Putrid Goblin + Goblin Trashmaster + Captain Kathryn Janeway

Putrid Goblin

Goblin Trashmaster

Captain Kathryn Janeway

How it works

1. Activate Goblin Trashmaster by sacrificing Putrid Goblin
2. When Putrid Goblin dies, its persist ability triggers, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
3. When Putrid Goblin enters, Captain Kathryn Janeway triggers, revealing the top card of your library, putting a +1/+1 counter on Putrid Goblin and then putting the card back on top of your library.
4. Resolve the Goblin Trashmaster ability.
5. Repeat.

This clever loop hinges on the elegant interaction between Putrid Goblin and its persist ability, which normally would exhaust itself after a single recursion due to the -1/-1 counter it accumulates. However, whenever Putrid Goblin returns and re-enters the battlefield, Captain Kathryn Janeway triggers to make it explore; placing a +1/'+1 counter on the Goblin via exploration neatly neutralizes the incoming -1/-1 counter through state-based actions, resetting its persist eligibility entirely. Meanwhile, Goblin Trashmaster acts as the engine's sacrificial outlet while simultaneously pumping your board, allowing you to feed the Goblin to its own master over and over again to generate an endless stream of entries, leaves, deaths, and sacrifices.