Ivy Lane Denizen + Shilgengar, Sire of Famine

Ivy Lane Denizen

Shilgengar, Sire of Famine

How it works

1. Activate Shilgengar by sacrificing the creature with persist.
2. The persist ability triggers, returning that creature to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter.
3. Ivy Lane Denizen triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on the persist creature.
4. Resolve the ability from step 1.
5. Repeat.

This clever loop uses Ivy Lane Denizen as a persistent pump engine whenever a creature returns to the battlefield. By sacrificing a creature with persist to Shilgengar, Sire of Famine, you trigger a Blood token creation while setting up the creature's return. The secret to the loop is how state-based actions interact: when the persist creature returns with a -1/-1 counter, Ivy Lane Denizen immediately places a +1/+1 counter on it, causing both counters to annihilate each other and leaving the creature clean to be sacrificed all over again.