ArCHADlos, Infinite Combo Enjoyer [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH* BUG (Sultai) Competitive Infinite Combo Landfall Tap/Untap

guywitharock

Land (35)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cabal Pit
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Cryptic Caves
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Holdout Settlement
• 1x Lush Oasis
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nurturing Peatland
• 1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Soured Springs
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Survivors' Encampment
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Witch's Cottage
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Zagoth Triome

Instant (22)

• 1x Abrupt Decay
• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Demonic Consultation
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Perplex
• 1x Realms Uncharted
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Tainted Pact
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Retreat to Coralhelm
• 1x Retreat to Hagra
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Trade Routes

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Sylvan Tutor

Commander (1)

Creature (16)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Gretchen Titchwillow
• 1x Llanowar Scout
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Patron of the Moon
• 1x Ruin Crab
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Scout
• 1x Scute Swarm
• 1x Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• 1x Thassa's Oracle
• 1x Thrasios, Triton Hero
• 1x Tireless Tracker
• 1x Walking Atlas

Artifact (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Seer's Sundial
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Springleaf Drum
• 1x Wishclaw Talisman

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Maybeboard

Creature (16)

• 1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• 1x Citanul Stalwart
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Elvish Reclaimer
• 1x Hullbreaker Horror
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Loam Dryad
• 1x Malevolent Hermit  ^Flip
• 1x Manglehorn
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Orcish Bowmasters
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Springheart Nantuko
• 1x The Gitrog Monster
• 1x Tideforce Elemental
• 1x Walking Ballista

Land (7)

• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Scene of the Crime
• 1x Woodland Chasm

Artifact (4)

• 1x Amulet of Vigor
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Mesmeric Orb

Instant (6)

• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Summoner's Pact

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Squandered Resources

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ArCHADlos, Infinite Combo Enjoyer - Explained

Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is a fun guy with options. His first ability, of course, can stax down the game in a way that neuters haste, restricts fast treasure shenanigans and more. And while we love that for him, and do occasionally use it, the main event is actually his second ability which effectively gives us Amulet of Vigor as a commander - a card known for being reserved and balanced..

Sike! It's a busted infinite combo machine, and we'll aim to abuse it as much as possible with the primary goal of achieving infinite mana / infinite landfall ASAP to win out.

Here's a brief primer going over the main game plan and features of the deck.

Primary Combo Engine

Here's an example of the bread and butter: Archelos, Lagoon Mystic + Patron of the Moon + Simic Growth Chamber = Drop a bounce land, enters untapped with Archy so tap it before its own trigger resolves to gain two mana, send it back to your hand, spend one of the mana to repeat with Patron of the Moon. Infinite mana is generated depending on the bounce land(s) you have, while triggering landfall an infinite number of times.

There are alternative routes to the same end goal, and it's important to know what you're looking for.

• You need to put the bounce land down outside of land for turn, so Sakura-Tribe Scout or Walking Atlas are your best bets.
• This needs to be a repeatable interaction, so Retreat to Coralhelm or Freed from the Real can make that happen for those guys.
• Don't forget that Oboro, Palace in the Clouds can play the role of a bounceland, although no net mana is gained in the process. Also, Trade Routes can be the alternative to getting the lands back in your hand. Tap any land to pay for its first ability and repeat the drop with the above.

The game is typically a race to this interaction of repeatedly dropping your bounce lands, so try to ensure you're able to start off with one/some of these pieces or at least a decent card draw/fetch engine to get there.

Even if you don't have infinite yet, don't discount the power of the bounce lands in a more tame additional-lands scenario where mana/landfall is still useful. Burgeoning is especially good, and can let you vomit out lands from your hand at a disgusting speed, especially if your opponents are doing the same.

How to Win

The quickest wins happen when you already have a landfall killer out on the battlefield by the time you reach your infinite land drops. We run several different kinds in the event opponents have counterplay to one of them:

• Ruin Crab to mill everyone out.
• Retreat to Hagra to drop everyone's health.
• Scute Swarm to swing for the fences.
• Even Field of the Dead can generate infinite zombies (if you have the lands)

One back-up, and my personal favorite though it's way more difficult to pull off, utilizes the desert ping lands: Archelos, Lagoon Mystic + Walking Atlas + Retreat to Coralhelm + Trade Routes + Lush Oasis (slight variants to this are certainly possible)

• Stand up any repeatable drop combo like Walking Atlas + Retreat to Coralhelm.
• Have Trade Routes out.
• Drop Lush Oasis, pinging someone for 1 damage. Tap it for 1 mana and send it back to your hand with Trade Routes. Repeat infinitely with above land-drop cards to ping opponents for infinite damage.

And of course, Demonic Consultation + Thassa's Oracle never goes out of style.

Don't have one of those options already out? That's ok, use your fetches / infinite mana / landfall to get there!

• Tons of the best fetch cards. Grab a specific piece you're missing as soon as you can.
• Thrasios, Triton Hero draw out your deck when you have infinite mana.
• Sensei's Divining Top draw out your deck when you have infinite mana.
• Gretchen Titchwillow draw out your deck when you have infinite blue/green mana (cough Simic Growth Chamber)
• Tatyova, Benthic Druid draw out your deck when you have infinite landfall.
• Seer's Sundial draw out your deck when you have infinite mana and landfall.
• Tireless Tracker draw out your deck when you have infinite mana and landfall.

Additional Tips, Tricks, and Notes

Just some miscellaneous considerations for piloting the deck:

• Finding a way to tap Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is a surprisingly potent method for slowing down your opponents - anti haste, anti treasure combos, etc... We have Springleaf Drum and Survivors' Encampment, but don't be afraid to just have Archy take a swing at someone to get the same end result.
• Protection for the combos are paramount to their success. Counterspells and cards like Veil of Summer are worth their weight in gold when needing to get across the finish line.
• Naturally, the main removal targets will be the cards which prevent the combos. Opponents' Opposition Agent can be a pain as well if you haven't gotten to good card draw yet.
• This list is a bit light on recursion as it focuses more on getting to a draw engine, but don't forget you can repeatedly drop Witch's Cottage if you have Trade Routes on line.
• Don't underestimate the power of hanging onto the ability to drop a land on an opponent's turn, especially with Ruin Crab or Retreat to Hagra on the battlefield. Ruin crab presents an interesting alternative counter-play to an opponent's Thoracle attempt, and Retreat can enable some surprise punishment to opponents that get a bit too greedy with using their life as a resource.

It's a work in progress, of sorts, so please feel free to drop a suggestion. My only note is that this really isn't focusing on a stax sort of thing, in my experience Archy doesn't do enough quickly enough for that sort of strategy to work consistently.

Date added	5 months
Last updated	1 day
Key combos	Demonic Consultation + Thassa's Oracle Archelos, Lagoon Mystic + Patron of the Moon + Simic Growth Chamber
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.03
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Clue, Copy Clone, Insect 1/1 G, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Fun decks