Life Damage Combos

Imagine your opponent’s face when you deal a staggering 24 damage on just the second turn of the game. Sounds impossible? Think again! Today, we’re diving into a mind-blowing Magic: The Gathering combo that will have your opponents scrambling for answers before they’ve even played their second land.

This devastating combo brings together four cards that, when played in the right sequence, can end the game before it truly begins:

Leyline of Resonance
Heartfire Hero
Turn Inside Out
Callous Sell-Sword

Let’s break down this symphony of destruction, step by step.

Setting the Stage: Turn 0 and 1

The magic begins before you even draw your first card. With Leyline of Resonance in your opening hand, you start the game with this powerful enchantment on the battlefield. Its ability to double the next instant or sorcery you cast each turn is the cornerstone of our combo.

On turn one, you play a land and cast our unassuming hero, the Heartfire Hero. This 1/1 mouse might look harmless, but it’s about to become the vessel of your opponent’s demise.

The Explosive Turn 2

Now, it’s time for the fireworks. On turn two, follow these steps:

Cast Turn Inside Out targeting your Heartfire Hero. Thanks to Leyline of Resonance, this spell is cast twice!
The first cast switches the mouse’s power and toughness, making it a 2/1.
The second cast switches it again, resulting in a massive 4/1 creature.
Heartfire Hero’s ability triggers, doubling its power to a whopping 8/1!

At this point, you’re swinging with an 8/1 creature on turn two. Assuming your opponent can’t block (and they rarely can this early), that’s more than a third of their life total gone in one hit.

But we’re not done yet.

After combat, cast Callous Sell-Sword‘s adventure spell, Burn Together, sacrificing your Heartfire Hero.
Burn Together deals 8 damage to any target (thanks to the Hero’s 8 power).
When Heartfire Hero dies, its ability triggers again, dealing another 8 damage to your opponent.

Add it all up, and you’ve just dealt a jaw-dropping 24 damage in a single turn!

Blasphemous Act + Boros Reckoner: Use Blasphemous Act to deal 13 damage to all creatures, then use Boros Reckoner’s ability to redirect the damage to an opponent, potentially dealing lethal damage to all opponents.

Blasphemous Act - This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature on the battlefield. — Blasphemous Act

Boros Reckoner - Whenever Boros Reckoner is dealt damage — Boros Reckoner

Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond: Whenever you gain life with Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond triggers and your opponent loses life equal to the amount of life you gained. With both cards in play, the combo can be used to drain your opponent’s life total to zero.

Exquisite Blood - Whenever an opponent loses life — Exquisite Blood

Massacre Wurm + Damnation: Massacre Wurm gives -2/-2 to all creatures your opponent controls, and also deals 2 damage to your opponent each time a creature dies. Cast Damnation to destroy all creatures, triggering Massacre Wurm’s ability for even more damage to your opponent.