Mono-red · Hot potato · 2–4 players
Bombbomb
A mono-red shared deck format that's blowing up right now. (get it?)
The only rule
Skip your
attack step.
No combat. The only way anyone takes damage is the bomb going off in the wrong hands.
The engine
How it works
view on Scryfall ↗Every copy of Bomb Squad is a lit fuse. It taps to drop a fuse counter on any creature, and every upkeep those counters multiply:
- {T}: Put a fuse counter on target creature.
- At the beginning of your upkeep, put a fuse counter on each creature with a fuse counter on it.
- Whenever a creature has four or more fuse counters on it, remove all fuse counters from it and destroy it. That creature deals 4 damage to its controller.
The kicker: when a creature hits four fuse counters, it’s destroyed and deals 4 damage to its controller — not whoever lit it. So the whole game is a hot potato: fuse a creature, then use Harmless Offering, Wrangle, Portent of Betrayal, and Reroute to shove the ticking bomb across the table before it blows in your face.
Setup
Players & life
Bombomb plays with 2–4 players. More hands to pass the bomb to — so the table starts lower the bigger it gets.
96 cards · Mono-red
The decklist
The deck is 96 cards on purpose — add 1 Goblin Bomb per player (up to 4) and you're at a clean 100 sleeved.
The Bomb
The namesake. Everything else exists to make it someone else's problem.
- 10Bomb Squadticks fuse counters; at 4 it blows for 4 to its controller
Pass the Potato
Donate, steal, and redirect — get the fused creature onto the other side before it detonates.
- 6Harmless Offeringgive it away
- 6Wranglesteal to fuse, then it's theirs
- 4Portent of Betrayalthreaten effect
- 8Rerouteredirect the tap ability / target
Removal & Reach
- 2Chaos Charmflexible red removal
- 1Last Chanceextra-turn finisher
Card Advantage
- 4Faithless Looting
- 3Wheel of Faterefill both hands
Ramp & Untap
Untap Bomb Squad to fuse twice a turn; ramp to power the engine.
- 4Magewright's Stoneuntap Bomb Squad for a second fuse
- 4Ruby Medallion
- 4Treasure Map // Treasure Cove
Lands
- 26Mountain
- 6Crystal Grotto
- 6Nesting Groundsmove a fuse counter around
- 2Dwarven Ruins
Swap-ins
Maybe board
Not in the list, but on-theme — more impulse draw to keep the gas flowing, and more ways to change who owns the ticking bomb.
More impulse draw
Red card advantage that plays from exile — keep the gas flowing.
More ownership swaps
Extra ways to hand the ticking bomb to someone else.
- Avarice Totemswap control of any permanent
- Act of Treason
- Traitorous Blood
- Kari Zev's Expertise
- Insurrectionsteal everything — big finish
Alternate format
bigbombomb
Bombomb, but there's a second fuse on the table.
Play the standard 96-card bombomb deck plus one Goblin Bomb per player — so the whole table is sleeving a clean 100. Now there are two fuses ticking at once: Bomb Squad's counters on creatures and Goblin Bomb's coin-flip counters on itself, which can end the game outright with a 20-damage payoff. Everything else (including the skip-your-attack-step rule) stays the same.
art: Ron Spencer ↗Lineage
Related formats
Bombomb is a janky single-list microformat in the spirit of Dandan and the shared-deck scene it kicked off.