Magic: The Gathering’s second set of the year has given us the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and after a look at the frankly ridiculous Cloning of Shredder, the community has stumbled across an even more overpowered combo.
Shredder, Shadow Master will only cost you a dollar or two, but in pairing with a card from Lost Caverns of Ixalan, you can win a match in one fell swoop – quite literally.
Shred Friends and Foes Alike
Before we get started, it’s worth noting this might not make you particularly popular at the table.
Shredder, Shadow Master is a powerful card in its own right. It’s a five-cost, 5/5 Legendary Human Ninja, with the following text:
“Whenever Shredder attacks a player, for each other opponent, create a token that’s a copy of Shredder tapped and attacking that player, except it isn’t legendary. Sacrifice those tokens at end of combat.”
The real stinger, though, is the final part, which reads: “Whenever Shredder deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up.”
The idea is that your Shredder, or its clones, will do damage to an opponent and halve their life total – but if you get Bloodletter of Aclazotz on the field, you can finish them.
The Bloodletter of Aclazotz is a $30 card from Lost Caverns of Ixalan. It’s a 2/4 with Flying, but its real advantage is that “If an opponent would lose life during your turn, they lose twice that much life instead. (Damage causes loss of life.)”
That means hitting an enemy with any of the three attacking Shredders will completely wipe that opponent out – even if the Bloodletter isn’t attacking.
That’s probably why the Bloodletter’s price is rising on TCGplayer, but if you fancied trying out this combo, rest assured knowing Shredder himself is under $2.
For more on Magic: The Gathering, check out our favorite Commander precons of all time, as well as a detailed look at what we like most about the Turtle Power one.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.
