(Basalt Monolith | Art by Yeong Hao Han)

Rocket Launcher's Day is Due

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that the colorless legend with the most three-card combos its involved in is both Karn and Karn?)

Previously on Too-Specific Top 10: I found out the best legendary colorless activated abilities were either tutors or card draw, and made a deck full of combos.

My only question is: Did I go far enough?

Top 10 Colorless Combos

For those that didn't see my previous article from when The Peregrine Dynamo came out, or have never seen this card in action, I firmly believe that it is the best colorless commander that's ever been printed. Even if the only legendaries you packed the deck with were just lands, there are still enough crazy good non-mana abilities to copy that you'd be in business. From Inventors' Fair searching for an entire win-con to Dark Depths shenanigans to little things like getting an extra Surveil off of Gallifrey Council Chamber, The Peregrine Dynamo would be keeping you flush with options even if you made the most generic of colorless good stuff decks and just fluffed out the land base a bit.

When you actually build the deck around it, however, things get even better.

With plenty of triggers to copy that can draw absurd amounts of cards, tutor multiple times, or just start putting things onto the battlefield, The Peregrine Dynamo quickly becomes a powerhouse. When it comes to the most efficient way to win, however, colorless can struggle. Unless of course, you pull the combo card.

So, the question is: What are the best combos you can play in colorless to close out a game?

Criteria: Colorless combos that either win the game or provide an infinite loop that results in more than infinite power and toughness, infinite tokens that have summoning sickness, or an infinite loop that doesn't actually do anything (in short, the combos that can actually win you the game). As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score, only this time we'll be using the results over at Commander Spellbook. Finally, once a specific card is used in a combo, we will go over the multitude of combos utilizing that card, and it cannot be used again in the list.

10. Cogwork Assembler & Powerstone Shard

(248 Decks)

The first thing you need to know about this combo is that it needs a lot of mana to work. Commander Spellbook has it listed as 17 mana available, but the long and short of it is that you need seven Powerstone Shards so that each Shard can tap for Cogwork Assembler's activated ability by itself. Now, colorless decks are better at getting large sums of mana than just about any other deck out there, but 17? That's a lot to ask.

Which is precisely why you'd imagine that the inclusion numbers for this combo are so low. I would submit, however, that the low numbers are due to Powerstone Shard, not Cogwork Assembler. With Shard really being restricted to commanders that can make copies of artifacts, it only sees play in 3,637 decks, and has no other two-card combos. Cogwork Assembler, on the other hand, can really see play in any artifact deck that is going to have excess mana laying around, and features 15 various combos that all result in infinite mana and usually infinite creature tokens with haste. Easing into our "Oops, All Combos" build, for instance, it will be rare that we'll ever go infinite with this exact combo, but the number of times we'll go infinite with something else and Cogwork Assembler will be our means to translate that into a win? That should happen a whole heck of a lot.

9. Myr Galvanizer, Palladium Myr, & Helm of the Host

(394 Decks)

There are some who are probably still wondering why I let three-card combos involving legendary permanents in, and the answer is things like Helm of the Host which combo with tons of things, but more importantly are also just really good with our commander. Heck, even if the only creature we have is The Peregrine Dynamo itself, and we have an untapper, then you can attack with it, untap it in response to Helm of the Host's trigger, copy that trigger to make a copy of The Peregrine Dynamo, then continue to do exactly that until you run out of mana, as the original trigger is still on the stack. That little maneuver right there results in X copies of your commander, where X is how much mana you have. Pretty good synergy, if you ask me.

As for our full combo here, however? It results in infinite mana by creating a copy of Palladium Myr and then untapping it with Myr Galvanizer for less mana than it makes. Rinse, repeat, have a good time. It is not, however, the only combo you have access to with Helm of the Host. A brief rundown:

For our brew, we're trying to avoid combos like Omarthis and Helm that don't actually win the game, but given the synergy Helm has with The Peregrine Dynamo and the fact that Magistrate's Scepter appears further up this list, this one has got to be an include.

8. Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender, Animation Module, & Ashnod's Altar

(455 Decks)

The key non-legendary card in this combo is surprisingly, not Ashnod's Altar, which can easily be replaced by Krark-Clan Ironworks or Phyrexian Altar, but rather Animation Module. Although, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. One mana to make a Servo anytime you put down a +1/+1 counter is an easy price to pay in general, and translating bodies to mana is a time-old combo tradition. As for how it all works, Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender triggers anytime an artifact dies, putting a +1/+1 counter on herself and scrying. The +1/+1 counter comes down, allowing you to pay for Animation Module's trigger to create a Servo, and would you look at that, you can sacrifice that Servo for more mana and yet another Syr Ginger trigger.

While this combo doesn't outright win you the game, it does let you both have infinite mana and to essentially tutor any card to the top of the library with infinite scries. Combine that with all three of these cards easily synergizing with our deck, and this one is an easy include in our "Oops, All Combos" build.

7. Magistrate's Scepter & Clock of Omens

(1,007 Decks)

Far from being the only combo, Magistrate's Scepter's lack of the word "sacrifice" anywhere on the card has about a dozen. Let's look at the highlights.

Clock of Omens: The only two-card combo available, it requires 12 mana to pull off repeatedly tapping Scepter to put a counter on it, which sounds like a lot. Experienced colorless players will know, however, that with a Clock of Omens on the table, 12 mana is a pittance. With large mana rocks like Thran Dynamo or Chromatic Orrery available, it's easy enough to untap them repeatedly with your other artifacts for loads of mana. The hard part here is having enough artifacts out to do that while also having spares left over to untap Magistrate's Scepter itself.
Coretapper: We already went over this interaction with Helm of the Host, but any card that increases the amount of counters Coretapper puts down or makes an extra copy of Coretapper can also result in infinite turns. That list in colorless consists of Helm of the Host, Contagion Engine, Prototype Portal, Mimic Vat, Nim Deathmantle, Scarecrone, Cogwork Assembler, Umbral Mantle, and probably more that people haven't bothered to submit a combo for yet.
Lithoform Engine: With the introduction of a legendary permanent, our The Peregrine Dynamo ears perk up a little, but we're not quite done yet. Lithoform Engine can copy either of Magistrate's Scepter's activated abilities, but that's only enough to go for infinite turns if you can pump up the amount of counters it puts on itself. To do that, you also need either Contagion Engine or Energy Chamber.
Myr Welder & Gemstone Array: If you can manage to get both Magistrate's Scepter and Gemstone Array exiled with Myr Welder, you can add Charge counters to your "Magistrate's Scepter" at two mana apiece, allowing you to take unlimited extra turns at the cost of six mana a turn.

A ton of these are a bit of a stretch, and most don't meet our self-imposed restriction on three-card combos having to involve a legendary, but the two-carder with a Clock of Omens we were always going to be playing anyhow is definitely worth it, as is finding a slot for a Lithoform Engine that is going to do sick things with our commander every time it hits the board.

6. Blightsteel Colossus & Blade of Selves

(1,369 Decks)

5. Karn, the Great Creator, Voltaic Construct, & Thran Dynamo

(1,466 Decks)

First off, it must be noted that everything we say here about Karn, the Great Creator applies to Karn, Silver Golem as well. Can't be forgetting about our OGs, now.

That said, there are actually two broken cards in this combo, something that will become more and more of a pattern as we approach the top of this list. Karn's ability to make artifacts into creatures can cause all sorts of mayhem via outside entities that can tap and untap creatures, but unarguably the best of them is Voltaic Construct. Two mana to untap a creature is just going to result in infinite mana with all of the usual suspects, the only hard part in colorless is finding the things that can tap for more than two.

Top 10 Colorless Mana Rocks That Can Repeatedly Tap For More Than Two Mana

Keep in mind, with Metalworker already being a creature, it goes infinite with Voltaic Construct all by itself (well, plus a couple artifacts in hand), which is actually the most popular combo of those listed here. With that said, it's also the most expensive card on the list, being on the Reserve List, so a lot of folks will be a bit reticent to pull the trigger.

Still, Voltaic Construct isn't the only thing that can untap creatures.

4. Painter's Servant & Grindstone

(4,352 Decks)

I was a bit dubious including this on the list, as it doesn't really win you the game. Still, it does knock a player out under most circumstances, and if you're in an artifact deck with untappers like we are, that seems good enough.

3. Metalworker & Staff of Domination

(4,863 Decks)

Some of you may have been wondering, if Metalworker and Voltaic Construct was a more popular combo than the various Voltaic Construct and Karn teamups, why wasn't it the combo listed? Well, there's a more popular combo with Metalworker, and it's Staff of Domination. With three or more artifacts in hand, Metalworker provides enough mana to pay the three to untap itself, along with the additional one to untap Staff. From there, you have infinite mana with which to then draw your entire deck with Staff.

As for our The Peregrine Dynamo deck, however, I'm not sure that we want to go this route. Metalworker currently retails for $108. In fact, going back to the various three-mana mana rocks, several of them are price tags I'd never want to pay for my non-cEDH paper decks, either. So, with that in mind, let's go ahead and put a $30 restriction on any particular card in our deck, and try and keep things in the realm where we can actually build this thing, shall we?

2. Sensei's Divining Top, Mystic Forge, & Ugin, the Ineffable

(9,451 Decks)

All right, let's not mince words here: Ugin, the Ineffable is not even close to the best card to pull off this combo with. For those not familiar, the whole thing works by reducing Sensei's Divining Top's mana cost to zero, at which point you can play it off the top of your library for free with Mystic Forge when you put it on top to draw a card. That there interaction results in you being able to draw your entire deck.

So, besides our legendary version, what other cost reducers can make this happen?

There are actually seven cost reducers out there that can get Top to zero, but most of them just aren't gonna make the cut. The cheapest options, then, are Helm of Awakening, Foundry Inspector, and Cloud Key. (Technically, Semblance Anvil also costs three, but it requires exiling an artifact from your hand.) Of those options, Foundry Inspector and Cloud Key more or less come out tied, with Cloud Key being harder to remove, but Foundry Inspector being able to swing in for damage. As for the last, Helm of Awakening, I'm a big fan of it in Storm decks, but I don't think that I'd be willing to take the risk in this particular brew.

1. Rings of Brighthearth & Basalt Monolith

(32,169 Decks)

And... we've arrived. Even fairly new players probably had some inkling what was going to be at the top of this list, and it's no surprise. The most infamous infinite mana combo in the game, featuring two cards that are entirely broken in their own right. With that said, I've seen some truly poor examples of people trying to explain how it works, so let's give it a crack, shall we?

Step 1: Tap Basalt Monolith, adding three.
Step 2: Activate Basalt Monolith's untap ability, triggering Rings of Brighthearth.
Step 3: Pay the two to copy Basalt Monolith's untap (there are now two untaps on the stack).
Step 4: Resolve the copied untap, untapping Basalt Monolith.
Step 5: With the original untap still on the stack, tap Basalt Monolith for three mana.
Step 6: Resolve the original untap, untapping Basalt Monolith.

This repeatable loop nets you one colorless mana each time you do it, resulting in infinite mana. But if you think that's the only thing these two cards can do, then you're sorely mistaken. Let's take a look at each of the cavalcade of cards that go infinite with each of these.

Top 10 Basalt Monolith Combos

Rings of Brighthearth: As stated, number one overall.
Forsaken Monument: With Monolith now tapping for four mana and untapping for three, it's infinite town without all the crazy six-step explanations!
Rings of Brighthearth & Sensei's Divining Top: Why settle for infinite mana when you can double Top's draw ability and draw your entire deck, as well?
Mesmeric Orb: Monolith can infinitely untap itself all on its own, so with Mesmeric Orb on the board you get a mill trigger each time you do that, letting you mill your whole deck.
Myr Welder & Staff of Domination: With Monolith and Staff exiled under Myr Welder, you can now untap it for one with Staff's ability and tap it for three with Monolith, giving you both infinite mana and infinite card draw.
Karn, the Great Creator & Voltaic Construct: As covered previously, making Monolith a creature allows you to untap it with Construct.
Crackdown Construct: With Monolith's ability to untap itself infinitely, Crackdown Construct gets +1/+1 each time you do so.
Myr Welder & Voltaic Construct: Welder is a creature, unlike Monolith, so when it has both Construct's and Monolith's abilities, it can untap itself for two, then tap for three.
Heartstone & Karn, the Great Creator: Karn make's Monolith a creature, then Heartstone makes its untap ability cost one less.
Heartstone & Karn, Silver Golem: Ditto with the OG.

Not to be outdone, however, Rings of Brighthearth has a few combinations of its own.

Top 10 Rings of Brighthearth Combos

Basalt Monolith
Basalt Monolith & Sensei's Divining Top
Voltaic Key & Everflowing Chalice: This does require an Everflowing Chalice with four counters on it, but once you've achieved that, you can simply tap it for four, then copy the untap ability of Voltaic Key to untap both Chalice and Key.
Voltaic Key & Metalworker: Either key and anything that makes four mana will go infinite with Rings of Brighthearth.
Forsaken Monument & Grim Monolith: Forsaken Monument makes Grim Monolith tap for four to emulate the Basalt Monolith combo with tapping for four and untapping for four.
Voltaic Key & Chromatic Orrery
Deserted Temple & Scorched Ruins: In similar fashion to the Voltaic Key combos, Scorched Ruins taps for four, and you can copy Deserted Temple's untap ability to untap both itself and Ruins.
Voltaic Key & Doubling Cube
Voltaic Key & Empowered Autogenerator
Galvanic Key & Everflowing Chalice: In similar fashion to the Voltaic Key combos, anything that can make six mana or more can go infinite with Rings and the inferior Galvanic Key.

Honorable Mentions

You'd think we'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel with almost every combo listed today having more associated combos, but not quite!

First off, one that's very much in the same vein as all the others we've been considering. Much like Rings of Brighthearth (and our commander), Strionic Resonator copies abilities, the difference being that they're triggered abilities. Turns out though, that difference is a whole heck of a lot, taking Strionic Resonator down to one reasonable combo total, as opposed to Rings' ten of them.

What does a reasonable impression of both, however, is Lithoform Engine, notable legendary artifact. Even more notable is Lithoform Engine's interaction with The Peregrine Dynamo, which essentially translates any activated or triggered ability into a legendary activated or triggered ability, as you can just copy the Lithoform Engine's copy with Dynamo.

In other words, what this combo is is another excellent excuse to sneak Lithoform Engine into our deck, just to start the nonsense. As for the more straightforward nonsense, however, copying Sands of Time's triggered ability allows you to tap all your mana-makers in response, floating a bunch of mana to immediately untap them and your Strionic Resonator/Lithoform Engine to then immediately copy the original trigger that's still on the stack again, ad nauseam.

Finally, one last combo that is nothing like what we've looked at so far, but is still going to help the deck out a lot. Maskwood Nexus makes our creatures every creature type, in this case, notably Myr and Praetor. Myr allows us to abuse the previously mentioned Myr Galvanizer, and Praetor allows us to use Realmbreaker to put every creature in our deck onto the battlefield.

Finally, the decklist:

As previously mentioned, I tried to keep it somewhat reasonable from a budget perspective, barring anything that costs over $30, and also kept our combos to either two cards or three with a legendary that would synergize well with our commander. The deck, as you might imagine, is both incredibly fun and also nightmarish to pilot. Even having written blurbs on all the combos and more above, it can be extremely difficult to keep your head straight on what the key cards for each combo are to know what you're looking for (not to mention many of the cards being part of several), and to keep how they all work in mind so you can explain loops to others.

With that said, I'm so in love with the deck that I'm going to be building it in paper. Unlike most combo decks, it's still highly variant, with a "you never know what you're gonna get" kind of feel despite having tutors galore that can grab combos wholesale with your commander. More often, however, you don't even need to do so, as you'll just find yourself with half or two-thirds of a combo in your hand or on the board, and can pursue it to the end from there. It's a blast of degeneracy, with so many plans for your opponents to have to interrupt that they'll never be sure what to take care of and what to let live.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with, in this case, some Commander Spellbook knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here are this week's Commander Spellbook searches.

What Do You Think?

Combo is not for everyone, and even with my recent dabblings into cEDH, I don't know that it's for me, exactly. With every game kind of feeling the same, from a goal and variance perspective, it can feel like a grind after a while, and makes me want to take decks apart (hence, making a combo deck that will win differently just about every time). I know that I'm not everyone, though, so...

And finally, what's your favorite combo? Is it colorless? Does it involve a legendary permanent?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the table that appears to be flipping itself in some sort of perpetual motion.

powerstone shard

Too-Specific Top 10 - Oops, All Combos!

Ranking Every Mana Rock with EDHREC – Part 3: Back to the 90s!