(Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad | Art by Axel Sauerwald)

A Mard-velous Adventure

Welcome back to Wombo Combo,  the article series where we explore the best EDH combo cards in each color identity, using data from EDHREC and Commander Spellbook. This edition, we will look at the combination of White, Black and Red - most commonly referred to as Mardu.

Some of the key themes of Mardu include combat phases, creature tokens, and recursion. Common creature types include Humans, Assassins, and Vampires among others. Mardu is an interesting color identity that has many different avenues to build a deck, and several unique commanders to curate different win conditions. Let's take a peek into what Mardu could offer for your next deck, and what combos can be included!

 

#10: Offspring's Revenge

Number of Combos: 10

Deck Inclusions: 1,127 decks (0.236%)

Offspring's Revenge is a unique card that exiles a creature card from your graveyard and creates a 1/1 token copy of it with haste. The effect may seem a bit underwhelming, but there is one card that benefits massively from it: Tree of Perdition. By making a 1/1 Tree of Perdition, you can set an opponent's life total to 1 instantly. From there, you just have to deal 1 damage to the opponent and knock them out. This is a great way to neutralize even the largest of life totals, and win 1v1 games with style.

 

#9: Mardu Warshrieker

Number of Combos: 11

Deck Inclusions: 326 decks (0.068%)

Our first extremely underused card in Mardu is Mardu Warshrieker, which adds when it enters the battlefield. This mana is perfect to pay for costs from cards like Umbral Mantle to untap Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, or to pay for Nim Deathmantle to infinitely recur Mardu Warshrieker alongside a mana sacrifice outlet. Mardu Warshrieker does struggle a bit compared to cards like Priest of Urabrask because it costs more than the mana it makes. However, it can be a good piece of redundancy for the Kiki-Jiki or Nim Deathmantle combos if you can't access Priest of Gix or Priest of Urabrask.

 

#8: Kelsien, the Plague

Number of Combos: 12

Deck Inclusions: 4,336 as commander (#279); 3,825 as card (0.8%)

Kelsien, the Plague is one of the few commanders caring about experience counters, and gives you them by killing your opponents' creatures. The easiest way to accomplish this is to give Kelsien deathtouch to ensure the damage Kelsien deals is always lethal. From there, you can also attach Thornbite Staff to Kelsien, so when the creature dies, Kelsien untaps itself, and you can repeat as often as desired. This creates a one-sided boardwipe for your opponents whenever you decide, including whenever new creatures enter the battlefield. You can also build up experience counters to use with cards like Daxos the Returned.

 

#7: Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

Number of Combos: 13

Deck Inclusions: 5,879 as commander (#171); 15,784 as card (3.321%)

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is a strong card that also has a fitting name for its effect. Whenever Alesha attacks, you can pay two mana and return a creature card with power 2 or less to the battlefield attacking. This offers a way to cheat in Master of Cruelties to immediately knockout an opponent, since Alesha will still be attacking and deal the fatal blow. If you want to spite your opponents more, you can instead return Dockside Extortionist and make Treasures. These Treasures can then be fronted to Aggravated Assault to get infinite combat phases, and an infinite combo alongside a free sacrifice outlet.

 

#6: Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar

Number of Combos: 14

Deck Inclusions: 5,026 as commander (#228); 1,167 as card (0.244%)

Extus, Oriq Overlord has a great Magecraft ability, allowing you to return a nonlegendary creature card from your graveyard to your hand. This pairs perfectly with Dualcaster Mage who can facilitate an Extus trigger due to its enter-the-battlefield (ETB) ability, but also be returned to your hand from the Extus trigger. All you need is to pair it with a sacrifice outlet, and an instant or sorcery spell that makes enough mana to cast Dualcaster Mage. Some good options for this include Jeska's Will, Brass's Bounty or Burnt Offering. You could also pair Extus with Chain of Smog to return all nonlegendary creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.

 

#5: Dihada, Binder of Wills

Number of Combos: 14

Deck Inclusions: 9,427 as commander (#74); 23,119 as card (4.97%)

Dihada, Binder of Wills is one of twenty Planeswalkers that can be your commander, and is the most used Planeswalker of this group. Dihada is also a staple card in legendary-matters decks, such as those helmed by Jodah, the Unifier. Dihada's second ability is the main one used for infinite combos, allowing you to create up to four Treasures per activation. This mana can be used to cast Flicker to blink Dihada and allow you to activate the ability again. You can cast Flicker from your graveyard by using Underworld Breach. You can also return Dihada to your hand thanks to Meticulous Excavation if you double the Treasures with a doubler like Mondrak, Glory Dominus. This will give you enough mana to cast Dihada, activate it, and then bounce it and repeat.

 

#4: Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale

Number of Combos: 17

Deck Inclusions: 7,544 as commander (#107); 1,042 as card (0.218%)

One of the main choices to command Knight decks, Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale allows you to freely move Equipment between Knights you control by paying zero mana. With one Equipment, you can get an infinitely large Crackdown Construct by continuously equipping the same Knight, getting a Crackdown Construct trigger each time. A more unique line involves attaching Lotus Ring to a Knight and sacrificing it for mana, and then recasting it from your graveyard thanks to Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. You can use either a haste enabler or a Knight that has haste (like Merry, Esquire of Rohan). Some Knights and a Ring...what could go wrong?

 

#3: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Number of Combos: 18

Deck Inclusions: 1,487 as commander (#753); 3,358 as card (2.087%)

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad debuted in the Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed set, bringing the iconic character to Magic as a great Mardu option to head your next Assassin deck. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad exiles an Assassin from your graveyard with a memory counter on it when Altaïr attacks and then creates a tapped and attacking copy of each exiled card with a memory counter on it. You can make every creature card in your graveyard an Assassin using a type changer like Roshan, Hidden Magister or Ashes of the Fallen. This works perfectly to get infinite combat phases from Port Razer or Bloodthirster. If you want something more unique for 4+ color decks, you can use Medomai the Ageless instead to get infinite turns. Since Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad looks for cards with memory counters on them, you don't have to worry about it being removed and losing the cards permanently either, making it a rigid combo piece.

 

#2: Jirina Kudro

Number of Combos: 21

Deck Inclusions: 1,305 as commander (#822); 5,984 as card (1.252%)

Jirina Kudro thrives the more times you cast your commander, similar to cards like Prossh, Skyraider of Kher. Unfortunately, Jirina does not have Green in its color identity for a simple Food Chain combo. However, we can make a similar combo using Mana Echoes to supply the generic mana to cast Jirina, and Phyrexian Altar to sacrifice Jirina and tokens to supply the colored mana. If you want additional results, swap Phyrexian Altar for any sacrifice outlet and Pitiless Plunderer instead. You can also blink Jirina using Eldrazi Displacer or another blinker to create tokens and sacrifice them for mana. Outside of a combo, Jirina is an excellent include for commanders that are cast frequently, like Dargo, the Shipwrecker.

 

#1: Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter

Number of Combos: 32

Deck Inclusions: 4,554 as commander (#262); 13,766 as card (2.88%)

The best combo card in Mardu is Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter, which has two different abilities that both have great combo potential. While the abilities individually are strong, pairing both of them together provides for an easy combo with Clock of Omens and any way to make Jan Jansen an artifact. You can also use Dross Scorpion or Thornbite Staff to achieve a similar result, sacrificing or killing the Constructs to untap Jan Jansen. One of the best non-sacrifice outlet cards to use to kill the Constructs is Skullclamp, allowing you to draw cards as well. These combos can give you infinite Treasures, creature tokens, and sacrifice outlet products. If you head outside the Mardu identity, Jan Jansen creates a two-card infinite combo alongside Intruder Alarm. Jan Jansen is a great commander option for an artifact deck, or an include to slide in a bit of chaos leading to a glorious victory.

 

Honorable Mentions

Here are a few other Mardu cards that can slash through your opponents and make a splash in your next deck:

1. Isshin, Two Heavens as One: Doubling attack triggers is a very strong effect and works well with cards like Lightning Runner.

2. Ponyback Brigade: You can blink it via Eldrazi Displacer to get infinite mana and tokens, or return in via Nim Deathmantle for similar results.

3. Vihaan, Goldwaker: Vihaan allows for infinite combat phases alongside Aggravated Assault or similar cards and Pitiless Plunderer.

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!

---

Read more: