Stalwart Successor + Kitchen Finks + Thermopod

Stalwart Successor

Kitchen Finks

Thermopod

How it works

1. Activate Thermopod by sacrificing Kitchen Finks
2. When Kitchen Finks dies, its persist ability triggers, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
3. When Kitchen Finks enters, it and Stalwart Successor trigger.
4. Resolve the Kitchen Finks trigger, causing you to gain 2 life.
5. Resolve the Stalwart Successor trigger, putting a +1/+1 counter on Kitchen Finks
6. Repeat.

This clever loop transforms Kitchen Finks into an endless engine of sacrifice and resurrection, fueled by Thermopod to churn out infinite red mana and life. The secret sauce that makes this persist loop actually persist is Stalwart Successor: whenever Kitchen Finks returns with a -1/+1-canceling -1/-1 counter, the Successor's triggered ability steps in to drop a +1/+1 counter on it. Because these two counters immediately annihilate each other state-based-wise, Kitchen Finks is left completely clean of any -1/-1 counters, allowing its persist ability to trigger all over again the next time it hits the graveyard.