(Archelos, Lagoon Mystic| Art by Dan Scott)

Black and Blue...and Green

Welcome back to Wombo Combo, the episodic article series where we explore the best EDH combo cards in each distinct color identity, using data from EDHREC and Commander Spellbook. Today, we will review the combination of black, blue and green - better known as Sultai.

Sultai is an interesting color identity, which pulls themes from the colors that comprise it. Some of these themes are landfall (pulling from green), card draw (pulling from blue), and graveyard recursion / interaction (pulling from black). Let's dive in and see what Sultai has to offer us combo enthusiasts!

 

#10: Jorn, God of Winter // Kaldring, the Rimestaff

Number of Combos: 7

Deck Inclusions: 4,188 as commander (#282); 1,102 as card (0.238%)

If you prefer winter over the summer, then Jorn, God of Winter is your new best friend. Both sides of Jorn provide strong benefits to snow based decks. Jorn specifically has a simple combo that involves Lithoform Engine or Strionic Resonator, where you either make it snow using Rimefeather Owl or create a snow clone using Moritte of the Frost. You can then use the snow version to copy Jorn's trigger and untap it, along with all your other snow permanents, add mana and repeat. Jorn can also create a way to pay for Stasis by untapping all your snow permanents, and working around you missing your untap steps.

 

#9: The Master, Transcendent

Number of Combos: 9

Deck Inclusions: 1,864 as commander (#618); 6,419 as card (5.029%)

The Master, Transcendent is a new card from the Fallout set, and brings us a unique ability that allows you to put a creature card that was milled this turn from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. You can certainly use this to grab a creature from an opponent's graveyard. However, you can also go a different route, grabbing things from your graveyard instead! Your friends here are Altar of Dementia to help you mill cards, and cards that can put creature cards on top of your library, like Mortuary or Golgari Thug. With a bit of careful planning, you can get many strong results that will help you eradicate the opposition.

#8: Brokkos, Apex of Forever

Number of Combos: 12

Deck Inclusions: 1,357 as commander (#784); 8,368 as card (1.809%)

It wouldn't be an edition of Wombo Combo without a controversial mechanic showing up, and Brokkos, Apex of Forever brings mutate back into the spotlight. Brokkos is a fairly simple card as far as mutate cards go, and has been brought into the combo spotlight thanks to the new card Infested Thrinax. Infested Thrinax allows Brokkos to die and create Saprolings which can then be sacrificed to cast Brokkos again, and also be used for Brokkos to mutate on top of. With Phyrexian Altar, this is a stand-alone combo, but you can instead use Pitiless Plunderer and any other sacrifice outlet for more specialized (and possibly game-ending) results.

#7: Volrath, the Shapestealer

Number of Combos: 14

Deck Inclusions: 2,584 as commander (#461); 2,130 as card (0.46%)

Shapeshifters are a very interesting creature type, and very useful in getting multiples of a creature in a normally singleton format. Volrath, the Shapestealer allows you a Clone style effect with the ability to continually change that effect at will for one mana. This allows Volrath to essentially gain abilities from whichever creature you desire, and then activate its ability again to gain a different set of abilities. Combos with Volrath generally start with it stealing the ability of a mana dork like Marwyn, the Nurturer. From there, Volrath will steal the ability of a creature that can untap itself, like Locust Swarm. Once you have infinite mana, you can then have Volrath steal another creature's abilities as you desire.

#6: Zaxara, the Exemplary

Number of Combos: 18

Deck Inclusions: 10,745 as commander (#51); 5,382 as card (1.163%)

Zaxara, the Exemplary is the perfect commander if you like X-mana cost spells, but also has a nice mana dork ability adding two mana of any color. The mana dork ability creates a simple combo with Freed from the Real, or by using Umbral Mantle and Nyxbloom Ancient. With the infinite mana, you can cast your favorite X spell(s) with an infinitely large X. The cast ability can be used alongside Wurmcalling and Faces of the Past to create some very interesting combo lines that'll catch your opponents off guard. Zaxara could also be a candidate for a Hydra deck, a counters matter deck, and/or an excuse to run Borrowing the East Wind in your deck. Whatever you decide, Zaxara is a great option for running your deck, and having easy combo potential available.

#5: Zimone and Dina

Number of Combos: 29

Deck Inclusions: 5,880 as commander (#189); 3,757 as card (1.131%)

Zimone and Dina is a very strong landfall commander, allowing you to tap it and sacrifice a creature to draw up to two cards, and put up to two lands onto the battlefield. Being able to sacrifice a creature and draw two cards and put two lands on the battlefield is an extremely strong effect that landfall decks can easily take advantage of. Zimone and Dina is great to pair with your usual landfall combo suspects Retreat to Coralhelm and Walking Atlas. Other combo pieces include Bloodghast, Abundance and Meloku the Clouded Mirror.

#4: Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Number of Combos: 55

Deck Inclusions: 2,970 as commander (#392); 2,108 as card (1.043%)

Xavier Sal, Infested Captain has two very strong abilities, both of which have strong combo potential. The first ability allows you to tap Xavier Sal and remove a counter from a permanent to populate. This pairs well with cards like Master Biomancer which will cause the token to have counters on it for the next interaction, and untappers like Intruder Alarm. The second ability allows you to tap Xavier Sal and sacrifice a creature to proliferate. The proliferating can be used for a variety of cards, like for planeswalkers, Herd Baloth and similar cards, and for triggering Venser, Corpse Puppet. Xavier Sal is a versatile option for a commander and value piece that enables a large quantity of combos for a cheap price.

 

#3: Archelos, Lagoon Mystic

Number of Combos: 84

Deck Inclusions: 3,340 as commander (#348); 10,082 as card (2.179%)

Archelos, Lagoon Mystic seems like an unassuming card, causing permanents to enter the battlefield either tapped or untapped. Where Archelos shines is when it is untapped, as it overrides cards that say "This card enters the battlefield tapped", and causes them to enter untapped instead. This application has a plethora of uses in combos, from bouncelands like Simic Growth Chamber to other lands like Drownyard Temple. Using Archelos with a bounceland allows you to play and bounce the land while still getting the two mana that the land produces. That mana can then be used to pay for cards like Patron of the Moon to create an easy infinite combo. You can also tap Archelos, and then use it as a pseudo-lock alongside Royal Assassin and Thornbite Staff.

 

#2: Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Number of Combos: 85

Deck Inclusions: 15,001 as commander (#22); 28,743 as card (6.213%)

If you want to bring your deck back from the dead, Muldrotha, the Gravetide is the perfect card for you, allowing you to cast one cast of each permanent type from your graveyard during each of your turns. Muldrotha is great for extra turn combos, returning cards like Eternal Witness to return the extra turn spells to your hand each turn. Muldrotha can also be used in infinite combos by resetting its effects; this is done by removing Muldrotha from the battlefield, and putting it back. Cards like Kaya's Ghostform and Displacer Kitten make this task easy. Once Muldrotha comes back, it "resets", and you can cast one of each type again that turn. Outside of comboing with Muldrotha, it's always good to have the option to recur things that your opponents may have removed, or that you inadvertantly got rid of.

 

#1: Yarok, the Desecrated

Number of Combos: 91

Deck Inclusions: 10,283 as commander (#58); 14,727 as card (3.183%)

If you like strong ETB effects or putting large amounts of permanents on the battlefield, then Yarok, the Desecrated is a perfect card for you. Yarok simply doubles all ETB triggers that you would have trigger. You can use these on strong ETB abilities, like those of Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath or Avenger of Zendikar. You can also use Yarok's ability to enable a large amount of new combos. Some cards that easily combo with Yarok include Peregrine Drake, Venser, Shaper Savant, Shrieking Drake and Inverter of Truth. You can also some add redundancy with non-Sultai equivalents, such as Virtue of Knowledge and Panharmonicon. Whether you want it as your commander, or as a part of the 99, Yarok is a strong include for any deck to add additional value and easy combo potential.

 

Honorable Mentions

Here are a few additional cards you may consider for a Sultai combo deck:

1. Tatsunari, Toad Rider: Creates a good combo opportunity for enchantress decks, especially self-bouncing enchantments like Whip Silk.

2. Henry Wu, InGen Geneticist: A good combo piece for exploit decks and/or sacrifice heavy decks, alongside token generators.

3. The Wise Mothman: An interesting mill piece that has combo synergy with Moss-Pit Skeleton and Altar of Dementia.

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!