube, essentially allowing us to reuse any creature, as long as we can sacrifice it. It'll complete the combo with Aurelia or any other extra combat creature, and it's also just really good with Cosmic Cube in general. The ability to put any creature from our graveyard on top of our deck, ready to be recast with the Cube, can be really strong. Usually with Cosmic Cube, we have to get lucky, but with Haunted Crossroads we can be extremely strategic.

Finally, this leads me to the ideal commander for Cosmic CubeCosmic Cube, not to mention the ideal commander for a Cosmic Cube combo deck. Isshin, Two Heavens as OneIsshin, Two Heavens as One doubles our Cube triggers, has the right colors for the Aurelia combo, and supports many of the other cards that the Cube combos with anyway. It's the perfect fit!

Of course, the question remains as to whether we should try and combo with the Cube at all, but that's not exactly the point of this article, is it?

Combo Cube

Well, that's five different cards that can potentially combo with the ol' Cube. But if you'd like five cards that combo well with it, you might be out of luck. Ultimately, it wasn't really made for this purpose.

Don't forget, even the best combos here needs a huge attacker just to successfully cast the spell! Regardless, I liked coming up with these a lot, and I bet y'all have some even better ideas. Please, give me your combos, it doesn't matter if they're reasonable or completely wild. I know y'all are creative!