Rendclaw Trow + Yahenni, Undying Partisan + Hardened Academic

Rendclaw Trow

Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Hardened Academic

How it works

1. Activate Yahenni by sacrificing Rendclaw Trow.
2. When Rendclaw Trow dies, its persist ability triggers, returning it from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it.
3. Hardened Academic triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on Rendclaw Trow.
4. Resolve the Yahenni ability.
5. Repeat.

This clever little loop uses Yahenni, Undying Partisan as a reliable sacrifice outlet to feed on your own creatures while growing larger with every death. When you feed Rendclaw Trow to Yahenni, the Trow's persist ability would normally bring it back with a -1/-1 counter, which would permanently lock it out from recurring a second time. However, the presence of Hardened Academic solves this by placing a +1/+1 counter on the Trow the moment it leaves the graveyard, allowing these opposing counters to immediately annihilate each other through state-based actions. With its slate wiped clean, Rendclaw Trow is fully ready to persist all over again, generating an endless stream of sacrifice, enter-the-battlefield, and leave-the-battlefield triggers.