Thran Vigil + Safehold Elite + Phantom Train

Thran Vigil

Safehold Elite

Phantom Train

How it works

1. Activate Phantom Train by sacrificing Safehold Elite.
2. When Safehold Elite 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 Safehold Elite.
4. Resolve the Phantom Train ability.
5. Repeat.

This clever loop uses Phantom Train as a reliable outlet to repeatedly sacrifice Safehold Elite, triggering its persist ability to bring it back to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter. Because Safehold Elite leaves the graveyard in the process, Thran Vigil triggers and places a +1/+1 counter on it, which immediately neutralizes the -1/-1 counter through state-based actions. This leaves Safehold Elite completely fresh and ready to be fed back into Phantom Train's sacrifice ability, generating an endless loop of creature deaths, enter-the-battlefield events, and ever-growing counters.