The Best and Weirdest Combos from Phyrexia: All Will Be One
Okiva, Enigma Goliath by Antonio J. Manzanedo
A new set always warms my combo-loving heart, but Phyrexia: All Will Be One's wholesome message of unity is taking it to medically inadvisable levels. I normally stay locked away in the Commander Spellbook laboratories, but today I've been inspired by Elesh Norn's ability to stitch bring people together.
Whether you get your joy from the BadMtGCombos subreddit, or you actually like to win games once in a while, let me share the glory of Phyrexia with you.
All Will Be Won: The Best Combos from Phyrexia: All Will Be One
All Will Be One + Quest for Pure Flame
All Will Be One + Quest for Pure Flame on Commander Spellbook
The combo piece so good they named the whole set after it, All Will Be One goes infinite with several cards, but it's hard to beat a one-drop in the same color. Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond is one of the most popular two-card combos in EDH. Now it has a challenger that's four mana cheaper and can win a full turn earlier.
Honorable mention goes to The Red Terror, which can win from the command zone. Unfortunately, between the commitment to mono-red and the philosophical confusion between supporting both Tyranids and Phyrexians as intergalactic conquerors, I don't see many players choosing this option.
Archfiend of the Dross + Exchange of Words
Archfiend of the Dross + Exchange of Words on Commander Spellbook
I'll never forgive the flavor text writers for interrupting a joke with a unit conversion, but Exchange of Words is beautifully on-theme here, literally spreading a Phyrexian's abilities to another creature on the way to winning the game.
Since the trigger happens on upkeep, a tapped-out opponent won't have time to save themselves by destroying your enchantment (or their own creature). Keep a sacrifice outlet around for your Archfiend in case they do it out of spite anyway.
Phyrexian Vindicator + Guilty Conscience
Phyrexian Vindicator + Guilty Conscience on Commander Spellbook
This is the first time Guilty Conscience has found a friend in mono-white that wins an EDH game outright. That's not enough of a reason to build a deck around this combo (Boros gives you a lot more redundancy for that plan), but it's always worth noticing when a combo's color identity gets more lenient. If you can surprise someone midcombat with Sigarda's Aid, your friends might never block again.
Vraska, Betrayal's Sting + Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
Vraska, Betrayal's Sting + Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider on Commander Spellbook
It's well known that Doubling Season effects are good with planeswalker ultimates, but it turns out they're even better with ultimates that care about counters.
New ONE Commanders for Combo Decks
Ovika, Enigma Goliath
Ovika, Enigma Goliath + Petals of Insight + Phyrexian Altar on Commander Spellbook
Ovika's expensive, but a thousand Izzet mages have just interrupted me to shout "but it has ward!" Let them justify the Phyrexian Goblin Storm deck; it sounds like a blast to play.
And although this combo looks like "infinite game actions" is the only result, you only need a little extra mana to win: Petals of Insight will guarantee you drawing the Storm card of your choice once you're ready.
But Ovika is really on this list because she doesn't need a specific set of combo pieces to win. Like LSV drafting Cube, you can go all-in on the Storm strategy without ever seeing Empty the Warrens or Brain Freeze. Just play the fun cards and Ovika will provide the win condition.
Venser, Corpse Puppet
Venser, Corpse Puppet + Throne of Geth + Dross Scorpion on Commander Spellbook
This combo really is just "infinite game actions," but a Dimir artifact deck can turn this into a win using anything from Blood Artist to Darksteel Reactor. All three of its pieces also work in many other combos, making Venser's corpse a good choice if you want to make your Vorthos friends cry build a deck with a variety of surprise wins. If you're looking for a fun Venser deck (and some fanfiction to boot) check out John Finnegan's writeup!
Unctus, Grand Metatect
Unctus, Grand Metatect + Aphetto Alchemist on Commander Spellbook
Unctus is another commander with a lot of ways to go infinite. I'd be more excited about them if they didn't all have the secret last step "...and then win with Thassa's Oracle", but maybe you can find a more interesting way to win after turning your deck upside down.
Vishgraz, the Doomhive
Vishgraz, the Doomhive + Dross Scorpion + Vat of Rebirth + Phyrexian Altar on Commander Spellbook
Five mana for four bodies on a commander is quite a deal, especially in the three colors that care most about tokens, sacrificing, blinking, and reanimating. The linked combo shows off another ONE card, Vat of Rebirth, but you can just as easily win with staple combo pieces like Emiel + Phyrexian Altar + Blood Artist or Phyrexian Displacer + Krark-Clan Ironworks.
Combos with Sun's Twilight... Any Sun's Twillight
Dualcaster Mage is one of those cards that gets new combo pieces almost every set. Blue Sun's Twilight is a sorcery that says "copy," so it goes infinite with Dualcaster Mage. News at 11.
Dualcaster Mage + Blue Sun's Twilight on Commander Spellbook
...But then I noticed something.
Dualcaster Mage + Black Sun's Twilight on Commander Spellbook
Dualcaster Mage + White Sun's Twilight + Eldrazi Displacer + Ashnod's Altar on Commander Spellbook
Dualcaster Mage + Red Sun's Twilight + Encroaching Mycosynth on Commander Spellbook
Dualcaster Mage + Green Sun's Twilight + Infinite Reflection + Living Plane on Commander Spellbook
Dualcaster Mage goes infinite with the entire Twilight cycle. This can only mean that Dualcaster Mage is Yawgmoth in disguise and is single-handedly responsible for conquering Mirrodin. Or maybe that if you add enough support pieces you can make this Wizard combo with practically anything.
The Weirdest Combos in Phyrexia
I'll be honest, my heart isn't into all this winning. To me, the greatest joy in Magic is discovering bizarre, unexpected card interactions. If you don't count it as a victory unless you earned it with style, this section is for you.
Conduit of Worlds = Infinite Turns, Zero Spells
Conduit of Worlds + Second Chance on Commander Spellbook
This might be the worst two-card infinite turn combo. But if you stabilize at 4 life, lock yourself out of casting spells, and still manage to win, your playgroup might actually admit you deserve it without complaining about your infinite turns combo.
(Unless you've realized this is another secret Thassa's Oracle combo. But don't give in to the darkness! Pride of the Clouds is a much funnier option.)
If this isn't convoluted enough for you, there's another Phyrexia: All Will Be One card that contributes to infinite turns with Second Chance as well.
Tevesh Szat Betrays Himself
Norn's Choirmaster set off my "weird new effect" alarm, and I immediately went searching for a way to abuse it. The old Vorinclex/planeswalker setup comes through again here, allowing Tevesh Szat to immediately ultimate and betray... himself. He can then betray himself an infinite number of additional times, shouting "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" each time.
A Terrible Combo with Sword of Forge and Frontier
I'll admit it: this one's ugly. "You control creatures that can produce at least five mana" is borderline unacceptable for a Grixis combo, but I love the result: turning a random Sword trigger into "exile-drawing" your library and infinite land drops is just satisfying.
In the end I'm including it partly because Activated Sleeper is a coincidental flavor win in the "flash creatures with 0 toughness" category. (Ravener is cheaper but adds a fourth color to the combo.) But mostly I'm hoping one of you is inspired to find a more straightforward Sword combo, because I'd love to see it.
Using Staff of Compleation's Worst Ability
If you ever want to distract me for an hour, just send me a seemingly useless line of rules text. You can then rob my apartment while I'm sitting in the center of it, unaware of your presence because I'm too focused on searching Scryfall and swearing about how my collaborators at Commander Spellbook will only let me upload "reasonable" combos instead of twelve-card monstrosities.
As we all know, white's greatest strength in EDH is the ability to activate Ivory Gargoyles your opponents have donated to you. Linvala is only necessary to lock down opponents with access to more white mana than you can cut off with Mind Over Matter. (Even Mind Over Matter is optional, but without it you're paying a hefty five mana per opponent to untap Staff of Compleation with its own ability.)
How to Break "Only Once Each Turn" Cards
Speaking of rules text that distracts me, I take the words "only once each turn" as a personal insult and a challenge. The Magic design team can add as many hurdles as it can to try and stop us comboing; we'll show them how much we like jumping. (Note to self: find a metaphor that doesn't make me sound like a circus animal.)
Blade of Shared Souls
Blade of Shared Souls is a new piece of tech for getting around this horrible restriction. As long as your loop generates enough mana, you can keep passing the sword around, creating new copies of the ability. This Ramos, Dragon Engine combo is a pretty weak proof of concept, but I'll definitely keep Blade of Shared Selves in mind for future combo crafting.
Toxic 10
Celestial Gatekeeper + Dual Nature + Phyrexian Altar on Commander Spellbook
Since the cowards at Wizards of the Coast wouldn't print Glistensteel Colossus, I had to find my own way to give a creature a total Toxic value of 10. If you start with two of my favorite picks in reject rare draft, Dual Nature and Celestial Gatekeeper, and add a Phyrexian Altar, you can recur any Birds and Clerics from your graveyard infinite times. Since Plague Nurse is a Cleric, and there's definitely no easier way to win with this setup, your Toxic deck can live the dream and one-shot your opponents with Phyrexian Mites.
Melira, the Living Cure
Melira, the Living Cure + The Peregrine Dynamo + Ashnod's Altar on Commander Spellbook
Melira may not have "once each turn" printed on her, but exiling is another pretty serious restriction when it comes to creating combo loops. I wanted to mention this combo to showcase one of the easiest ways to bypass that restriction: ignoring the card and copying the ability instead. We've got a steady drip of effects that can copy triggered or activated abilities over the past few years, and it's usually much easier to loop that effect than it is to deal with retrieving the card from exile (or overcoming commander tax).
Unfortunately this Peregrine Dynamo version won't work if Melira is your commander, and the Lithoform Engine + Krark-Clan Ironworks version won't give you infinite mana. But honestly, who would want to play Melira as your commander? Unlike her character's first printing, this Melira will only keep you alive for nine turns, proving that beautiful Phyrexia will conquer the last shreds of Mirran resistance in two hours, tops.
My Favorite Interaction in Phyrexia: All Will Be One
...is left as an exercise for the reader. By adding only cards from ONE or ONC (the ONE commander set), how can you make this image come true?
If you figure it out, post the cards' collector numbers in the comments to keep them spoiler-free. Or join the Commander Spellbook Discord so you can pester me for hints and contribute your own favorite combos to our website.
Bye for now, fellow Phyrexians and those soon to become Phyrexians!
