Thermopod + Twilight Shepherd + Thran Vigil

Thermopod

Twilight Shepherd

Thran Vigil

How it works

1. Activate Thermopod by sacrificing Twilight Shepherd.
2. When Twilight Shepherd dies, its persist ability triggers, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
3. Thran Vigil triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on Twilight Shepherd.
4. Repeat.

This clever loop turns Twilight Shepherd into a self-sustaining engine of creation and combustion, fueled entirely by Thermopod's ability to turn sacrificed creatures into pure red mana. Each time the Shepherd falls, its own persist ability brings it back bearing a -1/-1 counter, but Thran Vigil steps in during your turn to counteract that decay by placing a +1/+1 counter on it whenever it leaves the graveyard, neatly neutralizing the counters so the cycle can repeat indefinitely.