Infinite Combos in EDH - Experiment Kraj Budget

Commander / EDH poorpinkus

SCORE: 122 | 86 COMMENTS | 36347 VIEWS | IN 85 FOLDERS


Mind Over Matter isn't budget, however, i must ask why you don't run it when you have Arcanis.

March 29, 2017 4:55 p.m.

Grimgrind Here is my deck that is similar. Maybe you can get some inspiration!

March 29, 2017 4:56 p.m.

poorpinkus says... #3

beninator I really like that card, although if I am at the point where pinging a bunch of times could kill I can probably also just win by swinging (this obviously can't happen a lot of the time but I don't really know what I would remove to make space), also sorry for such a late reply, I kind of forgot about the comments section until just recently. Thanks for the input!

Boaner Mist Dragon is an interesting idea, I like the free flying, I'm thinking to give kraj cheaper evasion I might use AEtherling instead, and while I like Fatestitcher I think I ended up just removing Tidewater Minion because of the CMC; Usually getting one or two extra tap/untaps is good in early game for extra mana/card advantage but later on in the game when infinite combos are possible it isn't as helpful, so I am trying to keep them to a low CMC now. Also, similar to beninator, sorry for such a late reply (over a year lol) but I sort of forgot about the comments section of this deck for a while. Thanks for the advice though!

Shifty_Character the Mind Over Matter/Arcanis the Omnipotent combo is great, but Mind Over Matter is just too out-of budget for me. I can handle Arcanis since it's only slightly out of the total budget. Also, while Mind over Matter does combo well with Arcanis, it surprisingly doesn't combo well with a lot of my other stuff. Also, if I am at the point where I can get Arcanis to work, I only usually need to use him once or twice before I get a game-breaking synergy. My other problem is that since most of my mana dorks generate green mana it can be difficult to get the UUUU to play the card. That's a good suggestion though, and I like the deck! The only reason why I have so many points about that card is because I've been very heavily considering it and trying to think of whether or not it would fit

March 29, 2017 6:01 p.m.

TheSisay says... #4

why not Nissa, Voice of Zendikar ? its a little expensive, but not more than the devoted druid.

May 31, 2017 2:19 p.m.

poorpinkus says... #5

TheSisay The main reason why I haven't included her, or any planeswalkers for that matter, is because they don't really directly contribute to the combo; I already have a lot of pieces needed as-is, so adding something that (while a pretty good card) won't directly add much to my combo potential means that I risk a lower chance of getting the deck to pop off. The main reason why I have Devoted Druid is because it gives me more mana, synergizes so well with so many cards, and lets me activate, say, a tap draw ability a bunch of times to find a combo piece if I don't have everything yet, or a tap mana ability to get that extra amount of mana that I need.

Thanks for the suggestion though! Nobody has suggested her before, and I see the potential; she gives me good blockers, allows me to make all of my creatures Kraj-able and has a nice ultimate, but unfortunately since she can't really directly make me go infinite I'm going to have to pass

June 9, 2017 10:28 p.m.

TheSisay says... #6

poorpinkus I see that is a good rationale to have, if anything the nissa would just be a one off for her -2 ability whereas the druid has more utility and speed.

June 13, 2017 12:58 p.m.

Might be a 'win more' piece, but Walking Ballista with +1/+1 combo would fit nicely.

July 1, 2017 11:58 a.m.

izzet4lyf says... #8

Fun fact: planeswalkers can actually contribute to the combo if you have Mycosynth Lattice and March of the Machines in play. It's very, very janky but Kraj would then be able to pump them and take their abilities. I'm sure that would open up a bunch of fun possibilities. I've been thinking of building a Kraj deck since I discovered this combo - I know it's not really that good, but I'm the kind of person who would build it just to torture friends with the rules headaches. I like your deck though, it'll be a starting point for my deckbuilding for sure.

October 16, 2017 12:39 p.m.

poorpinkus says... #9

izzet4lyf That's a hilarious idea, I won't put it into this deck because it's meant to be fairly competitive for a budget, but I really want to put that kind of combo in another deck. Perhaps in a Momir Vig, Simic Visionary deck or a Atraxa, Praetors' Voice deck I could throw Kraj + those cards in there for a funny combo

October 16, 2017 8:05 p.m.

poorpinkus says... #10

Also sorry for not responding IvyLeaguerCU I keep pressing "preview" but forgetting to send lol, I agree Walking Ballista is definitely on theme, but yes it is kind of a "win-more" card since by the time you can use it you already have a pretty good infinite combo, I will say though that I have been thinking of trying to improve the deck's pre-combo control, and the card could also work very well in that place, so I'll heavily think about it! Another great thing that the card does is let me slowly build up counters on Kraj, then for 2 mana I have the ability to drain them all and take out a big creature.

Thanks for the idea! I have also been thinking of making a more casual-friendly version of the deck, and the card would be a great addition there!

October 19, 2017 5:01 p.m.

viveter says... #11

I feel you rely way to heavily on just those few infinite combos when in all likelihood you have a higher chance not to get them till late game.

December 5, 2017 10:34 a.m.

poorpinkus says... #12

viveter I agree with this, however the deck was built to be an infinite combo deck that would work well in a 4-player setting, so I wanted the deck to still feel fun to play against since if it is fragile it tends to be less annoying to play against.

I am curious though, what would you suggest in order for me to make the deck less reliant on the infinite combos?

December 6, 2017 12:59 a.m.

viveter says... #13

Sorry i haven't been on in a while but i would suggest adding a few cards to buff Krag and make him unblock able to help with the old punch them with your commander till their dead and if you feel like it add myriad blade with cards to make him unblock able so you can tag everyone at once.

January 19, 2018 10:05 a.m.

poorpinkus says... #14

viveter Myriad blade wouldn't work since Kraj is legendary, but I gotta be honest I feel like I have enough ways to get around creatures that it'd be a unnecessary to ad more options; AEtherling, Cephalid Inkshrouder, Pemmin's Aura, Whispersilk Cloak, , Thornling and Morphling both work really well since they protects both Kraj and themselves while also offering evasion, Beguiler of Wills, Simic Manipulator and Cytoplast Manipulator allow me to take my opponents' blockers while getting board advantage, and Ethereal Usher gives me the option to get unblockable while also letting me get cards like Arcanis the Omnipotent if I want.

The thing with this deck is that I am trying to aim for a lot of cards with multiple purposes, so for example most of my evasion cards double as protection. If I add too many cards like Blade of Selves or cards that just give unblockable, then I have a much lower chance of drawing into a combo piece that I need. The idea is that it's supposed to be as much of a Johnny deck as possible, so if I win it is by some crazy combo, but if I lose it's fine. I don't really want to make the deck unstoppable since then it wouldn't be that fun to play against if that makes any sense.

Anyways, thanks for the suggestions! I'm not entirely saying no to them, I'm just trying to reason out how I feel like the deck should work as a whole. I'll definitely be looking into mass protection cards (maybe Heroic Intervention?) as I do see some creatures that I could remove (specifically Somberwald Sage since it doesn't work for any combos, Gilder Bairn possibly because the ability costs a fair amount although untap abilities are very nice, and Beguiler of Wills/Simic Manipulator since they draw too much attention for what they are worth), so it is good to know what other people think I could work on to make the deck work better.

January 19, 2018 noon

Narrsacist says... #15

If you are looking for unblockable, I added Deepchannel Mentor

January 28, 2019 2:31 p.m.

hellhole3927 says... #16

Why don't you have Maze of Ith in this list? You had mentioned how you want combo pieces to be "versatile" (never dead) and have cheap mana costs. If you already have Argothian Elder then why not add the combo with Maze of Ith ?

April 21, 2019 1:57 p.m.

poorpinkus says... #17

hellhole3927 That's a great idea, the only reason why I didn't add it is because each of the cards in this deck were originally lower than $5. I'd still like to keep the deck on a budget so I'll put it in the maybeboard (and I'll probably move some expensive cards from the maindeck to the maybeboard as well), but that's a great suggestion and an interaction that I didn't think of, so thanks for the suggestion!

April 21, 2019 5:25 p.m.

Flamelord says... #18

Hello! It's been quite a bit since someone has given any input. But i am working on a Kraj EDH build myself and really liked your deck design!

As a nice, cheap, update in recent printing you can replace Elvish Aberration with the recent Llanowar Tribe if paying isn't too much trouble. Same ability for less CMC. Though admittedly you lose the Forest-cycling ability.

Thanks for the inspiration!

September 11, 2019 4:13 p.m.

poorpinkus says... #19

Flamelord Great idea! I really need to look into the manabase of this deck again. There are loads of good mana dorks since I last updated, especially ones that can add blue mana. Thanks for the suggestion!

September 14, 2019 6:58 p.m.

Wizkalifa says... #20

don't forget Forgotten Ancient !

October 9, 2019 6:10 p.m.

Krazydude123 says... #21

What about adding Shifting Ceratops for it's activated ability and Gyre Engineer for it's a ramp. Also how about Incubation Druid for ramp and Zegana, Utopian Speaker for trample?

October 13, 2019 3:09 a.m.

poorpinkus says... #22

Wizkalifa Forgotten Ancient is a great card! I probably won't put it in this deck because I'm purely tunnel-visioning in on the infinite combos, but it would probably make the deck a lot better by giving some alternate ways to win!

Krazydude123 Hmm, haste trample from Shifting Ceratops is very tempting (similarly for Zegana, Utopian Speaker ), however usually I like my haste/unblockable enablers to have some way to protect Kraj as well. For example, Thornling can also give itself indestructible and Morphling can give itself shroud.

Gyre Engineer and Incubation Druid would be AMAZING in the deck though! I think in paper I actually have a gyre engineer in the deck, and I did NOT realize that Incubation Druid gave mana of any colour! That's amazing since it's so hard to find mana dorks that make blue. Definitely putting both of those in, thanks!

Thank you both for the suggestions!

October 14, 2019 5 p.m.

Krazydude123 says... #23

If you were going on counters you could put Simic Ascendancy , Vorel of the Hull Clade , Inexorable Tide and also Biogenic Upgrade . Can I also steal some ideas to put into my own deck, on tapped out?

October 15, 2019 4:12 a.m.

Krazydude123 says... #24

Also how about, Herald of Secret Streams for making creatures with +1/+1 counters unblockable or Zameck Guildmage mainly for its first ability which can stack and finally, Plaxcaster Frogling for it's shroud ablilty to protect from single target removal and also it's graft for more +1/+1 counters. BTW Love this deck!

October 15, 2019 4:22 a.m.

Krazydude123 says... #25

Wait didn't realise that you already had Plaxcaster Frogling in your deck.

October 15, 2019 4:40 a.m.

Please login to comment