Hapatra the Ouroboros

Commander / EDH BG (Golgari) Counters Deathtouch Infinite Combo Snake Tokens Tokens

cleandeceit

Creature (25)

• 1x Ammit Eternal
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Blex, Vexing Pest  ^Flip
• 1x Channeler Initiate
• 1x Cinderhaze Wretch
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Essence Warden
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Fume Spitter
• 1x Fynn, the Fangbearer
• 1x Generous Patron
• 1x Ivy Lane Denizen
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Obelisk Spider
• 1x Ohran Frostfang
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Prowling Serpopard
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Soul Snuffers
• 1x Valentin, Dean of the Vein  ^Flip
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Blowfly Infestation
• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Earthcraft
• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Nest of Scarabs
• 1x Sylvan Library

Land (34)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 8x Forest
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Grasping Dunes
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Slitherbore Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Strip Mine
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Deadly Brew
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Pest Infestation
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Commander (1)

Instant (13)

• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Benefactor's Draught
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Deadly Rollick
• 1x Erebos's Intervention
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Golgari Charm
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Artifact (8)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Golgari Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Resilience

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Driven / Despair
• 1x Incremental Blight
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Sylvan Scrying
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes
• 1x Unearth

Instant (11)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Deathsprout
• 1x Grim Affliction
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Putrefy
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Splendid Agony
• 1x Stinging Shot
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Veil of Summer

Creature (11)

• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Grismold, the Dreadsower
• 1x Harbinger of Night
• 1x Leyline Prowler
• 1x Necroskitter
• 1x Quillspike
• 1x Seshiro the Anointed
• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1x Viridian Corrupter
• 1x Wickerbough Elder

Artifact (2)

• 1x Viridian Longbow
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Enchantment (11)

• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Beastmaster Ascension
• 1x Deathreap Ritual
• 1x Defense of the Heart
• 1x Glistening Oil
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Moldervine Reclamation
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Squirrel Nest

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Infinite looping combos!

The combo lines in this deck are many and contain a lot of redundancy. I have list most of them here, but there may be a few that I have missed.

Primary Combo:
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons or Nest of Scarabs + Ivy Lane Denizen + Devoted Druid .
This is often the fastest path to winning the game and often the easiest loop to complete with our many creature based tutors. This combo nets endless token Snakes, back it up with Obelisk Spider or Concordant Crossroads and to end the game.
Cinderhaze Wretch can replace Devoted Druid and Lisette, Dean of the Root can replace Ivy Lane Denizen but only if you still have the Druid, or another way to get endless mana.

Secondary Combo:
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and/or Nest of Scarabs + Blowfly Infestation + one 1/1 creature.
As soon as you are able to place a -1/-1 counter on the 1/1 creature, you will endlessly loop creature deaths, creature etb and -1/-1 being placed. Alone, this combo does nothing, but throw in any of these other cards and you have instant synergy like Obelisk Spider , Zulaport Cutthroat or Essence Warden .
Also, if you have both Hapatra and the Nest, you get infinite tokens. ;)

Mana Synergys:
Once you have endless creatures coming in, Earthcraft will give you endless mana. Earthcraft in general is a very powerful card in this deck for giving fast mana. As a back up, Cryptolith Rite with Concordant Crossroads will do the same thing

Card advantage:
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician plays a big role here and can loop in several ways. The best way to think about it is the cost of activating Yawgmoth having 3 parts, a creature, a life and a -1/-1 counter. Anything replaces these small costs makes it easier to repeat the effect. Usually, I look for the creature first. So anything that will give us creatures back like Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons / Nest of Scarabs or both of them together will loop. Next, replacing the -1/-1 can be done in many ways including Ivy Lane Denizen , Lisette, Dean of the Root , or anything that is an anthem for the 1/1 snakes like Eldrazi Monument or Blex, Vexing Pest  . Lastly, to replace the life loss you need Essence Warden , Obelisk Spider or Zulaport Cutthroat .

Here I have included a link to a spreadsheet which can make the various and modular nature of the combos easier to look at: Google Doc - Hapatra Combo Lines

In its current form, I have had the deck complete a combo loop on turn three, but on average, it is more likely we reach a combo by turn 6 (if not disrupted) and I like to share that with my playgroup when sitting down for a match so they have some idea of what speed/power the deck has. Most of the time, the general strategy is to get Hapatra out on turn two for two very important reasons. 1st, hitting a player before their defenses are up lets us net an early deathtouch chumper or two. 2nd, players will have to think hard about when to place their first creature because as long as one player has no blockers, we can always hit that person with no defenders and then target whatever creature is on the table for the -1/-1 counter. For this reason, it is absolutely essential to have a and a source of mana in your opening hand.

After that early pressure, we tend not to make many tokens until they all come at once.
So the second stage of the game is setting up the combo and protecting it.
If we can't reach the combo or if it disrupted somehow, then we look to make as many tokens as we can with something like Soul Snuffers or Black Sun's Zenith . Then use what army we have to maybe win with Fynn, the Fangbearer . I used to have more of these sorts of alternative win conditions, but at this point, there are just so many tutors and redundancies for the infinite combos that I have never had to focus on finding another path to ending the game.

If in the first few turns of the game, I dont have an obvious combo available, it is usually best to use any tutors acquired not to find the first or second piece of a combo, but instead to find a reliable source of card draw. In my playgroup, my players know what my deck pretty well, and will almost always be prepared to interrupt the first attempt I make at creating an infinite loop. I learned, that if I cant refill my hand after that first interruption, it can be crippling. But with something like Necropotance on the table, I can go a lot further more reliably. Because the majority of tutors in the deck are creature tutors, I usually end up getting Blex, Vexing Pest  , Generous Patron or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician .

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.18
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 B, Pest 1/1 BG, Snake 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G w/ Deathtouch
Folders	laTER