(Biovisionary | Art by Ryan Barger)

An Ooze and a Frog Walk Into a Bar...

Welcome back to the combo series with occasional corny jokes - Wombo Combo! Here we explore the best EDH combo cards in each distinct color identity, with help from EDHREC and Commander Spellbook. Today, we will look at the very strong yet divisive color combination of blue and green, otherwise known as Simic.

Over the years, Simic has cemented itself as a strong color combination in many formats, and EDH is no exception. Simic has also had its fair share of criticisms for being overpowered and overall being annoying to play against. Regardless, Simic has a wide variety of deck themes to work with, such as landfall, tokens, and counters. It is also home to many popular creature types such as Merfolk, Frogs and Serpents. With that said, let us slither through the forests and islands of Simic to find its best combo cards.

 

#10: Gilder Bairn

Number of Combos: 36

Deck Inclusions: 2,355 (.289%)

Gilder Bairn features a unique mechanic that was largely short-lived in the untap symbol (written as {Q} in Scryfall). The untap symbol, both in its icon and functionality, was meant to be a counterpart to the tap symbol we all know and love. The unique part about the untap symbol is that it is included as a cost of activation, differing it from cards like Grimgrin, Corpse-Born who untap as a part of the ability's resolution. Cards like Gilder Bairn can create a combo by pairing it with cards that tap it, such as Cryptolith Rite or Presence of Gond, alongside mana doublers like Mana Reflection or token doublers likeDoubling Season.

 

#9: Moritte of the Frost

Number of Combos: 36

Deck Inclusions: 783 as commander (#979); 15,018 as card (1.844%)

Moritte of the Frost lends itself to two different types of builds. The first is a snow-based build, either with it or Jorn, God of Winter as the commander. The second is a Clone style build, where you use Moritte and other Clones to copy other creatures. Moritte does also clone a creature while putting two additional +1/+1 counters on it. This works well with persist creatures like Glen Elendra Archmage, or creatures with ways to remove them, like Walking Ballista. You can also have Moritte enter the battlefield as a copy of Bladewing the Risen and return it using its own trigger.

 

#8: Master Biomancer

Number of Combos: 37

Deck Inclusions: 34,119 decks (4.188%)

Beefing up creatures is a common action in most decks, and Master Biomancer is the perfect inclusion for Simic decks, especially those that care about counters. Master Biomancer puts a number of +1/+1 counters on any creature that you have enter the battlefield equal to Master Biomancer's power. When it enters, Master Biomancer will automatically put two +1/+1 counters, but with additional buff spells, anthems or Equipment, this number can accelerate rapidly. The counters are perfect to counteract persist abilities, to get more mana out of Crystalline Crawler, or to continually activate Xavier Sal, Infested Captain. If you just want to have fun, imagine throwing a Colossification or an Eldrazi Conscription on Master Biomancer instead. Make sure to have plenty of d20s if you decide to do this, however; you will need them.

 

#7: Progenitor Mimic

Number of Combos: 54

Deck Inclusions: 24,236 decks (2.975%)

Progenitor Mimic fits into a cycle of Clones which enter the battlefield as a copy of another creature. However, Progenitor Mimic has the added benefit of creating a token copy of that creature during each of your upkeeps. This provides a perfect way to get additional ETB triggers from strong creatures like Myr Battlesphere, or to provide an easy win condition with Biovisionary. Clone effects are strong to pair alongside cards like Enduring Scalelord or Kiora's Follower with an added payoff like Mesmeric Orb. Being able to have additional copies of a particular creature, especially a strong one, can be a massive advantage even outside of an infinite combo.

 

#6: Vorel of the Hull Clade

Number of Combos: 64

Deck Inclusions: 1,916 as commander (#555); 25,468 as card (3.126%)

Proliferate is a strong mechanic in Magic, but Vorel of the Hull Clade is stronger if you only need to proliferate on one artifact, creature or land. Instead of simply adding one of each counter already present on an artifact, creature or land, Vorel doubles those counters. While this won't help you in a superfriends deck, it still is great for cards that care about counters, or cards that require lots of counters. Such cards include Magistrate's Scepter and Pentad Prism. You can also use it for an easy way to get a Simic Ascendancy win condition, if you are looking for a straight win instead of an infinite combo.

#5: Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Number of Combos: 81

Deck Inclusions: 9,369 as commander (#56); 31,552 as card (3.873%)

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is Simic's second most popular commander according to EDHREC, and it's pretty easy to see why so many Simic players choose it to helm their deck. Kinnan allows you to get extra mana from your nonland mana rocks, and then allows you to use that mana to cheat creatures out of your library. The triggered ability is the main focus of infinite combos, with the simplest combo involving Basalt Monolith. Other popular combo cards include Birds of Paradise, Freed from the Real and Cryptolith Rite. Once you have lots of mana, you can then continually activate Kinnan's ability to cheat out all non-Humans in your library.

 

#4: Simic Growth Chamber

Number of Combos: 94

Deck Inclusions: 164,726 decks (20.222%)

Surprise, another bounceland! Simic Growth Chamber falls into the same uses that we have covered seven times thus far, comboing with cards such as Walking Atlas and Retreat to Coralhelm. Simic is a very strong color combination for landfall based decks, with cards such as Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, Tatyova, Benthic Druid and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath among others being strong commander contenders. Simic also has access to many strong landfall cards and landfall helper cards in both colors. Bouncelands like Simic Growth Chamber are a great and cheap way to get some redundancy in your decks, especially with how expensive the dual lands like Tropical Island can be.

 

#3: Biovisionary

Number of Combos: 107

Deck Inclusions: 9,368 decks (1.15%)

In a singleton format, Biovisionary doesn't seem like a card that fits well into an EDH deck. Its ability can cause you to win the game if you control four or more creatures named Biovisionary during your end step. This was clearly a card designed for 60-card formats like Standard and Modern, but you may be surprised how easy it is to get this win condition in EDH, despite only having one copy of Biovisionary to work with. With a litany of clone creatures like Progenitor Mimic or Spark Double, and a large selection of copy effects like Croaking Counterpart, getting three additional copies of Biovisionary is fairly simple, and can lead to an unexpected win condition. The perfect commander for Biovisionary is perhaps Esix, Fractal Bloom who can easily facilitate in getting more Biovisionary creatures onto the battlefield.

 

#2: Biomancer's Familiar

Number of Combos: 128

Deck Inclusions: 26,274 (3.225%)

Saving mana is always a good thing, and Biomancer's Familiar allows you to save up to two mana each time you activate a creature's ability. This reduction allows many abilities to reach a realm of usability in an infinite combo. One such example is Pili-Pala, whose ability cost can be covered by the mana it makes, as long as you have a repeated tap effect like Viridian Longbow. It can also allow for unlimited mana filtering when used alongside filters like Prismite, or make the abilities of Kenrith, the Returned King easier to activate. The added effects can stack pretty simply when paired with similar cards such as Training Grounds or Zirda, the Dawnwaker. Outside of a combo, saving mana is almost always a good thing (looking at you, Yurlok players), and Biomancer's Familiar can provide value without a combo being necessary.

 

#1: Adrix and Nev, Twincasters

Number of Combos: 129

Deck Inclusions: 6,329 as commander (#121); 41,801 as card (5.131%)

Some of the OGs of Wombo Combo may remember token doublers from Wombo Combo - Mono-Green Edition, and Adrix and Nev, Twincasters is just as useful with the added effect of being able to sit in the command zone. For a token heavy deck, having access to a token doubler at all times from your command zone is a major advantage, and with Adrix and Nev only being 4 mana, you can stomach having to cast it a few times if people keep removing it. Token doublers are key for enabling combos with cards like Ant Queen, Sliver Queen or Myr Turbine. You can also use it to get extra value out of Wavesifter or counter spells much easier with Lullmage Mentor. If just making a bunch of creatures without a combo is your thing, you could just cast large token generators like Storm Herd instead.

 

Honorable Mentions

If you want to delve deeper into the forests of what Simic has to offer, take a look at these other good combo options:

1. Esix, Fractal Bloom: Esix allows you to easily make multiple copies of a creature you control, and serves as a perfect commander for Biovisionary combos.
2. Lonis, Cryptozoologist: Free Clues whenever a nontoken creature enters the battlefield works well alongside Academy Manufactor, especially with cards like Shrieking Drake.
3. Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix: A popular Partner that can give you significant amounts of mana each turn, and easily combos with untappers like Umbral Mantle.
4. Radagast, Wizard of Wilds: Free creature tokens when you cast large spells adds for some nice value, and good combo potential alongside Animar, Soul of Elements.
5. Simic Ascendancy: An easy win condition, especially in colors where counter placing is very common.

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: