(Parallel Lives | Art by Steve Prescott)

Stampede!

Welcome back to Wombo Combo, the article series where we examine the best combo cards in each color identity, according to Commander Spellbook and EDHREC. For this edition, we will be looking at mono-green combo cards to spruce up your decks. Green is known by many as the "Swiss Army Knife of colors", as it seems that every effect imaginable can be found in green, regardless of where it would normally fall on the color pie. Coincidentally, many people argue that green is the strongest individual color due to its vast library of effects that other colors cannot offer.

 

 

Green mainly focuses on creatures, including some of the best pump spells in the game, as well as large creatures for relatively low cost. A sizeable amount of green cards also interact with mana, such as Omnath, Locus of Mana or Nyxbloom Ancient. Green also has an affinity for lands, with cards such as Sakura-Tribe Scout and Arbor Elf. Let's head into the jungle and see what awaits us!

 

#10: Devoted Druid

Number of Combos: 120

Deck Inclusions: 45,414 decks (3.19%)

Devoted Druid has a bit of meme history, in that it was always joked that every new set had to have at least one card that went infinite with it. Unlike its two non-green counterparts, Barrenton Medic and Cinderhaze Wretch, Devoted Druid can net you infinite green mana to cast Walking Ballista and win the game immediately. Devoted Druid can combo with any card to counteract the -1/-1 counters placed for untapping it, such as Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Quillspike or Vizier of Remedies. Alternatively, you can change Devoted Druid to a non-creature type so the -1/-1 counters have no effect, using cards such as Myrkul, Lord of Bones or Swift Reconfiguration.

 

#9: Scurry Oak / Herd Baloth

Number of Combos: 132 (Scurry Oak); 74 (Herd Baloth)

Deck Inclusions: Scurry Oak - 22,992 decks (1.62%); Herd Baloth - 14,967 decks (1.05%)

Scurry Oak and Herd Baloth are cards that serve great in counter-based and token-based decks. Scurry Oak's evolve ability enables it to place counters on itself, whereas Herd Baloth has to solely rely on outside sources for getting counters. Scurry Oak and Herd Baloth combo very easily with cards that put +1/+1 counters on creatures when they enter the battlefield, such as Cathars' Crusade, Ivy Lane Denizen or Rosie Cotton of South Lane. Cards that place +1/+1 counters when a creature dies/leaves the battlefield, such as Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest also work beautifully. Scurry Oak's evolve ability also provides some unique combo opportunities, such as this combo on Commander Spellbook using Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. Once you have your armada of Beasts and/or Squirrels, you can simply deal combat damage to your opponents with them or use cards like Blasting Station or Altar of Dementia for more immediate results.

 

#8: Temur Sabertooth

Number of Combos: 139

Deck Inclusions: 69,704 decks (4.90%)

Temur Sabertooth is the perfect combo card for decks that care about creatures entering and/or leaving the battlefield. It allows you to cast a creature, then return it to your hand for two mana, and cast it again for additional triggers. With the correct cards, this can lead to very easy infinite results. Cards that have the capability to produce considerable amounts of mana upon entering the battlefield, such as Dockside Extortionist, Village Bell-Ringer and Zacama, Primal Calamity, can easily go infinite with Temur Sabertooth. Another common use of Temur Sabertooth is to use a high-producing mana dork, such as Priest of Titania or Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, alongside a creature that can untap them, such as Hyrax Tower Scout or Pestermite. There is a mono-green alternative to Temur Sabertooth that is commander-eligible: Kogla, the Titan Ape, but it only works for bouncing Humans. With the multitude of mana and/or triggers, you can easily add a ping effect such as Corpse Knight, or use the mana for your favorite game-ending spells.

 

#7: Yedora, Grave Gardener

Number of Combos: 154

Deck Inclusions: As Commander - 2,274 decks (#385); As Card - 12,202 decks (0.86%)

Yedora, Grave Gardener is the perfect commander for those looking at building a Morph deck. When a Morph creature dies, Yedora returns it to the battlefield face-down, which allows it to use its Morph ability to turn itself face-up and repeat the combo. With free or low-cost morph cards, such as Proteus Machine, Temur Charger and Den Protector, combos can be achieved with a simple mana sacrifice outlet. An alternative to using Morph cards is to use land animation cards, such as Living Lands or Life and Limb, to animate the card when Yedora returns it as a Forest, allowing it to be brought back by Yedora yet again.

 

#6: Eternal Witness

Number of Combos: 151

Deck Inclusions: 350,710 (24.64%)

Eternal Witness is a card that works best for decks revolving around Storm count and/or magecraft triggers. Eternal Witness is the better version of the combo favorite Archaeomancer because it can return any card instead of just instants and/or sorceries, and it costs one mana less to cast. This opens up the typical Archaeomancer combo lines, using cards such as Living Death, Unearth and Ghostly Flicker. Since Eternal Witness allows for any card to be returned, it also can combo with cards like Displacer Kitten to return mana rocks such as Lotus Petal and Jeweled Lotus. Getting a large storm count makes Eternal Witness a great candidate for your next Aeve, Progenitor Ooze or Chatterstorm decks.

 

#5: Earthcraft

Number of Combos: 190

Deck Inclusions: 12,840 (0.90%)

Earthcraft is a versatile card that allows easy conversion of creatures into mana, without the need to sacrifice a creature. Earthcraft is also a versatile combo card with many different ways that it can be used to create infinite results for you. The first way is to use a card such as Squirrel Nest or Spawning Grounds attached to a basic land to easily get infinite tapped creature tokens. Second, Earthcraft can be used to cover mana needed for a combo, such as by tapping Shrieking Drake or Grinning Ignus to cover the needed mana for repeated casting. Third, Earthcraft can be used as a way to tap a creature, which is useful for cards such as Emmara, Soul of the Accord.

 

#4: Cryptolith Rite

Number of Combos: 195

Deck Inclusions: 63,529 (4.46%)

Cryptolith Rite allows creatures to tap and produce mana, which can be very useful for creating an infinite combo. Along with mana doublers, such as Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, and untappers such as Freed from the Real and Pemmin's Aura, infinite mana only requires an untapped creature without summoning sickness. Adding a haste enabler allows for Gravecrawler and Nether Traitor to pay for their own resurrection. Cryptolith Rite does have some possible mono-green substitutions, such as Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter or Song of Freyalise. Cryptolith Rite is also a great ramp piece for decks that can produce decent amounts of creatures early, especially if they also can play a haste-enabler.

 

#3: Kodama of the East Tree

Number of Combos: 246

Deck Inclusions: As Commander - 8,356 decks; As Card - 62,249 decks (4.38%)

Kodama of the East Tree is another commander eligible card that is great for helming storm decks, or decks that care about permanents entering/leaving the battlefield. Kodama of the East Tree predominately helms landfall combos, using bounce lands such as Simic Growth Chamber alongside landfall triggering cards like Scute Swarm and Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer. Kodama of the East Tree's partner ability is also very helpful for easily adding additional colors and combo possibilities. If you run Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith as Kodama's partner, you are only one bounce land away from going infinite and winning the game using your choice of Landfall and/or Storm payoffs (Tunneling Geopede, anyone?)

 

#2: Token Doublers

Number of Combos: 172 (Parallel Lives); 203 (Primal Vigor); 297 (Doubling Season)

Deck Inclusions: Parallel Lives - 94,801 decks (6.67%); Primal Vigor - 27,928 decks (1.97%); Doubling Season - 113,147 decks (7.95%)

Token-doublers are an extremely useful resourceful in enabling hundreds of infinite combos. In mono-green, your best options are Parallel Lives, Primal Vigor and/or Doubling Season. Doubling each token you create enables a large amount of combos using cards such as Slimefoot, the Stowaway, Ghave, Guru of Spores and Spawning Pit. Token doublers also allow for an easier way to achieve a Biovisionary or Mechanized Production win. The token doublers can also be duplicated themselves, using cards such as Astral Dragon or Replication Technique to create a finite amount of tokens that can easily end the game under normal circumstances. Outside of infinite combos, simply doubling the number of tokens you create is a generally high benefit that any token-based deck can take advantage of.

 

#1: Ashaya, Soul of the Wild

Number of Combos: 315

Deck Inclusions: As Commander - 1,925 decks (#455); As Card - 55,545 decks (3.91%)

Our #1 mono-green combo card is none other than Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, a card that perfectly marries creature-heavy and land-heavy strategies. Surprisingly, making creatures into lands allows for a large plethora of combo strategies. Some strategies only require one additional card, using cards such as Quirion Ranger, Argothian Elder and Ley Weaver. Other lines can be more complicated, such as using Stone-Seeder Hierophant to untap itself, or in various bounce land combos using cards like Walking Atlas. Mono-green's affinity for both creatures and lands makes Ashaya a solid inclusion in any creature or land heavy deck, and enables for two different types of win conditions.

 

Honorable Mentions

There are plenty of other mono-green combo cards that didn't quite make the Top 10. Here's a brief overview of some other cards you may consider:

1. Counter-doublers, such as Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider or Doubling Season, allow for very easy pumps that are necessary for executing combos, especially those that remove +1/+1 counters.
2. Stone-Seeder Hierophant, along with other land untappers, are perfect inclusions for Ashaya-based combos, and offer many unique opportunities to repeatedly untap lands.
3. Sakura-Tribe Scout, along with similar cards, also enable Landfall based combos by bypassing the "one land per turn" rule.
4. Trudge Garden is a unique card that provides opportunities for both infinite creature tokens and infinite lifegain, perfect for your Trostani, Selesnya's Voice deck.
5. Nyxbloom Ancient, along with Mana Reflection and other mana-doublers, can serve as the keystone for paying for your infinite combo, as well as provide great ramping opportunities.

That concludes this edition of Wombo Combo. As always, be sure to check out Commander Spellbook for all your infinite combo needs, and let me know your thoughts of this list in the comments below. See you next time!

Read more: