Archangel of Thune + Essence Depleter + Cryptic Trilobite

Archangel of Thune

Essence Depleter

Cryptic Trilobite

How it works

1. Activate Essence Depleter by paying 1C, causing you to gain 1 life and an opponent to lose 1 life.
2. Archangel of Thune triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
3. Activate Cryptic Trilobite by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, adding CC that can only be spent to activate abilities.
4. Repeat.

This clever engine feeds on itself by turning life gain directly into fuel for your mana production. You begin by paying into Essence Depleter's ability to drain your opponent and gain life, which immediately fires off Archangel of Thune's static lifegain trigger to pump every creature you control with a +1/+1 counter. You can then siphon one of those newly minted counters off Cryptic Trilobite to generate the restricted colorless mana needed to pay for Essence Depleter's activation all over again. Because Cryptic Trilobite's ability output nets you more mana than the activation costs, the loop easily sustains itself while growing your entire board infinitely large.