WOAH! I just thought of an infinite combo man!
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Aug. 13, 2019, 5:16 a.m. by vasarto77
OK. SO I was like, watching this video on that new card called K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth Card and I really wanted to build a deck out of him the moment I saw it and I guess like, I saw that like-everyone else totally did to. So anyway, I was like watching this deck tech video and someone pointed out The Extort ability and I already remembered that the Pontiff of Blight which I didn't read what it did I just sorta like, threw it on my list of to get cards because the internet told me it was a good card. But if you have a card from my Locust god deck I just recently finally finished, a little artifact, or should I say, a "location", called Alhammarret's Archive out with your Commander and then you like, play ANY extort creature and like, Pay two life instead of the one hybrid mana and your opponent loses a life and you gain one life but You like, gain that much life back plus 1 so You have a Free extort cost now that you can like, pay with life that you get back!
TA-DA! Oh, I never think of cool stuff like that. I don't think I ever figured out a combo like that on my own. Feels cool man! Anyway, Ya'll welcome!
It's an alright synergy, but not an infinite combo by any means. There's a couple of things to take in here.
First, each instance of extort only triggers once, so you'd need to cast infinite spells in order to extort an infinite number of times.
Second, extort reads, "each opponent loses 1 life, and you gain that much life." This means you always gain life equal to the total amount of life lost by all your opponents combined. If you have two opponents you'll always gain 2 life per extort. If you have three opponents you'll gain 3 life per extort. Alhammarret's Archive 's purpose in this case would only serve useful if you have only one opponent.
Lastly, if you were to play a 1-vs-1 game where the extort ability would only gain you 1 life per instance, a better card to use would be Demon's Horn as it costs three less mana, and it would practically gain you 1 extra life off of all your spells anyway.
August 13, 2019 6:25 a.m.
whaaaaa? You can only play extort, like once? I guess I have been like, playing it wrong or something the entire time? Like when that ability came out me and everyone I knew poured all our mana each time an extort cost was paid. I thought since it said pax 1B/w it meant you can do as much as you want. Shit. I ain't never gonna thunk up anything original.
August 13, 2019 6:56 a.m. Edited.
@vasarto77, You can pay for extort equal to the number of permanents you control with extort. If you have three creatures with extort you can extort up to three times per spell. This is what makes Pontiff of Blight so good. If you have the Pontiff out and nine other creatures - those nine other creatures also get extort. In this scenario you would be able to extort up to 10 times per spell.
Also don't beat yourself up for finding out your idea doesn't work. I make it a habit to try and find infinite combos all the time and most of the time I end up with combos that simply won't work due to a rule or two. Don't be discouraged, because after every 10 failed attempts you'll usually find 1 that does work, and when you put it in your deck and get to set it off for the first time it's going to feel well worth the time, and effort, and failures that were put into finding it. Trust me, I run a couple of my own in my favorite deck.
If you get it wrong people can be pretty curt and blunt when it comes to telling you why you're wrong and that can also sting, but you do end up learning something out of it even if you don't end up with what you wanted. I've made posts like these that have blown up in my face, but I can tell you that the information I got out of it was actually essential to finding new combos, because I'd learn about niche caveats that I could apply to how I view certain cards later on. Based on your enthusiasm and line of thinking you had going for this post I'd say you have an aptitude and drive for thinking outside of the box and it's that mindset that is so perfect for finding really bizarre yet effective combos. Not every Magic player has that kind of quality and it would be a shame for you to give up on it so soon.
August 13, 2019 8:03 a.m.
Matt_The_OGRE says... #6
With K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth and Pontiff of Blight out, all you really need is Gravecrawler and Phyrexian Altar and 2 opponents to go infinite.
smackjack says... #2
Cool combo. Correct me if im wrong tho, but it isnt infinite? You can only pay extort once
August 13, 2019 6:09 a.m.