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Enter the Dungeon #4 – Saprolings & Sundials

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Welcome back to the dungeon. Today, we'll take a look at some of the strange ways in which spells can combine, creating astounding results that defy description. Arbitrarily large hordes of Saprolings will crush all who stand in their path, and an unusual sundial will change the rules of time itself.

Although Ghave, Guru of Spores was meant to be played in Commander, he works quite well in sixty-card decks as well. He can function as the centerpiece for a number of brutal combos, several of which we'll explore in this deck. The ability to make a Saproling token for just 1 mana is absolutely critical.

Ashnod's Altar has been a staple of infinite combos since it's printing, and it's the key for most of the combos in this deck as well.

Parallel Lives is much easier to obtain than Doubling Season, but the latter is a nice upgrade if you have it. When combined with Ghave, you can repeatedly make Saproling tokens for 2 mana each. Add in Ashnod's Altar, and you generate an infinite number of enters-the-battlefield triggers.

Mentor of the Meek works rather well with Ghave alone, enabling you to draw as many cards as you like for 3 mana each. With Parallel Lives, that becomes two cards and a Saproling token for 4 mana, and with Ashnod's Altar, you can draw a card for only a single mana.

Words of Wilding is an unusual card that many players either have forgotten about or have never heard of in the first place. When combined with Mentor of the Meek, however, you build another engine. Spending 2 mana here will net you a 2/2 Bear token, and Ashnod's Altar will generate for you infinite enters-the-battlefield triggers again. With Parallel Lives in the mix, you have access to infinite cards, infinite mana, and infinite Bear tokens.*

Essence Warden will combine with either of the above engines to net you infinite life. Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant will also work here, but I selected Essence Warden because the mana base will lean slightly toward Green.

Juniper Order Ranger will become infinitely large with the enters-the-battlefield engines, but it's also a combo piece in its own right. When combined with Ghave, Guru of Spores, you can make 2/2 Saprolings for just 1 mana each. Ashnod's Altar will turn that into an infinite number of 2/2 Saprolings for 1 mana total—plus infinite mana.

Eladamri's Call is an easy way to search for many of the combo pieces in the deck, and Diabolic Tutor will find the rest. Glare of Subdual is also here to make sure you stay alive long enough to pull it off.

When all the cogs are assembled, this massive combo machine looks something like this:

* For those who may have a difficult time understanding how this combo works, I'll explain one way to achieve the desired result: During your draw step, you pay 1 mana to make two tokens. With Mentor of the Meek's triggers on the stack, you sacrifice one token to make 2 mana. You pay for only one trigger, then replace that draw with two more tokens, repeating the process and netting a token each time. Because you're making an arbitrarily large number of tokens, you can sacrifice any number of them to make an arbitrarily large amount of mana, and you can use some of that mana to pay for the second Mentor of the Meek trigger, drawing as many cards as you like.

 


Sundial of the Infinite is a great combo card. Its main use is to exile an “at the beginning of the next end step” trigger while it's on the stack, thus preventing that trigger from ever resolving. This can be used to great effect with card like Mimic Vat, letting you keep your tokens indefinitely. However, in this deck, we'll explore another avenue.

One interesting card to combine with the Sundial is Glacial Chasm. You can exile the trigger while it's on the stack, effectively skipping your turn and making sure you never have to sacrifice the land. Against some decks, you'll be able to just sit back and wait while the opponent draws his entire deck and loses. However, this combo is relatively easy to disrupt, so I'll only include a single copy of the land.

When combined with Sundial of the Infinite, Flickerwisp and Glimmerpoint Stag will exile a creature or other permanent . . . well . . . permanently, while also providing you with a creature of your own.

Galepowder Mage and Mistmeadow Witch can each perform this trick repeatedly, making sure your opponent will never have a creature on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, with Shroud and Hexproof running around, sometimes you just won't be able to get rid of a pesky creature. That's where Planar Guide comes in. With the Sundial, it becomes a Final Judgment, exiling anything your other creatures can't target. It also provides the added utility of wiping an opponent's board of all tokens and bringing back your creatures for another round of enters-the-battlefield triggers. Just make sure to do this on your opponent's turn so that you can activate the Sundial when the delayed triggers from your returning creatures are put onto the stack during your end step.

Wall of Nets provides a great defense against creature while you find Sundial of the Infinite, exiling anything that dares to attack you. Once you have the Sundial on the board, you can exile the Wall with one of your creatures and use the Sundial to get rid of the leaves-the-battlefield trigger. The Wall will return to the battlefield for a fresh start, with no worry of a timely removal spell bringing your opponent's creatures back.

Ideas Unbound has historically been used in decks like Dredge that can take advantage of the discard. In this deck, however, we can remove the discard altogether. That gives us three cards for a total of 3 mana—a great deal by any standard.

Fabricate and Muddle the Mixture can each search for Sundial of the Infinite, making sure you always have a copy, even if your opponent destroys the first. Muddle the Mixture can also search for Mistmeadow Witch and Ideas Unbound or counter an instant or sorcery that would destroy your Sundial.

With an aggressive suite of dual lands and a few basics, you end up with a list like this:

 


I hope you enjoyed this mind-bending visit to the dungeon. Be sure to check back in two weeks when we'll continue our explorations.

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