Five More Budget Commanders and Their Combos

Ratadrabik of Urborg | Illustrated by Anna Pavleeva

Boromir, Warden of the Tower | Illustrated by Yigit Koroglu

Hello, everyone! A few weeks ago I talked about five mono-colored commanders with two-card infinite combos. This time we're going to discuss some two-colored infinite combo commanders. As always, I'll explain how the combo works and the cards you can add to secure the win, and if you want to find even more combos like this, check out commanderspellbook.com.

Alrighty, let's get into it!

Ratadrabik of Urborg | Boromir, Warden of the Tower

Let's kick things off with the newest combo on this list, featuring Ratadrabik of Urborg and Boromir, Warden of the Tower. For this combo, you only need to have Ratadrabik and Boromir in play. Sacrifice Boromir to its ability, which will trigger Ratadrabik's ability, putting a nonlegendary token copy of it into play. Then you resolve The Ring-tempting trigger from Boromir, targeting the nonlegendary token, making it legendary.

Winning with this combo is straightforward. You want to have aristocrat effects in play to drain out the table. Normally, I'd suggest Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, or Cruel Celebrant; however, they don't synergize with Ratadrabik's ability. Instead, I'd suggest you add legendary drain effects, such as Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, Kambal, Profiteering Mayor, or Syr Konrad, the Grim. You can also add Bastion of Remembrance as an enchantment option.

Chatterfang, Squirrel General | Pitiless Plunderer

Next is the famous Squirrel commander, Chatterfang, Squirrel General, and the infamous Pirate, Pitiless Plunderer. Yes, I know Pitiless isn't a Squirrel, but if you're building Chatterfang, it's worth including. To execute this combo, you need Chatterfang, Pitiless, two additional Squirrels in play, and one black mana available. Pay a black and sacrifice a Squirrel to your second Squirrel +1/-1, killing it. Pitiless will now make two Treasures, one for each Squirrel that died, and two Squirrels thanks to Chatterfang's replacement effect. Each iteration of this loop nets you one Treasure token.

Much like the Ratadrabik combo, the easiest way to win with this is by using aristocrat effects, like Nadier's Nightblade, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Mirkwood Bats. But maybe you don't have one of those effects in hand: use Moldervine Reclamation to draw your entire deck and gain a bunch of life. Or you can use the infinite mana to drain the table with Exsanguinate.

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy | Basalt Monolith

Next, we have an infinite mana combo featuring Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, and Basalt Monolith. For this combo, just have Kinnan and Basalt in play. Tap Basalt for three colorless, with Kinnan's effect you get one additional colorless. Use three colorless to untap Monolith, and repeat for infinite colorless mana. But now we need an outlet for this large amount of mana. Thankfully, Kinnan has an ability that we can use to put all our non-Human creatures into play. However, we need colored mana for this effect to work.

Don't worry, turns out there are plenty of colorless cards we can use to filter our mana, such as Urn of Godfire, Energy Refractor, and Prismite, just to name a few. And blue has plenty of cheap artifact tutors, like Fabricate, Tribute Mage, and Trinket Mage. Or if you have some colored mana available, you can cast Blue Sun's Zenith or Pull from Tomorrow to draw your entire deck. You can also force an opponent to draw their end deck and have them lose the game.

Niv-Mizzet, Parun | Curiosity

Next, we have the Izzet combo of Niv-Mizzet, Parun, and Curiosity. There are several variations of this combo, all featuring different Nivs and Curiosity esque effects. All you need is to have Niv in play and enchant him with Curiosity. Then draw a card and boom, you draw your entire deck and deal one damage for each card in your library. This usually lets you finish off at least one opponent, sometimes two, but you still need a way to finish off those last two opponents.

There is no shortage of ways to close out games once you have your entire library in hand. The most common way to win would be Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Thassa's Oracle, and Laboratory Maniac, giving you the ability to win on the spot. I love using The Locust God to make a massive army of 1/1 flying bugs to crack in for the win, but that might be too cute. I think the best budget option would be trying to storm and finish the game with Grapeshot or discard your hand at end-step with Glint-Horn Buccaneer in play. Pick your favorites and add them to the deck. Just make sure to run some counterspells to protect your combo.

Brago, King Eternal | Strionic Resonator

And the final combo on this list is none other than Brago, King Eternal, and Strionic Resonator. This two-card combo has been around for ages in commander and isn't too difficult to set up. You need Brago, Strionic, enough mana rocks to produce at least two mana in play, and an opponent who can't block Brago. Swing in with Brago dealing combat damage and triggering his ability. Use Strionic Resonator to copy the trigger, blinking it, and whatever other nonland permanents you want. Once they enter again, you tap your mana rocks to use Strionic to copy the ability again. This combo does produce infinite mana, however, you need an instant-speed way to use it otherwise you'll lose it when you leave combat.

But infinite mana isn't needed with some of the creatures you can blink. There is the option to draw your entire deck and play Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Thassa's Oracle, and Laboratory Maniac, much like in the Niv combo. But I like the idea of using permanents that ping when they enter instead. Cards like Knight Paladin, Triskelion, and Meteorite. Technically Triskelion doesn't ping when it enters, but you can remove all the counters at instant speed to ping down players. If you want to mill players, Codex Shredder or the more expensive Altar of the Brood are great options. You can use Agent of Treachery to steal everyone's cards or Spine of Ish Sah to destroy everyone's permanents.

Final Thoughts

I'd love to hear about your favorite combos down below or on Twitter @BathroomMTG. Do you have a favorite two-card combo you want me to showcase next? Maybe there is a finisher you think I missed? Anyways, I'll see you nerds in the next one!