Top 10 Commanders For Combo Decks In EDH

Not all players are fond of combos, but love or hate them, they're an intrinsic part of Commander. The format has nearly infinite (no pun intended) combo-win possibilities. However, some generals support combo builds better than others. This article guides you to the best of the legendary creatures for assembling game-winning synergies. So, here are the best combo commanders in MTG.

Aside from the cards themselves, I'll also briefly cover their combo potential, some cards that allow or help them do their things. Without further ado, let's jump into some EDH combo commanders!

Top 10 Commanders For Combo Decks In EDH

10. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

Selvala's is a combo player's dream. The strongest commanders usually do one of three things - Draw cards, make mana, or combo off with a few other cards; Selvala does all three. The deck revolves around her ability to make mana and draw cards, which is an incredible combination.

She can tap and give you x mana where x is the greatest power among creates you control. Considering you're in green, the color that has not only the biggest creatures but also all the best pump spells in MTG. The possibilities for putting a high amount of power into play early are nearly limitless.

Once you've got Selvala tapping for at least six mana (this can happen as early as turn three), you can pair her with cards like Wirewood Symbiote + a mana dork, Umbral Mantle or Staff of Domination that untap her for a portion of the mana she makes. This leads to quick to infinite mana, fueling devastating combos with x spells like Genesis Wave.

9. Mizzix of the Izmagnus

Mizzix rewards you for casting instants and sorceries. When you do, if the mana value is higher than your current number of experience counters, you get another experience counter. And your instants and sorceries cost one less to cast for each experience counter you have. There are several ways to close out games once you're casting spells for a fraction of their cost.

Most revolve around Reiterate, allowing spell-copying shenanigans. For example, Mizzix, with at least four experience counters, allows you to cast and "buyback" Reiterate for only two mana. If Reitetate is coping a Desperate Ritual (or similar card), you're netting one mana each time, making infinite mana and storm count.

A setup like this pretty quickly gives you endless damage - Being able to buyback Reitetate over and over means you can copy simple spells like Lighting Bolt as many times as you want so long as you manipulate the stack the right way.Electrodominance is another card that I like to use (a bit of a pet card of mine) to achieve lethal damage, but there are a lot of options once you have the loop going.

Keep in mind that your graveyard is a valuable asset as well. Underworld Breach and Past in Flames both give you access to all the cards you've previously cast and can create some resiliency and unexpected win potential for the deck. 

8. Atraxa, Praetors' Voice

Atraxa is the go-to commander for Superfriends decks but can also helm powerful infect and +1/+1 counter builds. And there are a few different ways to combo off, regardless of your choice. For example, Atraxa's ability to proliferate enables an infinite turn combo with Magistrate's Scepter and Contagion Engine.

Once you've got both cards and your commander in play, you only need four mana and at least one counter on the Scepter. With these requisites met, you can pay four, activate Contagion Engine, and put two counters on the Scepter, which will now be at three. When you move to the end step, Atraxa will proliferate, adding a fourth counter to Magistrate's Scepter. Now, you can activate it, remove three of the four, and get an extra turn. This can be repeated from the top.

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What's great is how generally powerful Atraxa is, even aside from combo wins. She is a powerful attacker, and her WUBG color identity gives your deck access to everything it could need to run smoothly - Premium removal, tutors, counterspells, card draw, mana ramp, you name it, you got it. And even without Atraxa in play, things like Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider and Vraska, Betrayal's Sting can give you back up wincons via infect.

7. Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

Prossh is a fantastic card to have in the command zone if you want to play combo. When he enters the battlefield, you can create a massive token army - Usually making at least six. These bodies are your combo fodder. Combine him with cards like Food Chain for infinite mana, enabling you to cast Prossh repeatedly and amass an army. Once you've done that, you can sac as many as needed to grow Prossh into a lethal attacker.

Or you can use Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar to create a loop where Prossh makes tokens, then you sac him (and a few tokens) to the altars to generate enough mana to recast your commander, thus making even more tokens. This loop generates infinite mana, creature tokens, and death triggers, which are easy wins alongside Blood Artist, Impact Tremors, Purphoros, God of the Forge, or Goblin Bombardment.

Prossh is a classic and, in my opinion, not only one of the best commanders in MTG for combo but one of the most fun to play as well. If you've not tried him and you have a thirst for the infinite, I couldn't recommend him enough.

6. Breya, Etherium Shaper

Breya is a versatile commander who excels in artifact combo decks. Her ability to generate thopter tokens that can be used (similarly to Prossh, Skyraider of Kher) for various combos, including infinite damage, infinite mana, and infinite life. Let me give you an example of a typical combo that's really cool.

You'll need Breya, Etherium Shaper, Nim Deathmantle, Ashnod's Altar and two other creatures in play. Once everything is on the battlefield, you're set. You start by sacing those extra creatures and then Breya to Ashnod's Altar. Now you've got six colorless mana. When Breya dies, send her to the graveyard instead of the command zone, and Nim Deathmantle will trigger, allowing you to pay four mana to return her to the battlefield.

When she returns, you'll attach Nim Deathmantle to her, and she'll make two thopter tokens. Now, you can repeat this process from the start and net two colorless mana each turn. Once you've got this infinite supply of mana, you can activate Breya's abilities to deal damage, remove creatures, and gain life.

5. Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

Najeela is a fun commander to build around for combo and non-combo builds. But we're here to talk combo, and Najeela can generate additional combat steps alongside cards like Nature's Will, Druids' Repository, and similar cards. This makes it possible to achieve infinite combat phases (amongst other things) and overwhelm your opponents with attackers.

Here are a few examples - If you have Najeela, the Blade-Blossom in play, Bear Umbra attached to her, and lands capable of producing WUBRG mana, you can generate infinite combat phases, creature tokens, and lifegain. Here is what that would look like:

You Declare Najeela as an attacker and attack an opponent unable to block or kill her. When you do, both Najeela and Bear Umbra trigger. First, resolve the Najeela trigger, making a 1/1 token that is tapped and attacking. Then, resolve the Bear Umbra trigger, untapping all your lands.

You can now tap them for WUBRG and activate Najeela, which will untap all attacking creatures, and give them trample, lifelink, and haste. And grant you an additional combat phase after this one. You can rinse and repeat each combat phase. In my experience, another thing that makes this one of the best commanders for combo decks is having access to all five colors, which gives you an incredible array of tools.

Vampiric Tutor, Swan Song, Deflecting Swat, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Silence, Wordly Tutor, Swords to Plowshares, Birds of Paradise, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Samut, Vizier of Naktamun, Orcish Bowmasters, whatever you want, you've got.

4. The Gitrog Monster

The Gitrog Monster's unique ability to draw cards when lands are put into your graveyard is a goldmine for combo players. It's not the fastest combo in EDH, but it is quick, resilient against opposing counterspells, and is a blast to play. However, it's one of the more complex combo lines to understand. I'll give you a few general ideas and a link to a great YouTube video that explains the combo(s) in detail.

The Gitrog Monster says that you can draw a card whenever a land card is put into your graveyard from anywhere. Great. So, how do we break that? You'll need a Dakmor Salvage, a Putrid Imp, and Gitrog in play. With that done, you can discard Dakmor for free and trigger your commander. Instead of drawing a card, you dredge Dakmor, mill two cards, and return it to your hand. Now you're back where you started, but with two cards in your graveyard.

You can repeat this loop to draw your whole deck. The deck plays multiple shuffle effects like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth that will put your graveyard back into your library as well. So, you'll get to draw everything you mill over as well, eventually.

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You can win a few ways once you've got your entire deck. For example, cast Lotus Petal, crack it, get a mana, and send it to the graveyard. Next, discard one of the Eldrazi mentioned above. This will cause you to put the Eldrazi and the petal into the deck consisting of only those two cards. Then you'd discard two lands, triggering Gitrog and drawing them back. Congrats, you've now got an infinite mana loop.

With infinite mana, you can use the same strategy you used to recur Lotus Petal to loop Finale of Devastation into a hasty Deathrite Shaman, which you can activate an endless amount of times to drain opponents out of all their life. However, this isn't exactly infinite and, in my experience, can drain around 45 life. For a more in-depth explanation and some backup wins, I recommend checking out this video - The Gitrog Monster Combo Explained.

3. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Kinnan accelerates your mana production by making all your mana dorks and rocks tap for an additional mana. Kinnan makes infinite mana so quickly he's often called "Kinnan, The Mana God" and is said to "go infinite with a ham sandwich." The primary win condition for Kinnan combo is Basalt Monolith, Thrasios, Triton Hero, and Thassa's Oracle. We'll also go over a few others, but let's start there.

With Kinnan in play, Basalt Monolith taps for four mana. You can uptap it for three mana, meaning you net one mana with each activation. Voila! Infinite colorless mana. Now, you can pay the four mana into Thrasios to draw your whole deck, then cart Thassa to win with your empty library.

Alternatively, you can pump that colorless mana into a Walking Ballista and ping everyone to death. Or you could use Mirage Mirror to endlessly copy lands, make endless colored mana, and use Kinnan's second ability to play out as much stuff as you want. And this is just the Basalt Monolith lines. you can also go crazy with Bloom Tender and much more.

2. Thrasios, Triton Hero & Vial Smasher the Fierce

Together, these partners allow you to play a multitude of combos. Thrasios's ability to generate card advantage mainly drives the deck, with Vial Smasher the Fierce allowing you to play black and red, giving you access to new combos. For example, being in black allows you to play Demonic Consultation and Tained Pact, which are easy wins alongside a Thassa's Oracle: a very common combo, but a very good one.

Being in red allows you to play Underworld Breach, a powerful combo enabler. In this deck, you'll usually be using it to cast Lion's Eye Diamond over and over and Mill everyone out with Brain Freeze. You can, of course, target yourself and win via Thassa's Oracle as well.

1. Thrasios, Triton Hero & Tymna the Weaver

There is a reason that Thrasios was mentioned in the number one, two, and three spots on the list - Overall, it's the best combo commander because of its ability to draw cards. It can combine with things like Basalt Monolith, Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, and Thassa's Oracle to win, as mentioned above. But you can also draw (and ramp) into any other combos you play.

And thanks to the partner mechanic, you can also pair it with some other commanders. This combination with Tymna the Weaver is even more potent than Thrasios + Vial Smasher the Fierce, which I put at number two. This is because, unlike Vial Smasher, Tymna is also a powerhouse card draw engine, and white has more to offer than red does.

For example, in white, you can access hate pieces that make it hard for opponents to interact with your game plan. Things like Silence, Drannith Magistrate, Grand Abolisher, and Aven Mindcensor all fit into this category. As far as combos go, this commander pairing has the luxury of playing many of the combos mentioned above, such as Demonic Consultation/Tained Pact & Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy/Basalt Monolith + Thassa's Oracle.

However, there are some other common ones that I want to mention. Dramatic Reversal and Isochron Scepter together can untap all your permanents over and over, giving you infinite mana and storm count. Food Chain and Misthollow Griffin is another common example that gives similar results. The combo potential is nearly limitless. However, the commander pair has synergies beyond these as well.

To make this point, let's pretend your opening hand has only enough land (of the correct colors) to cast your commanders. On turn two, you can cast Thrasios. Next turn, you can cast Tymna, get in with Thrasios, and draw a card post-combat. Turn four; even with nothing but your commanders and land, you can activate Thrasios's ability (drawing a card or putting land into play), and if you attack two separate opponents with them, draw two more cards post-combat.

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It is not the start you'd hope for, but using only what you have in the command zone, and four lands of WUBG colors, drawing three to four cards, and/or dropping an extra land into play is pretty impressive and illustrates just how powerful it is to have these abilities on low CMC creatures, that give you access to the four best colors in EDH.

Conclusion

There you have it, my EDH combo-enthusiasts - The Top 10 Best Commanders For Combo Decks. Commander has nearly endless options, but these are my top picks for going infinite. Comment below and let me know your favorite combo in the format and which decks you play it in.