Wombo Combo - Best Jeskai Combos in EDH
(Kykar, Wind's Fury | Art by G-Host Lee)
Of the Red, White and Blue
Welcome back to Wombo Combo, the article series where we look at the best combo cards in EDH in each color identity, using data from EDHREC and Commander Spellbook. This edition, we will look at the combination of red, white, and blue. I'm not talking about the American flag - instead, I am talking about Jeskai!
Jeskai is a key color combination for many prowess and magecraft commanders, as well as card draw, artificer and control commanders.
Some of the most frequent creature types include Spirits, Monks, and Humans among others. There are several strong Jeskai commanders with great combo potential, as well as some commanders that exist solely to make some players', if not everyone's, life harder (looking at you, Pramikon, Sky Rampart). Let's take a look at what the red, white and blue has to offer us in the context of Magic.
#10: Soulfire Grand Master
Deck Inclusions: 7,553 decks (1.536%)
Soulfire Grand Master is a unique card that essentially gives any instant or sorcery the buyback ability. For an additional four mana, you can cast any instant or sorcery and get it back into your hand afterwards.
This pairs nicely with mana producing instants or sorceries, like Jeska's Will or Brass's Bounty, who can cover their own costs and Soulfire Grand Master's costs for an easy two-card combo.
Soulfire Grand Master is also a good candidate for infinite turns combos by allowing you to bounce the extra turn spell back to your hand and use it again.
Soulfire Grand Master also gives instant and sorcery spells lifelink, offering some unique major lifegain opportunities with mass damage cards like Star of Extinction or Blasphemous Act.
#9: Zinnia, Valley's Voice
Deck Inclusions: 4,241 as commander (#304); 422 as card (0.498%)
Zinnia, Valley's Voice is a new card from Bloomburrow that has massive combo potential by making token copies of creatures that enter the battlefield under your control.
While Zinnia only makes 1/1 copies of those creatures, you still get to keep abilities, which is crucial for combo success. This allows a two-card combo with Palinchron, allowing you to untap fourteen lands, providing enough mana to cast Palinchron, pay the offspring cost, and bounce Palinchron to repeat the combo.
Zinnia can also get you infinite turns using Cloudstone Curio and Timestream Navigator, by using the token Timestream Navigator to both bounce the nontoken one, and to get the extra turn using the ability.
#8: Warden of the Eye
Deck Inclusions: 818 decks (0.166%)
Warden of the Eye is the Jeskai version of Archaeomancer, being slightly more broad in scope by allowing the return of enchantments and artifacts among others.
Warden of the Eye doesn't see as much play as Archaeomancer mainly due to mana cost and color identity making it more restrictive, but its a good option for a Jeskai deck looking to consistently return noncreature, nonland cards.
Warden of the Eye can return a blinker card like Essence Flux to consistently blink it, or return an extra turn spell, and use Followed Footsteps or a similar card to consistently make tokens of it. You can also use Doppelgang to make copies of it and other permanents.
#7: Vadrok, Apex of Thunder
Deck Inclusions: 1,334 as commander (#854); 4,313 as card (0.874%)
It's time for everyone's favorite ability to make a return to Wombo Combo. No, I'm not talking about banding - I'm talking about mutate, everyone's favorite Ikoria keyword!
Mutate is a unique and equally confusing keyword, and Vadrok's mutate ability is useful to continually recur cards from your graveyard.
One option is Chef's Kiss, to copy a Vadrok mutate spell and get Chef's Kiss back when the token enters the battlefield.
Another option is to bounce Vadrok with a card like Winds of Rebuke, alongside a heavy mana generator to mutate Vadrok onto, like Dockside Extortionist.Token generators, like Twinflame, also can achieve similar results.
#6: Elsha of the Infinite
Deck Inclusions: 4,582 as commander (#272); 13,768 as card (2.8%)
Topdeck cards are always a plus for card advantage, and Elsha of the Infinite fits the bill great. Elsha allows you to cast noncreature spells from the top of your library, and gives itself +1/+1 when you do so.
The perfect card to take advantage of this is none other than Sensei's Divining Top, further giving you even more card advantage, and allowing you to draw your entire library with a way to counteract its cost.
Elsha also has unique synergy with Memory Lapse, essentially turning it into a Unsubstantiate. Cards like Bloodwater Entity also allow you to facilitate combos by putting cards on top that Elsha allows you to then cast.
#5: Zedruu the Greathearted
Deck Inclusions: 6,828 as commander (#136); 1,292 as card (0.262%)
If you like group hug and donation shenanigans, then Zedruu the Greathearted is the commander for you. Zedruu seems like you could give some great gifts to your opponents for a bit of life and card draw in return.
However, you can easily use Zedruu to doom your opponents as well. For example, give them Transcendence, and they instantly lose the game if they have 20 or more life.
Give them a Nine Lives and then destroy it for the same result. You can also use Zedruu for more control style interactions, giving an opponent Moderation with a Knowledge Pool out to prevent them from casting and resolving spells.
#4: Cayth, Famed Mechanist
Deck Inclusions: 991 as commander (#1,008); 5,292 as card (3.719%)
Cayth, Famed Mechanist is another new card, this time from Modern Horizons 3. Cayth has both a triggered and activated ability that can be used for combos in their own unique ways.
The triggered ability can be used for easily counteracting persist abilities (like that of Glen Elendra Archmage), or for creating creature tokens to facilitate a Nim Deathmantle combo.
If you like energy counters, consider using the token generation with cards like Guide of Souls to get extra energy, and use that to blink Aethergeode Miner. The activated ability can be used to make more tokens, and trigger Intruder Alarm to untap Cayth and all other creatures.
Cayth allows a lot of different options for a combo, and can certainly help you find one that fits your playstyle.
#3: Optimus Prime, Hero // Optimus Prime, Autobot Leader
Deck Inclusions: 3,217 as commander (#411); 4,440 as card (0.923%)
Autobots, roll out for Optimus Prime, Hero is ready for your next deck. Optimus Prime has two sides, both of which can convert itself into the other side. Optimus Prime, Hero returns itself as Optimus Prime, Autobot Leader when it dies.
While Optimus Prime, Autobot Leader can convert itself back, it is better to pursue alternate methods, taking advantage of Optimus Prime, Hero being the front side of the card.
One such way is to use Luminous Broodmoth so that when Optimus Prime, Autobot Leader dies, it is returned as Optimus Prime, Hero.
You can also use a blinking effect like Emiel the Blessed to achieve a similar result, as Optimus Prime will return as its front face.
#2: Kykar, Wind's Fury
Deck Inclusions: 9,936 as commander (#73); 22,829 as card (4.627%)
Kykar, Wind's Fury is another card focused on benefits for noncreature spells by creating a 1/1 Spirit when you cast one, and allowing you to sacrifice a Spirit for .
In many ways, Kykar can fulfill similar needs as Storm-Kiln Artist if you need to make red mana, while adding additional results for the creature entering and subsequently leaving the battlefield.
Kykar can be used to cover mana in Sensei's Divining Top combos, as well as for buyback spells like Haze of Rage or pseudo-buyback spells like View from Above with other cost reducers.
Kykar can also be used as a sacrifice outlet, allowing you to sacrifice Stormbound Geist for an infinite combo with Solemnity. Kykar pairs very well with other cards we've covered, including Elsha of the Infinite, so I would recommend including Kykar alongside Elsha for best results.
#1: Jeskai Ascendancy
Deck Inclusions: 30,656 decks (6.214%)
Our most popular Jeskai combo card by far is the aptly named Jeskai Ascendancy, which has two extremely strong abilities. The first ability untaps all creatures you control when you cast a noncreature spell, allowing you to tap and untap mana-producing creatures to continually gain mana and cast more noncreature spells.
Pairing this with Sorcerer Class makes it easier to pay for these spells, and can give you damage as well if it is level 3. Jeskai Ascendancy also allows you a two-card combo with Sprout Swarm, as you can convoke Sprout Swarm to ultimately pay and then untap them all thanks to Jeskai Ascendancy.
The second ability allows you to loot whenever you cast a noncreature spell, giving you excellent card advantage in addition to the infinite combos from the first ability.
Jeskai Ascendancy is a must have for any Jeskai deck, and just so happens to be a very strong combo card in the process. What's not to love about that?
Honorable Mentions
Looking for more Jeskai fare for your next deck? Here are a few additional cards to consider:
1. Dr. Madison Li: An interesting energy-focused card, working well with other energy cards like Gonti's Aether Heart.
2. Hinata, Dawn-Crowned: A strong commander with combo potential thanks to Reality Spasm and Ghostly Flicker.
3. Satya, Aetherflux Genius: Another energy-focused card with strong combat potential, especially with cards like Lightning Runner.
Thank you very much for reading this edition of Wombo Combo, and don't forget to check out Commander Spellbook for more EDH combos and visit the Commander Spellbook Discord to vote on the next edition of Wombo Combo. Until next time, happy comboing!
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Ethan Coover
Ethan has been an avid EDH player since 2014 with the release of Core Set 2015. In 2021, he joined the Commander Spellbook project as an editor, and later a head-editor and moderator, and has assisted in the curation, updating and/or uploading of over 10,000 unique EDH combos. In his spare time, Ethan loves coming up with new jank EDH lines, playing video games, and going for long walks.
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