Ghave That Bitch an Infinite Combo [Primer]

Commander / EDH BGW (Abzan, Junk) Combo Competitive Counters Infinite Combo Multiplayer Persist Primer Tokens Undying

Abzkaban

Creature (34)

Land (33)

Artifact (7)

Commander (1)

Enchantment (12)

Sorcery (7)

Instant (6)

The #1 Highest Ranked Ghave, Guru of Spores Deck on TappedOut!

The #1 Highest Ranked Abzan Deck on TappedOut!

The #17 Highest Ranked EDH Deck on TappedOut!

A Ghave, Guru of Spores Primer

"I gave that bitch an infinite combo. Bitches love infinite combos.”

About the Deck

Disclaimer: This deck was not built with cEDH in mind. It has been built with a certain high-power philosophy behind it with the primer serving as a "catch all" where anyone wanting to play Ghave can find what they're looking for. If you are only interested in competitive, check out the "Optimizing for cEDH" tab of the primer where I have built a prototype list with no restrictions.

Deck History

This deck was one of the first ideas I had for commander when I was first getting into the format. While tying to decide who would be a fun commander to play, I thought about the kinds of things I already liked to play in my kitchen table decks. One of my favorites was a fungus deck that I had started building from the structure deck in Time Spiral.

I really liked fungus as a tribe, and when I discovered Ghave, Guru of Spores, I knew I found my commander. Originally he was the helm of a fungus tribal deck that abused spore counters, saprolings, and +1/+1 counters. Over time I discovered the crazy things you can do with Ghave, and so I gradually started adding combos. At first I started with an infinite mana combo using Doubling Season and Earthcraft because I didn’t like running out of mana before I got to do the things I wanted to do. Eventually it developed into the crazy combo machine it is now. I may one day go back and rebuild Ghave Fungus Tribal, but for now this is where he stays.

The goal of this deck is to get an infinite combo be it mana, tokens, death triggers, or what have you. From there we can control the board state or go into one of our win cons. Some of the combos are a win con by themselves. Various combo pieces play the same role as several other cards and can therefore be substituted in various combinations of which there are a LOT. Keep in mind the ones that are interchangeable. I'll go into detail with them later in this guide.

Why Ghave

Ghave, Guru of Spores is my favorite card in all of Magic. As a player I have found that Abzan fits me perfectly as a color combination. Counters, tokens, mana ramp, and sacrificing creatures are just my style, and all of them can be found in these colors. Abzan represents life, death, and growth in a continuous balanced cycle. And that’s what this deck is all about: continuous cycles. Because I don’t like limitations.

Ghave is the combo king because so many cards fit his engine. Within this deck are a few combos that are independent of the commander, and one could argue that they would be a better fit in a reanimator deck. While this is true, they make great backup combos here if we don’t have access to Ghave, and Ghave is necessary for the many other combos we hope to achieve. His ability is cheap and fluid, turning counters into creatures and vice-versa. He has just the tools we need for an effective combo deck. If we lose a combo piece to removal, we have another that can take its place beside our combo king.

Because Ghave combos with anything that sneezes in his direction, the main idea surrounding this deck is combo synergy. By which I mean a card that fits into multiple combos is better suited for the deck than one that fits into just one. There should be plenty of flexibility and modality in how the deck plays with many different paths to combo lines.

But That's not an Infinite Combo

Combo vs Synergy

In my experience, there is not only a misconception about the difference between combo and synergy but also some dissent in the magic community about what makes card interactions a combo and then even further discourse over whether a combo is infinite. One problem at a time. Let’s first look at the difference between combo and synergy. I’ll be operating with the following definitions:

Combo -“A combo refers to cards that interact with each other in a way that’s significantly stronger than the sum of its parts.”

Synergy -“Synergy refers to cards that work well together and enhance the value of each other.”

Both of these definitions were taken from Philosophy of Combo, and there is a distinct difference between the two.

The article uses Pestermite and Splinter Twin for an example of a combo. Each by itself does not impact the board very much, but together they create infinite creatures. The interaction between the two cards is much more significant than either of them could be alone.

Synergy on the other hand does not have the same explosive power as a combo. Tribal decks will have a lot of synergy because many tribal cards increase the value of the other cards in the deck, but the effect is usually incremental.

Infinite Mandatory vs Infinite Non-Mandatory

This leaves us with the ambiguity of what makes a combo infinite. Some would argue that a combo is not infinite unless it continues indefinitely unless interrupted by another action that changes the board state. Otherwise it is just a recurring action that the player can repeat an arbitrary number of times. Others think that because an action is repeatable, it can be repeated to infinity and thus makes it an infinite combo. The distinction between the two actually lies in the Comprehensive Rules.

421. Handling “Infinite” Loops

421.1. Occasionally the game can get into a state in which a set of actions could be repeated forever. The “infinity rule” governs how to break such loops.

421.2. If the loop contains one or more optional actions and one player controls them all, that player chooses a number. The loop is treated as repeating that many times or until the other player intervenes, whichever comes first.

421.3. If the loop contains at least one optional action controlled by each player and actions by both players are required to continue the loop, the active player chooses a number. The nonactive player then has two choices. He or she can choose a lower number, in which case the loop continues that number of times plus whatever fraction is necessary for the active player to “have the last word.” Or he or she can agree to the number the active player chose, in which case the loop continues that number of times plus whatever fraction is necessary for the nonactive player to “have the last word.” (Note that either fraction may be zero.)

Example: One player controls a creature with the ability “: [This creature] gains flying.” Another player controls a permanent with the ability “: Target creature loses flying.” The “infinity rule” ensures that regardless of which player initiated the gain/lose flying ability, the nonactive player will always have the final choice and therefore be able to determine whether the creature has flying. (Note that this assumes that the first player attempted to give the creature flying at least once.)

421.4. If the loop contains only mandatory actions, the game ends in a draw. (See rule 102.6.)

421.5. If the loop contains at least one optional action controlled by each player and these actions don’t depend on one another, the active player chooses a number. The nonactive player can either agree to that number or choose a higher number. Note that this rule applies even if the actions could exist in separate loops rather than in a single loop.

Those who argue that an infinite combo is only infinite if the combo continues on its own because of mandatory actions are technically correct. Mandatory actions will continue regardless of any players unless acted upon by a player changing the game state.

Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond is an example of an infinite combo as stated in rule 421.4. Upon gaining life each card will trigger off the other one until each opponent's life is reduced to 0 which ends the game and therefore the combo. This particular combo normally ends in a win for the person playing it because all their opponents' life reduces to 0. A situation in which this would result in a draw is if someone had a Platinum Angel on the field. Because that player cannot lose the game, the combo continues to trigger indefinitely. Unless interrupted the game is a draw.

An example of a loop indicated in rule 421.2 would be Devoted Druid + Vizier of Remedies. While technically not infinite, it allows the player to repeat the actions Ad Nauseam. These types of combos are generally referred to as "infinite combos" because they can basically be chosen to continue to infinity. However based on the rules what actually happens is the player chooses a number. The combo performs the actions that number of times or until it is interrupted by another player.

Conclusion

So technically...no, most of the combos in this deck aren't "infinite." They employ loops like the Devoted Druid + Vizier of Remedies combo. But the deck wouldn't sound nearly as cool if it was named "Ghave That Bitch a Repeatable Action an Arbitrarily Large Number of Times."

Deck Breakdown

How the Deck Plays

Step 1: Play a combo

Step 2: Do something with the combo

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit

Here is what user PookandPie had to say about the deck in an exclusive interview:

"So because of X, I get infinite +1/+1 counters. Because of infinite counters, I get infinite tokens. Because of infinite tokens, that means infinite mana, and because of infinite mana, you have to get me a cheeseburger. It all checks out, call the judge, I don't care."

How to play the combos and what to do with them are explained in detail below.

Combo Explanations

Ghave's Combo Engine

Ghave functions with two other combo pieces in mind. In order to create an endless chain of resources to abuse his ability, he needs a mana source and a source of counters. As long as we have these two functional pieces we have a self-sustaining combo.

Our mana sources are:

Our sources of counters are:

Below I'll explain how each of these interact with other cards in the deck to go infinite. It is worth noting that there are many substitute possibilities to achieve our combos, so I'll only be explaining how some of them work. When we substitute a card in, the combo works pretty much the same way.

Earthcraft

While our Altars give us mana directly when we sacrifice a creature, Earthcraft is dependent on having basic lands in play which is why it important to fetch a basic if you plan on using it. The infinite mana we receive is color dependent on what we have in play. If we only have a Forest to work with, then we only get unlimited mana. We get the most value out of an infinite mana combo when we have all our basic colors out, so keep that in mind. However if all you need the mana for is to make tokens, then it doesn't matter what color you have available. Doubling Season + Earthcraft + Ghave, Guru of Spores Let's assume we have these three cards out plus a Forest. If we played Ghave after Doubling Season then he would have 10 +1/+1 counters on him, but it really doesn't matter. We'll assume he has 5. Here's how to play this combo:

Tap for . Remove a +1/+1 counter from Ghave leaving him with 4. Doubling Season puts two saproling tokens into play.
Use Earthcraft to tap a saproling to untap the forest. Tap the forest again and remove another +1/+1 counter from Ghave, leaving him with 3. We get another two saprolings for a total of 3 untapped saps and 1 tapped sap.
Tap another sap (2 untapped, 2 tapped) and then sacrifice one of the tapped saprolings (2 untapped, 1 tapped) to put two +1/+1 counters on Ghave thanks to Doubling Season. We're now back to the number of counters we started with but have gained some saprolings we can tap for mana.
Repeat steps 1-3 and we'll gain more saprolings each time so we can then say we have as many saprolings as we could ever want and therefore have enough to tap for as much mana as we want. Then we can start sacrificing our many tokens to increase Ghave's +1/+1 counters making him /. Since we have infinite tapped and untapped saprolings and infinity +1/+1 counters on Ghave, we can start putting +1/+1 counters on our tokens and any other creatures we might have and make our whole board infinitely strong.

Cathars' Crusade + Earthcraft + Ghave, Guru of Spores This combo works with any card that adds +1/+1 counters when a creature enters play and will give us infinite creatures, but all but the last one will be tapped when we first make them. Do something with them if you don't want to be the target of everything in the next round before you can untap them all and use them. We'll assume we have the combo pieces plus a basic land in play:

Tap the land and remove a +1/+1 counter from Ghave to create a saproling. When the token comes into play, Ghave and the saproling each get a +1/+1 counter thanks to Cathars' Crusade. This replaces the one we removed to make the token.
Use Earthcraft to tap the token to untap the land so we can activate Ghave again. Remove a +1/+1 counter from our new saproling and make a token.
Rinse and repeat for as many tokens as you desire. If we continue to remove a counter from the newest saproling, Ghave and his fungal army will become /.

Ashnod's Altar

Ashnod's Altar combos more than any other card in this list, and for good reason. It acts as a sac outlet that also fuels our Ghave engine. Be aware that any infinite mana combo involving Ashnod's Altar will be colorless mana, and while good for keeping our loop going, it doesn't help us play anything from our hand. Ashnod's Altar + Doubling Season + Ghave, Guru of Spores

Tap a land for mana and use that mana to remove a counter from Ghave, making two tokens thanks to Doubling Season.
Sacrifice a token to Ashnod's Altar, floating .
Use to remove another counter from Ghave, making two more tokens for a total of three.
Use our last floating to sacrifice a token and give Ghave two +1/+1 counters.
Every time we remove a counter, we get two tokens, and every time we sacrifice a saproling to Ghave, we get two counters. Ashnod's Altar provides the mana needed to keep this engine going, netting us infinite tokens, counters, and colorless mana.

Ashnod's Altar + Champion of Lambholt + Ghave, Guru of Spores

Tap a land for mana and remove a +1/+1 counter from Ghave to make a token which puts a +1/+1 counter on Champion of Lambholt.
Sacrifice the token to Ashnod's Altar to float .
Use to remove the +1/+1 counter from Champion of Lambholt and create another token which puts a counter back on our champion.
Each time we do this, we are left with floating. Repeat this as many times as we want for as much colorless mana as we desire.

Phyrexian Altar

Phyrexian Altar works in almost any of the same combos as Ashnod's Altar, the difference being that we get one mana of any color rather than . This can be an advantage or disadvantage to our combos depending on which one we are playing. Sometimes we want the extra mana from Ashnod to produce tokens, and sometimes we will actually net mana without pouring it into Ghave. In this case Phyrexian Altar is actually more useful because we get all the colors we'd ever need.

Cryptic Trilobite

Cryptic Trilobite is like the love child of Earthcraft and Ashnod's Altar. It may not be a sac outlet, but providing for one counter enables nearly as many combos.

Cryptic Trilobite + Doubling Season + Ghave, Guru of Spores

Remove a counter from Cryptic Trilobite to add two mana.
Use to remove a counter from the Trilobite and make two saprolings.
Use the other to sacrifice a saproling and put two counters on Trilobite.
This nets us a token each time we do this. Repeat steps 1-3 for infinite tokens which we can then sacrifice for infinite +1/+1 counters on Ghave/Trilobite/whatever. Remove as many counters from Trilobite as we want for infinite mana to activate abilites.

Cryptic Trilobite + Ghave, Guru of Spores + Young Wolf

Pay from either a land or removing a counter from Trilobite to sac Young Wolf and put a +1/+1 counter on Cryptic Trilobite.
Undying triggers, returning Wolf with a +1/+1 counter.
Remove a counter from Trilobite to add .
Pay to remove the counter from Wolf and make a saproling.
With floating, repeat from step 1 for infinite saprolings.
Once we have infinite saprolings, remove a counter from Trilobite and use both mana to sacrifice two saprolings and put two counters back on Trilobite for infinite mana to activate abilites and infinite +1/+1 counters on the board.

Undying

Undying creatures are conditional sources of counters for Ghave, the condition being having an available sacrifice outlet. We have three Undying creatures in the deck outside of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed paired with non-human creatures. These are:

The Undying ability has excellent synergy with Ghave since we can remove the +1/+1 counter from our undying creature and sacrifice it all over again. We can abuse in different ways depending on our sac outlet. For instance here is what would happen if we used Phyrexian Altar. Ghave, Guru of Spores + Phyrexian Altar + Young Wolf

Sacrifice Young Wolf to Phyrexian Altar to produce one mana of the color of your choice. Young Wolf returns with a +1/+1 counter.
Use our floating mana to remove the +1/+1 counter from Young Wolf and make a token.
Repeat steps 1 and 2. Because Young Wolf no longer has a counter on him when he's sacrificed, his undying ability triggers. We can do this over and over again so that we have infinite tokens. Now that we have infinite tokens, we can sacrifice them to the altar for infinite colored mana as well.

Persist

Persist is another ability that allows us to consistently return our sac fodder from the grave. As long as we have an active ability that puts +1/+1 counters on them, our persist creatures will no longer have their -1/-1 counters and will continue to come back. With this in mind not all of our counter sources work with persist creatures. Here are the ones that do:

In addition to a counter source, we also need a free sac outlet:

And finally these are the persist creatures we have to work with:

It is worth noting that Ghave is not required to pull off these combos. This means we have 4 x 5 x 3 = 60 different paths we can take to go infinite without the commander from the persist strategy alone! Note that this number used to be much higher before removing a sac outlet and some counter sources for more tutors to make the more efficient combos more consistent.

Ashnod's Altar + Cathars' Crusade + Kitchen Finks This combo works with any persist creature and will activate the persist creatures's ability infinite times.

Sacrifice Kitchen Finks to Ashnod's Altar.
Kitchen Finks comes back to the field with a -1/-1 counter on it.
When Kitchen Finks enters the battlefield, Cathars' Crusade puts a +1/+1 counter on it which negates the -1/-1 counter and removes them both.
We can now sacrifice our persist creature continuously, netting us infinite mana.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed has amazing synergy in Ghave Combo. Not only does he give non-humans undying so we can bring them back when we normally couldn't, but he right out combos with persist creatures because he gives them undying in addition to persist. We get to pick which order undying and persist triggers, so once the first one resolves the other ability fizzles. Here’s how it goes infinite:

Creature dies and persist triggers. It enters the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter.
Creature dies again. This time undying triggers since it has no +1/+1 counter on it. It enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter.
Creature dies again and persist triggers since it had no -1/-1 counters.

The abilities take turns triggering to continuously bring back our creature.

Recursion

One of the most resilient combos in the deck is our infinite recursion combo. Karmic Guide + Reveillark + a sac outlet. Saffi Eriksdotter can replace either Karmic Guide or Reveillark and achieve the same result.

Sacrifice Karmic Guide first. This is important.
Sacrifice Reveillark. When it leaves the battlefield, it will return Karmic Guide plus any other creature power 2 or less.
When Karmic Guide returns to the battlefield, it brings back Reveillark.

This combo allows us to have access to almost anything in our graveyard and reap the benefit of our sac outlet infinite times. If we utilize all three pieces, Saffi Eriksdotter will bring back Reveillark who brings back Saffi Eriksdotter and Karmic Guide who brings back anyone we want from the graveyard regardless of power. It also allows for infinite ETB and death triggers.

Combos by Outcome

Infinite Mana and Tokens

The following combos will net us infinte mana, infinite tokens, and make all our creatures /

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Earthcraft + Doubling Season

Replace Doubling Season with

Illusionist's Bracers

Replace Earthcraft with Ashnod's Altar:

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Ashnod's Altar + Doubling Season

Replace Doubling Season with

If using an undying creature, replace Ashnod's Altar with

Phyrexian Altar

Cryptic Trilobite

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Cryptic Trilobite + Doubling Season

Doubling Season

Illusionist's Bracers
Cathars' Crusade
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
an undying creature

The mana we get from having lots of counters on Trilobite can be used on more than just repeating Ghave's engine. Add Walking Balista to kill the board. Currently it is the only other creature that is a mana sink for Trilobite combo mana.

Infinite Mana

Infinite Colored Mana

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Devoted Druid + Earthcraft

Cathars' Crusade + Phyrexian Altar + persist creature

Replace Cathars' Crusade with

Infinite Mana

Cathars' Crusade + Ashnod's Altar + persist creature

Replace Cathars' Crusade with

Recursion Combo Mana

The following combos utilize our infinite recursion combo using an Altar as a sac outlet

Karmic Guide + Reveillark + Ashnod's Altar

Replace Reveillark with

Saffi Eriksdotter

Replace Karmic Guide with

Saffi Eriksdotter

For colored mana, replace Ashnod's Altar with

Phyrexian Altar

Any of these combos will net us infinite colorless mana with Ashnod's Altar and infinite colored mana with Phyrexian Altar. With the latter we can cast Ghave, Guru of Spores immediately and start making tokens. If we use the former, we will need to have handy to cast him.

Infinite Tokens

The following combos net us infinite tokens

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Earthcraft + Cathars' Crusade

Replace Cathars' Crusade with

The following combos are unique in that they produce untapped tokens

Infinite Death Triggers

Exchange Phyrexian Altar for any infinite mana Ghave combos containing Ashnod's Altar for infinite death triggers. These combos don't net us mana or tokens but allow us to abuse "whenever a creature dies" cards. The exceptions are combos that include persist creatures because they don't require us to use the mana floated with Phyrexian Altar to keep the combo going.

These combos would then look like this:

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Phyrexian Altar + Cathars' Crusade

Replace Cathars' Crusade with

Our simplest counter sources also allow infinite death triggers with Cryptic Trilobite

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Cryptic Trilobite + Good-Fortune Unicorn

Replace Good-Fortune Unicorn with:

Renata, Called to the Hunt

Scurry Oak

Chatterfang, Squirrel General With the token sources, replace Cryptic Triolobite with Ashnod's Altar

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Chatterfang, Squirrel General + Ashnod's Altar

Replace Chatterfang, Squirrel General with Scurry Oak

The following combos involve any persist creature with any sac outlet

persist creature + sac outlet + Cathars' Crusade

Replace Cathars' Crusade with

The following combo will trigger a non-human creature's ability infinite times

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Ashnod's Altar + non human creature.

Replace Ashnod's Altar with

Phyrexian Altar

Our infinite recursion combo will also give us infinite death triggers

Karmic Guide + Reveillark + sac outlet

Replace Reveillark with

Saffi Eriksdotter

Replace Karmic Guide with

Saffi Eriksdotter

We can take advantage of the above combos depending on which persist creature and which sac outlet we choose to use as well as which "whenever dies" card we may have active. I'll go into detail with these in "Combo Abusers"

The following combos utilize Yawgmoth, Thran Physician as a sac outlet who only goes infinite if we can offset his life cost

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Kitchen Finks + Good-Fortune Unicorn

Replace Good-Fortune Unicorn with

The above combos will allow us to draw our deck as well as rid the board of our opponents' creatures.

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Blood Artist + Puppeteer Clique + Good-Fortune Unicorn

Replace Good-Fortune Unicorn with

Replace Puppeteer Clique with

Woodfall Primus

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Blood Artist + Young Wolf + Strangleroot Geist

Replace Young Wolf OR Strangleroot Geist with

Geralf's Messenger

The above combos require Blood Artist to offset Yawgmoth's cost of life. If our opponents have less life than we have cards in our library, we just win. Otherwise we reap the same benefits as the Yawgmoth + Finks combos and will need to replace Yawgmoth with another sac outlet to win without decking ourselves. However in my experience, blowing up everyone's lands with Woodfall Primus usually ends the game right there.

Infinite Damage

The following combos will result in infinite damage, winning the game on the spot.

Ghave's Messenger

Ghave, Guru of Spores + Ashnod's Altar + Geralf's Messenger

Replace Ashnod's Altar with

Phyrexian Altar

Unhallowed Ballista

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Walking Ballista + Ashnod's Altar

Replace Ashnod's Altar with

Add Blasting Station to any infinite tokens combo or use it as the sac outlet in any infinite death triggers combo.

Add Walking Ballista to any infinite mana combo.

Combo Abusers

Included in this list are cards that take advantage of our many combos. We reap different benefits depending on which combo we have going.

Infinite Mana Combo

Dump all our mana into Walking Ballista for infinite damage.

Infinite Tokens Combo

The following cards can take advantage of having infinite tokens available

Mentor of the Meek/Skullclamp/Generous Patron = infinite draw if the token combo also yields infinite mana
Aura Shards = remove all artifacts and enchantments from boards that are not ours.

Infinite Death Triggers Combo

We can do different things depending on what persist creature and which sacrifice outlet we choose to use Persist:

Kitchen Finks = Infinite Life
Puppeteer Clique = Steal all creatures from all graveyards
Woodfall Primus = Destroy all noncreature permanents

Sac Outlet:

Viscera Seer = Filter the library
Ashnod's Altar = Infinite colorless mana
Phyrexian Altar = Infinite colored mana
Carrion Feeder = / Carrion Feeder
Blasting Station = Infinite Damage
Altar of Dementia = Mill all opponents

Passive Effects

We can also utilize our passive effects no matter which persist creature and sac outlet we choose.

Grave Pact = Everyone but us sacrifices everything
Blood Artist/Corpse Knight = Infinite life drain

ETB Effects

Using our infinite recursion combo, we can abuse any enter the battlefield (or leave the battlefield) effects. With this we can use:

Eternal Witness = return all cards in the graveyard to our hand
Knight of Autumn = Destroy all artifacts and enchantments and/or gain infinite life

You can also get creative with this one and use other ETB effects you have at your disposal.

Win Cons

Making all these combos is fun, and we can certainly change the boardstate to our advantage, but the eventual goal is to win. Here are the win cons available to us.

Blasting Station with infinite tokens or death triggers
Walking Ballista with infinite mana
Blood Artist with infinite death triggers. This includes infinite tokens with Ghave.
Corpse Knight with infinite ETB triggers. This extends past the need for a sac outlet and works with combos that turn mana into tokens.
Altar of Dementia with any infinite sac loop. Just not when there's a Laboratory Maniac in play.
Any infinite damage combo previously listed
Swing with infinity / creatures

The Incredible Hulk

These are the most common ways we'll win a game, however we have a trump card lying in wait. It is our fastest route to victory but also great for when you're in a pinch. All we need to do is cheat out Protean Hulk who can fetch us a game winning combo if we sacrifice him. Pattern of Rebirth and Natural Order are our most efficient methods of bringing out the Hulk. Here's how this one works:

Sacrifice Protean Hulk. Grab Karmic Guide and Viscera Seer (or any other 1-drop you like if you used Seer to sac Hulk in the first place). Karmic Guide brings back Protean Hulk.
Sac Hulk to Seer and grab Saffi Eriksdotter, Blood Artist/Corpse Knight, and Grand Abolisher.
Sac Saffi Eriksdotter with her ability, targeting Karmic Guide. Sac Karmic to Seer who then comes back thanks to Saffi and brings back Hulk.
Sac Hulk again and grab Reveillark who is needed to keep a recursion combo going to bring back Protean Hulk continuously. With an infinite recursion combo on the field (Karmic Guide + Saffi Eriksdotter + Reveillark +Viscera Seer) along with Blood Artist/Corpse Knight, we win on the spot. However if you don't feel like going straight for the win, you can use this combo to tutor any creatures you want from the deck thanks to Hulk.

Full Combo List

Theory Crafting

Single Card Discussion

When considering which cards to include in the various combos possible in a deck like this, I have to weigh them against each other. I have given each of my current combo pieces stats so that they are comparable at a glance. These stats are how many combo lines include the card and what functions those combos play. Obviously cards that interact with more of the deck and increase the deck's combo synergy deserve a spot over those that have more niche uses; however, it is also important to take into account the purpose of said combos. Cards that don't combo with as many others but pull off a win are generally more useful than those that don't.

Counter Sources

Cathars' Crusade

Stats:

Number of Combos: 29
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Mana
3. Infinite Tokens
4. Infinite Death Triggers

Doubling Season

Stats:

Number of Combos: 4
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Death Triggers

Good-Fortune Unicorn

Stats:

Number of Combos: 28
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Tokens
3. Infinite Death Triggers

Illusionist's Bracers

Stats:

Number of Combos: 4
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Tokens
2. Infinite Death Triggers

Renata, Called to the Hunt

Stats:

Number of Combos: 28
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Tokens
3. Infinite Death Triggers

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

Stats:

Number of Combos: 54
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite ETB effects
4. Infinite Damage

Alternate Options

Bloodspore Thrinax

Counter source that also has some synergy when no going infinite. Was cut for Green Sun's Zenith since it can can grab Good-Fortune Unicorn for the same mana cost and also be used as ramp for Dryad Arbor. Ivy Lane Denizen

Counter source that combos with Ghave and green persist creatures. Was cut for Renata, Called to the Hunt. Champion of Lambholt

Counter source that goes infinite with Ghave. Does not combo with as many other cards in the deck as other counter sources and was cut for Generous Patron

Juniper Order Ranger

Counter source that combos with Ghave and persist creatures. Was cut for Good-Fortune Unicorn.

Sigil Captain

Counter source that was in the deck once upon a time but was cut for other pieces of the deck because it only combo'd with saprolings and not persist creatures.

Mana Sources

Ashnod's Altar

Stats:

Number of Combos: 33
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Mana
3. Infinite Recursion
4. Infinite Death Triggers

Devoted Druid

Stats:

Number of Combos: 2
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Tokens
3. Infinite Mana

Earthcraft

Stats:

Number of Combos: 18
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Tokens
3. Infinite Mana

Phyrexian Altar

Stats:

Number of Combos: 33
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Mana
3. Infinite Recursion
4. Infinite Death Triggers

Cryptic Trilobite

Stats:

Number of Combos: 15
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Tokens
2. Infinite Mana
3. Infinite Death Triggers

Undying

Geralf's Messenger

Stats:

Number of Combos: 5
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Damage

Strangleroot Geist

Stats:

Number of Combos: 6
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Tokens
2. Infinite Untapped Tokens
3. Infinite Death Triggers

Young Wolf

Stats:

Number of Combos: 6
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana and Tokens
2. Infinite Tokens
3. Infinite Death Triggers

Alternate Options

Butcher Ghoul

Persist

Kitchen Finks

Stats:

Number of Combos: 34
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite Life

Puppeteer Clique

Stats:

Number of Combos: 34
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite Opponents' Creatures Recursion

Woodfall Primus

Stats:

Number of Combos: 34
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite Noncreature Removal

Alternate Options

Safehold Elite

Putrid Goblin

Lesser Masticore

Cheap persist creature options. They fit any persist combos, but other than that they're vanilla. Still they're options if your goal is to combo with perist as soon as you can. I guess Lesser Masticore can be a board wipe with infinite mana, but since it deals damage it doesn't get around indestructible, so...meh?

Kithkin Spellduster

Another persist option that combos well with Phyrexian Altar. With infinite mana you can clear the board of enchantments, but personally I'd rather just use Aura Shards.

Recursion Pieces

Karmic Guide

Stats:

Number of Combos: 18
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite Recursion

Reveillark

Stats:

Number of Combos: 18
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite Recursion

Saffi Eriksdotter

Stats:

Number of Combos: 15
Combo Functions:
1. Infinite Mana
2. Infinite Death Triggers
3. Infinite Recursion

Combo Abusers

Aura Shards

Abuses: Infinite Tokens, Infinite Death Triggers
Number of Combos Abused: 152
Effect: Destroys all artifacts and enchantments

Blood Artist

Abuses: Infinite Death Triggers
Number of Combos Abused: 121
Effect: Drains all life

Corpse Knight

Abuses: Infinite ETB Triggers
Number of Combos Abused: 126
Effect: Drains all life

Eternal Witness

Abuses: Infinite Recursion
Number of Combos Abused: 10
Effect: Returns all cards in the graveyard to our hand.

Grave Pact

Abuses: Infinite Death Triggers
Number of Combos Abused: 121
Effect: Opponents sacrifice all creatures. Gets around indestructible.

Knight of Autumn

Abuses: Infinite Recursion
Number of Combos Abused: 12
Effect: Destroys all artifacts and enchantments OR Gain infinite life.

Skullclamp

Abuses: Infinite Mana and Infinite Tokens
Number of Combos Abused: 12
Effect: Infinite card draw. Draw into a win con.

Generous Patron

Abuses: Infinite Mana and Infinite Tokens
Number of Combos Abused: 12
Effect: Infinite card draw. Draw into a win con.

Walking Ballista

Abuses: Infinite Mana, Mikaeus + sac outlet
Number of Combos Abused: 44
Effect: Infinite damage

Alternate Options

Altar of the Brood

Mills all opponents with infinite ETB triggers. Was cut for Altar of Dementia.

Zulaport Cutthroat

A wincon piece that drains the board with infinite death triggers. Was cut for Corpse Knight.

Deathspore Thallid

Destroys all creatures with infinite tokens. Gets around indestructible. Was cut for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

Dictate of Erebos

Martyr's Bond

Dictate and Martyr's are more budget-friendly options for Grave Pact.

Pitiless Plunderer

Turns infinite death triggers into infinite mana.

Poison-Tip Archer

Another Blood Artist effect.

Slimefoot, the Stowaway

A Blood Artist effect but only works with saprolings. Turns infinite mana into infinite tokens.

Mentor of the Meek

An outlet to draw the deck with infinite mana and tokens. Another option alongside Skullclamp and Generous Patron but whose incremental draw value is slightly less efficient. Was cut for Fiend Artisan.

Sac Outlets

The key to many of the combos in this deck is the availability of a free sac outlet. These are the ones I've employed, though more could certainly be added or replaced depending on the effect you want.

Ashnod's Altar

I feel that this card is non-negotiable. The it provides is the gas in Ghave's engine and is the core of many of our combos.

Phyrexian Altar

Depending on the situation, this card can either be more or less useful than its cousin. If we're using the mana to utilize Ghave's abilities, then Ashnod is generally better unless we have some other card to abuse death triggers. If we're recurring a persist creature, it's better to have the colored mana Phyrexian offers.

Altar of Dementia

A free sac outlet that mills the table with an infinite sac loop.

Blasting Station

While not quite as useful as the altars for comboing with the commander, it's a win con if we already have infinite tokens running or by constantly recurring the creature we sacrifice to it.

Carrion Feeder

A one-drop that's a creature. Easy on the mana and tutorable with our many creature tutors. It can also become huge which is nice.

Viscera Seer

It has the same benefits as Carrion Feeder and filters our library. It's arguably the best mana-less sac outlet we have available.

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

While not technically a free sac outlet, the 1 life cost is negligible and worth it for the utility that Yawg brings. With any kind of lifegain, he can go infinite.

Tutors

The deck could be played just fine without most of these tutors, just not as efficiently. All of these are great for getting the missing piece you need in the moment.

Academy Rector

An all-star. Brings an enchantment right out to the battlefield, and the Rector herself can be tutored for with a creature tutor. The quickest way to win is fetching Pattern of Rebirth with a sac outlet available, but it's still good for getting that Earthcraft or Doubling Season.

Note: While Birthing Pod was cut from the deck, I'm leaving the list here for reference at a quick glance. I will no longer be updating it for any changes to the creature package, however. Birthing Pod

This one is the more specifically variable tutors at our disposal, and it all depends on what you have available to feed it. If we're lucky and have the right cmc creature to get the piece we need, then great. Otherwise we have to let our tutoring evolve naturally as the card intends. Either way it makes a good sac outlet when you need one for say Protean Hulk. For reference I'll list the tutoring possibilities below.

0 drop (a saproling token or Walking Ballista)
1 drop
2 drop
3 drop
- Academy Rector
- Bloodspore Thrinax (I wouldn't recommend tutoring him into play unless you can put a +1/+1 counter on him immediately since he's useless as a combo piece without one.)
- Renata, Called to the Hunt
- Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
4 drop
5 drop
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
6 drop
- Protean Hulk
7 drop
- Woodfall Primus
- Woodfall is redundantly out of reach for Birthing Pod since as soon as you sacrifice Protean Hulk you basically win. But who knows? Maybe you'd rather bring out the expensive persist creature for some reason. I won't tell you how to live your life.

Chord of Calling

I love tutoring a creature straight to the battlefield. It bypasses that nonsense where you have to hard cast it from your hand. The convoke is also good if we've already played some cheap creatures or have some tokens out from Ghave.

Demonic Tutor

Add any card I want to my hand for 2 mana ? I see why Liliana keeps making deals with demons.

Diabolic Intent

A poor man's Demonic Tutor all for the extra cost of sacrificing a creature. Darn. Can't have us sacrificing things, now can we?

Eldritch Evolution

Basically a higher reaching Birthing Pod without the specific cmc restriction. This card is great for trading a combo piece that doesn't work with what we have for one that does. Also it can sac Ghave and bring out The Hulk.

Enlightened Tutor

I like the flexibility of this tutor to get an enchantment or an artifact (read: Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar) for . It's best used at the end step of our opponent right before it's our turn to draw.

Fiend Artisan

A more flexible Birthing Pod as long as you have the mana.

Finale of Devastation

This card is amazing. Grab any creature from our library OR our graveyard! It's Green Sun's Zenith but better! It's last ability could also be relevant in grindy situations as well.

Natural Order

This one is fantastic. Ditch an unwanted green creature (or better yet a Saproling token) for whatever green creature you want. Did I mention I liked tutoring creatures straight to the battlefield?

Pattern of Rebirth

This card is essentially a win con as it really only ever has one use. We use it to fetch Protean Hulk. Granted Natural Order can do the same thing, and Pattern is still a reliable tutor to get whatever creature we might need in the moment.

Protean Hulk

A tutor that functions as a tutorable combo piece. If we can get him out and kill him, we can set up an infinite recursion/tutor combo.

Survival of the Fittest

Excellent for cycling a creature for a better one. Especially good when discarding one of our recursion combo pieces for another one.

Vampiric Tutor

Any card we want for one mana. It's Enlightened Tutor but better.

Alternate Options

Eladamri's Call

Worldly Tutor

These are both good creature tutors, Worldly Tutor basically being an Enlightened Tutor for creatures, but I prefer the ones that put them right out onto the battlefield if possible. Still these are nothing to sneeze at and make great additions if you prefer them.

Green Sun's Zenith

I've been considering this one for some time as well. It's cheaper than Chord of Calling even if it doesn't have Convoke, and it only grabs green creatures. That's usually not a bad restriction for us, but sometimes we want some flexibility. However it also doubles as turn 1 ramp with Dryad Arbor. I haven't decided on a good cut for it, but it's an excellent include.

Tooth and Nail

I cut this one for Natural Order when I removed Triskelion from the deck. It's great to get out two combo pieces at once, especially when they win you the game. My only gripe is how expensive it costs. If we're playing a fast, competitive game, we'll want to have won by the time we have the mana to cast it. If you're not worried about the competitiveness, it's a great bomb.

Diabolic Tutor

Too much mana just for one card to our hand. Vampiric Tutor outclasses it. It's a good budget tutor if you're not too worried about speed, though.

Grim Tutor

With the reprint of this card in Core Set 21, it might drop in price into an affordable range. It's better than Diabolic Tutor but not as good as Demonic Tutor. Run it only if you've already got all the tutors better than it but feel like you still want one more that can grab any card.

Congregation at Dawn

As this one only puts creatures on top of the deck, it's a little lackluster. However it does have good synergy with Necropotence and Sylvan Library. It's also dirt cheap in price, so it works as a budget tutor.

Jarad's Orders

This is an interesting one. I've included it in the budget version of the deck. At the very least it gets a creature to our hands (and in that regard Diabolic Tutor is strictly better) but it can accelerate the recursion combo by putting one piece in your hand and the other in the grave.

Idyllic Tutor

Tutoring for enchantments. Was cut for Finale of Devastation

Fauna Shaman

A budget Survival of the Fittest but a bit slower since it gets summoning sickness and can only activate once per turn.

Scheming Symmetry

A decent budget tutor if you can draw your card before your opponent.

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Tutors on a curve but an option if you're on a budget. We don't run the shell he needs to be a powerhouse.

Ramp

Arcane Signet

The best mana rock that's not named Sol Ring.

Avacyn's Pilgrim

Mana dork for . Always good to get our other colors out.

Birds of Paradise

Does this one really need an explanation?

Bloom Tender

Big mana is good. Always taps for with Ghave out.

Devoted Druid

A mana dork that's easily abusable with Ghave and some tokens or a counter source. Also works as a combo piece in a few combo lines. Ramp with the potential for combo makes for better ramp than just plain old ramp.

Earthcraft

Primarily a combo piece that fuels Ghave's engine, it is actually crazy ramp in any deck with lots of creatures or tokens. We'll sometimes use it to ramp into whatever line we're playing.

Elves of Deep Shadow

Mana dork for . Except this one pings us because its meaner than Avacyn's Pilgrim.

Nature's Lore

Brings a forest into play untapped, so it is faster than most ramp spells. Can grab forest shocks for color fixing or a basic for Earthcraft.

Sakura-Tribe Elder

Not only is this one basically a Rampant Growth, but it's repeatable if we can bring it back. We can basically grab all of our basics if we hit our recursion combo.

Sol Ring

Duh

Utopia Sprawl

Early ramp that has synergy with Earthcraft. Note that it can only be enchanted to a Forest. This includes shocks, but then you lose the synergy with Earthcraft.

Wild Growth

More early ramp that has synergy with Earthcraft. Enchant any land you want.

Alternate Options

Rampant Growth

Grab a basic for 2 mana. Solid ramp and feeds Earthcraft. Was cut for Nature's Lore.

Chromatic Lantern

Sure, there are faster ways to ramp, but it still acts as a mana rock which does ramp us a bit. Besides it makes all our lands a Command Tower which is great for getting out Necropotence or Geralf's Messenger.

Cryptolith Rite

It's a combo piece in some circumstances (see Strangleroot Geist), but otherwise it turns any creature into a Birds of Paradise. Ramp with combo potential is excellent for this deck.

Cultivate

Earthcraft is one of our more relevant combo pieces. In order for it to work, we need basic lands. Cultivate is good ramp for that and is interchangeable with Kodama's Reach. Run both if you want.

Overgrowth

Ramp that goes infinite with Earthcraft. It's a good option, but I've opted for its cheaper cousins for the early turn ramp over having another combo piece.

Faeburrow Elder

Budget Bloom Tender

Single Target Removal

The deck is slim on single-target removal. We have plenty of mass removal in the form of combo abusers. A bit of single target is still good to keep around, though. I've included what I consider to be the best ones.

Anguished Unmaking

Exile a thing. Worth the 3 life.

Assassin's Trophy

Ravnica's new toy. It can even destroy lands! Auto include.

Beast Within

Destroys any permanent which is super versatile. Costs one more than Assassin's Trophy but gives them a beast instead of a land. Fair trade off, and it keeps our options for removal open.

Swords to Plowshares

Better than Path to Exile in my opinion. We really don't mind an opponent gaining life. We can infinitely drain it later if we need to, and it's not as useful of a resource as more mana.

Alternate Options

Return to Dust

4 mana might seem a bit steep for single target removal, but it gives us the option of an artifact or enchantment. Not to mention we can get rid of two things on our turn. Was cut for Beast Within.

Card Draw

Generous Patron

Not only does this card net us two cards when we play it, but no one ever said Ghave had to put counters on our own creatures... That means we can pay and sac a token to draw a card. A decent engine for digging for our combo pieces. Also acts as a draw outlet for a win con with infinite tokens and mana.

Necropotence

Some of the most abusable card draw in all of magic. It might as well say "fill up your hand at the end of each turn" because that's exactly how I use it.

Skullclamp

Incremental card advantage with tokens. Pay = draw 2. Also acts as a draw outlet for a win con with infinite tokens and mana.

Sylvan Library

It's like scrying and extra draw all in one! We can either take the life to fill our hands or at the very least use it to fix our draws.

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Card draw, control, and a sac outlet all in one card. He's utility that has some options of going infinite which is exactly what we want.

Alternate Options

Mentor of the Meek

Incremental card advantage when tokens etb but at a slightly less efficient mana-to-draw ratio than Skullclamp or Generous Patron. Also acts as a draw outlet for a win con with infinite tokens and mana. Was cut for Fiend Artisan.

Fecundity

Draw a card each time we sacrifice a creature. Excellenct draw, but it also allows opponents to draw. Would not recommend next to Grave Pact.

Suggested

Below are a list of cards previously suggested for the deck but weren't accepted. Check the list before making a suggestion and feel free to use the list as further inspiration for your own list.

Building on a Budget

I've crafted a prototype budget list here:

Ghave That Bitch a Budget

Commander / EDH* Abzkaban

SCORE: 44 | 2 COMMENTS | 7435 VIEWS | IN 19 FOLDERS

Hopefully this gives you an idea of where you can start to build combo Ghave without breaking the bank. Most of the combos are still present in the budget list, and even more can be there if you want to extend to getting a Phyrexian Altar whose price has dropped thanks to Ultimate Masters or even Earthcraft, though this one might be a little more out of reach. These would be the two I'd splurge on for the deck, however, as their presence makes the deck that much more combo efficient. You can easily build the rest on a budget land base and with fewer tutors, though, with alternate options for combo benefits and pieces. Feel free to stick more undying and persist creatures in there than the ones in this list. In order to keep the core of the deck intact, I've opted to not cut cards that are $5, but you can get by without some of the $20+ bombs.

Tutorless Build

With changes to the list making it more consistent, I've had to cut some combo pieces which therefore lowered the overall combo count of the deck. Here you will find a build without a single tutor that instead contains more combo pieces and card draw. It's a more true build to the original idea behind this deck where you can just accidentally draw into a win.

Oops I Win | OVER 250 INFINITE COMBOS!

Commander / EDH* Abzkaban

SCORE: 44 | 8 COMMENTS | 2526 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS

Optimizing for cEDH

Not going to lie, I struggled with this a lot. The reason for this is that optimizing Ghave, Guru of Spores for cEDH essentially makes a different deck entirely. It takes away from the philosophy behind this deck which in essence is combo synergy. It's more of a high-power list that does well at high-power tables and is way too consistent for casual groups. While this deck is fast and resilient, it needs to be much more cutthroat to sit at most cEDH tables (although I do think it could win a few games at certain competitive tables as it is just not consistently). That being said I still went and made a prototype cEDH list as a starting point.

Ghave That Bitch Some Competition

Commander / EDH* Abzkaban

SCORE: 24 | 7 COMMENTS | 4756 VIEWS | IN 7 FOLDERS

This list is old and outdated and honestly just needs a complete rebuild. For a proper cEDH build with Ghave as the commander, please consult the Ghave discord. An invite button is at the bottom of the primer. There Lerker and Ryland have some solid lists and can give you some direction from experience playing Ghave at that level.

Other Notable Ghave Decks

Here you can find other decks for Ghave that I think are worth checking out.

Ghave: Baby Makin' and Alimony

Commander / EDH PookandPie

SCORE: 75 | 46 COMMENTS | 14457 VIEWS | IN 32 FOLDERS

PookandPie's Ghave list which has been around even longer than this one. His experience and comments helped shape this deck into what it is today. He plays with even more expensive cards that I didn't want to break my budget for. That being said, it's a stellar list. If you liked my deck, you should go give his a +1.

Ad Naus Earthcraft Lean

Commander / EDH Lerker

SCORE: 39 | 5 COMMENTS | 9718 VIEWS | IN 15 FOLDERS

Lerker's newest competitive Ghave list. He's an experienced competitive Ghave player, so his list was worth including here.

Google Ghave and The Search Engine of Doom

Commander / EDH* goldlion

SCORE: 28 | 86 COMMENTS | 2480 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS

A completely unique build for Ghave and one that I have to say gets extra points for creativity!

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks

Many thanks to PookandPie for his contributions to the deck back when it was in its early stage of transitioning from fungus tribal to combo.
Appreciation goes to hkhssweiss and Inkmoth for their help in making minor adjustments to the deck and for their overall support.
A HUGE shout out to scotchtapedsleeves for coding the style sheet for the page! Credit to The Deckcoders' Alliance for the code on this page

Praise for the Guru

Milestones, a Timeline

19 January, 2019

Ranked #1 on TappedOut!

5 February, 2019

Over 9000 Views!

"Vegeta! What does the scouter say about his views count?"

"IT'S OVER 9000!!!"

"What? 9000? There's no way that can be right!"

The deck just hit over 9000 views! That's amazing! Thanks for the support, everyone!

6 February, 2019

Over 100 Upvotes!

I never thought one of my decks would reach such heights! It's certainly a milestone. Thanks to all who contributed!

8 May, 2019

Became the #1 Ghave, Guru of Spores deck on TappedOut!

Thanks for all the attention, everyone! This feels like such a monumental achievement for me. I couldn't have done it without you.

15 May, 2019

200 Upvotes!

This is incredible! We're soaring to new heights! Thank you everyone who liked this deck enough to upvote it.

16 May, 2019

20,000 views

What a milestone! Let's keep it going!

21 July, 2019

250 Upvotes!

Let's see if we can make it to 300!

06 August, 2019

30,000 Views!

This is amazing! Thanks to everyone for making the deck so popular!

23 September, 2019

300 Upvotes!

I’m amazed and humbled by all the attention and praise this deck has gotten. Thanks to all of you who have upvoted or commented!

22 October, 2019

40,000 Views!

1 January, 2020

350 Upvotes!

15 January, 2020

50,000 Views!

04 March, 2020

400 Upvotes!

02 June, 2020

450 Upvotes!

Not only that but sometime in May this deck became the most viewed Ghave deck on TappedOut! This is a huge accomplishment! Thank you all who have spread the word about this deck.

06 November, 2020

500 Upvotes!

This feels like a monumental achievement! Thank you to all who have upvoted this deck and have shown it to others. I feel like Ghave is a commander who deserves this kind of attention.

04 July, 2021

1st Page of Search Results!

We've finally reached a point I'd always wanted but never thought would ever actually happen. When you search decks by format (Commander/EDH) and sort by score (descending), you get the highest ranked EDH decks on the site. Well this deck now appears on the 1st page of search results! I know TappedOut isn't the only deckbuilding site, but it is a community. It means a lot to me that my deck list/primer has become so popular. Thank you to all who upvoted the deck!

23 May, 2022

Over 100,000 Views!

We've finally done it! We've hit perhaps the biggest milestone this page is going to get. Over 100,000 views! Thank you to all for spreading the word of Ghave like a spore cloud.

Hall of Praise

Conclusion

This deck has been super fun to make, and I hope you enjoy it too. If you do, give it a +1! If you spotted a combo that I forgot to list (it's very possible since there are so many) then let me know so I can add it in. Also if you have any suggestions or ideas that might work better, feel free to suggest them! However if you do make a suggestion, please also consider possible cuts. I hope this deck has helped out anyone interested in playing Ghave. He's certainly my favorite.

Visitors to the deck starting 5/29/19

How Far the Saprolings' Spores Have Spread

All Beware He Who Giveth Bitches Combos

Join the Ghave Discord Server!

Suggestions

Updates Add

It's About Tayam — July 24, 2023

Edit

It's been a long while since an update to the deck. I haven't had the time I'd like to spend on Magic, and I haven't felt compelled to add any new cards released in the last year. However I am making a change to the deck that should add even more resiliency (as if the deck needed any more). Here are the newest changes:

In:

Out:

Back when Tayam, Luminous Enigma was released, it came up in conversation as a possible addition to the deck. I ultimately decided against it then, but I have recently decided on a cut so that I could include it. As much as it pains me, Doubling Season is out. It is the last pet card in the deck since the Doubling Season + Earthcraft combo is what started this deck all those years ago. However since I am still running a couple persist creatures, DS is a nonbo with them. I have come to terms with it and cut it in favor of Tayam who can dig for cards in lieu of draw and also bring back important combo pieces that have been removed such as Earthcraft or an altar. Since Tayam is going in and I already run Devoted Druid, I thought I would keep to the combo tribal nature of the deck and add in a way to pump druid for Tayam's combo. Allosaurus Shepherd is the pick here since it also functions as protection from counterspells. Any other way to pump Druid for the combo would have been too niche and filled no other meaningful role in the deck. So now in grindy games, the deck can now assemble Tayam, Luminous Enigma + Devoted Druid + Allosaurus Shepherd and then dump the library into the graveyard and bring back whatever combo pieces we need to win. Renata, Called to the Hunt will be the cut for Shepherd. Good-Fortune Unicorn remains the cheapest counter source that combos with Ghave or persist creatures, and Ivy Lane Denizen is the same cost as Renata for the creature pieces. Ivy-Lane has the benefit of being a two-card combo with Scurry Oak which lets it keep its spot.

Changelog

A Zoologist on a Fungus Farm -- May 23, 2022

New Capenna gave us a friend who is straight gas in Ghave. Say hello to Bennie Bracks, Zoologist. The four mana casting cost can almost completely be ignored thanks to Convoke. It's not uncommon to cast him for one or even for free before using our actual mana sources to start spitting out tokens with Ghave. Just make a token on each of our opponents' turns, and we'll be drawing 4 cards a turn cycle. This is even better if we have a source of +1/+1 counters so we can keep popping out tokens indefinitely for only one mana each.

The cut for this will be Puppeteer Clique. It saddens me to remove a card that can fit into so many combos, but the draw power will serve the deck better. Not to mention Clique is the only persist creature who can't combo with Ivy Lane Denizen. And I'll be perfectly honest: it has been a long time since I've used Clique in a combo. More often than not if a persist line came up it was with Kitchen Finks or Woodfall Primus if I was specifically trying to pull off land destruction. Even when I did use Clique I never got the chance to utilize the graveyard-stealing ability. No situation arose where I could pull it off with Grave Pact or even after a board wipe. Oh well. Time to cut my losses and bid farewell to the band of faeries.

I will no longer be making any updates to the primer as far as combo lines since it takes so much work. Puppeteer Clique will remain in the combo lists and any how-to replacement sections, but literally any persist creature can go into those slots to make the combos work. Ghave really is the perfect A+B+C combo commander.

I like your dress. "Thanks. It has cupholders!" -- March 19, 2022

This update has been long overdue. Due to TappedOut not saving the entirety of the primer when I go to edit, I have to sit at my computer where I've got the primer saved elsewhere and then paste the whole thing in again just to save. That being said I'm not sure how long I'll keep this page updated. I'm considering switching to Moxfield for good. If I do I'll leave this page as a monument to the deck's journey and because I do think that the coding on it just makes it even more aesthetically pleasing. But I digress. On to the update.

In:

Out:

Swords is out for Swift Reconfiguration. While it's more narrow of a removal piece, it combos with Devoted Druid to make infinite and removes summoning sickness so we can use it the turn druid comes out. As always I'm going to add a card if it has a potential combo outside its primary function. I've already pulled off a win once with it.

Here's the big one. I finally got my hands on a Jeweled Lotus. This means a turn 2 Ghave with any 1-mana colored ramp piece, but it will also help pay commander tax later in the game if needed. Arcane Signet gets the cut for it.

This next swap comes with a funny story. I recently bought an Esper Sentinel for my new Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice deck and thought I had lost it. I go to buy a new one only to find the one I thought I lost a bit later. Rather than feel like I just spent money on an expensive card needlessly, I decided to slot it into Ghave so that the venture to my lgs wasn't for naught. I've cut Chatterfang for it since he hasn't been necessary as a removal piece, and the card advantage will serve the deck better.

Innistrad Ghave us a Massacre -- December 4, 2021

Only one card from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt truly stood out.

Enter The Meathook Massacre

We are cutting Blood Artist for this one and here is why. Massacre functions the same as Artist in our combos while preventing opponents from using similar sac combos to drain our life. The difference is Massacre comes can come down as flexible removal. It can be brought out with Academy Rector, and if we still need an Artist effect on a stick, we still have Corpse Knight.

At this point my physical deck will still be running Artist until I can get my hands on a Massacre. I'm making the change to the list because I believe it to be the correct swap, but the value we gain is not worth the current price tag on it. I'll wait for it to drop before actually getting one. If it never does--well I may just bite the bullet and get one.

Enter the Squirrels -- July 2, 2021

We have squirrels! Modern Horizons 2 gave us some new toys. I don't know if these changes will be permanent, but here's what I'm trying out:

In:

Out:

First off I really want to try playing with Scurry Oak. He doesn't enable a ton of combos, but he is a two-card combo with Cathars' Crusade and Ivy Lane Denizen. Since I already run the former and used to run the latter, Oak seemed like decent fit for combo synergy. He can also combo with Ghave and Earthcraft or Ashnod's Altar for infite tokens or death triggers. Otherwise his evolve ability will be able to trigger often, giving Ghave more fodder to play with. I see him as a value piece that can potentially fall into a combo, so we'll see how he does. If I'm adding him to the deck, that means Ivy Lane finds his spot back as well which adds to our combo count. Cuts for these come from our tutor package since the deck has been pretty tutor heavy for some time and can afford to lighten the load there. Birthing Pod and Fiend Artisan are the cuts for these two as they are the slowest of our tutors and require the most setup. They were fun to play with, but the deck will do fine without them.

I've rejected the idea of including Parallel Lives in the deck and still do since it's only half a Doubling Season. However our next addition is so much more than that. Chatterfang, Squirrel General is a Parallel Lives on a stick. This means he is more easily tutorable. Not only that, but he's one mana cheaper and is a source of creature removal. That's a lot of value on one card. Mostly he'll combo with Earthcraft and Ashnod's Altar and Ghave but will need a fourth card to combo with most other things. The idea here, though, is that he will primarily act as removal in more grindy matchups and can possibly act as another means to a combo. The cut for the squirrel is Ranger-Captain of Eos who hasn't been in the deck that long. Again I cut from the tutor package, and he was the most narrow of the remaining tutors. I do still think he's valuable with Cryptic Trilobite in the deck, and he may come back if I decide I don't like Chatterfang or Scurry Oak. Until then the deck still has Grand Abolisher for combo protection, and if I'm honest it rarely needs it. The deck is so resilient that if one combo is stopped there is usually another to take its place. If you're worried that you need to protect your combo because you won't get another chance, then you probably want a more cEDH focused build to begin with.

Now Ghave gets to go infinite with squirrels in addition to saprolings! But not by usuing Squirrel Nest. That card does nothing outside of Earthcraft, so I don't want it in my deck.

Cutting Combos for Consistency -- August 16, 2020

As I continue to tune the deck, it gets harder and harder to make cuts. Each one seems to rip out a piece of my soul. That being said, these changes are few but in the best interest of the deck.

In:

Out:

Cryptic Trilobite was a card that I immediately wanted to throw in this deck as soon as it was spoiled, but I held off on it becuase I wanted to see how many combos it enabled and weigh it against other pieces in the deck. It actually enables fewer combos than some other pieces I'm running but on an Earthcraft scale. It is a mana source much like Ashnod's Altar but can be more easily tutored. Hence why Ranger-Captain of Eos finally found a home here. With the addition of Trilobite, I feel there are enough targets for him to tutor to merit a slot. Blasting Station and Silence were removed for these two. While Blasting Station was a great sac outlet that worked in many combos or as a finisher in the case of infinite tokens, it was the least useful outside of those combos out of all my sac outlets and was the most logical cut. Silence may make it back into the deck, but I found I only needed it a handful of times. We'll see how the captain fares, and I honestly think he'll do fine. I really should have added Dryad Arbor forever ago, but I just never found myself wanting to spend the money on it. Now that I have it, it's here to stay. It allows Green Sun's Zenith (a tutor I've wanted in the deck to begin with but could never justify a cut) to become a turn 1 ramp and a tutor later in the game and allows for some slippery lines of play. A forest was the obvious cut for this one, but the hard choice was for GSZ. I settled on Bloodspore Thrinax who is the least efficient of the combo pieces I am running. Removing him and Blasting Station, however, cuts the combo count by over 40. This isn't really a big deal considering the amount of tutors in the deck adds to its resilliency and consistency, but I like pushing the numbers as high as I can. It is because of this that I've decided to make a list with no tutors just to see how many combos I can fit into a Ghave deck just for the meme. Finally I'm adding to my fetch land collection with Polluted Delta, cutting a basic Swamp for it. Once I get my hands on a Wooded Foothills I will have them all. Updates to the primer will follow later.

Making Fetch Happen -- July 15, 2020

Thanks to a couple of secret lair purchases, I have been able to acquire most of the fetch lands. The Ultimate Edition enemy fetches are just beautiful (I'm in love with that Marsh Flats art). The only ones I am missing are Wooded Foothills and Polluted Delta, so I have made the decision to up the land base to include single color fetches as well. The two I don't currently have will be added to the list when I can get them in paper. Here are the changes made to the land base in a list form.

In:

Out:

Updates Changelog -- June 26, 2020

I decided to take a page out of Inkmoth's book and condense the updates to the deck. I have now added a changelog of all previous updates to view within only one update panel. This should hopefully clean up the deck page and make it look a bit nicer.

Ikoria: Lair of Fiend Artisan -- June 5, 2020

I've been meaning to make this update for a while, so it's a little overdue. I am pleased to introduce to the deck Birthing Pod #2!

Okay, so Fiend Artisan isn't quite Birthing Pod since they function slightly differently, but both have their reasons for earning a slot in the deck. Fiend Artisan is not reliant on converted mana cost to tutor a creature to the battlefield. Its flexibility is what makes it so good. On the other hand, Birthing Pod is actually better for getting higher cmc creatures like Mikaeus out by sacrificing Ghave. In that case it is a tool that is less mana intensive.

Having a new tutor to grab something straight to the battlefield is what I always dream of. The more this deck is tuned, the harder it is to make cuts. That being said, Mentor of the Meek is our weakest link, goodbye. Mentor is an outlet to draw the deck with infinite mana and tokens the same way that Generous Patron and Skullclamp are. However as draw engines go, it is less efficient than its cousins. Assuming we use Ghave to create a token or counter in the first place to activate these draw engines, Patron and Clamp are a to 1 ratio in terms of mana to card draw while Mentor is a to 1 ratio. The deck needs the card draw, but replacing our weakest option for a tutor that will pull anything we want straight to the battlefield is an upgrade in my book.

Theros Beyond Death -- January 31, 2020

Theros has given us a nice little upgrade. Ivy Lane Denizen has been replaced with Renata, Called to the Hunt.

This ups our combo count slightly since Renata can combo with Puppeteer Clique while Ivy Lane can't due to it being a black creature. The new demigod is otherwise functionally the same as Ivy Lane, so it was an easy cut. This was the only obvious include from the new set, though I haven't poured over it extensively to see if anything else would be worth running.

Bloom Tender --January 13, 2020

Thanks to Inkmoth for the generous gift, we now have a newcomer to the deck!

Bloom Tender

Ghave will certainly appreciate this addition to the ramp package. Isolated Chapel has been removed to make room. 33 lands should be fine with our mana curve and the ramp we're running. There was no way I was going to take out another basic for Earthcraft purposes, and the lands are the least impactful in our land base.

Death(spore) of a Pet Card -- November 7, 2019

I recently made some cuts that I think is in the best interest of the deck, but oh boy did it kill me to do it this time.

In:

Out:

First let's welcome newcomer Yawgmoth, Thran Physician who probably should have found a slot here when he was first spoiled. Yawg adds some card draw while also serving as a conditional sac outlet and controlling the board with -1/-1 counters. To make room for him, Deathspore Thallid got the cut. This was an extremely difficult choice for me for personal reasons. Deathspore was in my first fungus deck way back in the day. It was part of the deck that helped shape the way I like to play magic, and it was always one of my favorite cards in the deck. It was a pet card through and through, but it had a significant purpose in the deck, and I was pleased it lasted this long. With infinite tokens, it's basically a boardwipe. However, Yawg will provide more utility in getting to our combos. He isn't restricted to sacrificing saprolings, he can ping the board like Deathspore can, but on top of all that, he draws us cards. The only downside is the pay 1 life to use his ability. Luckily that can be offset by gaining life with either Kitchen Finks or Blood Artist. This adds a few combos to the deck which is always welcome. Besides, we still have Grave Pact to wipe the board of creatures, and that functions in many more combos than Deathspore did. So it is with a heavy heart that I say farewell to one of my favorite cards in the game.

I also thought it was time to add a little more combo protection to the list, so enter Silence. Cryptolith Rite gets the cut for this one for being a mite slow when it comes to ramp since creatures have to wait a turn to tap for mana unlike Earthcraft. Since Strangleroot Geist was only in the deck to allow for possible combos with Cryptolith, it has been replaced with Butcher Ghoul for ease of casting who makes its return to the deck as one of our undying creatures.

Changes to the Ramp Package -- October 25, 2019

Made just a few alterations to the ramp package.

In:

Out:

Arcane Signet is too good not to include. It's cheaper than Chromatic Lantern, and the mana base is usually good enough to not need the fixing. Besides we still have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to help with that we sometimes need. Wild Growth and Utopia Sprawl are cheap early ramp that doesn't slow down from summoning sickness, and they have excellent synergy with Earthcraft. Cultivate was taken out as inferior ramp as well as a Plains, leaving us at 34 lands which is plenty.

List of Ghave Decks -- September 5, 2019

I added a tab to the Theory Crafting section of the deck. Here I list any other Ghave decks that I like or think are worth looking at. Most notably I wanted to list PookandPie's deck there since he's the one who got me started down the rabbit hole of combos of which Ghave is capable. He should have way more upvotes than he has, so if you liked this deck, go check his out and give it a +1.

Update to the Primer and Custom Categories -- August 18, 2019

I've made some changes to the primer and to the default custom categories in the deck list. I've split the "Combo Pieces" category into each piece's function. Now it should be more clear at a glance to see what we have to work with when trying to assemble a combo. The new categories are:

Combo Source
Mana Source
Undying
Persist
Recursion Piece

I've moved Protean Hulk to "Tutors" since that's basically what he is. It just usually results in an immediate win. I've moved Devoted Druid to "Ramp" since that's her primary function although she has the potential to combo in a few lines. I've also moved Skullclamp and Mentor of the Meek to "Draw" since that's also their primary function. They will abuse a combo line that yields infinite tokens AND mana, but unless we have that combo, they're just good card draw.

The "Single Card Discussion" section of the primer now accurately reflects these changes while also including cards in multiple categories if they play multiple roles. This way you still see each card only once in the list. I plan on adding additional alternatives that I don't run to these sections in the future so that anyone looking to play Ghave can have a list of possibilities in one location.

Cuts I never thought I'd make -- August 2, 2019

It's been a while since I've changed much in the deck, but I've been mulling some things over for a while. Here are the latest changes:

Out:

In:

I know Zulaport Cutthroat seems like a radical cut choice, but we just got something better with the release of M20: Corpse Knight. Functionally they are almost the same. The life loss is all that matters to win a game in the combos, and most of the combos that involve creatures dying also have them entering the battlefield. However the Knight also works with our infinite tokens combos that don't use a sac outlet but instead convert continuous mana into tokens through Ghave. It expands Zulaport's role into even more combos which this deck loves. I chose to cut this over Blood Artist because Artist triggers on opponents' creatures as well. It's a narrow difference but enough to keep it here. So long, Zulaport Cutthroat...but a shout out to PookandPie for bringing Corpse Knight to my attention!

The next cut was easy. I decided I wanted an additional sac outlet in the deck, so I added in Altar of Dementia. Functionally it does what Altar of the Brood did except it is its own sac outlet rather than relying on another combo. I had been considering this one for a while, and it was finally time to make the switch.

Generous Patron is going to be another powerful draw engine in the deck. It will work in similar efficiency to Skullclamp outside of a combo by converting a token into card draw for . Not to mention it gives us two cards when we play it or needed counters on something (a much more niche use but still an option). Finding a cut for this was difficult, but I finally decided on Champion of Lambholt. With all the combo pieces I had available, it made sense to cut one and not hurt the deck. Champion provides the fewest number of combos for a counter source since it only combos with Ghave and not a persist creature like my other combo sources. Now the only combo sources remaining that don't work with persist are Doubling Season and Illusionist's Bracers which is functionally another DS.

I want to thank PookandPie and Inkmoth for helping me come to terms with these changes. I'll update the primer to reflect these changes when I can.

War of the Spark and Modern Horizons -- May 25, 2019

A couple of changes coming about with these new sets.

Out:

In:

Let's talk about these changes. First up, Good-Fortune Unicorn. This guy is functionally a cheaper Juniper Order Ranger. Sure the ranger makes itself bigger, but that hardly matters if we're already going infinite. The unicorn is a more mana-efficient counter source that will lower our curve a bit. The art is also friggin' beautiful! I welcome this change with open arms!

I've wanted Finale of Devastation in my deck since it was spoiled. It's like a Green Sun's Zenith that can tutor from the graveyard! And it's last ability could help in a pinch if it's really needed. Idyllic Tutor was cut for it because we already have Enlightened Tutor which can grab our enchantment (or artifact) at the end of our opponent's turn so that we have mana ready to play our enchantment (read: Earthcraft) on our turn. Between that and Academy Rector which puts an enchantment directly onto the battlefield, Idyllic is outclassed.

There were quite a few lands spoiled in Commander...er...Modern Horizons that would go great in this deck. Prismatic Vista is amazing. It's a strictly better Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse since our basic comes in tapped. While not as versatile as our fetch lands, grabbing a basic is always relevant in a deck running Earthcraft.

Silent Clearing and Nurturing Peatland have been added to the deck. I cut Caves of Koilos and Concealed Courtyard for them. Horizon Canopy may also be added if the price ever drops.

Tweaking -- February 8, 2019

Made a few cuts here and there.

Cut Return to Dust for Beast Within. Due to all the enchantment removal I have available, Return to Dust isn't as necessary. Beast Within may only be one mana cheaper, but it gets rid of any permanent which is always relevant.
Cut Rampant Growth for Nature's Lore. I originally had Rampant Growth in the list to grab any basic I needed. This was good for color fixing and grabbing lands for Earthcraft. However Nature's Lore can grab any of my Forest shocks. Plus they come into play untapped which makes it a faster ramp spell. If I desperately need a land to combo with Earthcraft, I can just grab a plain old Forest.
Cut a Forest for Canopy Vista which is an option to grab with Nature's Lore.

More Efficiency -- January 20, 2019

Made a few replacements to up the combo synergy of the deck:

Walking Ballista adds far more value to the deck than Triskelion. First off its cmc is effectively , a good deal cheaper than Trike's . It also interacts with more cards than Trike who only combos with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and the recursion combo. Ballista not only combos with Mikaeus (with the addition of a sac outlet or Blood Artist effect) but also acts as an outlet for infinite mana. It plays the role of combo piece and combo abuser. Tooth and Nail's primary function was to cheat out Mike and Trike, and this is at 9 mana. In faster metas, we will want to have won by then. Its replacement, Natural Order is a far more efficient tutor that brings a creature straight to the battlefield at a lower cmc and the measly price of sacrificing a creature. I had been considering adding in Reclamation Sage for some time now. Knight of Autumn is strictly better. At best it clears the board of all hostile artifacts and enchantments or gives us infinite life when used with our recursion combo, and at worst it acts as single target removal. I cut Evolutionary Leap for it since the myriad of other tutors allow me to choose a specific card I want. Leap was rather lackluster in that department, and I needed to pay to sacrifice a creature. Selesnya's new knight will serve the deck better.

Survival of the Fittest -- January 17, 2019

Congregation at Dawn is out. Survival of the Fittest is in! I was recently able to acquire a Survival (much thanks to hkhssweiss for the trade), and only didn't include it before because of how grossly priced it is. I cut Congregation for it because even though it lets me search for three creatures, I can only put them on the top of my deck. It is worth noting that Congregation has some synergy with Necropotence and Sylvan Library since I can grab practically a whole combo at the end step of my opponent's turn and draw them on mine. However even with this synergy, Survival is a superior tutor. For only I can get rid of a creature I don't need for one that I do, and it goes straight to my hand without the need of another card. Congregation is still included in the budget version.

Taplands Removed -- January 12, 2019

I finally got around to updating the mana base at least on the list. I removed all the tap lands in favor of faster lands. It's decent enough for now as I haven't been willing to get all the fetch lands yet and will just stick to the ones that grab two of my colors for now. The number of utility lands is also limited. I will probably look into further refining this section of the deck in the future.

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Casual

98% Competitive

Revision 81 See all

(8 months ago)

+1	Allosaurus Shepherd	main
-1	Doubling Season	main
-1	Renata, Called to the Hunt	main
+1	Tayam, Luminous Enigma	main

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 5 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	6 months
Key combos	Karmic Guide + Reveillark Doubling Season + Earthcraft + Ghave, Guru of Spores Cathars' Crusade + Earthcraft + Ghave, Guru of Spores Ashnod's Altar + Champion of Lambholt + Ghave, Guru of Spores Ashnod's Altar + Doubling Season + Ghave, Guru of Spores Ghave, Guru of Spores + Phyrexian Altar + Young Wolf Ashnod's Altar + Cathars' Crusade + Kitchen Finks Cryptic Trilobite + Doubling Season + Ghave, Guru of Spores Cryptic Trilobite + Ghave, Guru of Spores + Young Wolf
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 58 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.54
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Saproling 1/1 G, Squirrel 1/1 G
Folders	ramp, commander, Ghave, Research, Curious, Loops for days, intersting deck, test, EDH remember me, Favorites
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