Before you read any further and make some suggestions, it will be fair to note that the meta I play in is probably one of the most brutal, cut-throat, political groups imaginable. There is no "that card spoils the fun" or "we look down on infinite combos" here. So, I needed this deck to be the most brutally efficient deck possible within a reasonably budgetary bubble.
Important Pieces
IMO, a key component to Ghave, Guru of Spores is to keep a good counter engine going. While his second ability allows adding counters, it requires 1 mana and sacrificing a creature to do so. So, these are the cards that are very important to getting that engine started and running as these cards create counters as ETB effects:
Cathars' Crusade - Once you get a token engine going, this card becomes a paramount beast. Each token you bring in makes the previous one that much stronger and the counters created for Ghave goes through the roof.
Bloodspore Thrinax - I would try to be able to sac three or more Saprolings to his Devour. That means 1/1 Saprolings now come in as 4/4 ones via counters that would survive token-killers like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. While I won't usually pull his counters to create more tokens, it's there in a pinch if I need to.
Champion of Lambholt - While his second ability adds to the engine, his first ability is brutal when it comes combat time. If you get CoL with enough counters, even your 1/1 tokens become unblockable. He gets absolutely sick with Cathars' Crusade.
Juniper Order Ranger - Like CoL, but without the added combat advantage. JOR also now makes my tokens into counter engines.
Ivy Lane Denizen - Like CoL and JOR, but ILD lets me add a counter to ANY creature I control. In addition to fueling the counter engine for Saprolings, I'd also use ILD to fuel Champion of Lambholt or
Sigil Captain - Makes my 1/1 Saprolings into 3/3 Saprolings via counters and makes them into counter engines.
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest - While not an ETB like the others, it's LTB via sac can get explosive with a Persist/Undying creature and any of the above.
To make the above go infinite, we'll need these cards:
Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, and Earthcraft.
General Combos
The main wincon is swinging with token army, but with Ghave, Guru of Spores, there are many more combos that deal damage, life loss, and reocurring permanent removal. These combos are not infinite as they're limited to the amount of mana you have, but can be if you add in other spells noted in the "Infinite Combos" section.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Aura Shards = Instant-speed spot removal of Artifacts and Enchantments by creating tokens.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Kitchen Finks = Reoccuring life gain by creating/saccing a token to remove the -1/-1 counter.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Grave Pact = Forces sacrificing of opponent's creatures which gets around things like hexproof, indestructable, and shroud.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat/Falkenrath Noble = LTB death triggers by life loss.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Triskelion = Death trigger by damage.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Geralf's Messenger = ETB death trigger.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Puppeteer Clique = Graveyard creature theft/exile multiple times.
Infinite Combos
Add Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, or Earthcraft along with any of the above Important Pieces to make the above go infinite.
Add Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, or Geralf's Messenger to most of these below for ETB/LTB death triggers as well.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Ashnod's Altar + Any of the above Important pieces = Infinite tokens and infinite power/toughness if you use Juniper.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion = Good ol' Mike and Trike. Infinite death trigger.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Ashnod's Altar + Any of the above Important Pieces = Infinite Tokens and Infinite Colorless Mana. Feeds you the counters you need as well as the mana to use them. Add Phyrexian Altar to convert colorless into colored. Add Illusionist's Bracers to speed it up.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Earthcraft + Any of the above important pieces = Infinite tapped tokens.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar + Triskelion + Cathars' Crusade/Ivy Lane Denizen + one colorless mana or one creature = Broke man's Mike and Trike. Pull a counter from Triskelion to do 1 damage, pull second counter to create another token that adds another counter back to Triskelion and Ghave. Pull all counters from Trike. Sac the token to add mana. Pull counter from Ghave to create token. Repeat. Death.
Kitchen Finks + Juniper Order Ranger/Cathars' Crusade + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar= Infinite Life. Sac Fink to the Altar, it's Persist brings it back with a -1/-1 counter that is removed by Juniper's/Cathars' adding of a +1/+1 counter. Repeat. Also, makes Juniper infinite power and toughness.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Blood Artist/Zulaport Cutthroat/Geralf's Messenger + Ashnod's Altar = Life loss and life gain.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Geralf's Messenger + Ashnod's Altar = Infinite life loss, infinite life gain, and infinite tokens.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Kitchen Finks + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Life and infinite mana
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Puppeteer Clique + Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar = Infinite grave creature theft/exile and infinite mana
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Young Wolf + Ashnod's Altar + ETB/LTB death trigger = Infinite life loss
Ghave, Guru of Spores w/one counter + Devoted Druid + Cathars' Crusade + Ashnod's Altar = Infinite green mana and infinite colorless mana.
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Earthcraft + Throne of the God-Pharaoh + Any of the above Important pieces = Win at End Step
Other Cards
Savage Summoning - Flash in your Triskelion, Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Geralf's Messenger, or whatever you need in a pinch.
Martyr's Bond - Kill mine, sac yours.
Vigor - What doesn't kill my blockers makes them stronger. Literally.
Faith's Reward - Board wipe recovery.
Inspiring Call - Card draw.
Retribution of the Ancients - Remove accumulated counters for creature removal for only one black.
Rishkar, Peema Renegegade - Turns all my tokens into mana dorks.
Genesis - Get creatures back from graveyard at upkeep.
Genesis Wave - Green staple. Auto-include.
Illusionist's Bracers - Doubles Ghave's ability. Create two tokens and can add multiple counters to multiple creatures.
Necroplasm - Manipulate the number of counters with Ghave to remove creatures at End Step. Must be super careful with this one as it can get rid of my creatures, too. NEVER leave this without counters as it will wipe out all of my tokens.
Cauldron of Souls - Reuse ETB/LTB triggers on any creature by giving them Persist. This may be removed due to the fact that it taps to create the effect and when the creature re-enters the battlefield, it loses Persist even when the -1/-1 counter is removed.
Notable Absentees
Doubling Season - Cost is the main factor.
Skullclamp - With numerous counter-adding ETB triggers, Skullclamp's "attach to kill and draw a card" becomes severely limited once those triggers get started.
Karmic Guide and Reveillark - Allegedly a good recursion combo, one really can't "go off" without the other. Easily stopped by graveyard hate. I would rather think about Rest in Peace + Helm of Obedience.
Strionic Resonator - Would be awesome to double-up on ETB counter creation, but it costs two and taps.
I welcome any and all suggestions!
