Marath, Will of the Wild + Benevolent Hydra + Cryptic Trilobite

Marath, Will of the Wild

Benevolent Hydra

Cryptic Trilobite

How it works

1. Activate Marath by paying 1 and removing a +1/+1 counter from it, putting two +1/+1 counters on Marath.
2. Activate Marath by paying 1 and removing a +1/+1 counter from it, putting two +1/+1 counters on Cryptic Trilobite.
3. Activate Cryptic Trilobite's first ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, adding CC that can only be spent to activate abilities.
4. Repeat.
5. Once Cryptic Trilobite has infinite +1/+1 counters, you may remove them for infinite mana, then repeat step 1 to get infinite +1/+1 counters on Marath, which can then be used for Marath's other modes.

This elegant engine gets its incredible leverage from Benevolent Hydra, whose replacement effect turns Marath, Will of the Wild's counter-adding ability into a net-positive growth generator rather than a neutral trade. By spending one counter and a mana to fuel Marath's first ability, the Hydra ensures two counters are placed instead of one—giving you a surplus to work with. You then funnel those counters into Cryptic Trilobite, whose ability converts removed counters back into the specialized mana needed to keep the activation loop spinning. Once the Trilobite scales up to arbitrarily large numbers, you can peel off its counters for endless activation-only mana, leaving Marath free to flood the board with tokens or incinerate the opposition.