Altar of Dementia

Artifact

Sacrifice a creature: Target player puts a number of cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

Discussion (51)

StopShot on Is this infinite combo tournament ...

12 hours ago

Hello, I have an infinite combo where all the cards are legal, but I don't know if using the combo itself is legal.

My combo uses: Swift Warkite + Pulsemage Advocate + Altar of Dementia

The combo works by casting Swift Warkite whose ETB puts Pulsemage Advocate onto the battlefield with haste. I then sacrifice Swift Warkite to Altar of Dementia to mill an opponent by four cards. I can then activate Pulsemage Advocate's ability to return three of those cards to my opponent's hand to return the Swift Warkite to the battlefield. While that ability is on the stack I'll then sacrifice the Pulsemage Advocate to the Altar of Dementia so that my opponent mills one card, and so that when Swift Warkite re-enters the battlefield I can return the Pulsemage Advocate back to the battlefield and repeat however many times I like until my opponents no longer have any cards in their libraries.

But what do I mean when I ask is this combo legal? Let me demonstrate a simple combo to better explain what I mean. Take this as an example: Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin

Deceiver Exarch is enchanted with Splinter Twin. By tapping Deceiver Exarch I can produce a token copy of it which also makes an ETB trigger. I can use this trigger to untap the enchanted Deceiver Exarch so that I can use its ability again and again and again until I have infinite Exarch tokens. Since Splinter Twin gives the tokens haste I can swing for lethal damage on my next combat step to win the game.

When it comes to infinite combos you don't need to play them out in detail, describing the process over and over again. So long as you can demonstrate the first loop you can shortcut to any arbitrary number of cycles so that you won't be penalized for slow play. The Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin combo is a notable example where this rule applies as it would probably take 10+ minutes in a commander setting just to demonstrate a necessary number of cycles needed to produce enough tokens to win the game.

I'm wanting to know if my infinite combo can use the same shortcut principle as the Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin combo. Obviously, I can demonstrate a single cycle that puts me back where I was before, except my opponent now has 5 less cards in their library. The only issue is each time this combo makes a cycle I must put three cards into my opponent's hand. The issue with this is, there's a possibility I could put an instant-speed artifact-removal or graveyard-hate spell into their hand halfway through the combo giving my opponent the ability to counteract the combo before I have fully milled their library. (Creature removal can't stop this combo.) Because of this possibility I feel my opponents have a reasonable argument to make in asking that I play the combo out cycle-by-cycle rather than shortcut to the end.

Because Commander is a multiplayer 100-card format I feel that if I were to play out this combo, cycle-by-cycle, it would take too long to do and thus this infinite combo wouldn't be legal to use in a tournament setting. Is it possible to shortcut with my combo or not?

DadHumanPraetor on Grand Theft Magic

6 days ago

Yeah I noticed a couple of the combos. I LOVE the bombardment combo, that looks like a rage quit combo to me haha, this deck looks super fun. I like the kind of decks where you can include combos, but not depend on them. I typically use Altar of the Brood instead of Altar of Dementia, but run lots of 3 or 4 piece ashnods/phyrexian altar shenanigans in my Meren and Ayara decks using all the usual suspects like Tenacious Dead Bloodsoaked Champion and the other crawlers with Pitiless Plunderer and Pawn of Ulamog. The combos dont need to go off to play or win, but they sure are fun to brew up!

Enral on Skull & Bones | Ayli & Lurrus

1 week ago

BlackWas: Dreadhorde synergizes with several elements of the deck including Gravecrawler and Cryptbreaker. It also provides lifelink (when the game drags on) which is very relevant in the deck. Altar of the Brood is definitely on my radar as well as Altar of Dementia.

KIRK77 on Muldrotha Reanimation

1 week ago

looks like a pretty sweet deck! Is there a format you are more used to? What kind of meta are you playing in?

Personally would try to limit the amount of instant and sorcery cards you have since Muldrotha, the Gravetide can't too much about them. I also am a pretty strong believer in having close to 36 lands

you might want to check out...

• Ravenous Chupacabra over Murderous Rider

• Lotus Field

• Doom Whisperer over Mindwrack Demon

• Necromancy

• Greater Good (might help to have a sac outlet to be able to reuse etb triggers from your creatures or to get some final use in the event of a board wipe, plus I think it's got great synergy with graveyard play

• Altar of Dementia

Noire_Samhain on Your death is not in the stars today

2 weeks ago

Some other recommendations you might like- Phyrexian Delver. Reanimation that can be reanimated.

Doomed Necromancer. Another reanimator on a body.

Apprentice Necromancer is another, slightly more temporary reanimator.

Living Death is more mass reanimation.

Altar of Dementia could be a good way to get stuff in the grave since you can target yourself, though Orzhov colors lacks the ability to get your sorceries/instants back.

Some other tutors are Corpse Connoisseur and Gravebreaker Lamia.

Happy brewing, and I hope these suggestions help.

KibaAlpha on Teysa's Cheery Sacrifice

2 weeks ago

First you don’t need more than 37 lands.

You are missing the best 4 free sacrifice outlets Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Altar of Dementia and Spawning Pit.

Creature sacrifice outlets to add Viscera Seer, Woe Strider, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

Additional life drain cards Cruel Celebrant, Bastion of Remembrance and Vindictive Vampire.

You are lacking card draw look to add Skullclamp, Greed, Erebos, God of the Dead, Midnight Reaper and Dark Prophecy.

I’ll suggest more when I’m not at work.

DeinoStinkus on Spore Aristocracy

3 weeks ago

Assassin's Trophy is pretty good removal, and will make a splash. Other than that, consider running Altar of Dementia over Ashnod's Altar, just to mill self in case of emergency. Also, take out Bone Splinters in favor of Spark Harvest, and put in Vraska, Golgari Queen.

psionictemplar on The Recycling Plant [Mono-Green Artifact Combo]

3 weeks ago

PayOneLife : in your example henge would cost 1gg since you only have a 6 power creature on board. Goreclaw's discount only applies to creature spells. The math doesn't impact the colossus afterwards though.

Corrosive_Cat if you ever decide to try this in modern, Altar of Dementia might be worth a look.