The Most Popular Combos in Commander

Let's talk about combos?

Loved by many and hated by all opponents who don't have Counterspell to stop them, combos are present in many Commander decks, especially those of players looking for an alternative to increase their chances of winning.

To write this article, I based myself on the most viewed combos on the Cards Realm website, and on the Commander Spellbook, that powers EDHREC's combos feature.

In addition, I will separate combos into three categories: two-piece combos, more elaborate ones involving three or more pieces, and those that cause a “limbo” and tie the game if no one can remove one of the pieces.

Let's go!

Two-card combos are usually the ones that catch opponents off guard. Whether you are on the team that runs it or loses to it, keep an eye on these cards:

Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter

This is the most popular combo in Commander Spellbook and, at the time of writing, it is present in over 50,000 decks according to EDHREC.

How it works:

1. Have Isochron Scepter on the battlefield with Dramatic Reversal exiled by the imprint ability and nonland permanents you control that can produce at least 3 colorless mana.

2. Use 3 colorless mana produced by nonland sources (example: mana rocks).

3. Activate Isochron Scepter's ability by paying 2 and tapping it, thus casting a copy of Dramatic Reversal without paying its mana cost.

4. Dramatic Reversal will untap all nonland permanents you control.

5. Repeat the process.

This combo grants infinite mana from nonland sources, infinite storm count, and infinite magecraft triggers.

Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation

Thassa's Oracle is one of the cards with the most combo options in Commander and this is one of them.

How it works:

1. Cast Demonic Consultation and name a card that isn't in your library (many players joke that you can name a Yu-Gi-Oh! or even a Pokémon card, but as far as rules go, you must name a Magic card).

2. After exiling your library, play Thassa's Oracle and win the game when the creature enters the battlefield.

If you don't have a Demonic Consultation, you can replace it with Divining Witch, Sacred Guide (as long as the deck has no other white cards) and even Phyrexian Devourer (this one is a bit different, you can read a tutorial by clicking here.)

If you want a combo and have the opportunity to use the Oracle, don't hesitate! This card has a multitude of combo options, you just need to choose the one that fits in your deck.

Scurry Oak + Ivy Lane Denizen

What do you think of infinite creatures, infinite +1/+1 counters, and infinite ETB?

How it works:

1. With Ivy Lane Denizen on the battlefield, cast Scurry Oak from your hand.

2. Scurry Oak will trigger Ivy Lane Denizen's ability, putting a +1/+1 counter on Scurry Oak.

3. Scurry Oak will create a 1/1 Squirrel Token.

4. The token will trigger Ivy Lane Denizen's ability, putting a +1/+1 counter on Scurry Oak.

5. Repeat step 3.

This way you will have infinite squirrel tokens. If you have a card that gives haste to your creatures, you can move the +1/+1 counter to one of the tokens, stop the combo and go on the attack.

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose + Exquisite Blood

There are two prerequisites for this combo:

1. You must have all permanents on the battlefield.

2. You need to deal some damage to your opponent's life or gain life, even if it's just one point.

How it works:

1. Gain life.

2. This will trigger Vito's ability, dealing that amount of damage to an opponent.

3. Exquisite Blood will be triggered, causing you to gain the amount of life your opponent lost.

4. Repeat the second step.

As Vito is legendary, you can use him as your deck's commander to increase the odds of winning with the combo. But if you don't want to use it as a commander or even in the 99, you can replace it with the Sanguine Bond, that has a similar ability.

Walking Ballista + Heliod, Sun-Crowned

An infinite life and damage combo for your mono White!

But attention! For it to work, the Walking Ballista must be on the battlefield with at least two counters.

How it works:

1. Use Heliod, Sun-Crowned ability and give Walking Ballista lifelink.

2. Activate Walking Ballista's ability to damage your opponent.

3. This will trigger Heliod's ability, Sun-Crowned, allowing you to put one more counter on Walking Ballista.

4. Repeat the process to deal infinite damage and gain infinite life.

Did you know that there are powerful combos that use more than two cards and can guarantee your victory? Look at this list:

Sensei's Divining Top + Aetherflux Reservoir + Bolas's Citadel

This is a well-known combo because it guarantees infinite life, infinite damage and infinite draw.

How it works:

1. Have Aetherflux Reservoir and Bolas's Citadel on the battlefield.

2. Activate Sensei's Divining Top's ability to draw a card and put it on top of your library.

3. Cast Sensei's Divining Top with Bolas's Citadel.

4. Aetherflux Reservoir will give you enough life to make up for the loss of Bolas's Citadel.

5. Repeat looping until you have 52 or more life. Then, use Aetherflux Reservoir's ability to deal 50 damage to target opponent.

If you have more than one opponent, continue the loop until you have enough life to deal 50 damage to each of them and not die in the process.

Kodama of the East Tree + Simic Growth Chamber + Scute Swarm

The purpose of this combo is to have infinite tokens and infinite landfall triggers.

There are three prerequisites to using this combo:

1. Have Simic Growth Chamber or another bounce land in hand.

2. Have the other permanents on the battlefield under your control.

3. Not have played a land this turn.

How it works:

1. Play land Simic Growth Chamber and use its ability to return it to your hand.

2. This activates Scute Swarm's ability, creating a 1/1 Insect token.

3. This will trigger Kodama of the East Tree, allowing you to put a permanent card with equal or less mana cost from your hand onto the battlefield.

4. Play the Simic Growth Chamber and repeat the process to generate infinite tokens.

Reassembling Skeleton + Ashnod's Altar + Pitiless Plunderer + Blood Artist

Let's go with infinite life loss or lifegain?

For this combo, we only have one prerequisite: having all permanents on the battlefield.

1. Use Ashnod's Altar to sacrifice Reassembling Skeleton and generate mana.

2. This will trigger the abilities of Blood Artist, taking 1 life from the opponent and giving you 1 life, and Pitiless Plunderer, generating a treasure token.

3. Sacrifice the treasure token to generate black mana. Since you sacrificed the Reassembling Skeleton to Ashnod's Altar, it will have three total mana floating around.

4. Spend a colorless and a black mana to return the Reassembling Skeleton to the battlefield.

5. Repeat step 1 as many times as necessary, this way you will accumulate colorless mana and each interaction will infinitely drain your opponent.

“Bonus” 7 Piece Combo: Spellseeker + Ephemerate + Final Fortune + Enlightened Tutor + Brain Freeze + Lion's Eye Diamond + Underworld Breach

This combo is a “bonus” on the list because even though it fits into the “combos with more than two cards” category, there are 7 cards in total and so many steps that it resembles a cake recipe with filling and frosting.

I found it so different that I decided to bring it as a curiosity for the readers, but to describe it here would fill another third of the article, so click here to see the 7-piece combo!

Let's talk now about the kind of combos that get funny, and I affectionately call them “limbo causing”, but you might know them as the ones that tie the game.

Depending on the deck, your goal may just be to wreak havoc on the table and hold all opponents' hostage for a tying combo. If so, I think you'll find some cool ideas on this list.

March of the Machines + Crowded Crypt + Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth

Shall we put infinite 2/2 tokens on your battlefield?

How it works:

1. Have all cards on the battlefield and Crowded Crypt untapped.

2. Sacrifice a creature to trigger Eloise's ability, creating a Clue token.

3. Because of the effect of March of the Machines, the token will be a 0/0 creature and will die.

4. Because a creature you control died, put a counter on Crowded Crypt.

5. Eloise will create another Clue token which, like the first one, will be a 0/0 creature and will die.

6. Repeat the process as many times as you like, until you stop the loop.

7. Sacrifice the Crowded Crypt to create infinite 2/2 Black Zombie tokens.

If you cannot stop the loop, the game ends in a draw.

A variation of this combo allows infinite damage if cards like Blood Artist or Bastion of Remembrance are on the battlefield.

Transcendence + Angel's Grace

For this combo, you need to pay attention because the order of cards matters.

How it works:

1. For this combo to work, you need to have 20 or more life.

2. Cast Angel's Grace, then cast Transcendence.

3. Transcendence's ability will see that you have 20 or more life and must lose the game. However, Angel's Grace doesn't allow you to lose the game this turn.

4. Both cards' abilities will be checked in an infinite loop, forcing a draw.

Marauding Raptor + Lesser Masticore + Solemnity

Did you miss combos in Boros colors? Well, here goes one!

How it works:

1. Cast Lesser Masticore.

2. This will trigger Marauding Raptor, which will deal 2 damage to Lesser Masticore.

3. Lesser Masticore has the Persist ability, which will return the creature to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.

4. However, Solemnity doesn't allow counters to be put on artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or lands. Therefore, Lesser Masticore will come back without the -1/-1 counters.

5. Marauding Raptor will deal 2 damage to Lesser Masticore again.

6. The loop will repeat infinitely, tying the game.

Archon of Sun's Grace + Enchanted Evening

Infinite Tokens are cool, but what about Infinite Tokens that fly?

How it works:

1. With Archon of Sun's Grace on the battlefield, cast Enchanted Evening.

2. Enchanted Evening will trigger Archon of Sun's Grace's ability, creating a 2/2 Pegasus token.

3. The Enchanted Evening will turn this Pegasus into an enchantment that will trigger Archon of Sun's Grace's ability again.

4. The looping will repeat infinite times and, if the Archon of Sun's Grace isn't removed, it will force a draw.

Combos exist for all combinations of colors and commanders. In this list, I brought some of the most popular ones by analyzing their number of views and presence in decks, but of course, there are thousands that were left out and with each new release, we will have more and more combos available.

Did your favorite combo make the list? If not, what is it?

Send it here in the comments, so more people learn about it. If you don't have a favorite yet, but want to learn about combos, click here and access our combos page!